Toastee Still Naked on the Interwebs

[The Newswire]

The incredibly mild fame conferred by being on a reality show opens a person up for so much unpleasantness and, as near as I can ascertain, being on the show itself is a bummer. I know I used to be pretty responsive when television shows wanted to cover Blue Blood...

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[One Eyed Cat]

Given these shows have been around for at least 15 years, I believe one has to be a complete idiot not to know the likely consequences of appearing on a reality tv show. I don't think "fame" is necessarily a good or bad thing. I am certain that if everyone is famous, noone is. Andy Warhol was a bit generous with the 15 minutes.

Why would anyone want to be famous? I have wondered that for both 15 minutes and 15 years now. To me, the relevant question would be famous for *what*? External validation is not a ticket to happiness from what I have both experienced and observed. I think the whole worship and seeking of celebrity gig is silly. I place the blame on Toastee and the other silly names I see mentioned here. There are situations (paparazzi being the obvious) where I would have more sympathy.

Jackie T

[ForrestBlack]

There are situations (paparazzi being the obvious) where I would have more sympathy.

The thing about 'paparazzi' is that more times than not, they are called to the supposedly put-upon celebs location by the celebs own publicity people. The 'stars' get to press their wrists to their forheads and bemoan the heavy price of being just SOOO famous, but it's all just a clever act to get their name in the mouths of people with nothing better to do with their time than pay attention to non-news. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't have a ton of sympathy for the people covered relentlessly by the supposed 'paparazzi' either. I just don't buy into the pretense.

[One Eyed Cat]

The thing about 'paparazzi' is that more times than not, they are called to the supposedly put-upon celebs location by the celebs own publicity people. The 'stars' get to press their wrists to their forheads and bemoan the heavy price of being just SOOO famous, but it's all just a clever act to get their name in the mouths of people with nothing better to do with their time than pay attention to non-news. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't have a ton of sympathy for the people covered relentlessly by the supposed 'paparazzi' either. I just don't buy into the pretense.

Interesting. I would tend to agree with you if it is being contrived. Is it all though? Take, say, the Princess Diana debacle. Is this an aberration? My sense is it happens both ways. But yeah, I would have no sympathy for folks doing that either. It's beyond silly. I'm sure you have a better sense of how this operates in Hollywood. I don't think is always the case worldwide, however.

This is not a good sign for our society. It is healthy to appreciate (and even look up to) artists (in every genre) of distinction, intellectuals, heroic men and women. This still does happen, obviously. I just can't imagine that, in some sense, we are scaring off some major talent with this nonsense. It would seem discernment between legitimate recognition of excellence and media whoring is being lost. This is troubling to me.

Jackie T

[Amelia G]

Interesting. I would tend to agree with you if it is being contrived. Is it all though? Take, say, the Princess Diana debacle. Is this an aberration? My sense is it happens both ways. But yeah, I would have no sympathy for folks doing that either. It's beyond silly. I'm sure you have a better sense of how this operates in Hollywood. I don't think is always the case worldwide, however.

This is not a good sign for our society. It is healthy to appreciate (and even look up to) artists (in every genre) of distinction, intellectuals, heroic men and women. This still does happen, obviously. I just can't imagine that, in some sense, we are scaring off some major talent with this nonsense. It would seem discernment between legitimate recognition of excellence and media whoring is being lost. This is troubling to me.

Jackie T

I don't really know how it works in France. Or for promoting nobility, for that matter. So I can't speak to the Lady Di horror.

For Los Angeles, however, I know for a stone cold fact that there are specific venues (nightclubs, stores, etc.) which publicists will notify event photographers to come out to at a specific time to get "surprise" shots of specific celebs or wannabe celebs. The way it works a lot times is that the publicist will call the store and the store will call the wire service or whatever, but they are really all in on it and this way the celeb can have their hair and clothing the way they would want it in pictures and not the way they would really wear it to pick up a pint of ice cream.

Sometimes a particular celeb's paparazzi shots will do very well and move a lot of magazines. In those cases, even after the person really really doesn't want to be "surprised" any more, they may end up being followed around for real, in order to continue to satisfy the public appetite for pictures of them. I think this is also difficult for significant others, as sometimes there will be a Jennifer Lopez style celeb whose publicist may be trying to get her "surprised" who can be going out with someone like Ben Affleck who would like to punch anyone holding a stealth camera. This sort of mixed message tends to end up engendering a lot of negative press.

[One Eyed Cat]

I don't really know how it works in France. Or for promoting nobility, for that matter. So I can't speak to the Lady Di horror.

For Los Angeles, however, I know for a stone cold fact that there are specific venues (nightclubs, stores, etc.) which publicists will notify event photographers to come out to at a specific time to get "surprise" shots of specific celebs or wannabe celebs. The way it works a lot times is that the publicist will call the store and the store will call the wire service or whatever, but they are really all in on it and this way the celeb can have their hair and clothing the way they would want it in pictures and not the way they would really wear it to pick up a pint of ice cream.

Sometimes a particular celeb's paparazzi shots will do very well and move a lot of magazines. In those cases, even after the person really really doesn't want to be "surprised" any more, they may end up being followed around for real, in order to continue to satisfy the public appetite for pictures of them. I think this is also difficult for significant others, as sometimes there will be a Jennifer Lopez style celeb whose publicist may be trying to get her "surprised" who can be going out with someone like Ben Affleck who would like to punch anyone holding a stealth camera. This sort of mixed message tends to end up engendering a lot of negative press.

That's pretty sad. I would still object to the cases where a person is being followed. Do you see a correlation between "wannabe" celebs and the orchestration of this type of publicity? I'm sure not all famous folks would allow their "publicists" to create a spectacle.

Jackie T

[ForrestBlack]

That's pretty sad. I would still object to the cases where a person is being followed. Do you see a correlation between "wannabe" celebs and the orchestration of this type of publicity? I'm sure not all famous folks would allow their "publicists" to create a spectacle.

Jackie T

They do it all the time. A few don't play that game, but then their names don't have nearly the same buzz, which is just the nature of fame oriented media today. As far as 'wannabe' celebrates, if the publisher doesn't think their name will hook people in the grocery store checkout lime, they are not going to pay the wire service or the photo people, so it's not like any bozo can just call up and get the star treatment. People like Paris get fame for embodying or symbolizing something people are interested in, which I do think is a growing trend, sort of architypical proxy notoriety.

[One Eyed Cat]

They do it all the time. A few don't play that game, but then their names don't have nearly the same buzz, which is just the nature of fame oriented media today. As far as 'wannabe' celebrates, if the publisher doesn't think their name will hook people in the grocery store checkout lime, they are not going to pay the wire service or the photo people, so it's not like any bozo can just call up and get the star treatment. People like Paris get fame for embodying or symbolizing something people are interested in, which I do think is a growing trend, sort of architypical proxy notoriety.

The Humanity. This is depressing but not surprising.

Jackie T