'night, Mother

One of my major pet peeves is when someone says "get over it."

Anyone who says "get over it" to someone has absolutely no interest in the other person. They just want the problem to go away. As if a person who's in such a state that they have to "get over" anything is even in a receptive mindstate that hearing someone say "get over it" would do any good! It's a cop-out and I hate it.

That said, I listened to a live performance recording of the play 'night, Mother, and the entire time I just wanted to smack Jessie upside the head and scream, "GET OVER IT!"

God damn! What an infuriating play. This won the fucking Pulitzer? I'm reading on Amazon about all these people hailing it as a wonderful play, that Jessie is a sympathetic character, that her killing herself was understandable, even perhaps the right decison. No, fuck that. There are people with problems much, much worse than hers, people for whom suicide is far more justifible. Jessie needs to take up a hobby or something. Travel abroad, see the world. Re-evaluate her life, not just go "I don't like my life or the state of the world so I'm going to kill myself."

If I were her mother, I've have smacked her over the head with that gun, set her straight, and then made her make Momma a pie. That's how the play should have gone. The whole thing would have been five minutes long and it would be a masterpiece.

Good god damn, I need something good to happen to me tonight. Things just don't feel right, and I could seriously use a smile on my face by the end of today.

ah yeah, that's the stuff

First of all, aeonata? Remember to bring the cable to rehearsal! Thankee!

After a weekend of depression, I finally have a huge smile on my face. Why? Three reasons: Woody Allen, Scarlett Johanssen, and Christopher Titus.

We saw MATCH POINT, a movie I am reluctant to discuss for the very same reasons that most of the reviewers have been keeping mum on the plot details. I will simply say this- wow. I love you, Woody Allen. He's gotten so much shit for his weaker movies that people seem to forget stuff like SLEEPER, LOVE AND DEATH, and ZELIG.

In case you hadn't heard yet, MATCH POINT isn't a comedy. This is some serious, serious stuff, and it's executed marvelously (although it could really have stood to have edited out 10-15 minutes of footage from the first half). Scarlett is Scarlett, and I certainly hope that's enough to entice some of you to see this. Jonathan Rhys Myers was holding back a lot, probably at Woody's direction. This is not the wild psycho from TITUS and GORMANGHAST or the hot coach from BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM. Also, it was great seeing my favorite Irish actor James Nesbitt play... well, himself, as he always plays James Nesbitt and I love him for it.

( Just a quick spoiler... DO NOT READ if you plan to see the movie, which you bloody well SHOULD! )

Then I come home, and what's on TV? CHRISTOPHER TITUS: NORMAN ROCKWELL IS BLEEDING. Some of you may remember him from his self-titled sitcom with Stacy Keach. For those who don't, let me just say this this man...? This man may be my idol. In terms of sheer force of storytelling, in crafting the screwyness of his life into performance art, this man is one of my true heroes. More than David Sedaris. More than Spaulding Gray and Denis Leary and Garrison Keillor.

This guy has gone through some seriously fucked-up shit (including a crazy mother who eventually committed suicide) and manages to spin it into gold. His words are a motto for how I live: "Hey, I do want to hear about your problems, I just want to hear them in joke form." The only way this guy has managed to stay sane is through humor and storytelling.

CHRISTOPHER TITUS: NORMAN ROCKWELL IS BLEEDING will repeat tomorrow (Monday) at noon and Friday at 9:30 on Comedy Central. I wholeheartedly urge anyone interested to check him out.