Mr. Wow Blog
Mr. wOw’s This N’ That
12:00 am | February 21, 2011

Author: Mr. Wow | Category: Point of View | Comments: 84

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My weekend with MM, Betty Grable, “The Turning Point,” “Skins ” — plus, good coverage for bad skin

Weekends for Mr. wOw can go in several directions. Once upon a time, I was a big luncher/bruncher, always traveling into the city see friends, or at least gab and network with professional acquaintances. My phone rang a great deal. Those weekends are long gone. The last decade has been a sad siphoning of friends and activities. Depression is a bitch, and after a good deal of medication and a number of therapists, I am still not the wOw I was. And fear I’ll never be again. (Sometimes I can’t remember myself.)

So nowadays I’ll stay in a lot. After all, I reason unreasonably with myself — I managed to go out every day to work, right? What more can anybody expect? (Quite a bit more, but most of my friends have given up. I don’t blame them.) If I’m in, I can spend 48 hours supine, on the couch in my room, the blinds shut, dully channel surfing. B. will check in occasionally, asking how I am. “Fabulous, can’t you tell?” I’ll reply, more sharply than I intend. He leaves my dark room unhappy that I am so unhappy.

Other weekends are different, though not wildly so. I open the blinds in my room and let the sun shine in. I’ll read, and of course I’ll channel surf, but with a lot more interest and enthusiasm. (Notice I am still not leaving the house or meeting friends, but at least I give the impression of being among the living. B. looks relieved and hopes I’m “getting better.” Poor B.)

So it was an open-blinds weekend I just enjoyed. I didn’t read much — a couple of issues of Smithsonian magazine. But I was watching movies like a mad thing. Up early as always, I immediately went to my 200 movie channels. I almost stopped at “Taken,” the terrible but compellingly watchable thriller about a man trying to find his kidnapped daughter, killing dozens in the process. But I moved on ignoring several “Twilight” movies (I like vampires, but not that bunch of dullards) … the excruciating “Prince of Persia” with Jake Gyllenhaal … and even “Mean Girls” with Lindsay. But that made me sad. She was such a doll.

Then I found it –“Rancho Notorious,” a loony 1952 Technicolor western with Marlene Dietrich. She butches it up in jeans as the former bawdy girl who oversees a ranch for outlaws on the run. Marlene was gorgeous, still — if a bit on the embalmed side — and her acting was pretty good, given what she had to do. She even performed a sultry, husky little tune. Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer and Kevin McCarthy are on hand as the men who love and hate her. (Her best moment comes when she allows an aggressive Kevin McCarthy to kiss her. “That was for trying,” she purrs after their lips part. Then she backhands him twice: “That was for trying too hard!”)

This was a big flop — at that point Dietrich had moved onto the world’s concert stages; her days as a movie star were essentially over. But it’s a fascinating flop. (If not quite as fascinating as Marlene’s flops with Josef von Sternberg — “The Scarlet Empress,” for example.)

Then, after Marlene bit the dust — literally, I found myself on the FOX movie channel, and there were Marilyn and Jane Russell, shimmying and belting out “Two Little Girls From Little Rock” in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” Oh, yes! This is hands down MM’s most entertaining film, with her very best co-star, Miss Russell. They play off each other beautifully. And with Monroe at her juicy peak, as the not-so-dumb Lorelei Lee, and the Amazonian Russell, snapping out hysterical wisecracks, it doesn’t get better than this. Not even “Some Like Hot” holds up as well as “Blondes” in the brief canon of Monroe films.

Then, because the gods were on my side, “Blondes” was followed by MM again: “Let’s Make Love.” This one has its moments, but is dragged down by languid direction and a script than gives MM nothing to do. She’s not dumb here — just a normal, attractive, affectionate young woman. She’s in Debbie Reynolds/Doris Day territory.  But try as she might (and she tries!) she can’t breathe life into a lifeless character. So she is compelled to “do her Marilyn thing” in the musical numbers, which gives the film a distinctly schizzy vibe. The pouting, posturing, hip-shaking sex-symbol of the musical numbers has nothing to do with the (sweet, sincere but dull) character she plays. She is voluptuous to max here, and while I find her Rubens-come-to-life shape appealing, critics were not kind. Yves Montand, her co-star, is charming and they have a nice chemistry. (Well, they were lovers during the filming!)

Invigorated, Mr. wOw did some grocery shopping and a few household chores. When I got back to the TV, I knew there was divine power at work: there was Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine at the bar in “The Turning Point,” about to slap, scratch and kick their way from the barstools to the roof of Lincoln Center. My favorite moment? MacLaine tells Bancroft than her (MacLaine’s daughter) could never be like aging ballet diva Bancroft. “She’s not a killer; you’d walk over anybody to get what you want.”  Bancroft doesn’t move a muscle, but she tenses exquisitely, and the thin material of her filmsy gown flutters, ever so slightly. Then she throws a drink in Shirley’s face and the battle is on. As far as ballet movies go, this is as good — in a more realistic way — as “The Red Shoes.” As for “Black Swan” — that is compelling and creepy, but if Natalie Portman wins the Oscar, Mr. wOw will be forced to write somebody a very mean letter. Please — give it to the brilliant Miss Bening. If for nothing else, she took Warren Beatty out of commission just as he was about to become a joke. (His affair with Madonna shocked him right into Miss Bening’s sensible, lovely arms.)

I clicked to Turner Classic Movies and was so pleased to find Betty Grable in “Coney Island.” Miss Grable was a gigantic star, and one of Mr. wOw’s childhood favorites. (Before he was seduced by the tragic messiness of Miss Monroe.) Grable was always a smart cookie in her movies, nobody’s fool. She was natural and appealing. She danced extremely well, and sang pleasantly. Betty was simply fun to watch, engaging and a good role model for women, I’d say. And she was so popular that “Coney Island” was re-made six years later as “Wabash Avenue.” Same story, same dialogue, different leading man. It was successful as the original. Try that one on any star today! Betty, I love you just as I did as a child. And appreciate you more.

Mr. wOw was blissed out. Later, I watched the controversial MTV program “Skins.” This has been trumpeted as scandalous and offensive –“the secret life of teenagers!” Really? Is it any secret teenagers are interested in, and have, sex? Or that they are tempted by, and often take, drugs? The show isn’t a patch on the British original. “Skins” is nothing new, just a little grungier and with an occasional flash of breast or buttock. Mr. wOw was not shocked. Or entertained. Give me “Beverly Hills 90210”–the first three seasons.

And then I came upon one of my favorite infomercials. It touts one of those “mineral makeups” that are supposed to cover beautifully but not look like makeup. Troubled since age 13 with oily skin, acne and now rosacea (with painful adult acne still an issue,) Mr. wOw has long searched for some kind of coverage that wouldn’t make him look like he was auditioning for “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” I’ve tried a lot. When I was a kid, I did wear a more obvious makeup. So what? I was living on my own, in my teens and frankly I applied it very well — and I could do a nifty-looking job on my eyes, too! (Anyway, the whole long-haired teenage boy in makeup thing was hot in the late 60’s, early 70’s.) But time went on. I eventually had a job and couldn’t apply a complete maquillage. I had settle for spot coverage or sometimes when I was at an event — a dark event — I’d apply a light base, the most transparent I could find. But I was never satisfied.

