Celebritology Archive: How Webby is...

Will Celebs Get You iGoogling?

Ashton Kutcher's iGoogle page. (Image courtesy Google) With the big boost Twitter got from celebs, it was a no brainer that Google would try to capture some of the same buzz (and same star power) for the launch of their new iGoogle product. I'm no web wunderkind like that Ashton Kutcher, but iGoogle bears a striking resemblance to that old Web stickiness ploy, the customizable home page. Sure, it incorporates nifty features like your latest mail (if you're a gmailer), but beyond that it is a repository for the usual widgets -- weather, traffic, headlines, maps, etc. Which may be why Google has enlisted Al Gore, Katie Couric, Keith Urban, Arianna Huffington, Ryan Seacrest and, yes, Ashton Kutcher to share their iGoogle setups with the rest of us and offer elements of their pages to add to your own. So I can, for instance, grab Martha Stewart's theme (which...

A Dozen Questions for Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais is best known in the U.S. as the creative force behind BBC's "The Office," HBO's "Extras," he's also responsible for "The Ricky Gervais Show" series of podcasts. Gervais teamed with writing partner Stephen Merchant and producer Karl Pilkington for five seasons, largely made up of the pair mocking Pilkington for his outlandish and bizarre theories. And the round baldness of his head. The show has produced a new series of audio books, the latest installment of which, "The Ricky Gervais Guide to...The Arts" is available now. We solicited readers' questions about the podcast, his shows, career and more, then sent a dozen to Gervais. His answers are below.

How Webby is... 'Real Housewife' Kim Zolciak? (Who?)

(Image courtesy kimzolciakonline.com) Expending more than 50 words on a woman whose biggest claim to fame is an utterly contrived second-rate reality show strikes me as overkill, but would our Celebritology studies be complete with the occasional look at wannabes? Enter Kim Zolciak. You may remember her (or not) as the zaftig blond aspiring singer (who can't sing) on Bravo's "Real Housewives of Atlanta" series. It should be noted that Zolciak is neither a housewife (unless playing mistress to married men of financial means counts) nor real (unless real somehow encompasses an enigmatic wig and spray tans). Still, she did add a bit of extra crunch to a show that was already a train wreck. Season two kicks off later this year. Yay. Now, like many an aspiring "Real Wives" wannabe crossover before her, Zolciak has taken to the Web. Zolciak's site includes the usual -- personal pix, contact...

How Webby is Michael Lohan?

Screen capture from MichaelLohanOnline.com. Would celebrities exist without a complement of hangers-on or would they, like the ephemeral dreams clad in leggings they are, simply evaporate from lack of adulation? I posit that the varied remoras which populate the ocean of celebrity as assistants, spouses, paparazzi and skeletal stylists may be just as important as the big fish to which they cling. Which is why today we will take a look at little fish Michael Lohan's latest project, a Web site. There's no need for you to personally surf on over to Lohan's -- father of erstwhile Disney darling and questionably sapphic deejay aficionado Lindsay -- site yourself. Though it does have a certain DIY charm, the automatically launching soundtrack of Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry" is enough to make this site a no-no for workplace surfers. But, if you insist on having a peek, here is a link. You'll...

How Webby is William Shatner?

If figuring out how to post videos on YouTube and recruiting your daughter to indulge your self-absorbed bugaboo with a guy who co-starred on a show with you 40 years ago, then he's, like, Sergey Brin in a fat suit. What am I talking about? Shatner, who seems to leap at every opportunity to shore up at his status as a cultural (if kitschy) icon, this week delighted his small army of YouTube followers and gossip bloggers tired of boring celebrity voting PSAs with yet another digital diary -- all part of his mission to "share his life with you and take cameras where they have never been allowed before." In the latest installment, he spends three-plus minutes talking about why he was left off the guest list for former "Star Trek" co-star George Takei's recent wedding. Takei, says Shatner, must be suffering from some kind of "sickness" or "psychosis."...

One More Time: Britney Hits the Web Again

Is that Gary Coleman hovering to the right of Britney's shoulder? (Screen grab from britneyspears.com) Hey y'all. If a person's sanity can be measured by the relative put-togetherness of her Web site, then Britney Spears is indeed back in the zone. This week, Team Britney (I kid you not) unveiled a long-awaited new-and-improved Web presence for the image rehabbing star. What it lacks in folksy crackpot poetry it more than makes up for in slickness. A few highlights: The site is introduced by a video snippet from a subdued Brit, promising to take us "where no paparazzi lens ever could." (Please let it be the Quiznos bathroom.) Oddly, the video player floats in the midst of what appears to be a chain link fence holding back the ghostly image of an angry Gary Coleman. A bloggy format takes precedence, with Team Britney (which is probably code name for fully-vetted...

Older Entries in This Category »

What Would Gwyneth Do?, Liz , September 23, 2008

How Webby is Bill Shatner?, Liz , December 14, 2007