April 29, 2008
NARRATIVE OF THE DAY: Following Philip Roth.
So I am walking north on Columbus, thinking about the pair of shoes—a pair of really, really nice shoes-- I have just seen in a store with the model name "Narrative." I am thinking: "Note to Self for Blog. Object of Desire of the Day: A shoe called Narrative. Maybe elaborate that into some little narrative about the death (or at least declining prestige) of narrative. And maybe an LFAQ: Would I desire the shoes quite as much if they did not sport a name with such theoretical cachet--knowing my predeliction for possessing ideas or concepts rather than objects. (Hence my collection of random domain names.)?" So, in any event, I'm walking up Columbus, thinking about a shoe called Narrative, when who do I see pass but that Professor of Desire and narrative himself, Philip Roth. Yup. Philip Freaking Roth. Plain as day--sporting a navy blue blazer and grey pants and walking sort of stiffly, his arms hanging, it seems, ever so slightly asymmetrically--the right one a bit lower than the left. Needless, to say, I immediately stop my reflections about a shoe called Narrative and turn around to follow in the famous narrator's footsteps.
He turns off of Columbus ("Goodbye, Columbus", I think to myself) and onto 72nd St. No one else seems to recognize him--ah blessed anonymity (or at least discretion) of NY--so much so that I am momentarily concerned that I have stumbled upon a mere lookalike. An accountant doppelganger. My doubts are put to rest when a husky red haired man sporting multiple Tip Top Shoe bags and some dry cleaning effusively accosts him. The man, looking like a cross between Michael Moore and Drew Carey and sounding a bit like the chubby guy in Superbad, thanks him "for everything...for everything" and tells him some story I can't make out about a friend who writes for the New Yorker that must in some way be a propos. Phillip Roth thanks him--looking genuinely interested and appreciative. When he bids adieu and is about to pass me (I have been standing still, slightly past them on the street, watching the exchange), it is all I can do to repress my impulse to say "I am the real Coleman Silk” and I end up offering a simple "High regards" --a pithy statement of appreciation for which he seems again genuinely appreciative. (As much, I suspect, for the brevity as for the sentiment.)
But where is he going, I wonder? And don't I owe it to myself or at least to my blog to find out? After all--this is NEWS! This is the kind of thing that can get me big hits when people Google "Philip Roth New York City" –so long as I remember to mention it in my posting title! This is what I’ve learned from the Tonto Kowalski episode. So I continue to follow him --at discreet private eye distance--west on 72nd St. where, again totally unrecognized, he peeks with a sort of brusque, peckish interest at the Shining Star Deli, Tip Top Shoes, Flix Video and a few other neighborhood establishments.
Philip Roth turns north on Amsterdam and, half way up the block, I hit a crisis point in my narrative. There, I see evidence that the long awaited event has arrived: A Chipotle Grill has opened in my hood. I am thrilled to make this discovery –but am suddenly being forced to choose between my identity as vigilant investor and irrepressible brand enthusiast and my identity as committed blogger and literary stalker. O cruelty of such abundance! Ultimately, I figure the Philip Roth thing has a bit more urgency and color to it (indeed, makes a better narrative if not a better burrito) and I resolve to return to the Chipotle later—to welcome them to the 10023 and ask about the briskness of business.
Meanwhile, the famous writer strides on. As I follow the creator of Portnoy, Zuckerman and the Swede north on Amsterdam (and it does strike me that all of those characters and their memorably articulated worlds sprang from within the half naked cranium a few paces in front of me), I begin to wonder more about his ultimate destination. Is he on his way to lunch? To get a bunion removed? To a mid-day assignation? Then, with regard to this last conjecture, I think: Did he really suffer impotence as a result of a prostate surgery operation or was that just the character that he wrote about in The Human Stain or American Pastoral or whichever one it was? As I watch him peer, improbably, into the Candle Bar (a local gay establishment) and, less improbably, into the Chirping Chicken, I also begin to wonder if, curiosity-deficient as I am, there is any other famous male I’d be interested in following for more than a block? Maybe a few sports stars (Steve Nash, Pedro, Roger Federer and John McEnroe come to mind) just to size them up and see if I could take them. :) But in the non-sports realm, I’m coming up empty. Let me leap ahead to say that, in the course of the entire walk and the subsequent 2 days since, I was only able to come up with Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen for sure and Jean-Luc Godard and Don Delillo for maybe. The list of women, needless to say, would be substantially longer --beginning with, and in no way restricted to, Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman and Jennifer Connely. Of course, the list of lovelies for whom I’d be (STALKER ALERT STALKER ALERT) willing to go a block or two out of my way is in no way restricted to celebrities. But I digress (and, yes, stalk). Anyhow, back to the narrative present and, as it were, my original digression/stalking. I am following the scrivening septuagenarian and finding myself impressed by his vigor. Indeed, though I seem to remember that he’s had some major health problems in the last few years, the old literary lion is walking at a rather healthy clip and, in truth—and to my embarrassment—I am actually finding myself getting a bit winded trying to keep up with him. (Would he still be so spry if he were wearing a shoe called Narrative instead of his Merrills?)
