A new 900 page review of The Cambridge academic and the Manual of expertise in performance, to be published this month, Freakonomics authors report very interesting conclusions.

(I recommend reading this book, if you have an interest in knowing how to make a star in any discipline.)

Here are three major conclusions of this work:

1. The feature we call talent is highly overrated.

That is, the performers of experts - whether in memory or surgery, ballet or programming - are nearly always made, not born. And yes,

2. Practice makes perfect. And finally, my personal favorite:

3. When choosing a way of life, should do what you like - if it is not love, you can not work enough to get very good.

They add: “Most people naturally do not like doing things that are not” good “. So they often give up, saying that they simply do not possess the talent for math or skiing or violin. ”

But the truth is this:

“What we really need is the desire to be good and to undertake the deliberate practice that would make it better.

Joseph Campbell was right when he told his students, “Follow your joy.”

And yes, especially in his work. If you do not love your product, for example, it is likely that you will not deliberate practice needed to learn to talk about it for good.

If you do not love something about your network marketing business to spend enough time to learn to do well, their chances of success are slim to none.

Therefore, ask yourself, what LOVE Madly about what you are doing? Is it making a difference in someone’s life? Is it that the income can buy?

Whatever turns you on, will keep you ahead.

And if it is nothing special, maybe this business is not really better for you to do. Why not love what you do? People can tell if you do not.

One thing is clear in our business: The promise of income is not enough. Not for 95% of school leavers, ie.

So what is it that you like enough, or are challenged by enough to maintain the practice of deliberately and systematically, as anyone who has become famous for something?

Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect the cultures and, in turn, affect them. The film is considered an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method of education - or indoctrinating - citizens. The visuals of the film gives it a universal power of communication. Some movies have become popular throughout the world through the use of sights, dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue.

Traditional films are composed of a series of individual images called frames. When these images are shown in rapid succession, a viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer can not see the flickering between frames due to an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a split second after the source has been eliminated. Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement.

The origin of the name “film” comes from the fact that photographic film (also called film stock) has historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. There are many other terms of a movie, including photography, film, photo, game, movie, and most commonly, movie. Additional terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, film, and movies.

In the 1860s, mechanisms for producing artificially created, two-dimensional images in motion were demonstrated with devices such as the Zoetrope and praxinoscope. These machines were outgrowths of simple optical devices (such as magic lanterns) and displaying sequences of still pictures at sufficient speed for the images in the pictures seem to be moving, a phenomenon called “persistence of vision. Naturally, the images must be carefully designed to achieve the desired effect - and the principle became the basis for the development of the animation.

With the development of celluloid film, photography, it was possible to directly capture objects in motion in real time. Early versions of the technology sometimes required a person to search a display machine to see images that you print a document attached to a drum rotates handcrank. The images are displayed on a variable speed of about 5 to 10 frames per second, depending on how rapidly the crank was turned. Some of these coin-operated machines. In the 1880s, developing the film the camera allows the individual component to be captured and stored images on a single reel, and led quickly to the development of a film projector to shine light through the processed and printed film and expand these “moving picture shows” onto a screen for an audience. These reels, so exhibited, came to be known as “movies”. Early films static shots that showed an event or action film with no editing or other techniques.

Bosworth admits that she was unsure if any actor could pull of a convincing Superman/Clark Kent combination – she remembers the original film with great excitement. However, she is full of praise for Brandon Routh, the unknown actor who plays the title role. She realized how good Routh was going to be as early as an early screen test, before she had got the role, when she discovered she “had become totally lost in just reading with him, in a white, bare, sparse room with the tri-pod video camera and a couple of people sitting around and watching and that’s when I realized he was going to be tremendous in this film”.

Bosworth modelled her Lois Lane performance on Katharine Hepburn. “I watched a lot of Hepburn to prepare for Lois, particularly ‘The Philadelphia Story’ and ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’. Hepburn is a great model for how I see Lois - strong but fragile.”

