Pop Culture
First off, congrats to all the seniors who graduated on Sunday! I hope every single one of you follows your dreams, and who knows, someone may even end up featured on this column! This is my first Pop Culture Column (and probably last), so we'll see how it goes.
Perhaps the biggest news of the past two weeks is Angelina Jolie's preventative double mastectomy-a procedure some women choose to endure in order to reduce their risk of developing breast cancer. Jolie tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation that gives women a 54 percent chance of developing breast cancer, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Electing to get a mastectomy decreases that risk by more than 90 percent and for women like Jolie-who watched her mother suffer and die from ovarian cancer-that's not a risk that they are willing to take.
The procedure, an aggressive approach to fighting cancer, is often a difficult choice for women to make. Jolie's action speaks loudly to other women that getting a mastectomy does not take away your femininity or beauty, so I applaud her for being open about the procedure and her subsequent breast reconstruction surgery.
In other motherly drama, Denise Richards is taking care of her infamous ex Charlie Sheen's two young boys, whose mother Brooke Mueller is struggling to overcome her long-time drug addiction. You might remember Richards' and Sheen's tumultuous divorce several years ago and Sheen's own outrageous behavior in the public eye, including drug-fueled rants and partying.
Though I'm disappointed that Sheen cannot fully step up and claim responsibility for his sons-four-year-old twins Bob and Max-Richards deserves a round of applause for putting any previous drama aside and stepping in for the good of her children's half-siblings.
Richards and Sheen have two daughters together, Lola and Sam, and Richards recently adopted an adorable little girl named Eloise on her own. Apparently, Mueller has grown increasingly unhappy with Richards playing mommy, but she will spend the next several months hopefully getting herself together at the Betty Ford Clinic.
As for the younger generation, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez are rumored to once again be spicing things up. The once star-crossed lovers have been spotted together, raising rumors that the two have reunited. Ah, the ever-changing tides of young love-who knows how long this round will last. Possible summer fling, anyone?
Getting away from all this drama, a custom electric guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison sold for $408,000 at a recent auction at the Hard Rock Caf?(c) in Manhattan. The auction was part of a "Music Icons" event arranged by a Beverly Hills auction company, Julien's Auctions, who said previously that the guitar would go for between $200,000 to $300,000.
The guitar, a VOX prototype (whatever that means) was given to Lennon in 1966 and Harrison and Lennon both used the guitar for songs on their 1967 album Magical Mystery Tour. I'm a huge Beatles fan, so even if this isn't the hottest celeb gossip, I'm a little jealous of the new unidentified owner of this musical artifact!
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