Big-Time Celebrities I Never Heard Of
Looking at Forbes’ list of the top 100 celebrities (as measured by pay and media exposure), it turns out that there are 26 of these people that I’ve never heard of, and another 10-15 whom I vaguely recollect but don’t really know what they do. If you take out the 20-30 athletes (I am a big sports fan), my ignorance of the actors and pop stars would really be evident. I suspect that the average American could identify a significantly higher percentage of the nonathlete celebrities on the list than I could.
Check out the list at the link and tell me how many of these top celebrities you have never heard of.
As for me, I had never heard of 23 people on the list. [UPDATE: Make that 24. See UPDATE below.] There was another handful whose names sounded familiar, but whose reason for fame I couldn’t specify. There were many, many more whom I’d heard of — but barely.
I list the names of the people I never heard of in the extended entry. I recognize that I’m particularly ignorant in this area, but I’m still willing to bet that you’ve never heard of some of these “celebrities” yourself.
People I never heard of:
Jay-Z
David Beckham
Michael Schumacher
Ronaldinho
50 Cent
Roger Federer
Kimi Raikkonen
LeBron James
Gore Verbinski
Valentino Rossi
Michelle Wie
George Lopez
Daniel Radcliffe
Larry the Cable Guy
J.J. Abrams
Dane Cook
Rhonda Byrne
Dakota Fanning
Danica Patrick
Mitch Albom
Hayden Penettiere
Paula Deen
Bobby Flay
There were several other people whose names sounded vaguely familiar, but who I couldn’t place exactly. For example:
Vince Vaughn (I guessed he was a singer, but the wife reminded me he was in the Wedding Crashers and I then remembered him)
Alex Rodriguez (I thought I didn’t know who he was, but then my wife said “He’s some sports guy, isn’t he?” and I remembered I knew him as a big-time home run hitter when he played for my hometown Texas Rangers)
Emeril Lagasse (I have seen his face on sausages I have bought at the store but didn’t know for sure if that was him because I don’t know his last name)
Annika Sorenstam (I knew she was some kind of sports babe, but thought her sport was tennis, when it’s actually golf)
Hilary Duff (I thought she was an actress, but apparently I was thinking of Hillary Swank. This person is a singer of some sort. But I think I’ve heard the name.)
How about you?
UPDATE: I thought “Emma Watson” was Emma Thompson. So that’s another one I didn’t know.
Also, some of you in the comments got the impression that I claim to be a sports fan. I think you’re mixing me up with Ilya Somin.
10, overlapping you with Raikonnen, Verbinski, Rossi, Abrams, Deen, Flay. Also I don’t think I could identify a single person in the “Cast of” entries, even though I might recognize them if given individually by name. (Wait: I can place the two actors on Grey’s Anatomy who got into the homophobia spat.) But, then, my team at the annual Redwood City Trivia Bee has finished in the top three all but one year since we started playing.
I’m a little surprised you could identify Emma Watson but not Daniel Radcliff.
Hilary Duff has acted (in a loose sense of the word), as well as sung. She started out with a show on one of the cable networks aimed at tweener kids. Think blonde Lindsay Lohan, but either less debauched or more careful around photographers. Oh, also with only a fraction of the acting talent that Ms. Lohan is squandering. (I believe the two once got into a fight over a mutual boyfriend.)
Andrew J. Lazarus (aa46c8) — 6/20/2007 @ 6:02 amMore than anything, such a list only reveals one’s own interests. Patterico misses most of the athletes/sports figures especially those not involved in the big four US sports (the ___balls and hockey). Unknown to me (29) are (probably) most of the actors/actresses particularly of small screen fame.
bains (ca4346) — 6/20/2007 @ 6:04 amI got the sports figures pretty well, even though I don’t follow any of them particularly. 28 other names I drew a complete blank on, many of them on yours and Andrew’s list. Not living in LoCal means less likelihood of hearing about the minor media celebs I suppose, but still…, a bunch of the other names were only vaguely recognizable at best, and like yourself, I’m not sure why the names ring even a faint bell.
