Several years ago I heard an expression that has stuck with me. That expression is "jumping the shark." According to Wikipedia, Jumping the Shark means the moment of downturn for a previously successful enterprise. The phrase was originally used to denote the point in a T.V. show's history where the plot spins off into absurd story lines or unlikely characterizations. These changes were often the result of efforts to revive interest in a show whose audience had begun to decline, usually through the employment of different actors, writers or producers. It is often extended to people, particularly actors these days.
Many, many examples spring to mind immediately as we get older and as some Hollywood types and sporting figures begin to Jump the Shark on the way to ruining their legacy.
One star in the news currently is Mel Gibson. He has had a stellar acting career, a large family, a marriage of 29 years; everything seemed rosy in Mel's world. We have since discovered that Mel's world is far from perfect and he is not the nice guy that he once seemed to be. He is an alcoholic with a DUI offense in 2006, and one back in Australia in 1984. He has been through "recovery" more than once. He divorced his wife (and mother of his 7 children, & 2 grandchildren) and took up with his new "girlfriend" and mother of his newest child. He has recently separated from the new girlfriend under a cloud of suspicion of physically abusing her while she held their baby and verbally threatening to do her harm. There are audio tapes of him threatening her. There are also tapes and witnesses to his many racist rants and remarks that he has made over the years. All of this from a man who purports to be so religious that he built a Church on his property!! What a crock, what a hypocrite.
Then there is of course, Tom Cruise. Once again, he seems to have it all. He has a powerful career in Hollywood, more money than he could ever need, he has had 3 wives, the latest, Katie Holmes, is many years younger than him. He went so bonkers over landing Katie Holmes that he humiliated himself while doing an interview on the Oprah show. The infamous "couch jumping" was to show Oprah how in love he was with Katie Holmes, whom he had dated for about a month at the time!! This incident was a major downfall in his career. It made him seem less stable and a lot more bizarre. Magazines began digging into all that is Tom Cruise. What came out of the digging was his intense devotion to the odd religion of Scientology. Apparently he is one of the higher ups in this cult...er...um... I mean religion. After the info about his Scientology ties became public dialogue, his career fell down more. At this point in time, he is not who he once was in Hollywood. His latest film struggles at the box office as of today. He jumped the shark by jumping on the couch and acting very unstable. He did himself no favors.
The next in a long line of oddballs and morons is Tiger Woods. Wow, he really Jumped it bad!He was on top of the golf world, on top of the heap of millions of endorsements deals and dollars. He had a beautiful wife, 2 young children, multiple houses and the respect of anyone in the golfing realm. Then, poof, his reputation and credibility is gone. The true Tiger showed it's ugly teeth and we were all shocked to see what a moron he really is! Why did this man ever get married? If he catted around and knew he wanted to continue catting around ad nauseum, why involve an innocent young woman and deceive her from day one? What purpose did that serve? I am sure any one of his bimbos or ho's would have carried a child for him (a la Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe) for a price. It is amazing how much he carried on and for how long without it ever coming out. He was on top of the world, thinking he could do whatever the hell he wanted to do and get away with it.
That is what these shark jumpers have in common. They get so famous, so fast, the people around them treat them like a deity. They can do no wrong, say no wrong. What they decide goes even if it is a poor decision. Nobody wants to tell them the truth for fear they will not be on the payroll anymore if they do. So the famous person gets a god complex and pretty soon, they fall off of their ivory tower. When they fall, they fall hard.
Brittany Spears is a female Shark Jumper. She was on top, looked great, had tons of money, had a hot music career although she was not a good singer by any stretch of the imagination, and poof. She attained her god complex, her posse fed into it and she suffered a breakdown of mammoth proportions splashed all over the tabloids. She is just a cut above trailer trash these days with her Dad as her "supervisor." Why didn't he supervise her career when she was on top or headed up? He was only there to take care of business when she was down and out.
Lindsay Lohan seems to be following in Brittany's footsteps. Another case of girl did well as a youngster, and it all spun out of control.
