bad hair day?

breakingnews · 02-24-2005, 10:01 PM

Bad everything days. We've all had them, usually more often than not. But that's part of life, no? I suppose if you want to live like a movie star and get decked out for the daily trip to Starbucks and Whole Foods, sure, but there's a price and some sort of social stigma attached with that kind of behavior. Pride and dignity interspersed accordingly.

If you are a rock star, however, suddenly your bad days become Average Joe's fantasy. I am embarassed that this kind of shit exists in our world.

After watching The O.C. reach unattainable levels of lameness, I am subjected to "Celebs without make-up," a program that provokes within me such a profound disgust with humans and how low some will stoop to make a buck. It's an hour of very candid photos and videos of celebrities at their less-than-stellar - known to you and I as *everyday* - moments. Who fucking cares? Apparently enough that Fox would consider airing the show. No hypocrisy here: Let's disgrace the very actors and actresses who likely made Fox a popular television network in the first place.

What is the fascination with trailing these celebs and trying to belittle them with such mockery? Is it a sense of inadequacy or total envy? What do you gain by documenting the fact that Sharon Stone or Jessica Simpson can, in fact, look like as much of a slob as you do? The difference is that while you and I can try to clean up and look somewhat decent, these celebs will don their ritzy dresses and expensive diamonds and become a thousand times more than you or I can ever hope to attain. Let's not forget vocal or acting abilities that may or may not accompany the glamour - there is a reason they've made it big. If you've starred in a movie, suddenly people believe that your off-screen life - though likely lived on the same streets, at the same bars and restaurants and in the same stores - is worlds apart from the mundane crap everyone else uses as an excuse for their existences.

That I have unintentionally been in the same bars with Ivanka Trump and the Bush twins immediately tells me not that I am cool - but that they are huge fucking losers for patronizing the very New York landfills which I make a concerted effort to avoid. (Yes, I am also a huge loser for being convinced to go to those places.) They are no better than I am. You might have cameras constantly in your face or secret service on hand to excuse you from a late-night bout with debauchery, but I am free of such scrutiny and am content with the private, albeit uninteresting, life I lead.

Don't get me wrong, some celebrities are just asking for trouble. Take the latest Paris Hilton/T-Mobile caper - no fault of her own, but the contents of her Sidekick simply bolster how much of a whackjob the girl is. One entry that immediately caught my attention was, "Feed the children - 235-933-93001." (Yes there is an extra digit there.) Other notable entries include any with the five different spellings of "Paris Goddess," "Famous, Rich not" and "Fux, Connor." I list that last one because at first I thought it was some [hilarious] asshole that somehow convinced her to put his [fake] name in her phone; later I discover that he's really a 24-year-old graduate of the theater department ... at JAMES MADISON UNIV. A nobody. Absolute nobody, and he has somehow earned a spot in her phone. Not that I would ever want to associate myself with the girl, but I digress ...

What would happen if we just stopped caring about celebrities? What if the Brad Pitts and Jennifer Anistons of the world went about their frolicking in plain L.A. daylight and a platoon of paparazzi photographers didn't appear from the sand in a brilliance of popping flashes? Is it possible for people to be famous for their abilities but not the sub-conscious objects of our fantasies and desires? What's the point of popularity, anyway?

lookout123 · 02-24-2005, 10:59 PM

ok - i hear your rant and i sympathize (is that the right word? 13 shots into a bender i'm not sure) but let's make this personal... some celebrities buy their hype, some remain down to earth. who have you mingled with and how did they interact with the folken?
me?

brooke shields - partied at the bar i was working at. extraordinarily plain in appearance. a crew of bodyguards like you couldn't imagine. BITCH to my customers. i tossed her ass out. she and the hired meat didn't take it well.

drew berrymore - once at a party. amazingly shy. nice girl. that is about it.

helen hunt - filmed Twister near where i lived. Bitch. rude condescending homely cheap bitch. i like the movies, but she expected midwesterners to kiss her royal hiney. didn't happen, she was a screamer.

david spade - nice guy. goofy. actually looked hurt when my wife called him shorty. (i felt bad for him.) i actually liked him, because he was kind of like "everyguy"

adam sandler - i really like this guy in real life even if i don't think his movies are all that great. he is a really nice, shy guy. was embarrassed when people started treating him like a star. just wanted to blend in. someone you would invite to your backyard barbecue.

tiger woods - did not want to be seen rubbing elbows with anyone "not famous" at my bar.

chris farley - used to run into him in the John Hancock building in chicago all the time (he lived there) a really genuine guy. nice. open. if there were more than 2 or 3 people present he would instantly go into some sort of goofy act though. he always had some sort of picked on little brother aura around him though. his death is probably the only time that a celebrity death really rocked me. chris was a stand up guy who never found what he was looking for and i will always be sad when i see his movies, his characters weren't that far off from the real guy.

