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Blog spotlight: CelebriGum, a site where stars and chewed-up gum intersect

By Whitney Matheson, USA TODAY
Updated

Every once in a while, a website moves me so much that I'm compelled to learn more about it. Ever since I came across the hilarious CelebriGum, I've had many questions, so I contacted its creator, Steve Young, to tell me more about it:

Me: First of all, what inspired you to create CelebriGum?

Steve: I've been a writer for the Letterman show since 1990 (back in the old NBC days). Among my other duties these days, I run the monologue, and I have to be near Dave's dressing room every day in the hour or so before the show. A little over a year ago, waiting by the window in the hallway, I noticed the piece of gum on the window ledge. I thought of a boring conceptual art project: take a picture of the gum every day, through the different seasons and weather.

I'd taken a few dull photos when one day I realized, hey, there's Celebrity X getting out of a limo! After that I was off and running. I started taking the celebrity gum pictures last April and launched the site in August.

Has anyone ever spotted you taking their picture?

So far no celebrity has been aware that they're being photographed. Sometimes on Twitter I try to alert a celebrity that they're the current star of CelebriGum but have never heard back. ... My hope is that someday, CelebriGum will be big enough that celebrities will wave up to me when they arrive. Or maybe stars will stop by 53rd Street to be photographed even if they're not on the show.

What has been your favorite pic on the site?

Beth Ostrosky Stern on Sept. 13 (I still get hits on that one every day because somehow it got near the top of the Yahoo image search results for Beth Ostrosky Stern), Blake Lively on Oct. 13, Justin Bieber on Feb. 6, one of the Paris Hilton pictures on Feb. 20, and one of the Amanda Seyfried pictures on March 10. There are many others I like. Many of the pictures are only good on the conceptual level, but I think quite a few are appealing, in a freakish sort of way.

Who is your dream "get" on the 'Gum?

I guess my dream CelebriGum celebrity would be President Obama ... but I'd have to think twice before throwing open the window and sticking my hand out as the President stepped from his limo. CelebriGum isn't really worth dying for in a hail of Secret Service bullets. I did get Bill Clinton, but I planned ahead and asked our security people to tell the Secret Service what I was up to. I don't know if I could get away with that for a sitting President.

Any theories as to who may have left the famous gum on the window ledge?

I've noticed that there's much more interest in the gum as a character than in the actual celebrities. Fans not only wonder who chewed the gum, what kind of gum is it, etc., but they worry about the gum, wonder how it's feeling, talk about its hopes and fears ... it may turn out to be the biggest celebrity in the whole project.

Who chewed the gum? That's the great mystery. I have no idea. Nobody has come forward to take credit. Maybe we could send a sample to a lab to try to get some DNA, but I refuse to disturb the gum. I think the mystery adds to the allure of CelebriGum.

Steve adds, "Anyone who's philosophically inclined can come up with interpretations about the transitory nature of fame and how celebrities are chewed up and spit out ... that's fine, but I primarily like the odd juxtaposition of the celebrities and the same old piece of gum. I believe CelebriGum is gaining magnificence over time, just by virtue of the gum still being stuck there every day as life goes on below it."

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