Kevin Bacon has started www.SixDegrees.org, a social networking site for charity that trades on the famous game based on the actor's ubiquity.

The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon held that any actor could be connected through films to Bacon within six links. In a video on his site, Bacon says he was "horrified" when he first heard of the game and thought it was a joke at his own expense. (It sorta was.)

But now Bacon sees it as fitting into the "small world phenomenon," where everyone is connected. It's an idea that much of the Web 2.0 is built on — linking people with social networks such as MySpace and Friendster.

Unfortunately, Bacon's site has little to do with the Six Degrees game. But it's hard to fault Bacon because his heart is in the right place. In less than a week, the site has raised more than $67,000.

SixDegrees.org accepts donations toward the favorite charities of participating celebrities, among them Kanye West and Nicole Kidman.

Anyone can link to the "badges" of celebrities, or make their own badge to sponsor a favorite charity, illustrated with their own stories and photos. Bacon will match the top six noncelebrity fundraisers with grants of up to $10,000 each.

It's a little complicated, considering that the idea of Six Degrees.org is to make donating easier and, with the help of celebrities, fun.

Another site plays on fame in a different way.

They all have them: the tales of what they did before they were famous — the humiliating jobs, the now laughable normalcy.

HardlyFamous.com assembles the history of A-listers' early days. Its front page describes the site as celebrating "the unique path that each celebrity took to stardom and proves that you can make it to the top even from humble beginnings."

The site gathers its information from user submissions, which requires a disclaimer that accuracy is not guaranteed. www.HardlyFamous.com is produced by the same folks who made www.NotStarring.com, which compiled the notable roles that actors have turned down.

Some of the background is well known. Before Paula Abdul was busy slurring her speech on morning talk shows (check the most-viewed YouTube clips from last week if you haven't seen it), HardlyFamous reminds us that she was a Laker girl.