MikeD (fb1076) — 6/20/2007 @ 6:14 amPaula Deen and Bobby Flay but no Alton Brown?!
Sheesh.
Rob Crawford (240cf9) — 6/20/2007 @ 6:21 am31 I don’t know and probably 8-12 I think I’ve heard of but can’t be sure. Wow. Nearly 50%. Not particularly a great poll for these “folks”.
Sue (baf73f) — 6/20/2007 @ 6:21 amPatterico:
Paula Deen
Bobby Flay
are famous chefs/cooking personalites
Danica Patrick (F1 Racing)
Michelle Wie (Golf)
David Beckham (Soccer)
Roger Federer (Tennis)
Lebron James (Basketball)
are famous athletes
Teche (c003f1) — 6/20/2007 @ 6:34 amHeh, I know them all. Sad kinda.
Lord Nazh (956398) — 6/20/2007 @ 6:42 amI missed the race car drivers, the Italian motorcyclist (who sounds like he’s a brand of vermouth), movie directors (you mean Gore Verbinski isn’t a law firm?), and the chefs. Nor would I know the individual names of the cast of GA and DH. But I didn’t recognize Giselle Bundchen, so you got me there.
But I am surprised you didn’t recognize some of the ones you missed–LeBron was the first of the teenage basketball stars (and the famous name in this year’s Finals); Jay-Z is one of the iconic rap moguls; 50Cent is the current iconic thug turned rapper turned would be actor.
And someone from SoCal not know the man at whom the LA Galaxy threw mucho moolah this year to come and play ball with them?
BTW, Vince Vaughn first came to fame not for a comedy role, but for trying to reincarnate Anthony Perkins in the remake of Psycho.
Overall, I missed eleven. Rather odd that an aspie is one of the more culturally au courant people in the group.
kishnevi (202292) — 6/20/2007 @ 6:57 amout of the 23 on your list, i’ve never heard of schumacher, raikkonen, verbinski, rossi, lopez, radcliff, abrams, cook, byrne, pennetiere, deen or flay.
you’re a big sports fan and you’ve never heard of lebron james? exactly what sports are you a fan of? he’s a household name in any household that follows pro hoops. i’m not a soccer fan, but i’ve heard (way too much) of david beckham.
assistant devil's advocate (a19952) — 6/20/2007 @ 7:03 amRoger Fededer, the best tennis player ever. Or Michelle Wie, golf star (maybe) and all-around great looker? You must read the sports pages selectively.
ManlyDad (d62cf6) — 6/20/2007 @ 7:27 amAs I posted at Volokh (actually both your sites are bookmarked, I just followed the OP), I’m a little leery of Prof. Somin’s feigned ignorance.
I’m an American, I don’t follow sport, and I’ve lived in Asia (Japan first and now China) for the last 10 years [sans cable TV and foreign print media]. That said, I was unfamiliar with only about 20 people on the list. J-Lo and Jay-Z are about the same to me.
While I’m physically isolated from Western media and I actually thought Phil Mickelson was the graying, bespectacled coach of the Lakers, living in Asia has upped my Formula One and soccer awareness (Schumacher, Ronaldinho) somewhat.
Like the well-to-do socialite who “[doesn’t] even know how to change a car tire” or perform other tedious chores, I would caution against similar elitism from individuals trumpeting ever-higher numbers of celebs they don’t know. Incidental awareness is one thing, but willful ignorance is another entirely.
Socrates Abroad (760a81) — 6/20/2007 @ 7:30 amIt’s a but of a surprise you’ve never heard of JJ Abrams. He’s the creator of Alias and Executive Producer of Lost and is slated to direct the next Star Trek movie. I envy you that you somehow avoided ever hearing of 50 Cent, Mitch Albom, and, most especially, Larry the Cable Guy.
