HOLLYWOOD GOES COASTAL: CELEBRITIES ARE OVER THEIR HEADS IN OILY WATER

The appeal of Hollywood is the fortune and attendant fame associated with celebrity status in Tinseltown. The problem with Hollywood is that its players start to believe in their make-believe world.

They assume god-like status because millions of people are willing to believe that they are gods.

And the worshippers are willing to buy the tabloid magazines and watch the tabloid TV to prove their loyalty to their celebrity gods.

This adds to the confusion because suddenly celebrities become larger than life in the scheme of things. Often they go the Mother Theresa route and become champions for the cause.

Maybe it is their way to do penance for an incredibly fortunate series of events that turns waitresses into movie superstars, or undersized high school geeks into macho action heroes.

There is no real harm done by the celebrity with a cause. But lately Hollywood has stepped into the Gulf oil disaster and that is too big a reach for Tinseltown. Kevin Costner really knows his way around an aquatic disaster after 'Waterworld', and he is the most credible of celebrities in the game.

Costner is a major investor in an oil recovery device that will separate oil from sea water. He is smart enough to look in the mirror and see an actor- not an MIT doctoral graduate. He can write checks instead of research data in this field- and that is a good call Kev. The actual heavy lifting will be done by actual qualified smart guys.

Famous blockbuster movie guru James Cameron is a different case of "Hollywood and the Gulf oil problem". He wants to add his expertise from movies like 'Titanic' into a solution. His ability to film underwater is his claim to fame, at least as far as we can tell.

The problem is that Jimmy does not get to write the perfect ending for this movie. A giant ego and an excellent understanding of special effects is probably not enough to solve the problem. At least that is the way those of us who live in a rational world see his involvement.

So thanks for your interest Jimmy, but computer generated blue people are unlikely to win the day in this plotline.

An actual disaster brushes with reality too much and maybe you should do the same on the Gulf oil spill.