Being Charlie Sheen

[monk222]

Charlie Sheen is still getting a lot of attention in the media. I don’t follow that closely, but I take it the drama and the sardonic amusement is that his life is falling apart on him from his excess of intoxicants and live-in porn stars while he is in complete denial, saying that he is The Man doing his thing. I have remarked in passing that I actually feel a bit of envy. Walter Kirn expresses my position most aptly:

At a time when few of us know firsthand exactly what Total Self-Gratification would constitute if our means and our access to party supplies were infinite, we are left to infer from Sheen's aftermath appearance -- from the graven lines around his mouth and the very small holes in the center of his pupils where the "twinkle" used to go -- what it's like to do everything you want to anyone you want to do it to in a safe and luxurious environment while you're the highest you can be. It's fun to imagine what Sheen felt, that is, and what it felt like (at one time) to be Sheen. It's a way to connect with our orgiastic selves. It's a way to not have to pretend that cocaine feels bad and that meaningless sex, by meaning whatever we want it to, isn't in fact the most meaningful sex of all.

Oh, if I had to bet, he probably is going to come to a nasty crash, if he hasn’t already done so before I get this posted. He has already lost his show, but he is also making up for some of that loss of money with his new Twitter fame. I kind of wish he would hang in there, maybe moderate his pleasures a little, but show us by his example that the life that we stunted, adolescent men dream of is possible, even if you do have to be rich and famous.