I’d never heard of 17 and there were a few more I only discovered I had indeed heard of once I saw their pictures.
Dodd (aa4f24) — 6/20/2007 @ 7:47 amThe ones on your list that I had heard of were Roger Federer (tennis), LeBron James (basketball), Michelle Wie (golf), George Lopez (comedian), Daniel Radcliff (actor), Larry the Cable Guy (comedian), Dakota Fanning (actress), and Danica Patrick (race car driver).
I am ashamed that I know this much … because I absolutely cannot stand the Harry Potter craze.
aunursa (61e6e4) — 6/20/2007 @ 7:53 amI missed 12-14. Not sure if I recognize some because I went to high school with someone with a similar sounding name or if they really are celebs.
Oh, I thought Danica Patrick was the girl in Boy Meets World. Glad we’re not getting graded on this.
Patricia (824fa1) — 6/20/2007 @ 8:04 amAs a fan of auto racing (and golf, and almost no other sports) – Schumi is of course one of the gods – I can recognize most of the other ‘sports’ names on the list but not necessarily tell you what they do or where they do it.
My wife’s a chef and an inveterate Food Channel type, so I can’t avoid knowing that cast of characters.
Don’t watch enough television otherwise to know who’s in what network shows these days. Likewise current big-label music.
JEM (a0f32a) — 6/20/2007 @ 8:13 amI’ve never heard of “Grey’s Anatomy cast” or “Desperate Housewives cast,” but I have heard of both shows, and I guess it stands to reason that they both have casts. Kinda ranks up there with Aristotle’s brother, who was my favorite pick when playing 20 Questions as a kid. Other not-heard-ofs are David Beckham, Phil Mickelson, Alex Rodriguez, Ronaldinho (cool name, though), Roger Federer, Jerry Bruckheimer, Kimi Raikkonen, James LeBron, Gisele Bundchen, Gore Verbinski, Valentino Rossi, Michelle Wie, Keira Knightley, Daniel Radcliffe, Heidi Klum, J.J. Abrams, Emeril Lagasse, Dane Cook, Rhonda Byrne, Mitch Albom, Emma Watson, Hayden Panettiere, Paula Deen and Bobby Flay.
Then again, the smart money says none of these guys have heard of me, either.
Xrlq (ce194d) — 6/20/2007 @ 8:16 amThe Forbes Celebrity 100-38…
Patterico asks how many of the Forbes Celebrity 100 do you not know. My score is either 38 or 33 if you count 5 that I had to think umm is he/she X? wasn’t sure but guessed right. Although um I do know that Desperate Housewives and Larry the Cable Gu….
L'Ombre de l'Olivier (59ce3a) — 6/20/2007 @ 9:08 amI’m ashamed to say I only missed 7. I knew the F1 drivers because my brother is an F1 fanatic, but I missed the motorcycle, tennis and golf players.
Way off topic, but speaking of F1, the race was held here in Indy last weekend. Mercedes McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton won, making him the first black driver to win at Indy. Our PC news and papers kept describing him as the first African-American to win. Except that he’s not African… and he’s from England. Just goes to show how overly sensitive the news has become where they are afraid to use the term ‘black’.
fngJD (49df46) — 6/20/2007 @ 9:12 amI think I had 6 or 7 unknowns.
I never expect anyone over 40 to know the names of soccer stars! But David Beckham’s coming to LA to hang out with Tom/Kat and play a little soccer on the side. Ronaldinho is Beckham’s distant second in soccer marketing. Try typing his name into YouTube sometime…do you know what YouTube is?
28Engineer-WNY (e3d019) — 6/20/2007 @ 9:52 amI didn’t know 14 of them..totally clueless. HOWEVER, I am proud of my one guess which was any dude or dudette with a one word name has to be a soccer player (Ronaldinho). I guessed correctly.
markm (3714ae) — 6/20/2007 @ 9:55 amI guess I’m really out of touch. 33 names meant nothing to me. Most of page 4 I’d never heard of. I think it odd that only one politician made it onto the list – Bill Clinton.
