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Perez Hilton: More Gossip, More Fun
by Lina Caesar
翻译：蔡婉华
你看了新一季的青春偶像剧《八卦天后》（Gossip Girl）吗？在现实生活中，竟然真的有这么一位让人又爱又恨的“八卦天后”在随时跟踪报导好莱坞名人的最新动态呢！一起来看看这位取名自Paris Hilton的“高级狗仔队”是怎样发迹，成为比明星更红的风云人物吧—
our years ago he was a nobody. Now the man who calls himself Perez Hilton is one of the most 1)feted – and hated – men in Hollywood. In fact, chatting Mario Lavandeira up one Sunday afternoon, it was hard to believe that this was the one behind the keyboard of Perezhilton.com, a gossip blog known as “Hollywood’s most hated website,” which has the power to make or break star careers. This famous blogger, who now travels around the world hosting award and entertainment shows and gets 2)props from the likes of John Mayer, comes off as anything but 3)calculating when you talk to him. He’s more a cartoon 4)geeky character in person, and his success seems almost accidental.
He started the blog, first called Page Six Six Six, in 2004 as a forum to “comment on pop culture, like you would with your friends.” His 5)biting bits on celebrity fashion, 6)hook-ups and 7)hang-outs coupled with 8)audacious Photoshop 9)scribblings made him stand out among the diary-like blogs of the time. It’s easy to see why web-surfers found him a guilty pleasure. So did the stars. Some even started to befriend him. This exposed him to charges of 10)bias, but the “insider” element helped the site explode into the mainstream. He currently gets more than four million hits a day.
So 11)vicious is the gossip on the site, and so heavy is the web traffic, that he has become a major player in Hollywood’s star-making factory. Lavandeira promotes his favorite albums. Managers now contact him with stories about their stars. Picture agencies send him their pictures. Some celebrities actually complained that they do not appear often enough on the blog. Yet the on-the-way-to-stardom Lavandeira still works really hard, with a strict work 12)ethic: he’s up every morning by 5:30, usually on just four or five hours of sleep, then spending 17, 18 hours a day on 13)scouring media outlets for stories and images.
“I just love what I do,” he says during a break. “I think it’s so exciting. Celebrities are just so crazy…I love it. They are just so much fun. And I’m all about the fun. That’s one of my mottoes: Just have fun. And if it’s not fun, make it fun. Follow the fun, create the fun, be all about having fun.”
His take on himself is, “I’m not a celebrity. These days, a celebrity is someone who is famous just for being famous…I’m an entertainer. I’m a worker. I’m a busy bee, 14)dripping honey everywhere.”
Some say Lavandeira is the 21st century’s version of the American Dream: gaining fame for doing nothing meaningful but simply following the trend of an age when the public are hungry for the 15)nasty 16)underside of Hollywood. Others believe he is among a group of increasingly influential bloggers who are changing the way we get our news about the famous and powerful. With them, today’s secrets are getting harder and harder to keep.
“They break stories that the 17)dinosaurs in the mainstream media miss,” a Washington Post reporter says. “They come up with fresh and 18)provocative angles, and they hold old media types 19)accountable for their 20)screw-ups. They keep breaking news, and I followed. They have been influential not just on Hollywood issues but on all issues.”
Lavandeira, on the other hand, doesn’t pretend to be modest.
“I’m a new phenomenon, a new thing, a new creature…I’m dangerous. I’m not afraid to offend; I’m not afraid to 21)push the envelope.”