Three months ago I was wandering through Sephora, having just suffered another bout with a particularly aggressive breakout. I was depressed. And there it was, the so-called miracle mineral base, being sold, in a store! I snapped it up, took it home, and applied as directed. I looked flawless. Like a flawless guy, let me stress. Blotchy areas, broken capillaries (ah, the price of drink!) everything was smoothed out. I asked B. I asked my one or two remaining friends. I asked my boss. Did I look a big old aging queen? Nope. I just looked like my skin had cleared up. Nice and fresh. (Well, one friend said, “Yes, you look like a big old aging queen. But you don’t look like you’re wearing makeup.” That’s what friends are for.)

I’ll never wear Max Factor again.

Comments:
  • rick gould

    Oh Mr. wOW–
    Depression is a toughie. I’ve taken medication for low grade depression for a little over a decade. Wish I had started sooner. For a long time it worked very well. But for me, in the last few years, no matter what I took, not so much. Having been medication free for about 6 months, I think I am seeing that I may not be depressed, but suffer from anxiety. So, I am looking into that.
    The only reason I bring my situation up is that I understand how hard it is in finding the right medication, determining the dosage and if it’s working or working against you…ARGH. A challenge. Plus, we see commercials on TV for these medications and though we know better, we wonder why our blues aren’t magically lifted…
    I certainly wish you well, Mr. wOw, in your finding a balance. And I hope your writing gives you a lift, because I certainly get one when I ready your columns and comments… truly.
    And perhaps one chapter in that book you need to write should be titled: “I’ll Never Wear Max Factor Again”

    12:58 am | February 21, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Rick….thanks for the good thoughts. I wrote a piece here last year on my depression and I had hoped just by getting it out among friends–rather than therapists who are paid to nod and pretend to listen–it would help.  Maybe it did a bit.  However, I woke today to gray weather and snow.  And although the idea of having to travel through it is annoying, the gray skies comfort me.  I kind of feel why should the weather be sunny and bright when I am most certainly not.  Really sunny days depress me more. I’m like, “Are you kidding with this?  Life is shitty, why pretend?”

      Yeah–back to another try at meds.

      7:43 am | February 21, 2011
      • rick gould

        Mr. wOw–
        This might make you laugh…
        When Peggy Lee’s greatest song “Is That All There Is?” came out, it stopped me in my tracks. I felt like it was the story of my life! And Lee’s rendition, so blase and a bit sardonic.
        I listened to it constantly on my transistor radio. My mother thought that was hilarious.
        Why? Because I was in third grade!
        And frankly, that song has come back to haunt me on more than one occasion.
        But, oh no, I’m not done yet 😉
        And hopefully, neither are you…
        Cheers
        Rick

        4:56 pm | February 21, 2011
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Rick…that made me laugh, and gasp a bit.  I recall very well when Peggy’s ode to fatalism came out.  If I was in third or fourth grade, I don’t remember–but I was young.   I did identify. And I thought myself a very odd child.  (My mother was perpetually…alarmed.  Later, I would say, “What–how could you not have known?!)

          I loved being being odd.  Well, at that point, and for some years to come, the consequences were not drastic.

          11:34 pm | February 21, 2011
          • Baby Snooks

            Speaking only for myself I think odd people have the more interesting lives for some reason. People find us more interesting than “normal” people. And speaking only for myself, well, we end with these odd collections of friends and other assorted strangers.  Sort of like our personal zoos. They far more odder than we looking back if for no other reason than they found us interesting.  Nothing particularly interesting about us. Or odd really. We just tend to know a lot of people for some reason. My observation anyway about other odd people in my life with their own zoos. Maybe because we are not “normal” we just tend to like people for themselves instead of “categorizing” everyone. Maybe it’s just me. I don’t know. I am rambling as usual.  Probably the effect of my “near-someting experience” yesterday at the hospital. 

            I’ve sung “Is that all there is?” along the way. Thought I was going to die. And didn’t . Including yesterday.  You go on. A little more stoic, perhaps, about it all but a little more, well, maudlin about it all.  We keep dancing. Even though at times we really don’t want to.  End it all?  Please. I will drop dead in the middle of a dance.

            8:14 am | February 22, 2011
          • Alicia Burchett

            Some of my favorite people in the world are odd.  🙂

            5:29 pm | February 22, 2011
          • Baby Snooks

            If nothing else, odd people are never boring people.

            2:21 pm | February 23, 2011
        • Briana Baran

          O, Rick, I remember Ms. Lee’s rendition of Is That All There Is?. I love it!  She sounds full of ennui, and yes, very sardonic. It is actually on my list of songs to learn, though I doubt that I can truly do justice to her version.
           
          I always pictured an empty nightclub, the bored band performing their last number, and two people, nearly faceless in the dusk of low lights, cigarette haze and the shadows of fatigue, apathy and sleeplessness dancing in a slow parody of passion, knowing that when the music ends, they will part for lives of empty days and nights filled with the ashes of romance.
           
          Haunting? O, my yes.

          6:10 pm | February 22, 2011
  • rick gould

    OK, Mr. wOw! On a lighter note…
    Always love your movie comments…very astute sometimes and makes me wonder why some film historians haven’t caught some of the things you’ve noticed, like the contradictory Monroe image of “Let’s Make Love.”
    Never saw Marlene’s western, but my Mom’s favorite bad western is “Johnny Guitar” with Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge. To say the two gals weren’t particularly feminine here is the understatement of cinema history. Republic studios’ color is so gaudy it’s blinding. One of Joan’s latter day campfests, but fascinating. She went from Mildred Pierce to fierce!
    Regarding “The Turning Point,” I read once that Shirley was not expecting that drink getting tossed and hence, her reaction was totally real. Great scene.
    And if Annette Bening gets overlooked AGAIN for the Oscar, it will be very telling. What, I am not exactly sure, yet!
    I don’t plan on watching the Oscars, but will read YOUR comments 😉

    1:13 am | February 21, 2011
  • Mr. Wow

    Rick…”Johnny Guitar!”  JOan and Mercedes didn’t get along in real life, so that ramped up the butch theatrics. In the film, even both women were interested in men, one could hardly believe it, or that any man had the balls to approach either virago. (In real life Crawford slept with male co-stars, her directors and any other guy she could persuade. And she used to call Monroe “cheap and common.”  Well MM never learned to roll her R’s as grandly as Miss C.)

    7:50 am | February 21, 2011
  • Mary

    Mr.Wow,   I love love love the Mineral makeup you are talking about.  I always hated most makeups because they felt heavy on my skin and also my skin hates chemicals and would break out all the time.  the minerals feels natural and no break outs.  A little bit goes a long way…..So glad you found it!

    9:46 am | February 21, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Mary…and tho I hate to sound like an infomercial myself, my skin seems calmer since I began using it. (It is so humilating at my advanced age to have acne.  I always feel people are thinking, “what’s with him—doesn’t he wash his face?”)

      But to give credit where credit is due, my latest dermatologist has done a good job, and will always take me as soon as one of those killer blemishes begin–a shot of cortisone usually works.

      The upside?  Very oily skin and remarkably few lines.