Jackie Warner (41f17a) — 6/20/2007 @ 10:02 amI didn’t know eight of the names on the list…technically more because I couldn’t tell you the name of one person on Grey’s Anatomy and the Forbes list counted them as one. I know it’s on ABC, but I have no idea what night it’s on. Then I looked up Rhonda Byrne in Google and I still couldn’t tell you who she is. The first result looked like some DaVinci Code-wannabe site. Next there’s Ronaldinho, Kimi Raikkonen and Valentino Rossi…who?
Finally, I’ve technically heard the name Gisele Bundchen, but I couldn’t tell you why she’s famous or pick her out in a lineup. I did a search for her in Google and my guess that she was probably a model was correct. The funny thing was one of the pictures it displayed practically WAS her standing in a lineup. It depicts her standing among three women all wearing the same ugly airbrushed t-shirt in some kind of arena, among the crowd (or as they likely see them, the “great unwashed.”) All three women look exactly the same. I opened another picture of her in a seperate browser to compare the two and I still couldn’t pick out which one was her. Such is the sad story of the cookie-cutter “supermodels” of today.
Dr. Terylene (954657) — 6/20/2007 @ 10:26 amDanica Patrick is the announcer on ESPN SportsCenter. Before the sex-change operation, he was called Dan Patrick.
Totally Confused (dcc820) — 6/20/2007 @ 10:29 amWhere are Arnold Palmer, Katie Couric, Robert Murdock etc.?
rab (2fd43f) — 6/20/2007 @ 10:30 amWho the hell is Robert Murdock?
Fritz (d62210) — 6/20/2007 @ 10:43 amClick on the celebrity’s name at the Forbe’s link and it will give you a photo and a career snapshot for each one.
DRJ (2d5e62) — 6/20/2007 @ 10:43 amRobert Murdock isn’t on the list. Google doesn’t show much. All I could find was this portfolio manager.Robert Murdock, Ph.D.
Fritz (d62210) — 6/20/2007 @ 10:47 amAnother slow news day?
AF (4a3fa6) — 6/20/2007 @ 10:49 amAnother slow news day?
AF (4a3fa6) — 6/20/2007 @ 10:51 amMarc Lynch
“This story from al-Malaf is currently the talk of the forums: Sitar Abu Risha, head of the Anbar Salvation Council, has allegedly fled Iraq with $75 million that the Americans had given him to fight al-Qaeda. The story links his flight to the near-collapse of the Anbar Salvation Council over infighting among its leadership (which jibes with recent reporting in the Washington Post. It claims that he simply never distributed the American cash to the fighters, who are now threatening to go on strike if they don’t get paid. Seeing as how the Anbar Salvation Council has for months now been portrayed as the great American hope in the battle against al-Qaeda, if this story turns out to be true – a big if, given the shaky sourcing to this point – then it would be a rather embarrassing fiasco. “The Anbar model”, indeed. I haven’t seen this officially reported anywhere, and right now I have no way of checking its accuracy – but thought it worth passing on a juicy rumour just in case it turns out to be true.”
Why do I feel terrible that I was only unaware of three!? (Raikkonen, Rossi and Byrne.)
If you will excuse me I’m gonna go read a book.
Rich Horton (8018ee) — 6/20/2007 @ 11:11 amMy guess is rab is referring to Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
DRJ (2d5e62) — 6/20/2007 @ 11:13 amI didn’t know 9 or 10, and most of those 10 were on your list. Dude, you didn’t know LeBron James?
Kimi Kaikkenen
Gore Verbinski
Valentino Rossi
Daniel Radcliffe
Rhonda Byrne
Emma Watson
JJ Abrams
Hayden Panattiere
Paula Deen
That last one, I have always heard as “Paul LeDean,” and always wondered who the heck people were talking about. Seeing that name was the second stupidest I’ve felt today.
