August 3
The only thing the two topics have in common is the first three letters of their names, but to get you to read about the first, I thought it might help to include some thoughts about the other. Sneaky, but all is fair in blogland.
I wrote about trying melatonin as a sleep aid when I read a few months ago that there was a new study indicating it had some merit. I had never had a chronic problem with insomnia until I reached my 50's, and at that time melatonin, a hormone that tends to decrease with age, was being touted as a way to combat some of the effects of aging, particularly in the area of increased sleep deprivation. It seemed as if everybody was trying it for a while; then we all were disappointed in the results; then we stopped. Studies were being done, but it would take years for the data to be examined and reports be made public.
Recently the reports were reported. (Is that what I meant to say?) I read something that indicated that .3 milligrams of melatonin was seen to be effective in adjusting the circadian rhythms, particularly for people flying across time zones. This was what the early reports had said, in the mid-90's, this time-zone thing, and this was what got the melatonin ball rolling. I read reports of the latest study on the Internet and decided to try melatonin again. It worked at first, and then I seemed to be back where I started.
So after trying my 3 milligram dose for a month or so I went back to the 'Net to see if I had read wrong. What do you know -- the original report said .3 milligram, not 3 milligrams! It said that taking a larger dose would work for two or three days but then no longer have any effect! Exactly what had happened to me. The report went on to say that the .3 milligram dose was readily available, but that one could just chop up the larger-dose tablet, and it would work as well.
I went to the pharmacy and could find no melatonin in dosage other than 3 mg. tablets. I tried the health food store, which did have liquid with a 1 mg. dropper. That would be easier than trying to chop a 3 mg. tablet into equal parts of .3 mg., but I decided to chop into eighths and see how that worked. The chopping into eighths was the hard part, (hmmm...first I cut it into thirds, then cut that into 3/10s) but I did something like it, and I've been using that for a couple of weeks, and it works. When I run out, in about 2019 -- I bought two bottles of 3 mg. tablets -- I'll get the drops if they haven't come out with a .3 mg. tablet before then. What a difference that little old decimal point makes.
Mel Gibson, on the other hand, could probably use the information about .3 mg. of anything. I know a little about drunkenness, and about being .08 drunk, and I'm afraid the I-didn't-know-what-I-was-doing defense is not going to help him much. I'm sorry to say I think it was pretty much all over for Mel Gibson by the time this recent tangle with the police happened.
It is my impression that he always was a hothead, albeit a brilliant and talented one, and that the public cut him tremendous slack for this, although the business he was in really didn't. Now it's probably too late. There are those among my readers who have let me know they have no regard for him, even as an actor; others despised his masterpiece, Passion of the Christ, without having seen it. I suspect he is a hard man for other men to like, and that there are plenty of women who feel the same. I liked the old Lethal Weapon movies, and The Man Without a Face, and Braveheart; but they are all in the distant past, and as far as I could tell he wasn't going to be doing much acting in the future. Nor did he need to.
But I may be wrong about this. I am going to observe as this plays out and the madness dies down. What else can any of us do? Who has not said things in anger that he regrets? What he said cannot be explained away or accepted on any level, and it seems strange that he doesn't seem to believe that it indicates a heartfelt bigotry, or to have known it would make the evening news that he said it. I'm not even sure exactly what's going on here, and maybe Mel Gibson isn't either. I just hope he's willing to learn.
6 comments:
I loved one of the lines in one of the "Lethal Weapon" movies. Danny Glover asked the Gibson character, "Did you ever meet a man you didn't kill."
I thought "Braveheart" was a bore, and didn't see the others you mentioned. I personally liked "Conspiracy Theory." Strage role.
I didn't think Gibson's problem was thinking he was above the law, jon; it was the things he said to the arresting officer -- most of which we'll probably never know. Legal experts say he won't appear in court, and I suspect a stay in rehab wouldn't hurt a bit.
But the real problem was his revealing his longtime anti-Semitism. Interestingly, the arresting officer, who was Jewish, thought only one thing: "That's the drink talking." More likely it was the real Gibson talking, voicing the ingrained attitude he learned at his father's knee.
As to his work, it's interesting how available to him was his own anger and violence, as in the Lethal Weapon and other films he made of that ilk. He was good at sociopaths and righteous hate-mongers, and yet he has a strong religious faith. Make no mistake about it, in top form he was a first-rate actor and a first-tier movie star. Those days are past, and who knows what he'll do next. But he needs to learn, as jon suggests, humility -- and it wouldn't hurt if he is taught a little history as well.
Who cares? Could anything be more meaningless than Mel Gibson? As for "Braveheart", (sorry Benedict) it went beyond boring and was one of the most laughable, ridiculous, ego trip, not to mention “homophobic”, films ever made, only to be topped by "The Patriot".
As for acting ability, John Wayne on bad day was better than Mel on any of his .O3 MELetonin good days.
As for those "Lethal Weapon" comedies, we had to be rescued, in two of them, from the boredom of his one-dimensional knock off character by the acting skills Joe Pesce. By the way the best parody of these types of films was, “Last Action Hero”, by none other than the great, one and only, “I’ll be Back”, Arnold Schwarzenegger. There’s actor who knows how to deliver a line.
“The Passion” was a very intense and religious and in my opinion a decent, not “brilliant”, film that was saved by his not acting in it.
As for his anti-Semitic drunken triad, “ that jews start all the wars”, maybe, he was upset by the brutal murderous war crimes and ethnic cleansing being visited once again on the innocent men, women, and children of Lebanon by the Israeli Defense Force. Or maybe he is just what seems to be, your general all-round, right wing, religious, closeted, bigoted, homophobic, misogynistic, anti-Semite, who happens to be a grade-b Hollywood star. Or as Dr. Phil pointed out on Jay Leno, "I don't know what [Gibson] really thinks or feels."….."I certainly wouldn't judge a guy based on one comment in a drunken stupor on the side of the road at 2 o'clock in the morning."
time to take a nap...zzzzzzz
I guess I was right when I said he's a hard guy to like.
I must have been one of the few who didn't hate Braveheart (although I liked Rob Roy which came out the same year better (in spite of an obvious hetero bias).
Gibson is an arrogant, unpleasant human being. There, I've said it. Each to his own taste; I still don't hate seeing him. I just wish he had better sense.
The current trend of US citizenry is to be "outraged" at some comment made by another citizen who presumably has the right to his own opinions. Crap to it all! Call a spade a spade, a jew a jew, a commie a commie , and me of course a regular home bred American asshole for thinking this way. Too bad for everybody else.
And what an honor to have your eloquent presence on my humble blog, sir. Even though I suspect you are a sheep in wolf's clothing.
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