John Candy - only met him once - but very open. friendly, but wary of people. seemed like he was afraid that you had an angle when talking to him.

i guess that is about it. and if you are wondering about the string of SNL ties, i bartended right down the street from the Yankee Clipper. It was a dive bar in Rock Island, IL. that is the place that The Blues Brothers were born. for some bizarre reason, the SNL cast hung out in the dirtiest little bar in Rock Island, IL.

anyway, those are mine - how about yours?

breakingnews · 02-25-2005, 10:01 AM

Well, not exactly what I meant, but yeah, in a tangential point, I dislike how much hoopla there is when a celebrity somehow appears in your life.

The town of Princeton nearly came to a halt when it was rumored that Brooke Shields would return for some reunion event at the University. In my 24 years, this was topped only by Clinton speaking at Commencement a few years back and the 1996 Olympic torch passing through town on its way to Atlanta.

Similar situation when they filmed IQ there and Tim Robbins and Meg Ryan [drool] were in town for about two months. They docked the trailers at Princeton U., and while I was at tennis camp there, I tossed a ball into the fenced area and asked Meg to autograph it. She looked at my pathetic 13-year-old face, kicked my ball aside and went into her trailer. Bullshit.

Ivanka Trump was last summer. We were edging on "shit nasty" drunk when we arrived at some random bar in Grammercy Park, and my friend Doug approaches her.

"Hey, are you Ivanka Trump?"
"Yes, I am."
"Wow, will you buy me a drink?"

She gets up and walks away. Bitch can't take a joke!

A month ago we spotted Dan Akroyd on Pat O'Briens on the Upper East Side. He was actually really cool, but he's also now really tubby, and he kept refusing my offers to get him completely shithoused. Seeing as he was by himself, we dispatched a few girls to recruit him but to no avail. Suit yourself, ghostbuster.

A friend's brother attended Yale and is good friends with Barbara Bush. He invites us to her and Jenna's party at the Maritime hotel, but it's so packed we can barely get inside. I see someone who I think is Jenna, but I am on such an uneven keel at this point that I decide to leave and seek fame elsewhere.

staceyv · 03-21-2005, 11:01 AM

I actually love the idea and I want to watch the show. It's not fair to subject the public to these perfect, beautiful people all the time, making everyone else feel ugly. It's about time we saw what they really look like without all the professional makeup and hair, etc. I think it will give everyone else a big self esteem boost and maybe they'll stop being so hard on themselves.

I gained 10 pounds this winter and a dimple in the middle of my butt cheek. I felt fat and flawed until I saw a picture of Brittany Spears with cellulite. That honestly made me feel better. Sick, twisted, yeah yeah yeah, whatever. You know it's true for you too.

OnyxCougar · 03-21-2005, 11:29 AM

Wayne Newton is a genuinely nice guy, I spoke with him once on the phone and helped him get his modem online. His ranch was on the way to work, and sometimes the horses would be out front. I'd stop and pet them occasionally and once he was out there with them. We spoke briefly. He remembered me from the phone and he was nice. I didn't ask for an autograph or anything, and I'm not sure but I think he appreciated I wasn't fawning all over him. I treated him like a regular guy, and that suited him just fine.

Undertoad · 03-21-2005, 11:46 AM

Chris Isaak - extremely nice gent, loves what he does, had a great chat with me and my buddy for five minutes after a show. My buddy gave him a long encouraging handwritten letter (OK this was pre-Internet) and Isaak wrote him back a postcard from the hotel he was staying at the next day to say thanks.

REM bassist Mike Mills: recognized him at a Bodeans show. Personable and real.

Nobody remembers Julian Cope except Brits, probably, but he was surprisingly approachable and told me a cool story when I asked about a lyric.

My business associate says Marshall Crenshaw was a dick to him.

Penn & Teller stand outside the lobby after all of their shows and say hi to their fans and have little momentary chats and shake hands and sign autographs. You have to respect that a lot.

dar512 · 03-21-2005, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by staceyv

It's not fair to subject the public to these perfect, beautiful people all the time, making everyone else feel ugly.

Then stop watching! Stop watching TV, stop reading People, stop reading Vogue etc. Everyone else looks a lot better when you stop paying so much attention to the top .01%.

