itch mites?
I want to document a complicated mystery where one thing leads to another, and I begin the lyric to "vision quest one."
I had some hours alone, a taste of a peaceful day.
I saw a tree full of crows that followed a hawk of prey.
From one tree to another this hawk carried his meal.
To the next tree they’d follow.
Like stool pigeons they’d squeal
A few weeks later I found a tortoise carcas cleaned out under one of the trees.
The leaf shading it had these strange nipple growths. The other leaves were clear.
I've had an extended contemplation of this condition and extending itching since then because...
The mites that cleaned out the tortoise shell laid eggs in the leaf. The nipples are called "galls."
The hawk dropped the tortoise.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Friday, August 08, 2008
Today is the day this blog's been waiting for. I was thinking how life in the jungle is an ongoing challenge with perhaps even less moments to relax then we have here in civilization. The cats are probably relaxing now, but they're in the apartment and when they're not relaxing they seem restless. I've been rebelling against peace within myself, as a rebellion against complacency, but maybe it's not a sell out at all.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Oh, I get it now. I have no emotional memory because for 35 years the daily companion medication to my 324 mg quinaglute duratabs was...80 LA Inderal (the trademark word for propranalol, which is a trademark word for...). Write now before you forget. (How to erase a mental hard drive; it's like spoliation of evidence... interesting. Oh, yes, Inderal...) These blogs are helpful. Free public access means I also get unlocked access.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
We speak or write because we want something. According to the book I'm reading if we wanted for nothing we would not speak. Perhaps we speak because we want to hear ourselves speak. Another observation of the book, which is about how to read plays, backwards and forwards by david ball, is that we have obstacles in front of us blocking or, optimistically speaking, offering us access to what we want when we overcome them, whether ewith charm or force. Why must you be so obstacle? It makes the prize that much more sweet, or so I'm told, the overcoming of the obstacle. It's not the prize, it's the attaining it... On the other hand, I do enjoy what I have and less concerned with how I got it, although the attaining is something to be proud of... I'm kidding, it's not. I think I'm becoming a bit more savy about what my own writing is about. It is something of a one note sound. I obviously want something... pd
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
What would a magic lantern be without its light source? Now, if we're going for the best, we have a plasma screen as a light source for imagery. The glowing light must be evenly dispersed upon a flat surface, as impulses flex its spectrum through a process called Plasmosis... very photosynthetic.
All right, given the question I'll provide answers to anything. Answering questions help us discover not just more questions but sometimes actual answers.... but for now...
Moving past the medium to the message, anything can happen on that flat surface.
In another mindset, the light projects from a far off source landing flat upon a surface to read as a movie!
Anthology film archives let me have a look in the back for a bulb to put into the movie projector used in the La Mama stage production of TentagatneT. While I was at Anthology one of the TentagatneT actors had a film running there in the Barney Oldfield series, New Filmmakers. They let me watch some and I caught the last 10 minutes. From what I saw, the 30 minute video film, Sequel, was a montage of movies, news clips and silent film titles assembled from library materials and given an ambient wordless sound design by Christopher Zorker (all right, I also spoke with Chris tonight. He was simplifying the motives behind current events).
A film by Janice Ahn called Stutter followed and that took me by surprise. It was a sad character study in 13 minutes, remarkable in its compressed achievement of a harrowing encounter somewhat unstuck in time.
The theme for the evening: New Filmmakers Explore the New American Unreality.
Stutter reveals the sordidity of the date that almost didn't happen. It began well, with the man and woman enjoying the music from the beautiful turntable, the man taking pictures of the woman, but he's loathe to let her go.... He's a big hurt boy in his first floor lair, his grandmother listening from above.
Never again to be trusted. The cycle of abuse progresses...overpowering immaturity, convincing on all levels, his, hers, his grandmother's... The violation, the unpleasantness, the feeling of irrefutable wrongness, selfish brute strength, disturbed and dangerous, feminine strength subdued, the grandmother pulls herself down to the first floor level, apologizes to the woman, just a girl, really, the boy, under his grandmother's supervision, on good behaviour, spent, allowing her to leave. It didn't have to be that way between them, but the boy's damaged mind destroyed the interaction, making it pathetically one-sided, and, yes, angering.
My new play will consider how people can treasure and trust one another.
All right, given the question I'll provide answers to anything. Answering questions help us discover not just more questions but sometimes actual answers.... but for now...
Moving past the medium to the message, anything can happen on that flat surface.
In another mindset, the light projects from a far off source landing flat upon a surface to read as a movie!
Anthology film archives let me have a look in the back for a bulb to put into the movie projector used in the La Mama stage production of TentagatneT. While I was at Anthology one of the TentagatneT actors had a film running there in the Barney Oldfield series, New Filmmakers. They let me watch some and I caught the last 10 minutes. From what I saw, the 30 minute video film, Sequel, was a montage of movies, news clips and silent film titles assembled from library materials and given an ambient wordless sound design by Christopher Zorker (all right, I also spoke with Chris tonight. He was simplifying the motives behind current events).
A film by Janice Ahn called Stutter followed and that took me by surprise. It was a sad character study in 13 minutes, remarkable in its compressed achievement of a harrowing encounter somewhat unstuck in time.
The theme for the evening: New Filmmakers Explore the New American Unreality.
Stutter reveals the sordidity of the date that almost didn't happen. It began well, with the man and woman enjoying the music from the beautiful turntable, the man taking pictures of the woman, but he's loathe to let her go.... He's a big hurt boy in his first floor lair, his grandmother listening from above.
Never again to be trusted. The cycle of abuse progresses...overpowering immaturity, convincing on all levels, his, hers, his grandmother's... The violation, the unpleasantness, the feeling of irrefutable wrongness, selfish brute strength, disturbed and dangerous, feminine strength subdued, the grandmother pulls herself down to the first floor level, apologizes to the woman, just a girl, really, the boy, under his grandmother's supervision, on good behaviour, spent, allowing her to leave. It didn't have to be that way between them, but the boy's damaged mind destroyed the interaction, making it pathetically one-sided, and, yes, angering.
My new play will consider how people can treasure and trust one another.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
ROFL Contestant!
My incentive for writing something, I know it's all been done before, is that it will contain what's never been done before. The idea should be radical. My recent piece arises from a feeling, too, the feeling of polarity dividing the oneness of the world. In 2.2.2, Hermaphroditism Through the Ages, describing which had me booed off the stage last night at Joe's Pub -- I really should have shown that youtube post of cute pussycats... In fact, I was up against and lost against Pussycat Mosh Pit -- anyway, it was worth it to introduce the radical idea, as propounded by Dr. Fricassee, that there's a conspiracy against evolution in the medical profession, that obstetricians confronted at births with ambiguous genitalia conspire against hermaphroditism , delivering to parents males and females, by surgically maintaining, for the stability of our bodies, The Two Sex System. Tyr Throne, my regular advisor in these matters (he considers many of my projects tantric explorations.) related that man is the mutant strain and woman is perfection. Yoga is the practice of becoming hermaphroditic. If nothing else, this begins an interesting science fiction story.
