Haven't heard of it? It's an experience delivered through a Website called chatroulette.com. Join in and you're spontaneously connected to random strangers somewhere in the world via your webcam. From French jugglers to deep-South garglers to morons asking users to lift up their shirts, you can never be sure who you'll meet next.

Foxnews.com reporter Joshua Rhett Miller put it this way: "One minute you're chatting with a mom of two from Montauk, N.Y.—and the next you're staring at a stark-naked man in Bangkok." A vimeo.com video-maker named Casey Neistat broke down his several hour Chatroulette experience to connections like this: 71% guys, 15% girls and 14% perverts.

One of the big attractions of the experience—though I personally can't see how one might find it appealing—is what Neistat calls "nexting." In essence it's when someone spots you on their monitor and instantly hits the "next" button to connect with someone else. Neistat reported that he was nexted by the first 19 out of 20 people he saw on Chatroulette—a hang-around rate of about 2.9 seconds each.

Think about it: 19 thumb-your-nose rejections in under a minute. And by Neistat's own statistical odds, at least one of them was probably naked. Man, this sounds like great fun doesn't it? In spite of that, though, CNN reported that about 35,000 people are connected to Chatroulette's homepage at any given moment.

The biggest crime, however, is that among all the thrill-seekers and deviants are a fair number of kids. To participate, you have to confirm that you're at least 16 years old, but bypassing those barriers would be a breeze for the average 10-year-old—who could probably reprogram my computer in less time than it's taking to write this blog.

"It's a predator's paradise," said psychiatrist and Fox News contributor, Dr. Keith Ablow. "This is one of the worst faces of the Internet that I've seen. … Parents should keep all children off the site because it's much too dangerous."

I'm no doctor, but that's one tidbit of advice I wouldn't "next" too quickly.

As stormy and dark as

This was the biggest opening weekend ever for both director Martin Scorsese and his star Leonardo DiCaprio. Scorsese's previous big dog was the Academy Award-winning crime drama The Departed, with $26.9 million on its opening weekend. And DiCaprio's best opening take before this, including Titanic, was $30.1 million for 2002's Catch Me if You Can.

Now, as the Plugged In reviewer, I've got to say that this is one of those flicks that has its appeal. Being an Alfred Hitchcock fan, I can't help but see stylistic fingerprints of the old master all over this well-crafted psychological twister. It's just unfortunate that Scorsese couldn't have taken some other cues from some Hitchcock classics and restrained from the bloody, foul-mouthed slurry he ended up shellacking this chunk of celluloid with.

Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather see heroes scaling precariously on the faces of Mount Rushmore any day.

Now, you may not have heard of either of these two people. Or, if you have, you may be at a loss as to how they fit together. But bear with me for a few moments and I'll elucidate.

Let's start with Frank, the last living veteran of World War I. This aged "doughboy" just turned 109. As a soldier in the U.S. Army, Buckles was an ambulance driver for American forces in Europe, and he once met commanding Gen. John Pershing. The seasoned gent offered some thoughts on how he has managed to reach his second century: "The important thing is the desire to live, and a purpose for living," he told CNN.

Ke$ha, on the other hand, is all of 22. She's the latest party-till-you-drop chanteuse who made it big not too long after dropping out of high school. Of course, her life experience has taught her a thing or two. She's feeling a little sheepish about bumping Susan. "I feel like a jerk," Ke$ha admitted to the New York Post. "They act like I beat her up. She's sweet. I'd kiss her. Hasn't she never kissed anybody before?"

When asked about his long life, Frank told the Knoxville News that, "Longevity has never bothered me at all, I have studied longevity for years."

When Rolling Stone asked about her life, Ke$ha said, "Society has taught us to suppress certain things, but if I want to do something, I let the animal inside take over, no matter how uninhibited or irreverent it is. Who cares? Crazy people are what keeps life interesting."

"If your country needs you, you should be right there," Frank told the News about service and patriotism. "That is the way I felt when I was young, and that's the way I feel today."

