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From the red carpet to the last award of the night, tune in here to comment alongside Mr. wOw.
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Sunday night, Mr. wOw sat here in front of his computer at home, watching the Emmys, commenting on the awards, the gowns, the face-lifts, the varying degrees of sobriety of actors who mean absolutely nothing to … anyone. Come on, let’s be real. It’s empty fun. For me and (hopefully) for you. It took our minds away for a few hours.
Saturday, however, I was sorely tempted to call Miss Joni Evans, our blonde and brilliant leader, and tell her I’d changed my mind. I wasn’t up to it. I’d spent the day watching and reading the various reports on the Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin “Restoring Honor” rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, drawing an impressive crowd. (Estimates will vary, as they always do for all gatherings.) Beck’s call to his lemmings came on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s immortal “I Have a Dream” speech, at the very same spot. (Beck insists he “didn’t know” the significance of the date – although going back about a year, when he first began hyping the event, it seems indeed he did.) Dr. King spoke to a sea of people, both black and white, all committed to ending the horrors of racial inequality. Mr. Beck’s partisans were almost overwhelmingly lily white. They want to end the horror of … a black man in the White House.
Oh, sure, Beck didn’t employ his usual lunatic paranoia, accusations of racism against President Obama, and managed – except for a couple of well-timed near-sobs – not to weep like a man confined to a straightjacket and denied his meds. He spoke of “restoring America’s honor” and a lot about God. I wonder what “honor” he refers to. Slaughtering the American Indian? Stealing land that didn’t belong to us? Interning the Japanese? Being forced to accept a woman’s right to vote? Being forced to accept civil rights for African Americans? Still denying gay men and woman the simple right to marry? Oh, that honor.
I have rarely been as chilled and depressed as I watched Mr. Beck ramble on. I found it difficult to even understand what he was saying at times, his logic seemed so convoluted – at one point he appeared to be saying we should all be free of being “ruled” by anybody, that all Americans should take their lives into their own hands. Isn’t this anarchy? And what about the next Katrina or oil spill? Shall the nosy government look away and let these noble self-sufficient Americans fend for themselves? There was an overabundance of God-talk. Beware of men who don’t wear the cloth and aren’t standing at the altar, telling us all about The Deity. Unless He has spoken to you, you know nothing of His wants.
To be honest, Beck did not incite the rally to vocal denunciations of Democrats or that great devil, Barack Obama. He didn’t have to. We all know what he has said in the past and will say in the future. He is interested in his own power. He is so similar to so many charismatic figures who have stood at podiums across the centuries. In his case of course – and in Mrs. Palin’s case – the adjectives “charismatic” or “mesmerizing” are good things. Not the bad charisma of that dark person in the White House.
When the rally was over, when the good white people scattered, Mrs. Palin was asked if this was a first strike at a Palin/Beck presidential run in 2012. In the manner of politicians everywhere in every party, she replied, “We are happy with what we are doing now.” (Italics mine.) Beck’s people and the Tea Partyers say they “don’t recognize their country anymore.” Well, I do, and I’d rather not return to that land.
Oh, one more thing. Even on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Mrs. Palin couldn’t help twisting the truth to suit her needs. She spoke of “Raising a combat vet … no matter what, nobody can take that away from me.” Mrs. Palin’s memory, as usual, is selective. Actually, she raised a troubled teen who was involved in vandalizing school buses and who used drugs. His enlistment was less patriotic than the only sensible maneuver to keep the boy out of harm’s way while Mama campaigned for the vice-presidency. Also, it was great way to squelch any public declarations of pride coming from Joe Biden, whose son was also on his way to Iraq. “Na, na … I got a soldier boy too! – can I call you Joe?”
During the Beck and Palin Show, was that a tear I saw trickling from the marble cheek of Abraham Lincoln as he gazed somberly across the great lawn – when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?
I hope you enjoyed the Emmys. Mr. wOw was as foolish as the show dictated.
Images: Robin Platzer/PRPhotos/Robin Platzer
Foolish comments on foolish subjects from Letterman to LiLo to Julia and more.
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There was one really bright spot in the news for Mr. wOw last week. The enraged (and terrified) bull who leapt over barriers of a bullring in Spain and charged into the crowd that was gathered to watch the animal be tortured and killed. You go, guy!
I’m glad none of the so-called human beings were killed, but I am sure as hell glad that ballsy bull gave them a taste of fear.
I don’t care how hot and sexy the toreros look in their skintight uniforms of death, bullfighting is a loathsome “sport” and those who enjoy it are considerably lower on the evolutionary scale than the bulls. (And the horses, who are also often injured terribly.)
Of course, the bull met his inevitable fate in the ring. But I raise a glass to him and hope he went to a better place, to live in peace – not cornered by the savagery of man.
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I am appalled as each passing day brings new headlines and nonstop cable bloviating on the “mosque issue.” A total waste of time, the new wedge topic that means nothing to anybody outside the state and city of New York. (Or do you think the people still suffering on the Gulf Coast, for instance, care about a mosque that is not even in sight of Ground Zero? Or even one that was? Please!)
