Chuck Klosterman is Awesome.

I recently have fallen in love with the writer/journalist Chuck Klosterman. I heard him talk at UNC Chapel Hill not too long ago, and I went to his speech without knowing exactly who he was or what he was about, but it was a free event so I thought what the hell. Turns out he's uber smart, talks about shit that I love, and above all seems to be really invested in maintaining integrity in his work as a journalist (for example, he doesn't follow up with celebrity interviews or pretend to "know" them). And even though he's such an intellectual you can still connect with him and get on his level because he's witty beyond belief and quite humble.

After listening to him speak I checked out one of his books from the library, Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas, which was a totally awesome read and pretty much changed my entire out look on celebrities. So in essence, blew my mind.

A part of this book is a collection of interviews he's had with different celebrities over the years and he emphasizes the fact that celebrities are carefully crafted images. Whenever a celebrity talks to an interviewer it's already a conversation set on false pretenses. The celebrity already has the role of "interviewee" and the person reporting as "interviewer". The celebrity is already on guard that personal questions might be asked and already has an idea of how they want to represent themselves to the public. As real life tells us, to truly get to know a person involves more than just asking a couple dozen questions.

After reading all these interviews Klosterman has had with the likes of Radiohead, Britney Spears, U2 etc., I look at these "relationships" (aka fandom) I've formed with certain celebrities and feel like they have all been built on an imaginary ground. Any kind of connection I may have felt I had with them feels totally false, everything was just carefully crafted to make me believe what I believe about every celebrity, ex. "Jonny Depp seems so sensitive and so dark and edgy!" (note: I don't actually have any kind of attachment to Mr. Depp, but that is the impression I get from the image he's made for himself and what people tend to think about him).

And don't get me wrong, I always kind of knew celebrities were fake, and a construction of some sort, but the Klosterman book just kind of exposed another layer of what seems like a giant conspiracy to get me to like and obsess over people I don't know.

That's why it's such a shock to the public whenever a celebrity does something "out of the ordinary" but yet very regular- because it doesn't fit in with their constructed image. Like when Owen Wilson slashed his wrists, or Rihanna got beat up by Chris Brown. These things can happen to regular people but how could it ever possibly happen TO THEM?!

... I guess what I'm saying is, read some Chuck Klosterman. It's a good time.