Is Robert Pattinson a technological "perfect storm"?

Sometimes I stand back and look at my obsession with Rob and ask “why is this actor different than all the others?” (Kind of like one of questions you’d ask at a Passover Seder.) Is it that there has never been an actor who has caught the public imagination before? Or is it just a matter of WHEN Rob came into the picture; during an explosion of technology – Internet, email, laptops, WiFi, Photoshop, DVD players, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, digital cameras, OneTrueMedia, camera phones, webcams, DVR’s, online entertainment magazines, message boards, Fandango, CafePress, Blackberries, I Phones, etc.



In other words, the phenomenon of Rob seems to feed off of itself due to the accessibility OF Rob – something never experienced at this kind of level before.

Think about it. At what other time has the public had this kind of access to actors? When has a group of women people ever had this kind of ability to network at this extreme level – all revolving around one actor?

Yeah, this guy.

Previously, all you were able to do was maybe start a fan club. And that would primarily entail writing letters or requesting an autographed photo. You could get studio photos and read about your favorite stars in magazines – news that was old by the time you saw it. Sometimes there would be newspaper stories and photos. Maybe there would be a contest to meet the actor or a chance to get a glimpse of him/her at a premiere or at the Academy Awards.

This was my bible and these guys were all over my walls.

But all of that has CHANGED. A lot.

Now we expect 24/7 updates on their whereabouts. We demand their filming schedules so we can set -stalk them. We can communicate directly with them – on their blogs, on Twitter, on Facebook, on message boards. We can watch them eating, or buying underwear – LIVE!

Rob, you were this close to losing an entire fan base if you had gone with the briefs. Seriously.

There is a lot of action to follow, thus a lot of potential for devoting entire blogs to them. Like.never.before.

If it wasn’t for all the blogs I started reading after discovering Rob, that were so damn entertaining, would I have gotten so into him? These women bloggers are incredible at reporting every detail of Rob’s existence. It’s enticing, and addicting. But without that, would I have succumbed so fully? Would the obsession have been sustained so long?

I don’t think so.

Don’t get me wrong. Rob is special. But I would never have seen just HOW special, if I wasn’t able to watch his interviews on YouTube, read all his interviews online or watch the Twilight DVD over, and over and over. Or search for RobPorn night and day. We can’t forget THAT important component. Photo shoot outtakes posted online? Um, yeah. That’s a BIG part of my indoctrination.

Vanity Fair - the outtakes that kept on giving...multiple orgasms.

So does this explain it? Can it be explained?