The college humor fellows had a funny moment -- are some of their employees really robots? during a meeting with the new stooges that I believe was about establishing an employee benefits program.
My incentive for writing something, I know it's all been done before, is that it will contain what's never been done before. The idea should be radical. My recent piece arises from a feeling, too, the feeling of polarity dividing the oneness of the world. In 2.2.2, Hermaphroditism Through the Ages, describing which had me booed off the stage last night at Joe's Pub -- I really should have shown that youtube post of cute pussycats... In fact, I was up against and lost against Pussycat Mosh Pit -- anyway, it was worth it to introduce the radical idea, as propounded by Dr. Fricassee, that there's a conspiracy against evolution in the medical profession, that obstetricians confronted at births with ambiguous genitalia conspire against hermaphroditism , delivering to parents males and females, by surgically maintaining, for the stability of our bodies, The Two Sex System. Tyr Throne, my regular advisor in these matters (he considers many of my projects tantric explorations.) related that man is the mutant strain and woman is perfection. Yoga is the practice of becoming hermaphroditic. If nothing else, this begins an interesting science fiction story.
The college humor fellows had a funny moment -- are some of their employees really robots? during a meeting with the new stooges that I believe was about establishing an employee benefits program.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
KLARA: Wait. We have the treasure from our international arms deal but no local currency. Before we get settled in at a house of roadside pyschotherapy, I think we'd better find gainful employment. Did you notice, on the car chase, a help wanted sign at the local alehouse? It said "Tuesday Psychic Needed."
JIM (Not fully on board, "You're the boss"): You're "psychic"; why don't you go check it out?
KLARA: Wait in the car.
(Klara exits)
JIM (alone, seated in car)
Where did you go; what did you do while I was out?
(repeat those 4 bars instrumentally, maybe 1 octave higher under following dialog)
KLARA: I got the job.
JIM: One day a week?
KLARA (gets back in car): Yes. They're covered for the other days.
JIM: Was it crowded?
KLARA (applying lipstick): For a Monday, yes.
JIM
When you were small, when I was tall we had no doubt.
KLARA: I'll get us a room (exits).
JIM
For in a summer wind as seeds took flight within
The finches long and we may long
Till nature lets us join her throng
as petals lift away, where's our wind to sail today?
(next 6 bars instrumental only under following dialog)
(Klara re-enters, mission accomplished)
JIM (confused; how did she even get the room?): We still don't have any money.
KLARA: Just hold your head up high. When they asked for a deposit, I told them I'm a visiting psychic at the alehouse and that money will be coming in soon. Besides, they said they'll pay us to have sex with their staff.
(Klara gets out, busily unpacks and prepares to go inside, not hearing Jim as he sings from the car)
JIM
Where did you go; what did you do while I was out?
When you were small, when I was tall we had no doubt.
In our four car garage, when we were living large
the muskrats docked; the tree swings rocked
the geese and fowl, high they flocked
(On next line, he gets out and catches her by the arm, getting her attention to ask...)
As box kites drift away, where's our wind to sail today?
JIM and KLARA
Reading the words can make them confusing
Listen and use the words of our choosing
When air is still, send them
(Klara, impatient, tries to extract herself. Jim doesn't let her go and calmly pleads...)
JIM
Arms open, sails out wide
We need the wind to rise
Remember when it did?
KLARA (encouraging)
And watch it rise again!
Swirling like shrouds, the trees will be veering!
JIM (doubting)
Enter the clouds, from what I'm hearing
that old black magic has slipped away.
KLARA (getting swept away, abandoning him)
Ear to the ground, the branches are swaying!
Worshiping trees, adore my playing!
(across the stage to him before exiting)
My new white magic will save the day!
JIM (alone where she has left him)
Where did you go, what did you do while I was out?
------------
Scene/song integration by Lydia Ooghe
JIM (Not fully on board, "You're the boss"): You're "psychic"; why don't you go check it out?
KLARA: Wait in the car.
(Klara exits)
JIM (alone, seated in car)
Where did you go; what did you do while I was out?
(repeat those 4 bars instrumentally, maybe 1 octave higher under following dialog)
KLARA: I got the job.
JIM: One day a week?
KLARA (gets back in car): Yes. They're covered for the other days.
JIM: Was it crowded?
KLARA (applying lipstick): For a Monday, yes.
JIM
When you were small, when I was tall we had no doubt.
KLARA: I'll get us a room (exits).
JIM
For in a summer wind as seeds took flight within
The finches long and we may long
Till nature lets us join her throng
as petals lift away, where's our wind to sail today?
(next 6 bars instrumental only under following dialog)
(Klara re-enters, mission accomplished)
JIM (confused; how did she even get the room?): We still don't have any money.
KLARA: Just hold your head up high. When they asked for a deposit, I told them I'm a visiting psychic at the alehouse and that money will be coming in soon. Besides, they said they'll pay us to have sex with their staff.
(Klara gets out, busily unpacks and prepares to go inside, not hearing Jim as he sings from the car)
JIM
Where did you go; what did you do while I was out?
When you were small, when I was tall we had no doubt.
In our four car garage, when we were living large
the muskrats docked; the tree swings rocked
the geese and fowl, high they flocked
(On next line, he gets out and catches her by the arm, getting her attention to ask...)
As box kites drift away, where's our wind to sail today?
JIM and KLARA
Reading the words can make them confusing
Listen and use the words of our choosing
When air is still, send them
(Klara, impatient, tries to extract herself. Jim doesn't let her go and calmly pleads...)
JIM
Arms open, sails out wide
We need the wind to rise
Remember when it did?
KLARA (encouraging)
And watch it rise again!
Swirling like shrouds, the trees will be veering!
JIM (doubting)
Enter the clouds, from what I'm hearing
that old black magic has slipped away.
KLARA (getting swept away, abandoning him)
Ear to the ground, the branches are swaying!
Worshiping trees, adore my playing!
(across the stage to him before exiting)
My new white magic will save the day!
JIM (alone where she has left him)
Where did you go, what did you do while I was out?
------------
Scene/song integration by Lydia Ooghe
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Olive Juice Message Board Posts:
Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by peter on 6/21/2007, 1:17 pm
The big question is why it's such a pleasure to look through the list and drop vaguely inconsequential witicisms.s.s
?
Link: could this have taken me more than 20 minutes? ah the comfort zone...
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by Bollo on 6/21/2007, 1:36 pm, in reply to "Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
Gone With the Wind sucks
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by julie on 6/21/2007, 8:43 pm, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
why do you think it sux?