Added benefit - you get a lot more done in your own life.

staceyv · 03-21-2005, 01:54 PM

you don't really need to "pay attention" to see these people. All you have to do is stand in line at a grocery store. Ofcourse, everyone realizes that these people are made up and pampered, doesn't matter. I think I won't be alone in enjoying the fact that these are really just normal, normal looking people, with flaws like everyone else.

mrnoodle · 03-21-2005, 03:02 PM

If they would make a show where celebrities in bad lighting get chased by the cops while being attacked by animals, I would watch. The Fox trifecta, so to speak. Otherwise, I'll just wait for the cellar review.

breakingnews · 03-22-2005, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dar512

Then stop watching! Stop watching TV, stop reading People, stop reading Vogue etc. Everyone else looks a lot better when you stop paying so much attention to the top .01%.

This is like 25 percent of the point I was trying to make. Another 25 percent had to do with reasons why we care so much about celebs to begin with. The remaining 50 percent related to humans being so greedy and envious that they resort to trailing celebs 24 hours a day in hopes of getting an ass-crack photo for money, fame or whatever the motive may be. What's worse is that people buy it, whether for the sick voyeurism or to "make them feel better about themselves."

Models, actors, celebs, whoever are made up and plastered all over the world for one reason: they're undeniably beautiful. I think most everyone agrees, and those who say they don't are lying or in denial. We, as humans, are predisposed to certain body types and features, and we put the cream of the crop on TV and in magazines because we like to look at and masturbate to them. Darwinism at its finest. While some people get those genes, other folks in this world share traits and abilities that carry differing degrees of importance.

Yes, the widespread attention given to celebs is not great, but if you have self-esteem issues, those are your own problems to deal with. No fault of the media, Hollywood or silicone that celebs and models look the way they do. This is the 21st century: You should be aware enough to know what happens to a photo before it graces the cover of Cosmo or Playboy. And those who think they can (or want to) look this way through plastic surgery/makeovers are likely lacking in the intelligence department, too.

Funny that you never hear of pro sports (which are becoming equally worthless as Hollywood) being blamed for someone considering himself fat, lazy and unathletic. Or Ivy league schools targeted as the reason someone feels he/she is dumb and intellectually inferior. Some folks just have it, while some don't.

Happy Monkey · 03-22-2005, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by breakingnews

Or Ivy league schools targeted as the reason someone feels he/she is dumb and intellectually inferior.

This one actually seems to be gaining some support in conservative circles.

breakingnews · 03-22-2005, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

This one actually seems to be gaining some support in conservative circles.

What's their take on it?

Happy Monkey · 03-22-2005, 02:50 PM

The reason there aren't as many conservatives in educated circles as there are in uneducated circles is that there's discrimination in universities.

breakingnews · 03-22-2005, 04:38 PM

Oh, like that. Lame.

lookout123 · 03-22-2005, 05:00 PM

i have to ask HM - have you heard that from everyday folks who hold fairly conservative outlooks or is that just from the Hannity/Limbaugh types?