      10:11 am | February 21, 2011
      • Mary

        Oh and I forgot, I have reversed my cell phone thinking.  Recently picked up a new private nursing case which until I find staffing for am doing myself.  It is flat out boring.  I was trying to think of things to take to do that I could do in the dark all night long while just sitting there on my butt!  My friend pointed out the many things I could do on a android cell so I tried hers overnight.  OMG, I have just taken a leap into the current century.  I can listen to radio, watch tv, ( ok old rerun type tv) but I can watch cbs current.  I can watch movies, play games, email, internet etc etc etc and I can make phone calls too.  I still don’t like the idea of being tethered to a phone, but the pro’s are beginning to outweigh the cons .  Cheers.

        12:27 pm | February 21, 2011
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Mary….Hmmmmmmmmm!!!!  

          I will never be able to live life in the palm of my hand.  But I know that’s the way of the (new) world and  that I am fighting a losing fight.

          Some time back, I was gifted with a super-duper IPad or Pod or something.  I gave it to B.  He horrifed me recently by saying that having all that info on a little thing in his hand was “addictive.”  (This from a guy who took a nice early retirement and has a big TV screen right in front of him all day long.)   Mr. Wow was distraught.

          2:12 pm | February 21, 2011
          • Mary

            I know what you mean .  Hard for me to think that technology is moving so fast and I hope that I don’t entirely live life in the palm of my hand.  I think we tend to forget about what is going on around us.  I fought computers for a long time and now I would rather have a computer than a tv, but then again, they both work together now.  Now with these smartphones everything can work on the phone that can work on the computer and on the tv.  It is amazing.  I think it is a matter of prioritizing what is important and using things wisely.  I hope I maintain my sense of balance but right now I enjoy playing with the tech.

            2:38 pm | February 21, 2011
  • Richard Bassett

                    Nothing external is going to provide a permanent resolution to your attitude. It all comes from within. There may be things that help….but all of your answers are in your head. You know exactly what is causing these moods. We all do. You even revealed some of it: a past full of activities and excitement. You, Mr WoW, stopped all of that…for reasons that you know. Maybe you grew weary, same old, same old, and, as stimulating as it was, just lost interest in things that once brought you pleasure. That is depression. A medication, therapist or physician cannot alter your life, so do not look for it from them.  They can only provide a platform to express a repressed way of thinking. I suffer from situational depression and, newly diagnosed, anxiety. But I confronted the issues full on, refused to let it defeat me, and these days….life is pretty much OK. I feel that I am living the life that I would have been living, regardless of these ‘situations’ and actually blossom due to it. It was a struggle, but in the midst of it…I found strength. I am on medication (for both dx’s) and they help but the power to choose comes from me. I feel very resilient (believe me) and could handle life is things were to get worse (though I cannot imagine it doing so). Maybe I am a bit different. I was presented with circumstances that needed a sink or swim attitude towards life. I have made a transition from my 20’s into my 50’s pretty well but with some setbacks. The decades in between are just remnants of these time periods. I do not want to go back; I’ve done all there was to do. My life and my age are in sync. My glory days (these days) involve different activities than they did in my 20’s. Mr WoW, you are a sum total of your past…so only you can diagnose yourself and make or accept the changes. And…again, you know the answer to all of your questions. Who better, than you?  You LOVE movies and it fits into your livelihood, to a certain degree. The knowledge that you possess is very impressive. Movies are a positive coping mechanism for you, so enjoy your guilty pleasures. Shape a life that does not include depression. It is difficult and it is a day by day process, but (since you have to do it anyway), do it consciously. One of your major strengths is putting your cards on the table but it is usually negatively driven. Let’s hear some positive aspects of that strength. I DO know your fears…but life goes on.

    10:38 am | February 21, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Richard…I don’t think I’ve altered my basic opinion of myself since I left home, at 15.  And I’m sure I knew myself as well as I do now. Too well, in my opinion.  I do indeed have all my own answers.  Unfortunately, in having those answers, I know exactly where I went wrong, every step of way.  I’d love to shift some responsibilty for my issues onto others.  But even those who have enabled me, and/or inadvertently “harmed” me, didn’t mean to–we are all the masters of our own fate.  I certainly have been.  And I’m afraid that knowledge is what is most crushing. 

      BUT…I can still find pleasure here and there.  But is always follwed by a crash of mood. Eh…people have it much worse.  And I’m afraid I always have to go to extremes so as not to fall into my own lavish pity party–I have to think of Haiti or Pakistan or the poorest and most deprived right here.  Or, you know–Chilean miners.  Any miners!

      I am not sold on drugs or talk therapy.  Especially therapy. I drift in and out of various anti-depressants, to very poor results. 

      And I suppose I am neither sensitive or strong-minded enough to pull my head out of my ass to think my way clearly to peace of mind. Or at least to a place that not this. 

      However, life is plump with promise, still.  I haven’t quite given up the reasonably happy, much more engaged ghost of my not-too-distant past.

      11:58 am | February 21, 2011
  • Richard Bassett

    Mr WoW,
                        Your post sounds realistic and abundant in self-awareness. That is such a joy to see. It is so hard to be objective towards ourselves that we battle with no nonscence self-talk and the impression that we want to make (on the world). My best dialog, in knowing my facts as much as possible, is between myself and myself. If I make a mistake, the consequences (sometimes subtly) allow me to see that. It is how I live. I am not the same person now, as I was at 25. I just did not take life seriously enough to achieve the amount of success I (presently) see that I was searching for. Actually, I was working against myself. But I had fun and lived through the eyes of a carefree 25 year old. I would be too exhausted to live that life today: dental work, knee operations, cancer screening and so on. I guess by default, I live the life that I do. I look forward to a peaceful future, nothing drastic or cathartic. My past has gently placed me in this place, where chaos has no room in my life anymore. In adversary, I found my integrity. I know that saying ‘this too shall pass’ seems a bit reductive but I believe that this is how you’ve lived your life. 

    12:35 pm | February 21, 2011
  • SMALL TOWN GIRL

    MR. WOW,

    You talked about an old Marlene Dietrich movie in your column, sometime try to catch
    “Witness for the Prosecution”  fantastic old movie . Perfet for a lazy day ……thats what I call
    what you did on saturday. Sometimes its nice not to go anywhere at all.

    1:21 pm | February 21, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Small Town Girl…Are you kidding?  LOVE “Witness for the Presecution.”  Great movie, great Marlene, great Tyrone Power (who was more beautiful  than Mr. Power in his youth?) and a fabulous Charles Laughton.

      2:00 pm | February 21, 2011
  • Briana Baran

    Dear Mr. Wow, I hope that I can help. I am not so much younger than yourself, and I have been aware of my differences since my earliest memories. One of those, from when I was approximately five years old, involves a terrible, but fascinating hallucination of astounding clarity that occurred in an 18th century cemetery in the Smokey Mountains. Others include the sounds of footsteps on the basement stairs (different people on different nights) that kept me company every night until the age of eighteen, and the…creature who looked through my half-open door after my parents went to bed to advise me that only closed doors were safe. I was also intensely aware of other people, including my father and very abusive mother, as separate entities from myself, and capable of terrible things that no one else seemed to acknowledge. I included myself in my knowledge of the basic nature of humanity…but I knew that I was much, much worse than the norm. I considered myself a monster, undeserving of love, or compassion, or success.
     