"I think people can stand to take themselves just a little less seriously," Ke$ha said to Billboard magazine about her own battles. "I'm fighting the war against pretension."

"I had many different assignments and I was doing things that I thought were important … no, I didn't either: I didn't think they were important. But I found out afterwards when I read up on my history that some of the things that I did were quite important," Frank told Tampa Bay Online.

"If you come to a live show, it's a sensory assault. You will leave covered in sweat, beer, glitter, and, just maybe, you'll get a special edition Ke$ha condom. If it breaks, you have to name your daughter or son after me," Ke$ha recently told Billboard.

Anyway, I just thought you might like to hear from two people in today's cultural news—two distinct voices that ought to be heard, for one reason or another.

Oh, and Frank told The New York Times one other thing about the secret to a long life: "When you start to die … don't."

Just "don't." Well, Mr. Buckles, it seems to me that in a number of life's situations, your admonition is pretty wise. I wonder what Ke$ha would say?

I mean, I understand the allure. Wouldn't we all be tempted to lose a few wrinkles and look less like that before model for an ex-lax ad. But things are getting ridiculous. Take MTV's The Hills star Heidi Montag, for example. Now, here's a young girl who became famous as a teen for pretty much nothing more than being a sun-kissed California beauty—as you can see from the far-left pic from the Jan. 25 edition of People.

Well, this 23-year-old recently went in for a major plastic surgery overhaul that included:

• Mini brow lift

• Botox shots

• Nose job

• Fat injections in lips

• Chin reduction

• Neck liposuction

• Ears pinned back

• Breast augmentation (Her second)

• Liposuction buttock augmentation

And yes, the girl to the right of that young Heidi Montag is the "new and improved" celebrity.

"No one is ever perfect," Montag told People. "But I am obsessed with plastic surgery and with maintaining my looks."

We can, and usually do, point a finger of blame at Hollywood, but in reality it's not solely the entertainment industry's fault. (Hollywood's elite just happen to be the ones with enough money to have full body slice and dice fests and then unveil the results on E!.) They may inspire the masses with their prefab pulchritude, but it's we the people who are sporting a changing mindset in this area. And sadly, our youngest are the ones to be swayed the most.

According to Britain's goodsurgeonguide.co.uk, 41% of girls ages 13-16 want some sort of cosmetic surgery. The American Society of Plastic surgeons reported that in 2008 over 228,000 13- to 18-year-olds went under the knife for surgical beautification. And the results can be deadly. Not long ago, a story came out about a high school cheerleader whose life was cut short on the operating table during a breast augmentation.

Now, I'm not trying to scream scary warnings of young people dying during plastic surgery (even though Ms. Montag spoke of a near-death scare during her post-surgery recovery). What I am saying is that there's definitely something—be it our perspective on life and happiness or our mental and emotional health—that's being hurt with this new craving for an impossibly elusive perfection.

The Spice Girls were still strutting their British girl-power stuff. Angelina Jolie was the twentysomething "it" girl. Tom Cruise was getting "sexiest star" and "beautiful people" of the year awards, still a long way from his Scientology/Oprah show meltdown. Madonna had made it through her Blond Ambition Tour and coffee table sex books, and was on to Kabbalah and her third or forth physical transformation. And Mike Myers was still considered funny.

Each of these famous folks were all a bit windy and tiresome in their own ways. (Nothing much has changed there.) But the celebrity crop of that year had one thing going for it: the whole gang had some degree of skill or measurable talent in their chosen fields. (For that matter, they all had chosen fields.)

Skip ahead a decade, though, and things have changed radically. Today's celebs don't need skills. They don't need to do funny imitations, deliver a punch line or even be able to string multisyllabic words together for fame. They just have to let a camera follow them around and allow the masses to watch as they air their dirty laundry (sometimes quite literally).

