How Caryn James' article about the disintegrating "cloak of invisibility" some celebrities used to enjoy and goes a full 17 paragraphs without once mentioning TMZ or Perez Hilton will by a mystery for the ages. But alas, she accomplished as much as she unfolds a mostly-lacking-a-newspeg piece about recluse high-profile types and their struggle with the spotlight. There's the requisite John Malkovich/Stanley Kubrick and Richard Gere/Howard Hughes references.
And then, of course, there's the Oprah tie-in.
Beneath their gleeful frauds, though, these films reveal a serious cultural shift. Those cons probably couldn’t happen today; in a time when no public record or paparazzi snap is likely to stay hidden from snoopy Web sites, the cult of the invisible celebrity has become all but obsolete.
The best evidence of that change comes with Oprah Winfrey’s recent announcement that the brilliant, press-shy novelist Cormac McCarthy will do his first television interview on her show (sometime this spring). Telling viewers that his post-apocalyptic novel, “The Road,” would be her latest book club choice, Ms. Winfrey took a mild jab at a 2005 Vanity Fair interview with Mr. McCarthy (itself a rarity), which ran under the heading, “He doesn’t do blurbs, book tours or even Oprah.” She added, “Until now.”
McCarthy also doesn't do that whole "till death do us part" thing either, but let's not waste Oprah's sixty minutes with boring minutiae.
I just wanted to say that this whole thing about racism and sexism with Imus on Oprah an all is OK, but the problem I have is that us younger generation have transferred the word "Nigga" to a whole new meaning…Its been replaced with "LOVE"!!! but the old folk do not realize this! When a black calls his best homey, "Nigga", its not the old conotation, it has been transferred to a meaning of best buddy!!! this generation does not need the old negative connotation anymore, so why is Shjarpton and the other old people keeping it alive as negative? I say, " Let it go and let the LOVE flow" already!!! "Nigga" is actually a beautiful thing in todays world…Ho's and bitches is not a positive transference, it is degrading…but ask any young black dude today, "Nigga" is positive and a great meaning of love to a friend and how great is that to change a negative to a positive…but noooooooo!!!!!!! AL's got to keep it alive, he should speak about how shady his past was to the young folk of today, they wouldn't listen and give him respect at all if they knew his crooked past…So all I'm saying is, "I've got my "Niggas" and they are real cool people and they know who they are, the Sharptons better step down cause all he is, is a clown!!!