Buzz, babes and blogs
The big boys of celebrity blogging
Dalton Boland
Issue date: 9/16/09 Section: The Edge
Do I want to see naked pictures of Lindsay Lohan? Of course I do. But with the Internet flooded with celebrity blogging Web sites, where should the average Joe look? I mean, there are a lot of factors at play in the world of borderline pornographic celebrity gossip with social commentary.
Good celebrity blogging boils down to a few basic criteria, the quantity and quality of scantily clad celebrities, the wit of the blogger and the credibility of the information, in that order. Basically, these sites dictate whom the masses should degrade and whom men should fantasize about.
These celebrity skin-rag Web sites seem to generate exponentially, and for the most part, they're identical. As far as the mature sites go, "What Would Tyler Durden Do?" and "The Superficial" stand out as the most credible. But on this kind of Web site, who cares? So here's some more: "Egotastic," "Idontlikeyouinthatway," "Popoholic" and "Gorillamask."
All of those sites walk a fine line between the label of gossip column and full-blown pornography. Nude pictures are censored on the home page, but a simple mouse-click quickly dispenses of those restrictions. The school of thought behind this is baffling.
What's more puzzling is the concept of NSFW. These celebrity blogs put NSFW next to any links to nudity, but the page is already loaded with extreme cases of cleavage alongside the most recent bikini shots. I may be wrong here, but I think most workplaces wouldn't see much of a distinction.
For those genuinely interested in the latest Hollywood gossip, "Perezhilton" has more than enough celebrity juice. (Note: the term "celebrity juice" should be eliminated from the English language.) They have an expansive list of celebrities covered, ranging from A-list celebs to long forgotten D-listers.
On the more PG level, "Perezhilton" and "TMZ" seem to be as reliable as celebrity blogging gets. Of course, this doesn't mean much, seeing that the purpose of both sites is to circulate rumors.
All these Web sites cover mostly the same material, have the same stance on it and make the same jokes about it. More or less, they're all the same thing. But there's a simple explanation for this. They all tell us what we want to hear.
Really, the concept of these sites is fantastic. Celebrities have done something spectacular that we haven't, and they have been rewarded for it. So it's nice to know all their problems and mistakes. It gives us the impression that with fame, we'd remain the same people we are now, funny, intelligent and completely virtuous.
Good celebrity blogging boils down to a few basic criteria, the quantity and quality of scantily clad celebrities, the wit of the blogger and the credibility of the information, in that order. Basically, these sites dictate whom the masses should degrade and whom men should fantasize about.
These celebrity skin-rag Web sites seem to generate exponentially, and for the most part, they're identical. As far as the mature sites go, "What Would Tyler Durden Do?" and "The Superficial" stand out as the most credible. But on this kind of Web site, who cares? So here's some more: "Egotastic," "Idontlikeyouinthatway," "Popoholic" and "Gorillamask."
All of those sites walk a fine line between the label of gossip column and full-blown pornography. Nude pictures are censored on the home page, but a simple mouse-click quickly dispenses of those restrictions. The school of thought behind this is baffling.
What's more puzzling is the concept of NSFW. These celebrity blogs put NSFW next to any links to nudity, but the page is already loaded with extreme cases of cleavage alongside the most recent bikini shots. I may be wrong here, but I think most workplaces wouldn't see much of a distinction.
For those genuinely interested in the latest Hollywood gossip, "Perezhilton" has more than enough celebrity juice. (Note: the term "celebrity juice" should be eliminated from the English language.) They have an expansive list of celebrities covered, ranging from A-list celebs to long forgotten D-listers.
On the more PG level, "Perezhilton" and "TMZ" seem to be as reliable as celebrity blogging gets. Of course, this doesn't mean much, seeing that the purpose of both sites is to circulate rumors.
All these Web sites cover mostly the same material, have the same stance on it and make the same jokes about it. More or less, they're all the same thing. But there's a simple explanation for this. They all tell us what we want to hear.
Really, the concept of these sites is fantastic. Celebrities have done something spectacular that we haven't, and they have been rewarded for it. So it's nice to know all their problems and mistakes. It gives us the impression that with fame, we'd remain the same people we are now, funny, intelligent and completely virtuous.
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