Tainted Recollection

Hello Everyone:

Just doing a bit of post-Super Bowl bragging.  The coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll, is the former USC football coach and winner of a Rose Bowl.  Fight On.  I followed the game on Twitter and caught the half time show on Youtube.  Bruno Mars was great and the Red Hot Chili Peppers rocked the house.  I did my nails during the game.  It was a pretty lop-sided game.  Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks.

Checking out the social media sites for the reaction to Philip Seymour Hoffman and it's interesting to read all the tributes.  Most of the obituaries fondly remember him as an actor and the family man but no mention of the fact that he was an addict.  There's no getting around it.  I mean look at the manner he died.  I suppose people want to remember the positive aspects of a person's life but is that an accurate read?  Not really.  While I don't advocate focusing on the negative parts of a deceased person's life but I also don't believe in white washing a person's life.  Yes, he and other performers who succumbed to drug overdoses, were taken too soon but they did this to themselves.  Plain and simple. Drug and alcohol addiction is a vicious thing.  They take control of a person's life, destroying: friendships, careers, relationships, and ultimately the addict-alcoholic.  It's interesting to watch some these performers in action, you wonder if they're high or not.  Now that I think about it, recalling the PSH films I've seen, I'm starting to have the same thought.  Was he high when he made Capote?  It sort of taints my view about his acting skills.  Yes, PSH was an amazing character actor, who could blend into a scene but the fact that he used makes a person stop and think.  To be fair, the movies of PSH are some the best films I've seen, not just because of him, they're great because of the writing, direction, and the assemble cast.  When I recall his work, it'll now be with the stain of heroin addiction.  I'll always be left in doubt if he achieved those remarkable performances while on heroin or was he sober?