Being Shameless – The Art Of Parody – Are You Watching Mark Wahlberg?

In continuing a theme I touched upon in yesterday’s blog, I direct you to the latest humorous attempt in the above photo to draw the attention of the actor Mark Wahlberg, to my magical mule Claire, by parodying his new sneaker line.

Renee Clarke brilliantly cobbled that photo together for me. One more reason she deserved a central character role in WTLLM.

Of course, as with most things I do, I posted the photo on FB for a laugh. I mean, instead of a beautiful fitness model in the advertisement, you have the equally lovely, and rising in literary fame, Claire the mule, striking her Blue Steel (Zoolander) catwalk pose while donning a pair of MW’s new Municipal brand athletic shoes. Classic parody.

One of my dear friends from Riverdale, Johnny Carey, had one response to the photo. “Shameless!”

And he is one hundred percent correct. Of course his life-long unabashed observational honesty may be yet another reason he only gets a brief mention in the Gaelic Park section of Finding Jimmy Moran.

Now part of my recent schtick on social media is my continuing shameless attempt to get the attention of the incredibly talented actor, Mark Wahlberg, in my magical mule, Claire, by doing everything I can think of, including having her shill, on camera, his newest brand of tequila while dancing to his Marky Mark single. She really is quite good.

If you scroll down in my face book page for about a month back you can find those videos.

And yes, Claire dances to music.

Do I believe for one second, that any of that will get the attention of Mark Wahlberg, no.

He’s a busy actor and entrepreneur, who stole and mastered the best role in The Departed. Last man standing. He and his people have no time for such silliness. They are too busy becoming billionaires. And he spends the rest of his free time supporting our common church. As the equally devout Pete “Buck” Sheridan – who also appears as a central character (with his dog Fergus) in WTLLM – would say, God bless!

I do it because it creates a storyline, a parody, a critique and commentary on the present state of social media. That people will do anything on-line for fame.

At the same time, it does demonstrate my flavor of humor. Having spent most of my adult life bridled by a profession that takes itself way too seriously, I often compensate by leaning shamelessly into silliness. Like Monty Python.

Of course, now that I have laid the unassailable foundation for my parody defense, I will suggest, as a complete and unrelated afterthought, that Mark Wahlberg would kill in the role of Jimmy Moran in any film or network series version of The Claire Saga. He could easily master the Bronx accent, and he has the right street, working-man vibe to pull it off. Plus, as he demonstrated in Ted, and to an equal extent in The Other Guys, he can play a humorous role off of a non-human creature. Plus, otherwise he’s never going to see the range of emotion or brilliant level of dialogue in any other project.

But there are many other wonderful actors in the same age range – and even younger – out there who will no doubt be selling their soul and threatening their agents to get a shot at auditioning for Jimmy Moran, when that time comes, and it will come because I know it is the next modern day LOTR. The ensemble roles available are all fully developed and amazing. But I know Mark Wahlberg is way too busy to see my on-line parody postings and ever consider reading the inscribed copy of The Wise Ass I would happily travel anywhere in world to deliver into his hands, just to get him hooked on the entire The Claire Saga story line. And I know he would be hooked the moment Jimmy meets Claire for the first time. And now that I have written the conclusion, Where The Ley Lines Meet, I’ve never been so excited, so watch out.

Did I mention I was shameless?

And while Claire has been integral in dictating the entire story of the series to my pool of typing elves while I sleep before my computer each early morning, she really could not give a fig which brilliant actor comes calling. She’s very unaffected, and has taken her recent rise to literary fame in stride. She spends most of her time with her little sister/ward Honey, wandering the length and breadth of Casa Claire contemplating the roles that will certainly be offered to her once The Claire Saga reaches instant bestseller and blockbuster status.

Claire is the consummate professional.

So, now that I have turned in the final edits and cover art for Where The Ley Lines Meet, again that cover is a killer (thank you Richard Lamb) I can focus on being even more shameless in my parody on social media.

But now I have my Green Acres chores to do, so I better get at them.

But first a kitty cuddle and my rounds.

You fine, five readers have a leisurely breakfast with your family, then take care of the weekend errands, and then maybe pick up a book.

I understand there is a killer sale on The Claire Trilogy going on.

I told you I was shameless.

But whatever else we do, let’s make today a great one.