Us! They're Just Like NPR!
Man, do I love Fridays. I really, really love them. It's not just because there's no show, giving us a much-needed opportunity to catch up on news, sleep, dirty dishes. It's because I know at the end of the day, I'll trudge up my steps and a gleaming (they don't call 'em glossies for nothin') Us Weekly will be tucked in my mail slot (not a euphemism). And honestly, I'm not just looking at the pictures... I'm reading the articles. I swear. I'm also a fan of Dirt*, the television program based on a fictional tabloid glossy, with Courtney Cox as the tough-as-nails editrix-in-chief (much of her hairstyle and toughness seems to owe an awful lot to every story I've ever read about Judith Regan). Now, despite my deep and abiding affection for Us (not the royal Us, but the magazine), I've no idea what an editorial meeting is like; but, if it's anything like the one in Dirt, it's strikingly similar to ours (sans, of course, terror-wielding boss). We thrive on ideas... tabloids are just limited in scope. We're limited by... er... taste. (Though you'd be surprised how much we talk about LLo's misadventures, Paris (the royal Paris, not the city), and of course hope and pray for the well being of Britney's family).
Anyway, today we're talking tabloids: writing the obit to the Weekly World News, with the help of singer songwriter Bob Lind (the Elusive Butterfly (audio) himself! Click here (audio) and here (audio) to hear some more music.) We'll also be talking about the new generation of celebremags, with a former Globe reporter, and the charming (and articulate) Ken Baker, the West Coast editor of Us. (Anyone who says this is faux biz — the man has a masters in journalism from Columbia.) If I know our listeners, I'm sure we'll get some laughter, some jeers, and some chagrin. But I think there's some real reporting to be done here, plus, who wouldn't like a look inside the cut-throat world of celebrijournalism? (What other words can I attach celebri- to? Anyone?)
*FYI, Dirt is a terribly guilty pleasure, in my opinion. First of all, Kinerase is amazing ... and second of all, it's got more porn then German opera. I blush all the way through.
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I'm sitting here working, and I hear the name Bob Lind. I bought your album (40 years ago!!) because my 12th grade English teacher mentioned you in class one day. You were a student from Aurora Central High School. I graduated from Hinkley in 1967... just brought back memories!!
Everytime I pick up a celebrity tabloid it reminds me that at my ripe old age of 26 (yes twenty-six) I am completely culturally irrelevant.
Somewhere, someone compared our celebrity obsession with the fascination of the ancient Greeks with the antics of the gods. Wait, its not as ridiculous as it sounds; the gods were always up to mischief, jumping in and out of bed with one another. They were not meant to be role-models, but their larger-than-life dramas were passed on eagerly, received with appetite. We have made of our celebrities larger-than-life characters whose exploits feed some kind of appetite; we do not really admire them, but we cant look away. However they feel about it, they have been robbed of ordinary life, and I do not envy them. But the fascination; it is voyuerism, but it feels even stronger than that...as if some very ancient appetite were getting fed, albeit with junk food rather than myths. I wish I knew who said this first, but it rang true then and still does.
Bob Lind confirmed everything I ever thought about WWN - it had to be a blast to work there, the writers were incredibly bright and creative and the demise of the paper had everything to do with the new columists. I'll miss my mid-winter pick-me-up.
My friend was Jack The Ripper Reincarnated!! We were about 14 years old and a reporter saw my friend and decided to take pics of him for WWNews - a few months later he was posted as Jack The Ripper - I thought that was very cool back then - I don't think he got paid much for the pics either.
I am 19 year old, and I used to read my mothers "people's" when I was about 15, now though I have realized that celebrities are normal people and they dont care about what I do on a daily basis so why should I care what they do on a daily basis? It really does not affect my life whatsoever, now on the other hand, stories covered in newspapers like the New York Times are of interest to me because I find out just what IS affecting me. Tabloids are purely for mindless entertainment in my opinion.