Many many years ago I told somebody that I thought it was a kool idea to make a fan club for a completely normal person. Well, what with the net and all, this idea is now practical, and is sort of happening.
One such is Ellen Feiss. Remember her from the Mac ad? I thought of her suddenly, and a natural thought would be: OK, so she got famous real fast... But it was more than five years ago, and it was on the basis of one ad for Apple, and the dubious assertion from some that she was on dope when they filmed it. (She was really tired.) So surely she is completely forgotten by now.
But still, there was just some... quality... to her that told me she and her fame would be alive and well still, and lo, they are.
She has recently had a part in a French movie. It seems their site is down, but at least here is a recent interview with her.
It's very funny how she states that the movie is silly and does not make sense. It's clear she is not aiming for a Hollywood career, you never hear a Hollywood actor say anything negative about a film or a colleague.
I think she must be a pretty bright person. Hear this:
Macenstein: You were actually offered guest spots on both Letterman and Leno following the success of those ads, yet you turned them both down. Why?
Ellen: Because it seemed like I would be the guy with the talking cat on the show.
... How many teenaged girls would say no to being on Letterman? To most people, being famous is the most awesome thing imaginable.
4 comments:
being famous is the most awesome thing imaginable.....
i prefer a quiet corner in the shadows where mysteries remain.
it's safer this way. give my regards to those who are famous yet wish their notability was obscure. (smile and sigh)
I always wanted to be LEISURED, and I thought perhaps fame (or maybe just an independent income) was the way to get it. I do like acting (though I can't claim to be brilliant at it; maybe I could learn?) and playing musical instruments, so I always thought it would be great to be FREE to simply do those things and get enough money that I could continue to choose to do those things. So in that sense, the quest for "fame" was probably something I DID want. But it wasn't the notoriety, itself, I wanted, as much as what I perceived that it would bring me.
There's also the quest to hit the "top of your game." I don't really like the idea of doing shoddy work, or even work that is merely productive or merely profitable. I've lost some jobs over that discrepancy, either by making bosses look bad or by "not fitting in" or "not being happy" when the workplace required high volume instead of care, or even competence. So I think in terms of "excellence" and I do perceive that, in our society, excellence at some tasks is often highly rewarded to the point that the performer of that task gets "famous" for it. "Oh, he's the guy who ...". Think Johnny Cochrane, if you want a cynical example, or Moby and Sting if you want a more straightforward pair. People with a "niche" that they basically own. I'd like to be like that.
But followed around by papparazzi? Nah, doesn't sound fun, especially not in the underpasses of Paris ...
The only thing is, the famous do usually have to work pretty hard. What would be better would be to be the no-good, freeloading kid of some famous person.
Naw, those people all end up with unfulfilled lives, chasing drugs or thrills and ending up on some bad reality TV show about how lazy they are like "The Two Coreys." What fulfills me IS the work of performing and playing the instrument. I'm just not GOOD ENOUGH at it to have the freedom to do it full time. Or any time, really. :(
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