all the world's a stage, but especially Hollywood

Do you know what your dental hygienist does on her off time? How about the cashier at the grocery store--did you hear who he was with last night? And what on earth is that bus driver wearing? Who would put those shoes together with those pants?

Probably, you don't really care. You just want someone to clean your teeth, ring up your groceries, and drop you off at the correct location without getting in a wreck.

That's how I feel about actors. Their job, in my opinion, is to make me believe they are someone else for a couple of hours while I enjoy a little escapism. The mechanic fixes my car (we hope), the video store clerk checks out the movie (or, more likely, the Redbox spits out the DVD), and then I drive home and eat the food that was grown and harvested by the farmer, shipped by the truck driver and stocked by the grocer, then I pop in the movie. Then the actors act. Then I turn off the movie and get on with my life.

I do not care what the actors wore last night, who they slept with, what they ate, how much they drank, who they are engaged to, who they are divorcing, what they named their children or how much they spent on a pair of shoes. I don't care about their political affiliation, their religion, or their deeply held personal beliefs. All I care is if they can act.

Because that's their job, acting.

As you might have guessed, I am not a reader of People magazine.