thoughts writing: celebrity charlie sheen meltdowns
by yambidextrous
Comments Off
A note on celebrity meltdowns
We interrupt any vague level of sophistication this blog boasts by descending to the depths of Current Internet and Tabloid Sensation Charlie Sheen.
Let's clear the palate and look at a puppy, ok?
I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched the videos, read the rants, or been part of the Guinness Book World Record by following his tweets. And yet I am quite familiar with his very public breakdown. It’s almost like you can’t not be! Coverage these days depends on access, and Sheen granted interviews to practically every news source that asked (though, hilariously, not to the New York Times:
Mr. Sheen, who has talked to just about everybody else in the past week, did not respond to requests to comment for this article.)
It’s like a Mobius strip – the amount of coverage warrants even more coverage. which is rendered even more bizarre, as his demands are unclear. Respect him? Take him off the show? Keep him on? Try Charlie Sheen, the drug?
There’s obviously a trainwreck appeal here, but it feels different from, let’s say, the Britney Spears meltdown, when people reacted with disdain but also pity. Sheen is almost an inspiration. Is that the difference between an abusive, hypermasculine, overpaid t.v. star and a damaged, emotionally stunted overpaid pop star?
I’m not saying this is not an addict in name of help. But I’d rather let this occur behind closed doors, not on every news channel. Luckily the internet has obliged, by creating this plugin to remove the Sheen from your browsing experience.
A numbers game
By now it feels like I am writing more about getting myself to write, why I should write, and how I’m not writing–when I actually get around to it. I think about it a lot, and even have sentences composed in my head. At that point, I know I should just get them down instead of telling myself that I’ll remember later when I write (later).
So what I’m finding is that keeping to the twenty minutes thing a day thing is tough. People like numbers, like Top 5 lists and the website 43 Things and the Facebook game 25 Things. It’s an effort to straighten up our messy lives and goals and likes into neat little boxes. Here’s another number for you: I have heard that two weeks of changed behavior is enough to make a habit. Perhaps it’s time to give that one a try?
Speaking of lists, I have resumed a very nerdy pastime of yore that might only make sense to a very particular type of mind. I have started a list of things I have done in a month. Think of it like a cultural diary: each month you record what you have read, watched, listened to, seen, etc. etc. I don’t even put impressions, it’s actually just a list. Otherwise, I find that I plumb forget things. It took me until page 35 in E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India to realize oh, shoot, I’ve read this before! (Obviously not in any way that stuck… though embarrassingly enough, I think I wrote a paper on it) Is it useful? Time will tell. Do I ever “refer back”? Not yet. But it gives me a sense of accomplishment to see what I have processed.
* * * * *
Sunday nights in the working world are just as sad as they were when I was a kid. Perhaps less stressful, as I don’t have the homework to cram in before the next day. But come Monday, there is a depressing sense of sameness, which for me is laced with wonder: how did that go so fast? Why did I spend so much time hungover? And what am I doing next weekend?
A snapshot: went shopping in the city on Saturday, caught the tail-end of the Chinese New Year’s Parade, went to a party, had a heart-to-heart with an acquaintance I haven’t seen in years, wandered by Fisherman’s Wharf, had lunch with my dad, and then had a nice evening with Indian takeout and The Office.