What is it about fame that makes these people rise and fall so spectacularly? There are leading men and ladies in Hollywood that have not suffered this fate and end up growing up and growing old gracefully. Think of Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, think of Meryl Streep, Michelle Pfeiffer. They have been in scores of movies and have mega money and yet have seemingly normal lives.
There are some who have teetered with Jumping the Shark and still may. Madonna seems to be one of those. She continues to dress and act as if she were 25. She is in danger of becoming a caricature of her old self. Russell Crowe has had enough physical outbursts to cast himself in a shark like shadow. Lady Gaga has gone from a nobody to the most friended person on Facebook. She can only go down from there!
There are SO MANY professional sports figures that jump the shark and do it quickly. We are not talking about decades long careers like Mel and Tom, no, we are talking about NFL players who get giant contracts and a couple of years in they still act like they are living in the "hood." The go to strip clubs, get involved in murder for hire plots, carry firearms with them while going out with friends, have DUI convictions.MLB Baseball has had all the steroid scandals to contend with...I am great, I could be greater....let me just do this 'roid and maybe I can set some records and even more millions. NBA Basketball seems to be full of huge egos, LeBron James is a good example! All of these nitwits who are good at hitting, catching, or throwing a ball are being paid multi millions for doing so and have thus gotten a little god complex of their own. As an NHL hockey fan, I don't see this as much there. What you see is players who abandon a beloved team because they can't be the head honcho, the team captain, or the team they would love to stay and keep playing for cannot afford to pay them what they think they are worth, due to salary cap restrictions. In hockey it is part ego, part economics.
Very few people ever attain the wealth that a Mel Gibson, LeBron James, or Madonna have. And thank goodness they don't! Most people cannot deal with all that comes along with that money. The lack of privacy, having your every act scrutinized, your every move photographed can get out of control. But it is a trade off. They do have the option of walking away from the movie, the music or the sports and still have a pile of money to live on. They usually choose to keep being famous and some eventually become infamous because they cannot live without the adoration that goes along with the title of superstar.
In conclusion, people are jumping the shark left and right. It will continue to happen as long as we put them up on a pedestal. From that pedestal they ultimately have 2 choices. They can stay up there or they can fall. Mel and company have fallen and it is not a pretty sight!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
A Funny Thing Happened on The Way Out of the Gym Today...
I felt the rush today. It was just a tiny hint of a rush, but a rush nonetheless. It was something I have not felt for a very long time.
Let me back up a bit. I have always been,throughout my life, a person who works out. I belong to gyms, I go to fitness classes, I walk, I do exercise videos at home. This has been my way of life since I was a young teen going to Anne Marie's Figure Forum in Westport, CT with my sister. That was where it all started. From there, I moved on to doing Jane Fonda exercise albums at home with my Mom. At college, I ran for one year, and then worked out on and off at the fitness center on campus. After college, I had an apartment and joined a fitness and raquet club and so on and so on. I have done kickboxing, high impact aerobics, (thank you Sue Lestage), walking workouts, weight training, step aerobics, pretty much all of the fitness class crazes up until 4 years ago.
Four years ago, before I had gone back to working outside the home, I was at the Y most weekdays working out for usually an hour and a half. I would do 45 minutes of elliptical/exercise bike, then do some weight training, then I would see a friend and walk on the track and chat for another 1/2 hour or more. Before I knew it, I had been working out for much more than an hour. During this time, I developed a pain on the arch of my right foot. I figured I would need to exercise MORE to stretch this out. I increased my time on the elliptical, Stairmaster, and arc trainers. I was up to about 50 minutes 3-5 times a week when I " hit the wall."
This wall was huge and excruciatingly painful. It had a name. It was called Plantar Fasciitis. It is an inflammation of a tendon that runs from your heel, through the arch of your foot. When you wake in the morning after not using your feet all night, it feels like someone is stabbing the bottom of your foot with a sword. It is very sharply painful to get up and start walking around. All day long I had that pain. The pain was always much worse after not walking for an hour or more.