Bosworth spent her early childhood moving around the US, from Los Angeles to San Francisco, then to Connecticut and to Massachusetts. It was around the time of the move to Massachusetts in 1998 that she heard of an open audition for Robert Redford’s film ‘The Horse Whisperer’. A horse-lover, she went along for the experience, and won the role of the female lead’s best friend. After “The Horse Whisperer” Bosworth took a break from acting, returning two years later to resume her career which has culminated with her role in ‘Superman Returns’.

Filmography

Superman Returns (2006)
Bee Season (2005)
Beyond the Sea (2004)
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)
Advantage Hart (2003)
Wonderland (2003)
The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Blue Crush (2002)
Remember the Titans (2000)
Young Americans (2000) TV Episode
The Newcomers (2000)
The Horse Whisperer (1998)

Crowe and Kidman have signed on to star in what is being called an epic Australian Outback film set in the years up to and including World War II.  The film, codenamed “Project Oklahoma,” will begin in the 1930s and stretch to the 1942 Japanese bombing of the tropical city of Darwin.

“We’ve talked a bout it for over seven years, that we must do something together in Australia.” Luhrmann said to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Kidman said that she was looking forward to making a “uniquely Australian story” with Crowe, who she calls her “good friend.”

Luhrmann compared the film to “Gone with the Wind” and “Lawrence of Arabia.”  “Collateral” screenwriter Stuart Beattie will work with Luhrmann on the script for the film.

Kidman has had a working history with Luhrmann, who directed the three minute, multimillion-dollar Chanel No. 5 commercial in which Kidman starred.

The rumored budget for the film is said to be about $40 million in Australian currency, which is equivalent to about $30 million in U.S. dollars.  Filming is set to begin in August, and the film is projected to be released in 2007.

ENTER THE DRAGON
LITTLE KNOWN FACT
WAY OF THE INTERCEPTING FIST
A WARRIOR’S JOURNEY
LAST MAN STANDING
GAME OF DEATH
NUNCHAKU
FISTS OF FURY
THE CURSE
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
SILENT BUT DEADLY
ELVIS & BRUCE
THE DRAGON

“Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own”
- Bruce Lee

ENTER THE DRAGON

Bruce Lee Jun Fan Yuen Kam was born in the year of the dragon, 1940, and at the hour of the dragon, between 6 and 8 AM.

LITTLE KNOWN FACT

Bruce’s ancestry was Chinese and German. His father was Chinese while his mother was of German-Chinese decent. Her mother was Chinese and her father was German.

WAY OF THE INTERCEPTING FIST

Jeet Kune Do, also known as Way of the Intercepting Fist, was Bruce Lee’s personal martial art style. He developed it with the idea of being more flexible and practical with martial arts techniques. In doing so, he commonly considered the greatest martial artist of the 20th century.

A WARRIOR’S JOURNEY

His Jeet Kune Do instruction was a premium in the highest demand and commanded a staggering $275 an hour. His students consisted of some of Hollywood’s most elite, including Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Joe Lewis and Chuck Norris.

LAST MAN STANDING

In many ways his celebrity gave him a parallel to the characters he portrayed as he was contantly being challenged by movie extras and other men who could get near him seeking to gain fame by beating him in a fight. Many tried, but he was never beaten.

GAME OF DEATH

His last film was “Game of Death” and was his only film to be shot with sound. His earlier films were shot without sound and the voices were later dubbed in.

NUNCHAKU

Nunchaku were Bruce Lee’s hand weapon of choice and when wielding a pair he was an undefeatable force. He developed his legendary routine under the instruction of karate master Hidehiko “Hidy” Ochiai. The two men first met at the Los Angeles YMCA in the mid-1960’s.

FISTS OF FURY

Bruce Lee’s ultimate secret was his lightning quick speed. To demonstrate he developed a trick where he had a person hold a coin and close his hand around the coin, but before they could do so Bruce would quickly remove the coin and replace it with another most often without the participate even realizing what had happened. When they opened their hand, it would be the new coin.

