Is it just me?

Is anybody else out there wondering if Lady Gaga is actually a guy in drag?

Seriously, look at her. She's not masculine looking or anything, but if you stare at her and try to imagine her as a guy, it works. Easily. For a long time I was completely convinced, because the outrageous costumes seemed custom designed to hide an adam's apple, but I've seen her a bit recently dressed in relatively (more or less) "normal" clothing in which there did not seem to be the tell-tale bump. But I'm still suspicious.

WTF Hollywood?

Are we raising kids so stupid that they can't memorize lines anymore? Or is it that today's kids are so obsessed with becoming famous that becoming actors and actresses is too much work for them? Or is there an exchange program going on that is unknown to those of us not in the business? Are British, Scottish and Australian television populated with talented Americans doing nearly flawless accents of their adopted countries?

I realize that most people are blissfully unaware of this trend, and maybe it's just that I don't necessarily watch the most popular shows on TV. But I watch good shows which are generally at least moderately popular. Seriously, go to IMDB and check the cast of your favorite hour drama, see if you can find one that doesn't have an undercover Brit, Aussie, New Zealander or Scot.

We are all aware of Hugh Laurie as House. But how about the recently cancelled Law & Order? Linus Roache as ADA Michael Cutter. Grey's Anatomy? Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt. True Blood - Anna Paquin as Sooky Stackhouse, Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton, Sam Trammell as Sam Merlotte, and Alexander Skarsgard as Eric Northam (okay, so he's Swedish). Chuck - Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker. The Good Wife - Alan Cumming as Eli Gold. The Mentalist - Simon Baker as Patrick Jane. FlashForward - Joseph Fiennes as Mark Benford and Sonya Walger as Dr. Olivia Benford. And those are just shows I watch. I didn't bother to look into shows of which I am not a viewer. Oh, and I didn't even count the portrayals where the Brits are actually playing Brits, just the ones where they're playing Yanks. And I'm not even getting into the movies. But let us acknowledge that Charlize Theron, Colin Firth, Naomi Watts, and Kate Beckinsale are not Americans.

So, what's the deal? Is there some amazing shortage of American actors out there? Are all those stories we've heard about starving artists who can't find work just fables? Because it seems Hollywood is being forced to import immigrants (and if they make any shows in Arizona, are they checking the green cards and work visas on these people?) to do jobs that Americans are seemingly unwilling to take. Or maybe these foreign actors are so grateful to escape the oppressively liberal regimes of England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand that they're willing to work for wages that our American actors would be unwilling to accept?

BTW, I'm usually a LOT funnier than this (as if the last post was funny in any way at all)! I'm just in kind of an odd mood. And I was forced to start a new blog AGAINST MY WILL just so I could continue to comment on a friend's blog. See, I actually do have friends.

Taking My Time

I tried blogging once, a few years ago. I didn't think anyone would be very interested in what I have to say (and I still doubt it). As a result, I wasn't very interested in saying very much. Did you know that if you don't post anything to a blog for several months, it gets shut down? Yeah, me neither. And Blogger won't let me have my own name back. I had that name for years online, dammit! But Socialized Hermit fits me pretty well, too.

I'm not anti-social or anything. I'm just not terribly social. I have friends. But I don't make new ones very easily. I've been abused too many times to start trusting people with my feelings. I've never felt I was really an "insider" in any group (with the notable exception of my marriage - admittedly a small group but I'm definitely a member). I've spent my whole life feeling like I was on the outside of everything peering in. I don't even fit into my own family.

I'm currently not working, and as a result, I can go days at a stretch without leaving my house, so I do some pretty strange combinations with food as I strive to avoid a trip to the grocery store. But I'm presently looking for a job, hence the "socialized" part of my handle. I've spent 6 years engaging in relatively infrequent human contact, but as I hurl myself back into the working world, I'm actually going to have to interact with real live people, and I'm sure I'll have more observations to make in the future than I did the last time I tried blogging.