Strange people (on other message boards) re: celebrity worship

The BBQ Pit
1

I haven’t had much sleep today so I’m less coherent than usual. But here goes.

On a message board for a TV show (I won’t say which one, I don’t want to pinpoint the message board), I was talking about the star of the show on one of the threads. I like the guy–I’m a big fan, actually. But I was discussing on this thread his other movies, some of which were stinkers. BAD, bad, movies. He was fine in the movies, but they happened to be bad. No big news there–most actors have been in bad movies on occasion. I also mentioned something about he lost weight in a certain film and looked good.

For this, I get an angry email from a woman who must have an altar to this guy in her bedroom. She told me to stop “dishing” this guy and his movies.

What? Please. He’s just a guy, he’s not a deity. Get over it. (I basically told her that, but in more polite terms.)

I must be slipping in my fannish geekiness. I just can’t worship any particular artist, actor, singer, etc., to that degree. In fact, I don’t think I ever did worship at the altar of any celebrity to that degree. Even when I was 14. And presumably these people are adults.

I remember feeling unsettled reading some fangirl rhapsodize about some actor in a movie (where he played a psycho killer who “pretended” to be a nice guy). “I just wanted to be the girl in the movie, so I could have kissed him!” this fan babbled. What? The guy was a psycho. A nut. Sure, it was just a movie, but the character was evil, and she wants to be in a romance with an evil character? That makes no sense.

I was going to ramble about another message board and carry on about how tired I am of tormented, “misunderstood geniuses” (I frequent an art message board that has a few of these types) but I’m too sleep deprived and I know I’m incoherent enough as it is.

Sorry. Just had to get that incohent ramble off my chest.

2

Unlike those other inferior message boards, at THIS message board, we in fact do have an idol who is – well, not a god, although I wouldn’t tell him I said so – but pretty-near omniscient.

3

Pretty-near!?!?!?! Pretty-near?!?!?! How can you , a mod of all people dis such a great man! I hate you!*

*Disclaimer: Gangster Octopus does not actually hate C K Dexter Haven

4

You people are really good at cheering me up and making me laugh!

Now I must go ingest Pepsi, so I can stay awake… (Actually, it’s Pepsi Twist. Not that you asked.)

5

The only thing I can think of is that the girl meant she wishes she was the ACTRESS who got to kiss him in the film?
Mmmm…Pepsi Twist. Yummy.

6

No. It would have made me feel better if I thought she meant that, but no. She used the character’s name. She was talking about the psycho character, quite clearly. He did “pretend” to be a nice guy in the first half of the movie, but he was a nutcase and she obviously knew that. I can’t figure out some people.

7

I know exactly what you mean, yosemitebabe. I subscribe to a Billy Joel mailing list. When I was in college, I thought I was the biggest Billy Joel fan, but that was before the Internet. Some of these people are WACK. They post every little “Billy moment” in their lives as if it were the Second Coming. “I was at the grocery store and “Big Man on Mulberry Street” was playing over the store speakers, and it was the high point of my day! I’m ALWAYS going to shop at that store because THEY LOOVE BILLY JOEL!!” Geez, get a grip!

What really gets me is when he appears on some talk show or does one of his masterclasses (on stage with a piano in an auditorium at a college, answering questions from music students about the music business, and occasionally playing snippets of music to make a point). These loonies go on and on about how the host or whatever shouldn’t waste time talking to him, or he shouldn’t be answering questions: “I think he should have just started with Piano Man and played every song on every album from there up through River of Dreams, and then gone on back through all the way to the beginning.” Uh, no. It’s an interview, or a presentation, NOT A CONCERT. The man is intelligent and funny and tells great stories. Why don’t you try appreciating that part of him too, instead of drooling over the music like a moron?

8

(Blushing) STOP! You’re too kind! I’m just trying to do my part, really. :wink:

9

zoidrocks!

10

I know what you mean. There’s a musician I’m pretty fond of, and I recently, in searching for some guitar tablatures to his music, found a message board dedicated to him. “Aha,” thinks I, “I think I’ll go see if I can have an intelligent, knowledgeable discussion of his music with other people who share my interest!”

Nope.

I wandered in there to find that unless you’ve got every single bootleg recording of him (and his old band), plus the foreign/limited/outtake/remix/Swahili/wax-cylinder/invisible releases, then bubba, you just ain’t in the club. I had nothing at all to add to any of these discussions. I couldn’t even tell what most of them were talking about.

I did find a briefly interesting–and somewhat disturbing–discussion of the “hidden messages” in his lyrics, which are encoded within songs using clever wordplay and structure and possibly some bits of Kabalistic mysticism.