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by Elastic No-No Band on 6/21/2007, 11:07 pm, in reply to "Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
Wait. Did they redo it? Is this because they couldn't include TITANIC the first time? (god forbid)
Or because everyone was like NUH-UH! "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" AIN'T NO GREAT MOVIE, STUPID AFI!
Some nice additions. Seems like there's more great comedies added.
I don't think SUNRISE was on there before, which is a good call as far as adding it. (What? GREED isn't good enough to include, but LORD OF THE RINGS goes on there?)
BIRTH OF A NATION got booted. I guess old-timey racism is less acceptable now than it was in the 90s. (Oh wait, why is GONE WITH THE WIND still there, then?)
I understand FARGO getting booted (great flick, but not so influential these days), but why is FANTASIA less great than TOY STORY?
I love Cagney, so it's nice to see YANKEE DOODLE DANDY sticking it out at the bottom.
DAMN YOU, DIZOZZA, FOR BRINGING OUT MY FILM NERD!
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by Bollo on 6/22/2007, 7:28 am, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
Why do i think the most insufferably boring movie of all time sucks?? I dunno, I'm just like that... I recently went on a date to see 'Rolling Like A Stone' at the Anthology Film Archives, but its run had ended, and instead they had a WWI newsreel and a silent Cubist film of images just being repeated over and over and over... Started freaking out about a half hour into it. It was like a psych torture test
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by Woodrow Wilson on 6/22/2007, 7:59 am, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
Birth of a Nation? I love Birth of a Nation!! And I would be horrified it it all weren't SO COMPLETELY TRUE. Hey I know- Let's party at my house and we'll watch that one and Triumph of the Will
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by Preston on 6/22/2007, 10:14 am, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
Toy Story!?!? Tootsie!?!? Yeah, OK, sure.
Also, I hate to be the guy who always craps on Star Wars, but... come on.
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...oh...
Posted by peter on 6/22/2007, 12:26 pm, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
come on, carrie fisher was great in star wars, why, was there something else going for that film?
oh, I forgot for the godfather, see what happens when you put Pacino in a suit and ms. Keaton in a dress. those two! what a couple!
oh, and I'm playing sidewalk Wednesday, June 27th... 7PM Twilight Time... here in the twilight, dear gods, isn't it past your twilight time?
Posted by Brandon on 6/25/2007, 12:55 pm, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
I think it's awesome that Toy Story is in there.
Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by peter on 6/21/2007, 1:17 pm
The big question is why it's such a pleasure to look through the list and drop vaguely inconsequential witicisms.s.s
?
Link: could this have taken me more than 20 minutes? ah the comfort zone...
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by Bollo on 6/21/2007, 1:36 pm, in reply to "Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
Gone With the Wind sucks
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by julie on 6/21/2007, 8:43 pm, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
why do you think it sux?
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by Elastic No-No Band on 6/21/2007, 11:07 pm, in reply to "Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
Wait. Did they redo it? Is this because they couldn't include TITANIC the first time? (god forbid)
Or because everyone was like NUH-UH! "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" AIN'T NO GREAT MOVIE, STUPID AFI!
Some nice additions. Seems like there's more great comedies added.
I don't think SUNRISE was on there before, which is a good call as far as adding it. (What? GREED isn't good enough to include, but LORD OF THE RINGS goes on there?)
BIRTH OF A NATION got booted. I guess old-timey racism is less acceptable now than it was in the 90s. (Oh wait, why is GONE WITH THE WIND still there, then?)
I understand FARGO getting booted (great flick, but not so influential these days), but why is FANTASIA less great than TOY STORY?
I love Cagney, so it's nice to see YANKEE DOODLE DANDY sticking it out at the bottom.
DAMN YOU, DIZOZZA, FOR BRINGING OUT MY FILM NERD!
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by Bollo on 6/22/2007, 7:28 am, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
Why do i think the most insufferably boring movie of all time sucks?? I dunno, I'm just like that... I recently went on a date to see 'Rolling Like A Stone' at the Anthology Film Archives, but its run had ended, and instead they had a WWI newsreel and a silent Cubist film of images just being repeated over and over and over... Started freaking out about a half hour into it. It was like a psych torture test
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by Woodrow Wilson on 6/22/2007, 7:59 am, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
Birth of a Nation? I love Birth of a Nation!! And I would be horrified it it all weren't SO COMPLETELY TRUE. Hey I know- Let's party at my house and we'll watch that one and Triumph of the Will
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...
Posted by Preston on 6/22/2007, 10:14 am, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
Toy Story!?!? Tootsie!?!? Yeah, OK, sure.
Also, I hate to be the guy who always craps on Star Wars, but... come on.
Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films...oh...
Posted by peter on 6/22/2007, 12:26 pm, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
come on, carrie fisher was great in star wars, why, was there something else going for that film?
oh, I forgot for the godfather, see what happens when you put Pacino in a suit and ms. Keaton in a dress. those two! what a couple!
oh, and I'm playing sidewalk Wednesday, June 27th... 7PM Twilight Time... here in the twilight, dear gods, isn't it past your twilight time?
Posted by Brandon on 6/25/2007, 12:55 pm, in reply to "Re: Drop everything! Top 100 AFI films..."
I think it's awesome that Toy Story is in there.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
I love putting in my two cents regarding cinema... all these movies are fine.
1. ``Citizen Kane,'' 1941. saw it... I like the little models connecting with the grand interiors.
2. ``The Godfather,'' 1972. saw it... good idea to edit the baptism with the executions. memorable toll booth. Great patchwork filmmaking of a nasty script! See what happens when you put Mr. Pacino in a suit.
3. ``Casablanca,'' 1942. saw it. Great ensemble under Warners contract.
4. ``Raging Bull,'' 1980. saw it. Knew nothing on the subject before seeing it. Everything I know of the subject is in the film. I like the scene with Ms. Moriority at the Chelsea pool.
5. ``Singin' in the Rain,'' 1952. saw it. That's what happens when one of the MGM execs is a songwriter. inconceivably cute moments with two vaudeville guys and a girl.
6. ``Gone With the Wind,'' 1939. saw it. I like the scene in the bedroom before the son falls off a horse.
7. ``Lawrence of Arabia,'' 1962. saw it. I have no recollection or connection with this film. There's a BMW motorcycle in it that is clearly a fine machine. I have yet to appreciate translations by T.E. Lawrence.
8. ``Schindler's List,'' 1993. saw it. Schindler bookends a movie about Ralf Feinnes.
9. ``Vertigo,'' 1958. saw it. great use of two actors. part of a great three-style madness trilogy. Noticably great score.
10. ``The Wizard of Oz,'' 1939. saw it. by the time the monkeys were flying I was out of my mind.
