Comments on: I canceled my subscription to ‘People’ http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/05/i-canceled-my-subscription-to-people/ Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:07:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: saurabh http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/05/i-canceled-my-subscription-to-people/comment-page-1/#comment-895 saurabh Thu, 25 May 2006 14:29:27 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=623#comment-895 Mike Doughty isn't necessarily a celebrity, you're right; he was just the prompt for that thought. <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="http://rhinocrisy.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="rednblack at alum dot mit dot edu">saurabh</a> Mike Doughty isn’t necessarily a celebrity, you’re right; he was just the prompt for that thought. 

Posted by saurabh

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/05/i-canceled-my-subscription-to-people/comment-page-1/#comment-894 Anonymous Thu, 25 May 2006 06:40:02 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=623#comment-894 Is that guy really a celebrity or just famous for what he does? To me that's an important distinction. Tom Cruise is a celebrity well above being famous for acting. Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, and most of all Paris Hilton are true celebrities. As far as I can tell their main purpose in life is to be famous and sell magazines, and everything I know about them I've learned b/c I have a pathological need to read at the grocery check-out line. I'd pay good money to read a true, informational, arts-oriented interview with Tom Cruise, just b/c I don't believe it can be done. What really drives me crazy, however, is how huges swathes of the magazine industry lose the opportunity to do just that with actors and actresses (and every other manner of performer) who I'm sure would be perfectly happy to do it. I'm so sure b/c I hear them being so informatively interviewed by Terry Gross every blue moon, and I love it. The arts are a wonderful thing, and good artists talking intelligently about their craft and inspiration is nourishing entertainment. Maybe not the most important content in the world, but tasty nonetheless. The bits of personality that come attached to such content are much more real and endearing than PR crafted factbites or magazine-world-gushing, precisely b/c their not the point. They're like capers--great garnish, hideous on their own.<br/><br/>If I was having a leisurely Saturday lunch with no plans and you told me that if I got up and took Bart for an hour I could definitely meet and talk to Tom Cruise, but the longer I took to leave, the less likely I'd get my chance, I'd almost certainly shrug and keep munching lettuce. His work these days is not very interesting to me so I have nothing to talk to him about. (Note that Taps, Risky Business, and Top Gun were childhood favorites. Especially Top Gun. Man, it makes me such a bad dove, but I love that movie.) If you told me it was John Cusack or Elijah Wood or Julianne Moore, I might actually finish my lunch b/c I'd have something to say to them, and lots to ask (okay, so I don't watch that many movies.) If you told me it was some of my favorite new bands, like Arcade Fire, I'd probably hurry a little more. But if you told me it was you or Jonathan Schwarz or LizardBreath from Unfogged, I'd get up and go immediately. (Happy coincidence, those are slightly more likely to actually happen.) What's the point of meeting someone just to stare?<br/><br/>Unless it's Takeshi Kaneshiro, in which case I'd run and be happy to gawk.  <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="http://ssrdatta.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="sahelidatta at hotmail dot com">Saheli</a> Is that guy really a celebrity or just famous for what he does? To me that’s an important distinction. Tom Cruise is a celebrity well above being famous for acting. Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, and most of all Paris Hilton are true celebrities. As far as I can tell their main purpose in life is to be famous and sell magazines, and everything I know about them I’ve learned b/c I have a pathological need to read at the grocery check-out line. I’d pay good money to read a true, informational, arts-oriented interview with Tom Cruise, just b/c I don’t believe it can be done. What really drives me crazy, however, is how huges swathes of the magazine industry lose the opportunity to do just that with actors and actresses (and every other manner of performer) who I’m sure would be perfectly happy to do it. I’m so sure b/c I hear them being so informatively interviewed by Terry Gross every blue moon, and I love it. The arts are a wonderful thing, and good artists talking intelligently about their craft and inspiration is nourishing entertainment. Maybe not the most important content in the world, but tasty nonetheless. The bits of personality that come attached to such content are much more real and endearing than PR crafted factbites or magazine-world-gushing, precisely b/c their not the point. They’re like capers–great garnish, hideous on their own.

If I was having a leisurely Saturday lunch with no plans and you told me that if I got up and took Bart for an hour I could definitely meet and talk to Tom Cruise, but the longer I took to leave, the less likely I’d get my chance, I’d almost certainly shrug and keep munching lettuce. His work these days is not very interesting to me so I have nothing to talk to him about. (Note that Taps, Risky Business, and Top Gun were childhood favorites. Especially Top Gun. Man, it makes me such a bad dove, but I love that movie.) If you told me it was John Cusack or Elijah Wood or Julianne Moore, I might actually finish my lunch b/c I’d have something to say to them, and lots to ask (okay, so I don’t watch that many movies.) If you told me it was some of my favorite new bands, like Arcade Fire, I’d probably hurry a little more. But if you told me it was you or Jonathan Schwarz or LizardBreath from Unfogged, I’d get up and go immediately. (Happy coincidence, those are slightly more likely to actually happen.) What’s the point of meeting someone just to stare?

Unless it’s Takeshi Kaneshiro, in which case I’d run and be happy to gawk.  

Posted by Saheli

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