a bob dylan video and me ranting a bit

The recent death of celebrity/actor Heath Ledger has brought to the forefront an aspect of American culture that I don't understand particularly well. We, collectively, have an obsession with celebrity and celebrities that is strange and overwhelming. I have friends, good friends in fact, smart, well-adjusted, close friends, who were significantly affected by the death of this actor. I had a ton of respect for his work, but his death, to me, doesn't seem worthy of the attention it's received. Maybe it's just placed against the backdrop of what's happening in my life, given that my mother just lost someone whom she was very close to, but it seems unnatural to me that the passing of someone with whom you've never met or had anything more than a one-way interaction can cause such response, much less full grief.

That being said, I do have one celebrity that I think is pretty cool. I don't know if I'd be distraught if she unexpectedly died, but we share a birthday, so I've always liked her a bit more than the average actress. She's in this Bob Dylan music video. It's pretty cool.