tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34035246741323166772024-03-23T11:13:38.745-07:00Celebri-spiral™: Enough AlreadyOur culture is in a celebri-spiral. We're conflicted over our ridiculous, growing celebrity culture consumption via magazines, websites, and TV shows. In 2007, my love/hate conflict made me take to the blog-o-sphere.
All writing on this site © Dave Singleton 2009.Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.comBlogger152125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-33204472410559926102009-01-07T08:56:00.000-08:002009-01-24T06:16:04.439-08:002009: Pop Culture WritingWelcome to the Celebri-spiral blog. I wrote one daily post for five months (January 1-May 31, 2007) exploring celebrity culture-the good, bad and oh-so ugly. On January 1, 2007, my new year's wish was to Just Say No to toxic celebrities. <br /><br />On that day, I am resolved to:<br /><br />-Take up Yoga again.<br />-Cut out white flour.<br />-Try to be on time.<br />-Stop reading magazines like US, In Style, and In Touch, and avoid websites like Gawker.com and Defamer.com.<br /><br />As part of my resolution to change bad habits, I took on the role of toxic celebrity culture in my life. I wrote daily to understand better my own love/hate relationship with pop culture, a condition I refer to as being in a "celebri-spiral." I invited fellow celebrity culture addicts who love/hate reading pop culture magazines and visiting celebrity web sites, yet refuse to let go of our US Magazine, to post to the <span style="font-weight:bold;">Celebri-spiral: Enough Already<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span> blog. I still want to know why we immerse in celeb-escapism.<br /><br />Before Celebri-spiral, I wrote several published articles on pop culture, and also co-authored <a href="http://epophighlights.blogspot.com">E-Pop! </a> for two years (1998-2000), which seems like a lifetime ago. E-Pop! was an E-Zine featuring very personal and satirical take on the people, politics, and media coverage of the day. Maybe it's not surprising that, with a slightly harsher tone and much more prolific web presence (TMZ anyone?), celebrity culture is thriving,with more media coverage and consumption than ever. <a href="http://epophighlights.blogspot.com">Here are a few fun highlights from E-Pop!</a> <br /><br />In 2009, I'd like to say I've eschewed pop culture, but all facets of my work still collide with it. The pseudo-addiction has merely subsided and I am still writing about it. Here's an example of a recent pop culture piece I wrote: <a href="http://www.aarp.org/makeadifference/advocacy/articles/historicmoments.html">Pop Culture's Memorable Moments of the Last 50 Years</a>. I left the less pop-oriented events, like the moon landing and shuttle explosion, to others. My piece was on Princess Diana's death. <span style="font-style:italic;">No surprise to those who know me.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com81tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-41086804529944619022007-10-11T06:56:00.001-07:002009-01-07T08:19:02.377-08:00May 31, 2007: Celebrity Junkie Get Your FixThe term celebrity junkie takes hold! From Liz Smith's column:<br /><br />Are we stuffing ourselves with empty cultural calories? Snacking mindlessly on famous people's dramas and distresses?" asks writer Jennifer Krause. Witness the latest In Touch mag cover: "Angelina Gains 10 Pounds." And the magazine goes on to ask if Ms. Jolie is pregnant. There are theories that, these days, the "news" is being constructed by a paparazzi and tabloid industry - that it's "made up." And the hunger for following celebrity makes us feel we know the star, and images of same give us a sense of "home and belonging." And I say we are all celebrity junkies to some extent, probably because we can't bear to be dealing all the time with the serious issues that surround us.<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-32404726623793957892007-05-30T16:43:00.000-07:002009-01-05T12:53:36.561-08:00May 30, 2007: Celebri-spiral is in a Virtual Jail of Sorts, Showing Solidarity with Paris<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzqViZNE2McEuey0gGvgT6RFs2h6pzS_kkjiDRgdA2PIE_rIOs_cOZ43Zy67bOHF_-n1RFyPnQv1JX5Q7UIiqcEXVJ0bXTjMGzWuk7qLzxf1E2LkOruk_U7mQLlGkx9cZxfyOc4QNReSDg/s1600-h/Paris+in+jail.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5073787870262795346" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzqViZNE2McEuey0gGvgT6RFs2h6pzS_kkjiDRgdA2PIE_rIOs_cOZ43Zy67bOHF_-n1RFyPnQv1JX5Q7UIiqcEXVJ0bXTjMGzWuk7qLzxf1E2LkOruk_U7mQLlGkx9cZxfyOc4QNReSDg/s400/Paris+in+jail.jpg" border="0" /></a>In solidarity with young, messed-up Hollywood, several of whom are in prison now for the 2nd try(Paris), and some headed there shortly (Nicole, Lilo), I have gone into solitary confinement for a couple of weeks to reflect on what I've done to cause my celebri-spiraling, just as Candy Spelling and Cathy Hilton advised.<br /><br />I will be saying a little prayer for Dina Lohan and all other messed-up celebs and celeb-enablers who continue to bypass the so-called news filters, infiltrate our consciousness, and cause celebri-spirals.<br /><br />Do we bring celebri-spirals on ourselves through our lack of self-editing? If so, what should we do about that? I'll be pondering such weighty topics while in solitary.)<br /><br />All I'll say is that this could be the wake up call young Hollywood needs to get its act together, as well as a siren sounding on ridiculous celebrity overkill that we celebri-spiralers need.<br /><br />I do not want to spend the rest of my life hitting the <strong><span style="color:#000099;"><em>Internet Refresh</em></span></strong> button on TMZ, as they tell their readers to do, in order to <em><strong>not miss a split second of action!<br /></strong></em><br />See you soon.<em></em><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-28367006470852354552007-05-29T10:10:00.000-07:002007-05-29T10:18:23.697-07:00May 29, 2007: Hi-ho Hi-ho It's Off to Rehab, LiloEvery major news outlet is claiming that Lindsay Lohan is headed to Promises, where Britney supposedly got her sobriety and hair back.<br /><br />This after Lilo was photographed passed out in the front seat of her SUV two nights after being arrested on suspicion of DUI. <br /><br />She's not going down without a fight, but how true of addiction.<br /><br />The Lilo news is presented in an equal time slot with President Bush finally addressing the horror in Darfur (it's about time) and Hillary Clinton being taken to task on the campaign trail for possible not reading all intelligence reports about Iraq before casting her vote regarding the war.<br /><br />Can anyone say "priorities?"<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-28678444012423769482007-05-28T13:12:00.000-07:002008-12-11T03:19:55.944-08:00May 28, 2007: Celebrity Culture Shocker! US Exposed!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaJIZcRYASQKC1teccvIAwT-fE8rbuU658jBxjTij0IVFx1R9AsSgl8WCikYQQLkvvO6783zjYd08Fp9r9WeTG0xyqbajc55jNZ1ylqoDrqDMLYzsoTUo5YgbaXMTHeauQD7Ix7vx_9svM/s1600-h/PH2007052701231.