11. ``City Lights,'' 1931. saw it. We all need the redemptive power of finding someone to love.
12. ``The Searchers,'' 1956. saw it. memorable landscapes.
13. ``Star Wars,'' 1977. saw it. Carrie Fisher makes this movie a worthy follow-up to The Hidden Fortress.
14. ``Psycho,'' 1960. saw it. Bizarre B movie look from a man with the command of technicolor hollywood excellence. Great transferral of protagonists.
15. ``2001: A Space Odyssey,'' 1968. saw it. Great use of music. Favorite scene is the jog and the happy birthday dave...
16. ``Sunset Blvd.'', 1950. saw it. Something about a monkey in this one, too. Too many "in" jokes. Great use of Hollywood.
17. ``The Graduate,'' 1967. saw it. good follow-up to the work of Billy Wilder. surprise superstar appearance by Mr. Hoffman. transcendent Simon and Garfunkle. I like the scene when he visits her university.
18. ``The General,'' 1927. saw it. Love locomotives and love the male/female collaboration between the two leads.
19. ``On the Waterfront,'' 1954. saw it. minimal recollection. Is it Copeland or Bernstein?
20. ``It's a Wonderful Life,'' 1946. saw it. Good lesson in mortgages.
21. ``Chinatown,'' 1974. saw it. love the scene with the boy on a donkey. miraculous ensemble including writer and director. Great use of title. again she gets dunaway... sorry...
22. ``Some Like It Hot,'' 1959. saw it. great use of old florida. increasingly loony guy film. Ms. Monroe gets through it because Wilder is too busy with other things.
23. ``The Grapes of Wrath,'' 1940. saw it. Spectacular presentation of problems.
24. ``E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,'' 1982. saw it. only remember feeling like a tool.
25. ``To Kill a Mockingbird,'' 1962. read the book. Gregory Peck is vaguely unsatisfactory... sorry.
26. ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,'' 1939. saw it. Confused which one it is. One of them has a great ending atop a building.
27. ``High Noon,'' 1952. saw it. great countdown film.
28. ``All About Eve,'' 1950. saw it. don't remember if Kirk Douglas is in it... he's not. That's the Bad and the Beautiful.
29. ``Double Indemnity,'' 1944. saw it. Another guy film, probably Wilder's best. Great threesome.
30. ``Apocalypse Now,'' 1979. saw it. It was a lot of work.
31. ``The Maltese Falcon,'' 1941. saw it. This movie is the work of pure talent of all involved.
32. ``The Godfather Part II,'' 1974. saw it. Great introduction to Vegas and to Lee Strasbourg.
33. ``One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,'' 1975. saw it. Dynamic directing. Great blue tinged bathroom ending.
34. ``Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,'' 1937. saw it. What is she, the four seasons? (Yes.)
35. ``Annie Hall,'' 1977. saw it. A fluid assembly of scenes.
36. ``The Bridge on the River Kwai,'' 1957. saw it. Interesting activity and unique alec guiness.
37. ``The Best Years of Our Lives,'' 1946. saw it. remarkable time capsule... memorable 5 and dime...Hoagy plays Lazy River.
38. ``The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,'' 1948. Sad and beautiful. vaguely annoying.
39. ``Dr. Strangelove,'' 1964. saw it. introduces an awareness of water flouridation. great countdown. great improv when all else fails. I think the use of music was both nasty and beautiful.
40. ``The Sound of Music,'' 1965. saw it. It's hard for me to get over that cut when Ms. Andrews begins singing. Richard Rodgers at the height of his genius.
41. ``King Kong,'' 1933. saw it. great self-examination of exploitation using stop action photography.
42. ``Bonnie and Clyde,'' 1967. saw it. I love those clouds moving over the field. superstar ensemble acting.
43. ``Midnight Cowboy,'' 1969. saw it. Good time capsule of 60's New York.
44. ``The Philadelphia Story,'' 1940. saw it. posing for magazine editors?
45. ``Shane,'' 1953. saw it. pretty landscapes.
46. ``It Happened One Night,'' 1934. saw it. romantic...
47. ``A Streetcar Named Desire,'' 1951. saw it. confused about original script. great sequel to gone with the wind.
48. ``Rear Window,'' 1954. highly professional filmmaking.
49. ``Intolerance,'' 1916. saw it. Good countdown at the end.
50. ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,'' 2001. saw it somewhat. I failed again to connect with this world.
51. ``West Side Story,'' 1961. saw it. great on-site filmmaking. Already off the chart materials given a cinematic dimension. Best wide-screen cinematic combination of everything great going for this piece...The low-ceiling indoor parking garage performance of "cool."
52. ``Taxi Driver,'' 1976. saw it. the best self-angrandizing I've ever seen (raging bull is second best). Beautiful score.
53. ``The Deer Hunter,'' 1978. saw it. it all comes down to russian roulette. The director made christopher walken magic. Why is Walkin magic? Something to do with photography.
54. ``M-A-S-H,'' 1970. saw it. great episode assembly. it does feel like I was there.
55. ``North by Northwest,'' 1959. Technicolor prequel to Psycho. two sides of the same coin. more beautiful music.
56. ``Jaws,'' 1975. saw it. somehow sexually charged. did not see the entire film.
57. ``Rocky,'' 1976. saw it. that's good simple script to film-making.
58. ``The Gold Rush,'' 1925. saw it. A very successful artist adding the Klondike to his world. It's a great movie.
59. ``Nashville,'' 1975. saw it. Nasty. Thanks for letting them do their songs.
60. ``Duck Soup,'' 1933. saw it. a great big world.
61. ``Sullivan's Travels,'' 1941. saw it. serious fun.
62. ``American Graffiti,'' 1973. saw it. uh... good cast. good assembly of materials.
63. ``Cabaret,'' 1972. saw it. Bob Fosse was highly dedicated and talented. The music and cinema are seemlessly woven.
64. ``Network,'' 1976. saw it. a sequel to The Hospital, which is a great script.
65. ``The African Queen,'' 1951. saw it. Likeable. sometimes disoriented by the use of interior tub-sets and realism.
66. ``Raiders of the Lost Ark,'' 1981. saw it. again there's a scene with a monkey at an outdoor cafe. I like that scene.
67. ``Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'', 1966. saw it. They do well together.
68. ``Unforgiven,'' 1992. somewhat saw it. I don't have the pre-quel awareness to appreciate what this does to the western.
69. ``Tootsie,'' 1982. saw it. Another great star turn.
70. ``A Clockwork Orange,'' 1971. saw it. Great Walter Carlos opportunity. Malcolm already knew this role. Well structured book well adapted although with disproportionate star power.
71. ``Saving Private Ryan,'' 1998. saw it. I don't know. Very helpful vision. Another great product of an ongoingly cinematic director.
