Are you "wowed" by celebrities? Would you ever want to be one?

[Bouncy Ball]

Ok, so I went to this conference this past weekend. As geeky as it sounds, every field has its "rock stars" and academia is no exception. There were more there than usual and I ended up in the elevator (alone) with Sandra Cisneros and others.

No biggie.

Well, one session was called "Ethics in Teaching" and I thought it sounded fascinating, so I went. It was being put on by the guy who was the keynote speaker and THE rock star of the conference. Really old, retired professor and author, well-loved, admired for his work in the field, loads of awards, etc.

I participated a bit when he asked for comments or questions and afterwards, I told him I enjoyed it and started to walk out when he asked me some follow-up questions to a couple of the things I mentioned. We got to talking, his wife (a more minor rock star in her own right) joined us, and we ended up having a few drinks in the hotel bar and chatting. He was amazing to talk to.

The thing that really stuck with me, though, was the reaction of others around us. When he was speaking to me in the room the session was held in, I noticed several other people sort of lingering around us, eyes glistening, wetting their lips and looking very excited/anxious. I heard someone I know stage-whisper "She's talking to him!!!" The air was buzzing. It was distracting, to say the least. When he suggested we go down to the bar for a couple of drinks (me, him and his wife), there were about five people who just simply started walking with us. They kept looking over at him and smiling these big crazy smiles. They followed us to the bar.

Then in the hotel bar, people looked, pointed, nudged others when we came in.

God, if that's just what it's like to be a celebrity among a subgroup of people (if he walked down a street just randomly no one would know who he was), then no thanks. It was really uncomfortable and people kept interrupting our conversation to gush "Oh Dr. Smith, I have loved your work for SO long!!! I tried to take your class back when I was at UT, but I couldn't get in, but I'm so happy to see you here" and "That was the most AMAZING keynote address I've ever heard!!" They'd ask him to sign a copy of his book they bought.

He looked worn out by the time I left him. I said I was tired and needed to go up to my room and rest.

I normally don't have a lot of sympathy for Hollywood celebrities, seeing as they have more money than God, but if that was just 1% of what they have to deal with in public, no wonder they can be so grumpy. It annoyed ME and I wasn't even the one being bothered all the time.

[blackcat77]

1. My wife heads a statewide non-profit group

That's not exactly a "celebrity," but it's the sort of thing where people just assume that you have no expectation of privacy at all. The phone rings from 7 am to 11 pm and they get huffy if you suggest that you might be doing something else. Being a TRUE celebrity would be many orders of magnitude worse and no money would be worth the sacrifice of all your privacy.

[Bouncy Ball]

2. No kidding.

It seems horrible. I'm far too much of a private person, I would have snapped when the fifteenth person came up gushing about my keynote address without a thought as to whether I was in the middle of a conversation or just wanted to be left alone.

[tjdee]

3. I get wowed by a few--and it IS annoying.

I would NEVER walk up to Bono for that reason.

So I have another plan--to be famous myself someday so I too can visit the celebrities only area.

:)

[Bouncy Ball]

4. Hey, good plan!!!

I guess I just wasn't cut out for that kind of stuff. I normally love people, but the whole episode just made my skin crawl. They looked so...different.....so kinda half-crazed when they were looking at him.

[KittyWampus]

5. Alec Baldwin Came To My Place Looking For A Room. I've Been Around

the rich and famous as a guest, as a hostess and as staff.

Alec Baldwin, for some reason, is the only one who had me kinda whoozy... and I'm not "into" Alec Baldwin.

He's just got a powerful presence.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

18. Baldwin is dynamic, and I find him very sexy. n/t

[Lorien]

6. I guess my answer would have to be "no" and "no"

I've met more celebrities of all sorts than I can count because I worked at a film studio. Some were generally nice people (like John Ritter and Jimmy Carter), others were a**holes (Henry Kissinger and Gilbert Gottfried come to mind), others were just kind of sad. I remember walking back from lunch one day when I passed by Micheal Jackson (a regular visitor) and the Caulkin brothers. I was walking from a public area into the "backstage" area, and they were going the opposite direction-without bodyguards or disguises. I looked at the youngest Caulkin boy and said "I really think this is a bad idea" he answered "no kidding" and sighed, following Micheal like a sheep to slaughter. I didn't stick around to see what happened next, but a co-worker filled me in. Within minutes, the boys and Jackson were surrounded-HUNDREDS of people, snapping photos and demanding autographs. The boys looked totally freaked, and security had to be called in.

