Friday, July 27, 2007

Except When I'm Not






Once I saw Jim Belushi on a night-time talk show, appearing to be a little stoned. His successes, such as they are, were being enumerated (remember About Last Night anyone?) and then he was asked about his brother John. "John was the boss of the family because he made the most money and supported everyone. Now I am." This frankness seemed to surprise the interviewer and made me think about the late, great John Belushi in that predictable way that everyone remembers him -- so talented, so funny, so absolutely addicted to everything bad for him. And nobody to tell him no, of course, because he's the boss of his parents, his siblings, his wife. That's the way it is when the divide from where you came from and where you end up are so great. Jim B. continued to talk at length, laughing a lot about the miseries of his growing up in that way that people do when they've got some distance and can see how funny everything is. I like this way of dealing with things, of turning pain into something else because as Jesus said about the poor, pain is always with us. There's never a shortage as with so many things and if the plethora of self-help books (The Secret being the most egregious offender at the moment --you want something -- imagine it's yours! You want to lose weight -- don't look at fat people! This kind of stupidity makes me want to stab someone and since I am visualizing it, maybe it will happen!) is any indication, nobody ever lost money underestimating the misery of people and the lengths we'll go to change it.

And, of course, there's the tabloid darling of the moment, Lindsay Lohan and her struggles. Clearly, she's in the John Belushi role with her family, the sole supporter, the one that has all the hopes pinned on her like some leaden weight that threatens to sink her, addictions by the score already, that deep sense of loneliness that permeates from her, demons all around. I'm not surprised by the public's lack of sympathy for her -- we imagine how well we'd do with all that money, beauty, opportunity, how we wouldn't fuck up or run away or snort enough cocaine to satisfy all the members of Fleetwood Mac in the seventies. We wouldn't want to get out of our own head, wouldn't want to quiet the voices telling us what to do at every minute, the pressure to be on all the time. No, we'd be a good boss if that were our role. We'd never get out of control and tell ourselves that we deserve another drink or some chemical relief because of all the stress. Nope, I've never done that. Been devoted to nothing but truth and beauty, except when I'm not. At least that's what my publicist would say.

Michelle's Spell of the Day
"I give so much pleasure to so many people. Why can I not get some pleasure for myself? " John Belushi

Cocktail Hour
Drinking memoir suggestion: Secret Girl Molly Bruce Jacobs

Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Friday!

8 comments:

the walking man said...

What is a self help book? An autobiography of how one person found their way out of the pit? Shit if that's the case we should all sit down and right about thirty of them to show how we got out of every pit we've been in, in the past.

Course all thirty of mine would have one sentence on every page and it would be the same one. "God saved my ass again" or Maybe for variation "God through a rope down so he could have a laugh while my fat ass struggled to climb out"

My current medical condition from being the main support for three kids and a wife but nobody put me on TV for it, and no one gives a shit that it was 18 hours a day that did it while being a drunk for four of the six hours left to me during a 24 hour period.

I have great sympathy for the Lindsay Lohan's of the world so little experience in reality making tons of money from what can be very fulfilling work but making unreality seem real. How do you you not grow up with a skewered viewpoint? And then the parental greed coming from people who never had shit to speak of until their kid became a star.

Look a Mckaulken, "what you mean Willis" now doing commercials for a company who makes short term loans to people at high interest rates.

Yeah these kids deserve sympathy but the entire entertainment industry deserves the same thing as the oil industry deserves a Windfall Profit Tax and the earnings of these children should be no better per year than a top flight teacher or mechanic but no because these guru's of pop culture don't give a crap that Britney Spears is a skank as long as she loses the weight and can sell a few hundred million dollars worth. That's what corporate whoredom is about. Not to mention a lot of money buys a lot of political clout no matter which horse you bet on.

But the saddest of it all is the children of my granddaughters age are growing up in this pop culture thinking that is life, the same as Lohan and, Hilton and the rest of the new icons think it is the right way to be.

It used to be that actors, actresses, musicians had a measure of a private life and while under contract to studios they attended deportment classes.

But even though the old school had as many bullshit instances (fatty Arbuckle to name one) of foul behavior it wasn't glorified.

Thank you Paparazzi.

Ok this is my very last post as a 52 year old bastard mean son of a bitch on this blog, tomorrow it will becoming from a 53 year old bastard mean son of a bitch.

peace

TWM

eric1313 said...

He is mean

He won't even except the thoughtful blogger award! I assumed it was well-tailored to its recipient.

M, you are nominated for everything.

You have a publicist? You rock harder than I thought!

eric1313 said...

Everythting means schmoozer award, Creative award and Thoughtful award. I assume you won't care either, but it's what I have.

Have a great summer.

Charles Gramlich said...

Whenever I express the faintest of sympathies for such as Lohan or Hilton I usually get growled at and so I shut up. I do feel bad for them at times. At other times I feel bad for myself.

the walking man said...

Eric

I apologize for not putting up the award and I do appreciate the "thoughtful blogger award" and I did go to your website and copy the code, I just haven't posted it yet. I will be putting it up and I do thank you for it.

I just am not as adept as some folks are about putting things on the blog as some are. But it will soon be up there because you actually are the first person in my life to actually give me a small token of appreciation for thoughtfulness.

But then on the other hand I hope it doesn't ruin my rep as being the worlds...well I used to be the biggest but with this current American administration I am not sure where I rank anymore in my being a prick. In the top thousand at least, I hope.

Thank You

Peace

TWM

eric1313 said...

I was kidding! Actually I didn't know if you saw it yet. I should have said I was joking! Sorry!

eric1313 said...

Michelle?

You're still nominated! Wasn't kidding about that.

Nominated by me and everyone else who knows you.

be cool!

Anonymous said...

Foodfight!