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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I've always been curious about celebrity gossip, but until recently, my consumption was limited to reading the headlines in the supermarket check out aisle. I was too embarrassed to actually pick one up and read it, let alone pay money for something like People or Star or the National Enquirer.
But now, with the blogs -- Perez, TMZ, etc -- the latest celebrity gossip is free, it's at our fingertips, and nobody has to know we've been reading it. These days, I don't know why you would buy the magazines unless you didn't have a computer. The magazines break stories, but the blogs reprint everything before it even hits the stands.
Best of all, the celebrity blogs are funny. The magazines have this tone of "Oh my gosh guess what!" while the blogs are snarky, sarcastic, and generally fun to read. They indulge both our lust for scandal and our petty desire to mock the rich and famous, to roll our eyes like we are obviously smarter than those wrecks.
So I went from catching celebrity news by accident to reloading Perez and TMZ pretty much all day. I'm not proud of this, but I know I'm not the only one. The blogs have taken celebrity gossip to a whole new level and to a whole new audience.
Good piece Heather and a reminder to me to be grateful for how oblivious I am to so much of what is termed "popular culture", for what seems like years I thought Paris Hilton was a building in France. Maybe it is highly developed spam filters deftly deleting any item not worthy my attention. I choose what it is I will give attention. Maybe it is having had my own some several meltdowns, blow ups,distressing public moments,other people's don't interest me or bring on bad memories. I have been aware of an excess of interest paid these "stories" and find that unfortunate. Alec Baldwin is an interesting actor, his family problems not so much. We are blessed with many striving to master some art or craft or make a difference, I doubt few do so with hopes of some day being the object of vapid gossip. I like those stories and seek them out to give my attention. Thank you
When I was a young boy, ten or so, I was in NYC with my parents. My father hated it, he worked there, my mother thought it glamorous, she did not work there. I recognized someone across the street. I was all noise and wanting to saying Something to them. My father set a gentle hand on my shoulder and said, "Charlie, those people deserve time alone with their family". To this day I leave people alone unless we are in the check out lane at the grocery store together. All I expect from them when I see them perform is All Their Damn Loot. I want all their skills there for me to see and appreciate. I do not see what the entertainment value is of watching someone's, anyone's life dissolve around them. Very good article by the by... have a Happy New Year ....
A lot of the time, when the papparazzi see a celebrity somewhere and generate lots of material for the blogs and TV shows and magazines, its because said celebrity went to where the papparazzi are. Britney and Lindsay and Paris may get followed around, because they are guaranteed to do something stupid if you wait long enough, but for the most part the celebrities do seek this kind of attention out. There really are more than 3 restaurants in LA.
Mostly, I think this is the result (or maybe the cause) of fame without a corresponding amount of talent. When's the last time you saw Kevin Spacey or Meryl Streep on one of these dumbass shows? People with talent don't need publicity to get work. Paris Hilton wouldn't exist without it. Neither would Britney or Lindsay.
Harrassing people who are doing nothing more than trying to get something to eat is ridiculous, no matter what they have chosen to do for a living, and it should be made against the law. Simply by prohibiting someone from profiting from the sale of a photo taken without permission we would raise the national IQ by 15 points.
If these so-called "reporters" would invest half the energy they spend informing us about what people of no real consequence do in their free time into informing us about what elected and appointed officials do while they are at work, this would be a much better place to live.
It wasn't the greatest movie, but it sure captures the mood of the moment in our dumbed-down, celebrity worshipping/bashing culture.
Too bad we're not taking more of an interest in the world, but maybe we just don't want to deal with reality. And who can blame us? Iraq, subprime mortgage meltdown, selling our assets to the highest bidder, the current administration, the next administration (whoever they may be), etc.
Reading both Perez Hilton and the NY Times isn't such a stretch, really. I do it all the time.
I find Gervais' work simultaneously brilliant and cringeworthy. His season (series?) finale was excruciating.
Part of the success of the Gawker/TMZ/gossips sites is that they are superb time-wasters at work. Have to participate in a boring telephone conference? Surf the internet while everyone else talking. Need to take break (but can't leave your desk?) Jezebel is there for you.
I can't imagine how much productivity is lost at work by people who are surfing gawker sites.
the obsession with watching the mighty (or at least famous) fall, is all about envy. envy, in case you didn't know, is not about simply coveting something that somebody else has, it is about destroying what the other has because the destroyer isn't able to have it for him/herself. we destroy the good in others or exploit the vulnerable in order to acheive our own narcissistic sense of worth which is built on nothing more than a flimsy sense of self made pseudo-real by brand names and pockets stuffed with cash. this past year has indeed spawned a particularly vicious brand of gossip and character assassination and has at times been tempting to taste and repeat at the water cooler. it will be difficult no doubt as i have been injesting such garbage even since the dawn of page 6, but reading this stuff of late is like gorging on cheeze puffs and fried doughnuts. it feels somewhat good going down, but leaves one hell of a sandy, gritty, bitter aftertaste. the only way to rise above the literary grime, is to simply quit reading it. lord knows the time has come.
happy new year and may the best resolutions win!
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
