On celebrity

Friday night the traffic was horrible so the Goose and I went to The Dark Knight (2008), the latest in a stream of Super Hero movies. When I sat down to write my review it was a bit tough. After all, how do you reference something such as the death of Heath Ledger?

Some people believe and will not be convinced otherwise that he committed suicide with an intentional overdose of a bizarre drug cocktail. Some people believe it was a tragic accidental death. There are other points to fall within the chart but it is clear he had certain issues by the nature of the drugs...all legal, I should emphasize...that he was taking, the sleeping problems , and so forth.

I personally have no opinion one way or the other. Frankly, to me it is irrelevant. I was not there, I don't know Ledger and his life or death affects me in only the most abstract ways...he will not be making any movies that I choose to see.

That might sound a bit cold blooded but it does bring me to my point.

Finally.

Yes, I heard that sigh of relief. I even gave one myself.

Celebrity. It is something I frankly have never understood. I would not cross the room to get the autograph of Brandon Roy (my favorite Trailblazer). For that matter, if he came over and offered one to me for no apparent reason, I doubt I would take it. Okay, so I have his name on a piece of paper. Your point? It does nothing for me. Having "THE BALL" hit over the fence for some guys' home run or having an article of clothing from some famous person...all I can say is, "And?" I fail to see the importance.

Although the Goose is a regular reader of stuff like People, US Weekly and so forth, enjoys watching shows like The Soup and E Channel productions which are essentially just looks at famous people...I don't get it.

Obviously a LOT of people do. There is a reason banal tripe like The Real World, The View, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, People, and more are such HUGE sellers. Think of a number you think that industry produces. I can tell you that you probably underestimated by at least half. Millions upon millions of our fellow Americans expend huge quantities of money purchasing the magazines and the products advertised on those shows.

Why?

One of the magazines...I cannot with honesty tell you which one...has a section where they say, "Celebrities do thus and such" and always emphasize it. "Worthless person X goes Shopping!!!!!!!" "Pointless couple x and y take their kids for a walk!!!!!"

Uh...okay. Thank you for those valuable tidbits. My life is now that much more worthwhile. Reading that is a few seconds of your life you will never get back. Now, multiply that by a thousand and you have an idea how much time some people waste on this stuff.

And I cannot figure out 2 things;

1) Why do people like this stuff?

2) How come I have never understood the appeal?

Should the lives of these people affect the enjoyment I have for various entertainment options? For example, as near as I can tell Alec Baldwin has somewhere between 0 and some negative number of functioning brain cells as evidenced by his oft nonsensical political views. Yet he also plays some pretty entertaining roles. Michael Moore is a manipulative south end of a north bound mule and very questionable honesty and integrity...yet he is also very entertaining. Do I separate the trash from the good in search of entertainment? Charlton Heston at times, particularly later in life, got very over the top yet he made some pretty entertaining movies himself. Do I separate the wackiness from the entertainment?

This is not necessarily a question I think can be resolved...just random thoughts after seeing one of the best movies I have seen this year.