72. ``The Shawshank Redemption,'' 1994. No. Is it about Capital Punishment in prison?
73. ``Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,'' 1969. saw it. Good chemistry. Filmmaking is highly respectful of the stars.
74. ``The Silence of the Lambs,'' 1991. saw it. Good peripheral matters coalescing in a weird variation on the mink stole.
75. ``In the Heat of the Night,'' 1967. I don't know. Sydney Potier is in it...?
76. ``Forrest Gump,'' 1994. saw it. Great follow-up to Zelig. I am very confused by the watchability of this film.
77. ``All the President's Men,'' 1976. saw it. great adaptation well cast.
78. ``Modern Times,'' 1936. saw it. Ms. Goddard is in this one.
79. ``The Wild Bunch,'' 1969. saw it. vaguely followed it. The stills look great.
80. ``The Apartment, 1960. saw it. Another Wilder commentary, helped by likeable twosome.
81. ``Spartacus,'' 1960. saw it. what an appocalypse. stirringly annoying.
82. ``Sunrise,'' 1927. saw it. Consistently great visualizations by Murnau applied to this country.
83. ``Titanic,'' 1997. saw it. Liked the spinning top on the ship's wood floor.
84. ``Easy Rider,'' 1969. saw it. It's a hodgepodge of star turns.
85. ``A Night at the Opera,'' 1935. saw it. A smooth balance of brothers.
86. ``Platoon,'' 1986. saw it. Something crucifying was memorable.
87. ``12 Angry Men,'' 1957. saw it. worthwhile statement-- you can change the world.
88. ``Bringing Up Baby,'' 1938. saw it. love carries them through.
89. ``The Sixth Sense,'' 1999. saw it. Small budget, big impact... I think...
90. ``Swing Time,'' 1936. saw it. Is this a Kern score? I know Follow the Fleet and Shall We Dance better. I love Roberta.
91. ``Sophie's Choice,'' 1982. great Brooklyn Bridge scene.
92. ``Goodfellas,'' 1990. Martin Scorsese continues to improve his filmmaking style.
93. ``The French Connection,'' 1971. I don't think I've ever really seen this film. I thought it was a mystical lead-in to The Exorcist. Maybe it's not.
94. ``Pulp Fiction,'' 1994. Groundbreaking assembly of episodes.
95. ``The Last Picture Show,'' 1971. He realistically adjusted his pants when he got out of the car. I should remember more from this film.
96. ``Do the Right Thing,'' 1989. pleasantly incenidiary.
97. ``Blade Runner,'' 1982. City claustrophia.
98. ``Yankee Doodle Dandy,'' 1942. Good ensemble work. Again, all forces behind the glory of a great songwriter.
99. ``Toy Story,'' 1995. I don't know. Is this the weird one with the Tom Hanks voice.
100. ``Ben-Hur,'' 1959. Something about leprosy.
What is really curious is my need to engage in this exercise to get this list out of my system, as though I can move onto other matters thereafter. Anyway, it is great to have common ground.
1. ``Citizen Kane,'' 1941. saw it... I like the little models connecting with the grand interiors.
2. ``The Godfather,'' 1972. saw it... good idea to edit the baptism with the executions. memorable toll booth. Great patchwork filmmaking of a nasty script! See what happens when you put Mr. Pacino in a suit.
3. ``Casablanca,'' 1942. saw it. Great ensemble under Warners contract.
4. ``Raging Bull,'' 1980. saw it. Knew nothing on the subject before seeing it. Everything I know of the subject is in the film. I like the scene with Ms. Moriority at the Chelsea pool.
5. ``Singin' in the Rain,'' 1952. saw it. That's what happens when one of the MGM execs is a songwriter. inconceivably cute moments with two vaudeville guys and a girl.
6. ``Gone With the Wind,'' 1939. saw it. I like the scene in the bedroom before the son falls off a horse.
7. ``Lawrence of Arabia,'' 1962. saw it. I have no recollection or connection with this film. There's a BMW motorcycle in it that is clearly a fine machine. I have yet to appreciate translations by T.E. Lawrence.
8. ``Schindler's List,'' 1993. saw it. Schindler bookends a movie about Ralf Feinnes.
9. ``Vertigo,'' 1958. saw it. great use of two actors. part of a great three-style madness trilogy. Noticably great score.
10. ``The Wizard of Oz,'' 1939. saw it. by the time the monkeys were flying I was out of my mind.
11. ``City Lights,'' 1931. saw it. We all need the redemptive power of finding someone to love.
12. ``The Searchers,'' 1956. saw it. memorable landscapes.
13. ``Star Wars,'' 1977. saw it. Carrie Fisher makes this movie a worthy follow-up to The Hidden Fortress.
14. ``Psycho,'' 1960. saw it. Bizarre B movie look from a man with the command of technicolor hollywood excellence. Great transferral of protagonists.
15. ``2001: A Space Odyssey,'' 1968. saw it. Great use of music. Favorite scene is the jog and the happy birthday dave...
16. ``Sunset Blvd.'', 1950. saw it. Something about a monkey in this one, too. Too many "in" jokes. Great use of Hollywood.
17. ``The Graduate,'' 1967. saw it. good follow-up to the work of Billy Wilder. surprise superstar appearance by Mr. Hoffman. transcendent Simon and Garfunkle. I like the scene when he visits her university.
18. ``The General,'' 1927. saw it. Love locomotives and love the male/female collaboration between the two leads.
19. ``On the Waterfront,'' 1954. saw it. minimal recollection. Is it Copeland or Bernstein?
20. ``It's a Wonderful Life,'' 1946. saw it. Good lesson in mortgages.
21. ``Chinatown,'' 1974. saw it. love the scene with the boy on a donkey. miraculous ensemble including writer and director. Great use of title. again she gets dunaway... sorry...
22. ``Some Like It Hot,'' 1959. saw it. great use of old florida. increasingly loony guy film. Ms. Monroe gets through it because Wilder is too busy with other things.
23. ``The Grapes of Wrath,'' 1940. saw it. Spectacular presentation of problems.
24. ``E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,'' 1982. saw it. only remember feeling like a tool.
25. ``To Kill a Mockingbird,'' 1962. read the book. Gregory Peck is vaguely unsatisfactory... sorry.
26. ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,'' 1939. saw it. Confused which one it is. One of them has a great ending atop a building.
27. ``High Noon,'' 1952. saw it. great countdown film.
28. ``All About Eve,'' 1950. saw it. don't remember if Kirk Douglas is in it... he's not. That's the Bad and the Beautiful.
29. ``Double Indemnity,'' 1944. saw it. Another guy film, probably Wilder's best. Great threesome.
30. ``Apocalypse Now,'' 1979. saw it. It was a lot of work.
31. ``The Maltese Falcon,'' 1941. saw it. This movie is the work of pure talent of all involved.
