Sexy Beast

I was flying back from California on JetBlue the other day, so I got to watch some cable. According to the History Channel, in his hay-day (and I use the term loosely), Charles Manson would have like seven separate sexual encounters each day, and Neil Young thought he was a "pretty cool guy." Granted, this WAS the '60's, and well before Manson had risen to notorety as anything other than a mediocre folk singer (boy were THOSE ever in short demand at the time! no wonder (crazy) people loved him!), but still. Well before he discovered "grooviness" and became a peace-loving hate-monger, the guy had already established himself as a career criminal with a penchant for messianic posturing, emotionally damaged goods, and mind altering substances. Plus he looked like Evil Jesus. That's a red flag-and-a-half right there.

OK, granted, whenever a serial killer is publicly uncovered, it's usually some real regular looking dude with a boring-yet-important job helping the community, and all his neighbors are all "he used to water my dog for me, and make raisin cookies in the shape of Muppets for church bake sales" and stuff. But still. People responded to this guy as though he was fucking Kiss unplugged or something.

Speaking of Kiss, Gene Simmons was also on cable, getting a facelift. It was sort of poetic... Like in movies about the '60's, how they always foreshadow the descent into violence and extremism that followed all the drugs and music and narcissism... Apparently, after all the violence and extremism, delusional vanity, trips to the Playboy mansion and reality TV are all innevitable. From where I was sitting, Gene Simmons was Charles Manson's "Ghost of Christmas Future."

NOTE ON THE ABOVE: How come at this point even the History Channel has to use outrageous sex and violence to draw an audience? The prospect of our history isn't enticing enough for viewers? They oughta change their name to "E! Presents the Collected History of the World: Extra Boobs Edition."