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaJIZcRYASQKC1teccvIAwT-fE8rbuU658jBxjTij0IVFx1R9AsSgl8WCikYQQLkvvO6783zjYd08Fp9r9WeTG0xyqbajc55jNZ1ylqoDrqDMLYzsoTUo5YgbaXMTHeauQD7Ix7vx_9svM/s400/PH2007052701231.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5069708945302504882" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Thanks to Howard Kurtz's great article in The Washington Post today (</span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052701228.html?hpid=sec-artsliving">Celeb Rag Shocker: Us's Exposé Exposé!</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">), we now know more about the dirty business decisions that drive the tabloid business.</span><br /><br />Here's just a sample:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Eleven months ago, In Touch magazine ran a "Breaking News" cover about Jennifer Aniston that declared "JEN LOOKS PREGNANT!"</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">In January, another cover blared: "FRIENDS WORRY BRITNEY'S PREGNANT." In April, Katie Holmes got the treatment: "KATIE LOOKS PREGNANT AGAIN."<br /><br />In Touch wasn't alone on the bump-watch front. In the space of one year, after Angelina Jolie gave birth to baby Shiloh, Life & Style, owned by the same company, announced four times that Jolie again looked pregnant, was trying to get pregnant, was wearing loose-fitting clothing or nixing foods that pregnant women avoid. In 2005, Star said Jessica Simpson was "Finally PREGNANT!" In 2006, OK! magazine screamed: "J.LO TO BE A MOM!" Yet during this blizzard of cover headlines, these stars had given birth only to bogus stories.<br /><br />While breathless hype is hardly unknown in the celebrity-rag business, a rival's finger-pointing campaign is rare indeed. Us Weekly recently started razzing the competition with such weekly spreads as "How They Faked the Baby 'News.' "<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />LIES LIES LIES MORE LIES...OH YEAH, AND CALUMNY, TOO!</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />"When we put it all together and saw how many times they've played this game of trickery, it was pretty shocking," says Us Weekly Editor Janice Min. "Would you continue to buy laundry detergent that didn't work week after week?"<br /><br />Clearly, this is not simply an exercise in selfless investigative sleuthing. In fact, Jann Wenner, the media mogul who owns Us Weekly, ordered up the attacks. Min, whose factual track record is not unblemished, concedes that her attempt to tarnish the other magazines amounts to "a business decision."<br /><br />Editors at the other magazines refused to address the details. "Did I miss the memo from Us Weekly saying they want to edit everyone's magazines now? They should concentrate on their own," Richard Spencer, editor of In Touch, says in a statement.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">CELEBRITY TABLOID CATFIGHT! FILM AT 11!<br /></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">At stake in the sniping is market share in a burgeoning business that almost seems to outstrip the available supply of celebrity couplings and uncouplings. At the end of 2006, Us Weekly was selling 1.75 million copies a week, a 40 percent increase over three years earlier. Star's circulation was 1.5 million, a 26 percent jump in three years. But the most dramatic increases were among two magazines launched in the last five years: In Touch (1.3 million), up 151 percent since 2003; and Life & Style (753,000), up 157 percent during that period. People remained the industry leader with sales of 3.7 million.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The formula is fairly simple. Stars must be seen falling in and out of love, cheating or being cheated on, dieting or blimping up, bouncing back or melting down. Weddings, divorces, pregnancies, births, drug problems and rehab stints are huge. The problem is that the two dozen or so first-name luminaries whose faces move magazines -- Paris and Lindsay and Britney and Nicole and their boyfriends and ex-boyfriends -- can stir up only so much intrigue week after week. So some of the magazines take liberties.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"It's clear what the editorial agenda is -- to spin fantasy under the illusion of news," Min says.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />BREATH TAKEN FROM DAVE! LARCENY CHARGES PENDING!<br /><br />It's breathtaking that A) the numbers are that high for these pubs, and 2) Janice Min admits that what she does is spin gold fantasy from celebrity straw.<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br />Read <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052701228.html?hpid=sec-artsliving">the entire story</a>, it's fascinating.<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-41900851157353877762007-05-27T18:08:00.000-07:002008-12-11T03:19:56.232-08:00May 27, 2007: Valley of the Dolls Goes to Jail<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv1WPs1-AX0qt1KAd-2Ey80HbZ8qZcnKTdDXTs6BliMmu7LPidI_W1fS1rWBl351NhuvYa6a9bOkCwsedxUmu_CU5myzpMV2Y8OYt646dxEYKanQTMq1hjLkkmS1Tnkq9NEdsvhoyiA6Gu/s1600-h/0525_lohan_details.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv1WPs1-AX0qt1KAd-2Ey80HbZ8qZcnKTdDXTs6BliMmu7LPidI_W1fS1rWBl351NhuvYa6a9bOkCwsedxUmu_CU5myzpMV2Y8OYt646dxEYKanQTMq1hjLkkmS1Tnkq9NEdsvhoyiA6Gu/s320/0525_lohan_details.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5069417282663368098" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">As if prisons aren't overcrowded enough, now it's possible that the cast of <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">Valley of the Dolls 2007 </span>(Paris, Lindsay, and Nicole) might be headed to the pokey.</span> Not content to let Paris and Nicole get all the attention with their DUI's-or Britney with her head-shave-meltdown- Lindsay got behind the wheel of a car on Sunset Boulevard at 5 A.M. Don't we all know by now that <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2007/05/27/lohans-accident-aftermath">no good can come of that</a>?<br /><br />She's in trouble. Fleeing the scene of an accident, coke allegedly found in her car and a possible DUI, which now puts her a few charges ahead of the others. She's under 21, too.<br /><br />Are they ALL going to the hoos gow, the pokey, the slammer? If so, will they bring the jails down, too? There's a phrase used in AA meetings: a drunk will get you drunker quicker than you will get her sober. With a mother like Dina Lohan, you might need some room in your cell, too, L-girl.<br /><br />Someone wrote the following letter on TMZ. It doesn't seem far off if you ask me:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Don't worry baby, we can get another vodka, or a tequila company to sponser your party. This wasn't your fault, and THEY know it!!! And if Hollywood has a hissy fit over this little stuff, we'll just have your party in Columbia.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Love,</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Mommy</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Advice to LA County jail inmates: good luck and when Lindsay wants to borrow your cold medicine, lighter, and/or car, JUST SAY NO.