Celebrity vs. Non-Celbrity Rant

Celeb Rant

OK so who is this? Lara Croft Right? Angelina Jolie? No it's Allison Carroll she's been the official Lara Croft for the video games promotional stuff since 2008 where have you been? (That is what many people will say about me after this rant I guess)

I am beyond tired of Non-Celebrity-Celebrities. The people who are famous for just being famous. How the heck did they become famous? People who appear on or win these reality TV contest shows are NOT CELEBS! WHY OH WHY Does the frack'n Media treat them as celebrities?

When I first heard about that couple who had eight kids and got a reality television show to tell about them just because they had eight kids I didn't know or care what their names were. Then I started hearing about Nick and Sally or Cathy or whatever her name was/is. Every once in a while there would be a news headline that said "Sally upset over wedding cake" OK who the heck is Sally again? Oh Yeah she's that woman on that stupid reality show. People actually watch that show?

I am also sick of when the media using just one name in a headline. "Jessica is Pregnant" OK WHICH JESSICA? Simpson? Hawn? Beal? Sarah Parker? Rabbit? Private Lynch? WHO? WHICH ONE?

It used to be in reporting you would give the person's full name THE FIRST TIME you mention their name (an usually also in the tagline or headline) THEN after the first mention you can give just their last name. Since you have already mentioned their full name and your readers know who you are talking about. If you have a small closed audience and always mention the same people I guess you can get away with this type of first name only reporting, but most of the time this is just too confusing.

The same applies with organizations and companies. You give the full company name, or the companies public trading name FIRST then later you can use the acronym or abbreviation. The few exceptions are The FBI, CIA & KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti - English translation is Committee of State Security) organizations that are widely well known often world wide and are not often confused with something else.

OK we can get when someone says "Jacko" they mean Micheal Jackson or "Jay-Lo" is Jennifer Lopez but other than that most of the time it can get pretty confusing and then frustrating if you aren't up on the Celebrity of the Minute.

So please World Wide Media stop with the "Simpson goes back to Jail" Head-Lines. Which One? Jessica? O.J.? Bart? You know it's worse when the name is Smith or the first name is John. OK which John are you talking about now? Which one is currently the most popular John?

[Edit note:] Why is there some bracket like lines with the KGB translation? It doesn't show when I preview, but shows up in the final form. Weird.

Childhood Icons First thought.

Just a quick one, I think I will expand upon it tomorrow. This past week within the last 3 days 3 Entertainment Icons from my childhood passed away. Starting with Ed McMahon who for many years was Johnny Carson's Sidekick on NBCs The Tonight Show. They had started sometime before I was born or close enough so I grew up with the Tonight Show being a staple on late night television. I didn't always watch them, and some years the only time I watched them was when they would have the Mighty Carson Tonight Show Players to see their silly sketches with Johnny trying to do a character that was not very convincing. Ed passed away on Tuesday 23 June 2009. For several years he had some problem or another, the sad thing is some people upon hearing of his death said "I thought he was already dead". I guess that shows how bad some of his illnesses were.

Then there was Farrah Fawcett 62. Super Sex Symbol of the 1970s. I admit it she was the first of at least 3 reasons why I watched Charlie's Angels starting in 1976 (or was it 1975?). Her passing today (Thursday 25 June 2009) was not a total shock, but it still jarred the system. For the last couple of years she had been battling renal cancer, which a month or so ago had spread to her liver.

Then the Total Shocker Michael Jackson today suffered cardiac arrest and passed away. He was 50. The last few years its been odd thinking about his chronological age vs the age he seemed to act as. I'm not saying he was childish, he just didn't seem completely "grown up" either.

Flashback News: 1968? Or 2008?

In a celeb news story that sounds like it belongs back in 1968. From the AP actress Dawn Wells, who gained fame by portraying the sweet and innocent lovable Mary Ann on Gilligan's sland (1964-1967), was busted for possession of 'Mary Jane'.

Reminds me of the out-takes from some commercials with Florence Henderson I think in the 1980s for Wesson Oil where she goes up on her line and cusses like a sailor and then makes a remark that kids will be saying "Mrs. Brady Swears!"

But this "pot in the car" story sounds a little fishy, she may have initially been unaware that the pot was in her car, and the swerving she was doing that the arresting police officer noticed was her trying to find the heater controls for her new car.

For the full story, and a not so flattering mugshot (they never are flattering) follow this link ap.google.com/article/... In that mugshot she looks like that little old lady that gets caught stealing an apple from the grocery story or hitting someone in the behind with a broom.

BTW I got the photo from a google search from a blog devoted to Miss Wells. (dawn-wells.blogspot.com/)