02-24-2005, 10:01 PM	#1
breakingnews Q_Q Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: somewhere in between Posts: 995	bad hair day? Bad everything days. We've all had them, usually more often than not. But that's part of life, no? I suppose if you want to live like a movie star and get decked out for the daily trip to Starbucks and Whole Foods, sure, but there's a price and some sort of social stigma attached with that kind of behavior. Pride and dignity interspersed accordingly. If you are a rock star, however, suddenly your bad days become Average Joe's fantasy. I am embarassed that this kind of shit exists in our world. After watching The O.C. reach unattainable levels of lameness, I am subjected to "Celebs without make-up," a program that provokes within me such a profound disgust with humans and how low some will stoop to make a buck. It's an hour of very candid photos and videos of celebrities at their less-than-stellar - known to you and I as everyday - moments. Who fucking cares? Apparently enough that Fox would consider airing the show. No hypocrisy here: Let's disgrace the very actors and actresses who likely made Fox a popular television network in the first place. What is the fascination with trailing these celebs and trying to belittle them with such mockery? Is it a sense of inadequacy or total envy? What do you gain by documenting the fact that Sharon Stone or Jessica Simpson can, in fact, look like as much of a slob as you do? The difference is that while you and I can try to clean up and look somewhat decent, these celebs will don their ritzy dresses and expensive diamonds and become a thousand times more than you or I can ever hope to attain. Let's not forget vocal or acting abilities that may or may not accompany the glamour - there is a reason they've made it big. If you've starred in a movie, suddenly people believe that your off-screen life - though likely lived on the same streets, at the same bars and restaurants and in the same stores - is worlds apart from the mundane crap everyone else uses as an excuse for their existences. That I have unintentionally been in the same bars with Ivanka Trump and the Bush twins immediately tells me not that I am cool - but that they are huge fucking losers for patronizing the very New York landfills which I make a concerted effort to avoid. (Yes, I am also a huge loser for being convinced to go to those places.) They are no better than I am. You might have cameras constantly in your face or secret service on hand to excuse you from a late-night bout with debauchery, but I am free of such scrutiny and am content with the private, albeit uninteresting, life I lead. Don't get me wrong, some celebrities are just asking for trouble. Take the latest Paris Hilton/T-Mobile caper - no fault of her own, but the contents of her Sidekick simply bolster how much of a whackjob the girl is. One entry that immediately caught my attention was, "Feed the children - 235-933-93001." (Yes there is an extra digit there.) Other notable entries include any with the five different spellings of "Paris Goddess," "Famous, Rich not" and "Fux, Connor." I list that last one because at first I thought it was some [hilarious] asshole that somehow convinced her to put his [fake] name in her phone; later I discover that he's really a 24-year-old graduate of the theater department ... at JAMES MADISON UNIV. A nobody. Absolute nobody, and he has somehow earned a spot in her phone. Not that I would ever want to associate myself with the girl, but I digress ... What would happen if we just stopped caring about celebrities? What if the Brad Pitts and Jennifer Anistons of the world went about their frolicking in plain L.A. daylight and a platoon of paparazzi photographers didn't appear from the sand in a brilliance of popping flashes? Is it possible for people to be famous for their abilities but not the sub-conscious objects of our fantasies and desires? What's the point of popularity, anyway?

02-24-2005, 10:59 PM	#2
lookout123 changed his status to single Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Right behind you. No, the other side. Posts: 10,308	ok - i hear your rant and i sympathize (is that the right word? 13 shots into a bender i'm not sure) but let's make this personal... some celebrities buy their hype, some remain down to earth. who have you mingled with and how did they interact with the folken? me? brooke shields - partied at the bar i was working at. extraordinarily plain in appearance. a crew of bodyguards like you couldn't imagine. BITCH to my customers. i tossed her ass out. she and the hired meat didn't take it well. drew berrymore - once at a party. amazingly shy. nice girl. that is about it. helen hunt - filmed Twister near where i lived. Bitch. rude condescending homely cheap bitch. i like the movies, but she expected midwesterners to kiss her royal hiney. didn't happen, she was a screamer. david spade - nice guy. goofy. actually looked hurt when my wife called him shorty. (i felt bad for him.) i actually liked him, because he was kind of like "everyguy" adam sandler - i really like this guy in real life even if i don't think his movies are all that great. he is a really nice, shy guy. was embarrassed when people started treating him like a star. just wanted to blend in. someone you would invite to your backyard barbecue. tiger woods - did not want to be seen rubbing elbows with anyone "not famous" at my bar. chris farley - used to run into him in the John Hancock building in chicago all the time (he lived there) a really genuine guy. nice. open. if there were more than 2 or 3 people present he would instantly go into some sort of goofy act though. he always had some sort of picked on little brother aura around him though. his death is probably the only time that a celebrity death really rocked me. chris was a stand up guy who never found what he was looking for and i will always be sad when i see his movies, his characters weren't that far off from the real guy. John Candy - only met him once - but very open. friendly, but wary of people. seemed like he was afraid that you had an angle when talking to him. i guess that is about it. and if you are wondering about the string of SNL ties, i bartended right down the street from the Yankee Clipper. It was a dive bar in Rock Island, IL. that is the place that The Blues Brothers were born. for some bizarre reason, the SNL cast hung out in the dirtiest little bar in Rock Island, IL. anyway, those are mine - how about yours? __________________ Getting knocked down is no sin, it's not getting back up that's the sin

03-21-2005, 11:29 AM	#5
OnyxCougar Junior Master Dwellar Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Kingdom of Atlantia Posts: 2,979	Wayne Newton is a genuinely nice guy, I spoke with him once on the phone and helped him get his modem online. His ranch was on the way to work, and sometimes the horses would be out front. I'd stop and pet them occasionally and once he was out there with them. We spoke briefly. He remembered me from the phone and he was nice. I didn't ask for an autograph or anything, and I'm not sure but I think he appreciated I wasn't fawning all over him. I treated him like a regular guy, and that suited him just fine. __________________ Impotentes defendere libertatem non possunt. "Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth." ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

