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A half-a-dozen years ago, maybe more, I got myself wondering who might be behind some of these anonymous blogs that dot the web. Specifically, are there well-known celebrities out there who have incognito, modestly-popular sites or social media accounts; content valued for the writing rather than the author’s actual celebrity? Might I even be following the opinions of one of my own, favorite-and-famous idols without even knowing it?

This was well before Mitt Romney (a.k.a Pierre Delecto) was outed for using a fake Twitter name. Romney’s resulting indignity probably highlights why it is unlikely that more than a few of these secret accounts actually exist. Eventually, anyone can get found out, given enough effort and will to do so. When it comes to A-list celebrities, there is no shortage of either resource among their fans.

But this is now, that was then. I elected to “research” the issue in the same manner I conduct almost all research; I entered a few phrases into a search engine. I found one tantalizing hit – a suggestion that Johnny Depp was contributing to a website under a hidden identity. That suggestion was false. The misleading hit actually referred to a secret identity known as ENT(ertainment) LAWYER, a person who claims to be a well-connected industry insider. He actively maintains a site called Crazy Days and Nights where he posts juicy celebrity news with the names of the celebrities obscured. Sometimes he updates those posts, identifying that secret identity.

I spent more than a few hours trying to figure out where I went wrong. I gathered that Mr. Ent Lawyer, a secret identity for (possibly) a well-known individual, posted information about Johnny Depp, while hiding the latter’s identity from his readers. The information was fairly-quickly tied to Mr. Depp. Contrary to my Pierre Delecto conclusion, above, (as far as I know) nobody has yet outed the identity of Mr. Lawyer.

In any case, I’ve continued to look at this blog over the years. At first, I indulged my vicarious curiosity by reading everything. Then, that being obviously a bit much, I only read the posts which were actually updated with the real names of the secret celebrities. After too many years of doing this as a manual exercise, I figured out how to apply a filter so that I only see those posts that are so updated.

Which brings me to today.

When I first started following along with Crazy Days and Nights, I’d say 80% of the celebrities were people with whom I was familiar. Many were actors or singers whose work I actually followed. Many more were names that I knew from gossip columns and the like, even if I wasn’t a fan of their work. Occasionally a name would escape me, usually a younger musician or maybe a reality-series star. Even those, I’d kind of get familiar with the name as it was repeated – it is a small fraction of celebrities who attract the large majority of tabloid press attention.

I’d come to employ a further screening method whereby what I’d read first is the names at the end* of the post. If I don’t know any of the names, I won’t bother reading the gossip. What do I care if someone I’ve never heard of slept with someone else I’ve never heard of?

Over the last few months, however, I noticed that the ratio has switched.

These days at least 80% of the posts feature names with which I have no connection. Even that remaining 20% is more often those names I know by their tabloid-featured misbehavior rather than by their actual work.

Part of it is that I’ve shifted out of the target demographic for mass-market entertainment. Advertisers can make a buck or two from me with reruns of old Seinfeld episodes while directing their creative development to something that will appeal to the big-spenders in their 20s. It also probably indicates that the actors and singers who are around my age or older; those I would have listened to/watched in my prime, are probably (much like myself) too old to continue to get into trouble. I’ve also stopped paying attention to “the entertainment world” because so much of it has simply gone stupid.

Plus I’m old. More than anything else, that’s probably it. I’m old and I’ve just got to admit it.

Photo by Craig Dennis on Pexels.com

*The format for his Blind Items Revealed posts are that he reposts his original text; the version with names left out or obscured (e.g. “the alliterate one” is Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle). Following after that original text, he lists the revealed names; be they the names of people or obscured context (e.g. “the country he is trying to help” followed by Ukraine).