<br /><br /></span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">To Lindsay: a new GEORGIA RULE! Take Jane Fonda's generous offer that she's made in the media for weeks now and stay curled in Barbarella's arms until you grow up.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-1711135109133008792007-05-26T00:55:00.000-07:002007-05-25T01:06:49.073-07:00May 26, 2007: Rosie vs. Elizabeth Celebri-spiral and Act Out Our Feelings in the Process<object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hTOz4cOk8GM"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hTOz4cOk8GM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Did you see the fight between Elizabeth Hasselback and Rosie O'D on The View this week? It pains me to say two things:<br /><br />1) As much as Rosie seems over the top much of the time, I see nothing strange in what she said or did. She asked Elizabeth to clarify something, which Elizabeth chose not to do. Instead, Elizabeth lost her temper, a fact few are noting. I agree with Rosie 100%.<br /><br />2) Two celebrities fighting on opposites sides of Iraq war strategy - <span style="font-style: italic;">it goes without saying that both support the troops!</span> - actually help us get our feelings out in the open. Sad, sad, sad. Two famous women express the bitter divide that many of us don't take let out enough. Two celebrities acted this out for us and we got to vicariously experience, and perhaps either deepen or release, some strong emotions about the U.S. led Iraq war.<br /><br />Perhaps if more of us had this kind of debate with those close to us, or around us, or even with strangers via a blog, we wouldn't care so much about the latest drama on The View, which happens during sweeps week, the celebri-spiraling blogger cynically notes.<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-49876467093414087732007-05-25T20:43:00.000-07:002007-05-24T20:48:15.218-07:00May 25, 2007: American Idol CoronationAmerica celebri-spiraled this week over the coronation of Jordin Sparks as the new American Idol.<br /><br />Will we celebri-spiral over her? So far, so good. I know nothing about her personal life except a couple of minor tidbits. But her talent came across in a big way. We'll see what happens.<br /><br />The show itself was designed to wreak every emotion out of you; fear, excitement, projection of star-making fantasies, joy, sadness, sentiment...and then after every former Idol sang, and Tony Bennett as the old man graced the stage, out came Bette Midler, and the wind beneath her wings, to make sure we were drained of every tear.<br /><br />Jordin is just 17. I hope she, and the people around her, are careful about not falling into the celebri-spiralish trappings of fame.<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-86349550308202528862007-05-24T10:41:00.000-07:002008-12-11T03:19:56.458-08:00May 24, 2007: Al Gore Takes on Diane Sawyer for Celebri-spiraling<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj418yAF63Te9Usq6geptR4J8wIOi1cWUvNuR7j8IjIZNqCyhAzMcKxCjWUlYwbvc4Pi14bRXdqevtdCUm87dQW_Edl23IZ-PUsb0Bz2fJ0t_ERPOVhs_0EbhVCaq9emKbgcSxU7tuxJVFV/s1600-h/goremay23.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 275px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj418yAF63Te9Usq6geptR4J8wIOi1cWUvNuR7j8IjIZNqCyhAzMcKxCjWUlYwbvc4Pi14bRXdqevtdCUm87dQW_Edl23IZ-PUsb0Bz2fJ0t_ERPOVhs_0EbhVCaq9emKbgcSxU7tuxJVFV/s400/goremay23.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5067814671451440530" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">I loved Al Gore's critique of Diane Sawyer's GMA interview this week. He started it by saying to her, "Listen to your questions..." <span style="font-style: italic;">Hysterical</span>.</span><br /><br />When she asked him about the other personalities in the race, he replied, "That's not what this is about."<br /><br />Sawyer admitted she was doing what Gore condemns, comparing the Presidential run to a horse race: "Not to fall into your thesis that the press only wants the horserace of a political campaign, but--"<br /><br />"But back to the horserace," Gore mocked.<br /><br />"But back to the horserace!," Sawyer replied, with no trace of sheepishness.<br /><br />Then she went after his weight after promising to "dig deeper."<br /><br />"At my peril here, I just want to say one more time. Donna Brazille, your former campaign manager, says 'if he drops 25 to 30 pounds, he's running.' Lost any weight?," Diane asked.<br /><br />Gore laughed, but you could tell he was annoyed. "I think millions of Americans are in the same struggle I am on that one," he responded, right before he launched into his counter-offensive.<br /><br />"But listen to your questions. The horserace, the cosmetic parts of this -- look, that's all understandable and natural. But while we're focused on Britney and K-fed and Anna Nicole Smith and all this stuff, meanwhile, very quietly, our country has been making some very serious mistakes that could be avoided if we, the people, including the news media, are involved in a full and vigorous discussion of what our choices are."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Way to go Al! I like him more and more for his bluntness. And, of course, for taking on celebri-spiraling questions from someone who really should know better but doesn't (Diane, Diane, Diane...what are we going to do with you?).</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-43184965400485423092007-05-23T10:27:00.000-07:002008-12-11T03:19:56.911-08:00May 23, 2007: A Celebri-spiral Cry for Help. Guest Blog from LG<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWCKUno4H_zlj6P4eMRFeHD9sRQ5dl0kO1rtl6P7HVCs5A7OJuw1slNyo-5RK0E0m1sbKbDX2sbnu2qGdmJm5LuIJGsKtiHNeBhQlzgTfLkwEzVQdcPrZk4jk3F4Ilinsq5pcIBnoH9OKj/s1600-h/mighty_heart_red_carpet_052107_04.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWCKUno4H_zlj6P4eMRFeHD9sRQ5dl0kO1rtl6P7HVCs5A7OJuw1slNyo-5RK0E0m1sbKbDX2sbnu2qGdmJm5LuIJGsKtiHNeBhQlzgTfLkwEzVQdcPrZk4jk3F4Ilinsq5pcIBnoH9OKj/s320/mighty_heart_red_carpet_052107_04.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5067811089448715650" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Celebri-spiral reader LG is the guest blogger this week. She writes about the </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://socialitelife.com/images/2007/05/mighty_heart_red_carpet_052107_04.php">photo that caused a thousand celebri-spirals</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span><br /><br />"I am not ashamed of my celebrity addiction. There is just something about them being in Cannes this week that put me over the edge. It's such a frenzy, but way more classy than these events that go down in LA. Cannes is all so Jackie O. I had to force myself not to look at more pics today on a<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span><a href="http://www.socialitelife.com/">A Socialite's Life</a>. Gah.