Ken Christie
Tom Hanks once said that ‘the world is just plain goofy.’ There’s no doubt about it. We’ve all often commented how insane, nuts, weird, and plain whacko way too many aspects of our lives are. It’s happening more each day, with the latest and greatest in the world of whacko somehow able to top that which we previously thought was too hard to believe.
There is also a large group of folks that conduct themselves in such idiotic ways or create such stupendous blunders that they deserve a “whack upside the head.” Some of it qualifies as being sound evidence that the end of the world is near, whether the current prognosticators of that event or close to being right or not. Even if the end is not at hand, things have certainly become much stranger in the last few decades. Much of it is so hard to look at or to contemplate that we might cry if we could not laugh about it.
In this volume, you will find the strange, odd, weird, ridiculous, just plain dumb and occasionally horrendously stupid acts, products, language, events, and other assorted nonsense that must be at least laughed at or, in some cases, soundly lambasted, including many of those bizarre folks who deserve a good whacking.
While it is difficult to pinpoint the exact start date for when things really started to get wacko, it can easily be traced to December 18, 1989, the date of the first entry in the Whackopedia took place.
“Phenomenal insight! A must read!!!”– a NEW YORKER friend
“Ken’s finger is on the pulse on what’s wrong out there in the world.” –a VARIETY of folks said
“Can’t wait to see what’s on his blog!” – those with TIME to look
Ken Christie grew up on the plains of Nebraska and forged his earliest insights in the sweltering suburban landscape of Omaha. His final college thesis enlightened many to the idea that those who knew the least about the Equal Rights Amendment had the strongest opposing views. Thus ingrained with the idea that ignorance truly can be bliss, he moved to California and became an Imagineer for the Disney organization. He was in the Mickey Mouse world now, both at work and living in the LA megalopolis where all walks of life are plentiful, space is abundant, and most inhabitants insist you stay the hell out of both.
After a short stay in Philadelphia where brotherly love is not always apparent, Ken returned to the Midwest to raise a family in the gripping bulge of humanity that is Indianapolis, Indiana. Along this journey he encountered scores of ignorant customer services representatives, painful CEOs, and enough extraordinarily bizarre neighbors to craft his world view – that parts are going downhill fast, and we better laugh at what ails us as we try to make it better, to stay young at heart as we get old before our time.
Ken Christie co-authored his first book in 1980 as a pioneer in interactive communications. He contributed to a second book in that field, and has been published in numerous periodicals and as a featured columnist. This is Ken’s first encyclopedic tome, but not his last. He is currently channeling Jean Shepherd for his third novel. While making himself available for speaking engagements on “Getting Closer To Your Customers – It’s Easier Than You Think” and “How To Avoid Getting Whacked in Your Business,” Ken continues to pursue his goal of breaking the record for most honorary degrees bestowed. He welcomes your commencement speech invitation.
Smith, Anna Nicole – Perhaps the epitome of the Whackopedia, this celebrity has been more up and down than most of your run-of-the-mill 15-minute ‘stars’, even now after death.
Anna Nicole was initially a well-endowed true “dumb blonde” who, while perhaps noteworthy as a Playboy playmate in her earlier years, gained later fame for marrying and perhaps ‘loving’ to death a multi-multimillionaire. She got her day in court to claim his fortune, and managed to get enough out of that to enjoy a life of relative ease even though the court battles continued. That should have been the end of the story, but this is America, land of opportunity and, more importantly, a land where we love to gawk at anything resembling a train wreck.
So we gave this Barbie used-to-be her own reality show because her bizarre life was so much whackier than the average schmo who watches such programming. And it actually becomes an (albeit temporary) ratings winner. She was a totally whiny, no longer attractive loser surrounded by similar boobs. Now, that’s entertainment!
She is, or perhaps I should say was, among the whackiest of personalities for two reasons. First, a group of television programming executives were convinced to put her life on the air in the first place (suggesting she may not be all that dumb, BTW). And the second reason is not Nicole herself, but our obsession to be around celebrity. A short while prior to her death, Nicole had regained some of her better girlish figure and was the “toast” of various charity events. A race fundraiser in Indianapolis with her as the featured guest sold out $250 seats in a matter of hours. I could see this woman nude in her prime for the cost of a magazine. How desperate were people to pay a hundred times that much to be near her at a party, ten years after her heyday?
Even after the new weight loss and new found old shape, she was an overweening, always preening poster child for what ails the world. Even in her death, her ‘celebrity’ still arouses the prurient and fascinates the onlooker, especially with the theories surrounding her own death and that of her older son. The amount of news coverage it received rivaled that of Princess Diana, and the story will continue while paternity suits get settled and new books and TV movies come out to tell us the ‘real true Hollywood story’ of her demise. Even Zsa Zsa Gabor’s husband was in on the act, claiming he had a ten year affair with her and he might have been the father of her youngest child. It’s still all about the money. Compared to her previous husband, Ms. Smith was robbing the cradle on this one, assuming it’s even true.
I feel sorry for the family and the baby, but this woman was nothing more than famous for being famous, and everyone who fed off her celebrity should get a good whack upside the head for their part in her demise. Then again, with Marilyn Monroe as her idol, perhaps the fate she met was what she had in mind.
