post-apocalyptic madness

The beginning of the end.

I wanted to phrase that sentence as a question, but then suddenly couldn't see the point.

romero to boyle and back again

If this article is at all accurate in its hypothesis that fast moving zombies are about the individual, whereas the slow masses of old were exactly that: the masses. And that we as a culture are tending towards the quick paced fiends... Is Hollywood then really just telling us to fear the individual? Safety in numbers, but the solo man can kill?

I love zombie movies. So cleanly and bluntly they've managed to illustrate our move out of the cold war mentality and into the lone man on a hijacked plane paranoia.

Or else CGI just looks better at a faster clip.

fuku

Possibly old news. But yes, read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It's good, and it's funny, and Miramax is going to make it into a movie as soon as the strike ends and they can find a writer.

the holidays are upon us

International Stalker Day. I believe in it.

(btw overqualified is a wonderful little site of cover letters you wish you'd written, but mostly you just wish you'd sent)

words of wisdom

"Complicated brilliant people have complicated brilliant relationships."

Thank you, Laura.

surprise surprise they wouldn't wanna watch

LA Scenester Dives That Must be Destroyed. Yes, of course I frequent these places. To any one who would use the word "scenester" in seriousness: fuck you. Also: fuck scenesters.

(re subject line... name that song, claim your scenester music badge)

totally works

(with love from xkcd)

celebs en masse

Last night was: Grace is Gone premiere. I was Ertel's plus one.

Jim Strouse is our kind of movie maker. He is talented and humble. At the reception he was nervous and overwhelmed but pleased to see us. I said: I understand.

Clint Eastwood looks even older in real life. Casey Affleck looks cute and hip. He bumped into me at the bar, and for a moment I thought I was at Little Joy.

so easily amused

Friends have recommended the following, and I am gullible:

Rice vocabulary. Feed the hungry; boost your English skills. Highest score possible is 50. I only got to 42 on my first go at it, but fear not: according to deadlinehollywood I have some more time to kill.

Christian the Lion, who is reunited here with the humans who raised him, after he spent the last year in the wild with other lions. I blame Pete.

The Bourne books. Ertel's agent's wife told me last night that these are good and worth it and read them! So I might. Perhaps as a breather from Europe Central. Breathing is needed with that book.

and the world watches... nikki finke

Perhaps the best of the Speechless campaign.

we all have cages

Yes, your sources are correct. Last night I finally saw Wildboy '74 and it was good. Backstage West agrees. LA Weekly agrees (more or less). Tonight is the last night, over at the Bootleg. Attend and marvel at the genius of Ben Messmer, the charm and wit of Eva Anderson, the all powerfull-ness of Adrian Alex Cruz. I adore them.

shostakovich and akhmatova

I am now reading Europe Central. I love Vollman with every fiber of my being (Rising Up and Rising down is a seminal work of my youth), but... dude. I am overwhelmed in the best way possible. Makes you want to simultaneously watch Band of Brothers and study physics in cold weather. Or Russian. We could do with more Russian speakers.

(and by "youth" i mean... college)

make me laugh damn you

Here are my thoughts: It’s hard to smile in this office. I will pretend that this is not the case, but let's not kid ourselves now, on a Monday after a holiday.

The other important thing to quality-controlled living that is hard in this office: creativity. Writing does not come unhindered to me here. Just yesterday it did, though, while driving for nine hours through desert. The day before it did, while playing Halo and shivering through below zero wind chills. The day before that it did, while drinking double soy mocha’s and babysitting very large dogs... But in this office it does not.

turkey week

I will tell you what holidays in FLG are: Board games (mainly Risk) and video games (mainly Halo 3 and Guitar Hero 3) with my brother, sister and her boyfriend. Taking Adriane's dogs to the park in freezing temperatures. Driving around campus in circles with Cameron so we can listen to every new album he's purchased or made over the last year. Sneaking away to write at Macy's when no one's looking.

interlude

Requisite request for forgiveness: pardon my brief departure into the serious below.

Cheryl was in a car accident the other day. A blog seems a silly place to write those words, but I felt like writing down somewhere at least the following: that upon hearing this news, I immediately flashed back to a handful of months ago and my own horrific car accident. While making a left on yellow at Hillhurst and Sunset, my car was totaled. Afterwards, I felt a stranger to my own skin; the world was suddenly a whirlwind that I could only watch from a distance, numb.

