A slow news day around here is when there are no new celebrity babies to write about, and those are the days when I go looking for some related stories that I think will be of interest to readers. Well, here’s a great one! (A story, not a reader).
According to Starpulse, a New York psychotherapist has started a special organization for celebrity parents, to help them become better parents. I couldn’t resist a story like that, so I visited the site in question, Celebrity Parents Association.
The site looks like it was built from one of those “website in a box” thingies, and it has really large type in case you are visually-impaired. But hey — this is a good cause, right? Who am I to critique little things like that?
The organization was set up by a person called Blake Le Vine, LMSW, and in the first paragraph we learn that among his other qualifications, he has collected autographs from such luminaries as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Frank Sinatra, Princess Di, and Mother Teresa. Blake’s really got my attention now.
So what’s he selling? Here it is:
“We would like to provide resources and counseling referrals to any celebrity or regular parent looking to better handle their job raising kids”.
Hey, what a great idea! Why didn’t all those other Hollywood therapists think of that?
Now here’s the really funny part — Blake has emailed Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton to ask them to help spread the word, with, say, parents like Britney Spears!
If this all sounds like cheap hucksterism, it is. Because what this is all about is selling a book. Yep, it’s good old p.r. in action.
Blake has co-authored a parenting book with someone named Suzanne Wachtel, LMSW. The book is called Like Mother, Like Son: A Mom’s Guide To Raising Healthy Children. You can read all about it on the book page of their site, but be warned — the font size gets really, really large on that page, to show you how important it is.
So, if you happen to get sucked in by all this talk of celebrity parents, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and the like, but you don’t actually know any celebrity parents who you can refer, well, relax. You can still buy the book.
And if you still need help after you’ve read it, well, Blake does have some limited spots available for private counseling, and I assume that includes an hour or two for what he keeps calling ”regular people” (as opposed to celebrities).
I’m sorry, but I’m naturally suspicious of any website that makes its pitch in really large typeface. It’s up there with “act now before time runs out” as a marketing tactic.
As if to establish his street cred to be pushing this kind of celebrity therapy schtick, Blake has posted some humongously huge pictures of a younger Blake, with assorted celebrities. There’s Blake with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Young Blake standing close to Paul McCartney. “Teen-about-town” Blake meeting President Clinton. A really young Blake with a glazed-looking Cindy Crawford. A super-young Blake with Brad Pitt. And finally, an indeterminate-aged Blake with a bored-looking Jon Stewart.
O.K. We get it. Blake knows some celebs. (Or at least he used to. Where’s the newer pics?) He can do this, he really can.
Here’s the thing. Blake — I think you need help also. You need to see a good web designer, right away!
I finally went to the page where he pitches his new blog, and the typeface there dwarfs the rest of the site! The url is so large, it could double as a billboard on the L.A. freeway. I have to ask — Blake, what is the point of the reallly large type? Don’t you realize your site is SCREAMING AT PEOPLE?
I have to stop now. I’m getting all aesthetically worked-up, and it’s not good for my blood pressure. I should try to remember that it’s my job to review celebrity baby names, not get all worked up about some celebrity parents’ organization website. Maybe I ought to see if Blake has an open appointment in the next month or two — after all, I’m a regular person, too. (I think).
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Keisha Castle-Hughes, the Australian-born actress nominated for an Oscar for her role in 2002’s Whale Rider, is a mom at the age of seventeen.
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