' ' Cinema Romantico: Kate Winslet's Star

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Kate Winslet's Star

You may have heard that Kate Winslet, Oscar winner, hero, space traveler, is receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It seems slightly overdue, wouldn’t you say? If Hollywood is mecca to the movies and if its walk of fame is meant to honor its mecca’s most consequential stars then, for God’s sake, how has it taken Kate Winslet – The World’s Greatest Movie Actress – until 2014 to get her very own star?


Except then you realize that for every Lauren Bacall and Joanne Woodward Star on the Walk of Fame, there is a Christina Aguilera and Leeza Gibbons star on the Walk of Fame. And look, Xtina and Leeza can have their Stars, fine, no problem, but are these really the Stars with which we want the Star of Kate the Great to be mingling? This is Kate Winslet, son. Savvy? Thus, I stand before you today, dear readers, with a proposition. I propose that we scrap Ms. Winslet’s star on the ground and instead turn to a star in the sky.

In the 19th Century, Italian astronomer Angelo Secchi first laid eyes on an evocative red star in the Canes Venatici constellation, a carbon based supergiant considered to be very rare on account of its high amounts of the Carbon 13 isotope. He termed the star La Superba (or, superb) on account of its astonishing glow as seen through his telescope. It is one of the coolest (as in, 2200 Kelvin) stars visible to the naked eye and was described in 1905 by astronomer Agnes Clarke for the “extraordinary vivacity of its prismatic rays.”

Rare. Superb. Cool. Extraordinarily Vivacious. Who does this remind you of? So cancel that Star on the Hollywood Walk of the Fame and turn to the illustrious red glimmer this evening in the northern sky – let’s re-name Y Canum Venaticorum simply……Winslet.


2 comments:

Andrew K. said...

How meta it would be if a constellation WERE named Winslet, and Clementine and Joel were lying on the ice looking up at Winslet.

Nick Prigge said...

Mind = Blown.