Yeah, sure, the money would be nice. But fame means loss of freedom in my book. No thanks!

[Bouncy Ball]

14. Yeah

it always reminds me of voluntary imprisonment in a fish bowl. A very NICE fish bowl, where you are pampered all the time, but a fish bowl nonetheless.

[Lorien]

21. More than that

I've worked in a "fish bowl"; with more than 10,000 people a day watching me work. Celebrity, from what I've seen, is like being in a fishbowl full of other fish that relentlessly pursue you because they both adore you and despise you.

[MsAnthropy]

7. There's a funny book out called "A Massive Swelling: Celebrity

Reexamined as a Grotesque Crippling Disease" by Cintra Wilson. It is comic essays examining our obsession with celebrity and the ridiculous lengths people go to obtain it and keep it, even while it's rotting their brains.

[Bouncy Ball]

12. Ooo sounds up my alley. Gonna have to look for that one!

[Skarbrowe]

8. I can't believe I'm going to reply to this, but what the heck.

It's not because of your question. It's a very interesting question. I just don't usually talk about this part of my life. Oh, I am not a celebrity of any kind. Far from it. But, when I was in my early twenties I used to play the piano at my house and others during our many, many parties. Everyone was convinced I was going to be famous in the music business because I was writing my own music and even I will say it was good. I was also reasonably attractive at the time. I can say this now because I sure don't look like that anymore. I got a LOT of attention. Love notes left on my car from both sexes. People stopping over my house all the time. So much that one year I left town for a few weeks to get some rest.

All "the bars" I used to haunt were places that I needed a few drinks to even set foot in. There were the immediate "She's here!" comments and the whole time I was there people were lined up to talk to me or dance with me. I innocently thought everyone got that kind of attention. I have to admit, it took those few drinks for me to handle it all. The next morning I would wake up in my usual I'm not worth crap mode. All these people saw something in me that I knew wasn't there. I guess you could call all that attention a "celebrity" feeling. And I guess there was a part of me that did want to be famous. That feeling just wasn't strong enough.

It's much better in middle age now and no one cares to look me in the eye. :crazy:

[Bouncy Ball]

13. But that sounds like an interesting experience.

It added to your life in some way!

[Skarbrowe]

26. Yes it did. I remember the days fondly without missing them. I only wish

that I had turned out better for myself. Might have made things easier. I will admit there is nothing like walking into a room and knowing that most eyes are on you and if you had one or three too many drinks you can easily get what you are in the mood for. Those are my regrets. I always preferred a good book, a good movie or TV show and playing the piano when I was a alone. I could turn on the charm and be funny, caring and dare I say sexy for a few hours at best, then back in the box.

Strange thing is, that I have read that many real celebrities are the same way. No one can be "on" all the time.

I've been very enamored with certain actresses and one actor in my life and I hated the feeling. A couple bordered on serious obsession. It all ties together with the "fame' thing. You want it, but then you don't want it. You envy and obsess over someone who has it all the while not liking yourself for the same reasons.

How many of you practice giving Academy Award acceptance speeches when you were young. LOL!

Now I can't stomack watching any award shows. Thank god there's such a thing as growing up and finally getting a grip on yourself and the world.

Then along comes a nightmare named *.

[ThorsHammer]

9. No and no

[txaslftist]

10. No and no.

[crispini]

11. In my stint in the Peace Corps I got a glimpse of what it must be like.

Being white in a country (Thailand) where EVERYONE is not is a little weird. People would come up to me on the bus or in the market ALL THE TIME and want to talk. Then when they found out I speak Thai they would just light up and want to know all about America. They would call me a "doll" -- literally -- because of my blue eyes and fair skin -- and ask me all kinds of random questions, (My favorite was "Do you know MacGuyver?") tell me how "cute" I was, laugh at my accent and the answers to my questions, etc.

I got used to it, and usually found it fun, but it WAS annoying at times. But, I guess it was kind of a different situation, because I was pretty much just a guest in their country, and once I let go of my own sense of self-importance and decided that on some basic level I was mostly there for their amusement anyway, it got a lot better. :7

[NewJeffCT]

20. I experienced something like that in China

where I was one of the few white people... my wife (who is Chinese) was off in the airport trying to track down our missing stroller. I had 3 separate women (not airport employees) come up to me and ask if I needed any help in English.

