Need New Skull
I’m in the market for a human skull. Not a real one — a museum quality replica will do.
I think my desk could use one. I have a lot of knick-nacks collected over the years, gifts from friends and artifacts from travels: An NYC MoMa Rubik’s Cube, a rubber band ball (now baseball-sized), a small purple rhino made from pipe cleaners, a jar of lucky pennies, an IBM typewriter striker (Courier 12), and a flask of Chinese liquor (I think it’s some kind of gin but I’m not sure). I also have a hugh-jass Thesaurus, an analog radio, and a coaster shaped like a square hunk of stone. On it is John Lennon giving the peace sign in front of the Statue of Liberty. I have a lot of weird shit, and it would be difficult for me to do work without all of these things present.
My desk needs a human skull. A skull shows visitors you mean business. It is a sign of Mad Science; alternately it evokes wizards poring over rune-covered scrolls. It connects you to Hamlet in the moment he was ruminating on death.
The Internet sells skulls. I’m going to buy one. But I hope I don’t get one that’s haunted, because I don’t need that crap.
Hai World
Site of the day: Lolcode. If you like Lolcats and programming, this site is very funny. I would like to see an incorporation of MOAR and BUCKET. Maybe arrays could be BUCKETS?
I’m thinking of getting a giant tattoo of either Jesus, a spinal cord, or a dragon on my back. It will make my WHAT?! much stronger. WHAT?!s are often more powerful when punctuated by a tearing-off of the shirt to reveal a giant tattoo underneath, thus showing that you were once a Folsom resident or that you’re ready to give some pain.
My WHAT?! on Monday is much more powerful than my Wednesday WHAT?!s since I’m tired because I just got over the hump. I wish it could be as strong every day. I need to excercise it more.
I like this cat a lot. I’m writing about a kid that gets beat up a lot, so this image is flavoring my mental state. Somebody’s gotta get beaten up!
I Has a Puppy
Friends Lloyd and Jeanie are visiting from the east coast for the east coast/west coast rap summit. They have brought their miniature daschund with them, so while they are out representin, I am guardianing the dog.
She is very sweet and docile. She doesn’t bark at all — she only makes weird sounds like if you stepped on a chubby fellow’s stomach. Rehhh, rehhhh… She likes to find outcroppings that match her elongated body (like the arm of a couch) and lie there like Monorail Cat.
I like this pup a lot. Hopefully I will soon have more time for one of my own.
Things I Normally Never See
I try to see movies/shows and read books that I would normally never look at. These would be works that do not feature Vulcans or giant robots. I find it useful to force my mind open and try new things in an attempt to pick up random DNA strands and generate new ideas and forms of life.
So I have capsule reviews here of two movies that I saw recently. These movies are of a type which are normally shielded from me by my inordinately high level of testosterone: The Queen and The Devil Wears Prada.
Both of these films have more than a few things in common, and both are a cut above because of the performances of the titular characters. Helen Mirren in The Queen and Meryl Streep as the Devil, the Hollywood / paperback version of Vogue’s Anna Wintour.
The Queen: Remarkable because of Mirren’s performance and the conflict between royal protocol and the modern media. This is a dramatization of the week after Princess Diana’s death and the royal family dealing with a grieving public. In a lot of ways it reminds me of Richard Nixon’s presidential run against JFK — it was the first time debates were televised, and Nixon didn’t know how to work the cameras. Kennedy appeared vibrant, energetic, wore makeup. He knew how to craft a message appropriate to the medium. Mirren’s Queen is much like our Nixon, holding on to the castle and wondering why everyone else can’t understand her decorum. What is also chilling is what she tells to Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) about how the public will fawn over you and then turn on you. She also shares a Soopranos-like moment with a stag she sights in the highlands — one that must be shot down.
