sublebrity (sub-le‘-bra-tee) n. A notable person, such as an actor, musician, or athlete whose star has dimmed considerably; an out-of-fashion personality; a B-lister. Although top-tier stars are fun, the WOW Report loves hearing stories about sublebrities best of all. adj. Unexciting, disappointing, lacking luster. It’s strictly a sublebrity premiere when Jenny Jones is the most famous person on the red carpet.

[Ed. note: Credit for the word “sublebrity” goes to Ed Halter, director of the New York Underground Film Festival. In a short essay at PlanetOut.com, Halter explains the phenomenom of lesser stars who live comfortably with a manageable amount of fame.]

We have become accustomed to the small press, the specialty label and the microbrew — why not a new understanding of our small stars, our specialty celebs, and the micro-famous? I have developed the notion of the sublebrity from working in the twilight world of underground film, where the gaggle of subterranean superstars could simply not be understood by any other taxonomy. The term gained further currency when I began advising a friend of mine to use it in the promotion of her indie film, which features a former ’70s sitcom star, a certain ’80s MTV VJ, a local tabloid journalist, a notorious East Village lunatic, and the surviving half of Milli Vanilli — in short, an almost allegorical llustration of sublebrity’s many faces.