My next thought at this news, though, was: Love. And gratitude. Gratitude that I walked away from my own accident relatively unscathed and with so many people to help me out and show that they cared. Gratitude that Cheryl walked away in the same condition, with that same support. Love for all of our friends, hers and mine, because they mean the world to me and I know they mean the world to her.

So... perhaps it goes without saying, but you've got all my love, Cheryl. I'm the kind of person who doesn't offer it up quickly or easily, but when I do it's unconditional.

thank you, cliff

To Cliff, the trucker out of Seligman, hauling produce and several pounds of illegal substances into California, who'd spent the previous night partying hard in Barstow, and was "high as a kite" as he helped me change a flat in the dark, on the shoulder of I-40 just outside Kingman.

To Cliff, who never missed a chance to comment on my "great rack" and to make certain I knew that if he thought he had half a chance, he'd ask me out on the spot. Yes, to Cliff, who, according to him, has been both "doing crystal" and driving trucks since he was thirteen years old...

Thanks.

and when i'm 40 it'll be "retro"

Hey look. Some mainstream props to The Smell. And good. I have enjoyed this locale and it's many frequenters for a while now. It's about time it sold out to a larger crowd, thus making it impossible to enjoy anymore.

Remember when JETOMI and I Hate You When You're Pregnant toured that one summer with Japanther? Remember taking a cab from 'SC that we couldn't really afford and then getting wasted off dollar-fifty Mexican beer in the 'no English allowed' bar behind the club, while crack heads jonesed for more than just spare change and the whole lot of us compared tattoos and talked about amps and ex-wives? I do.

how i have loved

"I knew that there was one thing I wanted to be and that was a writer."

I am two days late to the party (and it should be a PARTY), but to Norman Mailer... an appropriate salute. I shall have a drink for him tonight. Perhaps punch some one and then write a short story.

...I identified with that man quite a bit more than I probably should have. He died Saturday.

"I take it for granted that there's a side of me that loves public action, and there's another side of me that really wants to be alone and work and write. And I've learned to alternate the two as matters develop."

"There was that law of life, so cruel and so just, that one must grow or else pay more for remaining the same."

"What ruins most writers of talent is that they don't get enough experience, so their novels tend to develop a certain paranoid perfection."

"There are two kinds of brave men: those who are brave by the grace of nature, and those who are brave by an act of will."

"You’re a fool if you don’t realize this is going to be the reactionary’s century, perhaps their thousand-year reign. It’s the one thing Hitler said which wasn’t completely hysterical."

"Dying can’t be all that difficult, up to now everyone has managed to do it."

eagle!

Last night was The Valerie Project, which JF was kind enough to inform me of and then treat me to. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is the best new wave film from 1970 Czechoslovakia I've seen... Also, perhaps, the only one.

P.S. The Cinefamily is my family. Go see the movies worth seeing. Last night's post-event reception in the backyard featured free wine, bread and cheese, fabulous mood lighting and wonderful company. Parking's a bitch because it's Fairfax, but I promise you won't be disappointed.

grim reapers and tchotchkes

I take it back. Here is a better review of Pushing Daisies. I don't know if you know this, but I'm a Bryan Fuller geek, and if you'd like to watch any one of his shows you're welcome to borrow the DVDs from me. I have them all. They are well worn.

unintentionally brought to you by the letter 'P'

I have been obsessed with the following of late:

Podcasts. The fad that won't end. Have the New Yorker read to you while brushing your teeth! Enjoy the easy listing of the Economist while you commute to work!

Plants. Starting an herb garden on my porch. Also, I bought a white mum because it looked like an albino lion cub. Just in time for the winter chill!

Pushing Daisies. Yes, it is good. Don't doubt me. This review, I think, sums it up ok. I fall into the 'people who enjoy a good fairy tale before bed' camp.

Pumpkin pie from Urth Cafe. Dare I say, better than mom's? More expensive anyway. And now a staple of my Beverly Hills lunch week.

mumblecore hardcore

Pete got me hooked on Joe Swanberg's "Young American Bodies" which you can watch for free online. I enjoy the Dogme 95 of it all, and the nudity is handled well.

As well: isn't "mumblecore" just the perfect word for this genre? I fall in love with words so perfectly suited to their definition.

terribly jealous

My boss is going to a private screening of the new Julian Schnabel movie: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

i'm sorry

I really liked The Darjeeling Limited. It was a perfect illustration of relationships between siblings (I can't right now think of a better one in cinema that I've seen) and it made me ache for my own brother and sister.

