Wow I can never believe the hype machine Hollywood puts out. Nothing can be ordinary, simple and dehyped. It has to be spectacular! It has to be hip! It has to be NOW!

The LA Times had a recent article about casting for a new movie and here is the description given of Olivia Munn, who just signed up for a role.

That's it? No talk about her saving the animals, or helping old ladies across the street. Granted, Olivia Munn is above average in attractiveness and she has done well promoting a 'one of the guys' kind of gal, but the times I have seen her she has seemed like it is just another act to get her to the next level, whatever that is. She is a 'colorful media personality' on two shows not a lot of people see. OK, here come the people who will say 'everyone I know watches the Daily Show.' I would have to argue 'everyone you know' isn't everyone. It's like the same argument with cable TV. Bill O'Reilly pulls down big numbers for cable, but at 2 million people on average a night that is a steady number, but not a big one. There are Spanish language soap operas that play in the United States that get better rating, but you don't hear of the stars on those shows being media sensations.

When I hear someone say role I expect it to be something more than playing yourself for five minutes. When you play yourself for less than five seconds it's a cameo. Munn had about as much screen time in Iron Man 2 as Stan Lee did, which is to say about five seconds. I think she said some words, but she was playing, get this for a stretch, a reporter. She held a microphone and with a bunch of other 'reporters' beside her asked a question.

Understand this isn't about Munn and her possible talent but is about the way things are put so high on the hype meter that we are desensitized to real innovation. I'm sure with more training Munn could become the media sensation the article hyped about but she is no where at that point right now and pumping her up to that level only hurts because when she makes a mistake, she is the one who will be ridiculed as thinking she was all that. I remember when she went on the Daily Show and it was a big deal because she came from the G4 world. Some said she got there because she was a hot looking woman and was going to bring that game crowd to The Daily Show. It didn't make much sense since, by all accounts, she didn't have a comedy background, as far as hitting the club circuit and many felt it was her looks that got her the job. This is how she was judged when she did appear on the show. Without the hype she may have been given time to grow but right out the gate people were ready to hate her and any little flaw was magnified.

I would think it would be best if newcomers, even if the newcomer has been around the block a few times, to take the publicist hype with a grain of salt.