32. ``The Godfather Part II,'' 1974. saw it. Great introduction to Vegas and to Lee Strasbourg.
33. ``One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,'' 1975. saw it. Dynamic directing. Great blue tinged bathroom ending.
34. ``Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,'' 1937. saw it. What is she, the four seasons? (Yes.)
35. ``Annie Hall,'' 1977. saw it. A fluid assembly of scenes.
36. ``The Bridge on the River Kwai,'' 1957. saw it. Interesting activity and unique alec guiness.
37. ``The Best Years of Our Lives,'' 1946. saw it. remarkable time capsule... memorable 5 and dime...Hoagy plays Lazy River.
38. ``The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,'' 1948. Sad and beautiful. vaguely annoying.
39. ``Dr. Strangelove,'' 1964. saw it. introduces an awareness of water flouridation. great countdown. great improv when all else fails. I think the use of music was both nasty and beautiful.
40. ``The Sound of Music,'' 1965. saw it. It's hard for me to get over that cut when Ms. Andrews begins singing. Richard Rodgers at the height of his genius.
41. ``King Kong,'' 1933. saw it. great self-examination of exploitation using stop action photography.
42. ``Bonnie and Clyde,'' 1967. saw it. I love those clouds moving over the field. superstar ensemble acting.
43. ``Midnight Cowboy,'' 1969. saw it. Good time capsule of 60's New York.
44. ``The Philadelphia Story,'' 1940. saw it. posing for magazine editors?
45. ``Shane,'' 1953. saw it. pretty landscapes.
46. ``It Happened One Night,'' 1934. saw it. romantic...
47. ``A Streetcar Named Desire,'' 1951. saw it. confused about original script. great sequel to gone with the wind.
48. ``Rear Window,'' 1954. highly professional filmmaking.
49. ``Intolerance,'' 1916. saw it. Good countdown at the end.
50. ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,'' 2001. saw it somewhat. I failed again to connect with this world.
51. ``West Side Story,'' 1961. saw it. great on-site filmmaking. Already off the chart materials given a cinematic dimension. Best wide-screen cinematic combination of everything great going for this piece...The low-ceiling indoor parking garage performance of "cool."
52. ``Taxi Driver,'' 1976. saw it. the best self-angrandizing I've ever seen (raging bull is second best). Beautiful score.
53. ``The Deer Hunter,'' 1978. saw it. it all comes down to russian roulette. The director made christopher walken magic. Why is Walkin magic? Something to do with photography.
54. ``M-A-S-H,'' 1970. saw it. great episode assembly. it does feel like I was there.
55. ``North by Northwest,'' 1959. Technicolor prequel to Psycho. two sides of the same coin. more beautiful music.
56. ``Jaws,'' 1975. saw it. somehow sexually charged. did not see the entire film.
57. ``Rocky,'' 1976. saw it. that's good simple script to film-making.
58. ``The Gold Rush,'' 1925. saw it. A very successful artist adding the Klondike to his world. It's a great movie.
59. ``Nashville,'' 1975. saw it. Nasty. Thanks for letting them do their songs.
60. ``Duck Soup,'' 1933. saw it. a great big world.
61. ``Sullivan's Travels,'' 1941. saw it. serious fun.
62. ``American Graffiti,'' 1973. saw it. uh... good cast. good assembly of materials.
63. ``Cabaret,'' 1972. saw it. Bob Fosse was highly dedicated and talented. The music and cinema are seemlessly woven.
64. ``Network,'' 1976. saw it. a sequel to The Hospital, which is a great script.
65. ``The African Queen,'' 1951. saw it. Likeable. sometimes disoriented by the use of interior tub-sets and realism.
66. ``Raiders of the Lost Ark,'' 1981. saw it. again there's a scene with a monkey at an outdoor cafe. I like that scene.
67. ``Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'', 1966. saw it. They do well together.
68. ``Unforgiven,'' 1992. somewhat saw it. I don't have the pre-quel awareness to appreciate what this does to the western.
69. ``Tootsie,'' 1982. saw it. Another great star turn.
70. ``A Clockwork Orange,'' 1971. saw it. Great Walter Carlos opportunity. Malcolm already knew this role. Well structured book well adapted although with disproportionate star power.
71. ``Saving Private Ryan,'' 1998. saw it. I don't know. Very helpful vision. Another great product of an ongoingly cinematic director.
72. ``The Shawshank Redemption,'' 1994. No. Is it about Capital Punishment in prison?
73. ``Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,'' 1969. saw it. Good chemistry. Filmmaking is highly respectful of the stars.
74. ``The Silence of the Lambs,'' 1991. saw it. Good peripheral matters coalescing in a weird variation on the mink stole.
75. ``In the Heat of the Night,'' 1967. I don't know. Sydney Potier is in it...?
76. ``Forrest Gump,'' 1994. saw it. Great follow-up to Zelig. I am very confused by the watchability of this film.
77. ``All the President's Men,'' 1976. saw it. great adaptation well cast.
78. ``Modern Times,'' 1936. saw it. Ms. Goddard is in this one.
79. ``The Wild Bunch,'' 1969. saw it. vaguely followed it. The stills look great.
80. ``The Apartment, 1960. saw it. Another Wilder commentary, helped by likeable twosome.
81. ``Spartacus,'' 1960. saw it. what an appocalypse. stirringly annoying.
82. ``Sunrise,'' 1927. saw it. Consistently great visualizations by Murnau applied to this country.
83. ``Titanic,'' 1997. saw it. Liked the spinning top on the ship's wood floor.
84. ``Easy Rider,'' 1969. saw it. It's a hodgepodge of star turns.
85. ``A Night at the Opera,'' 1935. saw it. A smooth balance of brothers.
86. ``Platoon,'' 1986. saw it. Something crucifying was memorable.
87. ``12 Angry Men,'' 1957. saw it. worthwhile statement-- you can change the world.
88. ``Bringing Up Baby,'' 1938. saw it. love carries them through.
89. ``The Sixth Sense,'' 1999. saw it. Small budget, big impact... I think...
90. ``Swing Time,'' 1936. saw it. Is this a Kern score? I know Follow the Fleet and Shall We Dance better. I love Roberta.
91. ``Sophie's Choice,'' 1982. great Brooklyn Bridge scene.
92. ``Goodfellas,'' 1990. Martin Scorsese continues to improve his filmmaking style.
93. ``The French Connection,'' 1971. I don't think I've ever really seen this film. I thought it was a mystical lead-in to The Exorcist. Maybe it's not.
94. ``Pulp Fiction,'' 1994. Groundbreaking assembly of episodes.
95. ``The Last Picture Show,'' 1971. He realistically adjusted his pants when he got out of the car. I should remember more from this film.
96. ``Do the Right Thing,'' 1989. pleasantly incenidiary.