    I have always been accountable for every single horrible thing that I’ve done in my life, both to myself, and to others. I have a tremendous difficulty accepting praise, or even the slightest of compliments. I see pride as hubris, and success as arrogance, and acknowledgment of my own skill as narcissism. I am cynical, sarcastic, iconoclastic and largely solitary. I have been diagnosed by two psychiatrists with bi-polar I, anxiety disorder-unspecified, clinical depression, OCD…and, unofficially, schizophrenia, because insurance companies won’t insure schizophrenics. I suffer from two very real phobias…heights and entering or staying in a church, particularly Catholic or one of the more Fundamentalist bent, during services. At one time, I couldn’t go beyond the fifth floor in a building, or enter a church at all.
     
    So? So what? I am very content, and I even experience joy. Yes, I am medicated…after 26 different combinations of dosages and different psychotropic drugs. I do not like taking them, because it is a pain in the ass…but I am indisputably Briana. I see my therapist once a week, and my shrink four times a year. It, whatever you want to call It, does come from within the individual. I am not a self-help person (I think the closest to a self help book I’ve read might have been The Joy of Sex, which pretty much sucked, followed by The Kama Sutra…in its unexpurgated form. I really can bend like that…loose joints…but good grief…), or given to being touchy-feely, but I will tell you that you can feel better about yourself.
     
    Mr. Wow, you have worlds within you. You are unabashedly honest, you are funny as hell, you write beautifully, and you are accountable. You may see the world through somewhat jaundiced eyes, but not everybody is into rose-colored designer shades. You don’t have to look at yourself as gorgeous (we’re all getting older, dahling…and some of us never were), or Mr. Rogers, or even the Good Humor Man, but you do have to tell yourself some hard truths…including the fact that B. would not have stayed with you if you were quite as loathsome as you suppose, and that you still do have friends…and that there are core friends who love you as you actually are, not as they want to, and have to see you…and all of the rest, and that there are people on this site who look forward to reading what you have to say…even if we are strangers in the ether.
     
    I survived for years. Now (cliche alert) I am living. It’s quite a challenge at times for a moldy, cynical, sarcastic, menopausal bitch not to bite the head off of her hormonal, emo, 13 year old drama-king son (whom I love with all my heart and soul, but sometimes wish I could send to Siberia). It’s frighteningly easy to slip into misery at the sight of a dead cat or dog on the side of the road, or the sound of some entitled moron being nasty to a service person, or the seeing “F**k Obama”, “Texas Secede” or “Palin 2012” stickers every time I hit the road, on Leviathin SUV’s and trucks driven by soccer moms. It scared the living shit out of me to have my cardiologist loom up in front of me and tell me to lose 100 pounds…and refusing is not an option (I also have body dysmorphia and there’s that fear of success…). I know about wanting to curl my useless, ugly, evil, wretched, unlovable self up into bed and not move for days.
     
    But I don’t. Don’t ask me how I do it, because I not only don’t know, but what works for me wouldn’t necessarily work for you. I do know that other people play a part in it. I can’t be like the majority of my family, and leave a true wake of human misery and destruction wherever I go. I actually love our dysfunctional, murderous, vicious, egocentric…but o, so beautiful, and glorious and sometimes transcendent species. We fascinate me. So…I keep making a go of it…and sometimes I feel wonder, joy, rapture (no god, no angels…the living variety) and those rare moments of transcendence. I truly do believe you can do it too.
     
    Mr. Wow, you’re loved, and worthy of every bit of it.
     
    bb

    4:16 pm | February 21, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Briana…I am work, and I cannot cry.
      I will be home soon, and will weep that I could elicit such a response.  And dammit, after I wipe my eyes I better straighten up and fly right.
      I don’t know that I have “worlds” within me.  But at least a good neighborhood.  Or a state.  A small state.  Okay–a very nice small state. (I’m trying.)

      4:51 pm | February 21, 2011
    • Baby Snooks

      Briana you are a jewel. As is Mr. Wow.  The world could use more of both of you. 

      10:24 pm | February 21, 2011
  • Mr. Wow

    As to the above…Well, what could I expect, posting about mineral makeup? 

    Although I don’t  see myself in an Ed Hardy bikini.

    9:15 pm | February 21, 2011
    • Baby Snooks

      I was already depressed when I came home.  I am now even more depressed reading all of this. So I cannot comment because it has depressed me too much.  Maybe later.  Maybe you will get over it. Maybe I will get over it. Then I don’t need to comment.

      For the first time in my life I wish I had a “zombie pill.” Two actually. One so I wouldn’t think about my depression. Another so I wouldn’t think about yours.

      9:54 pm | February 21, 2011
      • Mr. Wow

        Dear Baby…sorry.  But I did tell of a non-depressed weekend, finding some pleasure in little things.  Mostly it was silly movie stuff.

        But I promise, next time I’ll bitch about…John Boehner. 

        10:43 pm | February 21, 2011
        • Baby Snooks

          It’s alright. I just had one of those days. Another test. Another test  the “primary care physician” didn’t explain her ordering at the time. A simple test.  Involving a not-so-simple drug.  “It can cause small heart attacks.”  Excuse me?  Not sure what it caused for me but suffiice it to say I was not amused. They were not amused by me.  I sat up for the rest of the test thank you  very much.  I had two more tests including a biopsy, they finally found something and of course now I wish they hadn’t, scheduled for this week. Not this week. Baby Snooks has had enough for this week. 

          I think the social thing depresses us. I’m dealing with that now that I joined Facebook. Staring at this long list of “Join me on Facebook”‘s that greeted me when I joined. I don’t particularly want them as friends off Facebook. So why would I want them as friends on Facebook?  Now that I can see their friends, some of my friends are friends with some of my enemies.  Which I didn’t know. Hello?  They will NOT be on any list of mine at this point. On or off Facebook.  You learn something every day.  So I have three friends on Facebook.  Now THAT’S depressing.  My former best friend has over 2,000. Her former best friend is not among them.  Not sure if anyone notices. But how you can notice who’s missing with 2,000 friends?

          Friends. Which you mentioned. I suspect as we get older the “fair weather” friends just sort of “move on” once we start having “foul weather.”  The weather, I have found, actually improves once they “move on.”  Even though it can be depressing. 

          Depression can be in the head. Too much stress. An imbalance of chemicals. The neurons misfire.  But depression can be in the heart.  Part of life. 

          Onward through the fog as a friend liked to say.  I suppose if you’re aware of the fog you’re still ahead of everyone else in the game. 

          7:17 am | February 22, 2011
          • Baby Snooks

            Please. No more about John Boehner. Another lunatic from Ohio.  The Bushes are from Ohio. People don’t realize that.  My parents were from Ohio.  I no longer tell people that.  Guilt by association you know. Although I must say my family was  Republican. You didn’t mention the word Democrat. My grandmother in particular got this look if you did.  She never said anything. She just looked at you. As if you had committed the ultimate blasphemy.  Still I somehow doubt my family would have voted for him. My cousins weren’t put in the position of having to. If they had I would never speak to them again. I don’t speak to them as it is but, well, you get my point.  Not all Republicans are deranged. Just as not all Democrats are delusional. Some are perfectly rational. Not many. But some.

            My great-uncle never allowed a preacher or a politican at the dinner table. He was very wise. It would have always embarrassed the preacher and the politician. 

