Look Who's Stalking

I think it's really weird that John Travolta has his own website.

It's not a fan site. It's not created by some dork in his basement who's seen "Pulp Fiction" 500 times.

It's John himself putting together his own site.

I don't really know where to begin with this, but let's give a try:

Why did he do this? Was he not satisfied with his IMDB page? Was he disappointed by his fans' sites? Was he under the impression that there was a void in the World Wide Web, where millions of fans were searching for "official" information about him and not finding it?

I did some (minimal) research, and no other major movie star has their own wesbite, from Tom Cruise and Denzel Washinginton to Reese Witherspoon and Cameron Diaz.

It has news of his current and upcoming projects (including an autobiography - Paris Hilton and Joan Didion better watch their backs), listings by decade of all his movies, a biography, an address to write him, and a page to leave comments and questions.

The simple, straightforward-ness of the site is as off-putting as anything else. You can breeze though it in minutes unless, of course, you actually want to read the descriptions for all of his movies. And the fact that they provide a snail-mail address is so old-fashioned it's almost endearing...operative word being "almost."

I just can't wrap my head around this one. It's one thing when a separate source like the Internet Movie Database lists your entire resume, but why go to so much effort to remind people that you starred in a lot of crap? And John Travolta has starred in a lot of crap, people. I was aware of all the 80's and 90's stinkers, but who knew he was weird, obscure movies in the 70's? I thought his cinematic career started with Carrie and The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, both modern-day classics in their respective genres (thriller/horror and cheesy afterschool-special/disease-of-the-week TV movie). But, apprently, Mr. Travolta starred in a lot of forgettable 70's flicks.

And there's just so much more crap throughout the decades. Does he realize he can actually say "no" to an offer?

No movie star has a flawless resume (Tom Cruise has Legend and Losin' It, Julia Roberts has I Love Trouble and Mary Reilly), but to go out of your way to highlight each head-scratching choice - with descriptions, no less. As if, somehow, by reading the plot of Swordfish we'll understand his decision to sign up for it. And does he really want to focus any more attention on Battlefield Earth?

To top it all off, it links to the website of his wife, Kelly Preston, where she's described as "one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood." I love this statement for two reasons: a) Sought after? By who? Her last good movie was "Jerry Maguire" in 1996; b) I'm always slightly amused when actresses refer to themselves as "actors," as if we'll automatically take them more seriously.

What were John's intentions behind this website? We may never know (and probably "we" don't really care). I just thought it was weird. And weird stuff is always fun to talk about.