Lay Off The Booze...

I don't know if it's just me, or some sort of macabre interest I have in attempting to notice patterns, but it seems to me there has been an awful lot of interest in the press in the drinking habits of celebrities these days.

It was not even a month ago that Kurt Busch, who won NASCAR last year, was arrested in Phoenix on suspicion of drunk driving. He was suspended from the last two races of the NASCAR season and forbodden from turning over the championship banner at the last race of the season, the accustomed action of outgoing champions in that racing circuit. While a preliminary field sobriety test had him passing, his rather argumentative manner had him being arrested and held for a couple of hours in jail. That's not a pleasant place to be, from what I hear anyway (note: I have never been arrested myself, something I'd rather like to continue).

Around the same time, there was a rather infamous accident involving the car of Paris Hilton, being driven by her Greek boy-toy (who was probably had a little too much Uozo to drink--yuck). Despite three of the four passengers of the car being rather visibly drunk (at least according to video), the four were given rather kid-glove treatment by the LAPD. Look, the LAPD are apparently nice to celebrities, as scary as they may appear to the common folk of Los Angeles (they were quite in force in the area of Los Angeles I lived in, but then again, I lived in South Central). Nonetheless, despite visible drunkness, they managed to avoid any legal sanction. Lucky them.

Then, yesterday, Jennifer Anniston and Vince Vaughn (does the word rebound mean anything to any of you?) were stopped on suspicion of drinking and driving while together, and they got a friend to pick them up for the night. I find that sort of thing rather entertaining. At least the machine worked for them (unlike for Busch). Is it just me, or are the deputies in Arizona quite dilligent when it comes to making DUI arrests on the stars? At any rate, they ended up alright, and no worse for the wear, if a bit embarassed perhaps (no worse than, say Nick Nolte when he provided one of the worst mug shots of all time when he was arrested for DUI in Florida some years ago).

Finally, two minor actresses on the series lost were almost simultaneously stopped for DUI, and both failed ye olde breathalizer test (honestly, these famous people had better lay off the booze). Hawaii has an interesting law when it comes to DUI--the driver's license is automatically, upon a court hearing, revoked. A temporary license is given for work, but with numerous restrictions. Now, those actors and actresses of Lost are a little too busy working to be drinking, right? I mean, at least they should have the sense not to drink and drive. The nerve of them.

Such are my random thoughts as my brother enjoys a college visit with friends in North Carolina (Duke and UNC are on his list of colleges to visit). I hope he's doing alright, and I'm pretty sure he's not driving...