Weblogic

I’ve been thinking a lot about my fellow blogger Kerry Gladden’s look into Oprah’s selective “truthiness” (to borrow one of Steven Colbert’s terms) and the rush to fit the facts to the most attractive reality.

It’s especially galling that Oprah, the holier-than-thou mistress of popular culture, cuts and pastes to boost her ratings. (It begs the thought if she is qualified to endorse anyone for president. What facts did she ignore in promoting candidate Obama?)

But Oprah is just the most egregious of the talking heads and reality TV producers. (Truth in reporting: I hate reality TV – and that includes American Idol, Survivor, The Great Race, Fear Factor, etc, etc. I cringe at it because it encourages people to make fools of themselves for an audience, which robs them of whatever dignity the Creator may have endowed them with, and brings out the most mean-spirited feelings among the audience who are enjoying the ignominy of the participants. Ick.) But the fact is NONE OF IT IS REAL! It’s all as scripted (just by non-union writers) – and as “real” -- as an episode of Lost or Grey’s Anatomy.

A recent Wall Street Journal blog post calls into the question the burgeoning cottage industry of amateur paparazzi snapping pics of celebs and selling them to the same outlets the professionals use. Considering I live in Los Angeles, whose already dreadful traffic grinds to a standstill every time an errant pop star has another psychotic break, I guess the whole question of celeb sightings is food for thought.

And I’ve actually thought a bit about it. Living in LA, you see celebs – you just do. You see them at the market (George Clooney, Alec Baldwin, Kim Bassinger) at Peet’s Coffee House (Annette Bening, Warren Beatty) and at the car wash (Joe Montegna). Friends and relatives ask me if I ever ask for their autographs – and the answer is no, because there are unwritten rules about celeb approaches. When they’re doing chores, celebs are not stars – they’re neighbors and deserve to be ignored as vigorously as we are being ignored.
But when they are “on”; on the red carpet, at events, working on location – they are fair game for autograph collectors and both professional and amateur paparazzi. And that’s because when we go to their movies, watch their TV shows or buy products they shill for – these celebs make a bundle off of us common folk and part of the deal, I think, is interacting with the fan base. And that includes getting their famous faces photographed.

As for the conflict between professional paparazzi and the amateurs who are using their cellphone cameras – please, give me a break. Really, as soon as someone sells something they are no longer amateurs. It’s simple capitalism, really: market demand (for celeb pics) will be met by supply (paparazzi photos). The market model doesn’t care about the professional status of the person pushing the shutter button.

Is your man’s complexion looking smoother and brighter? Does his hair smell nice (and kinda familiar)? Chances are he’s borrowing from the cosmetic counter of you.

(Hey, just because they’re men doesn’t mean they don't know a good smell when they sniff it.)

Turns out, according to Forbes.com, more and more men are, for want of a better word, borrowing shampoo, moisturizer and colognes from their girlfriends and wives because they like the smell and the feel of the products. Well, duh. We think that’s great if what’s being borrowed is the Suave shampoo – but when it comes to facial moisturizers that top $350 a jar, we say – buy it yourself.

I just came back from a short ski vacation. No, no injuries to report – except maybe the severe case of sticker shock from the rising cost of lift tickets.

I was standing in line and mentally adding up the cost of two three-day adult passes ($402), when my eyes strayed to the line below, the line with the costs for skiers aged 65 and above – which were slightly less than half what I was about to pay.

And that got me to thinking about phony IDs (not that I would ever advocate such a thing – that would be dishonest and wrong), but rather how my generation has always wanted to be older and didn’t hesitate to amend their documents to achieve that goal.