A final meditation on false celebrity

Alright: to round out the week and since even I'm getting tired of animals on specific forms of transportation (editor's note: not really, the author will never tire of that which is awesome. Never.) let's turn to a homegrown manufactured phenomenon: Rob Cockerham's trip to the mall. Rob, who runs the always entertaining and damned near always genius cockeyed.com held a contest this past weekend to see who could get the best paparazzi-style shot of him, his wife Stacy and their daughter June as they shopped at the Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento.

Top prize: $100.

About a dozen readers of his page showed up and made a polite scene throughout the mall as the family shopped for clothes and for whatever Pottery Barn sells. Other shoppers were caught up in the fun, asking "who are they?" and "why are they so famous?". Eventually people who had no idea who the Cockerhams were and why they were having their pictures taken were taking pictures as well. At the end of the designated hour the flashes stopped flashing and the lens caps were replaced. Rob went back to being a normal guy.

But here's the thing: Rob is, as I said, consistently entertaining and almost always genius. The photographers weren't there to maybe get a $100 paycheck, they were there because they love Rob Cockerham. A guy with a playful way of looking at the world and the flashmob paparazzi wanted to join in and play too.

Here's an article from the Sacramento News and Review.