Celebrities - do we give a crap?

In this day and age of constant information overload, we clearly hear too much, see too much, learn too much and ultimately are asked to care too much about our favorite celebrities. I think it’s important - nay, crucial - every so often to question just how much emotional investment that we really should be putting into the welfare and praise of our favorite celebs.

In short, do we really give a crap what they do or say?

To help figure that out, I’ve assembled a pair of possibly interesting celebrity tidbits below. Your job, exalted reader, is to simply pick the one that you give a crap about. Think hard!

This weekend I watched American History X on FX for the first time. I thought it was a decent movie - a bit on the nose and melodramatic, perhaps, but Ed Norton is very, very good in it.

But how amazing is it that actor Ethan Suplee can go from a fully-committed performance like evil-racist-violent-pestilent Seth in AHX to sweetly dumb, huggable manchild Randy Hickey in My Name Is Earl? I know, he’s an actor and that’s his job and everything but damn! That’s a seriously huge stretch, isn’t it? I know I’m probably late to the party in observing this, but I find an acting range like that to be pretty impressive. It’s kind of like learning that Ralph Malph once played a pedophile cardinal or something.

Spider-Man 3 costar Kirsten Dunst is having a birthday on Monday - but she won’t get to celebrate her 25th because she’s out promoting her major studio blockbuster tentpole movie and she’s just too busy. It’s so depressing I have to do press on my birthday, she says.

And you know what? I agree with her. There’s simply no reason at all that someone who has been paid millions of dollars to jump around in front of a green screen while her every wish and whim are waiting upon, as publications from across the globe contact her to pose and talk and sit while they accentuate her talents and charms, thereby increasing her own bankability for next time, should be expected to do the chore of publicity on behalf of the studio which has made all of this possible. On her goldarn birthday, no less!

So what do you think? Which of these celebrities do you think has earned the right for you to give a crap about them?

I’m kind of still on the fence on this one.