Heroes and villains: send in the clowns
What's behind the cult of celebrity? Is it a morbid interest in the comings and goings of those no better than ourselves? Or is it an attempt to escape from the mundane by finding some wonder in our immediate and not too distant surroundings? Celebrities spring forth from glossy tabloids like costumed superheroes in dime store comic books as they enact the pro wrestling formula routines and stunts again and again. Though their style is campy and carnival there's a little something of the mythic creeping in there. Great entertainers are referred to as "stars", like ancient heroes that were immortalized in constellations, and usually after undergoing the tragedy off falling hard after flying too high! It was as if many were trying to prove their own distinctiveness by climbing the mountain so that lightening would find them easier to strike. "Top of the world, Ma!" For the most part the seemed more like they were playing with fire than reinventing the wheel.
from Hollywood to the lunatic fringe: 1000 points of light or moonbeams from a larger lunacy?
Stars themselves are great mystery seekers, though true to form they seek it in the crass and bizarre. Celebrities may join religious cults promising to give them super powers or clue them in to a destiny even more remarkable than that of over paid entertainer - "What a coincidence! I always knew I was special! Even before I went OT.". Some might even get mixed up in secret societies Like Mel Gibson who has joined some radical crypto Catholic groups in an attempt to fight the good fight against Freemasonry & International Zionism. Other will join meditation groups, or see UFO's (often like Anne Dementia Heche after a period of personal trauma and prolonged drug abuse). Still more, like Randy & Evi Quaid, will imagine themselves as the central players in a vast international conspiracy theory. "It's starwhackers I tell ya - the scourge of Follywood!" More, like Charlie Sheen, gravitate into the 911 truth movement after years of pill popping (Charlie gets his illegally online over the Internet according to Denise Richards back when she was divorcing him and before she discovered how becoming an ex husband can make you a great father!). The point being that in this they're just like us. We read our horoscopes, call telephone psychics, wish on wishbones and falling stars in hope of something a little bit special. God help us if we ever get it since, as celebrities also show, special can turn weird quick.starwhackers & starhustlers
How weird can weird get? Well, like the uses of the stone wheel, that's only limited by our imaginations. Here's a little sample of where human imagination with a touch of paranoia and ego mania can take you, in Justin.tv's Down he Rabbit Hole. This is your chance for a little Sunday evening pretending. Have fun down the rabbit hole. Just remember to find your way back again.
Watch live video from Down The Rabbit Hole on Justin.tv
BTW search for wonder in the mundane is a lot of the appeal of the wildly popular Harry Potter Books. Of course in the case of Harry Potter this is pure evil. At least that's what Gary Bell has to say in the last broadcast of his The View From Space. Just have a listen for yourself to find out whether or not there might be more to HP than you realized.