I'm seriously very sorry.

why i enjoy los angeles

The following conversation took place Sunday night at a local Borders:

Borders Employee: "Hey, you have one of the old school membership cards. From when we first started the rewards program."
Me: "Yeah I guess."
BE: "Do you watch 'Lost'?"
Me: "...Yes."
BE: "You know that character Bernard?"
Me: "...Yeah."
BE: "He uses the old school card too."

insert quote about statistics and reliability

This is bullshit.

As a jumping off point, read: "Everything Bad is Good For You." When you're done with that, I've got some more intensive material for you.

admittedly

(today's insight brought to you by pictures for sad children)

you are requested to close the eyes

I never could figure out how those people like Bukowski could be both carousers and writers at the same time, because to me writing takes as much destructive energy as it takes to be a really good professional drunk. ...I've known various alcoholics and addicts, and it does take a certain kind of determination and willpower to give yourself over to a drug so completely. There's a lot of effort expended once you begin to completely trash your life. Sometimes, writing feels like this to me. It's like going on an all-night bender and then waking up and thinking, "You know, I think I'll do that again," and pouring yourself another drink.
-Dan Chaon

Dan Chaon interviewed. I stumbled across his book "You Remind Me of Me" a couple years ago and fell in love. Then I went backwards and read his short stories, which are also very good. A lot of his prose remind me of my own, and it's comforting to be reminded of your own work when reading the published.

the days grow longer

"I like to mash snow. It gives me a tremendous feeling of self satisfaction."
-Marty

"I can't play Pooh to your Christopher Robin."
-Willie

Today at work I thought about the impending writer's strike. And then I moved onto the following:

Political slogans. Are. Fascinating.

Diversity = Conformity.

There is a club for everything. This one I might join.

"Beautiful Girls" is (sometimes) one of my favorite movies.

math is life

College Majors in the U.S.:
GRAPHS!

MORE GRAPHS!

that's my agent

"Let me tell you about The Things I Lost In the Fire."
-Hollywood turns tragedy into pun

1984, but with more red tape

University Of Florida Police Cleared In Use Of Taser On Student

no one pursuing them

Perhaps more "hip" than you will ever catch me admitting to? I enjoy Mark Danielewski a great deal. Saw him read and speak at a Los Feliz bookstore that shall go unnamed for fear of being exposed ever more the hipster by this blog post. Here is an interesting interview with him.

an infinite canvas

I wish I wish I wish I had gone. New, potentially envelope pushing mediums fascinate me.

You should see how intense I can get about Tivo's effect on television. Or what the rise of video games could mean.

Yeah, I was the twelve-year-old reading everything ever written by Henry Jenkins.

witch huntz

Yes. Neckface

love is simple

Pete burned me a copy of the new Akron Family album. I love it so much. If you ask him, he will tell you the story of how he used to work in a sandwich shop in NY with the drummer. He may also tell you the story of how he went to see them at the Troubadour without me.

i forgot tilda swinton was in this

Some of us are prodigies. Some of us make movies. Derek Jarman was, yeah, kinda full of himself. But his work was good. Here is the entirety of his 1993 piece "Wittgenstein" . I like it.

Suggestions for lives of leisure: go read some Ludwig Wittgenstein just for fun. As well, read Bertrand Russell. He was the shit.

shadow as deformity

Lindsey and the man who had theories about being raised by wolves went for a walk on the beach. He was charming, but she felt his theories were only that: charming. When she said this, he became less charming. Nevertheless, she invited him home.

Here is the short story "Light" by Kelly Link, which is actually rather good. It got me through a whole Friday at work last week.

ertel is older (than me)

Saturday. Ertel Bday party. Be there.

last night

JF gave me this:

And took me here. It is kickass Thai food. Go now and see Thai Elvis. Have a beer. Try the clams. For serious.

tuesdays feel like thursdays

In an effort to cultivate life, here are things I am looking at while in the office today:

Erik Prince interviewed in Newsweek. It's exclusive. It's misunderstood. It's even more Blackwater fun than before!

Leni Riefenstahl, a general, collective common’s style overview. Studiously dissected before and after the reading of:

Learning to Love Leni Riefenstahl, written by Slavoj Zizek. He is my off and on intelligentsia crush. I love a good mind, revealed to me slowly.

Much joy is also found in the fact that my phone company has sold me down the river. I want to Michael Clayton their asses and then make a movie about it.

