KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES

 


Who are the Joneses?

Kardashians?

Yikes.

I hope not.


What about the most noted, money-making, successful artists in music, in theater, in a hit film? Are you keeping up with them?

Or are you keeping up with a new star -- an unknown who's now known -- a one-of-kind good-looker, or an odd-looking creep, an off the wall kook -- who's everywhere suddenly?   

Hey, maybe your Jones is a "living large" person who has one of those umpteen million-dollar homes?  Does living large inspire you, spark a desire in you to keep up with a living larger person?

Or are the Oscars continuing to obsess you -- the visions of almost famous people dressed to the nines, hair and makeup done by experts, bedecked with borrowed jewels?  Do you buy clothes, do your makeup, furnish your home, go on a diet, and exercise based on keeping up with those red carpet walkers?

I dare you, yes I challenge you -- to blink-away, and put those red carpet walkers on an inaccessibly high mental  shelf, and utterly disregard, dump, discard, all of your current Joneses.

Keeping up with the Joneses is an out-of-date, 20th century motivation that you've inherited from ads, parents, and grandparents. I say that all those media-manufactured famous folks are old-fashioned. You -- yes  you are NOW -- you, the guy who is reading this blog,  represents the 21st century, and it behooves you to continue keeping up with you and be unadulterated, bravely whatever you are.

(VIDEO) JOHN CULLUM ON HARVEY FIERSTEIN

John describes Harvey -- how they met, and their very comfortable, easy going friendship.

He enjoys his role as "Terry," in Fierstein's new play, "Casa Valentina," and explains what he's learned from playing a transvestite. 

Emily asks whether you call the  character "him" or "her?" John reveals how this is handled by Harvey's script for this uniquely interesting, important play.    

HEY, SOCIAL NETWORKING GUYS!

I keep seeing THIS. 

I continually hear THIS.

 

It makes me feel like THIS:

 

It gets me wondering why am I tweeting? Why am Facebooking? It gets me asking myself, what have I gained from the weeks, months, years I've been doing this?

Night and day, over and over, every program, every news alert tells me LIKE US, FOLLOW US. When did this start happening -- last year, the year before?

Who's paying for it? The producers of the show? Twitter? Facebook? They're using our Likes, our Follows, to prove with numbers that some show is popular.

Hey, can you truthfully say that social networking is helping, or changing, or improving anything in your life? Nope. Social networking is just giving you something to do that makes you feel that you're doing something that's important.

You think that you are selling a book you self-published, that social networking is helping you sell it?

Hey guys, it's not helping to sell anything, be it -- a book, your handmade jewelry, your designs, your services -- your friends and followers aren't customers. They respond because it makes them feel like they're doing something, and they're just selling themselves like you are.

Here's a big-fat-nasty question -- if you weren't tweeting, or facebooking, how would you use the time you now spending on social networking?

Write another book? Make some furniture? Teach someplace? Do a project for your community? Whatever you do, other than social networking, involves the real world, real people.

The social networking bandwagon we've jumped on, is smallifying us, making you and me one of billions, of nobodies.

NAME THREE THINGS you could do with your social networking time? Hey, name one thing you could do. Or just be brave -- take a social networking vacatiion for seven days.and use the time for doing something, anything, else.

I Googled. Got some advice from a book, "Power of Myth,"  by a wise philosopher, Joseph Campbell."

He said:

“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”

Twitter and Facebook are myths created by guys who are making tons of money by promoting the myth and making it something we do like mowing the lawn -- like going to a party with strangers every day, who like you, aren't sure what they're doing there.

What makes you feel alive? . Making friends with aging strangers, following them?

Truth:
Social networking is aging you faster than time, it's making you OLD.

ONCE WASERS

"Once wasers." -- it's my term for famous, important people who have become "has beens."

 Show biz has beens are fun to keep track of.  Like Nick Nolte, when he dropped out of sight. Like Britney Spears -- she certainly has had some wild ups and downs.



Dick Cheney gets the Em prize for VIP  "once-wasers." And George W Bush gets 2nd prize. 

John McCain's a runner up. He talks as if he is an authority on war and peace, along with Sarah Palin who is still great looking, and seductively nasty. Golly, I can hardly wait for the day when John Boehner, who's affecting every single day of what isn't happening in America, becomes a once waser.

Names-names don't go away. Once we learn 'em, they're back again another day -- like Trump, a once waser with money, and ambitions of a guy who thinks he could be elected the president. Is New Jersey's Christie a once waser? Will he rise again? Anthony Weiner is a once waser, I just hope his wife Huma isn't.

Chris Matthews, senior reporter on MSNBC, keeps me up-to-date with his nightly "Hardball" show.  He rebroadcast Dick Cheney's recent advice to President Obama, calling O "our weak president." Golly, I don't want to hear Cheney's out-of-date opinions, and pokes at our president, who is fighting -- with a great deal of grace and strength -- will continue to be fighting -- enormous race prejudice.

But hearing Cheney's words, brain-washed us before. Even though people don't believe Cheney or trust him, his words sink in and sit in our heads. "Weak" President" gets people wondering -- tasting it, repeating "weak president" till it sticks.

Like the words that Boehner and Congress keep repeating -- "Obama care is bad, health care doesn't work." It's brain-washed some of us who voted for Obama, and believed in Obama. Now we nod our heads silently, and find truth in "weak President,"  and let it slow down the fantastic progress we made when we elected him.

Am I a once waser? Are you a once waser? Are we clinging to the days when we voted for Obama because -- wow, a black president was a giant step, a way to end race prejudice?  

Hey, has-been Nick Nolte looks great now, and is back in the world again; and Britney's comeback has turned her into an eloquent interesting liberal lady.

Once wasers or not, we gotta shape up -- write, talk, post praiseful words for O whenever they occur to us -- pile on praise -- support the black guy in the White House who's won the war against prejudice by being there, and applaud with words his decisions -- his dealing with unsolvable national and international issues with strong wisdom.

Loud and clear and often, let's drown out the old fogey Cheney-ish naysayers.