The Week That Was

So much has happened in the last week that has kept me from my blogging. Aw, that's just an excuse, but here's an update anywho.

First I have to mention Master P and DANCING WITH THE STARS. Master P agreed to do the show as a substitute for his son Romeo when he injured himself playing basketball...hmmm, m-kay... I had a feeling Master P was going to make a fool of himself, and he did. He also made himself famous again.

The show seen by millions of people all over the country has single handedly revived his national profile. Love him or hate him or just get a good laugh from watching him barely try to dance, but the guy has got a lot of press. He's promoted himself, and his clothing/shoe line on national television, and he did so with good humor.

My other favorite who is bound to lose, George Hamilton, started mocking P's talk about "doing it for the hood," (which was a hoot unto itself because if you were really doing it to show the downtrodden that you can do anything you set your mind to, then I think you should put a lot more work into it and do it better, otherwise how can you inspire anyone?) P repsonded with aplomb actually. He laughed along with the joke (I hope he understood it was on him...probably not) and showed the nice side of his personality. There is a much darker side, but we won't go into that here... :-0


In any case, even though P's dancing sucked, I was sad to see him go. The judges sabotaged him, making sure that he couldn't possibly get enough audience votes to be saved another week by giving him and eight, the first single digit score of the competition. I actually voted for P three times on Thursday, because I get sick of seeing that wrestler, who has been studying ballet since she was 4, get all these kudos like she's a rank amatuer. I have much more respect for Drew Lachey, George Hamilton, or last years winner, Kelly Monaco, than this woman who has always been a dancer and is now taking off in a competition for people who are new to dancing. Anywho, this is a lot of blah blah yadda yadda about a show that relies on D List stars with nothing to lose who put themselves on display and at high risk for humiliation just to get another shot at the big brass ring. How delicious!


Last Thursday night my partner Ricky came home early from work, he's a chef, with his arm swathed in bandages. He got a second degree burn on his right forearm, because someone didn't empty a grease tray in the kitchen. The oil that burned him was 500 degrees! After burning himself on the job, the owner of the restaurant (who's name I will not mention because even though I used to like to go there the boss is on my shitlist now, and I don't want to encourage any new patrons. Besides, he's sliding downhill fast and the restaurant is going to close for good any day now.) insisted that he didn't need to go to the hospital. His arm was swelling like a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and this idiot wanted Rick to keep working. What a schmuck! Anyway, Ricky kept his cool, was taken to the emergency room and recieved treatment. The doctor advised him not to work for two weeks. So, he's home with me. I'm distracted. We're all hugged up. I'm busy playing nurse and have very little time for bloggin. So sorry.


JAMES "FRIED"
The author of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, Jame Frey returned to THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW the other day and sat in the middle of the frying pan. Oprah took him to task for fabricating much of his book. I was happy that she did this, because a few weeks ago when she called in to THE LARRY KING SHOW and supported his mendacity, I was disappointed in the Big O. I couldn't believe she was actually saying it was all right for this man to lie in a memoir. Now that she's come to her senses, all is right with the big wide world again.

I purchased A MILLION LITTLE PIECES from my online bookclub at AUDIBLE.COM about 4 months ago. It was THE book to read, and since I've been on a memoirs kick for the past year (Jane Fonda, Gene Wilder, Alan Alda, and now Joan Didion) I had to read/listen to it too.
[A side note: I always feels suspect when I say I've "read" a book, when in actuality I've "listened" to a book in my car as a go from here to there. Can you still say you've read a book when you haven't actually held it in your hands, but you still know the whole story? I only purchase unabridged versions of books I listen too, so I can hear the whole thing. But does it count???]

The book is brutal. Too brutal for me, I decided. After listening to the part where he suffered through two root canals and dental reshaping without novocaine, I couldn't take it anymore. First of all, it was so hard to believe. I'd imagine a person would pass out during such an ordeal. And it was just excruciating to listen too! My tongue was all up in my teeth and I was squirming in my car listening to this harrowing episode. A few days afterward, I decided that this book was making me extremely unhappy. I dreaded turning on the iPod in my car to listen to it, and I just decided, fuck it, I'm not in school, I'm not getting a test on it, I don't have to listen to anymore. And then this whole thing blows up in James Freys' petulant face.

A couple of days ago they were discussing this in a writers workshop I attend. The instructor stood up for the book. He said the fact that is not true does not dimished the inspiration the story gave to many people. Bullshit. The truth is important. We live in an era where "truthiness" has become acceptable. There is rampant cheating in some of the worlds highest institutes of learning, and we graduate students who will go on to become leaders or make big splashes in industry, and they have no moral compass. So what happens? You get disgraced frat boys like James Frey, or all those corporate titans who lied and lied and lied away the life savings of thousands of people as they covered their asses and gorged themselves on all that was Enron, or a President who lies his way into a war for oil, and never steps up to the plate to admit what horrors he has done in the name of National Security. This culture that accepts or excuses these blantant liars will continue to suffer until we have learned our lessons. Let's hope we don't blow the world into A MILLION LITTLE PIECES before we do.