Note to Self: Don't look up pictures of the guy next door. Don't. Unless you want to see pictures of shirtless dudes you really can't include in a post. Seriously who has such hot dudes living next door? I know I don't.
Don't you just love it when you're watching a TV show and you fall madly in love with a character? I mean they're really fantastic, the man of your dreams, the friend you never had. I bet you have at least one show/movie you'd like to be trapped in. That's the point of the entertainment business, to allow you a brief fantasy about how your life would be if it was you in that particular story.
Perhaps you have a favorite actor and you see everything they're in or a favorite writer whose writing just drives you crazy. A musician. Any sort of artist. And I really hope you have all three.
And then, you go online and find them on Instagram and find they're basically not who you thought they were at all. The actor who played so-and-so is only interesting as long as his lines and actions are scripted by a gifted writer. And a beloved writer loses appeal when you find him engaging in a political rant on Twitter. The musician whose words were balm to the soul becomes a dull stranger after the fifth picture you see of his cat.
It used to be that you set these strangers on a pedestal, that you could dream of them, but now it's no longer like that. In the age of social media, all your heroes have become average joes and that seems mighty sad.
I mean, it's fun to be able to follow along and see what your favorite artist is doing, but it also takes away from the magic, you know?
I don't want to see into the private lives of these celebrities because it takes away from the beauty, in my opinion. And no, by celebrity, I don't mean Kim Kardashian or anyone like that. But the writers I love and admire...I've grown tired of seeing them attacking (often enough in poor taste) Donald Trump on social media or complaining about X environmental issue. Too often, the most badass people on screen become bland and colorless through social media. On screen, you might trot around with a gun and seem fearless, but once my feed is flooded with picture of your breakfast and messages about saving the trees...yuck.
I mean no offense to the trees, I do think they should be saved as well and I understand these people are trying to help, but it's taken away something. A dream that people had. See, nobody knew what Richard Burton had for breakfast, you don't see any pouting-mirror-selfies of Liz Taylor.
And I know, artists are just people too. Often, they don't live up to their on-screen characters sadly and usually, the characters in your book are ten times more interesting than you are personally, but I don't want to know that. I want you to remain that revered, elusive figure.
In the words of my beloved Lemmy,
But they so rarely are being from another planet anymore. They're really just the guy next door. And the guy next door sucks. You'd never fall for the guy next door.