97. ``Blade Runner,'' 1982. City claustrophia.
98. ``Yankee Doodle Dandy,'' 1942. Good ensemble work. Again, all forces behind the glory of a great songwriter.
99. ``Toy Story,'' 1995. I don't know. Is this the weird one with the Tom Hanks voice.
100. ``Ben-Hur,'' 1959. Something about leprosy.
What is really curious is my need to engage in this exercise to get this list out of my system, as though I can move onto other matters thereafter. Anyway, it is great to have common ground.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
I am considering adding a "recent acquisitions page" to the Cinema VII website...
When I sell it will be the entire catalogue.
The Cinema VII Library includes other materials as well as my own...
For example, yes to those looking for the 35 cent 1960 Cardinal Edition paperback with the cover that looks like it was painted by Darryl Green of Voices in the House, with authorship reclaimed by Pearl S. Buck following her years of publication as John Stedges. It's in the library, a foundation-worthy creative building block.
Is the building block opaque, reflective or translucent? All types of materials go into building the usable construct.
When I sell it will be the entire catalogue.
The Cinema VII Library includes other materials as well as my own...
For example, yes to those looking for the 35 cent 1960 Cardinal Edition paperback with the cover that looks like it was painted by Darryl Green of Voices in the House, with authorship reclaimed by Pearl S. Buck following her years of publication as John Stedges. It's in the library, a foundation-worthy creative building block.
Is the building block opaque, reflective or translucent? All types of materials go into building the usable construct.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Quick notes on placing a death notice in the New York Times: This paper "outsourced" its paid death notices to a phonebank in Buffalo where people speak to you on a first name only basis. Anyone of a number of people are available. Their phone number is 866-602-6990 and they answer, "New York Times Classifieds." They charge $50.40 for 28-32 characters, including spaces. Some letters such as the big "W" take up more space. The email for placing a paid death notice is nytimes@classifiedsplus.net. We could not correspond through my Compuserve email address but rather through gmail. The price for the printed death notice does not include the New York Times on the Web. For an extra $50 the paid death notice will appear for one year on Legacy.com, which is a link on the New York Times on the Web.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
That other blog (michaeldouglas.blogspot) offers quips on 56 minutes of Gibson's Aramaic Passion Play before degenerating into a simple personal discovery of my feelings of vacuous cluelessness about coming or already arrived and/or coming-again messiahs.
The issue of capital punishment returns recently since some of you may have wanted to ask Saddam a few questins, but maybe most people didn't care what he had to say and it was all self-serving, anyway....
Capital Punishment, like suicide, is not justice, but rather a presumptuous acceleration of the inevitable. The more extreme an action, the more equally it accomplishes its opposite intention.
The issue of capital punishment returns recently since some of you may have wanted to ask Saddam a few questins, but maybe most people didn't care what he had to say and it was all self-serving, anyway....
Capital Punishment, like suicide, is not justice, but rather a presumptuous acceleration of the inevitable. The more extreme an action, the more equally it accomplishes its opposite intention.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
I'm full of non-sequitors because I can't be bothered linking one thought to the next, well maybe I can. You're worth it...
Recent events include a staging of The Golf Wars at La Mama, directed by Tom Nondorf, which was in time for Election Day, when the tied election tide decisively turned.
I suggest before writing a redundant new play, a festival of the last decade of plays with music, such as they are, to get a fuller picture of the joyous magical world we live in.
Our performance of the song Chimney Flu/Heigh Ho worked well with the New York Composers Circle concert deep within the depths of the Baruch Performing Arts Center. Piano, voice and electric guitar played by Roger Blanc, each, had notated independent lines and accompaniments, just like in earlier songs.
I see I'll be a master of ceremonies of sorts for the Lambs Holiday party.
This world is so big, and the City keeps filling. Apparently, and additionally, there are universes beyond it.
I wonder how terrorized I've felt and how injurious of myself I've been to balance and take command of that feeling.
Trust in humanity and think for yourself. Put your joyous life first.
Recent events include a staging of The Golf Wars at La Mama, directed by Tom Nondorf, which was in time for Election Day, when the tied election tide decisively turned.
I suggest before writing a redundant new play, a festival of the last decade of plays with music, such as they are, to get a fuller picture of the joyous magical world we live in.
Our performance of the song Chimney Flu/Heigh Ho worked well with the New York Composers Circle concert deep within the depths of the Baruch Performing Arts Center. Piano, voice and electric guitar played by Roger Blanc, each, had notated independent lines and accompaniments, just like in earlier songs.
I see I'll be a master of ceremonies of sorts for the Lambs Holiday party.
This world is so big, and the City keeps filling. Apparently, and additionally, there are universes beyond it.
I wonder how terrorized I've felt and how injurious of myself I've been to balance and take command of that feeling.
Trust in humanity and think for yourself. Put your joyous life first.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Now through a circuitous circuit, I am reading the short stories of Carson McCullers, called "Seven" after her recognition of the effectiveness of the number by her character, Miss Amelia.
Many great writing samples may already be familiar to you; the one I want to include here (from "Sojourner") describes a Bach prelude and fugue. "The prelude was as gaily iridescent as a prism in a morning room. The first voice of the fugue, an announcement pure and solitary, was repeated intermingling with a second voice and again repeated within an elaborated frame, the multiple music, horizontal and serene, flowed with unhurried majesty. The principal melody was woven with two other voices, embellished with countless ingenuities - now dominant, again submerged, it had the sublimity of a single thing that does not fear surrender to the whole."
Yes, that describes us-all in the universe!
So the free Friday Target Museum of Modern Art night included, along with the closing of the Dada exhibit, a screening of "Reflections in a Golden Eye," a shockingly technicolor print in one of the only two familiar rooms left in that museum, the basement screening room atop the super submerged 5th avenue subways. I saw the first hour of that.
And I still carry the memory of the last two reels of "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" in James Wong Howe's technicolor cinematography. It occurred to me that an author is the progenitor of these unique visions. Tennessee Williams films are their own genre; perhaps the same is true of Ms. McCullers.
Colleen McCullough, the Thorn Birds, no, I can't be so lucky as to have a book by McCullers, oh, there it is, the 35 cent Bantam Giant with the cover of tall woman leading the hunchback up the stairs, some figures in red behind her....the act of my reading it destroying its brittle paper.
The Baghdad Cafe? No, the lead story is "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe." Was she too rejecting and controlling? It looked like a delicate balance existed for a time, and that was a good time for the town... It was all so infinitely relatable in its strangeness...
Edward Albee wrote the play?
I read it on the bus to West Point. Was West Point the setting for "Reflections in a Golden Eye?" This is my circuitous route to the great writing of Carson McCullers.