I wouldn’t know any individual person from the Grey’s Anatomy cast if I saw them. Wow, Dr. Phil has a last name and it’s not “annoying.”
carlitos (b38ae1) — 6/20/2007 @ 12:09 pm3 for me
Bobby Flay
alphie (015011) — 6/20/2007 @ 12:13 pmPaula Deen
Rhonda Byrne
Where have all the sports fans gone ? LeBron James, Michelle Wie, Roger Federer, David Beckham, etc., are household names to sports enthusiasts. And what about all those chefs who watch Emeril, Paula Deen, and Bobby Flay? My favorite is the Barefoot Contessa’s Ina Garten but I guess she didn’t make the list.
DRJ (2d5e62) — 6/20/2007 @ 12:25 pm31 names meant nothing at all to me, and in 12 more cases I knew the name from somewhere, but either had no clue what they were famous for, or guessed wrong.
Milhouse (e6331b) — 6/20/2007 @ 12:54 pmThere were only a handful, mostly near the bottom, who I didn’t know at all – Valentino Rossi??? Rhonda Byrne??? JJ Abrams???? Daniel Radcliffe???? Hayden Pannettiere??? Emma Watson??? Who the hell are they? And I haven’t a clue who’s on Gray’s Anatomy.
There were a few more whose names I’ve heard but I’m not really sure who they are: Dane Cook, Gore Verbinski, Brian Grazer (I guess he works with Ron Howard).
Phil Mickleson’s #16 rank seemed awfully high. His name recognition doesn’t extend beyond golfers.
Dark Harvest (80b923) — 6/20/2007 @ 2:23 pmPatterico – you pick juries not knowing who these people are? That’s the main reason I subscribe to People mag, not because *I want to know about them but because my juries will.
JavierC (a24ff8) — 6/20/2007 @ 3:10 pmI missed 3.
Viktor (510afc) — 6/20/2007 @ 3:13 pmI think Rhonda Byrne needs a new publicist.
I suspect that the fewer names you recognize the highter your IQ is.
Todd Roth (62770a) — 6/20/2007 @ 3:19 pmPretension, thy name is Todd Roth.
alphie (015011) — 6/20/2007 @ 3:34 pmRaikonnen, Verbinski, Abrams, Deen. Just an interesting note on sports scale – some people around the world know who LeBron James is but almost everybody in the U.S. knows him. On the other hand, almost everybody in the world knows who Beckham and Rossi and Ronaldinho and Schumacher are. A NASCAR event may draw 30 million TV viewers, while an F-1 even typically draws 300 million or so, worldwide. The budget for just the engines for one F-1 team (with two cars) would fund two entire NASCAR teams. Totally different scale of celebrity.
Al Maviva (89d0b6) — 6/20/2007 @ 4:15 pmdude, Radcliffe has an ‘e’ on the end
Dee (03e306) — 6/20/2007 @ 4:29 pmLet’s see…
1) Michael Schumacher–sounds sort of familiar, but obviously not enough to stick
2) Ronaldhino–Ronald McDonald’s foreign cousin?
3) Kimi Raikkonen
4) Gore Verbinski
5) Valentino Rossi
6) J.J. Abrams
7) Jack Welch
8) Rhonda Byrne
9) Hayden Panettiere–one of the best looking people I’ve never heard of
10) Paula Deen
90% isn’t too bad… would’ve been an A- back in the good (easy) old highschool days.
Daniel (d045c7) — 6/20/2007 @ 4:36 pmDude, Daniel Radcliffe is Harry Potter. A pox on, you all!
The list actually sucks like a Hoover. You have 100 top celebrities and there were about 5 or 6 chefs on it… I know that we Americans are fat, but we don’t care that much about food!
