Turandot DeNoyes and Delisi Friedan

My dear, close friend Eli has flirted with internet celebrity before.  You can see his Food Network video here, and his subsequent interview on Inside Edition here.  The first video, notice, has over half-a-million views.

However, he's now entered the realm of local celebrity in his own burg.  He lives in downtown Naperville, and for those of you unfamiliar, Naperville is an affluent suburb southwest of Chicago (an area where we are both originally from).  He's been living in an apartment there for a few years.  This entry on his blog seems to sum up the entire situation nicely.  

In brief, he lobbied the city government to enforce noise ordinance laws downtown, where the live amplification of Beatles cover bands in d-bag bars is almost deafening in his apartment.  His cries fell on deaf ears (aren't I clever?), and after posting yet another YouTube video (which got about 2,000 views before he took it down), citations were issued to several of the offending bars.  He has since been featured on the cover of the local newspaper.  But some of the residents were none-too-happy, accusing Eli of essentially ruining live music downtown.  Follow his dialogue with this strangely voracious lot in his blog entries over the last week or so.

I'm not entirely peeved at his ease in garnering celebrity, per se.  In fact, I'm pleased.  But this...this is something which I will never experience.  Someone among these Eli-decriers has made a shirt in his honor.  

The jealousy...bubbles.

And, of course, the pleasure that my friend is a celebrity in two arenas.  But...dammit.  I'M the actor.  Have you SEEN my Altoids ad?  HRM???  And all he has to be is a socially active neighbor.  You can't buy that kind of publicity.  And I really mean you can't buy it; YouTube is completely free as I recall.  

My advice to you all: the next time your neighbor's dog poops in your lawn, tape it and YouTube it.  You could be on the front page of the Sun Times (You thought Tribune?  Ha!).

Despite my bitterness, please support my pal and tell him how wonderful he is.  He's really just way cooler than me.  I'm starting to come to terms with it.