As we reach W. 77th St. on this lovely Saturday afternoon, I see some kippa-clad orthodox Jews out on the street doing startled double takes. (Which reminds me for a moment—a bit incongruously-- of the old holocaust survivors in Marathon Man recognizing the Nazi torturer played by Laurence Olivier as he walked through the diamond district). One man, pushing a baby carriage with his wife, leaves her to run ahead of the great writer then suddenly stops and, casting all tact to the wind, turns around to gawk. Then he allows the writer to pass and, safely gathered in his wake (and in my way), emphatically whispers and points with his wife and friends. This pantomime of passing and peering then falling behind to whisper, gawk and point repeats a few times until it hits me that this is truly "Sabbath's Theater." For a moment, I start to worry that this little walk of indeterminate length and uncertain destination will end up providing dramatizations of every title in his oeuvre. Oy. I hope my legs can hold out.
Phillip Roth turns east on 79th shadowed by Teddy Vegas and an ever growing caravan of gawking yids. I start wondering: Is he aware that he is being followed by a strange bearded guy…and, if so, what story is he telling himself about me? I am reflecting on the strange ghostly relationship between a writer and his “life," on the curious phenomenon of being winded chasing a 74 year old and on the fact that we are about to hit Columbus Avenue again (“Hello Columbus”) when the object of my interest suddenly and unceremoniously gives me the slip--disappearing into the Austin apartment building and resuming his status as a textual rather than a physical presence in my life.
"Exit Ghost."
LFAQs of THE DAY:
Has any all time great athlete aside from OJ ever suffered a greater post-career loss of prestige than Isiah?
What famous person would you most like to discreetly stalk for a few blocks?
Would I get more hits if I had entitled the posting "Phillip Roth's Address in NYC?"
Would I have sullied my bloggeristic dignity by so doing?
Who knew you had to tip the bathroom attendant at Fiddlesticks?
(Apropos of the Obama Elitism charges): Haven't we confused competency with elitism?
Or have we actually started to confuse sentience with elitism?
OLFACTORY OBSERVATION OF THE DAY:
The Time Warner AOL center. It smells like the fancy hotels in Vegas. And the malls in Miami. And the airports in the Caribbean. It’s the universal perfume of buying. The scent of consumption
CULTURAL CRITIQUE OF THE DAY:
Cupcakes are the new yuppie art form. What we have chosen to do with our unprecedented surplus of capital and possibility? Make sugary, buttery treats.
CELEBRITY TRIANGULATION OF THE DAY:
Richard Jenkins (The Father in Six Feet under) in the new movie "The Visitor:"
Bob Newhart,
Rudy Guiliani
David Boise.
DRUNKEN QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:
“I want to have a threeway with you and those 4.”
DESCRIPTION OF THE DAY: (In Re: My friend's real estate agency).
La Cage Aux Folles meets Glengarry Glenross.
AMUSING OBSERVATION OF THE DAY:
In the credits to the aforementioned film ("The Visitor"), I was struck by the fact that the role of Sprinkles the Dog was played by Walter the Dog.
RANDOM SINGLE SENTENCE PORTRAIT OF THE DAY:
Listening to her talk is like being in a car with someone who is trying to learn to use a stick shift.
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Posted on 4/29/2008
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April 25, 2008
POLITICAL COMMENTS:
Well, the Pennsylvania Primary went pretty much exactly as everyone expected it would. Neither changing nor resolving anything and simply extending the agony. It did, unfortunately, help remind people of the unfortunate recalcitrance of the race issue. In exit polls, 13% of Pennsylvania voters acknowledged that race was a factor in determining who got their vote--with 75% of those 13% voting for Hillary. If 13% openly admit that race was a factor, one can only assume--given the stigma of such an admission--that the true percentage for whom it figured prominently is much higher. Assuming he wins the nomination (which remains the only reasonable assumption), Democrats will ultimately be reduced to hoping that ageism trumps racism as a factor influencing voters. Which is all pretty sad and sordid considering this is a campaign based on hope, unity and the common concerns that transcend our differences. It seems like while the rhetoric will remian, "we are not red states and blue states, we are the United States of America", the underlying political reality will be "we are not red states and blue states, but the racially, chronologically, demographically, ethnically, economically and sexually stratified and separate voting blocks of America."
At the end of the Day, I sort of get a kick out of Hillary's irrepressible cheesiness.
GOAL OF THIS EARTH DAY:
To decrease my carbon footprint but increase my jargon footprint.
