Strife

June 12th, 2007Blog0 comments

The Road ended perfectly for me. I think I need to read over some of the reading group questions to prolong my thoughts on the whole thing. I liked how the ending was very specific. I had this fear that it would end abruptly and ambiguously (like a certain other ending…); I couldn’t have taken two of those in the same week.

I think I’m going to get All the Pretty Horses next.

I need new books and a new NDS game. I hate flying. It dries me up into an aggravated little raisin. I need water to be poured on me when I arrive.

It’s funny how I spend a lot of time sitting in one spot working; however, when forced to sit there (in an aluminum tube thousands of feet in the air), I get irritated. I love freedom, I guess. That’s why the terrorists hate me.

The Fix Is In

June 11th, 2007Blog0 comments

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee — Saw it again last night and it was just as funny as it was in New York City. My favorite song: MAGIC FOOT. That chubby guy can really move! Hearing the song on the soundtrack is one thing, but actually watching him shimmy around is pretty amazing. Also D is incredible in it as usual — especially the baton-twirling bit, which gave a certain friend of ours in the audience a small heart attack of joy.

The Sopranos Finale: It ended by not ending. I am satisfied with leaving it all up to the imagination. Personally, I believe that Meadow entered the diner and they all had a nice family dinner. The guy with the gloves on that went to the mens’ room was just-a-guy; however, our seeing him (and Tony’s awareness of him) is proof that Tony is always in hiding and will always be in hiding — from the Feds, from his cohorts, from his family, and foremost from himself.

Since last night I’ve been calculating upon what the entire series has meant to me. And I think the main thing is this: We are complicit in the atrocities conducted in our behalf in order to allow our indulgence in the American Dream. This dream keeps us sedated but we should never forget our collusion with big-corporation oil, media that sells cheap crap, politicians that treat us like mushrooms. By not being outraged we are in collusion; however, being outraged is hard. Too hard. “I’m too busy watching Growing Pains” so I don’t have time for this shit. So we keep sucking on the dream.

I’m reminded of the opening of Godfather 1: “I love America.” The undertaker loves America, loves the rule of law etc, etc, but by-the-way can you kill these assholes that raped my daughter? The Godfather presents the American Dream and a separate by-blood quest to attain it; what The Sopranos does so well is that it tells us that the American Dream and the bloody quest are one and the same. Like AJ and Meadow, we were born into this thing but our laziness, our pride, and our familial obligations (Meadow is becoming a lawyer because she saw her dad dragged away one too many times by the Feds??) keep us complicit.

Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in.

The Fixer: I’m coming to the Eastside soon! Goals: Buy a new xtra-large murse and a new Yankees cap. Pups, please arrange your kibble in a pattern that says “Welcome back”!

On Reading

June 9th, 2007Blog0 comments

I usually will read a script in two sittings unless it’s awful. If it’s good I’ll read it in one sitting.

Books I like to sip. I’ll read twenty pages or so and then stop and think about what I just read. Sometimes go do something else and come back to it.

If the book is really good I’ll force myself to stop in order to prolong the experience of reading it. “No more until later,” I’ll tell myself. If a book is really, really good, I’ll often break that promise, finding myself subconsciously with the book in my hand and reading again.

I really like reading because of the English language. Writing in English is like having a huge party with lots of really cool and interesting people. You get to craft their interactions.

Irony? Twisted coincidence? I don’t know what to call it: It was brought to my attention that the guy who took this picture of a crying Paris Hilton is the same guy who took this picture in Vietnam in 1972.

Banana Jr. 6000

June 8th, 2007Blog0 comments

One of my favorite newspaper comic strips growing up was Bloom County; it had a nice mix of whimsy, skepticism at Regan-era politics, and great characters. Berke Breathed is now hard at work at Salon. One of his new cartoons is on display in a segment on Sopranos Finale Predictions. I too believe that Tony will end up dead with Bill the Cat stuffed down his throat.

This weekend I will be at Old Dirty Conservatory and at The Bee. I’ll see you there!

War… War never changes.

June 5th, 2007Blog0 comments

The official teaser trailer for Fallout 3 is out. It makes me want to read The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Ravenous fans will recognize several things from the teaser: The voice of Ron Perlman (who has been with the series from the start), vacuum tubes, and crooning of The Inkspots. The game doesn’t come out until Fall 2008. I’m seriously more excited about this than Halo 3.

I played the original Wasteland on the Apple ][e; Fallout 1 was made by the same guys — they wanted to make a sequel but didn’t hold the rights anymore. Fallout is Wasteland’s “spiritual successor”.

Then Fallout 2 came along. It is one of my favorite RPGs of all time. The tone of the game is perfect: A mix between hard sci fi, twisted humor, and dark grittiness. It’s so weird and cool.

The credo goes: Books tell you something. Movies show you something. Video games let you do something. The things you get to do in Fallout 2 are really cool and interesting. If Fallout 3 sucks, there will be much pain.

Speaking of pain — The Sopranos. This Sunday. Death knell. Insert Nancy Marchand’s voice here: “Poor you!”

Gray Days

June 3rd, 2007Blog0 comments

Currently Reading: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

A novel about a father and son surviving in postapocalyptic America, this book is solidly written and has already revealed a lot of well stated wisdom. It also makes me want to play Fallout 2. Is that wrong?

I just came back from seeing my family in the Bay Area. It was my aunt and uncle’s 25th wedding anniversary, complete with a church ceremony. It was a really wonderful, touching event, and there was much fried food to be had for all.

There was a reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, the basic gist of which was this: If you don’t have love, no matter how freakin awesome you are, you ain’t jack (1 Corinthians 13:1-13:13). I see this in outstanding relationships between romantic partners and also between friends. Without that support, you are a crumbled pile of ash, just another shiny object, soulless.

I also see it in writing — if you don’t have a deep love for the act, it’s not going to happen. The hollowness is clearly visible in the final product.

A sad thing is to see someone toiling away at a piece of writing seeking money, hoping that they can sell it so that it can save them. Alternately, people write seeking “respect”. They don’t get it. This isn’t about getting paid or recognized — it’s about saving your soul. Your soul eats love, not money — its product is love, not money.

From what I’ve seen, the money comes way, way, way down the line — so far down that by then, you won’t even need it. But right now your soul needs to eat. Once you get that, it all falls into place.