It seems to be the case with her, too, that she surrounds herself with people who are quite happy to allow that lifestyle. Or rather, they fear for their employment if they stand up and say anything.

KS: You watch that situation and you just think, "How the f*ck did anybody let it get as far as it did to the point where she's in a public salon shaving her head with everyone taking pictures?"

And then someone goes and sells the hair on eBay. Humans aren't built to deal with humiliation like that. The celebrity media has never been as powerful as it is now and to have all of your dirty laundry aired in public must be incredibly difficult to deal with.

KS: And whether you want to or not; like some would argue, "Well, if she's going to shave her head why didn't she just do it at home?" You know, everybody should have the same freedoms as anybody else has; if she wants to go to a f*cking beauty salon and shave her head she should be able to do that without the whole world being like, "Look at the freak."

It's gotten to a stage where she just can't walk down the street without being chased by a gang of photographers. I guess you kind-of avoid that. Not to suggest you're not as famous as Britney Spears!

KS: [laughs] I'm definitely not as famous as Britney Spears. I would have to engage in mass genocide on a Hitler-like level to approach the popularity or notoriety of a Britney Spears!

But I've got to imagine you've been in scenarios where you've felt uncomfortable with the press around.

KS: I'm OK with it. I mean, I don't really live out loud in as much as I don't drink, I don't do drugs, so I've never been out in public insanely drunk or high off my ass where people are rolling cameras. And also I talk about sh*t so much, whether I'm on the message board at viewaskew.com or writing in the blog or doing the SModcast or going out and doing the Q&As or going to comic book shows. Like, if you're remotely interested in me there's plenty of information disseminated out there provided by the source that nobody's like, "Let's find out what we can!" There's almost no point in interviewing me from that angle because I'm saying things anyway and putting information out there.

There's certainly no need for people to spy on you if you're happy to discuss your sex life and anal fissures and whatever.

KS: [laughs] No, you can't pry into my life because my life is so f*cking public!

But it's kind-of sad because when she's at her best she has a lot of fans.

KS: I wrote a piece about her a few years ago. I mean, she's past my time; she was not really on my radar. I'd heard some of her songs on the radio but it wasn't really my kind of music. I saw I think it was an HBO concert and I was just flabbergasted and appalled that it was nothing but lip-syncing. I wrote a piece that wound up in that Silent Bob Speaks book. And it was kind-of an anti-Britney piece but it wasn't about Britney as much as it was about, like, if you're going to pay sixty to a hundred bucks to go see somebody don't you actually expect them to sing rather than lip-sync? At that point you're just paying sixty to a hundred bucks just to look at a pretty girl; which you can pretty-much do for free on the internet.



Yes, but to the same extent you could make the argument that you went to the theatre and it sucked because the actors all read from a script.

KS: That's true. I guess it's the performance; it's the art of the performance if there is indeed such a thing to a Britney Spears concert. Which I guess there must be because she has a following.

I think for her audience there definitely is.

KS: Totally. And that's the other thing too; you've got to consider the audience she predominantly caters to. I am not the audience so when I watch her lip-syncing I think, "This is ridiculous." But to a bunch for twelve to fifteen year-old girls, and boys, that's right up their alley.

And I've got to say, have you ever tried singing and dancing at the same time?

KS: That's the thing, man; people who can actually pull it off amaze you. And that's the thing, the bar is raised by people like Madonna who will get up on stage and sing her song while doing f*cking virtual callisthenics and then you see Britney Spears who's dancing and not really singing, just kind-of lip-syncing and it's like: in a world where a woman who's way older than you can do it maybe you should try a little harder.

But again, it just doesn't matter; I'm not the audience. You're talking to a dude who can barely walk and talk at the same time without breaking a sweat and getting into heavy breathing and sh*t like that.

But you can get up on a stage for four hours and do it.

KS: Stand up in one place, yes, but it's not like during the show I'm running around the stage and doing a synchronised dance to whatever I'm talking about.