October 7, 2001

4:21 PM

The picture on the site for the upcoming movie K-Paxmakes me want to add "...that Kevin Spacey's gay?" to that tagline. Not, of course, that there would be anything wrong with that. Actually, the one page of celebrity rumors I mostly buy, even if many are humdrum (drug/alcohol problems? say it ain't so!) claims he is, although who cares. David Duchovny, pothead, pr0n collector; Macy Gray, functioning heroin addict -- now that's what I wanna hear! (The page seems to have disappeared, so I've linked to the google's cached one, which unfortunately only goes halfway down the alphabet. Anybody have a better link?)
posted by cps (33 comments total)

"although who cares"

That should have applied to this whole post. Lately I couldn't care less about the personal lives of celebrities.
posted by john at 4:27 PM on October 7, 2001

Who in Hollywood isn't on something?
posted by Katy Action at 4:30 PM on October 7, 2001

If nobody cares that Kevin Spacey's gay, as you mention twice, why post about it? And isn't it a bit presumptuous to infer someone's sexuality from their costume director-appointed clothing and accessories?
posted by waxpancake at 4:30 PM on October 7, 2001

That second link was one of the stupidest pages I've ever seen. Wholly unsubstantiated rubbish- excepting the stuff that is proven and completely boring. Painfully juvenile and pathetic: "So and so is secretly gay!". Uh... yeah? And... ?
posted by hincandenza at 4:41 PM on October 7, 2001

Not only were the comments unsubstantiated, but incredibly biased. As an example (randomly picked)

Amos, Tori-Rape victim. Record industry brat whose first attempt at a prog-rock album was so laughably bad it was suppressed. Employed casting couch to get the chance to make the follow-up album. Needs to get over herself.
Love, Courtney-...Needs someone like me to talk to about her troubles.

Um, yeah...someone's playing favorites.
posted by flammableskirt at 4:51 PM on October 7, 2001

Whoops, my first post went over well.

I probably shouldn't have done the cute tagline thing. I find the image amusing because to me, it looks like Jeff Bridges is ogling Kevin's ass. It wasn't a comment about Kevin's costuming, it's not a comment on *anybody's* sexuality, it's a comment on the marketing geniuses who put that picture together. And that tagline was begging for something.

And I do find that celebrity rumors page interesting, so I linked to it in the hopes someone has a fresher link.

Ah well. I'll be more careful next time, sorry.
posted by cps at 4:52 PM on October 7, 2001

cps, I'll admit I was amused, mainly at the viciously judgemental tone: "Sean Connery. Asshole." Now, if we just could find the other pages...
posted by muckster at 5:04 PM on October 7, 2001

As to the reliability of that page -- the author does have a pretty big disclaimer upfront.

I find a lot of the rumors interesting and credible-sounding. I could care less about most of the sexuality/drug/alcohol rumors (if you can call them that), but some of it I find fun reading.

Maybe I'm just easily amused, who knows.
posted by cps at 5:05 PM on October 7, 2001

I'm just disappointed you didn't put in the effort to find the really gay pictures of Spacey. Oh, they're out there.

I never understood the fascination of this guy's sexuality, maybe those interested have a subconscious crush on him. Maybe Kevin should make a page stating the people he thinks are gay.

Kinda reminds me of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch where a UCB cyborg starts making a list of gay people in her diary. "Are you trying to read my diary?"
posted by skallas at 5:35 PM on October 7, 2001

ARGH, it's not about Spacey's sexuality, it's about how the picture makes it look like Jeff Bridges is planning something. I'm sure there's "really gay" pictures of him.

Oh, how I wish for a "let me rephrase my unfortunate first post" button now.

