Awesome People Hanging Out Together

I'm not always impressed with most Tumblrs as they tend to be image postings with few comments and even less thought behind them.

Occasionally, though, a thematic tumblr is interesting and well-thought-out enough that images are enough. One example of this sort of tumblr is the appropriately-titled Awesome People Hanging Out Together.

Eddie Murphy, Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, and Richard Pryor

Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen, and Jay Z

Hugh Laurie, Idris Elba, Benedict Cumberbatch

Louis Armstrong and Niels Bohr, 1959, Copenhagen

What one little kid can teach us

There are parts of that video that I very much enjoy.

First off, there's Brian Wilson's beard. It's pretty awesome. I'm actually thinking about growing my beard out like that and dying it a jet black like the man does.(To see what kind of weird freak he is, go searching out his appearance on the George Lopez Show.)

Secondly, there's the Giants' Seal or whatever. His dancing's pretty cool.

Third, there's the...um...the...and...ur...

The rest is pretty much atrocious.

It's atrocious enough that I went hunting down the kid with the Giants. Apparently he's Keenan Cahill, a sixteen-year old who suffers from MPS Type VI, a rare disease. I don't know what's up with the kid. I'm sure he's had a tough life and all, but I don't care about him.

All I know is that he's a weird looking kid who lip synchs really badly. I'm guessing that his disease might have something to do with it. Maybe that's why his head is oddly shaped and why his mouth moves so oddly (and probably why we don't actually hear him speaking.)

Yeah, I get it: I'm mean. I'm heartless. I'm cruel.

But, c'mon, most of us aren't interesting. Most of us don't have a hell of a lot of talent. Most of us aren't interesting.

Most of us have absolutely no reason to be filming ourselves and posting the video on the website...NONE AT ALL.

We're boring.

This kid is boring. His videos are generally pretty poorly produced. There is no reason for any of us to know that he exists.

We are all famous to a very small circle of people.

Let's focus on those people and ignore the poorly produced, stupid videos of the world.

This bothers me

I don't give a crap about Malcolm's problems. Apparently he's got a girlfriend, and thir relationship had a rough night.

Whatevs...

My problem is with this picture that buzzfeed provided to illustrate the story.

Look at the girl's left foot.

Is her left leg like six inches shorter than her right? Is it behind him or in front of him? Is it flat on the ground or floating in the air?

Is that photoshop, or am I just this messed up this early in the morning?

Problem

I have reached this state of understanding.

My blog's design sucks.

I mostly understand this because Jeff Tweedy's son's blog looks far better than mine does.

Maybe I'll work on stealing a prettier design over Christmas Break.

Like manna from heaven

Sometimes I struggle to find topics on which to post.

And other times, they just fall into my lap.

Thank heaven for Chad Johnson's name change.

Now he can apparently, legally, officially, and within the rules put Ocho Cinco on the back of his jerseys.

And now I can root for him to be traded to any team that already has a #85 on their sidelines. And then traded again and again down the lin by every general manager in the NFL forcing him to change his name every couple of weeks.

Moron

Kevin Smith in Oxford

I've already snagged tickets (four in the eleventh row - me and The Girl plus Calen and her The Boy), so now I can go ahead and tell you folks that Kevin Smith will be Q&A'ing on the Oxford campus of Miami University this November 22nd.

It's a Saturday, so that's perfect for a Q&A to go into the wee, wee hours of the morning.

Tickets are $40 (plus $3.20 per ticket in handling) and can be picked up here.

Matt Damien

I'm thinking that Matt Damon is way funnier and more talented than Ben Affleck. My proof...and this is also background for the recent back and forths between Jimmy Kimmel & Sarah Silverman - neither of which I'm able to post here...

Baby tomato

In order to catch up from the recent vacation times, I offer you a couple of quick hitter posts...

First, the essence of Rachel Ray...

This article is hot 'cause it's fly

I love math...especially when it's applied to things that it clearly should never be applied to

The issues of fame

Nice little YouTube collection from YesButNoButYes that leads me to thinking a little more about the trappings of fame and celebrity.

Let's run it down from the top - just the two that interested me, though.

Check the Paul Young video of him singing "Radio Ga Ga". He's smack on stage at the old Wembley Stadium for the Freddie Mercury tribute concert, and he's got the entire crowd of 100,000+ in the palm of his hand. About halfway through the video, Young breaks into the chorus and has the full crowd clapping their hands over their heads. And it's that single moment that made me pause.

I've been in front of a couple hundred people here and there, and it's a bit of an ego boost, I'll admit. But, I can't possibly imagine what it's like to be treated like a god - for a few minutes, even - by a hundred thousand people. To have them hanging on your every word, responding when you want them to, screaming when you tell them to.

I can fully understand how celebrities pull the sort of stuff we hear about in the tabloids - driving 100 mph with hookers and coke in the back seat, throwing commoners through windows of third-story apartments, generally feeling like they're above you and me, like they're entitled to use us as nothing more than stepstools.

It's because we've trained them that way.

Whether they're talented because they can carry a tune, kick a ball, cry on command, or make the ace of clubs come out of our backsides, we pay people to follow them around, documenting their every move. We pay them gazillions of dollars for a few hours of work, and we act like their devout acolytes for those hours.

I'm impressed that none of our celebs have gone bonkers and declared themselves king of the world or something on us.

We'd deserve it for all we've done to further the celebrity culture here in the US (and mostly 'round the rest of the world).