            7:48 am | February 22, 2011
          • Briana Baran

            Baby, I have a Facebook account. I have six friends. One is my youngest sister (we occasionally ask each other why we “friended” each other on Facebook. When we want to talk, we email), two are very old friends who are are very funny and delightful people who do not post jejeune ramblings, one lives on the island of Mauritius off of Madagascar, and two are Yuppies-from-hell I enjoy puzzling the crap out of. I “un-friended” my other sister last year. It was like having a 14-year-old cheerleader with NPD posting on my Wall (my Wall is much like The Wall, Pink Floyd’s creation, when I bother to post). She has over 200 sychophants-er-friends. She will be 50 this year. Enough said?
             
            Okay, so some might say that I am socially challenged (I am reasonably certain that at least one person who frequents this site might direct a smirk my way). Actually, I’m not. I think that people who have thousands of lovely pipple as friends on Facebook are in constant need of approbation, if not people who will actually condone and actively support their ideologies and actions. I am not that kind of a person. I suspect that you are not, either. Since I have grown wise to what an actual friend is (someone who may be very different from you, but who truly loves you, and likes you, and whom you can love and like) I understand that these rare people are those who make our day more special when we see them, but even more important, we make their day better as well. We accept each other, warts, bad breath, in sickness and in health, on bad days and good. If we’ve made a date, and we see that one or the other is exhausted or ill, no matter how much we looked forward to our talk…we send the other home to rest and get well.
             
            Have you ever noticed the air just after a hurricane? How still and clear it can be? You know that heat, humidity and the dreaded clean-up will lie ahead…but the worst is over, for now. That’s what losing some of those “friends” is like. For me, it’s like pounds of fat dropped…it may have been a comfort in some dysfunctional, obscenely comforting and ultimately destructive way…but I certainly do step more lightly and freely with it gone.
             
            O, Baby, I have some of that depression of the heart too. Even though I know very damn well that I can’t change what caused it, and what prevents me from expelling it forever and letting the damn wound just heal. Time doesn’t fix everything. I hope the doctors and tests help you to the best of medicines ability. You’re a person I would like to listen to, and to know better. Someone who may be in the fog…but who hears the warning bells and is looking for the light.
             
            bb

            5:58 pm | February 22, 2011
          • Baby Snooks

            I am amazed by the number of people with 550, 1,000, 2,000 friends. Please. I guess you just go through your “friends of friends” list and invite anyone and everyone?  Sort of like a high school popularity contest.  “Look how many friends I have.”  I realize I sort of don’t like the anonymity of the internet but of course if I used my real name on wowOwow I couldn’t have been so “entertaining” but then some of you I would love to have on Facebook.  I often find myself wondering where someone on wowOwow has gone when they no longer post.  Or if they’re alright.  Sounds silly. I wonder if I’m the only one who wonders?

            It’s a real quandary about the “friends’ who asked me to join.  I feel like I’m being rude, if not nasty, by not “clicking” the “accept” thingy. But then I might end up with 500, 1,000, 2,000 “friends” and “friends of friends” I don’t even know. Of course I don’t know any of you.  But would rather have some of you I don’t know rather than some f the ones I do know. 

            I’ve thought about logging in under my real name. But I guess the “fire and brimstone” would be too obvious. Plus it would shock eveyone. I have a little secret. And it also probably produce a couple of lawsuits. 

            2:04 pm | February 23, 2011
  • Daniel Sugar

    “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” is so great.

    9:43 pm | February 21, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Daniel…

      Lady Piggy to Dorothy:  “You’ll  find out that I mean business, young woman.”

      Dorothy:  “Really?  Then why are you wearing that hat?”

      10:48 pm | February 21, 2011
  • mary burdt

    Dear Mr. Wow,  I suffer from depression and some days I can barely lift my head off the pillow.  I feel as if this condition will be with me until I die.  I, like you, cannot cry and this drives me nuts.  My therapist says its the antidepressants I take that causes this condition.  It is a no win situation because if I don’t take the medication the depression and anxiety make my life intolerable.  Has anyone addressed your lack of tears?  If so, I would love to hear about it.
    Hang in there, Mr. Wow—-one breath at a time.  Mary

    9:47 pm | February 21, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Mary…I am answering UP from the bottom of the page at this point, having just read Lucky Lady’s nice post.  Can you imagine if I admiited to crying?!  I am already her Favorite Miserable Guy.  I don’t want to give too many thrills.

      I have two tales of my childhood I always told my therapists–because, naturally we had to go back to Minsk, as the old vaudville comics said.  Always I would cry.  Always they were thrilled, thinking they’d made a big breakthrough.  “Now–why did you cry?” they’d ask.

      And always I’d answer: “Because it is a sad story.  I’d cry if it happened to you!”

      Mostly I cry when the kid shoots the deer in “The Yearling” or when Dorothy Maguire expresses her regrets to her daughter in “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.”

      Otherwise, I do try to take one breath at a time.  But I am convinced–and you must be as well–that there is hope.   Let’s just keep our efforts from Lucky Lady, a stable woman with a view of the Pacific.

      10:39 pm | February 21, 2011
      • Mary

        Mr. Wow,  they say that crying cleanses the soul.  I don’t know about that but a good cry does not do much for me but make me worn out and I suffer from a headache and sore eyes for days.  Therefore I often end my crying jag with feeling bursts of anger at whatever put me in such a state.  I am a overly emotional person however and find a difference in my tears of frustration (which are often the worst) and tears of true emotion whether happy or sad.   I see a beautiful child and cry because it touches me, I see a sad child and cry because it touches me, so many tears , so little time.  I did come from a underemotional family and am often misunderstood by my siblings and spent my life hiding my emotions from my parents.  I still find that it was their loss however.

        We got a unexpected snow and ice storm tonite and I couldn’t get out to work as all of the roads are closed here in rural podunck Ohio.  It made me happy to crawl out and slip and slide down the road to get milk when it all started and I look forward to the gloomy days of Winter where no one can go out and it is quiet and peaceful to stay home and watch a old movie, or bundle up with a good book.  But it is also depressing to wait so long for sunshine.  I guess I feel like embracing the depression of it all and getting the most I can for it all. 

        Briana, you made me smile with your paragraph of bumper stickers and mean people etc.  I know you didn’t intend that affect, but I smiled because it reminded me of how those things affect me as well.  

        12:20 am | February 22, 2011
  • LuckyLady n/a

    I just returned from a trip and decided to log in and see how my favorite miserable guy was and I see that you are still having “WOW WALLOWING”.  Was happy to know that mineral makeup worked–see, the smallest things can make us happy.  Do you live in an awful climate?
    I was just in an awful climate and could hardly wait to get home.  When I did I noticed that all the spring flowers were coming into bud and that little thing was a real upper for me.  I sit on my deck and look at the beautiful Pacific and am soothed by it.  I watch the dog walkers every morning and they wave and I offer coffee and a little chat.  I realize these are probably minor things to you, not exciting, but lovely and comforting.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could just find one thing every day to make yourself feel alive?  I like hanging out for an entire day and watching TCM but there is too much outside to be seen and heard and lived.  Could of, should of, and would of  will soon be out of your vocabulary I hope.  Good luck to you.

