Archive for June 2014

Monday 30 June 2014

Many-legged and Famous

Let us all take a breather looking at animal celebrities known to this day before moving onto the world of criminals. It's an interesting sight to see that even animals can be as popular as Picasso don't you think?

In our world today, anything that entertains the audience can be called celebrity, for good or bad, it doesn't matter because celebrities are audience-dependant . So animals definitely aren't an exception.

PS: This entry aims to broaden perception on celebrity.

Such blog, much simple, very celebritish, wow.

#1 Shibe the Doge
Originally a female Shiba Inu dog named Kabosu, her owner, Atsuko Sato, also a Japanese kindergarten teacher (I hope I'm not filling you too much information) posted a photo of Kabosu on her blog in 2010.

Surprisingly, the photo was heavily used to spam on Reddit and Tumblr, each flooded with short sentences and modifiers that go in this order: such (...) much (...) very (...). Oh, it ends with a wow! (Woof). 

In 3 years' time, the newly conceived 'Shibe meme' proliferated like a sickness that has no cure, crawling all the way to the top and ranked number 1 on the internet by Know Your Memes in November of 2013. Thanks to that, many internet users now find supreme enjoyment in misspelling words. Doubtlessly speaking, animals can be a part of the clan. 

"If you were a vegetable, you'd be a cabbitch."

#2 Grumpy Cat
Grown up with feline dwarfism and an under bite that makes you wonder if it is a mistake that should be erased, Tardar Sauce is actually really nice and friendly despite that... face. 

In year 2013, she was voted as the Meme of the Year before Shibe the Doge arose. Photos of her evoked so much comedy that TV shows including Today, Good Morning, America were hosted for an interview with her.

Lines associated with her photos usually involves rude remarks towards us because they fit well with that grumpy face of hers. Nevertheless, Grumpy Cat can still be seen on the internet today, tomorrow, and forever. Probably.

Definitely a star.


"I've ate enough mussels to tell where is this game going!"

#3 Paul the 'Clairvoyant' 
Out of 13 world cup matches 4 years ago, Paul the Great had 11 correct predictions. 85% success rate has brought Paul worldwide attention, imagine if we had that kind luck when we buy Magnum and Toto. 

Before the game began, two boxes representing different countries, both with mussels within were placed into the aquarium so Paul could start working his magic. Ironically, it is said that Paul's choices were purely luck-based. Others say the mussels smelled better in another box. Who cares?

Paul was so popular that he was featured in Google doodle during 2014's FIFA world cup after passing away. Kind of a big deal.

" He was represented as in heaven, perched on a billowy bed of clouds and adorned with a halo; when animated, he appeared to vacillate in his predictions for the day's matches." (S. Curtis, 2004)


Reading Materials:

Wickman. F (2013) 'How Do You Pronounce 'Doge'?' Slate. Available online: 

Fleming. M. Jr (2013) 'Grumpy Cat Gets Garfield-Like Movie Deal' Deadline | Hollywood. Available online:
http://www.deadline.com/2013/05/if-this-doesnt-make-her-smile-nothing-will-grumpy-cat-gets-movie-deal/
[Accessed on 30th of June, 2014]

'About Grumpy Cat' The World Grumpiest Cat. Available online: http://www.grumpycats.com/about-grumpy-cat 
[Accessed on 30th of June, 2014]

Vernon. A (2013) 'I Met Grumpy Cat, and My Life is Now Complete!' Catster. Available online:
http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/i-met-grumpy-cat-sxsw-my-life-is-complete [Accessed on 30th of June, 2014]

Chaturvedi. N (2014) 'Octopus Beats 'Vampire Squid' as Goldman Falls Short in World Cup' The Wall Street Journal. Available online:
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/06/27/goldman-sachs-loses-in-vampire-squid-vs-octopus/ [Accessed on 30th of June, 2014]

Garbett. P (2010) 'World Cup 2010: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Paul the Psychic Octopus' The Telegraph.
Available online: 
[Accessed on 30th of June, 2014]




2 comments
Sunday 22 June 2014

At The Fork of The Road

We see someone as a celebrity because he/she/it is well-known through any kind of medium, be it newspaper, magazines, radio, television, or the internet. Generally, a singer can be celebrity. A writer can be a celebrity. An athlete can be a celebrity. Oh, and Youtuber too. 

