Blogs of the semi rich and famous
Marisa Meltzer navigates through the occasionally interesting underbelly of celeb blogs
By Marisa Meltzer
Published: May 12th, 2005 | 1:56pm
Blogs were once the domain of the average person: cheap (if not free) to maintain, simple to update, and accessible by anyone. You could detail what you ate for dinner, post a favorite MP3, or chronicle your childhood and guarantee your entries would find an audience. With an estimated 10 million blogs on the internet, some bloggers have become famous in their own right — Pam Ribon (pamie.com, about the trials and tribulations of her life), Wendy McClure (poundy.com, which chronicles her diet attempts, dating attempts, and sharp pop culture insights) and Anna Marie Cox (wonkette.com, all things political, with a sex scandal thrown in here and there for good measure) have all gotten book deals based on their blogs' popularity.
But if a blog can elevate the nonfamous to celebrity (or at least semi-celebrity) status, what can it do to the already famous? A recent spate of celebrities — from Kirstie Alley to Zach Braff — have come out with blogs of their own. With their blogs used primarily as promotional tools for new projects, are these actors even writing their own blog entries? Blogs then become just another tool in the celebrity self-promotion arsenal. Politico Arianna Huffington has even started up the Huffington Report, a group blog that features entries from celebrities like David Mamet, Nora Ephron, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
But we've found a few famous people (and yes, we've stretched the boundaries of “famous” to include a few who aren't household names) who use their blogs to communicate with their fans on a more personal level. So, let's circumvent the whole publicity machine and see what a celebrity's blog says about them.
Ayelet Waldman
bad-mother.blogspot.com
She's the wife of Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist Michael Chabon and a mystery author in her own right. It's sort of engrossing to read about her hypomania self-diagnosis and her attraction to her husband. But what's more concerning is the back story: According to her own column in Salon, her husband read her blog while on a book tour and realized she was suicidal. He called friends, who intervened and forced her to call her doctor, who immediately realized her medication (for bipolar disorder) needed adjusting. It seems that her blog is no more, but reading the old entries is a great alternative to rereading Sylvia Plath.
Daniel Treacy
windlessairmuxic.tripod.com/televisionpersonalities/id8
He's the singer of the eighties English cult band the Television Personalities. After having been out of the media's gaze for over a decade (rumors of depression, heroin addiction, homelessness, and jail time abound), Treacy started the band up again last year. His entries are heavy on the all-caps and usually run about three or four lines of manic rambling.
Elyse Sewell
livejournal.com/users/elysesewell
Elyse was the snarky med student in Shins t-shirts who placed third in the first season of America's Next Top Model. She also appears to be the only contestant to go on to any kind of actual modeling career. Her blog chronicles her travels posing around the world (Hong Kong, Chile) and packs in lots of snapshots and commentary to assure us that, despite the fact that she gets to live in foreign countries and get paid for being pretty, modeling is not all that glamorous.
Holly Dunlap
ilovehollywould.com/diary
Holly designs the shoe line Hollywould, beloved by socialites and starlets alike for their flirty, overpriced designs (though I will admit to an obsession with their ballet flat). But what if Holly wasn't a jetsetting party girl? What if she worked 14 hours a day and cranked out her collections? Never fear. Her blog proves that she is indeed a lovely young blonde who gets to hang out with equally lovely young blonde friends in places like Belize and Palm Beach. Perhaps best not to read when you have PMS and it's winter and you're sitting in your crappy studio apartment feeling sorry for yourself.
Margaret Cho
margaretcho.com/blog/blog
When comedian Margaret Cho is discussing race, toxic shock syndrome, or Republicans on her blog, it's both poignant and funny. But the name-dropping and the relentless self-promotion get a little old. Give us more entries about old school French actor Alain Delon's Gael Garcia Bernal-like hotness and your amazing aunt!
Miranda July
meandyou.typepad.com
For ladies in the know, Miranda July's films and spoken word projects have been a favorite for years. But with the release of her first feature length film, the world is catching on to her brilliance. Her blog is ostensibly about her nationwide tour of film fests to promote her movie, Me and You and Everyone We Know, but it's the little personal bits — cakes loved ones make her, mini movies of her hotel rooms, photos of friends — that give us a little glimpse of what it's like to be in the momentum of fame.
Rachael Yamagata
rachaelyamagata.com
When singer-songwriter Rachel Yamagata addresses her blog's audience with the salutation, “Holla Peeps”, I was concerned that her annoyance factor would be high. But then she admits to “trying my best to get better on guitar” and calls the singer from fellow Ryan Adams opening band The Cardinals a “master of vibe” and I kind of wanted her to be my friend.
Rosie O'Donnell
rosie.com
Rosie has a lot of time on her hands these days. It's great that she's feeling liberated and clearly she has a lot on her mind — she writes in it almost daily — but her entries tend to be in verse and read like bad beat poetry:
between the runaway bride
the 10 pound hamburger
michael jackson
and now cruddy corey
i'm beginning to lose hope
It's somewhat painful, but that's the price we pay for getting unfiltered celebrity thought — sometimes it's a little ugly.
RuPaul
rupaul.com/weblog
Remember when RuPaul was, like, really famous? So does RuPaul. Sample entry: “TIM and i were on our way up to LaHOMA's apartment to watch THE FAYE DUNAWAY SHOW, when we ran into JORDANA BREWSTER, the star of D.E.B.S. coming out of the building. i told her i had just seen her movie last night. she said 'i can't believe RuPAUL is standing here telling me you saw my movie!'” Read it when you need to know that the lives of the famous are as mundane as yours.
Wil Wheaton
wilwheaton.net
In fourth grade I was obsessed with Stand By Me. My friend Mindy was in love with Wil Wheaton and I had a crush on River Phoenix. I'm really not sure if Mindy (who could be called many things, but “nerd” isn't one of them) would approve of how her beloved Wil turned out as a self-described geek. He had a blog waaaaaay before blogs were cool and, with a memoir to his name, has now transcended the role of former child star to author. His entries make him seems funny and easygoing in a way that makes him effortlessly likable. One of the few celebrity blogs where you can really feel like you're getting to know someone.
Issue #36
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