    9:56 pm | February 21, 2011
    • Baby Snooks

      Sometimes we don’t want the singing birds or the budding flowers. Of course in Mr. Wow’s case given that the birds are usually hiding under eaves and the flower buds are frozen over I don’t know that either would do much for him.  Or for me.  And we’re having very pleasant weather.  Sometimes we like to be a little maudlin.  Sometimes life is a little maudlin. I had a friend like you.  I told her to lose my number. A long time ago.

      10:13 pm | February 21, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear LL…good luck to you, too.

      10:25 pm | February 21, 2011
  • CYNTHIA NEIL

    Oh Mr.Wow,
    MM and Betty Grable in the same column and you don’t give “How to Marry a Millionaire ” it’s due?  I am a teeny bit disappointed.  I think that is such a fun film, particularly because Schatzie ain’t as smart as she thinks she is in the end,and Betty is waaaaaay smarter.
    I am wishing that some of your joy will seek you out now that the weather is turning.   I did smell spring in the air last week and then saw Ben Vereen at Town Hall. Now that was a tonic to the cabin fever.
    Cynthia

    10:07 pm | February 21, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Cynthia…but “HTMAM” wasn’t on.  The film has aged dreadfully, especially if seen in its original Cinemascope on a normal-sized  TV screen. 

      Betty is terrif and Bacall really owns the film–tho she is dreadful bitch throughout.  MM is sweet as the nearsighted Pola, tripping over things and bumping into walls, but it is not her movie.  Not now, anyway.  At the time of its release, she–and Cinemascope–were the selling points.

      10:22 pm | February 21, 2011
  • SMALL TOWN GIRL

    When I get up for work everyday at the ungodly hour of 5:15 it helps to count your blessings right away.
    Imagine if you were starving in Africa and watching your children have no food or shelter or medical
    help.

    Then my measley problems carry no weight. This is what we all have to do,then all your crap is 
    mimimized.  How can you be depressed then?

    7:29 am | February 22, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Small Town Girl…I believe you read one of my above replies, I try to do exactly that…

      8:11 am | February 22, 2011
    • Briana Baran

      I get up at 5:00 am every weekday morning. That’s when R. leaves for work, and I don’t like to let him go without kissing him good-bye, and telling him that I love him. We’ve been married nearly 17 years. It isn’t a problem.
       
      As for remembering starving children in Africa, I am well aware of the state of much of the rest of the world. My life is no less than I want it to be, and I am very content with it. However, if I allow myself to begin the day with thoughts such as, imagine being the parent of eight or ten starving children in a dessicated landscape in a place that no one cares about…where I can legally be raped, or my daughters or sons can be so victimized, where my newest infant might lie dead in my arms because I can produce no milk to feed it…while another grows in my womb from a recent assault…then all of the runaway trains in my head start down their tracks. Now I start thinking about all sorts of things…and I have no brakemen in those trains. I start thinking of the millions of well-fed, housed and clothed people with educated children who support Pope Benedict the Current, and his Edict to all sub-Saharan Africans that they must not use condoms, while standing in the shelter of his flamboyant pink traveling arbor. I wonder how many starving children might be prevented if such arrogance  ignorance were prevented from being disseminated. And how much money that arbor might have cost, and how many that money might have fed. And the trains just keep rolling, reminding me of how helplessly unworthy I am, how I can’t help, how no one listens, and how useless I have always been.
       
      If I can’t at least redirect them all, and slow them down a bit, that’s where “Gee, think of all of the misery out there” thoughts lead me. And that, at one time, lead me to catatonic breaks in which my self-hatred and sorrow at the world’s seething agony took so far into myself I could not be reached. Slowly that changed to a brief battle with agoraphobia, then days spent alone, in a silent house. Now, I face it daily, and do my part. But, as a cure for what ails me, it sucks, and i know a great many depressives that this doesn’t work for at all. It isn’t the situation we’re in, or self-pity…it’s an abiding self-loathing and inability to shut out pain.

      5:30 pm | February 22, 2011
  • Daniel Sugar

    Dorothy Shaw: “Did it ever occur to you some people just don’t care about money?”
    Lorelei Lee: “Please, we’re talking serious here.”

    9:11 am | February 22, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Lorelei Lee to Dorothy:  “I want you to find happiness and stop having fun!”

      10:24 am | February 22, 2011
  • Richard Bassett

    Though it sounds healthy, minimizing your emotional state just keeps regression alive. I realize that by these thoughts, you are putting things in perspective. Of course, against 3rd world countries, your issues seem foolish but if you use this philosophy to ‘snap out of it’, you are still left with the lack of understanding as to why you are in these emotional states to begin with. Keep the world out of what is unique to you, your own particular woes. You are just prolonging true emotions surfacing to the top. Your issues should be the MOST important items of the day, and worked on directly as they unfold. Assisting 3rd world countries are best served by action, and not by comparison.

    9:20 am | February 22, 2011
  • LandofLove

    One of the reasons why I’m so fascinated by history—and why I spend so much of my minimal free time reading it—is that I’m always struck by how the human condition keeps repeating itself. Right now I’m deep in the memoirs of a faithful Communist party member in Russia who was arrested in 1937 during the Stalinst purges and was imprisoned for over 15 years. She was finally released and “rehabilitated” in the 1950s. You really can’t read about such misery and man’s inhumanity toward mankind without thinking that, in some ways, nothing ever changes. But it does remind you that people can and do survive, just by doing the best they can with what they’ve got.

    10:03 am | February 22, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Land of Love…I’m a very big history fan myself.  In fact, as I have gotten older, I much prefer it to fiction. 

      I am fascinated by past lives, what was accomplished, what was not accomplished, and how–as you say-human nature don’t change much.  I don’t think it would take much to erase the veneer of “civilized” society.

      I’m trying to get into American history, but it’s a bit of a challenge.  It’s just not as glamorous as European history.  (Although I was totally swept away by David McCullough’s great book on John Adams.)

      10:32 am | February 22, 2011
  • Daniel Sugar

    Henry Spofford: “All right. I’ll help you.  I’ll help you for two reason.”
    Lorelei Lee: “Never mind the reasons. Just help me.
    Henry Spofford: “The first reason is, I’m too young to be sent to jail. The second reason is you got a lot of animal magnetism.”

    11:16 am | February 22, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Lorelei:  “It’s seems a python can grab a goat and kill it, by just squeezing it to death.”

      Dororthy: “What’s incriminating about that?”

      Lorelei: “Well, Piggy was being the python and I was the goat.”

      Dorothy: “Don’t worry, Piggy won’t tell anyone he weas being the pyton.”

      Dorothy: “He won’t have to, because just about the time Piggy was squeezing the goat, Mr. Ernie Malone was taking pictures right through that porthole.”

      Lorelei:  “Whatever for?”

      Dorothy: “The National Geographic magazine!”

      12:59 pm | February 22, 2011
      • Mr. Wow

        Sorry, typo…that was Lorelei assuring Dorothy that Piggy wouldn’t tell.

        And while we’re at it:

        “Oh, Dorothy, Piggy’s a super-best dancer.  So light on his feet you wouldn’t believe it.”

        D:  “I was sure he would be.”

