Weekend off...

As you may have guessed, we took a weekend off. It wasn't by design or anything, but rather from sheer exhaustion (and also from the fact that I seem to be the only one with a regular Internet connection from home.)

Many things happened this weekend, from the awful earthquake in Asia to World Cup qualifications to more banal and self-promoting stories about celebrities, who, dissatisfied with the inordinate amounts of attention they already receive, conspire with their half-weasel publicists to get their name in the news for a variety of insipid reasons.

It doesn't help that we have a wing of the media totally committed to covering celebrity news in the same way that Hare Krisnas are totally committed to shaving their heads and handing out flowers at airports while smiling derangedly. Watching a "reporter" slavishly interviewing a celebrity about the walkthrough they did in a recent motion picture, or seeing paparazzi agitatedly mill about a pop musician the way flies orbit a sow's head, is a truly nauseating experience.

Now, I don't think that all celebrities should be blamed. There are people who don't enjoy the voyeristic gaze of the celebrity media vultures, and they are to be commended for appreciating and desiring some semblance of normality in their lives. These are the people who don't go clubbing in downtown Hollywood at all hours, or turn up for every single celebrity event, no matter how inane or ridiculous (I'm trying to think of a representative example, but they all seem to come to mind.)

Of course, being a celebrity is necessary for some people. Singers and actors have to keep their name in the limelight because, alas, sales of albums and movie tickets aren't generated by quality reviews or artistic integrity. Instead, based on the actions of some celebrities, they seem more driven by how many times they can put their foot in their mouths on national TV (Paging Mr. West), or cock-up their relationships by being seen publicly in the arms of someone they aren't married too. This latter strategy seems to be the collective pasttime of celebrities and their publicists, who seem to enjoy the game of "there's nothing wrong with their relationship", "they've amicably split", and "the restraining order was filed yesterday."

So the public is to blame as well, because we're the ones who blankly and consistently stare at the TV whenever someone famous sticks their head out of a limo (well, not me personally...I'm just looking for source material for this blog.) We can do better. Turn off Enterainment Tonight and E! Hollywood. Burn that copy of Variety in effigy! Go to the Oscars red carpet and rhymically chant "You're just not that important!" Show up at the MTV Movie and Video awards with signs supporting Henyrk Gorecki and Placido Domingo! Attend an episode of Saturday Night Live and don't drunkenly laugh at every single lame joke!

You can make a difference! Stand up for quality! Read this blog every day! (Well, you can't expect every suggestion to be a paragon of aesthetic virtue.)