And UCB totally rules. I loved the "apology to the Jews" thing, the house w/ disco w/hot chicks, almost all their stuff. And ASSPENNIES. I think that's my favorite skit ever.
posted by cps at 5:48 PM on October 7, 2001

Actually, cps, that first link is funny- once you pointed it out, I can see that Bridges is most definitely checking him out! It's the second link I thought was ludicrous, and had I seen before what s/he said about Tori Amos- ooh, I would have been so much angrier! :)
posted by hincandenza at 5:56 PM on October 7, 2001

"although who cares"

Well, obviously you care because you posted time-wasting rumors about issues we could care less about.
posted by fleener at 6:00 PM on October 7, 2001

One should realize, before venturing into this, that the net celebrity gossip community treats (allegedly) feigned, exaggerated cattiness as a virtue. The alt.showbiz.gossip group can be pretty surprising to venture into if you're not used to it. Obviously the people can't be as uninterested in celebrities as they claim, because they come back every day to talk about it. But in that environment even the slightest slip-up can be deadly -- you should have seen the way they talked about Meg Ryan. Arrested? Sued? Pilloried. Even worse, volunteer for Greenpeace, UN refugee work, land mine clearance? Pilloried for trying to improve your image.

Unremitting doesn't begin to describe it.
posted by dhartung at 6:05 PM on October 7, 2001

Ashley Judd, among other things, "neglects her pets."

The bitch!
posted by tranquileye at 6:32 PM on October 7, 2001

I'll be happy to take care of her puppies for her.

What? I love animals!
posted by Optamystic at 6:35 PM on October 7, 2001

Update: Jess Nevins, the author of the webpage, says he's having a problem with topcities but hopes to have the pages back online at the same location in a few days.
posted by dhartung at 6:53 PM on October 7, 2001

"Whoops, my first post went over well......Ah well. I'll be more careful next time, sorry."

Welcome to my world. The same thing happened to me when I posted my first link here. That's the thing with MetaFilter; there's always the excitement of wondering who's gonna flame you for no real reason other than they didn't like what you found on the web! Welcome the the Weblog Community!
posted by Katy Action at 6:54 PM on October 7, 2001

My favorite:

Drudge, Matt. FOD and egg fetishist who's done great damage to his gay brothers and sisters by aiding the cause of fascists, intolerant orthodox Christians, and conservative scum. Ethically challenged hypocritical lackey and moral catamite to right-wingers. We remember you from the old days, Matt-o, and when you fall back to obscurity we'll be waiting with sharpened knives.

egg fetishist?!
posted by jpoulos at 6:55 PM on October 7, 2001

dhartung: thanks for the update.
katy: thanks for the kind words.

To be honest, in retrospect I probably should have left out the rumors page link, and I definitely should have worded things better. I have to agree with some posters that reading it, it sure as heck sounds as if I have questions/issues with Spacey's sexuality.

Although he *does* have that acerbic witty gay thing down pat ;)

(note: that was a smiley, and plenty of straights have picked up plenty such mannerisms from gay culture)
posted by cps at 7:23 PM on October 7, 2001

Cps,

I can't claim that I never cared about the dirt on celebs. I just can't seem to work up interest in it anymore. It's like it's been drained from me. Lots of things just don't seem to work their entertainment magic.

It's true. Your post would have worked a lot better without the 2nd link and a bit of rewording.

Katy,

Metafilter isn't supposed to be a mirror image of the daily new feeds. With so many members not all of them are going to be polite. It would be nice if no ones feelings got hurt after a bad post. People that don't have the patience to gauge when something should or should not be posted, shouldn't expect to have a patient response.
posted by john at 7:41 PM on October 7, 2001

Wow, that rumors page is atrocious.

It sort of reminds me of this McSweeney's article, though, and nothing that reminds me of that McSweeney's article could be all bad.
posted by Hegemonic at 7:54 PM on October 7, 2001

"Whoops, my first post went over well......Ah well. I'll be more careful next time, sorry."

You'll note, Katy, that cps didn't take it personally and start whining about it. She/he probably won't hold a childish grudge long after everyone else has forgotten.
posted by jpoulos at 8:12 PM on October 7, 2001

That link implies that Woody Allen was married to Mia Farrow. They were never married to each other, and in fact never lived together.
posted by Ben Grimm at 8:16 PM on October 7, 2001

To be honest, in retrospect I probably should have left out the rumors page link, and I definitely should have worded things better.

