Blog by Sean Gehon, Monday, April 16, 2007

In an era where originality is as scarce as the food in Nicole Ritchie’s diet, we find ourselves overcome with remakes. Whether we’re turning favourite sitcoms into live action movies, making a fourth installment in the Die Hard franchise, or remaking The Amityville Horror for the umpteenth time, it seems our society has lost its knack for original thought. Believe it or not, there was a time when Bewitched was an original idea, and ‘blogging’ often started in a private notebook with the phrase ‘Dear Diary…’

The latest internet fad has become celebrity blogging. A celebrity blog, to my understanding, is a website featuring the latest candid celebrity photos, events, and drama followed by commentary by a technology savvy individual. To put it in layman’s terms, celebrity blogs are the latest in the ever growing tabloid industry. What’s interesting about these websites is we now have the ability to find out what Britney Spears had for lunch yesterday, or where Paris Hilton sneezed on Thursday at seven in the evening. The power of the internet has given us the ability to know anything, and everything, at any given moment. Unfortunately, it has also given us an army of copy cat websites.

Websites like perezhilton.com, dlisted.com, and pinkisthenewblog.com, offer their own take on the latest goings on in Tinsel Town. Certainly it’s a unique way to offer up gossip to the masses, and sometimes it might even be funny. Sadly, since celebrity blogging has become a viable career option for these people, we find ourselves over saturated with choices. Although we may have many options, we don’t have that many interesting pictures. On an average day I can find myself surfing through dlisted.com, seeing a few interesting pictures of Anna Nicole Smith, or Britney Spears, but five minutes later, on perezhilton.com, I’ll find the same five pictures.

It gets worse. You would think with several different brains behind several different websites you’d be able to come up with an original thought… however, you’d be wrong. I find a lot of the blog sites have the same photographs followed by the same few jokes. It’s unfortunate to see such seemingly intelligent people be unable to come up with an original thought between them. Furthermore, do I need to see a picture of Britney Spears’ coochie, or pictures of her intoxicated, every single day? Celebrity blogging was fun in the beginning, but I’m starting to think it’s getting old.

You’re probably thinking I’m being hypocritical at this point, and perhaps you’re right. At the heart of my blog I’m writing a celebrity based column. However, the difference, in my eyes, lies in the use of the blog. I’m not here to poke fun at celebrities and their lives, I’m certainly not hear to bad mouth anyone intentionally, I’m doing my best to provide entertainment news with heart and intelligence. In the eyes of the media, we’re beginning to see a lot of hurt and a lot of pain at the expense of celebrities, I’m doing my best to take those lessons, and introduce them to those of you who read this blog. Perhaps as bloggers none of us are changing lives, but at least I’m not writing all over Britney Spears’ face in white lettering like some websites.

By no means am I saying that celebrity bloggers don’t have their place and aren’t doing something innovative and exciting, I’m simply stating that it’s starting to get old. Like all good fads, I have no doubt that this one will come to an end. There’s always the chance that we’ll find Perez Hilton offering something intelligent or cutting edge to say, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m sure, like all trends, this will lead to something new and exciting in our future… I for one can’t wait to see what it is.

Sean (http://www.tmz.com/ the same pictures, same stories, but at least you get the facts)

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