Paris Hilton is an awe inspiring master of self-promotion who has generated a public persona built on an uneasy, queasy combination of idiot-savant genius and calculated puppetry. As a result, the celebutante has managed to squeeze a ton of multi-media bang out of a few micrograms of God-given talent.
It was a just a matter of time before video-sharing sensation YouTube and Hilton met in an orgy of viral self-promotion - and it's no accident that for these two web-spreading forces of nature, that time is now.
Paris, busy hawking her self-titled (of course) new album and the surprisingly well-charting single "Stars Are Blind," was an obvious, if shallow, choice for YouTube to glom onto for its first "branded channel," with sponsorship by Fox's hit TV showPrison Break.
YouTube and Paris aren't alone in this venture: they enlisted the services of ShoZu, a cool new service that enables users to instantly upload photos and videos directly from their cell phone to the web. The Paris Hilton webchannel features music and clips of Paris, including "candid" videos of her "wild adventures" during a recent promotional tour of Tokyo.
Being an intrepid reporter and glutton for punishment, I sampled a number of the clips of Paris in action.
One video shows Paris addressing the Japanese press and ably demonstrates her inimitable ability to express near-fatal ennui via a constricted range of emotion and a vocabulary that would properly embarrass a second-grader.
"I am so excited, my album just dropped today," she droned. "I can't even describe how excited I am."
(Yawn, burp.)
Her black hole negative energy is in glaring contrast to the frenzied Japanese media enveloping her. Where many celebrities might OD on the frenetic mania of the Japanese media—journalists pop up and down like whack-a-moles—Paris' detachment is so regal that one wonders if the castle is in fact vacant. A series of blank stares, arch poses, and robotic responses to the barrage of questions creates something close to a Japanese art film: surreal, bizarre, and fully confusing.
Article comments
1 - Spectator
Honestly if you would wake up and think, Dawn, instead of mindlessly repeating what a million others have said better...most multimedia "talent" is pretty untalented, from Rosie O'Donald, to Howard Stern, to Snopp Dogg to the Osbournes....as a matter of fact they make Paris look pretty good....especially for someone who doesn't have to do anything...
2 - Dawn
I mindlessly repeat nothing. My insight in singularly zeroed in like a laser on my target and I capture my subjects with random precision and have yet to wear out my welcome thank you very much Spectator.
**pppffftttt**
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
I like "black hole negative energy" but I'm more of a fan of "vortex of suckitude."
4 - Dawn
Both are equally applicable Matt.
5 - Mat Brewster
Which is more mindless the commentator of the mindless or the mindless commentator on the mindless commentator on the mindless?
Ouch, I think I broke something.
Great stuff again, Dawn.
6 - Giddy
You made my day.
Thanks.
7 - Happy
Yet another example of shameless pussy envy.
8 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Dawn, when you talked about viral promotion, I thought you were going to talk about how a fine bunch of hackers had managed to add viruses to the productions of this less than tasty bid of mind candy...
Now, I'm disappointed.
Sniff, sniff...