And last but not least, sex with a sixteen year old is one of the best topics to write about. In my own writing, though, I tend to make them 15. I don't know why.

october

I remember fall through winter, and on into spring, my mother would keep her apartment or trailer at near freezing temperatures. I only really recall my hands being cold, though. I used to eat nothing but toast, and warm my palms above the toaster while the bread burnt.

famous overnight

Where were you guys a year ago? Two years ago? Some one should make a graph of the tipping point for how much media attention it takes before people notice and/or give a damn about what's going on in the world.

(cartoons by way of Time)

fuck feminism

Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize for Literature. And she had just about the best reaction to this news I could have ever imagined.

my heart aches and it is beautiful

Stretched out on the backseat, long and stiff as a dead fish, was a Remington automatic shotgun. Its shells rustled dryly in the pocket of my wife's windbreaker. We had two black ski masks in the glove compartment. Why my wife owned a shotgun, I had no idea. Or ski masks. Neither of us had ever skied. But she didn't explain and I didn't ask. Married life is weird, I felt.

If "The Second Bakery Attack" by Haruki Murakami is not the most perfect illustration of a marriage, than I hope it's close.

Here is the truth about Murakami, whether it makes sense or not: Reading "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" two years ago made me feel alive. Reading his words gives me this same sort of 'just after a good storm' feeling as when I watch "Sunshine" or "Primer." I haven't the faintest idea why that is.

...probably

(from my go to girl at "cat and girl")

the update

I've substituted green tea for coffee over the past week. It's a new and interesting way of life.

I finally saw Eastern Promises last night. Two thumbs up.

All I can think about lately is the idea of Iran as a nuclear power.

The only good band I saw at Detour was Kinky. G says: "they're like a Mexican 'Primal Scream'."

and then it hit me

(courtesy of paul!, who is courtesy of pictures for sad children)

true story bitch

I was listening to the Moldy Peaches and I was thinking, 'Jason Reitman's agent is cute,' and in this exact moment I stumbled across the following: "Juno Soundtrack Tries to One Up 'Hip' Soundtracks"

tiny pynchon fan at age nine

Once upon a time I was only slightly smaller than I am now. I wore glasses and played cello and lived in a predominately Hispanic/Native American community. It was fab.

cnn made me do it

Ode to Blackwater
or, Meditations on a Spot Report

1
shooting first
makes for good westerns
and
this is a desert

2
bullet one: still running
number two: shock
“it broke my bones
and the third one made me start crawling”

3
I have family
in North Carolina

4
euphemisms for mercenary also include:
a bestselling book
more air time
competing movie pitches

5
To: Members of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Re: Additional Information about Blackwater USA
Please see Figure D

old news is the best news

"Don't taze me, bro!"

Dre says: "it's our generations 'don't tread on me.'"

for some soothing brooklyn baroque-pop

JF called yesterday morning with directions to this article in the Village Voice. Good press for a band that should get more of it.

You can download their Daytrotter session for free (songs are at the bottom of the page).

softer worlds make softer girls

We all agreed. My psyche can be summarized by the following.

foucault got nothin on these fools

Some man I once knew and maybe(?) loved had me read his copy of The Language Instinct, which made me "maybe love" him all the more. Years later I got Dre to steal me a copy from the usc bookstore that's now sitting on my mantle. This is by way of saying: read it, and watch this!, and Stephen Pinker is cool kids club of the old school.

(as my sister would say...) Gaston Mania!

This is Rico's puppy, Gaston.

Abbe says "this dog is a muppet."

I want one.

part time punks drink imported beer

Spaceman 3 at the Echoplex was the shit. I got tired early. And I got sad for about an hour, which I think comes with drinking too much while in a crowd of hipsters (tight pants and retro shoes abound!). But they covered kraftwerk and made me smile.

"Founder/mastermind of SPACEMEN 3, Sonic Boom brings back the songs: namely, tracks from the first 2 Spectrum records AND the Spacemen 3 back catalogue. Backed by a full band (members of FUXA). No noise. No ambience. No experimental audio." - Part Time Punks

i claim no shame

This is what happens when you give J something to read. She writes a crappy poem.

I found the following, while filing shit, from several months ago when I'd decided to try reading every essay I could find on Islam. God love the internet.

***

Hezbollah is nobody's puppet
Hezbollah is not Syria or Iran's puppet.
Literally means "party of god"

Hezbollah is a Shi'a Islamic paramilitary and political organization
based in Lebanon.

an agent sums it up

"What were we talking about? Oh yeah. You grew up on a farm, you hate animals, you're hardcore."

this is not new

"Oh thank god," she said.

She missed the days of brass knuckles, barroom brawls, and boys who became men by going off to war and then writing books about it.