I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV

Linda McCartney, beloved dead vegetarian, has a line of frozen entrees at my local market.

Robert Ludlum, well-known dead thriller writer, now has a new novel out. (the fine print on the copyright page says that someone else wrote it, but not who--I'm not sure if the McCartney entree mentions whether or not Linda cooked it from beyond...)

If you're a famous chef, that means you're not really a chef any more. You're a TV personality/entrepreneur.

Walking down the supermarket it's easy to feel like you're in a bookstore. Bookstores always used to be about people--individuals who wrote the books. Now, we've got Steve and Jeremy making ice cream, Emeril and Rao making sauce and, of course, Ben, Jerry and Paul making various snacks and treats.

It's no longer about celebrity as endorser. Now, it's about celebrity as provider. You don't just get their face... it's as if they made it for you.

We don't need another Lexus or Accelant or Verizon. Apparently, we need Frank to do our accounting and Tom to crack our backs... if you've got a skill, you've got a shot at building a brand. Possibly a lot farther afield than you ever imagined. And not necessarily for the massest of mass markets. There are already medical practices in New York where patients never meet the famous doc.