I worked hard to avoid watching any coverage of the OJ trial. I know. That's a timely reference. And I haven't worked that hard to avoid any media blitz since then, until the last week or so. Now I'm avoiding the Charlie Sheen thing. So far, I only know that he does a lot of drugs and porn stars (or strippers or hookers). And I guess "winning" is important. I've seen that word all over the place. But that's it. I don't know what "winning" means. I haven't heard or read or seen the quote.
And it's not because Sheen deserves a break. It's not out of respect for him. It's not out of a moral stance. It's not because I'm above that. I'm really not. Instead of watching Charlie Sheen interviews, I'm watching Netflix and Hulu and trying to come up with one-liners for one of my three Twitter accounts. I'm not above anything.
The whole story just looks really boring. Repetitive. Contrived. Irrelevant. It wouldn't be funny. It wouldn't be entertaining. It would feel like wasted of time. So I avoid it. I feel exactly about the story as I do about his sitcom. Except that he gets paid millions to do his sitcom, so I believe that's a far greater sin.
I don't watch Craig Ferguson regularly, but a friend recently mentioned his statement about choosing not to ogle at Sheen's meltdown. I respect Ferguson's take on this because I believe he's avoiding the jokes out of a certain integrity that he has expressed before, regarding Britney Spears' meltdown. He wants his comedy to help. To take-down the powerful. To drill at real problems that affect everyone. To make useful statements.
And as respectable as all that is: what I respect most about his embargo is that he's emptying his quiver of an exploding-tip arrow. That doesn't make him a good marksman (not while he's using those hand-puppets to open the show) but it is a move in the right direction.
But I don't feel sorry for Sheen. He's a big boy and he's going after what he wants right now. And he's getting it. Easily. In large amounts.
Some people might want to argue that he's not really happy. Like that means anything. Is this sustainable? Nothing is. Is he going to burn out? Everyone does. Will he make it to heaven? Only Oprah knows.
Your analogy about arrows and marksmen reminds me of an apothegm: The archer isn't known by his arrows but by his aim.
ReplyDeleteAs you said, Ferguson's aim is to be determined, but I do appreciate his discernment in selecting targets.
Whatever. You guys just don't have alien tiger-blood running through your veins. Is it sustainable? You're damn right it is--for winners like me. What, am I going to curl up in a ball and say, "Oh, I'm tired and sad, give me medicine for it?"--no. I'm going to keep doing seven-gram rocks because that's how I roll. It would kill you losers to roll like this, but you're not Charlie Sheen. Adonis DNA. Look it up. Craig Ferguson? Who's he? I bet he wouldn't have done John the Baptist jokes either. Go back to Scotland. You fuckin' skirt.
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