THE CURSE

As most know, Bruce Lee’s death was deemed to be extraordinarily bizarre. Motivating many to be belove it was the work of “Oni”, a Japanese term for demons or evil spirits. This curse apparently carried on to his actor son, Brandon Lee.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

During an interview, composer Lalo Schifrin revealed that Bruce often trained to the “Mission Impossible” TV Show soundtrack.

SILENT BUT DEADLY

Another claim to fame was Bruce mastered a technique called, “The One Inch Punch”. With it he could deliver a devastating body punch just with his fist just a mere inch from his target.

ELVIS & BRUCE

Elvis Presley and Ed Parker had a pet project film they were constructing in 1973 and 1974, but then suddenly it was forgotten until 2003 when the footage resurfaced. The film is basically groups of martial arts experts going at it. The cast reads like a ‘who’s who’ of the martial arts world of the time and although he is not featured in the film, 20 minutes of never-before-seen footage of Bruce Lee was also discovered with this lost footage.

THE DRAGON

When he passed away on July 20, 1973 Bruce Lee was only 32 years old was 5′7″ and weighed 128 pounds. He might have been small in stature but was one of the all time greatest film stars and the most accomplished martial artist in modern history.

Some names are just a little different.  John Travolta and Kelly Preston have two beautiful children.  Their daughter’s name is Ella Bleu.  Their son’s name is Jett.  Jett is different, but anyone who knows anything about John Travolta knows he has a love for flying. Gwyneth Paltrow, pregnant again, came under scrutiny for naming her first child Apple.  While it is unusual, it is somewhat cute, like in the “apple of their eye.”  Chris Martin, her husband, tired of the controversy over the name Apple, has jokingly stated their second child, whether male or female, will be named Banana.  Another cute name is Dandelion, the name of Keith Richards’ daughter.  Julie Roberts recently gave birth to twins - a boy and a girl - and received flack over the names she chose.  She received almost as much grief over the choice for her daughter’s name, Hazel, as she did the more eccentric choice of Phinnaeus for her son.

Many people speculated what Madonna would name her first child.  Lourdes Maria seems a fitting name for child who’s mother’s name is Madonna, but she often goes by Lola.  Her son is named Rocco, which sounds a bit like a cartoon character, but at least it is a tough sounding name.  Actor Casey Affleck and fiancé Summer Phoenix recently had a son named Indiana August, which leads one to wonder what state and month their son was conceived in.  Toni Braxton has two sons, Denim and Diezel.  While both useful products, they make somewhat strange names for children.  Rob Marrow decided it would be cute if he named his daughter Tu Simone Ayer, calling her Tu Morrow.  Wonder if she will think it is cute 20 years from now?  Actor Jason Lee named his son Pilot Inspektor, but magician Penn Jillette may have topped them all.  He named his daughter, Moxie Crimefighter, saying “because when she’s pulled over for speeding she can say, `But officer, we’re on the same side, my middle name is CrimeFighter.”‘

If you think it is a new trend, think again.  Back in 1971, David Bowie and his then wife Angela decided to name their son Duncan Zowie Heywood Jones.  He soon became known as Zowie Bowie.  Cher named her children Chastity Sun and Elijah Blue.

The Phoenix family is well known for their unusual choice of baby names.  Summer Phoenix’s siblings are the late actor River Phoenix, actresses Rain and Liberty Phoenix and actor Joaquin Phoenix.  Joaquin felt his name was so out of place with his siblings, that when he was four, he decided to change his name to Leaf.  By the early 1990’s, he had reverted back to using his birth name.  Another family infamous for their choices of baby names is the Zappa family.  Frank’s children are Dweezil, Moon Unit, Ahmed Emuukha Rodan and Diva Muffin.  While many people think that Dweezil is his given name, his birth name was originally Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa because the hospital refused to register the name Dweezil.  Always called Dweezil, when he was a child, he wanted to make the name official and his parents took him to have it changed legally.  Paula Yates, former wife of Sir Bob Geldof and girlfriend of late rocker Michael Hutchence, also had a knack for giving her children unusual names.  Among her brood are Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom Michelle Charlotte Angel Vanessa, Heavenly Hiraani Tigerlily, and Little Pixie.