Negating the chefs, I always found these lists to be more about who Hollywood and/or Wall Street wants you (the lowly un-informed public) to think is hip, but they are actually a few years behind on and the public’s taste had already shifted. I seem to remember Trent Reznor being on the list years ago when he hadn’t released an album (Broken had been released a few years before and his next album had a few years before being recorded, much less released).
WonderEra (a17198) — 6/20/2007 @ 5:00 pmFrom a die-hard F-1 fan:
Schumie was the highest paid “athlete” in the World for years (see S-I for listings). Marlboro of Italy paid his Ferrari retainer to the tune of about $50M/yr. He probably equaled that in his other endorsements.
Lewis Hamilton is the first Black to win an F-1 race EVER! His father is from Grenada (IIRC) and his mother is English.
Kimi: When he first raced in F-1, he had only raced a full-size vehicle of any type about 6 times – had to get a provisional license from the F-1 folks. But, he had been racing Karts since he was about 5 or 6. He replaced Schumacher at Ferrari this year.
Rossi: Just the fastest Dentist on 2-wheels ever. Will probably be an F-1 driver for Ferrari in a few years – which would make him the 2nd Dentist to drive for Ferrari after Tony Brookes of England in 1959 or 1960.
All in all, Pat you need to read the Sports Section more in the dog trainer – at least the Monday edition. That will keep you abreast of most of the celebrity athlete names. The basketball and football names will show up a lot in the column on who’s in trouble with John Law.
Another Drew (4d2fc0) — 6/20/2007 @ 5:00 pmI guess I’m a doughnut brain. I’ve heard of all but eight of them, and am precisely familiar with who they are and what they do. Heidi Klum has done zippo but when you look like she does, who cares?
Howard Veit (4ba8d4) — 6/20/2007 @ 5:55 pmTeche, a little correction for you. Danica Patrick is an IndyCar driver, not F1. If she was a F1 driver she’d make more money. F1 cars are far more technical than IndyCars.
…by the way, I knew ALL of the people on the list.
otcconan (34585c) — 6/20/2007 @ 6:03 pmYour list shows you don’t follow sports, you don’t listen to popular music, and you aren’t familiar with teen actresses. Interesting, though, that you had heard of Emma Watson but not Daniel Radcliffe….
Steve Smith (72a7af) — 6/20/2007 @ 6:07 pmI didn’t know seven of them, mostly sports, a director and a writer.
Alton Brown should have been on the list. He’s the only reason to the food channel.
Oh Cool! I didn’t know you had smilies on here.
Becky (0fe45a) — 6/20/2007 @ 6:51 pm8)
Todd Roth: I recognized more names than most people, and it’s a safe bet that my IQ is the highest one here (3 standard deviations above the norm). So you’re wrong. (And believe me, having a high IQ is vastly overrated.)
But I am astonished how many celebrities whom people generally think of as a big name can go unrecognized.
kishnevi (8731ef) — 6/20/2007 @ 7:46 pm. . . it’s a safe bet that my IQ is the highest one here (3 standard deviations above the norm . . .)
Why is that a safe bet? And are we really going to get into a “Whose IQ is higher?” discussion? (I hope not.)
Patterico (2a65a5) — 6/20/2007 @ 8:28 pmSee my update. I thought “Emma Watson” was Emma Thompson. So that’s another one I didn’t know.
Also, some of you in the comments got the impression that I claim to be a sports fan. I think you’re mixing me up with a commenter.
Patterico (2a65a5) — 6/20/2007 @ 8:31 pm17 for me.
It’s obvious that you don’t have a teenage daughter or you would have easily recognized Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson from the Harry Potter movies, Hilary Duff from her Disney Channel show, and Hayden Penettiere from the Heroes TV show and some movies. I know every teen star from the Disney Channel sitcoms. Dakota Fanning has been in many movies, even though she’s only 12 or so. Most of them are adult movies – War of the Worlds for example.
Even though I don’t follow racing AT ALL, I recognized Danica Patrick because she was in the news so much – female driver, etc.