<br /><br />I've never had much of a reaction to Brangelina. I always thought he peaked after Thelma and Louise (which was pretty early in the career ... as in, the very beginning), and my elephant's memory will never forget when Angie dated Billy Bob Thornton and carried around a vial of his blood. That's just crazy.<br /><br />And this adoption and philanthropy business ... all well and good, and they sort of get a check mark for doing their human duty to help those less fortunate than themselves (i.e. everyone).<br /><br />But maybe it was those photos of them doing mundane family things, playing at the beach, dropping the kids off at school, eating lunch together, and so on, that has made me see them as people. Because now, when I see the glamour that is this power couple, I suddenly realize all at once that 1) they are our royalty, and 2) I want that life.<br /><br />In this picture, they are not trying too hard, or acting unstable, or looking desperate or outdated, like they got off the Hollywood treadmill and no one really cares anymore. Even her tattoos are somehow working. Like she's saying, 'I'm a gorgeous mom who has settled down, but I have a hot past, and someday when you're a teenager and effing up, I'll share some of my own stories with you and you'll realize I lived my life to the fullest.'<br /><br />I can't take it."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Thanks, LG. You speak for all of us this week.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-42145814100279678552007-05-22T10:07:00.000-07:002009-01-07T08:20:35.449-08:00May 22, 2007: Celebri-spiraling on the Flight to Las Vegas for WorkFlying for work today, and we know what that means in addition to prepping to do my job. It means a flurry of newspapers, magazines, USA Today headlines, CNN crawls, and the like, probably 50% of which was devoted to celebrities.<br /><br />What did I learn in the mere airport-and-flight-time-of-seven-hours?<br /><ul><li>Britney, headed to Miami from LA to lip sync four songs wearing a variety of wigs while promoting a "comeback," actually made the pilot stop the plane so she could get off. Her reason? The plane didn't have leather seats. </li><li>Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake broke up but is there still tension? The news correspondent who analyzed their quick peck on the cheek at the Shrek 3 premiere seemed to think so. </li><li>Lindsay Lohan might have been doing drugs and it might have been captured on video and she might be upset and a little sorry about it and her friends who leaked it might actually be worried about Lindsay and that's the reason they ratted their friend out. Oh, scratch that last one. The 15 minutes, the money, the "fame by association;" those are the reasons we see so many "friends and family of.." coming forth these days.</li><li>Gossip blogger Perez Hilton gets 2 millions hits a day on his site, has three million dollar lawsuits pending against him, and blogs all day in the Los Angeles Coffee Bean and Teaf Leaf. USA Today calls him influential, while he crowns himself the "Oprah Book Club" of music. This is probably, sadly true.</li><li>Candy Spelling wrote letters of admonition to headed-to-the-hoos-gow Paris Hiton and Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis, already in the pokey. Who next Candy? All I can do is agree with Amy Poehler, who looked at your picture and claimed, "White wine. Making housewives insane for two hundred years now."<br /></li><li>Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria said her TV wedding would be bigger than TV's iconic Luke and Laura nuptials. Ego much?</li><li>Oprah's dad is writing a book on her and she found out about it from a New York Daily News reporter. She is upset. I don't blame her. Why would he do this? He can't possibly need the money.</li><li>David Hasselhoff got the kids in the custody disputes, despite his videotaped drunken burger chomping episode. Hmmm, something's fishy with the wife, who has been on Larry King now twice with scandalicious lawyer Debra Opri, who just billed Larry Birkhead $600 g's before being canned as his rep.</li><li>Amy and Joey are at it still. Joey was spotted frolicking in the pool with his soon to be divorced wife. Amy says the woman is "history." Note to Joey's ex: given the history here, believe Amy when she speaks. Now Mary Jo is on Larry King tonight and CNN is promoting the hell out of it. They are really looking for an Anna Nicole ratings replacement.</li><li>Brangelina dominated the Cannes film fest. Sorry Sharon Stone. Someone stole your glamor crown, though you certainly took over the limelight at this film fest post Madonna and pre Angie. Brad and Angie are impossibly attractive, now with an enviable home life to boot. More on this tomorrow.</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Do I need to know any of this? What do I do? Look away when I see or hear trival celebrity news?</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-7309643157370935332007-05-21T07:07:00.000-07:002008-12-11T03:19:57.201-08:00May 21, 2007: No, No, No, No! No More Amy and Joey! It's like Stepping Back Into Celebri-spiral Hell!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOirLlBvaWdd8MgpOJ0oTDnkXekP-JFFp9Zh_yVsmku5Hsf8tXrbeLWLK2iVEy1rAYOYPZD9rfOFEpNwdNHSWigzVY3YCX_5SoDOLNKTcBcY5OnITfeAiJnWHxQTYSncUHyKuwuwL5hcW-/s1600-h/news008.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOirLlBvaWdd8MgpOJ0oTDnkXekP-JFFp9Zh_yVsmku5Hsf8tXrbeLWLK2iVEy1rAYOYPZD9rfOFEpNwdNHSWigzVY3YCX_5SoDOLNKTcBcY5OnITfeAiJnWHxQTYSncUHyKuwuwL5hcW-/s320/news008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066645761742095730" border="0" /></a>No, no, no, no, no! Not Amy and Joey kissing! Not more Amy and Joey! Why isn't he in jail still? Why isn't she? What are they thinking? Do they miss their tacky fame that much? Do they really want to subject us to their craziness like it's 1992 all over again and we're watching poor Mary Jo with a bullet in her brain try to deal with these two bozos? Will we let them?<br /><br />Apparently, the answer is yes since this <a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/05202007/news/regionalnews/joey_and_amy_get_mushy_regionalnews_cathy_burke.htm">Amy Joey reunion story</a> and gross photo is running across the world today.<br /><br />I promise that I am only running this one clip as a service to you. It's not for me. I will avoid all future stories about them someway, somehow.<br /><br />But better you see this shocking photo and hear the news here first before the tabloid coverage assaults you in the grocery checkout line.<br /><br />OK, I feel a little better. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">As long as I am doing a social good </span>by running this, it's OK.<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-50958775981689093642007-05-20T06:46:00.000-07:002007-05-20T07:22:56.488-07:00May 20, 2007: Farrah on the Celebri-spiral RadarToday is one of those bummer celebri-spiral days when I know I shouldn't feel overly sad about someone I don't know. After all, there's plenty going on with the people I do know, and I try to be attentive to them.