Some celebrity baby names make sense if you know the story behind them.  Eurythmic’s Dave Stewart named his son Django after jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.  Stevie Wonder named his son Mandla Kadjaly Carl Stevland, however Mandla means “powerful” in Zulu and Kadjaly means “born from God” in Swahili.  Helen Hunt just gave birth to a baby girl she named Makena’lei Gordon.  The name Makena’lei is from a friend’s dream and means “many flowers of heaven.”  Gordon, an unlikely girl’s name, was to honor of Helen’s father, television director Gordon Hunt.  Nicolas Cage just named his new baby boy Kal-el.  Because Nicolas took his stage name of Cage from comic book character Luke Cage, he decided to name his son Kal-el after one of his favorite comic book heroes.  Kal-el is Superman’s kryptonian name.

So, do the children like these unconventional names given them by their parents?  In some cases, they do.  The Phoenix’s seem to love their nature-inspired names and the Zappa children seem to have had no ill effects from their eccentric names.  However, some children tire of the peculiar names quickly.  Zowie Bowie had had enough of his moniker by the time he was 12 and asked to be referred to as “Joey.”  Although Dandelion Richards does not seem too bad, she has since started referring to herself as Angela.  Recently, Peaches Honeyblossom Michelle Charlotte Angel Vanessa Geldof has been the most outspoken about the odd choice her parents made in naming her.  She has been quoted as saying, “I hate ridiculous names.  My weird name has haunted me all my life.”

While having an unusual name might be difficult for any child, the celebrity of a child’s parents may enhance it even further.  Thankfully, celebrity children who decide they don’t like their given names can switch to a nickname or even eventually have their names legally changed.

After Cambodia, Anglina Jolie took a trip to Sierra Leone and Tanzania in 2001, and it was there that she first became actively involved in humanitarium causes. The purpose of that fateful trip was to discover first hand the conditions that refugees must suffer. Angelina was so shocked that shortly after, in August 2001, she was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, otherwise known as UNHCR.

The UNHCR assists over 20 million refugees in 120 countries around the world. They were created to protect and safeguard the well-being and rights of refugees. They believe that refugees have a right to seek asylum in another country and will actively seek to engage nations to integrate and support those refugees. Thus far, in only 5 decades, they have helped over 50 million people in the world.

Angelina’s contribution has greatly assisted in generating more widespread attention to this worthy cause. As a goodwill ambassador, her role is to communicate to, and provide a focus on refugees by generating mass-media attention. Though in Jolie’s case this is not merely superficial. She actually spends much of her own time and is genuinely affected by their misery. On her trip to Ecuador, Jolie wrote of the suffering, “People’s lives are truly in danger – not just in the sense that you feel your town is unsafe – their lives are actually being threatened and their houses are being burnt down.”

To further increase public awareness, Jolie has released several personal journals of her experiences during field visits. More information can be found at unhcr.org.

As well as the physical effort that Jolie contributes, her foundation with partner Brad Pitt, called the Jolie-Pitt Foundation recently donated USD$1 million to groups working in Darfur. Darfur is a region in war ravaged Sudan, which Jolie has visited three times already.

Jolie now plans to spend most of her time in humanitarian efforts, revealing that she splits her actress her salary three ways; a third for savings, a third for living expenses and a third for charity. Considering she commands a high pay packet for movies, as well as product endorsements, that equates to a considerable amount donated.

Jolie has two adopted children, and is currently thinking of a third. Maddox, a cambodian refugee boy she adopted in 2002, and Zahara, an ethiopian refugee girl. She also has a child with Brad Pitt, named Shiloh.

Together with Pitt, Jolie has stated that she will continue to promote and actively engage in humanitarian causes, as well as pursuing her acting ambitions.

