Back-To-Back Award Shows, Meh

Just like Twitter is limited to 140 characters, I kind of limited the time I spent watching the VMAs and the Emmys to about 140 seconds. That was about all I could handle at any one time.

So I can't actually say I watched either show, and can only comment that what I saw of each was excruciatingly awful. My views on them will be short, probably only a bit more than 140 characters.

The VMAs: When did a big ass become the new big boobs standard? Does it now mean if a woman has both a big ass AND big boobs, she is now considered a Goddess? Asking for a friend.

That is really all I have to say about the VMAs.

The Emmys: Was it me or have the women started dressing really badly again? Girls, Less is Best. Not in the amount of material, but in how the material is being used. Way, way too much on the ruffles, draping, layering. oy. One red number: one shoulder,draping over the bust, cinched waist with beading on one side, more draping over the hips, more cinching at mid-thigh and a flouncy bottom. Really? Another pink flamingo number, and one black dress with so much badly added tulle over it, it looked like someone just decided to wrap it around her, like ten times.

Fire your stylists and just take a look in the mirror.

In all the rehearsals for this show, did any of the participants actually think the jokes were funny? Whenever I tuned in and caught one, I had to switch it off because they were not just bad, but dreadful. One thing about comedy, timing is everything. The greats have it, only one person I saw last night did.

Billy.

It wasn't his day to be funny, though along with the tears, his speech also brought a few smiles. When Robin died, we waited for what his friend Billy would have to say, and what he did say was perfect for that moment. "No Words."  And it was true. He was called upon last night to choose a few, and with just the right mixture of joy and sadness, he spoke of the man he knew so well.

And every word he said reminded us of how much sadder the world has become.

Robin Williams, what a concept.

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Robin Williams, From Laughter to Tears

He made me laugh.

He made me laugh harder than anyone ever. He made me laugh to the point where I couldn't catch my breath. And now he's made me cry.

As the first tweet came across last night, I hoped it was another internet hoax, but with the quote from the police, the report from his agent, and the sad words from his wife, it was apparently true.

He was brilliant, watching him doing standup or acting in a film, there was no question he made great use of the voices inside his head. Unfortunately there were the dark voices too. We all have them, when you interact with writers and creative people as much as I do, you realize how many people struggle every day to live alongside them.

I am not a huge movie person, but I will watch "The Birdcage," every time it's on to see him interact with Nathan Lane. And there was "Comic Relief," the charity event he did with Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal every year. The improvs between Billy and Robin were so ridiculously surreal, there were times when Whoopi looked as if she was holding on for dear life. But it was Robin who was trying to hold on.

My uncle took his own life several years ago, and until then I hadn't really thought about how suicide affects everyone who knew the person. It shakes you down to your core and makes you question things you knew as the truth. How could we not have seen it coming? How did his heart become so dark that he could not see that he was loved.... that he mattered to us.

Within an hour after his death was reported last night, social media lit up. It seemed 99.9% of the tweets and Facebook postings coming across were expressions of grief. It continued that way for hours. His genius touched the world as a whole, but it touched every one of us as well.

Life is a balance. Was the pain Robin Williams endured through his lifetime the price he paid for the genius of his work? We can't know. We can only graciously accept all he gave us and hope his pain is gone.

"“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”... Robin Williams

Depression Lies. Suicide Prevention Hotline 1-800-273-8255

Easy journey Robin.

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