Celebrity? - She's a bit of a cult

A chance, part-overheard comment in the office yesterday gave me the idea for today's Blog. I'd give the person credit if:

a) I didn't think she was a vacuous waste of skin.

and

b) I actually knew her name.

We were all trying to leave the training room after an office meeting, you know, where forty people all try to cram through the same doorway at the same time? When I overheard the young lady in question say 'Why is Kim Kardashian wearing that dress when she's pregnant?' (And yes, I did have to Google the spelling, I was going to put Cardassian, but I figured that that would be unfair on Gene Roddenberry's memory.)

This got me to thinking, why in the name of little curly tailed frogs would anyone in their right mind care what some celebrity was wearing whilst they were pregnant? What was their reasoning behind it? Asking the person who made the initial remark is out of the question of course, as I have to suffer enough blank stares and open mouthed drooling from people whilst I'm doing my day job as it is.

I Googled the poor, pregnant, lady in question and read that she had found fame through a leaked sex-tape about six years ago, which netted her $5m, then took the standard route to celebrity of reality TV, nude modelling, promoting other people's products, releasing a fragrance range, supporting popular charities, 'designing' clothes and freakishly short-term marriages. Apart from guest starring in a couple of TV shows that were trying to alter their demographic, or featuring her ironically, and parts in three films that I've never heard of and are even less likely to ever watch, I can't see a single thing that's she'd actually done to earn all of this worldwide attention.

Don't get me wrong, I can see her appeal as what used to be called 'Something for the Dads' on Saturday evening TV, but short of shallow objectification, I just don't get it. Maybe she's aspirational? I guess that she's rich, lives in a nice house and drives a selection of nice cars. She wears clothes designed by some very talented people, shouldn't it be those people that we aspire to be? The Do-ers, the people who produce things - And by things I don't just mean people who make a physical object, I mean people who provide services, or educate, or entertain.

Although, maybe it's jealousy on my part, if for a moment I thought I could surf through life on a sea of money generated by a grainy nightvision film of myself making sweet-sweet love to a blurry vaguely feminine shape in the background. (It would have to be a montage obviously, produced over time, as no-one in their right mind would pay $5m for three minutes of video) - I would. But I know it wouldn't happen, so I don't. For which you should all be very thankful.

I know I seem to be targeting this Kardashian woman, but you could equally replace her with anybody appearing on the cover of any number of 'Celebrity' magazines, Heat, OK, Now, Then, Yes, Faff, Plib - They're all choc full of people I don't recognise who are famous for precisely nothing, being photographed taking their dog for a walk, or having a cup of coffee, or wearing last season's clothes or even, Gods forbid, wearing the same clothes twice!

I guess it's nothing new, celebrities have captured people's imaginations for thousands of years, but this is the first generation where people are happy to make a fuss of people who are famous, just for being famous. And they say that this is the generation that's going to have to save the planet...

I'm sinking my meagre savings into the Space Program, how about you?