Seriously, people: I'm not famous, yet.

[wolven7]

Or is it people randomly finding you, and being really interested in what you do that makes you famous? Does the fame follow the notoriety, or does the notoriety follow the fame? Hm..

Anyway: Hi. I'm Damien, also Wolven.

And You are?

Comments

[sylvar.livejournal.com]

I'm sylvar and I also answer to Ben and, with some amusement, attempts to pronounce "Mr. Ostrowsky". Without facial hair I sometimes get called Ma'am, which is also fine by me.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Thank you, very much, Ma'am. (Really? "Ma'am?" I don't see it, but maybe that's just because I know you.)

[sylvar.livejournal.com]

Not often, mind you, but yeah.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Weird.

[karishi.livejournal.com]

Near as I can tell, fame is a matter of people feeling honored by your presence before they know you; It's a construct of second-hand information.
Notoriety is a little more direct, and can be related to you personally. Also, you can be notorious for all kinds of things, and can easily be a person of note without being famous. I think this is both because you can be notorious among your friends, and because you can be of note to an individual. Both effect a sense that is much like fame without the target of the interest coming anywhere near famous.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Very true, but I don't think that one can remain truly famous Without some measure of Notoriety.

So, which comes first?

[karishi.livejournal.com]

I'd expect that most often the notoriety would come first. First someone takes a direct interest, then people see that direct interest and consider you famous and it's so.

However, there are certainly occasions on which it could go the other direction, where the second-hand information goes out about you before anyone's interested in you directly (this seems particularly likely of people who Do Works, as the works become famous before the doers. Then the person is famous as 'maker of x' but nobody feels they know him). I'd say name recognition is like fame, but often doesn't include notoriety. Most probably wouldn't know Bill Holbrook if they saw him, and would only know the name in passing; a feeling of "I know that name."

There are many layers.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Many many, and they interweave.

[raidingparty.livejournal.com]

Sadly, famous and notorious are used as synonyms, so there's little distinguishing them other than a slight negative or positive connotation.

I think the next level up is "celebrity".

I would say I'm famous but not celebrated; at least, not until people who haven't met me start offering stuff to me and/or a broadcast program asks to interview me.

[raidingparty.livejournal.com]

Ack. One of the definitions under the adjective "celebrity" is "fame". I give up.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Connotations differ, though.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Because people often don't remember that words mean things, I can have notoriety without being "Notorious," in a colloquial sense. I can be "Of Note," without being "Infamous."

Celebrity IS a good level cap, though.

[smartlikeatruck.livejournal.com]

Megan. A reader of Katie West; intrigued by your writing, and terribly nosy.

Fame and notoriety may occasionally be bedfellows, but it is easy enough to acheive fame without doing a single thing worth taking notice of.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

And That I find noteworthy, in and of itself. Or at least morbidly horrifying (Cf. Paris Hilton).

And hi! Fair warning: I am not always fascinating.

Just MOST of the time.

[smartlikeatruck.livejournal.com]

Well, everyone must sleep. I suppose you might be forgiven your humanity.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Don't be too forgiving of that. But I do appreciate your understanding.

[moonandserpent.livejournal.com]

Fame is so last month.

:)

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Are we calling integration the new obscurity, then?

[sillylilly-bird.livejournal.com]

I'm Barb - also sillylilly_bird. I'm a fan of CRK and many others and enjoy your comments on their blogs. I pretty much just got myself an LJ id so I could comment on occasion.
also - http://www.madcon2010.com/ starts tomorrow and I'm a local, so after work my time will be committed to attending.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Nice to meet you, and thank you for saying so.