Hm, I wonder what "embellishments" one might turn up in, say, Patrick Lane's addiction memoir. Not to defend Frey (nor censure him, because I really think this is a tempest in a teapot), and I don't want to get into the whole "blurry line between fiction and fact" argument, but it's in the nature of most addicts to lie and self-dramatise, as anyone who's known one can tell you. Their sense of reality is severely warped, which is both a cause and an effect of their addiction. As Al Jorgensen of Ministry put it, "Never trust a junkie." Anyone with serious experience with substance dependency and a modicum of critical judgment would I'm sure read Frey's book understanding that things probably didn't always happen as he said they did. (I don't buy the whole "inspiration to addicts everywhere" claptrap for this reason.) Everyone else is a tourist to misery and they deserve what they get.

Oprah figures out what to say

Phew. I knew she'd come through. Fast on the ball, that one; hey, I wonder how many committee members it took to come up with the 'Oprah' reaction. Wait for it; yes, here it comes:

"What is relevant is that he was a drug addict ... and stepped out of that history to be the man he is today and to take that message to save other people and allow them to save themselves," Winfrey said Wednesday night in a surprise phone call to CNN's Larry King, who was interviewing Frey on his live television program.

Yup. What is relevant is that he was a drug addict. Yup. Yup. That's it. I liked the term 'emotional truth'. It feels true so it must be true?

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