Fame

Who is more famous? Elvis Presley or Michael Jackson? I was recently asked this question by my two roommates who were asking for an opinion from someone who, as a citizen of this country, should be able to figure out the answer to such a question.

But how do you pit the King of Rock and Roll against the King of Pop? How do you honestly answer whether "Elvis the Pelvis" is more famous than the man who invented the moonwalk or vice versa?

You can't, because being famous during Elvis' day is much different than being famous during the time when Michael Jackson skyrocketed to fame. Elvis had television and Radio and records. Michael Jackson had television, radio, music videos, later on the internet, and he was adorable when he started out.

And to become famous in today all one has to do is be ridiculous or pretty or funny enough to achieve a small amount of fame, which could result in larger things. Take for example Darren Criss, who is best known among the general public as Blaine on Fox's Glee. However, Darren first became famous as Harry Potter, the boy under the stairs in his college production of A Very Potter Musical which was performed by a group known as "the Starkids" and made overnight stars of them all. Darren put covers of Disney songs on Youtube, starred in another Starkid musical and gradually became more and more famous until reaching Glee, starring on Broadway, and singing for the President.

Or Justin Beiber and Colbie Caillet, both discovered on the internet. People are getting famous for less, and staying famous for longer because of the internet. And honestly, they don't make 'em like they used to anymore.

Let's face it, Darren Criss is beautiful and has the voice of an angel but be's no Frank Sinatra or Marlon Brando. And Justin Beiber is certainly no Danny Kaye (partially because Justin can't act).

The definition of fame includes the phrase "notable achievements". If that phrase must be included why are there celebrities such as Honey Boo Boo, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton? None of them have done anything worthy of being called "notable". A backwards little girl, a woman most famous for her sex tape and  the woman who inspired Kim Kardashian to make a sex tape have done NOTHING to be called notable and yet they are famous and me, who runs a blog who has 1,000 hits (go me!) and have won numerous academic awards am not famous yet.

Aren't my achievements notable? I need more people to recognize these things so I become famous for absolutely nothing as well.

I think what irritates me the most about the current lot of celebrities is that I meet more people in my day to day journey through life that would be better deserving of fame and fortune than a large portion of the people I see on the television. I met a man at the bus stop once who could sing classic jazz like nobodies business. Let's remove Snooki from television and replace her with a show about the man who stands at the bus stop and sings.

I don't quite remember what the original intention of this post was, but I do know this. While there are many great musicians, actors, and actresses in the spotlight today, there are so many people in everyday walks of life who dream of fame and will never achieve it, but should. If only people got famous for being talented like they did back in Elvis' day.

That would be the life.