Celebrity Skin

Her star power is recognizable, even for a showbiz illiterate guy like me. I may have no idea what movies she made when her career was at its peak, but it doesn't matter. I wouldn't care given my lack of interest in the subject. For the longest time, I used to confuse her with another celebrity - Gretchen - whose younger sister was stuff of showbiz news after her well-publicized meltdown a few years ago. Little do I know about this artist, and my preoccupation would have kept her out of my consciousness. But in social media, where people (living and imaginary) break the social divide, the degrees of separation is tampered by the association of the minds.

I recall stumbling into her Twitter account last month, when she spoke her thoughts about the martyrs of Mamapasano. Like everyone, she demanded accountability from those responsible for the deaths of 44 police officers. She would have wanted heads to roll. including the President. This, I wouldn't know for sure. Back then, her little-known social media account was a mere blip in my radar. Glancing her feeds one early morning, I snickered upon reading that she exchanged banters with the President Nixon account, a bot, as far as I'm aware. I would have moved on and write her off as one of those silly has-beens

Until she starts re-tweeting feeds from NASA.

Overnight, I was raving about her. Here is a film and television actress who is fascinated with trivial facts and science. And she doesn't hide it from the discerning public - this woman would even share her newfound knowledge with her followers. And unlike some celebrities who would use their Twitter accounts to promote their projects, or un-sheath some personal anecdotes about their mundane lives, this artist breaks stereotypes to show that she is well-informed, and always interested to learn. I was so impressed by her re-tweets that I posted on my microblog my wish for more celebrities to be like her.

Geeky.

For all the efforts to evade her attention, (by refusing to tag her name while I shower her with praises) common online friends with direct connections found it fitting that my tweet gets to be read by this actress. At the same time, non-showbiz online associates keep telling me how she is in real life: beautiful, down-to-earth, smart. No wonder even if her golden age has long passed, there remains thousands of admirers who hang by her every word.

Did I mention that she replies to tags as well?

It was a rather simple encouragement to stay on Twitter that lead her to finally recognize my presence. She was musing about removing her account as it already consumes most of her free time. All I said was "please do," to the question if she should go on posting updates on her timeline. Tagging the "favorited" icon to notice my words of support would suffice. But her reply not only made me blush, it felt like rubbing elbows with legends.

  

And for the first time in a long while, I learned how it feels to be a fan.