The Plantar Fasciitis brought my exercising mania to a crashing halt. Not only could I not use the elliptical, the stairmaster, the bike, the arc trainer or take classes, I could barely walk at all without horrific pain. I sought ever increasing levels of treatment. I went to a podiatrist, who sent me home with some stretching exercises and a recommendation to soak my foot in a bucket of ice water. If you have ever soaked your foot in a bucket of ice water, you know what a level of commitment to a cure that takes. It was awful and neither the ice nor the stretching helped. I then progressed to physical therapy, including Iontophoresis where a medicated patch is put on the affected area and an electrode drives the medication into the area in tiny increments using electrical pulses. This also did not work.
I went back to the podiatrist for an injection of cortisone directly into the area....you guessed it. I did not work, well, it did work for about one day and then it wore off and I was back to limping and making awful faces anytime I had to move my foot. The coup de gras was that I had to wear a walking cast for a month...mind you this was in mid July. It was hot, it was heavy (not to be confused with hot-n-heavy, trust me) and it kept my foot absolutely frozen in one position for a month. I was allowed to take it off only to drive and shower. After one month, in mid August, I took it off and thought, hmmmm...maybe this did the trick. I started walking around on it again and after a few days, that dreaded pain came right back. By that point, I had experienced this pain for almost a year. To be completely clear, I had ignored the pain for the first 6 months but it had been with me for almost one year. My only option at that point was to have surgery to sever the tendon. The sad fact though was that the doctor would not guarantee that surgery would make the pain go away and that tendon would be permanently severed. I opted not to have surgery.
At that point in time, I had gotten a job and began to work. I was wearing heels most of the time at work and I sat for many more hours of the day than I used to sit when I was not working. Something weird started to happen when I started my job, my foot began to feel better magically. I was not working out, I was not standing all day on my feet, and I was wearing heels instead of flat shoes. The heels seemed to ease the strain on the tendon...due to the angle my foot was in while I wore heels. I gradually began to gently work out at home...a little walking, a little short exercise video, etc.
That is the fitness situation I have been in ever since 2006. I have not been able to work out strenuously for fear of the return of the dreaded PF. But as a side effect of not working out as much, I have noticed my muscles are not as firm and flab is taking over formerly tighter areas (groan). So, it is with a little trepidation that I strode back to a gym last week. I saw my arch nemeses--the arc trainer and the elliptical. This gym did not have a stairmaster...probably a good thing. I got on the elliptical and did 15 minutes. I could have done more but opted not to push it. I also used the treadmill and exercise bike.
A funny thing happened today on the way out of the gym. I got that feeling. I had forgotten about that feeling altogether because it had been so long since I had experienced it. It is that rush of endorphins you get after you finish a workout. It is subtle to be sure, not like what a long distance runner gets...that is anything but subtle. This is subtle and yet I felt it. It felt great to have a 45 minute workout under my belt today. It felt good physically and mentally. And all in all, that feeling was what I have missed the most.
I am both committed to regain a fitness routine I left behind 4 years ago in hopes of firming and toning, yet at the same time, I will listen to my body and understand that when your body gives you cues that it is hurting, you need to heed those warnings instead of being stubborn and hoping you can will them away. There is a balance to be struck here and I am determined to find it.
By the way, is anyone with me? A lot of friends and acquaintances have told me they are members at Planet Fitness, but do not go very often; you know who you are. LOL Who wants to join me in this quest?
Let me back up a bit. I have always been,throughout my life, a person who works out. I belong to gyms, I go to fitness classes, I walk, I do exercise videos at home. This has been my way of life since I was a young teen going to Anne Marie's Figure Forum in Westport, CT with my sister. That was where it all started. From there, I moved on to doing Jane Fonda exercise albums at home with my Mom. At college, I ran for one year, and then worked out on and off at the fitness center on campus. After college, I had an apartment and joined a fitness and raquet club and so on and so on. I have done kickboxing, high impact aerobics, (thank you Sue Lestage), walking workouts, weight training, step aerobics, pretty much all of the fitness class crazes up until 4 years ago.