Jay-Z and 50 Cent are nasty rappers, also in the news frequently for nasty stuff. My eldest son did go through a rap phase in high school though. Fortunately, he grew out of it. I certainly don’t listen to that crap, opera is more my style.
LeBron James is one of the biggest names in basketball and was in the news a lot because he was recruited straight out of high school. The men in my family do love basketball so I know a lot of the players from their subliminal messages.
David Beckham is probably the best known soccer player. I first heard of him from the movie Bend It Like Beckham. He’s also been in the news recently because of his move to LA.
Dane Cook is a comedian, the men in my family find him funny, I probably don’t.
I don’t follow cooking shows so I didn’t know those names. In fact, I don’t watch TV at all. Although I’ve heard of the TV shows listed, and probably most of the actors, I haven’t actually seen them.
And yes, I have a high IQ. I also read a wide variety of materials which gives me exposure to a lot of, sometimes useless, information. I also live with 4 other people with a variety of interests so I’m familar with that stuff too (Not necessarily a good thing).
Lorraine (836eca) — 6/20/2007 @ 9:50 pmI didn’t know 21 of them. I did know several of the ones you didn’t and, like you, I knew some of them for obscure reasons:
David Beckham–if your kid plays soccer, you’ll own “Bend It Like Beckham”
Hilary Duff–starred in Lizzie McGuire, has been in several Disney flicks, had a well-publicized feud with Lindsey Lohan, now mainly a singer
I’m really weak on pop culture, so I was surprised I recognized so many names. It’s amazing the trivia one will pick up just in the course of life.
sharon (dfeb10) — 6/20/2007 @ 10:02 pm8
cts22 (84cdac) — 6/20/2007 @ 10:23 pm“it’s a safe bet that my iq is the highest one here…”
oh my aching sides! without fail, every time i’ve heard someone say something like that in the past, they turn out to be a dumb horse’s ass. i don’t know what my iq is. i know what my sat scores were though. i also know i’m the strongest chess player and go player here.
very few people i know care about auto racing, and absolutely nobody i know cares about european auto racing.
looking down the forbes list, i got to jack welch (huh? there’s a celeb with the same name as the former head of g.e.!). then i clicked on it. wait a second, how did he get on here, but steve jobs didn’t? you have to read the biz section to know who welch is, but jobs has gotten more front-page fawning than any biz exec in the history of the world.
assistant devil's advocate (0e1aa2) — 6/21/2007 @ 8:11 amPatterico, I was just trying to show the falsity of Todd Roth’s assertion. But it is a safe bet (reread my comment–the data is in there–having a less than one percent chance of being wrong is a good definition of a safe bet, I would think). And I can speak from firsthand experience that having a high IQ is not worth that much in the real world.
kishnevi (da26af) — 6/21/2007 @ 9:36 amI actually thought Ronaldinho was a poster here… like Ronald in Hollywood.
Vermont Neighbor (95b069) — 6/21/2007 @ 11:18 amfour people were on an airplane…
assistant devil's advocate (0e1aa2) — 6/21/2007 @ 11:36 amthe president of the united states,
the world’s smartest internet poster,
a priest, and
a hippie. there were only three parachutes on board, and the plane’s engines conked out over a mountain range. the president stood up…
“i must survive this, not for my own sake, but because i’m the leader of the free world” and so, he strapped one on and jumped out.
the world’s smartest internet poster stood up…
“i must survive this, not for my own sake, but because i hold my intellect in trust for all mankind” and so, he strapped one on and jumped out. that left the priest and the hippie. the priest said “my son, my faith is strong, in moments from now i will be resting in the bosom of jesus. take the last parachute and save yourself.”
the hippie said “hey man, that’s real cool, you being willing to die for me and all, but you don’t have to, there’s a parachute here for both of us.”
the priest said “i’m a little confused. i thought there were only three parachutes on board.”
the hippie said “the world’s smartest internet poster just jumped out of the plane wearing my backpack.”