四年前，他只是个无名小卒。现在这个自称“帕里兹·希尔顿”的人是好莱坞最受欢迎又最惹人憎恨的人物之一。事实上，从一个周日下午跟马利奥·拉范德拉的聊天中，很难相信他就是在Perezhilton.com电脑键盘后面的那个人——这是一个八卦博客，被称为“好莱坞最痛恨的网站”；它能捧红明星，也能毁掉星途。这位著名的博客写手如今穿梭全球，经常主持各种颁奖典礼或娱乐节目，得到约翰·梅尔这类人物的支持；但当你和他谈话时，你不会觉得他工于心计。他本人更像那种卡通化的极客角色，而他的成功似乎纯属偶然。
2004年，他建起了自己的博客。作为“评论流行文化，就像你和朋友交流那样”的论坛，这个博客起先被叫做“第666页”。他对名流时尚、谁勾搭上谁、谁和谁一起厮混（等消息）的尖刻评论，加上大胆的Photoshop涂鸦，使他在当时众多日志式博客中脱颖而出。不难明白为什么上网的人会将帕里兹·希尔顿看作一种罪恶的愉悦。而明星们也有相似的想法。有些明星甚至与他成了朋友。这使他面临偏见的指责，但博客的“内幕”成分使其更易溶入主流。现在，他一天的点击率可达四百万人次以上。
站内八卦如此毒辣，网络人流如此汹涌，他俨然成了好莱坞造星工厂的一大玩家。拉范德拉会宣传他喜爱的专辑。经纪人跟他联系，大谈旗下明星的故事。图片社将自己的相片发给他。有些名人还抱怨说自己在其博客中露面的机会太少。然而，本人也逐渐踏上星途的拉范德拉依然十分努力，坚持严格的工作规律：他通常每天只睡四五个小时，早上五点半起床，然后花十七八个小时搜索各种消息渠道，寻找新闻和图片。
“我热爱我的工作，”休息时，他这么说道。“我觉得这很有趣。名人真是太疯狂了……我喜欢。他们真是太有趣了。我专门找这些有趣的事。这就是我的座右铭之一：玩得开心。如果事情无聊没趣，就把它们变得有趣。跟随趣味，制造趣味，最重要是开心。”
他这样看待自己：“我不是名人。这年头，名人之所以是名人纯粹因为他们出名……我只是名艺人，一名工作者。我就像一只忙碌的蜜蜂，到处留下蜂蜜。”
有人认为拉范德拉是21世纪版的美国梦：在人们渴望了解好莱坞肮脏内幕的年代，只要跟随时代潮流，做些无聊事也能成名。其他人则认为他只不过是越来越有影响力的博客写手大军中的一员——这些人改变了我们了解名人政客轶闻的途径。正因为有他们，这年头，秘密是越来越难保守了。
“他们揭露了主流媒体中那些老家伙们错过的各种轶闻，”《华盛顿邮报》的一名记者说。“他们的角度既新奇又带煽动性，认为各类旧媒体应为自己乱七八糟的情况负责。他们不断披露新闻，而我一直在关注。他们不仅影响了好莱坞，也影响了所有的事情。”
另一方面，拉范德拉也不会故作谦虚。
“我代表一个新现象，一种新事物，一类新物种……我是个危险人物。我不怕冒犯人；我不怕挑战极限。”
1) fete [feIt] v. 宴请，招待
2) prop [prɒp] n. 支持
3) calculating [5kAlkjJleItIN] a.
