downward spiral (aka worst post ever)

lately i've been spending more and more of my time at trashy gossip websites. what was once an occasional guilty pleasure is creeping into an addiction. it all started with pink is the new blog, but from that site i've been introduced to several others, the most deliciously dirty and mean of which is perez hilton. the first time you visit you are appalled, as you should be, but then you get bored, need a study break and find yourself migrating back every hour to see what new scandal has been posted.

since i have become more and more entrenched in celebrity occurings, i have realized that was is gossipy and humorous about them would be down right trashy if it were going on down the street. i'm not just talking about all the partying, the drug doing, and the divorces and marriages. i'm talking about stuff that if your best friend were doing it, you'd smack her on the head and tell her she ought to know better than that. here a few illustrations:

• britney recently cancelled k-fed's credit cards, freezed his accounts, and had his car repossessed (towed) by the dealer. They are now happily back together eating ribs and making out at movie theatres. If this were going on with your co-worker you'd be all "that bitch is crazy! that guy sucks!" and then roll your eyes at the drama of it all. (perhaps the majority of you are responding similarly to britney and k-fed) i don't know anyone that has ever done anything anywhere near this, but remember there was always that couple in high school that was high drama - keying cars, loud fights and crying in public places, then getting back together. We thought they were nuts; britney and k-fed are those people.
• tom cruise was married to nicole kidman, they adopted two children, and then divorced. since the divorce tom has had two or three (i can't remember) serious girlfriends; and penelope was right after the break-up! currently he's prancing his pregnant girlfriend all around town like a prize. it all seems very normal to us that this is going on and only question it when he goes jumping on couches about it. let's suppose joe and jane down the street are married, have two kids, and get divorced. joe immediately has a girlfriend - this is definitely scandalous, but perhaps not all that surprising. then joe dumps that one, grabs another, and so on, until one of them is preggers. joe is a slut. and a bad parent on top of that. who among us would not look at that situation and think it was poor judgment to bring all those other women into the house and around your kids and sleep with you like mommy used to. sure, people get re-married and whatever but it is my impression that the new girlfriend/boyfriend staying over is a serious situation not to be done lightly, but maybe that's just my baptist roots kicking in. these guys appear not to consider it all; and that's ok to us because penelope cruz is cute and katie holmes is wholesome joey potter.
• finally, lindsay lohan, 19, has currently been linked to jared leto, 34. before this, when she was 17, she was dating wilmer valderama, who was in his late 20s. i'm not going to preach too long on this one, because my parents are 16 years apart and my mom got married at 21, but still. if your buddy from college brings a girl who is a senior in high school or a freshman in college to the 10-year reunion, there will be talk. and it won't be nice. because people in hollywood seem ageless and cause teenagers to act like adults, hardly anyone bats an eyelash.

i don't know what my point it. i don't really have a problem with the moral integrity of hollywood because it really isn't setting a bar much lower than the national standard. i guess it's just that celebrity hijinks are in another hemisphere and famous people are put on this larger than life pedestal - but if you really think about it, without the stylists and the publicists and the money, a lot of them you probably wouldn't even like, and might even poke fun at. so thank you movie companies for doling out the dough because without stylists and publicists and money i would not have constructive way to take a break from law school.

Case in point: K-fed had a mullet back in the day.