Friday, April 13, 2007

"A/S/L?" "41/F/Los Angeles/Halle Berry"

In an interview with the BBC, actress Halle Berry says that she's hung out in Internet chat rooms under pseudonyms, to try to get out from under the thumb of celebrity:
"I have gone online before in search of anonymity and an attempt to leave celebrity out of it and just have a normal chat."
She also says that no one believed her when she eventually revealed who she was:
"They were like: 'Right, sure, get out of here.' They didn't really believe me at that point. So chatting hasn't gone that well for me."
Now, here are a few thoughts:
  • I knew it!

  • Just a suggestion: If you're a celeb chatting under a pseudonym and you're having good time chatting, do you even have to bring your real name into it? While I've met many of my best online friends in person, there are still plenty of folks who I know only by nicks and screen names.

    Maybe the expections of showing who you are in your profile pics and such are further along than in the old days of classic chat rooms, but the relative anonymity of text-only chat is still pretty liberating.

  • Of course, the joke/assumption behind Internet chat is that most of the women in chats (especially those looking for dirty, nasty chat) are guys playing pretend -- imagine the face of some chat room horndog learning that the person on the other end of the screen is actually Halle Berry?

  • Lastly, the truth can be told: I'm actually the Prince of Denmark.
I guess random chat conversations are a little different than being on your own blog or profile. Nowadays, there are plenty of celebrities and semi-celebrities who blog, and you actually believe that they're behind the keyboard in a meaningful way (e.g. the Daily Show's Demetri Martin, comedian Joe Rogan, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Rosie O'Donnell, not to mention all the people who are known because of their blogs or profiles).

Live chats, though, seem a little more intimate, more immediate and unfiltered, as opposed to a blog or message board post.

What would you do if someone you'd been chatting with revealed that they were actually a famous celebrity, and you found out they were telling the truth? Do you think you'd be able to continue chatting with them the same way, before they dropped the bombshell? Leave a comment.

Thanks -- Joe

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess I can't see myself being in a chatroom in the first place where that might happen. IM, maybe, but not a chat.  - K.

Anonymous said...

There ia really no way to prove who they really were, at least not during a normal chat session. And I really can't see one of them using a webcam to prove it. Sending a pic would not do it because anybody can get a pic...
Yea if it turned out to be a real star I could be the same. I guess it is because I have dealt with real stars in regular ways although not on the internet.

Anonymous said...

h

Anonymous said...

I would not believe them :D
They would have to make friends with me, and then invite me to one of their parties, and perhaps I'll believe they are faous :D
Valerie
http://journals.aol.co.uk/iiimagicxx/surreality/

Anonymous said...

yes, and I don't do chatrooms, they are all non sense conversations and I never found a good sense of humour in them.
Only blogs.
Valerie

Anonymous said...

I have a long list of people, over the years whom I have met, Royalty, MP's Film and TV stars and their children, through my previous line of work. Although it was not on a personal one to one level, I found that they are just like you and I.  My favourite was King Constantine. It's only the hanger's on and 'would be celebrities' who want to mix in their company who have 'airs and graces'. For me it's the person that counts and I would not be phased by meeting and communicating with someone who eventually revealed they were famous, on line.  I have no time for chat rooms.  I like the sponteneity of adding to someone's blog whose entry touches me or makes me laugh and whose personality and ethos I come to admire.
Jeanie

Anonymous said...

h

Anonymous said...

You're "most commented blogs" is beginning to back fire. Go take a look.

Anonymous said...

Wonder if it's time to go back and check out the chatrooms again :)

Anonymous said...

Well, I don't "do" chat rooms (unless someone I know is hosting one with others I know, or ,in past AOL lives, a board host would host a game show night PG enough for my DD to join in with me type thing).   Message boards and other internet avenues (message boards, forums, blogs) have us connect with others, though, we're not limited to chat rooms.  People are people first. :)

Anonymous said...

I actually have Lindsay Lohan's screen name