Has any celebrity in the history of the planet become a celebrity and fallen to the dark side as quickly as Lindsay Lohan? I read an article at the barber shop less than a year ago and she seemed like a decently well-adjusted girl. Took less than a couple months before she turned in to... that.

There are, of course, all kinds of stereotypes when it comes to young actors and actresses. The phenomenon has really taken hold among young athletes, too. Especially in the NBA where age is slightly less a barrier.

But in some ways, how much does age really matter? Even when the cameras turned off, Hollywood remains a soap opera of addiction, divorce, and so on. A lot of people (including myself, at times) are very unsympathetic when it comes to celebrities complaints about their private lives. In truth, we have reasons to be skeptical. A number of actors seem to stay out of the spotlight just fine, thankyouverymuch.

But at the same time, being an actor requires trips to Vancouver and Sydney for months at a time cause it's a cheaper shoot. The rest of the time it strongly induces one to live in Los Angeles. But mostly - and especially for the big ones - it requires a completely unordinary life.

Thinking about it makes me realize, at least a little, how happy I am that my life is not too unordinary. I wouldn't want to be the biggest star in Hollywood or the biggest writer in New York City if it meant that I couldn't have some of the standard things: a wife, some kids, a house with a yard.

In the DC superhero universe, about a third of the big boys do not have a secret identity and the rest do. I've always been attracted to the latter. I love the idea of doing amazing things and then being able to return to a normal life. Part of that, I guess, is my desire to live a normal life while recognizing how nice it would be to leave a mark on the world. Secret identities allow for both.

But if you take a character with a public identity, you strip that person of any sense of normalcy. There is only one mode, which is that of a celebrity. Though DC only explores this selectively, it's enough to make them less relateable to me.

That's probably why I don't generally care so much about what's going on in People magazine. What do I have in common with Vince Vaughn? I guess I am an egotistical being. If I can't relate to someone, and I do not know them, can I truly feel empathetic? Sympathetic? Vicariously happy? And without the drive to be in their shoes - to be a superstar - I don't have the envy factor, either. Even if I could get paid $20m a movie, I don't think it would be worth the cost.