I’ve been thinking about irrelevance. Unless I am watching a golf tournament, advertisers no longer target me. Even worse, I’ve apparently lost track of popular culture, no matter how fast I pedal to try and keep up. Recently, I received a People Magazine email headline, which stated Alexis Bellino and John Jenssen are engaged after nine months of dating. I have no idea who these people are. Do you? Apparently, they are famous. I’ve stopped visiting the TMZ web site, because other than Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, who are shockingly getting divorced, I don’t know most of the so-called celebrities they are talking about.
Does all of this come with getting older, or is it now impossible to keep up with who’s the celebrity of the moment? Andy Warhol famously said, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Today, virtually anyone can become famous for at least 15 minutes, maybe more, by posting a clip on TikTok, Reels or Instagram. Even animals other than racehorses can become famous. I watch videos of “talking” cats named Penny and Milo.
Once upon a time, we had movie stars like Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. Today, we have Penny and Milo.
Philip Wasserman
Stevenson Ranch
