Doug Clark: Hubbub over hunk’s mug shot proves the Internet is crazy

There was a time when the fabulous faces of tomorrow were discovered in coffee shops.

Now, thanks to the Internet, the recipe for fame is to be a punk and get booked into jail.

At least that’s the celebrity route taken by Jeremy Meeks, a former Spokane criminal, now known as “Dreamy McMug Shot” by his ever-swelling legion of online fans.

The hubbub is over the photograph taken the other day in Stockton, California, while the 30-year-old was being booked into jail on weapons and gang-related charges.

Meeks’ mug shot soon became a viral sensation.

A Los Angeles Times story noted a few of the now-thousands of reactions:

“Omg he’s hot!!”

“He’s too fine to be a criminal. I’ve got $10 on his bail.”

“He’s too pretty to go to jail … yet again.”

Many people my age have a difficult time understanding how the Internet works. This, I believe, is because many people my age don’t have the technical savvy to realize that the Internet is …

CRAPHOUSE CRAZY!!!

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. My son, Ben, after all, makes a very nice living managing those popular Internet cats – Keyboard and Grumpy.

Plus, I don’t mind saying that this is one helluva mug shot.

Most people who face the lens during booking end up looking like one of George Romero’s zombies.

Or even worse: the average DMV driver’s license photo.

It’s as if the gods of incarceration smiled on Meeks.

The lighting and camera angle highlight his piercing blue eyes, glowing bronze skin and chiseled good looks.

I’ve seen Clooney photos that oozed less sex appeal.

Whoever took this should start a portfolio and apply for a job at GQ.

Not to sound jealous, but if my high school senior picture looked as good as this jailbird, well, not nearly as many girls would have moved to the other side of the hall when I came by.

All right. I am being jealous. But at least I’ve lived my drab-looks life on the right side of the law.

Not so Meeks, a chronic troublemaker.

Back in 2005, he was living right here in our Lilac Wonderland.

In April of that year, Meeks was nabbed by security officers when he supposedly shoplifted a package of pellets from The General Store.

A Spokane County affidavit posted on the news website The Smoking Gun revealed that the officers pepper-sprayed Meeks after he repeatedly vowed to “(BLEEP) you all up.”

What?

And the guy’s a poet, too?

Some guys have all the luck.

According to the document, Meeks identified himself at first as his older brother, Emery.

There was probably a good reason for that, speculated The Smoking Gun, since Jeremy “was already on parole from a prior grand larceny conviction in California (for which he was sentenced to two years in state prison).”

Spokesman-Review records show that in 2007, Meeks served 71 days in the Spokane County Jail after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor forgery charge.

This will blow over as soon as the next Internet hiccup of the moment takes place.

In the meantime, I think Spokane owes some thanks to Dreamy McMug Shot. He is so much easier on the eyes than the last time the Internet linked us to a lowlife’s booking pose.

Does the name Brandon “The Felon” Mellon ring a bell?

You know, the smirking suspected killer who caused an online storm last January because the word “S-P-O-K-A-N-E” was tattooed across his dome of a forehead?

I’ll take a hunky hoodlum over that creep any old day.