LFAQs:
Has any creature ever lost more status through an act of renaming than the mystical ancient Egyptian scarab who is now known as the dung beatle?
Is Chipotle the only company in the world to begin its earnings report with a reference to Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food?"
Is Hillary using Bin Laden's image in scare tactic negative ads against Obama even more objectionable than the Republicans doing so? Will she "slip" at least once and refer to him as Osama before conceding the nomination? Or will it be during her concession speech?
Why has George W. Bush appeared on "Deal or No Deal?" more often than he has on Meet the Press or Charlie Rose? (Bad question: Answer too obvious.)
Better question: Was the prestige and dignity of the Presidency sullied by George W. Bush's appearance on "Deal or No Deal?" or was the prestige and dignity of "Deal or No Deal?" sullied by the appearance of George W. Bush? (Sorry, again, bad question: Answer too obvious.)
When Obama finally gets the nomination and Hillary makes the obligatory offer to campaign for him and Obama makes the obligatory acceptance of her offer, will she try to subtly undermine his campaign in the interests of making another run in 2012?
MEDIA MOMENT (AND EXPLANATORY FOOTNOTE) OF THE NIGHT:
Charles and Kenny in the post game show saying that Çharles was changing his name to Tonto Kowalski and both giggling like schoolboys to the mystification of Ernie and, I suspect, most of the TNT audience. Well, if you are among the mystified, let Teddy V. break down the puerile proceedings for you. You see, chuckling Charles must have just been told the old joke about a man sitting next to an attractive woman on a plane who turns out to be an expert on human sexuality. She claims that in her years of research she has discovered that the most sensitive and attentive lovers are the native Americans but the best endowed are the Polish. Then she says, "By the way, my name is Sara. What's yours?
"Tonto," the man replies. "Tonto Kowalski."
NEW ALIAS FOR MYSELF IN HONOR OF TONTO KOWLAKSI:
Red Bull Jewski.
OTHER ALIASES INSPIRED BY TONTO KOWALAKSI:
Tecumseh Kaminski
Pontiac Grotowski
Crazy Horse Walesa
Sitting Bull Milosz
Ronkonkoma Hebrewski
CONCEPT OF THE DAY:
The feckless stalker. He is so erratic, inefficient and downright inept at his craft that he only manages to see his stalkee once every few years--usually at a class reunion.
Or maybe it's just the slacker stalker--with absolutely no work ethic or commitment to his chosen pursuit.
RANDOM SINGLE SENTENCE PORTRAIT OF THE DAY:
He kept confusing his fake arrogance with his fake humility.
TRIBUTE OF THE DAY:
To J.--In Memoriam.
Another light has been put out in the imaginary sky. We raise a glass of champagne in your memory. May you rest in peace.
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Posted on 4/25/2008
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April 21, 2008
POLITICAL COMMENT OF THE DAY:
(A propos of all the "bitterness" and "elitism" charges, the inane questioning and the political posturing at the Democratic debate.)
The candidates' outrage is totally manufactured but the media's fatuousness and the pundits' cluelessness seem totally sincere.
PASSOVER REFLECTION OF THE DAY:
I detect among my Jewish friends a subtle sense of enslavement to the ritual that commemorates their emancipation from slavery.
TECHNOLOGICAL OBSERVATION OF THE DAY:
What was most impressive about his screenplay was that he was able to write something so creative on a Dell and not a Mac.
COMMMENT ON RELIGION OF THE DAY:
(Prompted by the visit of the Pope and with all apologies to my religiously observant readers--whose practices and relationship to religious authority I suspect I would have no problem with.)
I have nothing against religious leaders. But I do have a problem with religious followers.
SENTENCE OF THE DAY:
If i didn't know any better i'd think you were trying to give me a heteronormative look.
CONFESSION OF THE DAY:
I just woke up this morning with an urge to use the word "heteronormative." (Yesterday, it was "apodictic.")
SPECTACLE OF THE DAY:
People on the Bill Maher show looking at Cornell West like the people in the crowd look at the Improv Everywhere performances I talked about the other day---their expectations undermined...their faces reflecting bafflement, shock, amusement, appreciation etc...Improv Everywhere should do a segment called Cornell West Everywhere where they just film the faces of the people who are listening to him talk.
LFAQs of THE DAY:
Is Tiger Woods' knee surgery just a ploy to get golf some cred as a sport?
Can you be precociously decrepit?
Who is the world's oldest prodigy?
Is there anything sadder than a guy who lies about winning his fantasy league and who wears his invisible fraudulent crown pretending to be the champ?
Wait...did you think that that was a confession?!?!?
DIALOGUE ON FANTASY HOOPS:
GUY 1: Congrats on winning the championship.
GUY 2: Thanks. I'm ashamed to admit I'm actually feeling pretty proud of myself. But I'll miss it. Fantasy hoops is a very pleasurable time waster.
