glitz and glamor

paris hilton's movie 'hottie and the nottie' may have tanked at sundance this year, but that doesn't mean that the general public is any less hyped on celebrity status. take, for instance, the world superpipe championships at park city mountain resort just last week. this comp - with its 22 foot pipe walls and all - brings out the big guns of skiing and snowboarding. shaun white, tanner hall, simon dumont, torah bright, kier dillon, mason aguirre, kelly clark. whether these guys and gals have won olympic medals, x-games titles or earned a stint on MTV's "scarred", the rise of these snowsport superheros is opening a new portal of glitz and glamor to little boys and girls all over the world.

"i wanna be like mike" is a phrase of the past. "i wanna fly like shaun" is probably more apt to apply. while fans lined up to get high-fives and hugs from shaun white as he made his way out of the pipe, about 8 paparizzi were tagging along as if they just caught a glimpse of britney spears coming out of rehab.

it was like hollywood came to park city (fo real, though. 10 days of PIBs during sundance is plenty.), to catch the latest trends in a fashion show down the catwalk. i suppose a 22 foot tall superpipe is like a modeling podium... showing off cab 12's and next year's hottest outerwear... but even this woman could attest to the high-profile of this snowboard comp.

well, for all you cheeky bastards (don't be jealous, hart!), not only do i have red hair and snowboard, but my hand gracefully cupped mr. white's hand in a solid high-five while i was lined up with the rest of the fans to get an up-close view of the flying tomato, himself. i also prefer target over walmart. so you might as well start calling me shauna white, because i wanna be like mike fly like shaun eat a red tomato. after all...like snowboarding, lycopene does a body good.