Ok so it is apparent that out of all my friends, I have a habit of always wanting to know what is going to happen on a TV show before hand and that I love to know about interesting facts about movies, TV shows and pop culture in general! This became clear when yesterday “The Hills” gang, (3 of my close friends) gathered yesterday evening to watch “The Hills” on MTV. So we are watching the show, and there is a scene with Lauren Conrad and Jason, and there is speculation on the show if they will get back together, and I’m like, no they won’t, I read that Jason is engaged and not to Lauren, and my friends are like oh yea you told us about that. When we see the scenes for next week’s episode, we can see that Jason has a girlfriend and it’s not Lauren, and they announced the engagement. It was so cool, that I was right and knew it already. I don’t know why but it was cool. After the show, I wanted my friends to hear this song that one of the people on the show, Heidi Montag has just recorded with her boyfriend Spencer, I thought it was hilarious and pointless and wanted to share it and I came across tons of websites and spoiler sites about this show. Heidi always blogs on her website which is cool. It is crazy!! I wanted to share some of the things I found:
http://www.tv.com/the-hills/show/48806/jason-engaged/topic/59789-847778/msgs.html
http://www.myspace.com/heidimontag
http://officialheidimontag.com/
http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070917200032AAxzwbf
Anyhow, these message boards and blogs from the stars themselves are cool. I feel that with my participating in this, I have some kind of connection with other fans. Also I can always fill my friends in on what is going on behind the scenes n the show. I am sure when we watch next week, I will have some new info to share!
I don’t give a damn what anyone says but The Hills is a funny show despite it being kind of girlie. The spoilers for this show to me, enhances my viewing pleasure because even though I may know what’s going to happen. All the juiciness that happens that forms the product is where the excitement is really at. Can’t wait till next week!
It’s sort of like eating a hamburger. Yes, the idea of eating one is nice and we all know how good they’re but its all the nice things on the inside of it that makes it nice and gives it all the flavors we love. lol
I think that what you’ve noted about stars having blogs is interesting. You could carry the connections you make with other fans via message boards to the blogs maintained by the stars. These paratexts allow the stars, or at least someone who represents them, to connect directly, immediately, and interpersonally with their fan base. These connections add to their notoriety and personalize the interactions that they have with those who admire their work. In short, the Internet provides stars more control over their own publicity machines and the texts that surround them as personalities.
Dr. Harriss, I never thought of it that way, that stars blogs are a way of controlling publicity. I think that most “A-list” celebrities don’t keep their own blog though, and leave official websites up to their entourage. I feel in the music world blogs are a really big deal. Bands always seem to keep running “blogs” of what happens on the road. I think almost every comedian that performs at AU always plugs their own blogs and myspace, telling you to friend them and that way it keeps up their popularity.