I got to work this morning and, as with all mornings, I turned on the computer, checked my email, and automatically started typing the web address for facebook. It didn't matter that I was at work and had other things to do, I wasn't even thinking about what I was doing. After getting my fill of mindlessly looking at other peoples' profiles and events, I started to type in perezhilton. I really didn't have the time, or desire, to look, but again, I wasn't consciously doing it. After looking at the latest news, including Britney stuff I really don't care about at all, I started to think about what I had done. I think that the same basic instinct drove both of my website choices. I will admit it, I like looking at people. I wouldn't say I'm particularly nosy, but I am usually the person people come to to find out information about who's doing what, whether it's with high school friends, people at USC, or celebrity news. I think that facebook is the gossip website for non-celebrities, and so my obsession with celebrity news websites is the natural extension of my facebook habit. I definitely think we, as a culture, like to know about peoples' personal lives, and the fact that we have easy access to previously private information about celebrities' lives is what makes the gossip website such an overwhelming success.
Also, as a somewhat unrelated comment, I was reading an article about Rachel Zoe from the NY Times in September (an activity fueled by perez's distaste for her, of course) and she said something that I actually thought was pretty interesting. She was talking about how she had taken Nicole Richie and made her into a star through her styling, and said that "The nature of what, or who, is a celebrity has expanded. We aren't saving lives here, but we are creating images, and images create opportunities in a lot of areas." I thought that was pertinent to our discussion on how certain people have become celebrities. She was also talking about how someone so talented like Nicole Kidman has much less influence than Nicole Richie, who has arguably no talent whatsoever. It was maybe the first time I ever thought Rachel Zoe (who, by the way, sent back her steamed vegetables in Paris because there was sauce next to them on the plate) had said something worthwhile, so I thought it was noteworthy.
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Let me just throw out there, I do the EXACT same thing in the morning! I don't really understand my own fascination with looking at people's facebook profiles or reading on perezhilton that Jake Gyllenhaal just ate at Joan's on Third again...but somehow these are the first things I look up when I get to a computer.
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