And, I got a ton of stares, turned heads & the like. It got to the point where I'd almost be disappointed if an attractive young woman did not look at me.

But, it was an interesting experience.

[Lizzie Borden]

15. Nope to both.

[Schema Thing]

16. Oh Sure Bouncy, kick my (The Ack-Tongue of Doom) ass

....in a cage fight, and then coyly pretend you don't know what fame is all about.

[Bouncy Ball]

17. Well, you know

fame on the net isn't quite the same as fame in real life.

Though my muscles DO scare people all the time!

[bliss_eternal]

19. Sure there are people I admire in various fields, but

I wouldn't want to be in their position and lose my sense of privacy for anything.

I have relatives that have worked for some celebrities for many years in their homes. It's not all it's cracked up to be, and they are still human irregardless to the fact that they get to be on tv or a big screen sometimes.

I've never understood how people can interrupt someone in the middle of a meal or when they are with their families just for them to sign a scrap of paper. I actually argued with someone I knew once about this once. Her argument was it would be 'worth' something someday so it was worth it to her to be a little rude to secure it. I hope someday she is put in a position to see things differently.

I mean seriously, what is a scrap of paper with a signature on it REALLY worth? Is it worth being rude? Is it worth disrupting someone else or making them feel uncomfortable? Is it worth making an ass of yourself?

Why are some people so willing to trade simple human decency and grace for possible monetary value?

[Kat45]

22. I was in an amazingly similar situation as you one time.

I was at a writers' conference, and the keynote speaker was a writer of moderate success, though like your situation, not somebody most people would know or recognize. He happened to start talking to me at one point during the conference (I didn't even realize who he was until I read his name badge.) Then, later toward the end of the conference, he started chatting with me. The whole time we were talking, other folks at the conference were coming up to him, talking to him, people standing around looking at him--the same stuff you were describing.

It was pretty weird, but that weirdness was probably overshadowed by my naivete. I thought he was taking an interest in me as a young writer, and it turned out he was interested in going out with me. We were sort of in touch for a while, and I realized this fact much later; it had never occurred to me because I was in my late thirties and he was in his early sixties. (Just my luck, it couldn't be someone I would have been interested in going out with.) LOL

Snd you're right: celebrity is weird. I've always had a part of me that would love to be famous so that a lot of people would want to hang out with me and I could go to any show or meet anyone I want and I could probably go out with most anybody I wanted to. But you know, that's more vanity than substance, and it isn't something I really want.

[Left Is Write]

23. I have been a "celebrity" of sorts.

Back in my radio days. I think I just recounted right here on DU a week or so back the story of the girls who followed me into the restroom at a bar, demanding I "say something radio."

Through the course of my job, I met many celebrities in the form of country music stars. They were all real people, some nice, some assholes. I think I was only wowed once, and that's only 'cause the dude was seriously good looking, smelled heavenly, and kissed me. ;)

I often got recognized, albeit not to the degree of a genuine celebrity. Some guy in the liquor store asked if I was "the" Cathy So-and-So when I wrote a check for my purchases. People liked to buy me drinks at bars. Some people called me ALLLL the time at the station. And I even had my very own freaky scary stalker.

[SarahB]

24. No

People are people. Character is what impresses me more than "stuff" or phony things.

Would I want to be one? Not particularly unless I felt it would be of use for a higher purpose, but overall, it seems like more of a trap than anything else. Not something I'd probably seek out.

[ronnykmarshall]

25. Yes and yes!

I am such a celb whore! I get SO star struck when I've seen or met famous people.

I'd love to be a celebrity, cuz I'd be really nice to fans and not stuck up.

Of course all the cute guys, I'd give extra attention to :evilgrin:

[msgadget]

27. No and no.

I wouldn't last a day. No privacy, not knowing why people were really with me, etc., etc...

[LeftyMom]

28. No, but I'm a very private person

I would never intrude on someone's converastion or ask for an autograph just because they are famous. I'd hate to have someone intrude like that, so I'm more than happy to give people thier space.

My younger sister is the sort to walk up and introduce herself, but she's a very pretty girl and has a nice personality so nobody seems to mind.

[Magrittes Pipe]

29. After seriously debating whether one has time to fit in the 2 Congressmen,

one rarely has a lot of star-struckness left.

[Moloch]

30. No

and no.