<br /><br />Still, I'm sorry to hear that Farrah's cancer is back. She's an icon (30 years later, she still draws out attention.); an angel (I just bought (Charlie's Angels Season I on DVD, which makes me flashback to 1976. Watching that show makes me remember what was personally happening for me at the time. Strange, I know.); and a media phenomenon (who didn't have that poster? Even gay men had that poster.)<br /><br />But she also seems like a nice, if slightly goofy, person, with a good heart. As I watched the entertainment media reporters discussing her condition today, I picked up on genuine concern, as opposed to the fake concern, which they've mastered.<br /><br />If you had to choose the family of celebrities who are on your emotional radar, i.e. the ones you care about personally, who are they?<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-13465086749441388742007-05-19T09:09:00.000-07:002007-05-20T07:21:40.476-07:00May 19, 2007: Celebri-spiraling in the World of Sports and PoliticsLest you forget that celebri-spiraling exists outside the arena of entertainment, these two cases have shocked the nation and made us realize how addictive celebrity soap operas can be in the worlds of sports and politics, too:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1622888,00.html?cnn=yes">Drama at Landis Doping Hearing</a> - bitter backstabbing behind the scenes of global bicycling! Greg Lemond is threatened by Landis' manager who says he'll reveal Lemond's childhood sexual abuse if he testifies at a hearing on steroids. <br /><br />We never really considered the personal lives of these people before this. How long before we see this idea stolen and portrayed on Law and Order? I'd say three weeks. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/15/ashcroft.nsa/index.html"> </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/15/ashcroft.nsa/index.html">Sick Ashcroft pressed to approve domestic spying'</a> - Forget the Pelican Brief. Dynasty or Dallas could not have come up with a more heart-racing political thriller than what happened when John Ashcroft was in the hospital, having passed off his Attorney General authority to his deputy, as White House minions raced to his bedside to take advantage of his ill state and pressure him into signing papers for the President.</span><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-18303769225253180022007-05-18T08:44:00.000-07:002008-12-11T03:19:57.363-08:00May 18, 2007: Ashley Judd in Celebri-spiral Recovery<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif_cG4C8_hR6cQUW4BZrtkhhzDO06QGx8AYxs_7_jOocJDwhT3YeNp47TKqxauBDi099tQRwuVAlugfh6bKD1yZnIJJ8B2L3IAv9UsmYuyKQNJSYEnoeLk9CVuM9Li-XfmRN74YkCXYqPy/s1600-h/ashley_judd-feminist.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif_cG4C8_hR6cQUW4BZrtkhhzDO06QGx8AYxs_7_jOocJDwhT3YeNp47TKqxauBDi099tQRwuVAlugfh6bKD1yZnIJJ8B2L3IAv9UsmYuyKQNJSYEnoeLk9CVuM9Li-XfmRN74YkCXYqPy/s320/ashley_judd-feminist.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5065930477888619874" border="0" /></a><b>When Ashley Judd received treatment for depression, it looks like they also treated the pervasive addiction that some celebrities must have for their own fame:<br /></b><p><b></b><span style="font-style: italic;"> "I had to hit a bottom. It's like when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing." So says Ashley Judd, discussing the 47-day stay she spent in a Texas treatment facility last year to recover from a longtime bout of depression. The actress looks back on that healing time in the issue of Entertainment Weekly that hits stands Friday — in which she also says that one way she copes with the negatives of fame is to steer clear of the tabloids. "I have a really firm slogan now that it's none of my business what people think of me."</span></p><span style="font-weight: bold;">I am glad to hear her talk about this issue. She's a great actress who's doing much good in the world with her feminist activism and AIDS awareness outreach. But while hers is one side of celebrity depression, there's another, equally problematic</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> celebri-spiraling</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> side.</span><br /><br />There's the depression that celebrities themselves must feel, faced with a purported need to stay in the press in order to be validated. Their agents and managers foster this I am sure; but for the person, what does that do to your soul? You take a person who's <span style="font-style: italic;">probably insecure </span>to start with, overlay the need to now amp up the level of attention they need on a daily basis, and then tie it both to their self esteem and career.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Then there's the depression that celebri-spiralers face.</span> Immersion in celebrity tabloid culture fosters impossible cycles of comparing-despairing (I'm not good enough), celebrity envy (I want Gwen Stefani's $4,000 baby carriage, Oprah's five houses, and John Travolta's fleet of airplanes), unrealistic expectations (If only I was famous, I'd have no problems like the happy people on the award show red carpet), and a confusing relationship with healthy escape (how much immersion into the lives of people I don't know is too much?).<br /><br />Is there any question that there's a direct relationship between booming celebrity culture and the rise of Prozac?<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-15213464531326309102007-05-17T08:41:00.000-07:002007-05-18T09:05:36.081-07:00May 17, 2007: Riddle Me This, Celebri-spiral SpoilerThis comes from <a href="http://cathleenritt.blogspot.com/2007/05/digg-did-not-father-anna-nicoles-baby.html#links">Cathleen</a>, the <em><strong>Celebri-spiral™ official</strong></em> <strong><em>spoiler™</em></strong>, who runs <em><strong><a href="http://cathleenritt.blogspot.com/">Sporadic</a></strong></em>™:<br /><br /><a href="http://celebri-spiral.blogspot.com/2007/05/may-16-2007-ipod-phone-vs-anna-nicole.html"><em>Digg did not father Anna Nicole's Baby</em></a><em><br />Inserted myself at the nexus of pop culture, tech news and social media and linked together two of my favorite bloggers: Dave Singleton, </em><a href="http://celebri-spiral.blogspot.com/"><em>Celebri-Spiral </em></a><em>and Steve Rubel, </em><a href="http://www.micropersuasion.com/2007/05/celebrities_dom.html"><em>Micro Persuasion</em></a>.<br /><br />I once used to talk to Cathleen live, but now only interface with her in the <strong><em>shadowy world of virtual Gotham</em></strong>. She combines a<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">fascination with productivity</span> mixed with <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">pop culture. </span><br /><br />Read her post <a href="http://cathleenritt.blogspot.com/2007/05/digg-did-not-father-anna-nicoles-baby.html#links">today</a> and her Alec Baldwin PowerPoint rant (in which productivity and celebrity culture collide, spurred on by a voicemail rant), and check out <a href="http://www.micropersuasion.com/">MicroPersuasion</a>, which speaks to how technology is revolutionizing everything.