Thursday 22 October 2009

Celebrity sighting

A few nights ago I went out to a lovely restaurant with Marc and a good friend of ours. 


As soon as we walked to our table, I spotted Amy Winehouse. Or at least I thought I did. You see, I am remarkably talented at spotting people who look like people, but aren't them. And whenever a celebrity and I are in the same place a friend or Marc is bound to notice, whilst I miss it engrossed in, erm, picking china (happened just this Sunday). 

Well this time it really was her. And you know what? She looked radiant. Yes, radiant. I know the drill: Amy Winehouse is described as (1) gaunt; (2) drugged up; (3) wearing last week's makeup; (4) tatty... the list goes on. 

She wore a bright pink fluffy jumper, her skin glowed, she looked young and healthy.

This just makes me think that the media manipulates our view so much. It suits papers and magazines to post ever shocking photos of a young talented artist. That is, after all, what sells papers. Media can be such a harmful medium - it plays with our brains. On the one hand, it makes some people falsely gorgeous, airbrushing their flaws, changing their physiques, on the other I'm sure it uses those same tools to make people look larger, to print a story saying they've gained weight, or gaunt with shadows if they have a drug problem.

Shame on them, and kudos to Amy for a year being clean. It shows! And whilst I'm not celebrity focussed, it is a bit of a thrill to see someone famous and to think and appreciate that I live in one of the world's coolest cities (at least I like to think so). 


3 comments:

Nadia said...

Wow! That is so cool you saw Amy Winehouse. And I agree with you that the media plays with our perception of celebrities. They probably have the same few pics of Amy Winehouse looking worse for wear and those are the only pics they will publish, because everyone knows a drug story will sell better then a "she's healthy and happy" story - crazy!! I'd rather see her happy and healthy then all strung out and I'm glad you saw her in such a positive light.

Anonymous said...

I love Amy. But I probably wouldn't have recognised her. I used to serve really famous people in work all the time and have no clue who they were. I once asked a famous comedian for ID.

Rachel said...

A woman i know called Andrea was murdered in Brighton a few weeks ago, a few minutes away from where I live. Not once did the papers say how tragic and awful it was, all they said was that she was a prostitute and that she has had gender surgery to become a woman. Horrible x