Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with celebrity

How much money does the gossip magazine / gossip blog / tabloid industry make?

Elle Vator — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:23:45 -0800

So, celebrity gossip is everywhere and lots of $$$ is forked out for images of famous babies, etcetera... BUT how much money does the gossip industry MAKE? I can't find any online statistics about Gossip Industry Revenues. It's actually very odd and mysterious.

I'm looking for numbers on gossip magazines, gossip blogs and/or the tabloid industry, with the goal of comparing the Gossip numbers to the Porn Industry and the Television Industry respectively. I could use global numbers, US or North American numbers.

It would be useful to find a webpage as comprehensive as this: http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html

...but I would take a single, high impact sentence about the tabloids and gossip rags (such as this gem: "US Porn Revenues are greater than the combined revenues of ABC, CBS and NBC"), which was properly cited and verifiable.

Anyone got anything?

How to sell a rare and possibly valuable manuscript?

broadway bill — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:08:56 -0800

I have come into possession of a handwritten manuscript by Cecil Day-Lewis, noted British author and poet (and father of Daniel Day Lewis). I have been asked to determine the value of the manuscript, and sell it. It was inherited by a family friend, who wants rid of it. Aside from contacting rare book people (which I have done/am still doing) do any mefites have ideas on how to get the most for it?? The manuscript is handwritten, in amazing condition, and appears to be complete. It is apparently the manuscript to his young adult novel titled The Otterbury Incident, which was published in 1948. I myself am the progeny of a noted literary talent, and can not help but think that if I were Daniel Day-Lewis, I might be interested in the thing myself. Is that an insane idea? Is it even more insane to attempt to contact DDL about all of this? And, if one were to attempt to contact someone in his position, how would it be done? Will I come off as a horrible, leeching vampire if I do that?

Who are the world's 50 most famous/recognizable living people?

ciocarlia — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:10:26 -0800

Help us settle a workplace debate in a scientific manner: Do you know of any research studies that have objectively identified the 50 most famous/recognizable living people in the world today? We're trying to determine if Tiger Woods is (or is not) among the world's 50 most famous/recognizable living people and have struggled to find a credible answer. We seek studies that take into consideration the entire world, not just the Western World, for example.

A quick Web search produced lists that are USA-centric. We're looking for studies that take a world-wide perspective.

"Are you high?" + "Yes" = Laughter and ?

ramenopres — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:36:54 -0800

Why don't celebrities get in trouble for confessing to drug use on talk shows? I've seen late night talk shows where the guest, and sometimes the host, confesses to using or handling drugs. This might happen in the context of an awkward moment or reminiscence. Sometimes it looks like the guest has used something before the interview (you know, when they come on glassy-eyed and don't know what's going on and the host has to cover for them). Why don't they get in trouble for this? It's confessing to a crime, right? Can police use that information to search their belongings or support a charge in court?

Help me dress up as a dead celebrity!

gwenlister — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:32:00 -0800

Costume Party Filter : Going to a "Dead Celebrity" costume party in a couple weeks and am having trouble coming up with any good ideas that aren't going to be done 100 times over. The obvious ones that I know are going to show up are going to be things like Billy Mays, Marilyn, Michael Jackson, etc. so I really want to go as something that no one else is but that people will still know/recognize. I'm also open to other interpretations of the theme, as well as dead movie characters etc. The problem is I'm a big, busty, curvy woman with long dark brown hair and the only dead celebrity I can come up with that fits that even a little is Mama Cass... and that sucks. I do not want to go as Mama Cass.

I would love to go as something funny/ingenious/unique so I'm hoping the brilliant minds here on askmefi can help me come up with something. I have no problem dressing up in ridiculous things and looking like an idiot, though I would prefer not to have to wear a wig though, simply due to comfort and wig availability. I'm very adept at styling my hair, though, so I can recreate most any look I would need.

How to get famous in 30 days?

GIMG — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:25:22 -0800

How could one acquire some degree of fame in 30 days? For a project of his, a documentarian has challenged me to become famous in 1 month - and as foolish as I am, I accepted. What are some ways someone foolish enough to take on this challenge could acquire some degree of fame within 30 days (local/cult fame accepted)? Part of the challenge is the lack of no discernible talents or resources, and fame is measured by the degree of mentions in local media, blogs, etc. (It would be preferable to be not despised, as well.)

