False Impressions and Defending the Dead

I told myself I wasn't going to write about Marilyn Chambers. I didn't really know her. I've never seen any of her sex flicks and I vaguely remember seeing her in some Skinamax movie when I was 13, but I could never be sure who were in those many crappy movies I saw at two in the morning. Maybe.

Either way, I felt being that she was a generation or two before my time, anything I would've written would lack that familiar personal connection of someone who actually dug her and got off on her. You'll find better coverage here and here.

What am I doing now, you ask?

I was at the post office. The line was unbearably long. There's only one person at the window so it's moving at a snail pace. I've got no patience and like a schmuck I forgot to bring a book. Luckily there's a copy of the local paper sitting on a nearby counter. Read through the police blotter. Then flipped to an article about Marilyn.

I got to tell you, I was highly annoyed while reading it. Halfway through I was set to rush home and bang out a scathing critique on this, my soapbox for all things porn. I reread the article while firing up the laptop. And what do you know? It read like a completely different piece. Looks like being wet (it's been raining something heavy) and peeved about waiting in line affected the way I perceived the article. Once I was dry, warm, and not in a state of perpetual waiting, all the flip remarks and snide comments disappeared. Gone too was the amateur feel to the article (although it still is far from winning a Pulitzer) and the condescending tone.

The only thing left to complain about is this double whammy of a backhand compliment:

"Given her sexual proclivities, amazingly she never got HIV or AIDS, although even she could not avoid the curse of excessive carbohydrates."

What the fuck is that? Check it out for yourself here.