The Devil Wears Prada: Much more broad than The Queen. Anne Hathaway has huge facial features. What I loved most about this movie was Meryl Streep — she can emote huge with just a flicker of her facial features, and does a great job of silently crushing people. There were a lot of similarities between this and Swimming with Sharks, but this one ends on a high note. In addition, it reminds me that part of the joy of watching a movie is looking at beautiful things. Beautiful settings, people, gorgeous colors and setpieces. My world is a drab place and every now and then I need to borrow the eyes of filmmakers in order to light it up. And a lot of it takes place in New York — the fast moving I’m-taking-a-meeting New York — and I love that New York.
After tonight’s Sopranos and Gears of War, it’s safe to say that the curb stomp is the new black.
Professional Starcraft Player
Starcraft 2 was announced in South Korea. This is like Hockey 2 being announced in Canada, or Eat As Much As Possible and Have a Fucking Heart Attack 2 being announced in the USA.
The South Koreans are extremely excited about this event. The last time I was really excited about a video game was Halo 2; however, our entire nation doesn’t embrace Halo 2 like I do. Seriously, Starcraft 2 is like S. Korea’s national passtime. It’s actually responsible for improving U.S.-Korean relations.
My friend Deborah’s show, Spelling Bee, is in town at the Wadsworth, visiting from a Broadway run. I highly recommend it. Deborah is the Asian lady in the plaid. She jumps around a lot and does this pretty amazing baton routine, all while singing. It is an audacious performance!
What was highly amusing was seeing this show in New York — afterwards we were hanging out in front of the theater waiting for Deborah to come out. Our friend Jeanie, who is also Korean, was there with us and people came up to her twice telling her that she was great in the show and could they have her autograph. This was one of the funniest things I have ever had happen in front of me. The world blesses me with live impromptu humor.
My friend Sam’s show, Satisfy Me, has just opened as well. I’m really looking forward to seeing this one — it’s about fidelity in relationships, staying true to your partner as well as yourself.
Marriage is too much for me to deal with right now. I’m going to get a cat and see how I do with that. If the cat dies I’m going to join a monastery and press wine and copy scrolls. Yes. I am betting my fate on a cat.
Switching Gears
I’m currently reading a couple of books on the Khmer genocide. One is the textbook put out by the Yale Khmer Genocide Project. It’s research.
Reading these books is difficult but necessary. I remember visiting the United States Holocaust Museum on a trip to DC. It was a difficult but necessary thing, a counterpoint to visiting capitol monuments and the Smithsonian. However, I think a nice middle ground between them was the impassioned speech given by a U.S. Park Ranger at Ford’s Theater on Lincoln’s assassination.
Knowledge is a hard thing to come to terms with. It’s kind of nice to go about your day not knowing things, eating happy meals and watching wrasslin’. It’s painful to get connected to history, then get disconnected from it again, knowing that in comparison you have it really good.
I’m going to finish up this reading this weekend. Gotta get to work, stop taking in and start outputting again.
Pon Farr
Recommended: The Lost Room, a Sci-Fi Channel mini-series. You probably already know the premise; saying more about it here would spoil too much. It’s on DVD now, so I think that you should just watch it.
One thing I would like to remark about the series is how enemies become allies become enemies become allies; they also did a great job with the idea of how fanboyism/subcultures can develop around a seemingly paranormal phenomenon. Just watch it and we’ll talk about it afterwards.
I am getting more and more agitated as The Sopranos draws to a close. There are three episodes left after last night’s. And last night’s episode was pretty massive on the Richter scale.
It’s going to feel weird knowing that the show is over. Before I would equate it to the death of an individual, but thinking about it now, that doesn’t seem like an apt comparison. The show really feels like more of a novel than a serialized TV show. Now we’re coming upon the last few pages. Although maybe I am trying to avoid anthropomorphizing the show so I can feel less sad about its ending. I like the show that much.
Seeing the end is kind of nice because it gives completion to the thing. There it all is, on the shelf, final from front to back. The end of something resonates as powerfully with its contents as its beginning. We’ll see how this all goes.
My Work in Print
Year Zero
Available from Samuel French and Amazon.com
Cowboy Versus Samurai
Available from Samuel French and Amazon.comFor a complete list of books containing my work, please click here.
