Life Sherpa vs. Real-Life Sherpa: Joe Holleman Is All the Advice You'll Ever Need

A few weeks back, we here at Daily RFT instituted the Tuesday Tussle -- two weekly posts in which we take opposing viewpoints on a news item and battle it out. Occasionally these debates carry a serious tone. Mostly, though, they're for our amusement (and hopefully yours).

Recently, though, we discovered that someone is already doing something very close to the Tuesday Tussle. His name is Joe Holleman, a Post-Dispatch columnist who writes under the title "Life Sherpa." Holleman takes on real issues like corn vs. tomatoes, manicure v. pedicure and blackberries v. peaches.

That said, we thought, how about a Tuesday Tussle taking on the following topic: Life Sherpa v. Real-Life Sherpa? Here's one vote in favor of Holleman.

Sure, a real-life sherpa can get you to the top of the mountain. But as we've learned from the Life Sherpa, the view is even better from base camp -- on the couch in front of the TV. (That is once you get your wife to shut the 'eff up.)

Seriously, the Life Sherpa proves that all life's lessons can be learned from movies, especially buddy films and comedies. Moreover, these films can earn you a living making an inexhaustible number of lists about these movies, such as the top-ten films of John C. Reilly (there are more than 10?), Leonardo DiCaprio and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Sure beats schlepping backpacks up Everest!

But what we really appreciate about Holleman's columns is that we can always count on a reader to write the Sherpa for advice on an overweight wife. And here's where the real wisdom kicks in. So good, it's damn near fortune-cookie worthy.

Adviseth the Life Sherpa: The only thing worse for a woman than having a husband tell her that a dress is too tight is to actually go out in public in a dress that's too tight.

Think you're going to get such sage advice from Tenzing Norgay? Keep dreaming.