Huh.

[conuly]

I downloaded the USA app under the erroneous impression that I could watch Psych and White Collar that way (I can, but not in my market, so I really can't of course). Still, it isn't totally useless, I can still check the schedule slightly faster than googling it, right?

As I was checking the White Collar episode list, I saw they had some "fun facts", top of which is "Matt Bromer is gay!"

...

Is it just me, or is that less fun than simply factual? I mean, unless you're *really* invested in Peter/Neal (and who isn't?), who cares? Or if you happen to think Matt Bromer is super hot, in which case this news is either incredibly disappointing or incredibly not disappointing. (Until you check Wikipedia, find out he's in a very long term relationship, and remember that you're not likely to meet him anyway.)

Comments

[redbird]

"Fun facts" seems to mean something in the range from "harmless gossip" to "possibly interesting thing you don't actually need to know." There are clearly people who want to know small bits about the lives of the actors in shows they watch. I don't get it, but at least they're sticking to harmless truths here.

[conuly]

I suppose? It just seems about as much "fun" as "he has seven toes on his left foot". Which would actually be much more interesting, if somewhat less factual. At least, I assume it'd be less factual.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I don't really grok why anybody cares about the personal lives of 'celebrities' at all. They're paid to perform in public, not to have their private affairs stalked and gawked-at by busybodies and voyeurs. But there's a whole multi-billion-dollar industry based on the notion that prying into the business of strangers is 'fun', and that it's chic to know a bunch of 'facts' about them. Apparently the 'celebrities' themselves encourage this sort of thing, because they're primarily famous for being famous, and their careers depend on keeping that going.

I have no idea who Matt Bromer is, but since he's a TV actor, a lot of people will care that he's gay. Mostly other gay people, I should think: "Yay, another for our team!" - and their friends and families, because it's true that famous people 'coming out' does make things easier for the non-famous.

Adults who get crushes on celebrities - or worse, on characters as played by celebrities - totally baffle me. I mean, hello, I loved Spock with all my pre-teen heart, but even then, I knew that Leonard Nimoy was not Spock, and as I grew up, my attention turned toward men who were actually present and available. What's going on with people in their 30's, 40's, 50's or even older, who are still stuck in adolescent fantasies of someone totally unattainable? Granted, they're not doing any harm, and it's entirely their own business, but how pathetic.

[conuly]

I've been thinking this over, and I can only say this: Matt Bromer is excessively attractive. That's who he is - an incredibly hot dude who happens to act.

That's not a minority opinion. There's a reason that even though his character is a pretty snappy dresser, the writers manage to get him shirtless or into a tank top at least once an episode. I don't think there's anything odd, wrong, or immature about, uh, appreciating the human form. Especially when it's a very attractive human form. Just so long as, um, people know the difference between reality and fantasy and nobody shoots the president. Or anybody, nobody should be shooting anybody.

It can be *easier* to pay attention to people on TV when you're somewhat introverted, think sex is really kinda gross if you think about it (now that, I know, definitely IS a minority opinion) and don't always appreciate the fact that real people are loud, kinda smelly, and, you know, irritatingly *around* whether you want them to be or not. But that might just be me. I don't always like people all that much.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

LOL, it might be a minority opinion, but it's not just you. All biology is intrinsically gross if you think about it, and yeah, real people are loud, smelly, obstreperous and intrusive. Fictional people are, by contrast, fictional. For sure, I can appreciate a picture of someone pretty - that has nothing to do with sex, though; I appreciate female beauty too, even though I don't desire female bodies. But a picture of someone pretty - even a moving picture - can't appreciate me back.

It's like falling in love with a total narcissist, right? He's beautiful, he's sexy, he's fascinating, he's totally oblivious to you - you can love him with all your heart till your dying day, and he'll never know - or care to know - that you even exist. How gratifying, to be one of a zillion fans lusting for that fine shirtless torso, with a snowflake's chance in Hell of ever touching it.

There are some fictional movie/TV characters I think are insanely hot. Original Spock, of course. Original Conan - yes, I know, Ahhhnold, but he was young and unknown back then. Kwai Chang Caine. Jeremiah Johnson, and even more, Jeremiah's, uh, 'acquaintance', Paints-His-Shirt-Red. Kai from Lexx, even though he's dead and has that ridiculous hairstyle. Buliwyf from 13th Warrior. Titus Pullo from Rome, even though my taste usually does not run so much to 'chunk style'. They're all very easy on the eyes; the actors who portray them are uncommonly pretty men. But the actors are actors; they live actor-lives in Hollywood, and almost certainly have very little in common with the kind of lone-wolf warrior that melts my socks.

LOL, unfortunately, there's a reason why real lone-wolf warrior-types are mostly alone: sexy beasts they may be, but they don't domesticate well. And if I'm going to get involved with anybody fictional, why should it be someone else's characters, and not my own, tailor-made to my own preferences?

[conuly]

"And if I'm going to get involved with anybody fictional, why should it be someone else's characters, and not my own, tailor-made to my own preferences?"

Eh, too much work. Occasionally, just occasionally, I want to take the *easy* way out. I can combine so-and-so's looks with an easily cardboard personality and hello, pleasant dreams!