Clicking around the internet lately, trying to break up a particularly tedious task at work, I realized it was equally tedious trying to find someone I cared about in the entertainment field -- or even knew.
The most obvious reason for this, as far as I can tell, is the glut of "celebrities" who are famous because of reality programs; meaning, talentless. You can go into any select group of people and find a troublemaker, a drama queen and a gossip -- turn on the cameras and let the soap opera unfold. Snore. It helps if they just happen to be sluts willing to give each other Brazilian waxes on national television (...and if their last name starts with a "K" and their dead father made them really rich even by Hollywood standards so it gave the illusion they are somehow important -- and relevant -- to anything...).
Yet, I've come to accept this because the existence of the aforementioned freaks can pull even those in the depths of the deepest depression -- so deep that they actually watched programming featuring the aforementioned freaks for an entire 10 minutes -- out of their beds and back into the world with the hopes of balancing out the imbecile population who are succeeding in keeping the aforementioned freaks in the limelight. I apologize if you are one of those imbeciles -- okay, no I don't. But I figure, if you are one of those imbeciles, this is way too far for you to read anyway.
What is alarming, though, are the amount of "young actors" popping up all over the place, probably because there are now a gazillion cable channels and an equal amount of baby boomer babies to sit around and watch them. Is anyone else creeped out that they all look sort of the same? (I still think Keira Knightly, Natalie Portman and Winona Ryder are all the same person.)
Now that I think of it, why wouldn't they all look alike? In this day and age where trends and tastes are so closely monitored, of course you end up with what will please the most people. Hollywood has always had it's stable of "types." Types have their place, so you don't end up having to do character development for minor characters. Unfortunately, it's come down to there being nothing but "types" so the audience doesn't have to work their brains too hard or...focus.
I think that's why the reaction I have to my lost summer is guilt over having wasted so much time watching so much television; you know, that slightly guilty feeling you get when you promised yourself that, if you bought the pint of Starbuck's Coffee Ice Cream, you'd dole it out to yourself in sensible, half-cup portions over the course of four days and then end up scarfing the entire pint in one sitting. Because Starbuck's Coffee Ice Cream is expensive and, probably after the first half-cup, your tastebuds were so frozen they weren't really tasting the ice cream anyway -- yet you couldn't make yourself stop and basically wasted the rest of the pint. And this summer was wasted on something even more tasteless and unhealthy.
Oh, I know, I know: "Stop yammering on about the television, Sisiggy. Just turn it off and leave the rest of us alone."
And, honestly, I would -- if the trend wasn't creeping into other areas of my life. Movies (please, somebody, revoke Disney's license to make movies); Broadway (please, somebody, revoke Disney's license to make musicals); music (does everything have to sound like a revival of Riverdance?); and even food (let's ban the word "chocoholic," for instance. Yes, there are times only chocolate will do, four days out of the month in particular. But, other than that, there are so many other flavors and STOP ADDING CHOCOLATE TO THEM!).
So, while we think we have a variety of choices in all we do, the types of choices we have remind me of going to Golden Corral for a meal: It looks like there are all different kinds of things to eat, until you actually taste the food, at which point you realize all the savory stuff tastes about the same and all the sweet stuff tastes about the same and, really, by the looks of everything, it all should have tasted really good. Instead, though you are stuffed and bloated, you don't remember actually enjoying any of it.
I'm just afraid that pretty soon Golden Corral will be all there is because Golden Corrals make money for the franchise while making customers think they're getting a great deal -- and they are, if they're not picky about things like...well...taste.
Did you honestly expect anything but a food metaphor from me?
2 comments:
Uh, Sisiggy, have you gone through your photo album and looked at photos from your college days? Don't you and all your friends look alike--male and female versions anyway? I remember everyone wearing bell-bottom blue jeans with holes in them, dirty T-shirts, and sandals. All the girls had long straight hair and all of the guys had long hair and beards. Except for the Jewish and Italian kids, who had long curly hair. We all had the same body language and we all used the same phrases. The young try to look alike; it's protective coloration.
On the other hand, a neighbor who went to the John Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally in Washington in the fall told me I looked like Yussef Islam. When Yussef Islam was Cat Stevens, he had long dark wavy hair and a dark beard. At the same moment in time I had dirty blond hair and a reddish beard. But Cat/Yussef and I have both gone through the aging process. I guess when we go grey we all look alike, too. No wonder the young get us mixed up.
I agree with everything! Great blog. I myself am not a particular fan of what is shown on television and pretty easily annoyed with anything current day celebrity-related. I've gone so long without following "movie stars" and whoever is currently popular in the media (the talentless, somehow celebrity cases), that I feel so clueless when I hear friends and co-workers talking about, OMG did you see what so and so wore at the golden globes and OMG did you hear who left who and OMG did you see who married who and blah blah blah blah blah is all I really hear, haha. I do not have children, but if that day comes, I am terrified as to what will be on the tv then! These people are who are influencing young minds, scary.
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