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.'"