The Times: Tech column - Celebrity blogs/Google Answers
By David Rowan
FOR many celebrities, the personal online journal, or weblog, has become the ultimate must-have accessory. From Michael Douglas to Sir Ian McKellen, the famous are increasingly choosing to bypass the mainstream media and share their thoughts directly with fans - often revealing more about themselves than they might realise.
Take Melanie Griffith's bizarre online persona as a white-robed goddess in a kingdom called Avalon (at www.melaniegriffith.com), where she confronts some "foul articles" written about her husband, Antonio Banderas. "These so-called journalists have fabricated a story about Antonio gambling and womanising," reads one diary entry. "So I am going to tell you the truth. We have a fabulously deep love for each other and we never lie."
Or enjoy Anita Roddick's ladies' room encounter with a bearded woman. "Not just facial fuzz, but a full jaw's breadth of manicured hair," she explains at www.anitaroddick.com. "I felt lucky as we parted that I could learn something from the way this seemingly radically different woman had chosen to express herself."
The worst of these weblogs look like thinly disguised commercial plugs - Delia Smith's online diary, for instance, keeps mentioning Sainsbury's products; or Uri Geller's hilariously vain site, which "could change your life for the better!", especially if you buy his T-shirts and amethyst crystals.
Others are plain odd: Jeff Bridges's hand-scrawled notes and sketches at www.jeffbridges.com, or Ann Widdecombe's cat poems on her Widdy Web. But among the trivia, some inspiring celebrity weblogs are emerging. The science-fiction writer William Gibson began using free Blogger software to publish his own gratifyingly thoughtful blog at www.william-gibsonbooks.com.
I also enjoy the obsessively web-literate musician Moby, who last week updated his www.moby.com journal up to four times a day. And if you find William Shatner's personal journal too bland (www.williamshatner.com), do keep up with Wil Wheaton's lively site (wilwheaton.net) which has gained a cult following.
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YOU CAN'T keep a secret for long in a wired world. Last week, an obscure query appeared deep in the economics section of Google Answers, where "experts" offer to answer questions for a fee.
For $100 (£60) somebody called "drstrangelove-ga" wanted any dirt that might tarnish the reputation of Paul Krugman, the liberal Princeton economist whose latest New York Times column ridicules George W. Bush as a fiscally irresponsible "alcoholic falling off the wagon". Is anything known about his personal life, eg, hobbies, sports, sexual orientation, etc? the questioner wanted to know. "How about his career - why has he moved around so much? Were there any problems?"
Within the day, "drstrangelove-ga" had received a comprehensive reply. "Sorry, but I have no sexual escapades to report," Krugman wrote, having discovered the plot. "I've never murdered anyone, or even been arrested. I tried smoking pot once, but failed." He did, though, admit to an unpaid parking ticket - "there's this convenient lot on Princeton's campus, and I thought I could get away with it for an hour".
With that, Krugman claimed his $100 - and showed how hard it is to keep a conspiracy quiet now that we are all but a search query apart.
(The Times, January 21 2003)
FOR many celebrities, the personal online journal, or weblog, has become the ultimate must-have accessory. From Michael Douglas to Sir Ian McKellen, the famous are increasingly choosing to bypass the mainstream media and share their thoughts directly with fans - often revealing more about themselves than they might realise.
Take Melanie Griffith's bizarre online persona as a white-robed goddess in a kingdom called Avalon (at www.melaniegriffith.com), where she confronts some "foul articles" written about her husband, Antonio Banderas. "These so-called journalists have fabricated a story about Antonio gambling and womanising," reads one diary entry. "So I am going to tell you the truth. We have a fabulously deep love for each other and we never lie."
Or enjoy Anita Roddick's ladies' room encounter with a bearded woman. "Not just facial fuzz, but a full jaw's breadth of manicured hair," she explains at www.anitaroddick.com. "I felt lucky as we parted that I could learn something from the way this seemingly radically different woman had chosen to express herself."
The worst of these weblogs look like thinly disguised commercial plugs - Delia Smith's online diary, for instance, keeps mentioning Sainsbury's products; or Uri Geller's hilariously vain site, which "could change your life for the better!", especially if you buy his T-shirts and amethyst crystals.
Others are plain odd: Jeff Bridges's hand-scrawled notes and sketches at www.jeffbridges.com, or Ann Widdecombe's cat poems on her Widdy Web. But among the trivia, some inspiring celebrity weblogs are emerging. The science-fiction writer William Gibson began using free Blogger software to publish his own gratifyingly thoughtful blog at www.william-gibsonbooks.com.
I also enjoy the obsessively web-literate musician Moby, who last week updated his www.moby.com journal up to four times a day. And if you find William Shatner's personal journal too bland (www.williamshatner.com), do keep up with Wil Wheaton's lively site (wilwheaton.net) which has gained a cult following.
++++
YOU CAN'T keep a secret for long in a wired world. Last week, an obscure query appeared deep in the economics section of Google Answers, where "experts" offer to answer questions for a fee.
For $100 (£60) somebody called "drstrangelove-ga" wanted any dirt that might tarnish the reputation of Paul Krugman, the liberal Princeton economist whose latest New York Times column ridicules George W. Bush as a fiscally irresponsible "alcoholic falling off the wagon". Is anything known about his personal life, eg, hobbies, sports, sexual orientation, etc? the questioner wanted to know. "How about his career - why has he moved around so much? Were there any problems?"
Within the day, "drstrangelove-ga" had received a comprehensive reply. "Sorry, but I have no sexual escapades to report," Krugman wrote, having discovered the plot. "I've never murdered anyone, or even been arrested. I tried smoking pot once, but failed." He did, though, admit to an unpaid parking ticket - "there's this convenient lot on Princeton's campus, and I thought I could get away with it for an hour".
With that, Krugman claimed his $100 - and showed how hard it is to keep a conspiracy quiet now that we are all but a search query apart.
(The Times, January 21 2003)
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