1. "Celebrities". I believe Jordan is from the UK; Fergie is a US pop singer.
2. Because it's funny.
3. Good question.

Wow... I clicked through and started scanning that site, until I was distracted by a strange noise. Turns out it was IQ points whistling out my ears like air escaping from a balloon.

Luckily my hat fell over my eyes and blocked my view before my skull caved completely in.

*catches BP's escaping IQ points and adds them to her meager few*

You're right, the people who do these blogs do say really mean, terrible things. I'm so used to it that I don't even notice it anymore. Believe it or not, they're usually kidding (or greatly exaggerating), and it's part of their schtick. It's mindless entertainment - at work some people sneak in a game of solitaire, and others read Perez Hilton. I honestly could care less about celebrities, but I do love clothes, so I like to read some celeb blogs to see who's wearing what.

I actually found myself unable to pull myself away from what amounts to squalor. But I was shocked (well, surprised) by how derisive the tone of the whole thing was, and how many of the hot young things I failed to recognize.

I should watch more TV.

Mean is the new...well, it's not the new anything. It's just the same old mean.

I share your confusion. I had to ask who Fergie was right here on MeCha awhile back; something told me the gossip I was hearing weren't about the Duchess of York. And when I'm in the supermarket, I look curiously at the tabloid and magazine covers, but almost never know who the people are.

People have always, always enjoyed celebrity-bashing, but it's definitely at a cultural peak right now. I think maybe only the movie magazines of the 40s and 50s were meaner or sleazier or more bloodthirsty.

1. Jordan is a big boobed model. Fergie is a third-rate cartoon of a hip-hop artist.
2. Because the people who become famous today seem incapable of even filling up their alloted fifteen minutes with anything of interest.
3. Killing terrorist cyborgs.

(Miko, the gossip rags of those days managed to keep stuff like Rock Hudson's homosexuality and Frank Sinatra's mob ties at least somewhat secret. Mainly because there was more money to be made by keeping them viable in the entertainment business. The likes of Fergie and Jordan and Paris et al hold exactly zero interest for anybody without a whiff of scandal)

and jonmc, I guarantee you that today, the mags are keeping someone else's sexuality secret.

I just remembered a thing that's kind of funny. I have a good friend who is an English professor. Her head is in 19th century literature all day, and she's also a boat geek. Together, and with similarly inclined friends, we do very nerdy things like have book groups for fun, go to museums, tour rope factories, and stuff like that. There's no TV in her house (though there is a monitor for DVDs) and her family lives pretty much off the pop-culture grid. However, for some reason, she loves People magazine. She reads it cover to cover every week and knows all the gossip about all the celebrities.

But the funny part is that she never really sees what they do; she's never seen American Idol or a Britney video or a reality show. She knows the people only by their gossip, not by whatever it is they became famous for. That is sort of apt, though... For many of them, the fact of their celebrated-ness is probably the most interesting thing they have to offer (as jonmc says).

Miko, I'm sure, and I'm sure they're doing it because whoever-it-is's handlers have made it worth their while.

I'm not going to be all sanctimonious and say I never care about this kind of stuff, but generally I have to really admire somebody's work before I'll have any interest in their private life. The scandal rag regulars these days like Paris Hilton et al seem to exist for no other purpose than being famous.

What the hell is the thing with the tail? It looks so real and so fake at the very same time(note that I haven't clicked on the NSFW version, so I cannot offer an opinion on the verisimilitude of the creature's NSFW parts).

I just clicked on it, and the NSFW version offers no further clues.

I find dlisted hilarious but the superficial even more. I don't read the comments.

I've never seen a Brittney video or American Idol either, and I do have a TV. I've never heard My Humps either.

The scandal rag regulars these days like Paris Hilton et al seem to exist for no other purpose than being famous.

At least Paris' friend, Kim Kardashian, who seems to be famous just because she's friends with Paris, has the decency to record a graphic sex tape! The full thing is finally out today. Huzzah!

I thought Kim Kardashian was famous for being the daughter of O.J.'s golfing buddy.

but generally I have to really admire somebody's work before I'll have any interest in their private life

I'm the exact opposite. When other teenage girls would swoon over singer X or drummer Y and that they had read all about them and their favorite foods, favorite colors etc in gossip mags - I often had no idea what the names were of the band-members whos songs I loved. I don't care about musicians lives as long as it sounds good, and knowing too much about an actors private life make it hard to let them be the character they are portraying in my humble opinion. But I do read the superficial - because none of these people have ever made a song that I liked or performed in a movie that I cared about - and they never will. ;)

and jonmc, I guarantee you that today, the mags are keeping someone else's sexuality secret.

Like the dude we're not allowed to talk about over on That Other Website?

j_p - you know, too, then?

Yeah, I reject much of pop culture and keep it at arm's length just as your friend does. And even I've heard about that stuff. That stuff which of course, I would never mention here or anywhere else.

Wait, what?