Have you seen 'The Wrestler?' Yowza. Although I think Sean Penn is terrific in 'Milk,' I don't think I've ever seen anything like Mickey Rourke in 'The Wrestler.' He's so ugly, you know? And by ugly, I mean that he is literally ugly from his long bleached hair, to his massively over-surgeried face, to his roided body, to his crackly deep voice to his dirty unmanicured fingernails. But his performance is unlike a performance - it's real. Like each day of shooting, Mickey Rourke came on set and was just himself. He's destroyed his face and body and voice over the years, and here he is putting it out there. The performance is self-conscious, but not in a bad way. I guess here is a situation where it works. It's almost like 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane' in the sense that in that movie, there were two icons who had become old and ugly in real life, and they came together and documented their realness for all the world to see. I don't think 'The Wrestler' will have the same camp value in 30 or 40 years. But I do think it will be remembered.
Ass still hurts.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Quick update.
It's been a while. Unfortunately, my ass is still broken. I'm still in pain four weeks and two days after my bike accident. I haven't gone to the doctor, figuring it would heal itself. I never expected it to be 30 days. I still can't bike or run. So I've been getting fat. I'm up about 7 pounds since the accident, and I feel ever ounce of it every time I put on my pants.
Anyway, my favorite show of all-time is back for a new season. I love "The Biggest Loser" like I love peanut butter and chocolate. The first challenge of the new season is to run/walk/crawl/limp a mile. One mile. Nothing, right? The winner, who finished in about 15 minutes, gets immunity and to pick who his partner will be for the remainder of the competition (and the partner gets immunity, too). There's already a Drama Queen. DQ goes balls-out at a blistering 4.5 mph pace, leaving the other contestants in her dust. About 100 feet from the finish line, she collapses and tries to crawl it in while the other contestants amble by (I think one of them actually kicked sand in her face, but I'm not sure). After all the contestants have finished, they go back to carry DQ across the finish line as while is going in and out of consciousness. After being dragged across the line by 6 or 7 contestants, she's given oxygen before being Life-Flighted off the beach. Although I sincerely hope she's not dead, it's great TV! There is a 476-pound person on the show this season. She is the largest contestant ever to appear on the show. And she is large. She finishes the mile and says it's one of the greatest accomplishments of her life. At the weigh-in, she has a complete meltdown (not like a Serena meltdown, more like a Kanye meltdown). It's humiliating and sad and difficult to watch. But you know what's amazing? If she's still around at the end of the season, she'll have lost about 200 pounds, and she'll be running 5 miles every day and lifting weights 8 hours a day, and she is going to be beautiful. That's what I love about this show. It starts off with compelling people who are killing themselves with food - how did they get themselves in the position they are in? What happened in their lives? One young woman tells us her husband and two children were killed in a car accident a little over two years ago. For the most part, all of the contestants each season have hearts as big as their bodies (there are some bitches and hos, of course). And then, about half-way through the season, it's on like donkey kong. The Lee Press-ons come off, the weaves are gone, the dancing ends, and it gets dirty like when you wake up on the floor of a city bus with a condom in year ear. It's a brilliant show. And Gay Bob the trainer? Woof! First workout and people are bawling their eyes out, throwing up, being screamed at (Jillian: "GET ON THE FU$KING TREADMILL NOW!!! I am not going to cosign your bullcrap! I will not tolerate you working below your potential because it PISSES ME OFF!"). You can't write lines like this.
So back to me. I think I have a broken tailbone. I've read there isn't anything that can be done for a broken tailbone, and it takes a long time to heal. I don't recall striking my tailbone against anything, but it had to have happened during the fall on my bike (one of the two falls!). I have four months to the Houston half-marathon, and I haven't been training. I think if I start by October 1, I'll be able to finish and stay on task for next year. Hope I'm healed by then.
Anyway, my favorite show of all-time is back for a new season. I love "The Biggest Loser" like I love peanut butter and chocolate. The first challenge of the new season is to run/walk/crawl/limp a mile. One mile. Nothing, right? The winner, who finished in about 15 minutes, gets immunity and to pick who his partner will be for the remainder of the competition (and the partner gets immunity, too). There's already a Drama Queen. DQ goes balls-out at a blistering 4.5 mph pace, leaving the other contestants in her dust. About 100 feet from the finish line, she collapses and tries to crawl it in while the other contestants amble by (I think one of them actually kicked sand in her face, but I'm not sure). After all the contestants have finished, they go back to carry DQ across the finish line as while is going in and out of consciousness. After being dragged across the line by 6 or 7 contestants, she's given oxygen before being Life-Flighted off the beach. Although I sincerely hope she's not dead, it's great TV! There is a 476-pound person on the show this season. She is the largest contestant ever to appear on the show. And she is large. She finishes the mile and says it's one of the greatest accomplishments of her life. At the weigh-in, she has a complete meltdown (not like a Serena meltdown, more like a Kanye meltdown). It's humiliating and sad and difficult to watch. But you know what's amazing? If she's still around at the end of the season, she'll have lost about 200 pounds, and she'll be running 5 miles every day and lifting weights 8 hours a day, and she is going to be beautiful. That's what I love about this show. It starts off with compelling people who are killing themselves with food - how did they get themselves in the position they are in? What happened in their lives? One young woman tells us her husband and two children were killed in a car accident a little over two years ago. For the most part, all of the contestants each season have hearts as big as their bodies (there are some bitches and hos, of course). And then, about half-way through the season, it's on like donkey kong. The Lee Press-ons come off, the weaves are gone, the dancing ends, and it gets dirty like when you wake up on the floor of a city bus with a condom in year ear. It's a brilliant show. And Gay Bob the trainer? Woof! First workout and people are bawling their eyes out, throwing up, being screamed at (Jillian: "GET ON THE FU$KING TREADMILL NOW!!! I am not going to cosign your bullcrap! I will not tolerate you working below your potential because it PISSES ME OFF!"). You can't write lines like this.
So back to me. I think I have a broken tailbone. I've read there isn't anything that can be done for a broken tailbone, and it takes a long time to heal. I don't recall striking my tailbone against anything, but it had to have happened during the fall on my bike (one of the two falls!). I have four months to the Houston half-marathon, and I haven't been training. I think if I start by October 1, I'll be able to finish and stay on task for next year. Hope I'm healed by then.
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