<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-88381642649213865632007-05-16T12:29:00.000-07:002007-05-16T12:37:00.358-07:00May 16, 2007: iPod Phone vs. Anna Nicole Death. It's a Celebri-spiral Throwdown!<h3 style="font-weight: normal;" class="entry-header"><img title="Anna" style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left; width: 143px; height: 206px;" alt="Anna" src="http://steverubel.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/05/15/anna.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Thanks to <a href="http://cathleenritt.blogspot.com/">Cathleen</a> for sending me a link to <a href="http://www.micropersuasion.com/2007/05/celebrities_dom.html">Celebrities Dominate, But Not on Digg</a></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >. Pop culture early adopters showed their strength over tabloid junkies. Woo hoo! </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Check it out:</span><br /></span></h3><span style="font-style: italic;">It never ceases to amaze me just how much we love celebrities. Even the wide river of non-gossip bloggers. However, on digg they like tech a whole lot more. </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >PC Magazine ran <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/image_popup/0,1871,iid=173200,00.asp">an interesting chart </a>in their latest issue that measures this. They tracked the buzz around the death of Anna Nicole Smith and compared it to the launch of the iPhone. Anna trumped Apple in Google searches, blog posts and news stories by a wide margin. But the iPhone walloped Anna on digg.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-18496495076276276152007-05-15T07:43:00.000-07:002007-05-15T08:57:29.638-07:00May 15, 2007: Making Friends with "Friends"Tonight on CNN"s Showbiz Tonight, there's a segment on how our brains are wired to connect, including with celebrities. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/showbiz/2007/05/15/hammer.celebrity.connections.affl/content.html#">Showbiz Tonight's A.J. Hammer report</a> uses the example of how the cast of <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Friends</span> do seem like friends, and how our brains are full of these characters, both those we know personally and those we feel we know through media.<br /><br />This faux connection with celebrities is a huge part of the reason why we celebri-spiral. <br /><br />The science and psychology behind this concept is fascinating, isn't it? Basically, were we ever really meant to live and experience life outside of what psychologists call our "realm of influence;" I.e. those we know personally and can see and hear live instead of on a TV show or in a magazine?<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-19590852119332909922007-05-14T07:20:00.000-07:002007-05-14T07:57:20.179-07:00May 14, 2007: File This Under the "...And He Would Know" CategoryCelebrity and crime writer Dominick Dunne speaks on the industry that's made him a household name. Larry King recently asked him about why coverage of certain people, especially wayward young female celebs, is raging out of control like a brush fire.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">KING: But how did we get to this? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">DUNNE: How do we get to it? Well, we are in the most celebrity-mad phase in the history of our country. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">KING: Tabloids add to it?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">DUNNE: Absolutely.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">KING: Does "Vanity Fair" add to it? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">DUNNE: Sadly, yes, but not primarily. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">There, from the horse's mouth, more proof of the celebri-spiraling concept. Mr. Dunne, over 80, has seen a lot and made a living off of celebrity culture for a few decades, including from the forenamed Vanity Fair. So if he thinks this is the most celebrity-mad phase in the history of our country, that's credible.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-6228362365520410742007-05-13T14:15:00.000-07:002007-05-13T14:29:36.021-07:00May 13, 2007: Celebrity Quotes that Make Us Celebri-spiral<span style="font-weight: bold;">You have to hand it to VH1. They are owning the celebrity tabloid TV market (sorry E! Channel) with some shows that spoof celebrity culture (<a href="http://www.bestweekever.tv/">Best Week Ever</a>) and others that celebrate it blindly.</span><br /><br />The newest addition is <a href="http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greatest/103536/episode_about.jhtml">VH1's 40 Dumbest Celeb Quotes</a>, and frankly, I am not sure which of the two categories this one falls under.<br /><br />On the one hand, spotlighting quotes like the following seems, in and of itself, like a spoof.<br /><br />But on the other hand, it's not. They happened. The media covered them and we lapped them up, in blind, if not dumb, celebration.<br /><br />Here are a few in all their glory:<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">The Blondes</span><br /><ul><li>Jessica Simpson - "Is this chicken what I have, or is this fish? I know it's tuna but it says Chicken, by the Sea"</li><li>Tara Reid - "I make Jessica Simpson look like a rock scientist"</li><li>Paris - "What's Walmart, do they sell like wall stuff?"</li><li>Alicia Silverstone - "I think that the film "Clueless" was very deep. I think it was deep in the way that it was very light. I think lightness has to come from a very deep place if it's true lightness."</li></ul><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">The Leaders</span><br /><ul><li>George Bush - "Too many obgyn's aren't able to practice their love with women across this country."</li><li>Arnold Schwarzanegger - "I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman."</li><li>Bill Clinton - "If I were a single man, I might ask that mummy out. That's a good-looking mommy."</li></ul><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">The Geographically-Challenged</span><br /><ul><li>Britney Spears - "I get to go overseas places, like Canada"</li><li>Christina Aguilera - "So, where's the Cannes Film Festival being held this year?"</li><li>Dan Quayle - "I love California. I grew up in Phoenix."</li></ul><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">And The Truly Bizarre</span><br /><ul><li>David Hasselfhoff - "I find it a bid sad that there is no photo of me at the museum at Checkpoint Charlie."</li><li>R.Kelly - "All of a sudden you're like the Bin Laden of America. Osama Bin Laden is the only one who knows what I'm going through."</li><li>Brooke Shields - "Smoking kills, and if you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life."</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">They made us laugh, they made us shake our heads and feel perhaps slightly superior, and, most importantly, they made us pay attention to those who said them. So maybe VH1's next show should be called </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">VH1's Dumbest Celebri-spiraling Viewers</span>.