Four years ago, before I had gone back to working outside the home, I was at the Y most weekdays working out for usually an hour and a half. I would do 45 minutes of elliptical/exercise bike, then do some weight training, then I would see a friend and walk on the track and chat for another 1/2 hour or more. Before I knew it, I had been working out for much more than an hour. During this time, I developed a pain on the arch of my right foot. I figured I would need to exercise MORE to stretch this out. I increased my time on the elliptical, Stairmaster, and arc trainers. I was up to about 50 minutes 3-5 times a week when I " hit the wall."
This wall was huge and excruciatingly painful. It had a name. It was called Plantar Fasciitis. It is an inflammation of a tendon that runs from your heel, through the arch of your foot. When you wake in the morning after not using your feet all night, it feels like someone is stabbing the bottom of your foot with a sword. It is very sharply painful to get up and start walking around. All day long I had that pain. The pain was always much worse after not walking for an hour or more.
The Plantar Fasciitis brought my exercising mania to a crashing halt. Not only could I not use the elliptical, the stairmaster, the bike, the arc trainer or take classes, I could barely walk at all without horrific pain. I sought ever increasing levels of treatment. I went to a podiatrist, who sent me home with some stretching exercises and a recommendation to soak my foot in a bucket of ice water. If you have ever soaked your foot in a bucket of ice water, you know what a level of commitment to a cure that takes. It was awful and neither the ice nor the stretching helped. I then progressed to physical therapy, including Iontophoresis where a medicated patch is put on the affected area and an electrode drives the medication into the area in tiny increments using electrical pulses. This also did not work.
I went back to the podiatrist for an injection of cortisone directly into the area....you guessed it. I did not work, well, it did work for about one day and then it wore off and I was back to limping and making awful faces anytime I had to move my foot. The coup de gras was that I had to wear a walking cast for a month...mind you this was in mid July. It was hot, it was heavy (not to be confused with hot-n-heavy, trust me) and it kept my foot absolutely frozen in one position for a month. I was allowed to take it off only to drive and shower. After one month, in mid August, I took it off and thought, hmmmm...maybe this did the trick. I started walking around on it again and after a few days, that dreaded pain came right back. By that point, I had experienced this pain for almost a year. To be completely clear, I had ignored the pain for the first 6 months but it had been with me for almost one year. My only option at that point was to have surgery to sever the tendon. The sad fact though was that the doctor would not guarantee that surgery would make the pain go away and that tendon would be permanently severed. I opted not to have surgery.
At that point in time, I had gotten a job and began to work. I was wearing heels most of the time at work and I sat for many more hours of the day than I used to sit when I was not working. Something weird started to happen when I started my job, my foot began to feel better magically. I was not working out, I was not standing all day on my feet, and I was wearing heels instead of flat shoes. The heels seemed to ease the strain on the tendon...due to the angle my foot was in while I wore heels. I gradually began to gently work out at home...a little walking, a little short exercise video, etc.
That is the fitness situation I have been in ever since 2006. I have not been able to work out strenuously for fear of the return of the dreaded PF. But as a side effect of not working out as much, I have noticed my muscles are not as firm and flab is taking over formerly tighter areas (groan). So, it is with a little trepidation that I strode back to a gym last week. I saw my arch nemeses--the arc trainer and the elliptical. This gym did not have a stairmaster...probably a good thing. I got on the elliptical and did 15 minutes. I could have done more but opted not to push it. I also used the treadmill and exercise bike.
A funny thing happened today on the way out of the gym. I got that feeling. I had forgotten about that feeling altogether because it had been so long since I had experienced it. It is that rush of endorphins you get after you finish a workout. It is subtle to be sure, not like what a long distance runner gets...that is anything but subtle. This is subtle and yet I felt it. It felt great to have a 45 minute workout under my belt today. It felt good physically and mentally. And all in all, that feeling was what I have missed the most.
I am both committed to regain a fitness routine I left behind 4 years ago in hopes of firming and toning, yet at the same time, I will listen to my body and understand that when your body gives you cues that it is hurting, you need to heed those warnings instead of being stubborn and hoping you can will them away. There is a balance to be struck here and I am determined to find it.
By the way, is anyone with me? A lot of friends and acquaintances have told me they are members at Planet Fitness, but do not go very often; you know who you are. LOL Who wants to join me in this quest?
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