Many great writing samples may already be familiar to you; the one I want to include here (from "Sojourner") describes a Bach prelude and fugue. "The prelude was as gaily iridescent as a prism in a morning room. The first voice of the fugue, an announcement pure and solitary, was repeated intermingling with a second voice and again repeated within an elaborated frame, the multiple music, horizontal and serene, flowed with unhurried majesty. The principal melody was woven with two other voices, embellished with countless ingenuities - now dominant, again submerged, it had the sublimity of a single thing that does not fear surrender to the whole."
Yes, that describes us-all in the universe!
So the free Friday Target Museum of Modern Art night included, along with the closing of the Dada exhibit, a screening of "Reflections in a Golden Eye," a shockingly technicolor print in one of the only two familiar rooms left in that museum, the basement screening room atop the super submerged 5th avenue subways. I saw the first hour of that.
And I still carry the memory of the last two reels of "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" in James Wong Howe's technicolor cinematography. It occurred to me that an author is the progenitor of these unique visions. Tennessee Williams films are their own genre; perhaps the same is true of Ms. McCullers.
Colleen McCullough, the Thorn Birds, no, I can't be so lucky as to have a book by McCullers, oh, there it is, the 35 cent Bantam Giant with the cover of tall woman leading the hunchback up the stairs, some figures in red behind her....the act of my reading it destroying its brittle paper.
The Baghdad Cafe? No, the lead story is "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe." Was she too rejecting and controlling? It looked like a delicate balance existed for a time, and that was a good time for the town... It was all so infinitely relatable in its strangeness...
Edward Albee wrote the play?
I read it on the bus to West Point. Was West Point the setting for "Reflections in a Golden Eye?" This is my circuitous route to the great writing of Carson McCullers.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
I suppose this post has spoiler potential for those of you eagerly about to read Willa Cather's short story, "Paul's Case," and, yes, do so without delay.
Please consider yourself warned.
On the subway I paged through the 1936 edition of Burrell and Cerf's Bedside Book of Famous American Stories. Willa Cather wrote "Paul's Case." It is one of the 67 stories in the collection and I read it with great illumination as I already had a fondness for Madame Bovary. I remember spending an adolescence feeling as misplaced as Paul ("There's no one quite so worthy of the way I feel."). To his credit he didn't make a fool of himself rightfully settled into the Waldorf with his stolen loot. When money ran low he even took the train toward home, but this I cannot condone... and I doubt she did, although she did write the story... he saw fit to accelerate his body's inevitable demise. End of story.
-----
There was a woman last night outside of the Theatre for the New City sitting on the corner of East 10th and 1st as the light rain fell pleasantly upon us. She was equipped with a bag containing a gallon of gin. According to the theatre manager, the fellow she attended the theatre with, thanks to complimentary tickets, may have run off after injuring her. She could not put standing pressure on one of her legs. Was it broken? She sat back down. I called 911. She took gulps from the bottle. One of the attendants in the Beth Israel ambulance that arrived promptly, greeted her familiarly... Hi, Peg.
It was only 11:30 PM. I used to love sitting in on the midnight plays running at Theatre for the New City in the 1980's when it was on 2nd Avenue and East 10th. The most familiar memory I can share is that of Ethel Eichelberger playing accordion.
As for the Cather story, money can cost so much emotion that, having undergone the trauma of acquiring it, you will be truly gifted to relax and enjoy the doubtful luxuries it can purchase.
Please consider yourself warned.
On the subway I paged through the 1936 edition of Burrell and Cerf's Bedside Book of Famous American Stories. Willa Cather wrote "Paul's Case." It is one of the 67 stories in the collection and I read it with great illumination as I already had a fondness for Madame Bovary. I remember spending an adolescence feeling as misplaced as Paul ("There's no one quite so worthy of the way I feel."). To his credit he didn't make a fool of himself rightfully settled into the Waldorf with his stolen loot. When money ran low he even took the train toward home, but this I cannot condone... and I doubt she did, although she did write the story... he saw fit to accelerate his body's inevitable demise. End of story.
-----
There was a woman last night outside of the Theatre for the New City sitting on the corner of East 10th and 1st as the light rain fell pleasantly upon us. She was equipped with a bag containing a gallon of gin. According to the theatre manager, the fellow she attended the theatre with, thanks to complimentary tickets, may have run off after injuring her. She could not put standing pressure on one of her legs. Was it broken? She sat back down. I called 911. She took gulps from the bottle. One of the attendants in the Beth Israel ambulance that arrived promptly, greeted her familiarly... Hi, Peg.
It was only 11:30 PM. I used to love sitting in on the midnight plays running at Theatre for the New City in the 1980's when it was on 2nd Avenue and East 10th. The most familiar memory I can share is that of Ethel Eichelberger playing accordion.
As for the Cather story, money can cost so much emotion that, having undergone the trauma of acquiring it, you will be truly gifted to relax and enjoy the doubtful luxuries it can purchase.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Question to self:
Peter, you obsessive troll, what are you doing outside of the bubble of comical musical visual melodrama?
Answer:
I'm reconciling subjective and objective realities.
Question 2 to self:
Do you promise to help and do no harm?
Answer:
Haven't I been?
Question 2 to self repeated:
Do you promise?
Answer:
Yes.
Peter, you obsessive troll, what are you doing outside of the bubble of comical musical visual melodrama?
Answer:
I'm reconciling subjective and objective realities.
Question 2 to self:
Do you promise to help and do no harm?
Answer:
Haven't I been?
Question 2 to self repeated:
Do you promise?
Answer:
Yes.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Dear everyone, If I can't write about it, everything gets me annoyed.
I visited the Uniformed Firefighters Association building last night for a TV spot with James Chladek, thanks to my personable trivia expert friend, John Barbieri, and had the pleasure of 15 minutes of Mr. Chladek's company before a well run set of studio cameras. Good work, guys! I talked about whatever is going on lately, my collaborations with the East Village Antifolk Fest, Sharon Fogarty's Flying Dreams at Manhattan Theatre Source, the visit to Guild Hall with Bruce Jay Friedman, and of course my being forced to vacate or buy my apartment of 17 years...
"We will never sell, only rent," has become, "we will never rent, only sell."
Well, it's a buyer's market.
I visited the Uniformed Firefighters Association building last night for a TV spot with James Chladek, thanks to my personable trivia expert friend, John Barbieri, and had the pleasure of 15 minutes of Mr. Chladek's company before a well run set of studio cameras. Good work, guys! I talked about whatever is going on lately, my collaborations with the East Village Antifolk Fest, Sharon Fogarty's Flying Dreams at Manhattan Theatre Source, the visit to Guild Hall with Bruce Jay Friedman, and of course my being forced to vacate or buy my apartment of 17 years...
"We will never sell, only rent," has become, "we will never rent, only sell."
Well, it's a buyer's market.