Anyone who has “accidentally” flipped through an US Weekly magazine (as I did while waiting to get my hair did the other day) knows there is more important information on the back of a shampoo bottle than there is in that publication.
One of the most ridiculous things is the “Stars: They’re Just Like Us!” segment. For the uninitiated, this is where they feature photos of celebrities doing things like breathing, eating, drinking out of straws and carrying adopted children named after obscure fruits found in Ethiopian villages.
The captions of these paparazzi photos verify/explain the celebrity is breathing, eating, etc., since it would otherwise be unclear that this person is, in fact, a human doing shockingly mundane human things — just like us!
Lest you think I’m exaggerating, these are a few of the captions from that issue:
- They Indulge in Fast Food!
- They Strap on Shoes!
- They Eat Off Others’ Plates!
- They Use the ATM!
- They Write Names in the Sand!
- They Balance Cans!
I don’t know about you, but I would never have guessed that Jennifer Lawrence uses the ATM—just like me! Of course her balance is astronomically higher than mine, but still! She’s so normal!
To be fair, a lot of magazines make the assumption that we all live a charmed life. Food Network Magazine had a spotlight feature on a new cast member and her kitchen in the Hamptons.
She said, “People hear ‘the Hamptons’ and they think glitz and glamour, but it is really just farmland.” The article then goes on to suggest we pick up some of Katie’s finds for our own kitchen. Those include:
- French Bistro stools $674
- Rivera strop shade for a window $209
- Natural-edged bowl hand-carved from a single log $564
I would, but I just won $2 on a scratch-off lottery ticket and am busy trying to decide if I want to take it in one lump sum or a dime for the next 20 years.
Anyway, I might actually take interest in these features if they included things I could relate to a little bit more.
Stars! They’re Just Like Us! They:
Light incense, forget they lit incense and then freak out when they smell smoke five minutes later!
Say, “There’s fungus among us!” while picking out mushrooms at the store!
Excel in “Procrastibaking”—baking instead of doing a bunch of more important things instead!
Get up 10 minutes early in the morning so they have that extra time to stare mindlessly at the wall as they shower!
Can go from “nothing sounds good” to “why isn’t there more of this to shove in my face?” in mere seconds!
Get terrified when putting back a shirt without folding it and then making eye contact with the store worker!
Beat the crap out of a black bean with their spatula when they thought it was a spider!
Spend more time picking out broccoli at the store than picking out the clothes that they wear!
Will practically break their arms before making two trips into the house with the groceries!
True, it might not be as glamorous as sharing that they “Pull Their Hair Back On the Go!” but you can’t tell me they’ve never stood up and had a chickpea fall out of their bra.
Now that’s a headline that I’d like to see.
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