        1:21 pm | February 22, 2011
  • Bethany Christian

    I cannot add to many of the very deep entries about depression and self awareness offered here.  But I live with my own manic depression.  The mania usually only goes so far as to get my apartment cleaned (hurrah).  The depression can be deep and crippling.  Since my mother died last June I have cycled more than I have in my whole history.  I hate monkeying with my meds and after 20 years of talk therapy it has become more like 2 friends talking than something that will help me professionally.  I too will sit for days channel surfing watching movies and serious  life crime dramas.  For some reason those crime dramas release my urge to do some real harm to the outside world.  I have always fought the contradiction of self awareness as knowing what I should be doing to help myself and the ability to get up and do those things.  I have had the same problem with talk therapy.  I’m given suggestions to help with my lows and then resent that information because I am perfectly aware if what to do. 

    On another note I love the cheesiness of Johnny Guitar.  I think Betty Grable was a gem and so appropriate to the times with the war and the heighth of the musicals.  How to Marry a Millionaire is a personal favorite and I’ll watch it almost every time it’s on. 

    And I started wearing mineral makeup last year and I love it.  Never wore much makeup before because I “glisten” a little too much for it to stay in place.  But when I wear this it is wonderful.  It still doesn’t hold up under dripping “glisten” but in the winter it’s fun to wear.

    There are many of us out there in front of our TVs channel surfing.  The sad thing is how many there may be not diagnosed and getting no help at all.  Those without the self awareness to know there is something wrong and to get help are a great deal more than we know about I’m sure.  Tom Cruise’s ignorant rant with Matt Lauer a few years ago is not helping those that need to get help.  Celebrities and TV psychologists who have not even met or screened people should be banned from making blanket comments in any medium.

          

    11:40 am | February 22, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Bethany…I’ve become a big channel-surfer, but my endless clicking doesn’t always mean I’m depressed.  Sometimes I’m quite jolly jumping from program to program.  I think I do it because there’s so much available. (or perhaps I have a touch of ADD)  Certainly I remember when I had no more than six channels to choose from, and was quite content.

      I’ve gotten into those true-life crime stories myself.  Now, that I wonder about!

      1:18 pm | February 22, 2011
      • Bethany Christian

        Maybe, as is sometimes my case, channel surfing is sheer boredom.  I too remember many fewer channels.  And I was so excited when cable and satellite TV became available.  Imagine my disappointment when there were so many repeats because it is so expensive to run new programs with all the time to fill.  Ah well, I guess it’s a tad better than a channel in Los Anegels when I was young that ran the same movie for 24 hours and then another and another and … 

        8:22 pm | February 22, 2011
        • Mr. Wow

          Bethany…here in New York we had “The Million Dollar Movie” which re-ran the same films endlessly.  In time, I was able to sing the entire score of “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

          2:03 pm | February 23, 2011
    • Briana Baran

      Bethany, I am diagnosed with bi-polar I, slow cycling, and I can tell you that my therapist, who I have been seeing for over two years, and my first psychiatrist, who was also an excellent psychotherapist, never gave me suggestions as to how to cope with either mania or depression. Both women asked me to probe myself for best answers for coping with either extreme (and my manic phases used to be very destructive, involving bouts of over-spending, binge-eating and drinking, extreme volatility, irrationality and hallucinatory periods with 72 hour insomniac lapses), and then aid me in making my methods and coping skills work for me. Both are intuitive, intelligent, extremely down-to-earth women, who tolerate no nonsense, but also have a high degree of empathy (not sympathy…empathy).
       
      If you resent your therapist after twenty years, I strongly feel that it is time to find someone else. I’ve only experienced talk therapy of the kind so often described on this site once, and I fled that therapist for the sake of my sanity. I, too, dislike the medications merry-go-round, but after all of my different combinations, I have been stable on my current mix for over three years…and hope that it will remain so. I hope things will get better for you.
       
      bb

      5:11 pm | February 22, 2011
      • Bethany Christian

        Appreciate your views.  I am too lazy to change after all these years as I would have to start from ground zero to find another therapist that I have a rapport with.  I went through too many therapists 20 years ago to put myself out there again.  I’m sorry if the implication was that my therapist is in anyway not intelligent and empathetic.  And I do not resent her.  She’s a wonderful woman and therapist.  But after 20 years my need for therapy has become less and less necessary as I have learned to deal with my condition.  If the need were there – I became suicidal or violent or my condition worsened in any way – I am sure that our relationship would not be as relaxed as it has become.  At this point I was in need more of a meds adjustment.  And my psychiatrist – whose specialty is prescribing – is intuitive and very good at determing what meds are right for me.  And I am getting better with my new prescription.  Thanks again and good luck to you.     

        8:35 pm | February 22, 2011
  • Richard Bassett

    Bethany,
                        Awareness and self-awareness are too different attributes. One may (or may not) stem from the other. One is how the world is around us; the other is how we process that information in regards to our own lives. Usually it is an activating event that causes the thought process to begin. Our entire lives are filled with daily activating events. You are in control of your therapist, after all…he/she works for you. If you are not expression your thoughts (positive and negative) in a session, and if the therapist isn’t assisting you in finding those thought…then your time together is not very productive. Unless, of course, that you want ‘just talk’ as two friends. But this should not be mutual. Your therapist should keep his/ her private life out of your therapy session. In other words, maybe you can find a therapist who will not only assist you in expression your thoughts but to challenge them, as well. This is where self-awareness plays a part….not advising you to get up and do things. Bipolar is a difficult condition to treat. People on meds feel a bit ‘blahhh’ and miss the mania. But by refusing medication, you also have to live with the depression too. So, I understand the battle. You may not see it in great leaps and bounds, but progression is intricate and needs to be reinforced. Stay on your meds, and find another therapist if need be. That in itself can be stressful but, unfortunately, necessary.

    1:07 pm | February 22, 2011
    • Bethany Christian

      Thanks Richard.   I have been fortunate to find a new meds mix that is working for me.  The worst was a mix of Prozac and lithium.  I was comatose most of the time.  I have in 20 years never not wanted to take my meds as, with rare exception, I have been self aware of my condition.  I agree that therapists should not talk about their private lives – and I have allowed that to happen.   

      8:41 pm | February 22, 2011
    • Bethany Christian

      To leave this subject on a lighter note.  The reason why I’m sure to take my meds religiously is the reason why I needed help in the first place.  In 1988 I was walking down the street to work and began seeing the people coming toward me had animal heads.  And when I got to work my friends were speaking with Warner Bros. cartoon voices.  Amazingly I found this funny at first but it didn’t take long before I was seeking medical help.  So as much as I would like to go through life with some of those images forever in my mind.  I see the neccesity of taking my meds.  I do miss the comedy though — 

      10:09 pm | February 22, 2011
      • Mr. Wow

        Dear Bethany…

        Now, see.  This is what I mean when I say that no matter what kind of  depressed state I find myself in, I am still doing pretty good. I’d like to “be myself” again, all the time, but… I have never seen animal heads. 

        Although at times, such a thing might have been a relief from the people I see with people heads. 

        My very best to you, Bethany!

        11:32 am | February 23, 2011
  • Lourdes

    The Turning Point is the main reason why I’ll never watch The Black Swan. The first movie is a masterful rendition to the art of ballet, and its sometimes not so fancy backstage life, extraordinarily performed by actors and dancers (and Baryshnikov, oh God, Baryshnikov!!!). Whereas I feel that The Black Swan is using ballet as simple background for a schizophrenic rant.  For that matter, it could have been as well set in America’s Next Top Model, or something.
    I can watch The Turning Point over and over again without getting tired. But after watching the trailer of The Black Swan (because, again, I will never watch the entire movie), I’m now a little afraid  of Natalie Portmann…

    4:07 pm | February 22, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Lourdes…Mikhail Baryshnikov’s backside gave the performance of its life in “The Turning Point.”