Remember my recent post about the cult of celebrity that we've created? Well, I'm becoming more and more resolute in those thoughts.

Let it go, folks.

They are no better than we.

Don't treat them as though they were.

Kill your idols.

(Well, maybe not kill, literally. I don't want to advocate anybody actually slaughtering the golden calves, but maybe just taking those calves down a few notches here and there.)

Oh, and in the second to last video on that page, we get George Michael leading Queen and the crowd in a sing-along of "Somebody to Love". In retrospect, may I please ask why anybody needed George Michael to come out of the closet? Wasn't it a little obvious?

Baseball & the babe

Ok, weakness time here - I've always had a thing for Alyssa Milano.

And I've always had a thing for baseball.

And now my two passions have finally come together

If only she were a Reds fan...

The issues of celebrity

Arrggh...

Where to start from this video...Kimmel's unwillingness to let his guest speak...the dopey ignorance of his guest - unwilling to understand the seriousness of the issue...the stupidity of a website/company in sending this ditzy girl to defend their business...the continuing deterioration of private space...Kimmel's far-too-personal take on the story..."...citizen journalism, people don't read it with the expectation that every word of it will be gospel. Everyone who reads it knows that it isn't checked at all."...the fact that Kimmel seems to be filling in for Larry King, which mystifies me...the hugely blank, dopey face and chuckles from the girl at the end...

Or, the real kernel...

"Honestly, I think there is a shifting definition of what is public and what is private space for everyone, not just for celebrities. The internet, blogs, MySpace...no one has the reasonable expectation of being able to walk down the street and not have what they're doing be noticed by someone anymore."

"Well, that's just the terrible thing, though, isn't it?"

"Is it really? I mean, I think it's great that we're not putting people up on a pedestal and worshiping them anymore."

Ok, folks, there's the real rub.

We no longer have private space unless we are locked up in our house with the windows drawn and the firewall turned up to the max. The moment we step onto the front porch or into the back yard, the moment we take out our trash, the moment we lean toward the windows, the moment we log onto the internet and send our email into the magical ether, we are giving up that privacy.

And I hate that fact.

I hate overhearing the conversation of the jerk at the check out in front of me at Wal-Mart because he won't put down his cell phone while he's paying.

I hate seeing the bluetooth ear phones in people's ears while they wander the stores and schools where I have to be.

I hate that the line between what is public and what is private has faded into near oblivion with the advent of cell phones, digital cameras, telephoto lenses, wireless technology, and every other technological development that is supposed to be making our lives easier.

Yes, I answer my work email at school and while I'm out of town.

Yes, I pruriently look at two celebrity stalker blog websites regularly.

And lord knows that I post my daily thoughts onto a blog for everyone to see.

I am not without sin in this miasma that I decry, yet I find it more and more necessary to throw stones at this glass house.

Let me make a small first step, and I then I will a few other small steps that you can pick from to take that small step along with me.

I pledge from here on out to delete the links to the celebrity stalker blogs that I check with some regularity; to not refind those sites; to not buy (not that I ever really did) any magazines such as Us Weekly or People - magazines that depend entirely upon telling us the intimate and private details of celebrities.

Now, what can you do to take small steps away from the abyss?

• Promise to end all cell phone conversation before you approach a restaurant counter, a store check out, or a drive-thru window.
• Promise to leave the cell phone in your car when you go into any business.
• Take the bluetooth earphone out of your ear when you aren't using it.
• Stop talking into the air because you've got a cell phone earpiece in unless you are alone at home or in an office.
• Don't talk about the private lives of any of the following people: Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie, Jake Gyllenhall, Heath Ledger, or anyone who you have not personally met or spoken to.
• Don't watcht E! News, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Extra, or Showbiz Tonight.
• Don't post videos on YouTube or any other site unless you know the person in the video personally, have gotten their permission to post the video, and know that in ten years they'll be happy to have put that image of themselves out there.

Please, help me to stop the madness...

Suffering for beauty

I'm sorry, but I'm thinking that no matter how hot, sexy, whatever the heck you happen to end up looking like when you do this, it's probably not worth it because you're gonna kill your frickin' back.

Plus there's the fact that I really just don't understand half of the moves that they're talking about.

Sell rich women's behinds back to them...

Ah, the lure of celebrity culture. The desire to know what people who are judged as being more attractive than we are, who make and spend more money in a year than most of us will in a lifetime, and who are no more important or intelligent than are we.

This is why we have Us and People and even the National Enquirer. Luckily, we also have What Would Tyler Durden Do? - a celebrity-centric blog that is just snarky enough to make things enjoyable.

Rather than check that out, though, let me recommend that you get outside, spend some time making Vitamin D. Don't know what it's like where you are, but the weather's pretty much letter and note perfect here in the Ohio River valley.

Now there there's a What Would for Tyler Durden, I just need to get a WWDr.JD bracelet so I can always ask the guru and he can respond with a simple "finger roll, my son, finger roll."

Two bits of news...

First, continuing my coverage of the ickiest fluff entertainment story of the calendar year, I report - from reading like a half dozen soources (I'm not doing any original research here, c'mon) - that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are expecting. To see a timeline of the relationship, head over here. And remember, there are doubts about the honesty of the relationship.

Second, a new James Bond has been announced, and it's going to be Daniel Craig, the suave cocaine dealer from the outstanding Layer Cake. Looks to be a good choice as Bond's heading back to his earlier days, and Craig should be a great choice for that.