In January a guy started a blog at blogspot called “If I Blog It They Will Come” with the express purpose of getting a picture of Kevin Costner reading his blog. He said once Costner sent in a picture, he would move on to other celebrities.

He was quite flattering to Mr. Costner, calling himself a “genuine fan,” declaring that his efforts were sincere, and penning countless open letters to Costner referencing his work, making conversation, and begging for a picture. The blogger was relentless, writing 20 posts a month until May and then kind of slowing down over the summer to about two a week. He said he was on a mission and wouldn’t give up.

Finally in September his dream came true and he got two pictures of Costner reading the blog!

His first post from January 24, 2007:

The primary aim of this blog is to get Kevin Costner to visit a blog about Kevin Costner and send a picture of himself looking at said blog.

Once we’ve achieved this with Mr. Costner we shall move onto other celebrities. Perhaps, we’ll go down the list of his Field of Dreams co-stars, perhaps we’ll just seek out random celebrities. In any case…the game is afoot.

Before signing off on this maiden posting voyage, I shall first say that this blog is not in the interest of defaming any public figure. It’s mere goal is to acquire photographic evidence that the public figure in question has seen this blog.

So with that in mind…Mr. Costner…a word, please. Mr. Kevin Costner, you are a fine actor-director who has warmed our hearts and expanded our minds through your fine work in the cinema. You have educated us on the plight of the American Indian, captured the emotional fervor we all feel over America’s Pastime and while Al Gore was busy inventing that Internet thing, it was you who provided us with a frightening picture of what the world might be like after it is destroyed by global warming.

Kevin Costner, we honor you by making you the inaugural subject of this here blog. We merely ask that you honor us with a photo of your blog patronage…a simple request that we hope you deem necessary to grant.

Thank you for your time Mr. Costner…we have enjoyed you in many films and eagerly await your next motion picture. We are certain it will be phenomenal.

And in the latest entry, they’re positively effusive to have received some e-mails and pictures from Costner:

Dear Mr. Costner,

Where to begin? We started this site with a faint glimmer of hope that our postings would somehow get your attention. Out of all of the Hollywood stars, you always came across to us as one of the more genuine, down-t0-earth good guys. However, we were under no illusion that our efforts would impress you enough to actually warrant a response to our good-natured badgering, but respond you have. We here at “If I Blog It They Will Come” were quite taken aback by the generosity you have displayed in sending us these photos. We know you’re a busy man and we’re flattered that you would take the time from your hectic schedule to do such a nice thing for a couple of your loyal fans. You’ve metaphorically led us to our dry land, dug up “the dom”, and built our Field of Dreams. Is this Heaven? No, this is Kevin Costner doing us a solid.

Your sending of these photos constitutes (sadly for us) the end of your obligation to “If I Blog It They Will Come”. However, it occurs to us that we promised to send you an “If I Blog It They Will Come” T-Shirt in an earlier post. We’re more than happy to fulfill our end of the bargain. Take a look at our online store and whatever you want, it’s yours.

I started a now-defunct fan site in 1996, and I’m pretty sure the actual celebrity (who is a younger guy, I’m not namin’ names) e-mailed me and commented on the bulletin board about a year later. It was kind of thrilling, but I didn’t know where to go with it, like I felt guilty that he was even reading the silly crap I was posting about him. I know a lot of celebrities read the gossip we write (and that’s a collective we meaning all the other gossip bloggers) and I don’t want to think about it too much or I might start fawning over them like Perez does to Paris.

This guy should move on to other celebrities soon and just have a blog trying to get specific celebrities to respond, that’s an excellent idea. Maybe if he picks younger celebrities that are more Internet savvy he’ll get pictures after a couple of weeks now that his blog is successful.

Thanks to Fark for the heads up about this story.