Zupan

[BA]

Being the non-jockette that I am, I just don't get the "crushing the opposition" line of thinking and I know quite a few people in my life who are grown up, but still operate on that principle as a life theme (my ex-husband was one of them). It seems to work really well for them, particularly in their careers as well as in sports.

As I said in an earlier post, I have NO IDEA who Zupan is. I have never met him. I can't jump up and go "whoopee! you are so wonderful because you are in a wheelchair and look at how you compete!!!" I am not easily inspired, but glad he is an inspiriation for alot of newly injured people. I have only seen him portrayed in the way that MTV and Murderball chose to portray him (which is probably inaccurate and only reflects a tiny portion of who he is) and/or the way he allowed himself to be portrayed. I might very well like him in person, but the way he was portrayed was unimpressive at best (he came off like an angry thug who had always been an angry thug, but was now just an angry thug on wheels - IMHO). He might not be like this at all, but that was the portrayal. He may be brilliant, but he wasn't portrayed as such.
So, I have no opinion.

A person that I'd really like to meet would be John Hockenberry (the journalist) b/c I respect his intelligence so much and also John Callahan, the satirist/cartoonist b/c I think he is also incredibly intelligent and witty. I think both of these men (and wheelers) have contributed a great deal to society as a whole.

[jenny]

John Hockenberry is hot. Hot, hot, hot. And he's hot because he's smart, a hubby, a dad, good-looking, funny in that dry way I like so much. Ah! Hockenberry! "Moving Violations" woke me up.

Callahan is hysterically funny. The first time I saw "He Won't Get Far on Foot" in the bookstore, I started laughing. The person with me looked furtively around the store like I was doing something wrong. Sheesh.

But Hockenberry. Oh yeah. That'll do it.

[BA]

What can I say? They both make the '10 people I'd love to have dinner with' list. Hockenberry is brilliant and dry as hell. I love his whole style of being. He's been everywhere, done it all and he's still humble about it.

Callahan, on the other hand, probably single-handedly turned the world on it's head with his humor... he's a former addict and has overcome a hell of alot to get to his good place. He gets tons of my kudos.

[Ouch]

Callahan is awesome, I've read 'He Won't Get Far on Foot', hilarious.

[Triassic]

I have a few misgivings about John Hockenberry. Destroying a taxicab isn't too admirable...and he wrote a weird article for 'Wired' a few years ago in which he seemed to be predicting/advocating that in the future quads might be cyborgs like Robocop. He seemd to think of that as a fine thing.

[Claire]

Triassic said:

I have a few misgivings about John Hockenberry. Destroying a taxicab isn't too admirable...and he wrote a weird article for 'Wired' a few years ago in which he seemed to be predicting/advocating that in the future quads might be cyborgs like Robocop. He seemd to think of that as a fine thing.

I don't know about the'Wired' article, but he very much regretted the taxicab incident and in his writing he didn't at all portray that as an admirable act...more like an act that he sincerely regretted, and aware of the negative side-effects of that. He wasn't proud of that, nor advocating that kind of behavior.

[devogirl]

Zupan, Hockenberry, Callahan...hm, I have great respect for all of them and I've enjoyed following their public careers. But the only one I really think is hot is Zupan. I think it's because he's about my age, and the other two are much older--not sexy.
It's interesting how the movie didn't show how much function Zupan has. I guess they thought it would be too complicated for audiences to figure out. And given that after watching it with me, a friend of mine (ordinarily quite intelligent) turned to me and said, "Wait, they're quadriplegics? But they can move their arms!" maybe it is indeed too complicated (sigh).
On the other hand, Hockenberry's autobio is great, should be required reading for all devos. Even some of my non-devo friends enjoyed it. Not all his writing is so great though--he has an unfortunate tendency to be sappy. His novel didn't go over so great. The Wired article was controversial because he compared SCI with pupperty, in terms of the possibilities for artificial locomotion.

[cunning69guy]

For you devs, if you're into Zupan, you'd love MTV's "Murderball" Special hosted by JackAss' Steve-O. It was televised just about the time the movie was being released, so I'm not sure how you could find it, but hilarious hi-jinks by Steve-O and Zupan poolside, including rolling a chair off a ramp into the pool and other JackAss like antics besides the reality of Steve-O chatting with Zupan and getting to now about PWD and what they actually can do, including Zupan hopping in and out of the pool, etc.

[BA]

Yeah, I saw it... Was that the one with the "black eye" contest? Y'know, who could give Steve-O a black eye with the fewest punches? Yep, it was brilliant and there I rest my case about how MTV has portrayed Mark Zupan.

[cunning69guy]

Yes, I think it was, but it's been a long time since I saw it.

[Jocker]

The Jackass special is part of the extras on the DVD.

Although the humor is sophomoric I think the point of the whole thing is to show that persons in chairs can have as much fun acting like fools as AB's. Those guys are smart enough to know that if they were in any way being degraded they would never have done it. The special as well as the movie destigmitizes the notion that quads are frail. Yes, there are also people in chairs like Hockenberry and Callahan who are more intellectual but the Murderballers show that they can also party and socialize with the best of them.

[BA]

Oh well, from that end of it, I guess you are right. My problem is that I KNOW you aren't fragile, so only the asshole part comes across for me - but for the general public I guess it's a wake up call. I forget that I am not part of the general public.

[Ouch]

...perhaps I'm seeing this from the wrong end of the telescope as well, but perhaps that shows us what society in the whole is like lol.

[dolly]

absinthe said:

Oh well, from that end of it, I guess you are right. My problem is that I KNOW you aren't fragile, so only the asshole part comes across for me -

lmao. naw, zupan doesn't hold any appeal for this non-jockette either.

i didn't think he was terribly well spoken in any of the interviews i've seen. i kept wishing he'd shut up and let the other guys speak.

ah well, different strokes for different folks. ;D

i'm curious if anyone has read his book "gimp" yet?