perez

'follow the fun, create the fun, be all about having fun.'
perez hilton, quoted in rolling stone, 1 nov. 2007, p. 66


besides having fun, i'm not sure what perez hilton is about.

if memory serves me, he once called sean penn 'evil' for meeting with venezuelan president hugo chávez, a remark i interpreted as an unfortunate vestige, if not total endorsement of miami cuban anti-communism. he also once joked that chávez' friend fidel castro was dead.

ok, so a radical idealist he is not.

erik hedegaard's short article on perez in the latest rolling stone portrays the blogger as self-loathing + undersexed, with a sad enough childhood to make right now probably the happiest time of his life, even as he holes up at home with his laptop + lots of trans-fat treats.

but his commitment to having fun is something i get behind. even if it's sexless + merely virtual. when you can't follow it readymade, make some up on the spot. amen to all that.

the people he drools over, well-scrubbed goody two-shoes like zac efron + emmy rossum, i can't find particularly interesting.

he goes after minor peccadilloes of those he hates with a vengeance (parking violations become proof of deep moral rot in perez's universe) that suggests a personal fantasy life that sees material for high tragedy in the lives of quasi-celebrities who wouldn't even make the cutting-room floor of e! true hollywood story.

but i can't make myself hate a guy who adores brad pitt + kathy griffin almost as much as i do.