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Early Life

Vincent Damon Furnier was born in Detroit on February 4, 1948. His heritage was quite interesting, in that his grandfather was an ordained Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ and his father was an elder in the same church. After spending the first few years of his life in Detroit, the family decided to move to Phoenix, which was where Vincent spent his formative years.

Furnier enrolled at Cortez high school in Phoenix, and became known by his peers as a columnist in the school newspaper. His tone in these columns was quite sarcastic, and two of his loyal readers became his closest friends of the time - Glen Buxton and Dennis Dunaway. Buxton and Dunaway would play a large role in Furnier’s musical career down the road.

Furnier, Buxton and Dunaway were motivated by one thing in high school - gaining the attention and adulation of the female students at Cortez. Their first foray into the musical world occurred during a school talent show where they donned wigs and gave a mock performance of songs by The Beatles. Even though their show was definitely amateur in nature, the group discovered that music was definitely the way to go if they wanted to be popular.

The trio was joined by another friend, Michael Bruce, and the quartet formed a band named The Earwigs. The group’s musical influences included The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks and especially Eric Clapton and The Yardbirds. The name “Earwigs” didn’t last long, as the band soon became known as the Spiders.

The Spiders released a single, “Don’t Blow Your Mind,” that was a hit on Phoenix radio, and as a result, the band once again changed their name to The Nazz and traveled to Hollywood to pursue larger goals. Despite years of struggle in Los Angeles, The Nazz did manage to play opening acts for such bands as The Doors and The Yardbirds. The final change came in 1968, when Todd Rundgren named his band The Nazz, forcing Furnier and his crew to rename their band “Alice Cooper.”

Alice Cooper Days

In 1969, the band Alice Cooper released their first album, Pretties For You, which sold reasonably well but was seen as an outlandish work at the time. One of the reasons was the legendary story that the band showed up still reeling from a night of heavy drinking to record the album. This legend helped play into the overall theme of craziness that the band embodied going forward.

The band Alice Cooper released a total of five albums, but they split up in 1974. Furnier then became known as Alice Cooper, and released his first album, Welcome to My Nightmare, in 1975. The album became a top ten hit, and Cooper was on his way to stardom.

Since then, Cooper has released more than 30 studio, live and compilation albums, and has sold millions of records worldwide. His onstage legend has never waned. Even though he denies biting the head off a chicken and drinking its blood, the story made waves all over the world and is still a subject of discussion in many interviews.

Cooper’s outrageousness is definitely part of why he is known, but he is also one of the top-selling artists of his time. He has always flown a bit under the radar, but his shock rock innovations have been admired and to an extent imitated by the likes of Judas Priest, Kiss, Megadeath and Marilyn Manson.

One thing is sure - to see Alice Cooper is to see a show you’ll never forget.

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Are Narcissists addicted to being famous?

Answer:

You bet. This, by far, is their predominant drive. Being famous encompasses a few important functions: it endows the narcissist with power, provides him with a constant Source of Narcissistic Supply (admiration, adoration, approval, awe), and fulfils important Ego functions.

The image that the narcissist projects is hurled back at him, reflected by those exposed to his celebrity or fame. This way he feels alive, his very existence is affirmed and he acquires a sensation of clear boundaries (where the narcissist ends and the world begins).

There is a set of narcissistic behaviours typical to the pursuit of celebrity. There is almost nothing that the narcissist refrains from doing, almost no borders that he hesitates to cross to achieve renown. To him, there is no such thing as “bad publicity” – what matters is to be in the public eye.

Because the narcissist equally enjoys all types of attention and likes as much to be feared as to be loved, for instance – he doesn’t mind if what is published about him is wrong (”as long as they spell my name correctly”). The narcissist’s only bad emotional stretches are during periods of lack of attention, publicity, or exposure.

The narcissist then feels empty, hollowed out, negligible, humiliated, wrathful, discriminated against, deprived, neglected, treated unjustly and so on. At first, he tries to obtain attention from ever narrowing groups of reference (”supply scale down”). But the feeling that he is compromising gnaws at his anyhow fragile self-esteem.