      As for “Black Swan” there is some fine-looking faux ballet, but as you rightly assume, it’s really about a skinny girl having a big fat nervous breakdown.  I’m glad I saw it, but I might not again, even when it arrives on cable.  She does not deserve the Oscar.

      4:23 pm | February 22, 2011
  • Daniel Sugar

    Dorothy Shaw: Remember, honey, on you wedding day it’s alright to say “yes”.

    7:45 pm | February 22, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Lorelei:  “Let’s have a toast, shall we?  Do you know this one: ‘There was an old fellow named Sidney, who drank till he ruined a kidney.  It shriveled and shrank, still he drank and he drank.  But he had his fun doing it, didn’t he?'”

      11:23 am | February 23, 2011
  • Lori Castle

    Mr Wow
    Love your writing as usual! What is the name of the mineral makeup you got at Sephora?
     
    Thanks
    Lori

    9:55 pm | February 22, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Lori…It’s called Bare Escentuals.  All I can say is it works for me.

      11:25 am | February 23, 2011
  • Katharine Gray

    Mr. Wow:

    My heart goes out to you.  Depression is a bitch, a curse, but  at least through your writing you are communicating (even if it is with strangers and anonymously..h I’m all in favor of anonymity)

     

    1:27 am | February 23, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Katharine…thank you.
      My heart goes out to people who are in much worse shape than I.  Mentally and physically. I do have this outlet here, and a wonderful person, B., who has the patience of Penelope. (I have never forgotten my Greek myths!)
      And this was a fairly light-hearted post–all that movie stuff, and then exchanging lines from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” with Mr. Sugar.  Every day is a struggle.  But then every day is a struggle for everyone, really.  And to not take that into account, even when I feel so dark at times, would be a sin.

      11:20 am | February 23, 2011
  • Daniel Sugar

    Esmond Sr. “Have you got the nerve to tell me you don’t want to marry my son for his money?”
    Lorelei Lee: “It’s true.”
    Esmond Sr. “Then what do you want to marry him for?”
    Lorelei Lee: “I want to marry him for your money.”

    12:43 pm | February 23, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Piggy:  “Well, it will very difficult to explain to Lady Beekman that I’ve given away her jewelry.”

      LL:  “You’re so clever Piggy, you could if you wanted to.”

      Piggy: “Do you really think so?”

      LL:  “Of course.  And it’s only fair that I have her tiara.  After all, she has you.”

      2:13 pm | February 23, 2011
  • LuckyLady n/a

    Dear Mr. Wow:

    You launched quite a pity party.  Appropos of “Is That All There Is” may I suggest “The Party’s Over, It’s Time to Call it a Day”.  The exchange of “who had the worst story” and “change of meds” is overwhelming.  Let’s have a little fun next week.  Surely the whole country isn’t in the dumps!  (Incidentally, my beautiful Pacific is the color of asphalt this morning and it’s colder than a banker’s heart)  Maybe this will cheer up some of your readers.

    2:21 pm | February 23, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear LL—the bulk of my post was mindless fun—movies and makeup.  I’ve written here for two years and most everybody knows my story.  Not everybody has to like it, or read it, or sympathize—but there it is.

      In fact, over the past two years I’d say my posts have been more light-hearted or dealing with current affairs than with intimate matters such as my depression. But there has been some of that.  So? 

      Look, I couldn’t be happier for you and your Pacific Ocean view.  And I’m sure everybody here who has shared their “pity party” feels the same.  You are blessed.  Go with God.

      Now, I have to get back to advising people on the wonders of mineral make-up, running movie lines with Mr. Sugar, or expressing compassion for those who struggle in life and don’t have that fabulous seaside perspective. 

      2:45 pm | February 23, 2011
      • Count Snarkula

        And IMHO the “gym” scene is the gayest, almost soft core porn, thing ever filmed!  Wildly gyrating chorus bottoms!  Hooooray!

        4:06 pm | February 23, 2011
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Count…makes you wonder about Howard Hawks!  I’m telling you, between MM and Jane camping it up, and those boys in the gym—a new generation of gay men sprouted.

          P.S.  Did anybody really believe that Dorothy or Lorelei were interested in men?  Looked liked a very butch/femme lesbian relationship to me.  Again–Mr, Hawks, what was your story?!

          8:09 pm | February 23, 2011
          • Count Snarkula

            Dear Mr. Wow:

            When the “mean reds” or even the blues get on you; please know this:  You cannot ever say at the end of your life or during your life that you are not loved, appreciated, and admired.

            Also:  “Listen Gus, the chapareone’s job is to see that nobody else has fun.  But nobody chaperones the chaperone.  That’s why I’m so RIGHT for this job.”

            XOXO

            CS

            8:39 pm | February 23, 2011
          • Mr. Wow

            Lorelei:  “Dorothy, have you ever heard of a rich pole-vaulter?”

            Dorothy:  “I dont’ care.  I want a man who can run faster than I can.”

            (she likes big muscles and red corpuscles)

            10:09 pm | February 23, 2011
          • rick gould

            Mr. wOw–
            I think the “gay” factor had more to do with choreographer Jack Cole. I have read some film history interviews with him and he was one dishy queen!
            His major credits, choreographing the famed “Put the Blame on Mame” with Rita, MGM’s “Les Girls” and as an actor he was Lauren Bacall’s “seemingly” gay best pal in “Designing Women” with Greg Peck, directed by “seemingly” gay Vincente Minnelli 😉
            Though Hawks was a strong director, I bet he didn’t concern himself overly with the music numbers and let Cole run wild…

            1:26 am | February 24, 2011
          • Mr. Wow

            Dear Rick…

            I’m sure you are correct; Jack was quite a flamer.  Still, I am surprised (though grateful!) that the number got past the censors. 

            He also did Monroe’s choreography for “Heat Wave” in “THere’s No Business Like Show Business.”  Yikes!  Critics at the time said it was “shocking.”  And even today it ain’t tame.

            7:26 am | February 24, 2011
  • Bethany Christian

    Mr. Wow – and in LA I fell in love with Douglas Fairbanks Jr in Sinbad the Sailor.

    2:46 pm | February 23, 2011
  • Daniel Sugar

    Lorelei Lee: “Excuse me, but what is the way to Europe, France?”
    Dorothy Shaw: “Honey, France is in Europe.”
    Lorelei Lee: “Well who said it wasn’t?”
    Dorothy Shaw: “Well, you wouldn’t say you wanted to go to North America, Mexico.”
    Lorelei Lee: “If that’s where I wanted to go, I would.”

    7:21 pm | February 23, 2011
    • Mr. Wow

      “The dealer passes.”

      8:10 pm | February 23, 2011
  • Daniel Sugar

    Thanks, Dealer (that was fun)!

    12:01 am | February 24, 2011
  • Andy C

    Mr. WOW, off subject I know, especially with the Oscars coming up this weekend, but what is your take on that fool Charlie Sheen (“that fool” kind of gives away MY take on him).

    11:07 am | February 25, 2011
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