<p>Recent headlines re: Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Owen Wilson.</p>
<p>Wonder why this phonomena? Granted each case is different, especially Wilson who deserves support and understanding, but the question remains: why?</p>
<p>Every profession has it’s “addicts”, “suicides” or just plain messed up people. We just see these because of the media.</p>
<p>Money , free time, and undefined personal boundaries. Sounds like young Hollywood to me.</p>
<p>On the one hand we only hear about them because they’re public figures although in Paris’ case I don’t know why. OTOH they also have the added burden of having huge incomes and attention at a young age and many of them seem to be unable to handle it very well - drugs, alcohol, irresponsible behavior. I suppose if you heaped fame and fortune on a lot of young people at random many would succumb to a similar state.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m unusual but I never heard of most of these people before the media went nuts over them - i.e. they had no real fame that ever caught my attention. I never heard of Michael Vick until the dogfighting scandal and I still have no idea who Owen Wilson is - I never heard of him until this episode.</p>
<p>sorry, but we should care about this because…?</p>
<p>I think the song e-bow the letter by the band R.E.M. (written by Michael Stipe) explains this well. He wrote a letter for River Phoenix but never had the chance to deliver it. Later his band mate came to him with a new tune. Amazingly Michael’s letter fit the tune perfectly. So very sad…</p>
<p>Look up, what do you see? All of you and all of me
Fluorescent and starry
Some of them, they surprise
The bus ride, I went to write this, 4:00 a.m, this letter
Fields of poppies, little pearls
All the boys and all the girls sweet-toothed
Each and every one a little scary
I said your name</p>
<p>I wore it like a batch of teenage film stars
Hash bars, cherry mash and tinfoil tiaras
Dreaming of Maria Callas, whoever she is
This fame thing, I don’t get it
I wrap my hand in plastic to try to look through it
Maybelline eyes and girl-as-boy moves
I can take you far
This star thing, I don’t get it</p>
<p>I’ll take you over there
I’ll take you over there
Aluminum, tastes like fear
Adrenaline, it pulls us near
I’ll take you over
It tastes like fear there, I’ll take you over</p>
<p>Will you live to 83? Will you ever welcome me?
Will you show me something that nobody else has seen?
Smoke it, drink, here comes the flood
Anything to thin the blood
These corrosives do their magic slowly and sweet
Phone, eat it, drink, just another chink
Cuts and dents, they catch the light
Aluminum, the weakest link
I don’t want to disappoint you
I’m not here to anoint you, I would lick your feet
But is that the sickest move?
I wear my own crown and sadness and sorrow
And who’d have thought tomorrow could be so strange?
My loss, and here we go again</p>
<p>I’ll take you over there
I’ll take you over there
Aluminum, tastes like fear
Adrenaline, it pulls us near
I’ll take you over
It tastes like fear there, it holds us near
I’ll take you over</p>
<p>Look up, what do you see? All of you and all of me
Fluorescent and starry
Some of them, they surprise
I can’t look it in the eyes
Seconal, spanish fly, absinthe, kerosene
Cherry-flavored neck and collar
I can smell the sorrow on your breath
The sweat, the victory and sorrow, the smell of fear
I got it</p>
<p>I’ll take you over there
I’ll take you over there
Aluminum, tastes like fear
Adrenaline, it pulls us near
I’ll take you over it tastes like fear there
I’ll take you over</p>
<p>Pulls us near
Tastes like fear…</p>
<p>Nearer, nearer
over, over, over, over
Yeah, look over
I’ll take you there, oh, yeah
I’ll take you there
Oh, over
I’ll take you there
Over, let me
I’ll take you there…
There, there, baby, yeah</p>
<p>I agree with MPM: there’s far too much attention paid to crap like this. “News” becomes lurid “Infotainment.” Feh.</p>
<p>“Well have always had Paris.”
– lots of guys to one another</p>
<p>I think trying to understand the common bond between people is a noble thing. Why knock it if you feel moved by what’s happened to - by all accounts - a sweet guy ?</p>
<p>
Because I am not so moved. Because I object to the vicarious use of “celebrities” as safe and privileged stand-ins for any of hundreds of thousands of equally moving stories happening to people as close as next door. Because people will stare slack-jawed at the TV for ten minutes of coverage about the latest celebrity re-hab, celebrity skank, celebrity mess-up of your choice, kidnapped blonde woman, etc. ad nauseam ad infinitum while wallowing in ignorance about fundamental stories that affect their lives.</p>
<p>I’m ambivalent about most of it, although I was saddened to read about Owen Wilson today. I have really enjoyed the movies I’ve seen him in… Wedding Crashers, Meet The Parents, Meet the Fockers. Also, he attended my alma mater for college, the University of Texas; also I had two nephews who attended the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, where Wilson attended high school. I think he has so much potential.</p>