Fascinating interview on celebrity, fame, and the media

i'm not a fan of Russell Brand, and it took him a while to get me even in this interview. But this is utterly fascinating.

Click on the Boing Boing video here. And do take the 14-15 minutes to really listen to him. Utterly fascinating, and very true.

I think, in a small sense, all this applies to writers, too. Of course, we are far more in charge of our public persona. Because basically we wouldn't help the Daily Hate Mail to sell copies. However, some of that instrumentalizing can be seen on some of the big blogs. There are people "making" and "breaking" authors' reputation.

The second main point of Brand gels very much with what I've seen, time and again, in author circles. The moment when authors believe their own press, they lose themselves. They turn into caricatures of themselves and begin to chase fame for fame's sake. Wise words, and a great warning for everybody stepping out into the light of public perception.