Sooner or later, the spring bursts. The narcissist plots, contrives, plans, conspires, thinks, analyses, synthesises and does whatever else is necessary to regain the lost exposure in the public eye. The more he fails to secure the attention of the target group (always the largest) – the more daring, eccentric and outlandish he becomes. Firm decision to become known is transformed into resolute action and then to a panicky pattern of attention seeking behaviours.

The narcissist is not really interested in publicity per se. Narcissists are misleading. The narcissist appears to love himself – and, really, he abhors himself. Similarly, he appears to be interested in becoming a celebrity – and, in reality, he is concerned with the REACTIONS to his fame: people watch him, notice him, talk about him, debate his actions – therefore he exists.

The narcissist goes around “hunting and collecting” the way the expressions on people’s faces change when they notice him. He places himself at the centre of attention, or even as a figure of controversy. He constantly and recurrently pesters those nearest and dearest to him in a bid to reassure himself that he is not losing his fame, his magic touch, the attention of his social milieu.

Truly, the narcissist is not choosy. If he can become famous as a writer – he writes, if as a businessman – he conducts business. He switches from one field to the other with ease and without remorse because in all of them he is present without conviction, bar the conviction that he must (and deserves to) get famous.

He grades activities, hobbies and people not according to the pleasure that they give him – but according to their utility: can they or can’t they make him known and, if so, to what extent. The narcissist is one-track minded (not to say obsessive). His is a world of black (being unknown and deprived of attention) and white (being famous and celebrated).

——————————————————————————–

Mistreating Celebrities - An Interview

Granted to Superinteressante Magazine in Brazil

Q. Fame and TV shows about celebrities usually have a huge audience. This is understandable: people like to see other successful people. But why people like to see celebrities being humiliated?

A. As far as their fans are concerned, celebrities fulfil two emotional functions: they provide a mythical narrative (a story that the fan can follow and identify with) and they function as blank screens onto which the fans project their dreams, hopes, fears, plans, values, and desires (wish fulfilment). The slightest deviation from these prescribed roles provokes enormous rage and makes us want to punish (humiliate) the “deviant” celebrities.

But why?

When the human foibles, vulnerabilities, and frailties of a celebrity are revealed, the fan feels humiliated, “cheated”, hopeless, and “empty”. To reassert his self-worth, the fan must establish his or her moral superiority over the erring and “sinful” celebrity. The fan must “teach the celebrity a lesson” and show the celebrity “who’s boss”. It is a primitive defense mechanism - narcissistic grandiosity. It puts the fan on equal footing with the exposed and “naked” celebrity.

Q. This taste for watching a person being humiliated has something to do with the attraction to catastrophes and tragedies?

A. There is always a sadistic pleasure and a morbid fascination in vicarious suffering. Being spared the pains and tribulations others go through makes the observer feel “chosen”, secure, and virtuous. The higher celebrities rise, the harder they fall. There is something gratifying in hubris defied and punished.

Q. Do you believe the audience put themselves in the place of the reporter (when he asks something embarrassing to a celebrity) and become in some way revenged?

A. The reporter “represents” the “bloodthirsty” public. Belittling celebrities or watching their comeuppance is the modern equivalent of the gladiator rink. Gossip used to fulfil the same function and now the mass media broadcast live the slaughtering of fallen gods. There is no question of revenge here - just Schadenfreude, the guilty joy of witnessing your superiors penalized and “cut down to size”.

Q. In your country, who are the celebrities people love to hate?

A. Israelis like to watch politicians and wealthy businessmen reduced, demeaned, and slighted. In Macedonia, where I live, all famous people, regardless of their vocation, are subject to intense, proactive, and destructive envy. This love-hate relationship with their idols, this ambivalence, is attributed by psychodynamic theories of personal development to the child’s emotions towards his parents. Indeed, we transfer and displace many negative emotions we harbor onto celebrities.

Q. I would never dare asking some questions the reporters from Panico ask the celebrities. What are the characteristics of people like these reporters?

