MetaFilter posts tagged with celebrity and celebrities

This Much I Know

goodnewsfortheinsane — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:33:24 -0800

In The Guardian's This Much I Know, celebrities share the lessons they have learned in life. Sometimes they get a bit silly or self-absorbed, but among them are a few insightful -- or at least amusing -- nuggets. It's worth trawling the archives; but as it spans 21 pages, here's a taste: -------- Every child born on this earth starts by being interested in the natural world. You have only got to turn over a stone and see a worm or earwig underneath and the child is fascinated. Sir David Attenborough, Naturalist, 81, Surrey When I hear really fabulous music by somebody else, I can feel as small as the dot in the 'i' in nit. Brian Wilson, musician, 66, London As a joke I asked my four-year-old daughter Martha, 'What do you want to do with your life?' She thought for a moment and said: 'Keep it.' That stopped me in my tracks. Jeremy Vine, broadcaster, 45, London My earliest memory is slipping out of my mother's thighs and looking at surgical instruments on a table in an operating theatre. Many people do remember their births, but they deny it. Yoko Ono, artist, 76, London I'm out of the restaurant business now, but the secret, apart from your choice of chef, is having great bread and coffee. The bread's the first thing they taste and the coffee the last. Michael Caine, actor, 76, London What makes me laugh? I like people falling over. Never fails. Matt Lucas, comedian, 35, London I spent 10 days in a pathology lab at a medical examiner's office. I thought it would allow me to accept my own mortality, but it taught me was that everyone I love is going to die. David Sedaris, humourist, 51, London Paradigms change one funeral at a time. Deepak Chopra, guru, 61, Dublin I'm not going to space. No way, are you crazy? One little tile burns and you drop to your death? William Shatner, Actor, 75, Los Angeles A lot of guys say that they have to treat a woman like shit in order to get her to like them. I don't know if that's so true. It has served me to try and understand men rather than try to kill them. They're a little more complicated than I would have given them credit for! Alanis Morissette, musician, 31, London The US-British relationship resembles a divorced couple who still fancy each other. America's gone off and married Latino and Britain's gone off and married Europe, but they still recognise a fantastic connection. Then there are the post-divorce custody battles: who owns freedom, who owns Shakespeare, who owns culture? Simon Schama, historian, 60, London One of the great con tricks that life can pull on the conventional and the obedient is that rewards so often seem to go to those who choose other paths than those which are laid down. Stephen Fry, writer and actor, 47, London When you're given yak-butter tea - or, as our cameraman called it, liquid gorgonzola - take little sips and smile a lot. Michael Palin, broadcaster, 61, London I'm not what you call superstitious. I'm not worried about ladders or umbrellas or any of that shit. But I know you should never get a blowjob before you go on stage. Slash, guitarist, 38, Los Angeles -------- Ages given are at the time of original publication.

Signifier Signed

Partial Law — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:40:23 -0800

Excuse me, Ms. Ono, Mr. Gehry, Sen. Wellstone—pardon me Mr. Chomsky, Mr. Castellanetta, Gov. Ventura—would you mind signing this paper?
Oh no, don't sign your name. Sign mine.

Papa Palmérino Sorgente, the Pope of Montréal

XMLicious — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:05:27 -0800

Papa Palmérino Sorgente, the Pope of Montréal Here's more photos of him and his art and here he is on YouTube in action and also on Google Video. More photos embedded in Flash in the Made in Montréal page for him. He's a bit dour in those but here he is smiling, straight out of Pixar's Geri's Game. I met this guy in the fall of Y2K while visiting “La Ville Aux Cent Clochers” / “The City of a Hundred Belltowers”. Flatluigi's recent post reminded me of him. He's a cool, talkative, and cheerful, if not entirely there, artiste of the grassroots genre. As you can tell by the frame of that first photo the Bedazzler was made for this man. It was quite confusing to try to carry on a conversation with him in my limited French until I realized that he didn't speak that language. (Or maybe his accent was so heavy I couldn't understand him.) According to the amusing anecdote on this page (in French) Papa Palmérino is a Kosovar. Though elsewhere it shows he emigrated to Canada from Italy. The YT video doesn't really do justice to what it's like being in his little shop, Le Musée de Papa Palmérino, but the Montréal Mirror says it best:

If religious collectibles are your thing, this place may be your little slice of heaven. The place is chock-full of Jesuses--statues big and small, crucifixes, key chains, mugs. Seems Papa is quite the Jesus fan, which makes sense, considering he believes himself to be his brother. Ask him to show you framed photos of himself mounted on a cross (I didn't ask if these were for sale). Papa Palmerino sells a wide variety of other religious doo-dads including rosary beads, candles and rings he claims cure arthritis. Even if the ‘Second Coming’ isn't quite the motif you're going for in decorating your house, this place is worth visiting for the browsing and... uh... conversation.

