Celebrities of Interest--or Not

I'm always slightly amazed at people who don't know who Tom Cruise is, or Anna Nicole, for that matter. People who have zero interest in the celebrity world. People who don't fall for CNN's top news stories on celebrities, which are so totally there only to raise their hits, and make me so annoyed, yet still I can't resist clicking.

I can't ask who are these people, because I know loads of them. But I can wonder what it's like. I think it must be a good thing, to keep one's mind on loftier topics, like the implications of Libby's conviction, or the best way to stew a rabbit, or whether Ozawa's Beethoven's 5th is better than...well, there you have it: I am so lowbrow that I cannot even name another living conductor--yes, I can: Barenboim (sp.)?...um...I am so not going to google so that I can say "oh yeah, I know him": let's face it, I'm a philistine.

And yet, I have my limits. As I peruse my crack dealers of choice, there are certain topics that hold absolutely zero interest for me. For instance: Rosie and Donald. For instance #2: American Idol. And I realize that what it's like not to be interested in celebrities is not to live always on a higher plane, but simply not to care. Like I don't care about football, or the boys in M's class, or the fact that the children of people who have lots of money are more likely to get into fancy schools (where did that one come from? I was trying to think of something that didn't interest me, but also that wasn't explicitly gendered, like football--really, you know, I'm interested in a ridiculous number of things) (oh, but of course:) or classical music.