工于心计的，精明的
4) geeky [5^i:kI] a. 极客的
5) biting [5baItIN] a. 尖刻的
6) hook up （非正式）勾搭
7) hang out 厮混
8) audacious [C:5deIFEs] a. 大胆的
9) scribbling [5skrIblIN] n. 乱涂
10) bias [5baIEs] n. 偏见
11) vicious [5vIFEs] a. 恶毒的
12) ethic [5eWIk] n. 道德规范
13) scour [5skaJE] v. 搜寻
14) drip [drIp] v. 滴
15) nasty [5nAstI] a. 丑陋的
16) underside [5QndEsaId] n. 阴暗面
17) dinosaur [5daInEsC:] n. 恐龙，喻落伍的人或物
18) provocative [prE5vɒkEtIv] a. 煽动的，挑衅的
19) accountable [E5kaJntEbl] a. 有责任的
20) screw up 搞砸
21) push the envelope 挑战极限
by Lina Caesar
翻译：蔡婉华
你看了新一季的青春偶像剧《八卦天后》（Gossip Girl）吗？在现实生活中，竟然真的有这么一位让人又爱又恨的“八卦天后”在随时跟踪报导好莱坞名人的最新动态呢！一起来看看这位取名自Paris Hilton的“高级狗仔队”是怎样发迹，成为比明星更红的风云人物吧—
our years ago he was a nobody. Now the man who calls himself Perez Hilton is one of the most 1)feted – and hated – men in Hollywood. In fact, chatting Mario Lavandeira up one Sunday afternoon, it was hard to believe that this was the one behind the keyboard of Perezhilton.com, a gossip blog known as “Hollywood’s most hated website,” which has the power to make or break star careers. This famous blogger, who now travels around the world hosting award and entertainment shows and gets 2)props from the likes of John Mayer, comes off as anything but 3)calculating when you talk to him. He’s more a cartoon 4)geeky character in person, and his success seems almost accidental.
He started the blog, first called Page Six Six Six, in 2004 as a forum to “comment on pop culture, like you would with your friends.” His 5)biting bits on celebrity fashion, 6)hook-ups and 7)hang-outs coupled with 8)audacious Photoshop 9)scribblings made him stand out among the diary-like blogs of the time. It’s easy to see why web-surfers found him a guilty pleasure. So did the stars. Some even started to befriend him. This exposed him to charges of 10)bias, but the “insider” element helped the site explode into the mainstream. He currently gets more than four million hits a day.
So 11)vicious is the gossip on the site, and so heavy is the web traffic, that he has become a major player in Hollywood’s star-making factory. Lavandeira promotes his favorite albums. Managers now contact him with stories about their stars. Picture agencies send him their pictures. Some celebrities actually complained that they do not appear often enough on the blog. Yet the on-the-way-to-stardom Lavandeira still works really hard, with a strict work 12)ethic: he’s up every morning by 5:30, usually on just four or five hours of sleep, then spending 17, 18 hours a day on 13)scouring media outlets for stories and images.
“I just love what I do,” he says during a break. “I think it’s so exciting. Celebrities are just so crazy…I love it. They are just so much fun. And I’m all about the fun. That’s one of my mottoes: Just have fun. And if it’s not fun, make it fun. Follow the fun, create the fun, be all about having fun.”
His take on himself is, “I’m not a celebrity. These days, a celebrity is someone who is famous just for being famous…I’m an entertainer. I’m a worker. I’m a busy bee, 14)dripping honey everywhere.”
Some say Lavandeira is the 21st century’s version of the American Dream: gaining fame for doing nothing meaningful but simply following the trend of an age when the public are hungry for the 15)nasty 16)underside of Hollywood. Others believe he is among a group of increasingly influential bloggers who are changing the way we get our news about the famous and powerful. With them, today’s secrets are getting harder and harder to keep.
“They break stories that the 17)dinosaurs in the mainstream media miss,” a Washington Post reporter says. “They come up with fresh and 18)provocative angles, and they hold old media types 19)accountable for their 20)screw-ups. They keep breaking news, and I followed. They have been influential not just on Hollywood issues but on all issues.”
Lavandeira, on the other hand, doesn’t pretend to be modest.
“I’m a new phenomenon, a new thing, a new creature…I’m dangerous. I’m not afraid to offend; I’m not afraid to 21)push the envelope.”
