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ECLECTICIST: Celebrity
Show Notes & Research
Introduction
Topic Overview
Off-topic
Talking Points
Glossary
Wrap Up
From the Show
Broadcast: 29th November, 2015
Last update: 29th November, 2015
Introduction
- Read the feedback, notes from the last show
- Begin recording
- Introduction and description of the podcast, goals, modus operandi.
- What An investigation of everything from a British perspective by two brothers (who consider themselves to be relatively normal chaps), one topic at a time.
- Who Geoffrey Campos (engineer and devil’s advocate),
Benjamin de-Campos (designer and believer). - How Choose a topic of interest, spend a little time researching it, have a discussion then publish the notes - which are available on the site to read along!
- Why The main benefits are the fostering of a greater understanding of the world before we die and hopefully, to prompt further thought and discussion from our listeners.
- The topic we will be discussing in this episode is Celebrity
Topic Overview
Famous for one’s works, famous for the work of others, famous for being famous. Celebrity has been currency ever since Moses dropped the first set of commandments. In today’s age, If You're Not Famous at Fourteen, You're Finished. From premier league footballers to reality TV desperados to attention-seeking serial killers, celebrity is the ultimate confirmation of one’s secret suspicion, ‘I’m special’. They may be workaholics, sycophants, obsessives or uncommonly gifted in their field, they may have had fame thrust upon them. Alcoholics, drug abusers, sexual predators, confidence tricksters but at least, they’re not faceless ordinaries. Must we all aspire to celebrity?
Off-topic
What we’re not talking about
- Cluster bombs
- Object-relational mapping
- US Government using cats to execute prisoners on death row
Talking Points
Each bullet is a talking point. Sub-bullets are topics that may or may not be covered. Usage: Read the bullet and sub-bullets then talk about some or all sub-bullets.
- Celebrity Someone who is famous, especially in the entertainment business
- Fame The state of being known or recognized by many people because of your achievements, skills, etc. - Cambridge Dictionary Online
- Celebrity culture
- Why seek fame?
- People who are genuinely talented might see the fame side effect as problematic. Some of them may find it problematic to begin with then get sucked into the machine and end up desperate and neurotic and alienate everyone they know.
- The ‘price of fame’
- Transience
- Appearance fees
- Drugs and alcohol abuse
- Fragile ego
- Outbursts
- Views on politics, social commentary
- Charity involvement
- Preconceptions/perceptions
- Want to see failure, self destruction
- All celebrities are shameless, money-grubbing horrible people
- What being famous can do to someone:
- turn them into an arsehole
- detach them from reality. Countless examples of this
- make them self destruct. Countless examples of this
- Pink Floyd’s The Wall is quite a good telling of some of this story.
- Big Brother quite possibly started this ball rolling
- Kardashians
- Katie Price
- Ozzy Osbourne
- HUlk Hogan
- Talk Shows
- Celebrity relationships
- Insufferable and they rarely seem to last
- Risk taking
- Humiliation
- Criminals
- Kray Twins
- Ronnie Biggs
- Al Capone, John Dillinger
- The emergence of a whole generation of ‘stars’ who would never ever have been famous were it not for the internet. These people can be ordinary looking to downright ugly, have speech impediments, be broke et cetera et cetera.
- ‘Politics is show business for ugly people’ 1991, Texas political consultant Bill Miller
Glossary
Terminology specific to the topic
- Celebrity worship syndrome (CWS) An obsessive-addictive disorder in which a person becomes overly involved with the details of a celebrity's personal life.
Wrap Up
- Details about site, contacts, next show: The Very Best of Stanley Kubrick
- Outro music choice - something open source or out of copyright so we don’t get sued
- J. S. Bach The Open Goldberg Variations by Kimiko Ishizaka, a Kickstarter project that recorded then published for free to the public domain, the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988. This is the Aria.
- Recording ends, postmortem recording begins
- Add intro music, outro, any editing
- Publish!
From the Show
Notes, corrections and further references
A Psychologist’s Perspective on the Relationship Between Creativity, Celebrity, and Mental Health Dr. Rachel Kitson