A. Sadistic, ambitious, narcissistic, lacking empathy, self-righteous, pathologically and destructively envious, with a fluctuating sense of self-worth (possibly an inferiority complex).

6. Do you believe the actors and reporters want themselves to be as famous as the celebrities they tease? Because I think this is almost happening…

A. The line is very thin. Newsmakers and newsmen and women are celebrities merely because they are public figures and regardless of their true accomplishments. A celebrity is famous for being famous. Of course, such journalists will likely to fall prey to up and coming colleagues in an endless and self-perpetuating food chain…

7. I think that the fan-celebrity relationship gratifies both sides. What are the advantages the fans get and what are the advantages the celebrities get?

A. There is an implicit contract between a celebrity and his fans. The celebrity is obliged to “act the part”, to fulfil the expectations of his admirers, not to deviate from the roles that they impose and he or she accepts. In return the fans shower the celebrity with adulation. They idolize him or her and make him or her feel omnipotent, immortal, “larger than life”, omniscient, superior, and sui generis (unique).

What are the fans getting for their trouble?

Above all, the ability to vicariously share the celebrity’s fabulous (and, usually, partly confabulated) existence. The celebrity becomes their “representative” in fantasyland, their extension and proxy, the reification and embodiment of their deepest desires and most secret and guilty dreams. Many celebrities are also role models or father/mother figures. Celebrities are proof that there is more to life than drab and routine. That beautiful - nay, perfect - people do exist and that they do lead charmed lives. There’s hope yet - this is the celebrity’s message to his fans.

The celebrity’s inevitable downfall and corruption is the modern-day equivalent of the medieval morality play. This trajectory - from rags to riches and fame and back to rags or worse - proves that order and justice do prevail, that hubris invariably gets punished, and that the celebrity is no better, neither is he superior, to his fans.

8. Why are celebrities narcissists? How is this disorder born?

No one knows if pathological narcissism is the outcome of inherited traits, the sad result of abusive and traumatizing upbringing, or the confluence of both. Often, in the same family, with the same set of parents and an identical emotional environment - some siblings grow to be malignant narcissists, while others are perfectly “normal”. Surely, this indicates a genetic predisposition of some people to develop narcissism.

It would seem reasonable to assume - though, at this stage, there is not a shred of proof - that the narcissist is born with a propensity to develop narcissistic defenses. These are triggered by abuse or trauma during the formative years in infancy or during early adolescence. By “abuse” I am referring to a spectrum of behaviors which objectify the child and treat it as an extension of the caregiver (parent) or as a mere instrument of gratification. Dotting and smothering are as abusive as beating and starving. And abuse can be dished out by peers as well as by parents, or by adult role models.

Not all celebrities are narcissists. Still, some of them surely are.

We all search for positive cues from people around us. These cues reinforce in us certain behaviour patterns. There is nothing special in the fact that the narcissist-celebrity does the same. However there are two major differences between the narcissistic and the normal personality.

The first is quantitative. The normal person is likely to welcome a moderate amount of attention – verbal and non-verbal – in the form of affirmation, approval, or admiration. Too much attention, though, is perceived as onerous and is avoided. Destructive and negative criticism is avoided altogether.

The narcissist, in contrast, is the mental equivalent of an alcoholic. He is insatiable. He directs his whole behaviour, in fact his life, to obtain these pleasurable titbits of attention. He embeds them in a coherent, completely biased, picture of himself. He uses them to regulates his labile (fluctuating) sense of self-worth and self-esteem.

To elicit constant interest, the narcissist projects on to others a confabulated, fictitious version of himself, known as the False Self. The False Self is everything the narcissist is not: omniscient, omnipotent, charming, intelligent, rich, or well-connected.

The narcissist then proceeds to harvest reactions to this projected image from family members, friends, co-workers, neighbours, business partners and from colleagues. If these – the adulation, admiration, attention, fear, respect, applause, affirmation – are not forthcoming, the narcissist demands them, or extorts them. Money, compliments, a favourable critique, an appearance in the media, a sexual conquest are all converted into the same currency in the narcissist’s mind, into “narcissistic supply”.

