Woah.

I am 19 years old and have never experienced the death of a celebrity before. That is, until tonight. Tonight I learned that Cory Monteith, best known for his role as Finn on Glee was found dead in his hotel room from an apparent drug overdose, and honestly, I'm a little less than emotionally stable.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you all that he saved my life somehow or even made it better or any other stuff, because I would be lying and that's not fair. But I will tell you that Cory Monteith was only 31 years old and was a joy to see on screen, and apparently a joy to be with off screen as well. I have watched him grow as an actor and singer on Glee since season one, I have followed him on Twitter, and when he went into rehab, rejoiced with his co-stars about his brave decision.

I mean, its just really - surreal because as fans of television shows we immortalize these people, we don't imagine our shows without them and then suddenly bam. Something like this comes along and you realize that yes, death is a real thing and it touches even those we thought untouchable.

And what about his family and friends? I mean, someone just lost a child. I cannot even begin to fathom what the Monteith family must be going through right now, they only heard the news an hour before the Vancouver Police Department announced his death on the air. Someone just lost a best friend, a brother, a beloved coworker, the night sky just lost a star.

Going on the internet doesn't make it better, either. A place where you can normally escape from sadness is now full of it. My Twitter feed is full of his co-stars heartbroken tweets, Mark Salling's being the worst of all, with just the word "no", and other celebrities sending their condolences. Tumblr is full of my fellow Gleeks posting their heartbroken notes about how cruel the world is, and begging others not to tweet or message anyone linked to Cory because they deserve to just be left alone.

This man was so young. Thirty one is so young. His last tweet was literally about Sharknado. He was about to go back to work on Glee next week. He didn't even look thirty one, which is how he managed to hold on to his role as a recent high school graduate. He was going back to college in the show, he had  a while left on Glee, he had so much longer left to live.

Cory Monteith didn't change my life. Cory Monteith didn't save me from anything, he didn't teach me anything, but as Finn on Glee, he made my life better. He was talented, he was hard working, he was hilarious, but he had demons, and unfortunately, not everyone comes out on top every time.

I am sad. I am so very, very sad.

Rest in peace, Cory Monteith.

Dear Justin Bieber,

I admit it. Once upon a time you wooed me with your lyrics. I would have been your girlfriend and let you be my Buzz Lightyear, whatever that means. But after the past month I can definitely say that you need to leave the limelight and possibly sit in the corner and think about what you've done for a while.

I mean, getting in a tussle with the paparazzi I mildly understand, but writing in Anne Frank's guestbook that you hope she would have been a belieber and throwing up gang signs while in photos taken at the Anne Frank museum? That's taking it too far. Let's face it. You're over worked and not spending enough time educating yourself on how to behave properly in this world. Please do the rest of the human beings in our demographic a favor and get a job flipping burgers for a while. Come back down to Earth and realize that no, we don't all love you, no you shouldn't throw up or pass out backstage at concerts because its not healthy, and yes, its okay that you're quickly losing popularity because your increasingly crazy antics and increasingly baggy pants. I seriously don't even KNOW how its possibly to have baggy skinny jeans, but then again, I don't want to know.

Also, what about the pet monkey you abandoned? I mean, first you didn't let it stay with its mother as long as necessary and then you just leave it in Munich. Not okay. Are you aware of the fact that your monkey can't even eat without having a comfort object to hold close? I bet you aren't, since you LITERALLY just abandoned it.

I know you're tired of trying to have to keep the public/media happy but you're a celebrity. That's what your job entails, keeping us happy with your voice/sweet dance moves learned from Usher. So stop upsetting us. Because I can tell you now, it looks like you're about to get fired if you keep up these antics.

Now as much as I think you're kind of being terrible recently, don't think I have discredited some of your good deeds, such as helping raise awareness (and money) for atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumours (AT/RT) research by offering to meet the fan (belieber) who raises the most money for AT/RT research. I also applaud you for flying out your number one fan, Avalanna Ruth, out to New York with her family so she could hang out with you on Valentine's Day in 2012.

I was also really impressed to find that you have donated $500,000 to the Make A Wish foundation, performed a benefit concert for and gave equipment to a school in Las Vegas who helps students with rough lives excel, and contributed to organ donors in Ontario.

Also, your more recent visit to 7 year old Millie Flamm of Utah who is being treated for leukemia was definitely something to smile about.

