RandomCha

Cold one today! It was delightful to be walking to the el in my arctic parka, snow swirling around. High of 28 here today. The bedroom seemed plenty warm last night while we slept. I’d rather have things a little too warm than a little too cold.

On Saturday we braved the downtown crowds and went to the movies. We saw “Looney Tunes: Back In Action.” We were the only two 20somethings in the theater. Seeing the lines at the theatre for “Cat In The Hat” nearly made me puke. There’s a whole generation of kids who are being fed this crap by their parents and will probably grow up largely devoid of any measurements of what constitutes good taste. When I was a kid, I had “Flash Gordon,” “Time Bandits,” “Dragonslayer,” and “Clash of the Titans.” All of those movies are classics compared to the putrid gaudy chunk that is “The Cat In The Hat.” I think one film critic put it best: “If they had taken his body and hung it from a tree, the filmmakers could not have defiled the memory of Dr. Seuss any worse than they did than by making ths piece of trash.”

But I digress. Loney Tunes was pretty fun. The main problem is that it was too plotty. The old shorts were so funny because the concentration was on gags; the plot was just an excuse to string the gags together. And the plot of the film was pretty banal. Still, every scene had delightful throwaway bits, tons of in-jokes courtesy of Joe Dante, delightful gratuitious cameos (Kevin McCarthy, Roger Corman, Michael Jordan, etc.) and … Brendan Frasier was HOT. He pretty much wore these tight t-shirts the whole movie and umm I had no problem with that. A shirtless wrestling scene would have been great but shoehorning that into the film might have been a tall order. I swear that I really have to rent “George of the Jungle” now. I don’t care any longer about what social stigma is attached to that action.

Last night Andy & I lazed around and watched “Jungle Fever.” It’s a great improvement over “Mo’ Better Blues,” and the performances are absolutely top notch. But in the last 45 minutes, Spike Lee overplays his hand and pumps things up into needless melodrama. I don’t think he had quite learned to trust his story and characters to maintain interest. Still, a very good film. Next Andy chose “School Daze” from greencine.com; one by one he’s going through all the Spike Lee films (doing a bit of a backtrack before moving on to “Malcolm X” because he accidentally skipped “School Daze”).

Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast was especially odd last night, with Dennis Miller the only guest. Sealab 2021 was also hilarious. Lots of bleeping out of rude dialogue. It’s worth missing a little sleep to watch Adult Swim every Sunday night.

The big boss will be out of the office all day today, so we can all relax a bit. I’m wondering if things are going to be a busy here before Thanksgiving or a bit slow. Will people hurry up to finish putting in their orders before the holiday or will they just put it off till afterwards? Hard to say. I’m just glad it’s a 3-day week. Heading to the airport directly from work on Wednesday. My aunt and uncle are meeting me at DIA in Denver; spending the night in Arvada with them, and then Thanksgiving morning we’re driving up to Mom and Dad’s in Estes Park. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen the new house. I’m sure there will be plenty of snow on the ground.

Terence was in town from NYC this weekend. He got to Quimby’s just as I was reading the first story. The reading went well, and I even sold a copy to a complete stranger. That’s a mark of something. I wish there had been a larger turnout, but Brian at Quimby’s said that most likely they will sell some more copies over the course of the week due to the Reader article. Here’s hoping. They gave ,e a $20 gift certificate for doing the reading! I was stunned. That was just great. It gave me a much-needed boost after reading to an audience of 12. Those folks are so nice.

The book is listed on amazon now, front cover image and everything. We’ll see what happens there. I ought to do more promo stuff this week but I think I’m gonna hold off on everything till after Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Because it’s just about EATING. No presents, no big commercialism. You just eat, spent time with people you are close to, savor the appreciation of contentment. It’s a minimalist holiday that’s about maximization. It’s hedonistic and wholesome at the same time. And damn it, turkey and mashed potatoes and GRAVY are just tops. I have to go to the gym at least once before I leave town, hehe.