So, the narcissist is not really interested in publicity per se or in being famous. Truly he is concerned with the REACTIONS to his fame: how people watch him, notice him, talk about him, debate his actions. It “proves” to him that he exists.

The narcissist goes around “hunting and collecting” the way the expressions on people’s faces change when they notice him. He places himself at the centre of attention, or even as a figure of controversy. He constantly and recurrently pesters those nearest and dearest to him in a bid to reassure himself that he is not losing his fame, his magic touch, the attention of his social milieu.

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Producers make an instant assessment of you in thirty seconds–or less. When you get that coveted call from a producer, you aren’t just *talking* to him: you’re auditioning. You are being screened to be accepted or eliminated as a guest on their show. How can you pass the audition?

Secret #1: Ask Before You Speak

Before you even open your mouth to start pitching yourself and your story to the producer, ask them a simple question: *Can you tell me a little bit about the kind of show you envision?* In other words, ask the producer the angle he is planning to take.

Doing so has two advantages. First, it gives you a moment to overcome the shock and to collect your thoughts.

Second, once you hear the producer’s reply, you can gear your pitch to the type of information he’s seeking. Listen closely to the angle that he’s interested in and tailor your points to it. Publicists often use this technique to get their clients booked on shows. They *get* before they *give* - so they are in a good position to tell only the most pertinent information about their client.

Secret #2: Wow the Producers with Brevity

Follow the advice of jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie: *It’s not how much you play. It’s how much you leave out.* Keep your list of talking points by the phone when you call a producer (or a producer calls you), so you’ll be succinct. You will already have rehearsed your points so that they’ll sound natural and inviting. Be prepared with several different angles or pitches, different ways to slant your information. *Nobody gets on these shows without a pre- interview,* says publicist Leslie Rossman. *Be a great interview but don’t worry about the product you want to sell them because if you’re a great guest and you make great TV, they’ll want you.*

And keep in mind the words of Robert Frost: *Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.*

Secret #3: Prove You’re Not a Nutcase

If you area nutcase on the air, the producer will lose their job. What constitutes a nutcase? You may think it’s a positive trait to be enthusiastic (and it is), but anyone who is overly zealous about his passion is considered a nut. Best-selling author and screenwriter Richard Price talks about this phenomenon as *The dangerous thrill of goodness.* He says, *What happens is you can get very excited by your own power to do good.* Don’t get carried away by this thrill.

One way to tell if you’re being too zealous is that you’re hammering your point at top speed with the energy of a locomotive pulling that toot lever non-stop. I remember a man calling me up about how he was single-handedly taking on Starbucks - who, he felt, had done him wrong. He wanted me to promote his cause. While this could have been a great David versus Goliath type story, he was long on emotion and short on facts. Some statistics or figures would have tempered his mania.

But he also never checked in with me to see if he had my interest. By talking loudly and barely pausing for a breath, he appeared to be a man who wouldn’t take direction well. His single-mindedness was off- putting, not engaging.

When you’re talking to a producer speak for 30 seconds or so and then check in by asking, *Is this the kind of information you’re looking for?* Listen for other verbal cues, such as encouraging grunts, or *uh huhs.*

Secret #4: Can You Mark *The Big Point?*

Contributors to the popular radio show *This American Life,* hosted by Ira Glass, have taken to calling the wrap-up epiphany at the end of a story, *The Big Point.* This is the moment that the narrator gives his perspective on the story in an attempt to elevate it from the mundane to the universal.

Another radio personality, Garrison Keillor, is a master at it. He tells long, rambling stories (not good advice for you), then ties up all the story strands in a coherent and satisfying way. As a great guest, you want to illuminate your story with a big standout point that helps the audience see the significance of your story in their world and the world at large. Rather than hitting them over the head with a two-by-four, you want to share your insights with a feather-like touch. By framing your story you alert the producer to the fact that you’re a thinker and can contribute great insights and clarity to a story thus increasing its appeal.

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