NewsJuly 22, 1997
INTERNET HOME TO THE FAMOUS, INFAMOUS AND THE 'HAS-BEENS'
What's it like to be famous? Most of us will never know, and even those who do, find that fame is fleeting. But the Internet has opened new doors for both the rich and famous. Even famous people who don't have their own web pages will find dozens of people building web pages about them...
JONI ADAMS AND DARREN MCGAHA
What's it like to be famous? Most of us will never know, and even those who do, find that fame is fleeting.
But the Internet has opened new doors for both the rich and famous. Even famous people who don't have their own web pages will find dozens of people building web pages about them.
That's the price of fame.
This week, Darren McGaha is guest surfing for Peggy Scott, who's on maternity leave. Darren is a member of our online staff at SEMissourian.com and a near-famous guest surfer.
Joni: Famous people didn't always start with famous names. Check out a trivia site that lists the names of celebrities before fame. Try to figure out who they are before clicking on name.
www.infocom.com~/~~tildefranklin/inaname
Let's try Annie Mae Bullock. Maybe it's Sandra Bullock. No way. It's Tina Turner.
Darren: I can do better.
Joni: OK, Mr. Smartypants. Impress us.
Darren: There's a lot of them. Carlos Ray Norris. I think that's Chuck Norris. It's the only Norris I know.
Joni: That's too easy. Let me pick. How about Diane Hall?
Darren: I don't know, give me a hint.
Joni: Ha. Diane Keaton.
Darren: I would have guessed that if you wouldn't have clicked so fast. By the way, all these famous people link over to the Internet Movie Database -- a fabulous site for movie trivia.
Joni: It's a great place to win arguments (or bets) over movies and television shows.
Darren: Let's check out the "Where are they now?" section.
Joni: New stars are added each Wednesday to the Washed-up Archives. Now that would make the once-famous feel really good.
Darren: This issue is one-hit wonders and geezer rock. Believe it or not, Barry Manilow and Roger Whittaker are on tour this summer. Others performing at festivals this summer include Three Dog Night, Styx, Pat Benatar, the Monkees, and lots more.
Joni: I thought some of these guys were dead. The Christmas cards just stopped.
Darren: ZZ Top. Hey, they're not washed up. Next let's jump over to one of my favorite famous people: Jackie Chan. You can find his official home page at
Joni: He's a combination martial arts expert and comedian. Interesting.
Darren: There are lots of pictures of him. He must really like himself. It also has details of most of the movies he's been in. The best one was "First Strike."
Joni: The magic of movies. Let's check out some real magic at David Copperfield's home page. OK, so he's not that famous, but his site is pretty interesting. I want to see some magic.
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Darren: You can see a number of magic tricks: Walking through the Great Wall of China, Vanishing the Orient Express, the Death Saw, Disappearance of the Statue of Liberty and Passion's Prison. I'll try Passion's Prison.
Joni: It shows 13 slides of the trick. Unfortunately, they're too small.
Darren: I want to know where he does his shopping for the weird clothes he wears. I could do magic in those clothes.
Joni: A lot of radio loudmouths have their own web sites, like Dr. Laura. I don't like her, but she's extremely popular.
Darren: She has her own online column, a forum where you can talk with other Dr. Laura fans, quotes and some of the show's monologue. There's even a photo album -- pictures of Dr. Laura in action on and off the air.
Joni: Does she have an academic or medical degree?
Darren: It doesn't say. It does tell us her "no-holds-barred opinions" are broadcast on more than 430 radio stations in the United States, Canada and the Armed Forces Radio Network. She reaches an estimated weekly audience of 18 million people. I'm not one of them.
Joni: How about Rosie O'Donnell? She proves you can be famous and nice, too. You can write to Rosie from the site.
Darren: I tried. I wrote and told her I wanted to see more Elmo.
Joni: Don't start. How do you think that Elmo craze began in the first place: Elmo on Rosie's show.
Darren: You can find out about the show and upcoming guest stars, station listings, and a scrapbook. Maybe Elmo's in there.
Joni: You can download videos, sounds and pictures from her shows, including the Spice Girls, Jodie Foster, k.d.lang, En Vogue and lots more.
Darren: There's lots of Tom Cruise.
Joni: No kidding. One of the most famous stars today isn't human. Bart Simpson is a famous cartoon.
Darren: Welcome to Springfield. You can visit celebrities, kwik-e-mart, the police force, the common people, the Springfield Shopper and Moe's Tavern.
Joni: In keeping with our famous theme, who are some of the famous people that have appeared in cartoon cameos on the show?
Darren: No other television series has featured so many legendary guest stars. Bette Midler, Meryl Streep, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, Danny Devito and even Adam West. The list goes on and on.
Joni: Bart knows more famous people than we do, Darren. It's pitiful. You know our choices for famous people are pretty lame. We need to get out more.
Darren: We also need suggestions from our readers as to their favorite sites of famous people. Please e-mail your suggestions to click@semissourian.com
See you in Cyberspace.
Joni Adams and Darren McGaha are members of the SEMissourian.com online staff.
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