1000 freakin' % humidity

The past few days have been insufferably hot.

You go outside from the mildewy comfort of cold, manufactured air, and immediately a thick, sticky swarm of humidity rushes at you, encircling and clinging to you like a gang of poor native children mobbing a fat tourist at a posh beach resort.

The air is so wet and heavy that everything I see looks like a Cybil Sheppard close-up on Moonlighting, all soft-focus and fuzzy. It would be beautiful if I weren't so god damned irritable.

And lethargic. The only thing I've had the energy to do is lay down and blink.

The one positive about these humid spells, is that a raging, torrential thunderstorm with gusting winds eventually forms, blowing all the nastiness away like a forgotten scandal.

The winds have started. I stepped out for a cigarette earlier and the air was slightly lighter. The northern sky was dark and cloudy and bolts of heat lightning were zapping every few seconds, a weather phenomenon I was able to appreciate properly thanks to the lifted oppression.

And naturally, my thoughts drifted to Mel Gibson.

Oy.

By all means, I should be dancing in Schadenfreudestical glee about the spot of bother he has landed his Passionately Catholic arse in.

But I just ain't feeling the fury.

Not that I don't want to join in the fun of hurling a few stones at a weakened Goliath, of course, but I think it's a waste of energy. I don't believe he will suffer true backlash from this.

For one thing, he's anchored in Christ. The Christians know he's a brethren, they LOVE him for that fucking movie and what it has done for their Lord, and they are all about forgiving a lamb who's lost his way.

Plus he's got oodles of money, his still-strong movie star image, and a whole team of handlers and PR douchebags willing to do/say almost anything to keep his name as untainted as possible, and themselves in his employ.

Many in the print media appear to be sympathetic. Susan Estrich, in a column on the Fox News website, ended her article on Mel by saying, "He still looked good in that mugshot." (the serious journalist's equivalent of: "I <3 Mel 4-ever!").

The one aspect of this I am most interested in is whether the major Hollywood film makers, producers, and studio execs (mostly Jewish, as I understand) will stand by him. If all the behind-the-scenes accounts written by bitter Hollywood insiders are true, then I think money would be the deciding factor on that one.

If the public doesn't abandon Mel, Hollywood won't either.

And I don't think he's going to lose his audience. A gossip blog recently posted this article about Mel Gibson's negative comments about homosexuals. Here is a reader's comment:

"Mel's offences continue to mount, and I continue to not care; I love him anyway. I think I'd have to witness Mel kick puppies and set kittens on fire before, in my eyes, his image could be tarnished."

That sort of devotion is reminiscent of the people who continually turn a blind eye to George W. Bush's fuck ups.

He is an actor and knows how to elicit a desired reaction. He's already issued a couple very convincingly heart-felt apologies. When he gets out of rehab, he'll meet with some Jewish leaders, maybe donate money to a Holocaust foundation, and then appear on The Tonight Show, remorseful & sincere, and Jay Leno will, just as he did with Hugh Grant, toss a few softball questions and crack a few light-hearted jokes to ease the tension.

America was able to bounce back (as it were) from the shock and horror of Janet Jackson's breast. I think we'll recover from finding out one of our Hollywood icons is a bit of a racist prick.

After all, it isn't a crime to be an asshole.