1999's EDtv, a comic flick about a guy who lets a camera crew film his every flirt and flush, has come to reality—reality television, that is. And the '00s have transformed any number of reality show participants—from an endless stream of Kardashians to a bunch of dancing nobodies to the Real Housewives of inane-ia—into the latest water-cooler fodder.

Jon and Kate Gosselin's marriage unravels as the barbs fly. (Join us next season as Kate looks for a new love.) Hugh Hefner's ex-live-in girlfriend Kendra marries an NFL player and gets her own time slot. And Heidi Montag leans on all her MTV reality show experience and … pouts while continuing to breathe!

How has this happened? Why is anybody watching this stuff? Who's to blame? How do we go back to what once was?  You know, back to when celebrities at least had some kind of a real job.

I can't even believe I'm asking for that. Maybe it's like a frog in the gradually heating water kind of thing. Will we soon all be wishing for the good old Paris Hilton days?

—shudder—

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a report titled Virtual Worlds and Kids: Mapping the Risks, that examined 27 virtual online worlds. The sites the FTC talked about included digital playgrounds such as Build a Bearville, IMVU, Neopets, Runescape and Second Life. And, if you know anything about online video gaming, you will have immediately spotted that these selected worlds run the gamut from those intended for kids to those aimed squarely at adults.

But here's the disturbing part: The report found at least one instance of sexually or violently explicit content (ranging from bestiality references and aggressive behavior to suicide) in 19 of the 27 virtual worlds. And that list included 14 sites that were created "specifically" for kids 13 and under.

Not only that, but the report noted that most of the sites, including the adult-oriented ones, simply used a birth-date screening system to keep young ones out. And tell me how many kids can't figure out how to fudge their birth date?

The FTC pointed to one such adult site, which includes nude images on its front page, as an example:

Now, as a gamer myself, I know this stuff has been around for a while. And I'm certainly not advocating that the government should come along and try to micromanage the Internet. Without question, parental oversight has to be a part of the equation. But when kids can so easily walk right into these areas ... and when kids' sites aren't even that kid-friendly ...

There has to be a better way.

OK, that may sound confusing. But bear with me.

Anyway, it seems that actress Emma Thompson asked to have her name removed from that online petition full of Polanski supporters. Why, you ask? Well, a group of her fans voiced their dismay and asked her to just say "no." And she took their advice. Just as simple as that. In fact, Thompson said she was pressured to sign the petition in the first place because scores of her movie making pals "rang her up" with requests to join in.

Now the fact that Hollywood types give in to peer pressure isn’t really a big deal, I suppose. But we often talk about how we, as a culture, can be influenced by the entertainment we consume and the celebrities we watch. Isn’t it interesting to note that those same celebrities can be influenced, too? And in some cases, by little ol’ us?

"If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with ’Merry Christmas’ upon his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!"

Now, is that great dialogue, or what?

That’s probably why actors through the ages have thronged to play him. Why, in my acting days, I even had the chance to growl out his bad-tempered barbs on stage—following, of course, in the footsteps of the greats such as Alastair Sim, Albert Finney and Mr. Magoo. (Hey, even Fred Flintstone and Barbie gave it a shot at one point.)

Well, I recently screened and reviewed Jim Carrey’s take on the surly geezer in Disney’s A Christmas Carol that opens this weekend. And I’ve got to say—as a Scrooge loving, watch-every-version-of-Christmas-Carol-that-plays-in-the-holiday-season kind of guy—I thought he did an excellent job. To be truthful, considering the whole shebang, I think this animated version of the tale is probably the best one I’ve ever seen.

Now some of you purists may be clucking your tongues and invoking the names of Lionel Barrymore or George C. Scott or Susan Lucci, but I’m telling you it’s pretty bah humbugging good. (Pretty scary for little ones in the ghosty parts, too, I’ll admit. But have you seen the 1921 Alastair Sim version? Brrr.)

Now, you tell me: Who’s your favorite? Which Scrooge, in your mind, would Dickens be the most proud of?