Body and beats, for whom does he stain his sheets?

Jon_Evil — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:17:23 -0800

Celebrity Sexual Preference-filter: Does Gordon Gano, singer of the Violent Femmes, like boys, girls, or both?

Governator in Better Days

benzenedream — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:02:16 -0800

I'm looking for a B&W 70s picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger in a tuxedo with a large buck-toothed grin and bad hair backstage after winning an award (for, I assume, Stay Hungry in 1977). I found this on a postcard years ago and stupidly didn't scan it before sending. I'd like to use this image in some craft projects.

The Talented Mr. Brady

Hugh2d2 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:08:34 -0800

Long shot - On my way to Vegas this weekend. What are the odds I can get my wife to meet her celebrity crush, Wayne Brady? She's a huge fan and I've already dropped some coin on tickets, but I think I could score big if I figured out how to get her face to face with him.

Any ideas on how I would get something like this done?

People of note, but not in the US?

imabanana — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:57:38 -0800

Looking for people famous in their home countries or even worldwide that the average American would have never heard of. Example: Johnny Hallyday I was doing some reading about Johnny Hallyday, the "French Elvis", and got to wondering about other famous celebrities that are massively popular (Hallyday has sold 100 million records) that never transitioned at all to the US.

Examples don't have to be as obvious or as famous as Johnny Hallyday, just looking to learn a little more about pop culture outside of the US. Looking mostly for actors/actresses and singers/bands, but would also be interested in sports stars or other people of note if they fit.

Famous Cat Fanciers

Houyhnhnm — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:09:33 -0800

Which famous people love cats? I am looking for quotes, photographs, and/or anecdotes about famous people who love (or loved) cats.

For example, the article on Wikipedia about Stanley Kubrick says that "Kubrick brought his cats on to film sets and editing rooms with him in order to spend more time with them."

I, the accidental paparazzo: the celebrity I shot at Central Park wants to use my pictures

AnyGuelmann — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:46:35 -0800

I, the accidental paparazzo: the celebrity I shot at Central Park wants to use my pictures. Do I negotiate some financial compensation or just sign the release in exchange for having my name on the photo credits? A couple months ago I was, as I did most weekends during the summer, sitting on a bench in Central Park photographing people. I shot a very cute couple before I realized the guy was a singer. I put the photos, along with all others from that weekend, on flickr. I don't usually license my flickr photos under Creative Commons, so these are "all rights reserved".

Today I got an e-mail from someone producing this guy's next cd. They want to use my photos and attached the following release:

"I _____________________ am the sole and rightful owner of
the photos dated _________________. I agree to allow Xxxxx Xxxx Music, Xxxxx Xxxxx or his representative, full and
complete use of my photos for promotional, web posting or
merchandise purposes. I grant the permission free of
charge and with no conditions."

The pictures look good, but I am, at best, a pretentious amateur. The idea of having my photos on this guy's material is flattering and I would gladly do it just to satisfy my ego.
I realize there's very little possibility of getting payed, and I will sign the release if that is in fact the case, but I'd hate to be the sucker that didn't get any money while everyone else did.

How do these things work? Is there space for negotiating even though the release says "free of charge"? Do I flat out put a price on my photos?

Who was the Ur-Paris?

surenoproblem — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:21:34 -0800

Who was the Ur-Paris? Who were the Paris Hiltons of yesteryear? Whenever I find myself in conversation with people-who-think-they're-smarter-than-everyone, I know that I will soon be subjected to a rant about how we now live in the most facile of times, obsessed with celebrities like Paris Hilton. I'd like to hear arguments for the opposing view: that this is nothing new, that, throughout history, it has always been human nature to be interested in the lives of certain people... Specific examples would be great, particularly examples of people whose celebrity would seem, at first glance, to be disproportionate to their merit. I'm mainly just curious as to other points of view, so straightforward answers about celebrities in past decades would be great, but inflammatory devil's advocate stuff is fine, too: I posed the question to a guy I know, and he made an interesting argument that our culture is much more obsessed with the life of Jesus than that of Paris, and he argued that that was just as crazy.