I just wanted to say, “Hey, the new album rocks! What’s yer favorite song?” or something like that. But I saw several people getting slowly roasted over searing flames of rhetoric for doing exactly that, so I quietly tiptoed out of the room and came back to the SDMB.

11

That woman was crazy. Unless she was talking about Edward Norton, in which case, she was right. :wink:

12

I think one of the greatest things about the Internet is that is provides me with constant reassurance that I’m not the world’s biggest loser geek.

Say I really like Celebrity X. I might look up a bunch of interviews with X on the Internet. I might go out of my way to see his/her movies or listen to his/her music. In my college days I may have even gone so far as to print out a photo and stick it on my dorm room door. Maybe some of this is verging into obsessive fan behavior…but not compared to the people I’ve come across on the Internet.

We’re talking people who purchase every single filmed performance of X, even if this means hunting on eBay for pirated copies of long out-of-print stuff that was only ever available overseas in the first place. Or who name their pets and children after X or X’s characters/song titles. Or who get a portrait of X tattooed on their body. Or who set up an online photo gallery devoted to pictures of X’s teeth. I couldn’t make this kind of stuff up. And as disturbing as it is, it makes me feel a little better about that moment of weakness I had when I was 14 when I decided I just had to purchase a copy of a certain celebrity tabloid because it has the scoop on my very favorite star’s wedding.

13

I remember, years ago, signing up for a “Let’s Appreciate Tom Robbins!”-type mailing list. The fans were (as they can be with quirky writers) convinced that he was wonderful in every way. I enjoyed his writings, too, so I thought that frank discussions about his works (maybe even a debate or two) would be welcomed.

Yeah. I learned my lesson.

After I initially asked (in a polite way, mind you) if any of the members disagreed with any of his writings, or if they found one of his books to be less than exemplary, I was immediately accused of trolling. By the message list moderator. It didn’t get any better from then on.

So, I learned that a group of fanatics is pretty much a group of fanatics no matter who they worship. Except us. Cecil absolves our sins. :wink:

14

You guys don’t even wanna know the stuff I see on the James Marsters board. It’s scary. It scares me, and I have a low grade obsession with the man.

15

You people are cracking me up! I knew I wasn’t the only one that noticed this!

Scarlett, you are so right. These people are WACK.

I notice on the message board in question (the one that prompted the angry email message) that things have taken a turn for the worse. Apparently I’m not the only one who does not “worship” this guy. Someone else has made observations and asked questions that might be construed as a very, very, gentle, slightly unflattering comment about the man.

Oh, God Forbid. I’m sure this will send some of these scary ladies into an absolute tizzy.

I also have visited a Stargate message board, just for fun. (I am trying to go through all 7 seasons in order.) Not all of these people seem to be completely WACK (but some do), but they know far more than I do, or ever will. How do they find the time? What the hell? Who the hell are they talking about? They talk about these obscure characters that were in a few episodes or something. I will never keep up with these people. I guess I should be proud of that.

(Lamia, you are right–visiting these message boards and fan sites is the best way to convince yourself that you are not the biggest loser geek!)

16

I’ve seen the opposite-I post at the Jedi Council Boards over at TheForce.NEt, and the bashing of Lucas, the prequels, the actors, the Expanded Universe is just excessive! You know, you gotta wonder why some of these people call themselves FANS.

We had one person who did nothing but bitch and bitch about how she hated this one character in the books (Mara Jade Skywalker, for those of you in the know), and how evil she was, and go on and on and on…well, then why are you posting in the EU section if you don’t like it? D’uh!

People are really weird sometimes.

17

And she’s not yosemitebabe, she’s yosemitesam!!

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

18

Uh, which one, please? :smiley:

And no, I’m not one of the WACK ones. In fact, I tend to be overly critical of the things or people I really like. I want them to be perfect and it grates on my nerves when they are less than so. After all, my obsessions can do no wrong… can they? :wink:

19

I don’t get those fans who get so bent out of shape if a different person shows their dislike. My slight Celebrity obession is a well known actor and I’ve seen people here say that they don’t like him or some of his movies. I barely pay attention. Everyone is different.

20

The only celebrity board I go to is the George Carlin BBS where the members and their “Idol” hold a respectable contempt for eachother. We spread false rumors about our “host” and that’s when we DO talk about him. Anyone who tries discussing him too much on the “Non-GC” side of the board gets a new asshole reamed into them. I haven’t been to the “GC” side in a long long time. It’s a fun place to go if you want to recieve a quick “Fuck you!”