RandomCha

I GOT THE JOB!

Starting on April 28 I’ll be working at the American Library Association. Even better: that means about 10 days off between jobs, which I will use to just relax and decompress. I am soooo looking forward to work tomorrow, to telling them that my last day is April 15. As I see the panic in their eyes I’ll be unable to keep myself from feeling just a twinge of pity. But only a twinge. Mostly it’ll be glee.

It really feels like things are starting to turn around, that change is a-comin’. Let us hope.

Check out my interview with Barry Gifford.  In the course of our conversation we talked about Wild at Heart, working with David Lynch, his love for the writing of Nelson Algren, and the mysterious enduring popularity of the Cubs.

Death of a President [2006]

1. A man on stage, shaking the president’s hand, wearing a garish American flag tie. Outside, among the demonstrators, an American flag is burned.
2. An angry clump of protestors; the Newberry can be glimpsed several times in the background of the scene.
3. The forensics expert: “I resigned under protest.”

Believe it or not, I had never seen Basic Instinct [1992] until now.  

1. “That magna cum laude pussy is frying your brain!” Pretty much every conversation in this movie escalates into a shouting match. Or begins as a shouting match.
2. Jerry Goldsmith’s amazing score is about 99% better than this movie deserves. It as if he seized upon the flimsy Vertigo parallels in the script and just full-tilt went for it. As a result there is scene after scene where the music is doing all the heavy lifting. Take away the score and it’s dullsville. Sharon Stone’s cream-colored Kim Novak/Grace Kelly ensemble, worn during the interrogation scene, is admittedly a very nice touch.
3. The state-of-the-art dot matrix printer being used to print out the “final draft” of the book.

This is a maddening movie. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a movie that’s so plain obnoxious. It must be so different to watch this movie as a straight man. Basically, it uses every device it can think of to titilate you and pump you up. Showgirls of course does the same thing, but it’s a lot more interesting (and fun) since it utterly fails.

I think the GLBT protests that erupted when this movie came out were hilariously overblown. Really the movie insults all people of every sexual orientation pretty much equally.

Tonight I shall introduce

upsidedownblue 

to the fantastic environs 
of Violet Hour. Very excited. Hafta make 
sure to get those 
deviled eggs again, 
and the duck meatballs.

Gee whiz. Last night we had an excellent time ordering out for pizza and then watching On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. And then we read for a spell, but at 9:30 we were both so sleepy that we went to bed. 9:30!!!

However, this morning Andy made buttermilk biscuits and is now busily working away on his paper for class. I’ve gotten a few things done too. I’d like to get outside for a bit but I wonder if everything’s going to be closed. 

THE LAST TIME

The last time I

caught a glimpse of you

I was in the back seat

of a cab

on the way to a threesome

and there were you were

on the streetcorner with

two of your friends

probably looking for a place

to eat, or else

walking down the block

to someone’s car.

Well fuck

you.

I wish you enlightenment,

wish you the dawn

that has swept over me.

I am looking

to fill a space

and that space is

the one formed right after

I leave a place

and that space

is the one already forming

before I arrive at a place.

I tell myself

the trick is to fill

that space:

just me and a glass

of ice water,

just you

and no one

else.

29 April 1998

Year of the Dog [2007]

1. Layla offers Peggy a Xanax. When she declines, Layla pops it herself. Washes it down with Diet Coke.
2. Peggy is looking at Newt’s photos. The first is Newt with a girl. The second is Newt with a guy. The third is Newt with a dog. Peggy asks, “Do you sleep with your dogs?” Newt raises his hand and says, “Guilty!”
3. Peggy is about to brush her teeth when she hears the faucet dripping in the tub.