So have you heard about the kid on Long Island who earned all 121 Boy Scout merit badges?
The Associated Press reported this week that 18-year-old Shawn Goldsmith has nabbed his final badge — for bugling — and far surpassed the 21-badge requirement needed for the elite Eagle Scout rank. We say good for him! In honor of the most famous Boy Scout of the moment, RedEye is handing out light-hearted merit badges to a few familiar faces.
CITIZENSHIP IN THE WORLD BADGE
CELEB: Angelina Jolie
RATIONALE: Jolie’s conceived and adopted children with beau Brad Pitt hail from Cambodia, Ethiopia, Nambia, Vietnam and France. She’s an advocate for the UN and has done international charity work for AIDS orphans.
SCHOLARSHIP BADGE
CELEB: James Franco
RATIONALE: Who stars in a box-office smash like “Spider-Man” and then signs up for graduate school? James Franco, that’s who. The “Milk” actor caused a stir this year when he enrolled at Columbia University in New York City.
ELECTRONICS BADGE
CELEB: Kanye West
RATIONALE: Love it or hate it, West’s single “Love Lockdown,” which employs an electronic Auto Tone device to distort his voice, has drawn a lot of attention. Did you see West on “SNL” without the bells and whistles of studio production? It was, um, interesting.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP BADGE
CELEB: 50 Cent
RATIONALE: Fif rose to the spotlight with his music, but now he’s known just as much for the reported $100 million deal he made in ’07 when the vitamin water he sponsored was bought by Coca-Cola. Last we heard, he’s also looking to invest in a mine shaft somewhere in South Africa. Seriously.
COIN COLLECTING BADGE
CELEB: Paris Hilton
RATIONALE: It’s hard to say who has the most coin in Hollywood, so we’ll just have to settle for the celeb with the most outlandish purchase recently. And the award goes to … Hilton, who just reportedly had an estimated $2 million in jewelry stolen from her home, recently bought a Bentley Continental GT with a list price of about $200,000.
AVIATION BADGE
CELEB: SamRo and LiLo
RATIONALE: Who travels more than Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan? Probably a lot of people, but these gal pals are the most notable jet-setters — seems like they’re in a different locale every night with Ronson’s DJ gigs.
DOG CARE BADGE
CELEB: Cesar Millan
RATIONALE: This one’s a no-brainer. He’s “The Dog Whisperer,” people! Millan’s show on National Geographic Channel is all about how he works with persnickety pups to turn them into canines fit for a king. He should get more than a badge for that.
