My obsession with gossip rags began with my first job; I worked at a bookstore and during my 15-minute break I would devour the latest in celebrity gossip (I would love to lie and say I used those breaks to read Ulysses or something, but 15-minute snatches do not comprehension make).
InTouch, Us Weekly and Star did quite well as light reading material.
Judge me all you like, dear readers of B Section, but in the semester I let celeb gossip fall by the wayside, Chris Brown beat up Rihanna. I didn’t know about it. Quelle horreur!
Since then I have made the easy transition to online gossip websites and, let me tell you, not all gossip sites are created equal.
Let’s focus on two in particular: on the one hand, we have Perez Hilton’s self-described “Hollywood’s Most Sassy Website!” On the other Jared Eng’s JustJared.com provides fans with “premium pop culture trends.”
Note: Hilton could very well have titled his blog “Hollywood’s Sassiest Website!” It would have sounded better.
Perez Hilton offers a pink eyesore of a website, replete with sketchy (yet mostly innocuous) ads for AMIClubwear and his signature white Windows Paint comments.
Though the days when Hilton would draw male genitals that ejaculated on the photos of unfortunate celebrities who have earned his ire are gone, the celebrity blogger continues to interject unnecessary comments.
Hilton has managed to earn the hate of countless celebrities for his negative remarks, obscene “doodles” and invasion of their privacy.
The Insider named perezhilton.com “Hollywood’s Most-Hated Website” in 2005. Fergie wrote a song entitled “Pedestal” about him in 2006.
My own personal feelings on dear Perez Hilton are mixed — one has to admire the guts of a semi-famous blogger spewing vitriol at fully famous A-listers.
Conversely, his comments are oftentimes mean-spirited and downright nasty and really, who is he to judge?
28-year-old Jared Eng takes a different stance on celebrity gossip. His site, JustJared.com, reads more like an objective news report than a gossip blog, at least comparatively.
While Hilton has clear favorites among the Hollywood set and shows his bias (his moniker stems from his admiration of hotel heiress and D-list reality television star Paris Hilton), Eng seems to distribute good cheer amongst his celebs.
JustJared.com helpfully directs you to all your celebrity needs if you are interested in celebrity babies, like Suri Cruise or any of the seventy bazillion Jolie-Pitt kids.
Top celebs get their own place of honor in a sidebar to the right — Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston (otherwise known as the unholy love triangle) all make the list, along with Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron, Robert Pattison and a category intriguingly titled “Bikini Celebs.”
Mouse hover pop-ups on the celebrity photos helpfully suggest clothing items or accessories featured.
While some are not particularly drawn to cutting-edge, right here right now fasion, it is a nice feature for those who are. The presence of advertisements are also much less obnoxious that those on Hilton’s site.
Personally, I like JustJared.com better than PerezHilton.com. The constant negativity of Mr. Hilton’s blog does wear on a person; if he can criticize the rich, the famous and the beautiful to the extent that he does, it makes me wonder what he would say about the rest of us in the world who are without the infamy, money or (let’s face it) the looks to sway people.
Celebrities like Taylor Swift agree with me and validate my bias. Eng’s nice guy approach has reaped considerable reward — stars are much more willing to dish out their “secrets” to a positive, feel-good gossip blogger than one who is going to rip them into teeny-tiny little shreds.
The New York Times, too, has recently picked up on Jared Eng’s success. The paper did a feature on the blogger and revealed some surprising facts about the tabloid enthusiast.
A Chinese-American computer nerd who built a “proto-blog” in sixth grade, Eng attended Columbia University and worked for Time Inc. Not just a pretty face, Eng harbors ambitions of expanding his empire and has recently hired PR firm 42West to promote the brand. He has also brokered a deal with Lacoste so that Eng can tape interviews with Hollywood stars and starlets in the new Madison Avenue building.
Also of interest to me, he gets “the Asian curse,” he admits to The New York Times writer Stephen Heyman, a condition known more familiarly as the Asian Flush.
All in all, I find Jared Eng quite adorable, but even more important, he seems laudably business savvy. `
Though Perez Hilton may be the most infamous celebrity blogger on the Internet, in the end his occasional bouts of nastiness ostracize too much of the Hollywood crowd, not to mention the regular people crowd, to truly compete against up-and-comers like Jared Eng. With less support, fewer sponsors and frankly, fewer hits, PerezHilton.com suffers from poor management.
This round goes to the little Asian blogger that could. Better luck next time, Perez.
