Marvin Gaye, I'm With You

I remember a rant from Holden Caulfield about his brother selling his talent out to Hollywood. Vaguely remember. Something about two people of the opposite gender dropping a book, giggling, and picking up the book. Then WHAM! Instant love. Out of boredom I watched the awful movie, "How to Lose a Man in Ten Days"

-Ha! I can lose them in two days!

These uninspired movies, countless, forgetful movies like,"Love and Other Drugs" always end with the female character taxi-cabbing it or Greyhounding it to this 'Secret World'. I guess they have jobs lined up that pay high amounts for impulsive employment. These jobs also hook them up with rooms for rent too. And bonus: in a world where love is everywhere, they never lose their beauty and values, so they live out their lives in eternal youth, blaring Joy Division, and owning the best Marc Jacob purses that their limitless money can buy. These women are smart, love never dies, conflict does not exist, nor does sexism. They get high pay in important cities for their brilliant minds (although they still look like movie stars.)

Unfortunately, some of these women never get to this utopia where everyone recognizes their brains, not bra size, because, like that latter movie I mentioned, their love interest pulls the bus over (or a cab in New York City Traffic on the way to the airport to utopia). Then 40 non-drug addled Greyhound folks sit quietly while the unhappy couple hash out their drama and mend their love. Then she gets back in the dropped down convertible and returns to the world that everyone knows about except these gorgeous women who always have an "out" when love sours.

That's not what is bumming me out. How do I try to articulate this? I have the soul of an elderly woman. I watch Dateline Mystery before I fall to sleep because I have unemployment personality. I can write this blog. A few days ago my cat was lost for a long time. Locked away in a working couple's home because the noise of the gardening crew scared him. A crack in the fabric of my sanity became an earthquake in my spinning sense of hopelessness. And it all went back to these Dateline Mysteries.

Dateline Mystery is entertainment for the white, middle class world. The homecoming queen gets stabbed to death. But the case gets solved after 15 years. Why is a family's misery 'entertainment'? Because it did not happen to them? The lead narrator tries to get the family to pour their hearts out. In one episode a brother flatly said, "I'm not going to give you the details of my sister's body when I found her. I see that image every day!"

Next are these comments, not just for Dateline, but most YouTube comments. Just insults. A new generation is 'finding their voice' on-line in comments to YouTube stories. And it's a hostile environment. Oscar Wilde said, "Give a man a mask and he will tell the truth." I say that when a person wears a mask all manners go.

In fact one Dateline murderess blamed the Internet on why she killed a rival. She said that the computer screen gives false confidence. Personally I try to keep tact while e-mailing, because I've had hateful e-mail that would never have been sent had they seen my face's reaction. I'd like to cling to the belief that people are not inherently mean. Just insecure.

The sad fact is that a lot of people are boring. Boring people don't say exciting things. And talent that is fresh is often rejected. I can't wait to do a blog on Tarantino. But first I have to blog about how out of control my 'unemployment personality' has gotten. That I chase Lucian (my cat) around with a glass of wine screaming, "I love your shiny hiknee!"

Does it take trauma to circulate blood faster? No. I don't have that answer. I can't focus on this blog because my cat, The Big L, is crying for attention. And it's simple things like that that make me happy. Life is a blur. But if you assign love to people who deserve it (and our furry friends), you won't notice the bad, the mediocre, my poor spelling, the injustice. That's the only answer I have. Love those who are worth it.