Book Signing for
100 Spinning Plates
by Rob Christopher
@ Chicago’s premier indie bookstore, Quimby’s
Friday, 21 November 2003
8.00 pm

Quimby’s Bookstore
1854 W North Avenue

http://www.quimbys.com

My gosh, what a beautiful sunny day it is here. I will take advantage of it by going outside on my lunch and walking over to Cook Bros. Looking for some more candles/assorted cgeap wholesale goodies. Today is going well. Gonna hit the gym right after work on my way home. Doing that means the whole process is faster. Get home sooner. And my Talking Heads boxed set will be waiting for me!

Andy’s been down in the dumps; some heavy stuff going on. I wish I knew how to cheer him up. I’ll hafta ponder on that …

Last night was a wonderful evening. First I went to the gym, which is amazing considering that I had just woken up from a long nap. But Andy had made us some tea with our new kettle, and that perked me up. I had a good workout. Then I came home and showered, got dressed again. We made dinner together while sipping some very nice Cabernet Savignon from Chile. A thin-cut sirloin sauteed with herbs and oil, pasta tossed with olive oil, basil, and garlic, and Caesar salad. Over dinner we talked about what we wanted to do. We evolved this idea of playing chess, with the loser having to become a ‘slave’ to the winner. At first I was a bit iffy about that but I agreed.

We played and I checkmated Andy within half an hour. He was a bit upset at first and had to go out on the porch for a minute to cool down but then he was ready to be the slave. The first thing I did as master was to send the slave to the corner for some cheese danish for dessert. The slave complied. We had two slices lightly heated while having the last of the wine. Then it was the master’s wish to go online and cruise for a 3rd for a little fun. Well we were online in the chat rooms about an hour and had no luck. So we gave up on that. Andy retreated to the TV and was watching “South Park.” Then I said, “It is the master’s desire to watch Cartoon Network.” So we watched “Sealab 2021.” At that point I went into the office, opened a drawer of my desk and took out the pair of handcuffs I’ve had for quite awhile but which Andy & I hade never played with. The TV was turned off shortly after that …

I went to bed a bit after 11.00 and slept wonderfully.

A story about my book & I will be appearing in this Thursday’s edition of the Chicago Reader! They interviewed me Saturday and that went really well and then today after work they’re doing a photo shoot so that they have a picture to go along with the text. It’s just wild. I’m excited things are happening. I’m truly enthused about the reading/signing on Friday. I hope I pack ‘em in Quimby’s like nobody’s business. I’m doing my best to stay humble.

He owned his own business. It was an upholstry shop. He upholstered furniture for the ‘perry mason’ tv movies. He said that raymond burr was a nice guy. He took me to see ‘lawrence of arabia.’ He remodled the basement into what he called his ‘star wars’ room, over a period of many years. It had disco balls hanging from the ceiling and mirrored colored glass on the walls. He never actually finished it. But it wasn’t about finishing. It was a hobby he had, didn’t matter that it didn’t get finished. He had the record of ‘macarthur park’ by richard harris and reluctantly loaned it to my mom, who never returned it. He had a movie poster for ‘flash gordon.’ He smoked a few packs of cigarettes every day. He was balding but never went completely bald. He always wore sideburns. He wasn’t stingy. His mother came here from budapest in the early 30’s. he joined the merchant marines while he was still a teenager. He liked pie & coffee. He never talked politics that I could tell. He didn’t leave a will. He had just retired last year even though he was 72 when he died on Wednesday morning. I don’t remember exactly when was the last time I talked to him.

We are quiet as a tomb here at work today.

Last night we watched “On The Beach” on DVD. It’s a long, sober account of the last humans left on earth after the rest of the world has been destroyed by nuclear war; Australia waits for the radiation to slowly drift across the ocean, the deadly radiation which will arrive in 5 or 6 months and finish them off too. It was very moving. There were some cliches of course, some dated moments circa 1959, but the moments of power were there too. Fred Astaire really amazed me. Every moment of pain, of stress, of loneliness etched onto that face. Anthony Perkins also had some great bits, particularly the scene in which he tries to explain the euthanasia pills to his young wife, the ones she must take and give to their baby when the radiation finally arrives. Actually, the whole cast was solid. Ava Gardner actually showed some chops, and it was heartbreaking to see Gregory Peck ALMOST-cry the way he did.

