Pool pays Kardashian to create buzz

It's spring. Nightclubs are out. Day clubs at hotel pools are in. To mark the switch, MGM's Wet Republic pool paid Kim Kardashian -- the new Paris Hilton -- to walk not a red carpet but a blue carpet on Saturday afternoon to answer the same questions from the media, over and over.

Is she watching "Dancing With the Stars?" (Yes.) Will she and her boyfriend, Reggie Bush, 24, get engaged anytime soon.

"I have no idea. I think we're so sick of that question," Kardashian, 28, said, but smiling.

Bush stood nearby, polite but growing impatient to retire to the shade of a cabana with his girlfriend, as men in bathing suits screamed "Reggie!"

"I'm ready to go," Bush said.

Yet, Kardashian had several more interviews to burn through. Her sister, Khloe, 24, was on the carpet, too. I asked Khloe whether she thinks Kim is the new Paris Hilton, 28. (The Kardashian sisters have been friends with Paris in the past.)

"No. I think she is way better than Paris Hilton," Khloe said. "I think she's the new Kim Kardashian. Kim has her own title. She doesn't need anybody else's."

Certainly, Kim's rise in the world of TMZ and People and "Extra" has been Paris-esque. Although Kim has posed in Playboy (and Paris hasn't), each woman started as a socialite daughter of famous parents, then withstood a career-boosting scandal of a sex tape peddled by other people, followed by a reality TV show hit. Kim, Khloe and their family star in "Keeping Up With the Kardashians."

"Anything she does, she conquers," Khloe said. "She's always been, like, amazing at every job she's done. And this is just something that was new to her, and now she conquers it, and she will conquer everything else she does. She just has that drive and mentality."

Kim walked up for my pool interview. She was courteous. Perfectly moisturized skin. Looked me in the eyes. Sober. Generous with her time. I explained to Kim that female tourists at clubs have asked me whether Kim, rather than another star, will magically show up, thereby eclipsing Paris in buzz. Does Kim think she's the next Paris Hilton?

"I definitely respect everything's she's done. She's very cool and has done so much in her life, and she's taught me so much, just being a friend for so long. But I don't look at it like that. I mean, I guess you would see the comparisons -- the reality shows and stuff like that -- but I don't know. I'm kind of like the sisterhood, with my sisters and my family. I've never thought of myself like that."

Kardashian told me other people also say, "Oh, is Kim the next Jennifer Lopez because of her butt?"

Kardashian does not think she's the next J.Lo, but is not shy to admit they share the not-thin butt trait. Last week, a magazine doctored a photo of Kardashian, making her appear lighter skinned (she's of Armenian descent), with thinner legs "smoothed" of fat.

Kardashian was not cool with it. She responded by posting the original, undoctored photo online.

"I wanted to put the comparisons side by side to show people: Hey look, I'm not perfect. I never claimed to be. I'm the first one to talk about my imperfections. It's not realistic for women to think that if you're on the cover of a magazine, you're completely flawless."

Then again, she said she's glad she doesn't have to battle false pregnancy rumors.

"Because then that'll mean I look fat when I'm not pregnant, you know?"

By this point in the interview, pool partyers in bikinis and shorts had converged against a rail near Kardashian. A guy screamed, "You're the hottest girl I've ever seen!" Kardashian looked over, smiled, seemingly surprised still by her status.

I asked, "What is it like, to be THIS?"

"It's weird! You know? It's weird."

I asked Kardashian, an Obama voter ("I have faith in him"), whether she wants to accomplish anything socio-politically with her platform of fame. She said she has met with the prime minister of Armenia. She's concerned about the country's poverty and, because it's landlocked, its high import-export costs.

"It's a dream of mine to go to Armenia," she said, "and raise awareness for the issues in Armenia. ... Anything I can do."

Then she said goodbye, posed for photos with fans, and walked to her cabana.

I walked to the nearest pool partyers who had rented day beds in a VIP section. Mike Mini, 31 of Phoenix said cabanas rented for $2,500 on Friday. But on Kardashian Saturday: $5,000.

"Kim kind of screwed things up for us today. She raised the prices," Mini said, smiled, and added, "It's all good. ... I appreciate her and her family values," as evidenced by the reality show.

Two other guys in VIP wouldn't talk to me because, they said, they "owned the world" and couldn't be quoted.

A woman in a bikini told me she had spotted me taking photos of her, and if I ran them in the paper, I'd have to pay her because she has a contract with an agent. (No, I wouldn't.)

Quite a few men said they couldn't care less about Kardashian.

"She's got talent right here," Colby Long, 29, said, while grabbing his chest.

But the buzz was undeniable. Dozens of partyers snapped photos and pointed and waved at the Reggie Bush/Kardashian cabana.

While this was going on, a fatless intellectual in a bikini, Jennifer Inga, 30, got my attention in the VIP section to condemn the Kardashian faithful. Inga's tone was cheery, but she (a clothing wholesaler) strung together complaints, especially about young women idolizing celebrity:

"I don't want my daughter (when Inga has one) to think this is what it takes to be a woman. This is not what it takes to be a woman. It's owning who you are and being confident in who you are. ... What are our lives missing that this is so important? ... Why don't we focus as much attention on people who try to cure cancer or AIDS?"

The night before, Inga (her idols are Hillary Clinton, Coco Chanel and Janis Joplin) partied at Tabu, bumped into allegedly shallow women and asked them whether they kept up with the news, if not the BBC then at least a newspaper: "They said, 'We haven't watched the news in three weeks.' Three weeks! Who does that?"

Intrigued by Inga's questions, I walked to the line of people ogling Kardashian and asked what they thought of the Kardashians.

"We love them. They're from Southern California, and so are we," said Kristin Carranco, from Ventura County.

Carranco's friend, Stephanie Mendieta, from West L.A., stepped up to say the Kardashians are "real people," a "close-knit family." Mendieta organized her friends' trip to Vegas and to see Kardashian.

"She," Mendieta said of one of her friends, "is from Tampa. They never see celebrities in Tampa."

Mendieta's friends told her they were ready to leave. Mendieta was busy telling me about the company she works for, Tiffany, and asked her friends to wait a second.

"They don't understand what a good opportunity this is," to talk to a newspaper columnist, Mendieta said.

All opportunities, fulfilled.

Doug Elfman's column appears on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 383-0391 or e-mail him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He also blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.