My point here is, Bieber that you've done some good in the world, but I think your star has fizzled out. What happened to cute JBieb who sang cheesy bubble gum pop and didn't experiment with marijuana or abandon monkeys in German airports. Also, put a shirt on.

Signed,

A concerned ex-fan.

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.

So...About Taylor Swift....

She's pretty, she's got catchy music, parents want their little girls to look up to her because in interviews she preaches acceptance and being confident in oneself and yada yada yada.

But let's look at the More-Pop-Than-Country Princess from a different perspective. T. Swifty is actually a tad bit of a hypocrite. And by a tad bit, I mean, she's a big hypocrite, and also, she's a slut shamer, which isn't really that great either. In fact, I have a few reasons why I don't really like Taylor Swift and I know there may be a lot of disagreement

First let's look at the hypocrisy angle. On her album "Speak Now" her song "Mean" is all about being oh so done with a person with a person who is absolutely terrible to her, and making sure that they know someday they will regret treating her so badly and talking smack about her music. Yeah, cool. Empowering. But it is quickly followed by another song that is all about a girl who stole her boyfriend, and she's "better known for the things she does on the mattress." That's not nice, AND its slut shaming. Yeah, maybe she does have a lot of sex. But why do you care, Taylor? And also, if I recall, "You Belong With Me" is a whole song about how much you want to steal some girls boyfriend. So why is it okay for you to do it? There's this thing called "The Golden Rule" and you should look it up. Because you obviously forgot all about it, or never learned it or something, I don't even know.

Ugh. I can't believe you wore those heels. So terrible.

I don't know Taylor, those are awfully short

Also, on the "You Belong With Me" note, in that song she criticizes the other girl for wearing short skirts and high heels, as well as being a cheerleader. Let's take a moment to point out what Taylor Swift usually wears, because its not jeans and sneakers. In fact, in most of her appearances, Taylor is usually sporting a shorter dress and some very over the top heels. I actually don't care, because I think she has a cute style. But you can't criticize females for wearing something and then go and wear it....also. And why does what a girl wear and what activities she participates in determine her morality? Obviously the band geeky, glasses wearing, bench warming version of Taylor in the YBWM video is more deserving of male attention because you're not a harlot like that other girl....I mean, if its okay for you to be a girly girl, why can't she? I don't get it. I have many other issues with that song like how it casts cheerleaders in the negative role (again) as well as any girl who embraces her sexuality, but we'll let this argument go to bed.

I'm also just really sick of her music that is overplayed and all the same. She has made a living off of writing trash talk set to music and most of it involves the virgin/whore dichotomy. And in the chance it doesn't involve that, there is either a break-up involved, or she's demonstrating her superb clinginess as a girlfriend. And in the event that she's pining after someone, she writes music about stealing someone's man. But as stated before, she really doesn't like it when people do that to her. But I doubt she'll be finding a new song topic soon, so we're doomed to hear her make the same mistakes over and over again. As VH1 put it

"She’s like one breathless, blond version of Groundhog Day – every time we see her she’s doing the same exact thing, and it’s grown damn old real fast."

         - Kate Spencer for VH1

On a really nit picky note, she also uses being a homosexual as an insult in her popular song "Picture to Burn". Not okay. I mean, you could spread all sorts of rumours about this guy who dumped you, but why are you resorting to telling people he's gay? First of all, I don't see how that's an issue, and second of all, you could be coming up with an actual reason to stay away from him, like, he has crabs or something. Let's be creative here, Tay.

And say what you want, but when I like an artist, I expect them to be just as good live as they are on the album that I spend my hard earned money. But that's just not true with Taylor Swift. Does anyone recall the time when she sang with the legendary Stevie Nicks and was off-key the entire time? Or how about any concert that she has ever sung at and been flat. Seriously girl. You write the music. You should be able to sing it. ESPECIALLY when they stick Stevie Nicks behind you. I wasn't okay with that arrangement in the first place, but you just made it worse.

And how many times can she make that face? You KNOW what I'm talking about. Cool, you won an award, but once you win I don't know. twenty seven in the same night, the face gets a tad old. And not to mention, fake. It's like when the most popular girl in the school wins prom queen and acts surprised. Its a bit patronizing and I know I'm not the only who is tired of it. Well, that and you flipping your hair around. How many more times are you going to do that? Because I'm waiting for you to severely hurt your neck or something. Just be careful, and hopefully you have a person holding a neck brace on standby.

Essentially, my dislike of Taylor comes from deep seeded hatred of hypocrisy and monotony. There I said it. And that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.