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| Blogs > matt-battler > Captain Caveman finally speaks |
Almost famous
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Almost famous Glastonbury '95 - one of my first assignments in the field as a reporter, I got to meet John Peel, see Supergrass play football backstage and watch The Prodigy and Orbital play live . . . one of my most enduring memories was a chance exchange between the lead singer of Soul Asylum (middle of the road rock fans might vaguely remember their biggest hit 'Runaway Train' ) and a security guard protecting the entrance to the backstage area: Security Guard: So what's it like being famous? Soul Asylum singer: Oh it sucks, you can't go anywhere. I guess fame came as a nasty shock to Soul Asylum who'd been happily plugging away, putting out records that hadn't troubled the charts for around a decade before they broke big. The thing about fame is its intensity, it's not a gentle step up from being sort of well-known by 200 people in your local town. In a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of The Shining, Jack Nicholson says that when you're famous you meet more people in a month than non-famous people do in their whole life. That can make life interesting and entertaining, the problem when you're really famous, however is that you can't really control it or turn it off (unless you commit career suicide). Nicholson was talking in 1980, the internet was years away, at this point even normal non-famous sociable people with many social circles would only interact with a few dozen or around 100 people at the most in their daily lives. The internet has exploded this a little, so if you're not on TV or in the papers you can be an internet starlet and have a 'following' going into the thousands. Occasionally I get followed on twitter by some sort of life coach, motivational speaker, or lifestyle guru who has 10,000 followers or more. My main impulse is to think 'who the fuck are you?', but I guess their popularity shows how it's possible to expand your reach on the internet, even if you're nothing special  Every now and then I bump into friends in chat rooms who are very very popular, at times they decide to be low key and not turn their cam on. They say to me stuff like 'No one talks to me when I'm not on cam Matt, except you' - luckily for them, despite having a few thousand people after them it's not yet out of hand, there's an attention tap and you can turn it on or off. Here's a few things to note - 1) the more popular you get - the more vulnerable your ego becomes - i.e. you get too used to attention, praise, hysteria, adulation etc - when it's not there any more you really miss it and feel bereft - normal people don't feel this way, they don't have loads of people blowing smoke up their arses every day, they just get on with life just fine without being lovebombed. 2) The most popular people online, their level of exposure can run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands - I do equate this with being a minor celebrity, but they're almost famous, not Jack Nicholson or Liz Taylor famous. Count yourself lucky you're not genuinely famous - it is a runaway train that is painful to get off, hiding pics, not going on cam, not being a social butterfly in chat all minimises your stature very quickly. You still have some control.  Jack Nicholson on set during the filming of The Shining Would I like to be popular to the same level? I would like to have more options, and not have to try quite so hard to get meets, though I would say this is merely wanting to get just reward for the effort I put in. I don't want to tomcat around and fuck different women left, right and centre - I hit the law of marginal returns very quickly and with more contacts comes more hassle. This is supposed to be a 'no drama' environment but not many people genuinely buy into that. So I guess I enjoy not being Mr Popular because I can turn off the attention tap very quickly (it doesn't take much of a twist!), I have a strong 'Leave me alone' impulse, and I absolutely hate having to reject people, very occasionally I get asked for my number or out for a date by someone I'm not keen on. I feel mortified about saying 'No' to them, but at least I know that there are so many guys online that they have lots of other options. I actually don't think you can be a dating site like this, not meet people, and consider yourself to be a nice person because all you're doing is rejecting and disappointing people. Anyway, if you're 'almost famous' well done, I hope it feels as good as you always hoped it would 
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Hi Matt  I think, on this site at least, some people mistake desperate old men perving over them for popularity. I'd rather be hated You can still be a nice person without meeting people from the site. Having to reject someone and/or disappoint them doesn't make you a bad person I once received a message from a guy who said he couldn't believe he was finally chatting to the 'famous' Holly. Say what, now  I don't actually think it was me he's heard about. His account is deactivated now or I'd copy and paste his messages. But I did try and find out who was talking about me, what was being said and so forth. I'm sure he mentioned the chat rooms, which I told him made no sense as I don't use them, but I do blog now and then. He seemed flustered and was apologetic and saying he didn't mean to offend me. Not sure why he thought he'd offended me I really was just trying to point out that I genuinely thought he had me confused with someone else.In other news it's raining cats and dogs...again  I hope you're getting some sunshine, Matt![image] "I'm always disappointed when a liar's pants don't actually catch on fire..."
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I rather a person be honest if the date isn't working then saying nothing
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Hey there Holly, I did indeed enjoy the sunshine in the last week - been waiting a long time for this! My garden has high fences and my neighbours seem to have a phobia of the immediate outdoors so their curtains are always drawn. I can sunbathe and not be seen - happy days - I added a few new freckles You know there is a famous Penthouse Playmate called Holly Madison and an XXX rated 'adult entertainer' called Holly Halston (both blonde) that your admirer might have been confusing you with . . . With regard to desperate old men - remember fame is all about quantity not quality - the problem is you have a lot of people interested in you, not just cool people but loads and loads of crap people too. I'm just thankful I'm a desperate middle-aged man instead, 20 years to go before people can call me old 
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