Wednesday, November 17, 2010

"I'm Just The Worst Little Buddhist In Town"




That title is a quote from Cher which I found in the Vanity Fair magazine last night. Cher is endlessly fascinating to me. I actually went to see her on one of her "final" tours some years back (thanks, Ms. Fleur!) and although it was quite the experience, it wasn't as much fun, somehow, as it was back in the olden days to get stoned and watch The Sonny And Cher Show.

Different realities and sometimes the least real is the most pleasant.
I think you know what I mean.

She looked amazing at that concert but still- there was something off-putting about it. She looked a little like a grandmother wearing her old show-girl costumes and you know that if your grandmother came out of her bedroom wearing one of those things you'd be like, "Oh, for god's sake, Grandma, have some fucking dignity!"

Just because you CAN do something, doesn't really mean you should.

BUT, hell, Cher is Cher and her grandmother just died recently so you know she's going to live forever and she'll be wearing feathers and a g-string up until the end (whoa! now there's an unintended pun!) and people will be paying the big bucks to see her do so.

Cher and Meryl Streep are good friends which is sort of surprising. They met when they did the movie Silkwood together and if you've never seen that movie, you should. It's a good one. The other night Mr. Moon and I watched It's Complicated with Ms. Streep and Alec Baldwin (don't you always think it's Alex? I do) and it was a sweet movie and Meryl is getting older but she's still gorgeous and that face- oh- that lovely face. There's an intelligence in that face that knocks me out and a beauty that is forever true. It's such a different sort of beauty than Cher's.
I find it hysterical that they're good friends. They seem so different and I'm sure they are.
But they're both mothers and they both love their children and seem to be proud of them, although it seems like Cher is having some difficulty with Chaz's transgendering. She still claims he's a lesbian and as I've said before- get over it, Cher! Men can't be lesbians!

Okay. I'm babbling.
Good morning.
The sun is out, I called the doctor. I have an appointment for tomorrow. Tomorrow! Jesus!

I took the pictures of the huge oak tree out front this morning because it was calling me. I love how the bark of it reminds me of an old elephant's skin.

Rather wrinkled and almost baggy in a frozen-in-time way and yet- beautiful and interesting in a way that a young, smooth tree just is not.

Too bad humans are not regarded with the same eye for beauty as trees.

Sigh.

Cher wouldn't have to keep getting plastic surgery and she wouldn't have to keep getting back into those fishnets either because she'd know that an old face can be as beautiful as a young one and a surgically rearranged and tightened face looks...surgically rearranged and tightened.
But, hell, as Cher said in the article, she could get her tits put on her back and it's no one's business but her own.
And some women are like Cher, and yes, Lady Gaga, too, who famously wore a meat dress

and some women are like Meryl Streep and they can all get along, and we can all see the beauty in their differences, their own definition of who and what they are.
It's complicated.

Well, here's another picture of the oak tree.

That's my reality this morning and yet, I am fascinated by Cher and I respect her and I can still see her beauty, as enhanced and rearranged as it's been.

I'm sorry. I'm too old to see Lady Gaga's beauty but I'll trust whoever tells me it's there.
(Meat hat? Meat purse?)

It's a big world and there's room for all sorts of beauty, that which shines and sparkles, that which simmers quietly, that which is not apparent at first glance but which, upon noticing, you can't keep your eyes off of.

I'm just happy to be here, observing it all, being amused and awed, and wondering where I fit in the whole picture. No answers today but I'll bet you this- I'll bet I'm the only blogger in the world today who posted about Cher AND oak trees.

Well. Maybe. Maybe not.

I'm as unique as you are and we are as unique as everyone else in what and how we think, how we look and feel, how we perceive this world and its amazing and mysterious ways.

And as long as Vegas pays Cher millions and millions to do a show, she'll be doing it, and there's something comforting in that. Not as comforting to me, personally, as that oak tree out front, but still, comforting.

Some of us are more unique than others.
You can quote me on that.

Love...Ms. Moon

27 comments:

  1. I am so glad you called the dr! I KNOW what a struggle that can be. Sometimes I feel like I need to pop a Xanax so I can go to the doctor to get more Xanax. A la, as you say.

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  2. I just don't get Cher. I think that in her prime, she was great, but like you said....Just because you can do something doesn't' mean you should.

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  3. I say, go Cher! You wear that fishnet body suit if you want to! But yeah, she needs to get over the Chaz thing. These things happen, you know?

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  4. SJ- I completely relate.

    Rebecca- She must love it. That's got to be it.

    DTG- Well, exactly.

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  5. I like that each of us can celebrate our uniqueness. Cher without all the Cherness is a middle age woman no matter how many wigs and lifts she has. It just is inevitable and the aging process will continue. The fountain of youth is within I believe.

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  6. Hiya,
    Loved this post, as I do the others.
    To me Cher will always be great. I can still see her say:
    "Have I got a gift for you".
    And it was.

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  7. "Too bad humans are not regarded with the same eye for beauty as trees."

    Amen to that shit! I feel ugly and over-the-hill and I'm not yet 45. I'll bet there are very few men who feel ugly and over-the-hill at 45.

    Fuck that shit.

    Cher is my idol (along with you, of course). Bitch does not mince words.

    Love,

    SB

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  8. I loved Cher when I was a kid -- Sonny, too. She's too weird for me, now, more a caricature of a person than a real one. But, see, you are more Buddhist than I -- far less judgmental.