You can’t get away from names like Beckham and Seacrest and Fiddy…
Phil Mickelson was on the same golf team as Scott Peterson. I don’t know these five:
Jay-Z
Vermont Neighbor (95b069) — 6/21/2007 @ 11:42 amDavid Beckham
???? Michael Schumacher
???? Ronaldinho
50 Cent
Roger Federer
???? Kimi Raikkonen
LeBron James
Gore Verbinski
???? Valentino Rossi
Michelle Wie
George Lopez
Daniel Radcliffe
Larry the Cable Guy
J.J. Abrams
Dane Cook
???? Rhonda Byrne
Dakota Fanning
Danica Patrick
Mitch Albom
Hayden Penettiere
Paula Deen
Bobby Flay
Their idea of celebrity relies on being in the entertainment business. Welch qualifies by being a speaker and an author.
Yeah, it’s a bit odd.
Pablo (99243e) — 6/21/2007 @ 12:23 pmJay-Z, Dane Cook, and George Lopez surprise me, but how in the world did you miss Larry the Cable Guy and Danica Patrick?
David N. Scott (71e316) — 6/21/2007 @ 1:09 pmSorry. You sound pretentious and ignorant to me.
Don’t know who Jay-Z is? Then hand over your right to comment on the state of American civilization.
All you commenters who endorse this kind of ignorance need to be taken to the woodshed. What country are you living in?
I’m disgusted with all of you, and I’d bet dollars to donuts I’m more right wing than any of you. But you’re a disgrace.
http://www.instapunk.com/archives/InstaPunkArchiveV2.php3?a=1063
The popular culture informs us about what our fellow citizens value. If you don’t care about that, you don’t care about them. You’re just a bunch of snobs.
And if you don’t know who Danica Patrick is, you’re a bunch of eunuchs.
InstaPunk (00c389) — 6/21/2007 @ 2:57 pmHere’s what I said at InstaPunk, who responded to this entry in considerable detail and to considerable effect.
“Apparently these guys [Patterico and Somin]have locked themselves inside the ivory tower without electricity or any mod cons and thrown away the keys. They are either a pair of blind, mute idiots who hate everyone or they have no life whatever.
Surely anyone with friends, family, peers gets into various conversations, attends children’s or grandchildren’s activities and picks up something along the way.
They are really sad excuses for human beings and should be shunned.”
http://www.instapunk.com/archives/InstaPunkArchiveV2.php3?a=1063
Jersey Girl (00c389) — 6/21/2007 @ 3:12 pmBusiness must be slow at InstaPunk since s/he and a commenter are trolling here. Or it could be they are just fun-loving folk who like to talk trash to their elders.
DRJ (2d5e62) — 6/21/2007 @ 3:35 pmInstaPunk bases his entire post on an the assumption that I agree with a portion of Ilya Somin’s post that I don’t quote. Based on that assumption, he gets all self-righteous on me.
I guess without unsupported assumptions and self-righteousness, there could be no blogosphere.
He almost makes up for it, though, by calling me “powerful.” That was pretty cool.
Patterico (1a1338) — 6/21/2007 @ 4:37 pmHe also called you an LA luminary, which is cool, and that’s why I think they are just having fun with their elders @ the powerful legal blogs Patterico and Volokh.
DRJ (2d5e62) — 6/21/2007 @ 6:23 pmMmm, if you read the comments at his post, I think he’s being serious (and unfair).
Patterico (2a65a5) — 6/21/2007 @ 9:48 pmOK, I get it, now that I read his latest post. His site appears to be one big cry for attention, which he seeks by insulting every conservative blogger he can find. If I had realized that, I wouldn’t have bothered engaging him. I thought he was trying to make an actual point, when all along he was just trying to provoke a response.
Patterico (265b6e) — 6/22/2007 @ 5:30 am