(Not sure if that's clear, but he actually has photos of himself mock-crucified, loincloth and crown of thorns and everything.) I don't know if he's still truckin' because he was 85 years old in 2003➚. I guess his shop burned down a couple of months after I met him! This person, Jona Pelovska, seems to have made a documentary about him. Her MySpace page says “in post-production.”

Wow, isn't that... doing...? Wait.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:44:24 -0800

Alison Jackson takes paparazzi shots of celebrity lookalikes. (NSFW) Old news I'm sure, but I hadn't seen a comprehensive post before and I thought it was worth it. Wikipedia. Guardian and BBC links are reasonably SFW (some buttocks).

My Patent Is More Famous Than Your Patent

jonp72 — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 07:04:06 -0800

Google Patent Search can be a gold mine for a historical trivia. See the design for bucket seats patented by Steve McQueen, the secret communication system co-created by Hedy Lamarr that paved the way for the frequency hopping used by modern cell phones, the disposable infant garment made by Jamie Lee Curtis, the interactive music generation system made by Thomas Dolby of "She Blinded Me With Science" fame, and other unusual celebrity patents made by inventors that range from Abraham Lincoln to Zeppo Marx.

Stalking made simple.

cribcage — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 12:48:32 -0800

How To Contact Celebrities.

But where is Danny Bonudce

alms — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 18:48:51 -0800

Thanks to our new service you too can spend quality time with Kato Kaelin. Unfortunately, Leon Spinks is currently unavailable. And if you think you might want to sleep or use your phone during the next week, make sure to read the faq.

Autopen

azul — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 16:40:33 -0800

Is the autograph real? Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and of course Ronald Reagan have used it - the Autopen - a machine which signs an autograph in the celebrity's handwriting. It was developed in the early part of this century but only became popular in the late 1940's. Learn more at Stephen Beck's Autograph Pages

You Loved The 'Dirty' Video

owillis — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 21:26:13 -0800

David LaChapelle : New York magazine calls him "the Fellini of photography". Most others just remember the wacky picture of Lil Kim literally covered in Louis Vutton, Britney's coming out party or for that slimy (in a good way!) Christina Aguilera video.

Celebrities & Charity

MikeB — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 10:16:36 -0800

Celebrities take large payments from charities. The LA Times (reg reqd) is reporting that celebrities have received enormous payments for making appearances at celebrity benefits, including David Schwimmer, Cher, Gerald Ford, and others. To me, it's a shocking new low, but maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

Time Lines And Contemporaries

MiguelCardoso — Sun, 15 Jun 2003 13:52:39 -0800

My Contemporaries Are Cooler Than Yours: Actually, it can become quite depressing to find out exactly who belongs to your generation. I mean, Howie Mandell, Bill Gates, Sandra Bernhard, Margot Hemingway, Kevin Costner and Joe Jackson? Give me a break. Which, thankfully, WhoWhatWhen, an interactive timeline generator, does quite nicely. Perfect for paranoids who like beginning sentences with "Surely it's no coincidence that in that very same year..." [Via LinkFilter.]

Che Sells

armoured-ant — Sat, 01 Mar 2003 17:50:41 -0800

Stop. Selling. Che. Doctor, Revolutionary, Murderer? Whoever he was, it don't mostly matter when he's this generation and the last's favourite rebelposterboy. Does it even matter, any more, the history behind such powerful brand semantics? It is, apparently, enough to be a symbol nowadays, even if in the end you're one of only ignorance. Is this the ultimate in simulacra? And will They ever stop marketing our martyrs? So who was Che Guevara? And what does he want with our children?

WolfDaddy — Wed, 17 Apr 2002 09:23:24 -0800

Spenser: Retired Robert Urich 1946-2002 :(

MrBaliHai — Sat, 09 Feb 2002 06:18:06 -0800

Got a taste for quasi-celebrity schadenfreude? Then glut yourself on the promotional materials of C-tier entertainers at the Hal Morris Museum. Care to slip down another couple of rungs on the ladder of fame? Have a look at the Celebrities of Real Estate. (thanks, Misterpants!)