I'd love to hear any thoughts that differ from the same old, tired song I keep hearing, that our society is so uniquely dumb right now...

Star struck

BadMiker — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:07:22 -0800

I'd really like to get a book signed by a (relatively) big rockstar. What's the best way to go about this? I dont really want to hang around the stage door when they come on tour and it's unlikely they'll be doing promotional events in my area. Can you help me rach the stars!?

Why do celebrity/gossip blogs use the same phrasing for post titles?

deern the headlice — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:46:23 -0800

Why do so many of the celebrity/gossip blogs use the same phrasing for post titles (ex: "Lindsey Lohan is Cured", "Tyra Banks is Angry", "David Duchovny is Addicted to Porn")? Just curious why they all seem to follow this format and where it started from.

Were there unwilling/accidental celebrities before the Internet?

waxpancake — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:59:43 -0800

Looking for examples of accidental/unwitting/unwilling celebrities, before the Internet. Help me find the Star Wars Kids, Afroninjas, and Tay Zondays of the pre-1990s. I'm doing a talk at ROFLThing in late August, and I want to talk about unwilling or accidental celebrities. You'd think there would be historical examples of people who became famous for embarrassing actions before the age of the Internet, but I'm having a very hard time finding them. Were there accidental celebrities in the '60s, '70s, and '80s? How about the Victorian era?

Finding unwitting celebrities is much easier, with the entire genre of outsider art and outsider music. It's easy to make the argument that Tay Zonday and William Hung are the direct descendants of Wesley Willis and Tiny Tim, but they were very willing participants in their celebrity.

I'm more interesting in people that became famous accidentally, real or fictional, before the Internet. Bonus points for anything before 1970. Thank you!

Shoot the Messenger? Cult of Personality?

divabat — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:11:26 -0800

Which causes or ideas have become more about the messenger than the message? I remember, for a while after "An Inconvenient Truth" came out, there was a lot of fuss given on Al Gore personally alongside (and sometimes more than) the attention on climate change. Now Al Gore's fame has quelled a little, but I was wondering if there have been any other social causes or new ideas that are now only remembered because of the presenter - or even if those ideas have fallen by the wayside in favour of the presenter's personality.

While Princess Diana brought landmines to greater public attention, it wasn't the cause of her fame, and the landmines cause hasn't diminished just because of her. Similarly, there isn't one clear person that can be credited for the gay rights movement or the feminist movement.

However, how many people would understand Albert Einstein's Theory or Relativity or how it's relevant to today's world? How about Stephen Hawking's work on astrophysics? Has their "celebrity" overshadowed understanding of their work on a mass level?

Also, has there been any studies or research done in this area? Is there a name for this phenomena?

How to get celebrity autographs

Marie Mon Dieu — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:51:50 -0800

How do I get famous rock star/celebrity autographs for my teenaged son? When I was 8 months preggers with my son, I won front row seats to Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Black Moon concert. He danced a lot in my tummy at the concert, and now, related or not, he plays drums on a cherry-red set of Premiere drums, and jams on an electric guitar (Gibson lookalike) with his own band. He can also play horns, but he is so very awesome on drums and guitar, electric or acoustic.

He will be 16 at the end of October. I would love to get him as many rock star/celebrity autographs as possible, but especially ELP. Their site is not very user friendly.. and he also likes Slipknot and Atreyu. Paul McCartney, Aerosmith, former Zeps, Green Day, etc., etc. anyone would be good.

Do they really send out autographs and how do I get one? I wrote to Sean Connery's agent two years ago, as my son was named after him, and never heard a word. I was really disappointed in Sir Sean.

Where do I start? There are so many places on the web for paying to get agents' names but that did me zero good with Sean Connery.

Thanks so much in advance for any tips or links.

Is everybody who could be a supermodel actually a supermodel?

cgc373 — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:42:58 -0800

Are there a lot of people who are recognizably as beautiful as supermodels who are not supermodels? Or do the present mechanisms of celebrity reliably account for a majority of people who meet the criteria to be supermodels? And how would one go about trying answer a question like this, aside from the expedient method of popping into AskMe?