 What about you? Frankly speaking, I wouldn't say no. If your actions set fire in the hearts of general public, felicitiazione! ('congratulations' in Italian, you're welcome)

 Growing a pair of balls has never been easy, that's why I'm still a nobody. :') But anyway, let's talk about how I define a 'celebrity'.

A hated celebrity is still a celebrity. 

In Malaysia, celebrity are usually categorized stereotypically. If you're not a celebrity loved by many, you're nothing more than a LOA (lack of attention). Najib is definitely a celebrity because he's our prime minister. There's nothing he do you can hate. Fuck what I've just said.

When we call one celebrity, we shape them using these Must-Have-Qualities don't we? Looks, talents, noteworthy achievements. If an individual is associated with wealth, he/she/it is unquestionably a celebrity. It would usually lead to statements like 'Just because you're famous that doesn't make you a celebrity' otherwise.

To many, celebrity is defined this way. 

To me,  certain amount of medium attention makes one a celebrity. Ugly or pretty, ordinary or prodigious, talent or talentless, if people know him/her/it, there's no doubt he/she/it can be called celebrity. 

That's why, criminals can be celebrity too.

Until next time.


7 comments
Thursday 12 June 2014

We're in Accord

7. Explore the definition of 'celebrity' in Malaysia and compare widnwuh asdatsfdutagsdiausfuasnfaouansd...

^ Forgive me, but we're wasting time here. Button down & let it out. I picked question 7 because it's easier to understand and it gives me a satisfying writing space, which, in other words, opens the door to my writing style. If my choice of words gets hollow like gun barrels, please bear with it, because, yeah, it's not loaded YET.

If we ask dictionary 'What's a celebrity?', straightforwardly at your face he says 'a famous, or well-known person'. That's all. Thank you for reading.
























You, sir, deserve a cookie. Let us continue.

Everything is not as simple as it seems. When I hear 'celebrity', Paris Hilton's cum-stained face pops in my head; are all celebrities like that? Oh if so I'm so going to hell when I die, because Jesus is known universally. But anyway, there's a saying that goes 'famous for being famous' (Daniel J. Boorstin, 1964), which shrunk down my opinion on 'celebrity'; it generally means, a famous person. No one really give a shit on how he or she crawled all the way from the bottom to the front cover of magazines.

But doesn't that make a fool out of other famous individuals like Shakespeare, Chopin, Beethoven, JS Bach, and...and... Yasmin Ahmad? They were prodigies that made their own marks in the history, and songs of their stories are still heard today. They didn't do porn. So what's wrong here?

The definition varies. 

'Explore the definition of 'celebrity' in Malaysia...'

Right...

In Malaysia, we know celebrities like Nicol David, Dato' Lee Chong Wei, Cao Ge, Guang Liang, Siti Nurhaliza and so on. I know artists and athletes are two different clans, but they do share a similarity here. They are celebrated for their very own achievements for the country. 

Basically, now we know how are' celebrity' defined in Malaysia, so let's move onto the next part,

'compare it with another culture of your choice...'

Okay...

Not going to lie, but, I have not decided which culture I'm going to choose to compare, but I do have a list of considerations, they are:
  • Malaysia/Other country's Mythology
  • Malaysia/Other country's Religion (I can sense great peril in this one)
  • Malaysia/Other country's Music
  • Malaysia/Other country's Fashion
I may expand the list and decide again on the next post. Well, until next time. 


References:
Cook, C (2011) 'The Making of Modern Celebrity: Famous for fifteen minutes - and longer.' Gresham College Web. Available online: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-making-of-modern-celebrity-famous-for-fifteen-minutes-and-longer [Accessed on 12th of June, 2014]

3 comments