I couldn’t help but think of the present day, how a film like this would not, could not be made today. The closest we can come is some crap like “Indepdence Day.” I think it’s because our generation has always lived with nuclear weapons. We can’t fully understand what it means to live in a world where humankind can destroy everything. We can’t understand because, in our lifetimes, that’s the way it’s always been. It was different for people in 1959. It makes me sad that we today can’t comprehend the enormity of that.

Well just now, for the first time ever, I gave money to a political campaign. I just pledged $25 to Howard Dean via his website (www.deanforamerica.com). I really believe that if there’s anyone who can beat Bush, it’s gotta be him. It’s got me fired up!

Skeptical? Please read what my friend Andy writes about him: http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1090&px=1423290&s_tafId=1100&s_oo=fQ0M0Ai3UyKPLhYs3lnipg..

Last night I watched a very intriguing film called “It Happened Here.” It basically asks the question: what if England had been invaded by the Nazis and occupied for several years? It takes place in this fictional Britian of 1943. It was extremely realistic in a semi-documentary style. Even more amazing is that its filmmakers started making it when they were only 18! It took 8 years of shooting off and on to complete and was finally released in 1966. It’s well worth seeking out.

It’s another Monday morning. Here we go.

Well well well. I did it! Last night I dragged the bf (Andy) along to Best Buy and bought the computer. It’s funny: after all the rebates for everything, the entire system (CPU, printer, monitor) was a bit less than $500 and then I spent an additional $300 for a complete 3-year warranty on everything. But you know, I think it was smart. My last system I also bought from Best Buy with the warranty and ended up getting a new monitor and hard drive by the end of it. So yes, I settled on the E-machines T2682 2.6 gHz. It’s so disarming that I just bought a whole system for less than HALF of what my old one cost and yet it’s at least 7x MORE powerful.

Got plugged in and set up last night, pretty up & running with everything. Earthlink reinstalled, Instant Messenger, Yahoo, my scanner, etc. We watched some streaming porn to get the full effect of the fast processor. Sadly though it didn’t come with MS Word. And the copy on my old PC was fliched … I will have to locate someone again to filch it from ‘cause I sure don’t wanna shell out big bucks on software. Okay, another tech question for y’all: what’s the easiest way to get all my email/settings from my old Outlook Express to my new one? Shall I go & buy that IntelliMover program or something or is there an easier way?

Andy was excited by the whole process but also depressed. It’s really tough for him free-floating right now without a job or definite plan. Of course I told him that he can use my computer any time he wants, but he’s down because me buying it makes him think about his own circumstances. Still, I think the next month will bring some good decisions from him in his life and then he won’t feel so burdened by the future.

On a thrilling note however he finsihed the 1st draft of his new manuscript, “Getting To Yes.” It’s a sort of post-modern tell-all expose about working at Barnes & Noble and how he was rudely fired. It’s gonna blow the lid off the soul-sucking secret corporate bookstore culture. Started reading it this morning on the bus and I’m really into it. We’ve been joking that RandomCha Press ought to pick it up as their second title.

Today after work I’m going to Best Buy with Andy to look at computers. Will I be taking one home with me? Probably not, although the temptation will be strong. I need to look and think. Out of the ones I saw online, the only one that has all the features I want while still being econmically feasible is the Gateway 310X desktop package. Anyone have any recommendations out there? Com’on, I know you’re all computer geeks anyway.

We stayed in (it was raining cats and dogs last night) and watched “A Mighty Wind.” Really dead-on stuff, pretty funny too, also melancholy in a way; I really liked it.

Wow, I think it’s gonna be a weekend of drinking: going with some friends of Andy’s on Friday to the Hala Kahiki, and then Saturday night is Luke’s b-day party (another friend of Andy). We’re trying to set up our friend Michael with our friend Tim; they’ll meet each other for the first time at the party on Saturday. Meanwhile all week long they’ve both been asking questions of us about each other back and forth. Kind of amusing.

My grandfather had open heart surgery on Monday and is now in the hospital recovering. They had to perform 5 bypasses (!) over a 6-hour period of time. And I thought the heart only had 4 arteries! A 6th one was also looking bad but they left that one alone. His aorta has some some of infection as well. My grandfather means a lot to me … but that’s what you get when you smoke 2 packs a day for 30+ years. My friend Steven is a heavy smoker and it pains me each time I see him light up. Smoking weed is one thing, but cigarettes are just stupid.