I’m not the kind of guy who delves into the personal lives of celebrities or athletes. I’ll watch every game that is played by the New York Mets because I’m a fan of the team and of the game of baseball. I marvel at the talent of the players on the field when they perform well and I grumble and complain a little when they perform badly.
If a player does something stupid off the field, I don’t follow the tabloid reports of their personal failings. It’s boring and it has nothing to do with me or my fandom of the team or the game. I have no problem making the distinction between sport and gossip.
Among the things that I find most puzzling about people and media (professional and social) is the overwhelming attention that is paid to scandal. I understand that it can be fun to delve into an especially juicy bit of gossip, on occasion, but what I don’t understand is how popular the Reality TV culture has become.
We begin with people who are famous for no apparent reason and we welcome them into our lives. We suck up everything that is said by them or written about them. Snap a photo of a celebrity in a really compromising position and you can just about name your price.
It’s wacky.
Why do we pay attention to these people?
I bring this up because I want to direct your attention to someone who I can be a fan of. I first saw one of her videos a couple of years ago and have been supporting her, along with nearly 200,000 other YouTube subscribers, ever since.
I’m talking about Julia Nunes, YouTube username: Jaaaaaaa.
She’s a fresh-faced, ukulele playing, student with loads of charisma. She found an initial following on YouTube but she hasn’t stopped there.
This is the video of her song, Regrets, which first caught my eye (ear). She’s playing a guitar in this one, but a lot of her videos feature the ukulele.
I still won’t be getting all in her business, like some crazed stalker fan, but I am interested in seeing her succeed. I think that it’s a good story, so I’m supporting her effort to produce her 4TH album. The kickstarter.com project/promotion is titled: Julia Nunes Would Be Nothing Without Me.
Cute.
Check her out on YouTube. She delivers a combination that’s tough to resist:
One part ukulele and three parts awesome.










{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You know, she’s not bad. I confess I wouldn’t have found this without this prompt. It also makes me think how we as consumers sometimes let our biases get in the way of trying new things.
Hi Brenda, I agree that people do tend to shy away from trying new things. We stick to what we know. I’m a sucker for a good story, so watching her progress has been fun. The support that she has received for this project is incredible. Ten days ago she set a goal of $15,000 over a 31-day period. As of this morning, she has reached $45,000, from 848 contributors, with 21 days to go. That’s amazing! Ray