Now that you're not so busy, maybe you can read my letter...

the christopher hundreds — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:53:29 -0800

Have you ever written to a celebrity who has fallen from grace? Especially one who landed really, really hard? For the record, the person I'm thinking of writing to is Chris Langham. I've enjoyed a ton of his work but Help and The Thick of It are masterpieces. On one hand if I were in his shoes, I'd like to hear from people who like my work. On the other hand I don't buy his Townshendian explanation about why he did what he did and don't want to present myself as an unquestioning admirer. On yet another hand it seems the odds of getting a response is higher in these circumstances than it would be in other, better times.

Have you ever contacted a similarly situated celeb? How did/would you weigh these issues?

Celebrity Pixel Art?

stevil — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:02:18 -0800

Who created those 8-bit pixel art graphics of many famous characters? This was a big blogosphere thing maybe 2 or 3 years ago? An artist created this huge number of blocky front-view representations of all sorts of famous people and it was almost a game to see if you could figure out who it was. And the fun part was that you COULD tell who they were, even though they were really minimal. I remember some of them were individual characters (I'm figuring Star Wars characters) and some were groups (I remember Kiss and Guns 'n Roses).

I looked here and boingboing under any variation of 8-bit, pixel-art, icon, celebrity, etc. and I can't find it.

I think this even ended up in the mainstream media at one point. I'm sure this is an easy one but my mind is totally blank and my Google-mojo seems to have left me.

Everybody loves a comeback!

wuzandfuzz — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:53:24 -0800

Celebrity comebacks with single artistic turning point? I'm looking for examples of celebrities who were has-beens until a certain movie, play, or tv show brought them back to celebrity stardom. Along the lines of John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, he had been doing crappy movies like Look Who's Talking and then was suddenly a serious actor again. That may not be the best example, but it might clarify what I'm looking for, and I'm having a really hard time thinking of anything more!

I'm thinking along the lines of if I were a producer trying to secure a semi-washed up once-great actress to star in my "genius but rather unknown" writer's movie. This is for a short story. Thanks!

star search!

meeshell — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:42:17 -0800

Star sightings in NYC: This will be my second trip to NY. We will be in town March 4-5 staying near times square. Where's the best place to catch the celeb's? We probably won't be hitting any clubs mostly restaurants. I have prowled around the green looking for this but most of the questions I found just had to do with the touristy must do's. Is there anything in that area that we must do during that time of week? Thank you Mefites!

How do I find a star-for-hire in London?

Elle Vator — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:52:52 -0800

How do I find a list of publicists for stars of the theatrical stage or screen? Basically, I can be a hero if I can find celebrities currently in London, England recognizable to a Canadian audience. We need to hire them for a charming bit on our show... but the ones on our short list have not turned out. Therefore, I am now looking to get in touch with an appropriate publicist who has LOTS of clients and who can make suggestions as to who we should use, and then give them to us. ...or directly in touch with a celebrity or agent or manager, or a website or a magic genie who can get me the perfect happen-to-be-in-London celebs (we actually need three) within two weeks.

Yes, this is my third question alone these lines - the good news is you guys are giving me GREAT advice. What would you do if you were me and in this situation? Where would you go? Who would you call?

Thanks so much... ElleVator

How to say thank you to a musician

frosty_hut — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:07:33 -0800

What thank you gift to present to an unwilling interviewee? I'm trying to arrange an interview with a pretty famous artist in the classical music world. The guy is averse to interviews, I've been told, and if he agrees to meet with me, I'd like to give him something as a thank you. I'll give him an audio file of our interview as a matter of course, but I wanted to present him with some sort of thank you gift in addition to that.

Thing is, I don't know anything about this guy personally. I thought of bringing him a big bouquet of flowers, but that's more the kind of thing people do after a performance. I have no idea what he can or can't eat, can or can't drink, etc. Any ideas would be appreciated.

BTW: He's a pianist and the most famous member of a chamber ensemble that he founded decades ago, but he hasn't performed with them since the late seventies. The occasion is their reunion concert, and he may never perform with these guys again, so it's a pretty historic occasion.)