I am even more appalled that Barack Obama did not say this, weeks ago: “This is a local issue, not a federal issue. Please direct your questions to the Mayor of New York City, Mr. Bloomberg, who supports the building of the mosque. I have millions of unemployed Americans to think about. Thank you.”
And then he should have stuck to his guns and never made another damn statement. He should have turned it continually back to Bloomberg.
Certainly, Obama’s decision to make a fulsome mosque statement and then blink has not been a wild success.
I think Obama gets more crap thrown at him than any other American president … ever. Crap that verges on the seditious and treasonous. And yes, yes, yes … much of it is racist. Go ahead, tell me how wrong I am.
On the other hand – he doesn’t do himself favors most of the time. There is an air of floundering that is incredibly upsetting to those of us who voted for him, and sure don’t want a Republican in the White House two years from now.
Somebody, please – grab the oars, get rid of Robert Gibbs, stop reacting to cable news, and by the way – I don’t begrudge anybody a vacation, but you know what, somebody should have told Michelle, “Now’s not the time for Spain.”
I want Mr. Obama to be my president until 2016. I’ll help him if he helps himself.
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Mr. wOw contemplates a healthy life Continue reading “Mr. Lucky” »
Lindsay Lohan/Photo © PR Photos
Yikes! They were out in force over the past four days. I do mean people who have nothing to do but essentially wish bad luck on those whom they’ve never met, and of whom they are secretly envious.
Chelsea Clinton got married. She wed her longtime boyfriend in a big ceremony that she didn’t want, but her parents did. The price tag came in at less than $2 million, which is nothing considering the wealth of the bride’s parents. They had it, they spent it. But the haters had begun even before the couple took their vows. The celebrity-heavy guest list (a fiction) … the cost (mostly a fiction and none of anybody’s business) … the dress Hilary Clinton wore to the rehearsal dinner (Mr. wOw thought it fresh and summery – Mrs. Clinton is no sylph – so what?). Once the wedding pics were posted there was horrific traffic on lowbrow websites such as Perez and TMZ (and even on Huffington Post) criticizing Chelsea’s looks, the faith of her husband (he is Jewish) and almost anything else one could throw at a person whose last name is Clinton. Or at a person who has more than you do. (That means you, if you begrudge people who have made it big, the right to live big. Like you wouldn’t?)
Chelsea looked great. I loved her dress and the only thing negative I can find to say is that Bill Clinton needs to put on a pound or two.
Lindsay Lohan released from jail after serving 13 days of a 90-day sentence (which was maybe three more days than expected right from the start). Her release and admittance to rehab was just a hilarious episode for so many. The “Morning Joe” crew of morons were especially tickled. But they are all too busy posing for the artsy black-and-white photographs that illustrate the show, to actually not comment on a story that has no genuine significance. Or perhaps they are too up their own asses to comment in some humane manner. Because, as we know, everyone on the “Morning Joe” show has lived liked Christ.
Good luck, Miss Lohan.
Bristol Palin has called off her second engagement to her baby daddy Levi Johnston because of rumors that he might be the baby daddy of some ex-girlfriend he might have slept with in the many months between their first breakup and recent makeup. The ex has denied any such thing is possible – the story broke in the National Enquirer – but the humiliation was apparently too much for Bristol. Hmm … Mr. wOw was pretty sure the reconciliation of Bristol and Levi was part of Sarah Palin’s plan to settle her personal issues before officially running for president in 2012. Perhaps not. (Even Mr. wOw can be wrong.)
I feel bad. Bristol and Levi are a cute couple and from what I’ve seen of both of them, they are sweet and sincere and of similar limited intelligence. Neither will do much better.
Think it over.
The Food Network used to be Mr. wOw’s oasis of tranquility and fantasy. Something about watching people prepare beautifully lit food has always had a relaxing effect. I don’t cook much myself – not anymore, not after 33 years – but the various chefs and their habits and recipes sometimes gave me hope I’d return to being more a more loving person. (Well, they always say cooking for one’s family/boyfriend/etc. is a great sign of love. I say it’s a great way to mess up a clean kitchen.)
But in recent years The Food Network has gone the way of all TV. Now there is so much competitiveness. Various challenges in the form of “The Next Food Network Star” or “Chopped” or (most loathsome of all) “Bobby Flay’s Throwdown.” What?! Why do I need to see people cry or agonize or be embarrassed? I go through all that at the beginning and end of my own day. I find it ugly.
The “judges” are just entitled bitches and bastards (much as they are on “Project Runway”). The point is not the food, but how far to push people to make them break. I mean – let’s concoct a meal with an emotional theme? Or let’s make something in 40 minutes with an ingredient you hate? Or … whatever. Ridiculous.
I have a particular hate for Mr. Flay’s “Throwdown.” I hope at this point people understand that when they are approached for a “special segment” on the Food Network that no such thing exists – that it is a setup for Mr. Flay to come swaggering in (and a man with less reason to swagger I have never seen!) and announce: “Are you ready for a throwdown?” These unsuspecting, hardworking people have gathered family and friends to their “special segment.” I long for the day somebody up and pulls Mr. Flay aside and says, “My children are here. You sucker-punched me. Give me my special segment or I am going to bust your smirking face in.”
Now, that would be a delightful medley of sweet-and-sour ingredients with just the right amount of spice for a good kick.