03-21-2005, 03:02 PM	#9
mrnoodle bent Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: under the weather Posts: 2,656	If they would make a show where celebrities in bad lighting get chased by the cops while being attacked by animals, I would watch. The Fox trifecta, so to speak. Otherwise, I'll just wait for the cellar review. __________________ Sìn a nall na cuaranan sin. -- Cha mhór is fheairrde thu iad, tha iad coltach ri cat air a dhathadh

03-22-2005, 02:50 PM	#13
Happy Monkey I think this line's mostly filler. Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: DC Posts: 13,575	The reason there aren't as many conservatives in educated circles as there are in uneducated circles is that there's discrimination in universities. __________________ _________________ \|...............\| We live in the nick of times. \| Len 17, Wid 3 \| \|_______________\| [pics]

02-25-2005, 10:01 AM	#3
breakingnews Q_Q Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: somewhere in between Posts: 995	Well, not exactly what I meant, but yeah, in a tangential point, I dislike how much hoopla there is when a celebrity somehow appears in your life. The town of Princeton nearly came to a halt when it was rumored that Brooke Shields would return for some reunion event at the University. In my 24 years, this was topped only by Clinton speaking at Commencement a few years back and the 1996 Olympic torch passing through town on its way to Atlanta. Similar situation when they filmed IQ there and Tim Robbins and Meg Ryan [drool] were in town for about two months. They docked the trailers at Princeton U., and while I was at tennis camp there, I tossed a ball into the fenced area and asked Meg to autograph it. She looked at my pathetic 13-year-old face, kicked my ball aside and went into her trailer. Bullshit. Ivanka Trump was last summer. We were edging on "shit nasty" drunk when we arrived at some random bar in Grammercy Park, and my friend Doug approaches her. "Hey, are you Ivanka Trump?" "Yes, I am." "Wow, will you buy me a drink?" She gets up and walks away. Bitch can't take a joke! A month ago we spotted Dan Akroyd on Pat O'Briens on the Upper East Side. He was actually really cool, but he's also now really tubby, and he kept refusing my offers to get him completely shithoused. Seeing as he was by himself, we dispatched a few girls to recruit him but to no avail. Suit yourself, ghostbuster. A friend's brother attended Yale and is good friends with Barbara Bush. He invites us to her and Jenna's party at the Maritime hotel, but it's so packed we can barely get inside. I see someone who I think is Jenna, but I am on such an uneven keel at this point that I decide to leave and seek fame elsewhere.

03-21-2005, 11:01 AM	#4
staceyv Lecturer Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 927	I actually love the idea and I want to watch the show. It's not fair to subject the public to these perfect, beautiful people all the time, making everyone else feel ugly. It's about time we saw what they really look like without all the professional makeup and hair, etc. I think it will give everyone else a big self esteem boost and maybe they'll stop being so hard on themselves. I gained 10 pounds this winter and a dimple in the middle of my butt cheek. I felt fat and flawed until I saw a picture of Brittany Spears with cellulite. That honestly made me feel better. Sick, twisted, yeah yeah yeah, whatever. You know it's true for you too.

03-21-2005, 11:46 AM	#6
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Chris Isaak - extremely nice gent, loves what he does, had a great chat with me and my buddy for five minutes after a show. My buddy gave him a long encouraging handwritten letter (OK this was pre-Internet) and Isaak wrote him back a postcard from the hotel he was staying at the next day to say thanks. REM bassist Mike Mills: recognized him at a Bodeans show. Personable and real. Nobody remembers Julian Cope except Brits, probably, but he was surprisingly approachable and told me a cool story when I asked about a lyric. My business associate says Marshall Crenshaw was a dick to him. Penn & Teller stand outside the lobby after all of their shows and say hi to their fans and have little momentary chats and shake hands and sign autographs. You have to respect that a lot.

03-21-2005, 01:54 PM	#8
staceyv Lecturer Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 927	you don't really need to "pay attention" to see these people. All you have to do is stand in line at a grocery store. Ofcourse, everyone realizes that these people are made up and pampered, doesn't matter. I think I won't be alone in enjoying the fact that these are really just normal, normal looking people, with flaws like everyone else.

03-22-2005, 04:38 PM	#14
breakingnews Q_Q Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: somewhere in between Posts: 995	Oh, like that. Lame. __________________ Gone crazy, be back never.

03-22-2005, 05:00 PM	#15
lookout123 changed his status to single Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Right behind you. No, the other side. Posts: 10,308	i have to ask HM - have you heard that from everyday folks who hold fairly conservative outlooks or is that just from the Hannity/Limbaugh types? __________________ Getting knocked down is no sin, it's not getting back up that's the sin

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