Poor Mickey Rourke, Bless Him

I truly am not being ONE IOTA sarcastic when I say I really understand and sympathize with Mickey's loss, and I am rooting for his ass to win an Academy Award on Sunday. It might cheer him up a little, plus I want to hear his tearful speech thanking Loki. You know it's coming.


From the NY Post today:

MICKEY'S 'TAIL' OF TRAGEDY
LOVED CHIHUAHUA DEAD AT 17
by David K. Li

Mickey Rourke's favorite pooch - which the actor called the love of his life - died this week after seeing her master go from Hollywood has-been to Oscar front- runner.

Loki the Chihuahua passed away at age 17 on Monday, a week before Rourke's scheduled appearance at the Academy Awards in Los An geles, where he might pick up the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in "The Wrestler."

A downcast Rourke had lunch yesterday at Nello on Madison Avenue, where he ran into fellow actor James Woods and they commiserated about Rourke's loss, according to The Hampton Sheet magazine.

"She was my life," Rourke was overheard telling Woods about the pet.

Rourke - the toast of Tinsel town for his off-the-mats perform ance as a washed-up grappler - showed Woods a chain worn around his waist. On it is a pen dant with Loki's picture.

"Mickey is heartbroken," Woods told the magazine.

In a prepared statement, the dog- loving actor said he's thankful for Loki's 17 years: "Loki is deeply missed but with me in spirit. I am very blessed she fell asleep peace fully in my arms."

Rourke, 56, is one of Hollywood's best-known dog lovers, and worked with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals this year in a campaign urging spaying and neutering.

The small brown Chihuahua was a frequent Rourke travel partner, and in recent months, the Hollywood hell-raiser said he wanted her by his side as much as possible, knowing the aging pooch's days were numbered.

"You could see he had genuine love for Loki, a kind of love you don't always see between two people," said PETA special-projects manager Michelle Cho, who teamed with Rourke in a 2007 campaign against puppy mills in Florida.

Restaurant operator and Rourke pal Nello Balan said Loki came into the actor's life on the downside of his career, but loved her master unconditionally.

"She followed his ups and down, like a member of the family," Balan said.

"She loved my carpaccio," Balan added. "The only time she'd bark is when she'd be defensive of Mickey, especially when girls came around. She'd bark then."

Rourke is considered a favorite to go home with an Oscar Sunday, having won the British Academy and Golden Globe awards - where he thanked his dogs "present and the ones that aren't here anymore."

Rourke has explained that his fondness for small dogs is tied directly to their longer life spans. He admitted falling into deep depression in 2002 when Loki's dad, Beau Jack, died.

david.li@nypost.com