By Nicole Guanlao
I don't usually get star-struck. I didn't hyperventilate once when I was working on the red carpet at this year's Video Music Awards preshow in Hollywood (OK ... maybe I did once when Chace Crawford and Miley Cyrus were 2 feet away from me). I was surrounded by music's biggest stars, and I managed to refrain from being a wide-eyed and giggly superfan. This definitely was not the case last night during the taping of "A Night for Vets: An MTV Concert for the BRAVE."
"A Night for Vets" was created to thank the courageous soldiers who put their lives on the line to protect our country. I was honored to help out with the show. Of course, I was still surrounded by celebrities like Ludacris, 50 Cent and Whoopi Goldberg, but there was one major difference between this event's celebrity guest list and the VMAs'. Not only was I among some of the music industry's biggest stars, but I was also amidst CNN's finest! I knew it was going to be hard to keep my composure when Robin Meade of CNN's "Headline News," international correspondent Michael Ware and Anderson Cooper of "Anderson Cooper 360" were in the room. As an aspiring on-air reporter myself, I've always admired journalists like them. I knew that I just had to meet them (especially Anderson), and show day was my last chance to do it. Read more...
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is an illness that most people have a surface knowledge of, at best, even though its earliest reports date back to 6th century B.C. In the post-Vietnam War era, it made a more frequent appearance in the media, as combat veterans returned home and struggled with anger, insomnia, hyper-vigilance and flashbacks, among other symptoms. Since then, some people owe their knowledge on the subject to Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July," or even the current presidential election, as political pundits have accused John McCain of being unfit to run the country because he may have been traumatized by his POW experience.
But what do we really know about it? How close have most of us ever been to someone suffering from the disorder?
(Watch Iraq veteran Bryan Adams' story after the jump.)
Read more...
With additional reporting by Rich Sancho
NEW YORK — 50 Cent is a boss, so he'll boss you around and you'll like it! The G-Unit general was throwing out orders to people who weren't even there on Friday afternoon at the Nokia Theater in Times Square. The entire G-Unit got onstage for a brief performance of their stint for "A Night for Vets: An MTV Concert for the BRAVE" (check out their full performance when the show airs Friday night at 10 p.m.).
"I have the savoir-faire," 50 rapped. "I'm the reason everybody's here/ I say, 'Get up!'/ I make it hot, I make it hot in here/ Your feet hurtin', I really don't care/ I said, 'Get up!'
I want see you, I want to see you move/ And get all into the groove/ I said, 'Get up!' "
Check out photos from 50's rehearsal after the jump. Read more...