四年前，他只是个无名小卒。现在这个自称“帕里兹·希尔顿”的人是好莱坞最受欢迎又最惹人憎恨的人物之一。事实上，从一个周日下午跟马利奥·拉范德拉的聊天中，很难相信他就是在Perezhilton.com电脑键盘后面的那个人——这是一个八卦博客，被称为“好莱坞最痛恨的网站”；它能捧红明星，也能毁掉星途。这位著名的博客写手如今穿梭全球，经常主持各种颁奖典礼或娱乐节目，得到约翰·梅尔这类人物的支持；但当你和他谈话时，你不会觉得他工于心计。他本人更像那种卡通化的极客角色，而他的成功似乎纯属偶然。
2004年，他建起了自己的博客。作为“评论流行文化，就像你和朋友交流那样”的论坛，这个博客起先被叫做“第666页”。他对名流时尚、谁勾搭上谁、谁和谁一起厮混（等消息）的尖刻评论，加上大胆的Photoshop涂鸦，使他在当时众多日志式博客中脱颖而出。不难明白为什么上网的人会将帕里兹·希尔顿看作一种罪恶的愉悦。而明星们也有相似的想法。有些明星甚至与他成了朋友。这使他面临偏见的指责，但博客的“内幕”成分使其更易溶入主流。现在，他一天的点击率可达四百万人次以上。
站内八卦如此毒辣，网络人流如此汹涌，他俨然成了好莱坞造星工厂的一大玩家。拉范德拉会宣传他喜爱的专辑。经纪人跟他联系，大谈旗下明星的故事。图片社将自己的相片发给他。有些名人还抱怨说自己在其博客中露面的机会太少。然而，本人也逐渐踏上星途的拉范德拉依然十分努力，坚持严格的工作规律：他通常每天只睡四五个小时，早上五点半起床，然后花十七八个小时搜索各种消息渠道，寻找新闻和图片。
“我热爱我的工作，”休息时，他这么说道。“我觉得这很有趣。名人真是太疯狂了……我喜欢。他们真是太有趣了。我专门找这些有趣的事。这就是我的座右铭之一：玩得开心。如果事情无聊没趣，就把它们变得有趣。跟随趣味，制造趣味，最重要是开心。”
他这样看待自己：“我不是名人。这年头，名人之所以是名人纯粹因为他们出名……我只是名艺人，一名工作者。我就像一只忙碌的蜜蜂，到处留下蜂蜜。”
有人认为拉范德拉是21世纪版的美国梦：在人们渴望了解好莱坞肮脏内幕的年代，只要跟随时代潮流，做些无聊事也能成名。其他人则认为他只不过是越来越有影响力的博客写手大军中的一员——这些人改变了我们了解名人政客轶闻的途径。正因为有他们，这年头，秘密是越来越难保守了。
“他们揭露了主流媒体中那些老家伙们错过的各种轶闻，”《华盛顿邮报》的一名记者说。“他们的角度既新奇又带煽动性，认为各类旧媒体应为自己乱七八糟的情况负责。他们不断披露新闻，而我一直在关注。他们不仅影响了好莱坞，也影响了所有的事情。”
另一方面，拉范德拉也不会故作谦虚。
“我代表一个新现象，一种新事物，一类新物种……我是个危险人物。我不怕冒犯人；我不怕挑战极限。”
1) fete [feIt] v. 宴请，招待
2) prop [prɒp] n. 支持
3) calculating [5kAlkjJleItIN] a.
工于心计的，精明的
4) geeky [5^i:kI] a. 极客的
5) biting [5baItIN] a. 尖刻的
6) hook up （非正式）勾搭
7) hang out 厮混
8) audacious [C:5deIFEs] a. 大胆的
9) scribbling [5skrIblIN] n. 乱涂
10) bias [5baIEs] n. 偏见
11) vicious [5vIFEs] a. 恶毒的
12) ethic [5eWIk] n. 道德规范
13) scour [5skaJE] v. 搜寻
14) drip [drIp] v. 滴
15) nasty [5nAstI] a. 丑陋的
16) underside [5QndEsaId] n. 阴暗面
17) dinosaur [5daInEsC:] n. 恐龙，喻落伍的人或物
18) provocative [prE5vɒkEtIv] a. 煽动的，挑衅的
19) accountable [E5kaJntEbl] a. 有责任的
20) screw up 搞砸
21) push the envelope 挑战极限