I disagree, CPS. The link doesn't hold much worth other than to serve up useless dirt on people that probably none of us care about, but I still found it to be entertaining. It's the first link that was lost on me.
You'll get flamed no matter what you post, so go ahead and post it.
posted by lizardboy at 8:16 PM on October 7, 2001

I was unaware that not graduating from high school was such a scandalous offence. I'm lucky I can get a cup of coffee in this town!

Uh, (digs into bag of useless knowledge that nobody cares about) the "rumors" about Montgomery Clift are true, for all the droves of MeFi Montgomery Clift fans out there. Now you may rest easy, or something.
posted by kittyloop at 8:28 PM on October 7, 2001

Jay Leno is into bondage?!
The horror.... the horror.....
posted by spilon at 9:13 PM on October 7, 2001

Meanwhile, back to the K-Pax publicity shot...um, unless Kevin Spacey's ass somehow migrated to the middle of his back just below his neck, I don't see how anyone could interpret it as Jeff Bridges ogling Kevin Spacey's ass.

You know, it never, ever occurred to me that I would find myself in a situation in which I typed the words: "...Jeff Bridges ogling Kevin Spacey's ass." Weird.
posted by davidmsc at 9:48 PM on October 7, 2001

You'll note, Katy, that cps didn't take it personally and start whining about it. She/he probably won't hold a childish grudge long after everyone else has forgotten.

This is the second time Katy has done this, even though I defended her in metatalk and thought the attack on her was arbitrary she doesn't have to keep whining about it in metafilter. Do us a favor and just get over it.

Anyone watch the on-line trailer for K-Pax? Spacey the spaceman looks like a slightly less interesting version of Starman. The spaceman with no proof of being a spaceman is such a hack job. They always have some quasi-religious mission or message and then they go away. This just looks bad.
posted by skallas at 10:26 PM on October 7, 2001

best part:

"Open your mind ... and admit the possibility" -- kpax.com
posted by EngineBeak at 11:06 PM on October 7, 2001

1997 versions of "The A List": part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5, parts 3-5 covering the last half of the alphabet that weren't available above. As I indicated before, it's best to take this with a grain of salt, since first of all, almost none of it is verified, and second, the cattiness is something of an intentional pose. You don't read alt.showbiz.gossip if you want to see and say nice things about celebs.

For example, the usage L_____ isn't because these people think it's really a hush-hush embarassment, but because they picked up on a newbie's use of the L______ euphemism as an in-joke. It's a commentary about celeb privacy and image issues rather than any kind of homophobia.

And somehow I referred to Jess Nevins, the author, as a "he" up above. Typo, I guess.
posted by dhartung at 11:17 PM on October 7, 2001

"You'll note, Katy, that cps didn't take it personally and start whining about it. She/he probably won't hold a childish grudge long after everyone else has forgotten."

Nope, I'm not whining, I was just saying that the same thing happened to me, and that it might be something that happens to all of us on our first-posts on the front page. There's no grudge here. If there was, I wouldn't have posted five or six times after that. It doesn't bother me any more. Live and Learn. Then find unique or obviously faux sites to post.
posted by Katy Action at 11:48 PM on October 7, 2001

I hate to admit it, but I've been glued to that A-List page all friggin' night. I am a very bad person.
posted by Optamystic at 2:44 AM on October 8, 2001

Side review note: I saw an advance screening of K-PAX (what a bad name! My friend remarked that it sounds like a brand of kangaroo tampons). It was an embarrassingly mediocre film. Spacey did a fine job acting, as usual, but it feels as though he could have played this role in his sleep. Really poor script and dialogue; hackneyed plot; "wacky" mental patients; and of course, Jeff Bridges' tense relationship with his son (will Kevin Spacey's character help them bridge that gap? Will he? Gee, I wonder).

Definitely not worth your $8.50
posted by acornface at 7:28 AM on October 8, 2001