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  9. Thanks for showing this gorgeous tree in sunlight. Lovely pictures.

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  10. Syd- But I think that IS Cher. Or at least a good part of her. Bless her heart.

    jo- Hello and welcome! Cher is a present, in a way, I suppose.

    Ms. Bastard-Beloved- Oh honey. You're gorgeous. I know you are. Now just accept it. (I know exactly how you feel, only I'm older.) And hey- what IS up with old, old men who think they're hot and cute? Arrggghhh.

    Elizabeth- I agree. She's a caricature. But I think she knows that and embraces it too. And honey, I am not a Buddhist.
    Wish I were.

    Call me any name- You are so welcome!

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  11. I love Cher too. I love your oak tree even more. I was out taking photos of old oak trees in the fog just this morning, and giving my old and battered oak trees a good look too. I love to take pictures of grand old trees in the winter, and I just can't capture on the camera the dignity and awesomeness I see in their shapes with my eyes.
    Oh well.
    Lady GaGa? She can play a piano and sing really well, but she reminds me of a pathetic kid tap dancing too hard begging someone to look at them. She tries too hard to be notorious and artsy, therefore she is annoying. Seems like being different and amazing comes more naturally to Cher. And Chaz, wtf? She looks very much like my lesbian cousin in drag these days. I wish she'd go on a diet before her heart attacks. Anyhoo, thanks for another very interesting post! And I hope all goes well with the doctor. :)

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  12. I'll bet you ARE the only one who posted photos of Cher and an old oak tree (that reminds me of a tony orlando song, somehow) AND someone dressed in meat. MEAT! Was is real??? Ugh.

    Haven't seen "It's Complicated" yet but my friend said it's hilarious. I, too, think Meryl has aged beautifully and gracefully, and Cher looks sadly weird but I think she likes herself that way.

    So, doctor for you tomorrow. Don't think about it. (Yet here I am reminding you.) And I got my bloodwork this morning. Always a major chore because my veins are awful but after the first guy made me a pincushion he called in backup - a sweet young Hispanic guy named Cesar, and that guy was GREAT and hit the vein on his first try. So my friend now calls him the "vein whisperer." Pretty bad joke, I know, but it made us laugh hysterically.

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  13. I'm having trouble seeing much past the meat dress. How Jackass of her...

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  14. I think Cher was in 4 movies? I thought she did such a good job as an actress and wished she did more. It was there that she didn't have to don the costume that people/fans expected. Grit, beauty, honesty, yes, she had it. So like you I do like her.

    Meryl...Lord she is lovely. I appreciate her letting herself mature without the need to over enhance herself. She is pure and every film she has done I have seen, except one. The one that her child was taken by wild dogs or something. I don't know why I didn't see it...but my favorite of hers was "Sophie's Choice".

    I am glad you are sounding better Mary....

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  15. I'm pretty sure Cher did at least 9 or 10 movies, maybe more. Mask, Silkwood, this new one, Mermaids, Moonstruck, Witches of Eastwick, and a couple of minor ones. I always enjoy her acting.

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  16. Cher was wonderful in Silkwood. Some aging-face actors who do beautiful work are Vanessa Redgrave and Helen Mirren... In the "extras" on the DVD of The Queen, Mirren talks about some of her process in creating that performance, and it's fascinating.

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  17. My sister says that the ultimate test for lesbianism is if you like Meryl Streep. If you do, you're a lesbian.

    So there you go.

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  18. ah, i love this. i love the way you write and connect and think. i love Meryl and Cher. Wouldn't you love to watch them take tea together? I enjoyed that movie too, with Alex/Alec. Watching Meryl mostly.
    i think I would be as enamored with you in person, having a hard time taking my eyes of you.
    you're just so damn cool Ms Moon.
    Thanks for writing.
    Thanks for being you.

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  19. ps,
    i loved what you said about Chaz!
    made me love you even more if that's possible.

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  20. I thought "meat purse" meant something else entirely.

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  21. Mel- I had to take an ativan to deal with the anxiety. But I'll make it. Dammit! I will!

    Leslie- I don't mind being stuck. I just don't like thinking that my blood is going to reveal secret death notices.

    Jo- I don't get it myself, but whatever.

    Ellen- I have always liked Cher in her movies. Well, mostly.
    I LOVED her in Moonstruck. Just loved her.

    DTG- She rocked Witches of Eastwick, too. That was such a good movie.

    A- It can be done so well.

    Bethany- I am not cool. Take my word for it. But thanks, darling.

    Mwa- Then we're all lesbians here.

    Lisa- One would think, right?

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  22. Ah, Cher... I can't remember Hank's quote about the last Cher post, but it was the quote to end all quotes. It was perfection.

    I'm glad you are going to the doc. It's a good thing, right?

    The Oaks are magnificent. And that dirt in Lloyd, I've discovered that it really is soot from the trains. Film at 11. Makes me want a cigarette.
    xo

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  23. @Ms. Moon - Except me. I don't know why, I just can't get used to her. Which is ironic, because I sometimes think I'm at least partly lesbian. Ah well. Maybe I just don't know enough about her. Watching Mamma Mia! a gazillion times, she is growing on me.

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  24. Ms. Fleur- What's the dirt on our dirt?

    Mwa- You don't have to like Meryl. It's okay.

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  25. I find it boring when artists continue to do the same thing they were doing 25 years ago. Has your life not evolved at all? I'd like to see an expression of how you are experiencing life NOW, not how it was in the 80's.

    Evolve or die, I say.

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