Philip Seymour Hoffman...what can you say?

Well what can you say...really. The supposed top of the world story. Fame. Fortune. An incredible career. We should all work in the movies. And yet the overdose that snuffs the flame. Scent of a Woman I saw him in and I did not notice a great talent. But there was this nagging feeling as he appeared in The Big Lebowski Boogie Nights Twister Long Journey into Night and then of course Capote. Boom. Game over. The major talent arrived.

And then gone. And what can you say really? That being an artist is a contortionist high wire act that doesn't really care about the worldly gains. Somehow if you are at the bottom or the top the same psychic fallout is there. And coping is the name of the game. You will never be normal. You will never quite fit in but you can co-exist. Most writers drink to numb out but of course everyone has their choice and some choose heroin.

Nasty drug but it must be one hell of a ride. Otherwise why would we have so many tragic deaths from heroin and her cousin cocaine? But he had three kids. Sad. And he seemed to have it all. And then he lost it all. Well, what can you say...really.

www.williamhazelgrove.com
The Pitcher...Sometimes a dream is all you have
 

The Medicine We Demand

Got the flu. Summer cold. Whatever. Nose attack then throat drip then cough attack. Ok. Had enough off to the nurse practitioner. Zithromax. Drug of choice. Go through the ritual with the pracitioner in training. Vitals. All Good. Into see the main woman. Bowl Cut. Midwestern bowl head. Wide mouth of the plains. More vitals. Questions. I cut to the chase. I have had influenza many times. I just need some zithro and I am  good. Aunt Em in the smock nods and sits down. She drops the viral bomb.

Well I think it is just viral and antibiotics are not indicated. Whoah. I sat in the Walgreens and listened to people get their drugs fore thirty minutes before I finally got in to see Mr. and Mrs. Walmart of medicine. So I backpedal. I understand that is probably what you think with most people you see but I have had this thing about fifty times and I even got a flu shot and what happens is I start pumping out phlegm and hacking so if you could give me a Z pack I will be on my way.

Mrs. Values gives me a look over her glasses and cites placebo studies that showed antibiotics are really all in the head. I assure her I have had bronchitis and it was not in my head. Forgiving smile pumping more data into computer. It hits me then...NO DRUGS. I make one last effort. I really do respect this extra degree that allows you to play doctor but really you have to come off your pedagogy and realize everyone is different. WE are all human she points out. Not necessarily I counter.

And then she sits down and says she needs just one thing from me. I am thinking blood or urine or speicimen. Whats that? Thirty five dollars for your copay she says. So I drive home sans drugs thinking that in the age of the internet we are still at the mercy of glorifed auto mechanics for basic drugs. What we are going to OD on Zithro? No the pricationer would point out we are going to make super resistant bugs. Who cares I would say. I want my Z pack.

So I went home to hack.

www.williamhazelgrove.com
 

Drug Companies Six Hour Erection

Sitting watching the box and you get the dude doing his laundry with his wife and bam they are having sex and then he turns and tells you like from some hut in the Caribbean that if you have a six hour erection go see a doctor. Now isn't that the point? Why go see a doctor if you have a six hour erection? Get cranking bro before it goes down! I mean Tommy Lee would have nothing on a dude with a six hour erection.

So you get through that commerical and then here comes another one. This dude is sitting there looking real hangdog in grainy black and white and he's going, I should have taken my cholesterol medication because I had a heart attack. So then he starts riding a bike or frolicking in the woods now showing how flipping happy he is now that he's on statins and you better take your drugs or you'll end up like him on some lame ass commercial with his wife looking at him like what a bone head.

Or you get the ladies having an orgasm because they don't have IBS anymore. They are all just dancing around holding their stomachs because they took something that straightens them out and no gas and no diarrhea and now they can eat whatever they want. And all these ladies have like nothing on their stomachs and of course they are all young and fit because they aren't going to show some fat lady with IBS.

Then they hit you with the drugs they wont even tell you what it does. It must be pretty bad but they assume if you got it you'll know what the drug is for. They show an older man and woman walking along a lake just yuking it up and going sailing while they roll through about a hundred side effects. Death, paralysis, heart failure, diabetes, stomach bleeding. You name it. I think a lot of these drugs are for people who just can't hold it or maybe their Johnson doesn't work anymore, who knows.

I mean you listen to these side effects and there is no way you want to take these drugs. But with everyone getting older and falling apart, the drug companies figure they are sitting on a gold mine. After you watch about ten hours of these commercials, the  six hour erection doesn't sound so bad.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/
Rocket Man will be out in July