<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-4264465310694259692007-05-12T12:42:00.000-07:002008-12-11T03:19:57.738-08:00May 12, 2007: $600 Diaper Bag Marketed with Celebrity Envy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWiFl3MKtMEmhUKS2IN-8ytUa5hYEuUZpE4OPlc2jgAEefmIf3OAcaBpS8siCJ-qjDNjhPXkSOFPUPC4-EDZerdChNO5K5NGQtoEDVMZctLrfKvb5xyrHqw7ICWGcwx2gfBAzX5Mj3uSej/s1600-h/0328_tori_jolie_bag_2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWiFl3MKtMEmhUKS2IN-8ytUa5hYEuUZpE4OPlc2jgAEefmIf3OAcaBpS8siCJ-qjDNjhPXkSOFPUPC4-EDZerdChNO5K5NGQtoEDVMZctLrfKvb5xyrHqw7ICWGcwx2gfBAzX5Mj3uSej/s320/0328_tori_jolie_bag_2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5063787625450173634" border="0" /></a>Just what new moms need to know. As if struggling to manage home, finances, and new baby isn't enough!<br /><br />Featured in <span style="font-style: italic;">In Style</span> magazine, the new baby diaper bag (<a href="http://www.tmz.com/2007/03/28/angelina-and-tori-gaga-for-same-diaper-bag">Angelina & Tori Gaga for Same Diaper Bag</a>) is the latest <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">celebrity envy-inducing product</span> to grace the pages of yet another endlessly materialistic glossy. Hey, it only costs $600. <span style="font-weight: bold;">That's affordable for the average reader of <span style="font-style: italic;">In Style</span>, no?<br /><br />As reported by TMZ:<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />In between Angie saving the world and Tori opening a Bed and Breakfast, both ladies recently picked up Hammitt's $600 Suzy leather diaper bag. No Babies "R" Us for these mamacitas! StyleChic's Aly Scott tells TMZ that Angelina got hers in Oscar-winning black, while Tori opted for one in a more reality show appropriate hue.<br /><br />And once diaper-changing days are over for these hot mamas, the plush pouch doubles as a stylish travel duffel. Which will be perfect for all of Angelina's Third World jaunts and Tori's trips to day spas in the 90210!</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-72400981453406398662007-05-11T07:30:00.000-07:002007-05-12T14:35:02.596-07:00May 11, 2007: Human RSS Feeds for Celebri-spiralersToday's post is inspired by PR-maven Suzanne, who's come up with a new term for those who race to celebri-spiralers like us with the latest celeb-news. The term is <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Human RSS Feeds, and it's a spin on the direct news feeds that every major media outlet offers.</span> It's fitting. Don't celebri-spiralers, in one way or another, train those close to us to give us what we want?<br /><br />The question is why do they do it? Co-dependent enabling? Overeagerness to please? In Suzanne's case, is it that she's the mom and they want parental approval? Suzanne says she's trained her kids to rush to her with celebrity news, as if she's not already on it! In fact, our group of friends races to email each other with celebrity scoops, and Suzanne usually wins.<br /><br />I think she's set the bar high for the kids in some scary, celeb-hued <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Mommie Dearest</span> take-off, in which mother says sternly, plainly to child, "<span style="font-style: italic;">You will never, ever beat Mommy at getting the latest celeb-gossip. But you must try, Christina, try! Compete with US Magazine alerts and TMZ</span>!"<br /><br />Writes Suzanne (and I paraphrase) about a typical morning in which <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Today Show</span> was on in the background at around 7:30 A.M. as the family readied for their day, and daughter Ellie needed to relay celeb-news to Mom.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Ellie came running in, saying 'Mom, on TV they just showed a clip from </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Sound of Music</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> and then one from </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Mary Poppins</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> back to back....' <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />I cut her off, pushed her aside trying to get to the TV while wondering aloud, 'Oh my god, has something happened to Julie Andrews?!'</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">It's funny where my mind went immediately. As I wondered if Julie had died, I thought of the other possibilities. Could it be: A) new book, B) some charity rah rah, C) an early Shrek 3 promo, or D) her death announcement. I shrieked at the possibility that it might be #4. In truth, it was # 1.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Maybe it's just an itching for some delicious celebri-tragedy served with your oatmeal? I know when I hear anyone even say "Charl" as in Charlie or Charleston, South Caroline, I immediately assume it's the death announcement of very ill actor Charlton Heston, Mr. N.R.A. himself. Some newscaster is coming on to say that Moses has finally fallen like a tablet off the earth mount."</span><br /><br /><span>I'm sure that, when Mr. H. finally does pass, Ellie and thousands of other human RSS feeds will get to work, informing </span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">their </span><span>respective </span></span><span>celebri-spiralers of the breaking news.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How many of us have Human RSS feeds? Who's yours?</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-68776242873657217422007-05-10T11:08:00.000-07:002007-05-10T11:20:49.044-07:00May 10, 2007: Wikipedia and Celebrity CultureHave you seen the wikipedia entry for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_culture">celebrity culture</a>? It's so encompassing and polarizing a topic that it's hard to define.<br /><br />But I like this excerpt about the rise of celebrity culture:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">One possible explanation of this trend is that an artificial importance has been created in order to promote a product or a service, rather than to record a purely biographical event. As more new products are launched in a world market that is constantly expanding, the need for more celebrities has become an industry in itself.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Another explanation, used by Chuck Palahniuk, is that this exaggeration of modern celebrity culture is created out of a need for drama and spectacle. In the book Haunted, he describes the pattern of creating a celebrity as a god-like figure, and once this image is created, the desire to destroy it and shame the individual in the most extreme ways possible. Tabloid magazines are the prototype example of this theory.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-45239577667686375512007-05-09T12:56:00.000-07:002008-12-11T03:19:58.021-08:00May 9, 2007: Oprah on Larry King Causes Unusual Type of Celebri-spiral<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1wWofAqSmhNXTAof0_WiAEzqv2FjKKvjfXvhbuqguKlkqmnIStY7KSKfY49b4QFMnBbSgrCo1Q9ZMebPtQZS7qwNs194Z-_nbfiYjKfg16TAYLr04Pt4F-uJKZnwssyeG9mYyFTk1zERt/s1600-h/OprahLarry.