Monday , November 16, 2009
nogoodforme Superlatives: Most Epic Bromances Ever
JOHN WINSTON ONO LENNON & SIR JAMES PAUL MCCARTNEY'S "ANTI-BROMANCE" BROMANCE: SOME SERIOUSLY SERIOUS BEATLES-DRAMZ PSYCHOANALYSIS FROM LAURA JANE
Like many women, I get along better with dudes than I do with girls/chicks/babes/broads/dolls. This is because dudes are chill. Don't get me wrong- dudes are mad flawed, and I often hate them, but they generally shun cattiness, dramz, resentment, competition, and other such negativity (which rules). I have observed many a bromance in my time, and they're always so sweet! Bromances remind me of the lyric "I wanna play cricket on the green/Ride my bike across the street/Cut myself and see my blood/I wanna come home all covered in mud" from "I'm A Boy" by The Who- when two cute dudes who love each other unite, they turn into scrappy, impish lil' men-children, like a double dose of Dennis the Menace, only with beer.
The legendary and complex Lennon/McCartney bromance is exciting to me because it was SO not like that. Obvsduh John & Paul loved each other madly, but, as bros' respective egos quadrupled in size and the Beatles were forced to spend appalling amounts of time together, their bromance rotted and soured, ultimately becoming what will heretofore be known as "The Anti-Bromance Bromance".
(I was going to preface all this by stating that I could devote my entire life to psychoanalyzing John Lennon & Paul McCartney's relationship, then realized that I actually have and am. This shit is merely the tip of the LJ ON JL & PMcC iceberg.)
I often wonder how much of my schtick has been crafted in subconscious mimicry of John's; similarly, I wonder if Paul McCartney ended up the way he did (I would mostly characterize '67-'70-era Paul as a man obsessed with being objectively right, whereas JL was more into being objectively wrong and owning it) because of an intrinsic urge to oppose John's brash, aggressive and antagonistic take on pretty much everything.
I relate to John Lennon a lot. He is my Yang, and Paul is my Yin (hence the underlying meaning of my Lennon/McCartney tattoos). Not that I know John Lennon personally (I'm sure I would if he were alive, though), but I feel our most fundamental similarity is that we are both people who our friends need to talk to their therapists about. Because I totally get why my own actions irritate/confuse the Helter Skelter out of my inner circle, I'm pretty highly attuned to how annoying late-sixties John must have been to poor Macca. From Paul's perspective, JOHN GOT WEIRD. But, from John's perspective, PAUL GOT LAME. Each argument is equally valid.
Both of them are right; both of them are wrong. John's weird; Paul's lame. John was a genius and a great songwriter; surprise surprise- so was Paul! When it comes to rocky relationships, equality is the gateway to toxicity. It's no wonder J&P were total bitches to each other. Can you imagine how damaging it would be to write "Strawberry Fields Forever", then only be allowed to feel good about it for, like, ten seconds because you were one-upped by HEY FREAKING JUDE? Ouch. Just as I am Laura Jane: The Dude of Chicks, John and Paul's intense/fractured/intensely fractured relationship was the Girl-Dramz Shitfest of Bromances. Don't worry, lads- I'll never get over it either!
PS: This entry is dedicated to Jackson McIntosh and Trevor Stark, two really fantaberrific dudes whose nontoxic, "I'm A Boy"-style bromance is one of the cutest I've ever encountered. I miss observing it on a semi-regular basis: one day, Boys, one day! (LJ)
NATE ARCHIBALD + CHUCK BASS, "GOSSIP GIRL"
I will do my best not to spoil those who haven't caught up with this season of "Gossip Girl" by writing anything specific in white so you can't read it. But it must be said: WTF is going on with this season of GG? I know GG is a soap opera at its core, but the whiplash, slapdash, utterly pointless storylines have got to go -- it's like GG is suffering from narrative ADD or something. There are some cool stories going on that are always enjoyable to see (Chuck-and-Blair, Blair-and-Chuck, and of course, the upped Dorota factor.) But one severely lamentable thing is the lack of the Nate Archibald/Chuck Bass bromance. (As well as more Dan/Serena action -- please, spare us any more of this pointless relationship!) I think it's always fascinating to watch the very beginning of television series, just to see what the creators' original intent for characters and storylines were -- there's always a bit of a warm-up feeling before the writers and producers realize what kind of actors they have and what they're capable of. In the case of one Chuck Bass, who originally was an irredeemable villain of sorts, they probably thought, "Holy hell, this actor's pretty good!" (Well, outside of the constant tripping during his season 2 breakdown after his dad died. Most drunk people I know just stay tripped, you know?) And of course, the one thing that redeemed Chuck Bass at the very beginning was his unquestioned loyalty and love for his best friend, the good-looking but perpetually vaguely confused Nate Archibald -- the only times C.Bass revealed his rare humanity were the times he bailed out his dude-in-distress. You can imagine these two sharing both doobies and hair products -- if that's not bromantic, I have no idea what is. And aren't they just so pretty together? It's kind of insane. Writing up my portion of Superlative this week was worth it just to be able to post this picture. (Kat)
FLEA & ANTHONY: THE PIGGYBACK CHAMPIONS OF L.A. COUNTY
When I was 13 or 14 and first started getting heavy into my Chili Peppers obsession, there was a moment when I was sure they had to all be secret boyfriends or something - no other boys in the world ever exhibited such unabashed bro-on-bro love, forever kissin' on each other, sometimes with tongue. It was real eye-opening to realize they truly were/are just hyperaffectionate besties, but there's some disappointment lingering from the discovery that not all grown dudes go around giving each other piggyback rides while wearing weird clothes and listening to Bad Brains and/or Fela Kuti all the livelong day. Oh wellskis; it's still fun to watch Flea and Anthony in cute little videos like this one from 23 years ago - the insane hats and hand-on-the-thigh thing just kill me everytime. Happy Heart Day, buddies! I hope you're together surfing and/or eating RFD takeout and/or giving each other piggyback rides all over Malibu right this very second. (Liz)
Tags: bromances, dudes, dudes are chill, dudes are hot, egomania, Flea, John Lennon, L.A. rules, Laura loves The Beatles, Paul McCartney, piggyback rides, psychoanalysis, Red Hot Chili Peppers, superlatives, The Who, Valentine's Day
Share | 
| 
| 
|
|
Posted by Kat in Superlatives |
Permalink |
Leave a comment |
Comments (2)
+ Contact Us
+ HOME
2 Comments!!
Say something so insightful and witty, it will blow us away. (No pressure.)
Got something to say? We'd love to hear it! Name, email and "type in the weirdo drunken text" thingie are all required to comment; don't worry, we won't email you or anything, we just want to make sure you're not an evil spambot. Keeping in mind the good-times mentality we like to keep going here, we've worked hard to keep NOGOODFORME.COM as fun as possible. We welcome all kinds of comments, but insults/abuse/general bitchery are not tolerated. In other words, we put the smackdown on evil troll posts. If you want to be a hater, please go elsewhere. Now, as Salt 'N Pepa say, "Only the sexy people..."
Man, that video was only two years before Hillel's death. So sad. :(
But Anthony and Flea were so cute. They went to summer camp together. What a beautifully long-lasting bromance.
My two best dude friends exemplify the notion. It's sweet, really.
I dunno how you ladies feel about 'Scrubs', but this is pretty well the bromance theme song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbROMQTjKg
By Micaela on February 10, 2009 7:52 PM
sometimes i want to beat zach braff up, but other times i think he's hot. that vid's wicked cute!
By Liz
on February 11, 2009 11:45 AM