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1wWofAqSmhNXTAof0_WiAEzqv2FjKKvjfXvhbuqguKlkqmnIStY7KSKfY49b4QFMnBbSgrCo1Q9ZMebPtQZS7qwNs194Z-_nbfiYjKfg16TAYLr04Pt4F-uJKZnwssyeG9mYyFTk1zERt/s320/OprahLarry.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5061912455613641890" border="0" /></a>If you dislike fawning, then run, don't walk, to the Blog exit.<br /><br />I saw Oprah interviewed by Larry King for his 50th anniversary celebration.<br /><br />I'm writing about it because, while watching, I celebri-spiraled in an unusual way. Instead of feeling conflicted over watching a celeb on his show, I was impressed with how inspirational she is, launching a school for girls in Africa and new projects aimed at boosting child predator laws. I felt like I can't possibly do enough, like Oprah does.<br /><br />Disclaimer: no, I don't know what Oprah's really like, or what her bad habits are. She has them. We all do. Nor are celebrities the best role models. That moniker is reserved in my mind for many an unsung hero; a caring teacher, selfless parent, and anyone who acts on behalf of evolution-personal, social, spiritual, scientific....I know all this.<br /><br />Despite my celebri-spiral conflict, I am the first to say, "Don't put celebrities on pedestals. It's a huge celebri-spiral mistake."<br /><br />Still, I watched with a mixture of <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">feeling-great-about-Oprah<br />-but-bad-about-myself</span> as uber-celeb Ms. Winfrey spoke in the contagious language of vision and positive energy. There's a great poem from Emily Dickinson called "<a href="http://writing.upenn.edu/%7Eafilreis/88/ed-possibility.htm">I dwell in possibility</a>." I have the saying <span style="font-style: italic;">Dwell in Possibility</span> on my refrigerator. It's a profound thought for me, and for some reason, Oprah embodies and expresses that idea.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">On the show, Oprah made a few comments that fit with my celebri-spiral theme:<br /><br />Without dismissing celebrity culture, or her very clear role in fostering it, she said, </span>"<span style="font-style: italic;">Celebrities are great and fun and all, but the real stories from real people are most important.</span>"<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">She spoke of her dream legacy that far surpasses TV fame:</span> "<span style="font-style: italic;">I want to have changed the laws, the laws, state by state, for child predators in this country. That's what I want to have done. And I won't be satisfied until that is done. I want the laws to change because you know, every time we are outraged as a citizenry and as a country. All over the world people are upset when a child is snatched, when somebody goes into somebody's house, you know, and molests a child, kills a child. It's inconceivable. But every time it happens people say, oh, we're outraged, it shouldn't happen, the law, he should have been put in jail, he should have been able to stay in jail. Well, I want to change that. So that's my big goal. So no, I'm not even kind of done. I haven't even gotten started</span>."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">She talked about how celebrities can and should add value to the world through their fame platform that's handed to them:</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> "I've got a great platform. And you were asking me the question about clout. What's the point of clout if you can't do something with it?</span>"<div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3403524674132316677.post-58249638443311170492007-05-08T08:21:00.000-07:002008-12-11T03:19:58.211-08:00May 8, 2007: The Celebri-spiraling Petitions to Pardon Paris<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEq82B5vBE4EG8nvxYooqGfZm6ANmOiG2qSBj9TGO-duFacTAwCy4Bp4Jdr-WT4HVgabHHBZEEpn0LleVdE2ty-9sNx_1IEqmROJPCPxFC1vG7TRgYShB-7zeu8T-VFoNLobmpyALdeLZ/s1600-h/parisjail.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEq82B5vBE4EG8nvxYooqGfZm6ANmOiG2qSBj9TGO-duFacTAwCy4Bp4Jdr-WT4HVgabHHBZEEpn0LleVdE2ty-9sNx_1IEqmROJPCPxFC1vG7TRgYShB-7zeu8T-VFoNLobmpyALdeLZ/s320/parisjail.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062214310210172082" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Since Ms. Hilton has called her jail sentence "unfair," her fans are posting petitions on </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.pardonparis.com/">pardonparis.com</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> and </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/PH21781/?e">freeparishilton,</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> urging </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Governator</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Schwarzenegger to free the heiress.</span> <p class="ap-story-p">"I feel that I was treated unfairly and that the sentence is both cruel and unwarranted and I don't deserve this," Hilton told photographers assembled outside her home Saturday.</p> <p class="ap-story-p">The latter petition, which had more than 1800 signatures by Tuesday afternoon, urges the California action star/governor to pardon Hilton because <span style="font-style: italic;">"She provides hope for young people all over the U.S. and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives. "</span></p><p class="ap-story-p"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ouch. Yuck. Blech.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Is your life mundane enough to require her?</span><br /></p><p class="ap-story-p">As I read this, I can't help but think of the new book <a href="http://thesecret.tv/">The Secret</a>, which claims that we conjure up the events in our lives. Why exactly did we conjur her? And don't give me the two-second answer. Let's really think about this. The key to celebri-spiraling could be found here.</p><p class="ap-story-p">But for now, back to the petitions, which pull out the stops. I have to give them that. Another excerpt:</p><p style="font-style: italic;" class="ap-story-p">"If the late former President Gerald Ford could find it in his heart to pardon the late former President Richard Nixon after his mistake(s), we undeniably support Paris Hilton being pardoned for her honest mistake as well, and we hope and expect the governor will understand and grant this unusual but important request in good faith to Ms. Paris Whitney Hilton."</p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Well, sirs and madams, I knew Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon was a friend of mine. Paris Whitney Hilton is no Richard Nixon.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">All writing on Celebri-spiral™ @celebri-spiral.blogspot.com is © Dave Singleton 2007</div>Dave Singletonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05954530891325716845noreply@blogger.com8