GUY 1: Seriously, my life would be so much emptier and productive without fantasy everything.
GUY 2: Yeah, it's like election night every night. You just go home all excited and wait for the results to start coming in. I mean, I spent many nights just jumping from electronic boxscore to electronic boxscore...watching my guys' stats accumulate.
GUY 1: I live for the day game and the refresh button.
GUY 2: Brilliantly put. I forced myself--against all inclination--not to do fantasy baseball too. Because I knew it would be the end of every human relationship and every productive pursuit in my life. And you know what: I kind of regret it. :)
GUY 1: i joined 2 leagues just to burn the bridge of humanity.
GUY 2: I am so jealous. I admire your commitment to solipsism. And ironically …I'm the one who feels like, the big loser.
OXYMORONIC TAPE LOOP FROM HELL OF THE DAY:
Your call is very important…please hold for prompt assistance.
STYLE OF THE DAY:
Dignified yet ho-ish.
PEEVE OF THE DAY:
The Pope's benediction at Yankee stadium pre-empting the Denver-Lakers playoff game. Why should someone else's religion upstage my own?
RANDOM TRIAD OF THE DAY:
The white rat, knitting and immortal sadness
GUEST CONTRIBUTION OF THE DAY:
Seder notes from correspondent at Large Loren Parkins.
73 people, allegeldy all members of my family, gathered at the Westmorland Country Club ( exclusiv for Jews) for the first night of Passover. It was a bit of a circus! However great to see my many first cousins, my one remaining Aunt (Aunt Sally, the youngest of the 10 Neplotnik brothers and sisters that made it to this country, only leaving 2 brothers behind because they were in Military service (uncle Yasha.& uncle Ytsaak. Unles Harry David Leo Maurice Arthur aunts Judy Goldie and the only remaining live aunt or uncle first generation is Aunt Sally. Of those ten they then had 2 or 3 kids whom make up my roster of first cousins. I almost got cought up with all of their names when they started having kids. Now I feel like Ilm at a jewish mixer trying to fake my way in a conversation with some one who appears to know who I am.
MANDITORY READING OF THE DAY:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?em&ex=1208923200&en=76d14e551d4461fb&ei=5087
Michael Pollan's article in the Green issue of the New York Times Sunday Magazine.
NOTE TO SELF OF THE DAY:
Write an elegy for the long saved, inadvertently erased voicemail messages.
And a blurb about Denis Johnson's "Tree of Smoke."
And maybe also about "My kid could Paint That" and/or "In Bruges."
And set up the damn computer you bought six months ago.
And, wait...there was some other thing. Oh yeah. Figure out what you want to do with your life.
MEDITATION ON TIME AND LOSS OF THE DAY:
Strange to have played a leading role in what will have turned out to have been her pre-history--the time not recorded in the official record--the story before the story of her life began.
RANDOM SINGLE SENTENCE PORTRAIT OF THE DAY:
He could use some Flomax cause he got no flow.
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Posted on 4/21/2008
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April 11, 2008
CELEBRITY RESEMBLANCE TRIANGULATION OF THE DAY: (Back after long absence and not exactly by popular demand.)
Subject: Jack Johnson.
And the vertices of this similitude scalene are:
OJ Simpson
Jeremy Piven
Val Kilmer (the eyes!!).
SIGN OF END TIMES OF THE DAY:
There was no line at Trader Joe’s
THOUGHT EXPERIMENT OF THE DAY:
Imagine a dog or a kid in New York City named Honk. Actually not the word "Honk" but the unspellable sound of a honk.
MORE INTERESTING THOUGHT EXPERIMENT OF THE DAY:
OK, so Monte Hall says you can pick door number 1, 2 or 3. There's a goat behind two of the doors and a new car behind the third. You pick a door and then he opens one of the two doors you did not select to reveal a goat standing behind it. Now he asks you: Would you like to swap the door you've selected for the remaining door. Every fiber in your being will insist that there is no benefit to swapping the door you've chosen for the one you're now being offered. That the revelation that a third door was not the winning door should have no possible impact on the relative likelihoods of either of the two remaining doors being right or wrong. And yet, in flagrant defiance of both one's intuition and one's sense of logic, it turns out that it is in fact in your interest to swap your selection for the other door. This is called the Monte Hall problem and it is a famous--and famously maddening-- probability problem.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE DAY:
a)
There is always a last time for everything.—although we are rarely blessed or cursed with knowing when it is happening.
b)
Dried plums taste an awful lot like prunes.
ENTERTAINING MEDICALLY RELATED ACTIVITIES OF THE DAY:
a) Proposed Social Event:
Blood pressure party. (Where everyone gets their blood pressure taken and then does various things to see if they can make it go up or down.)
b) New signature gesture.
Leaving Lipitors out on your desk like jelly beans in case anyone wants one.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"I wish every day was Wednesday."
--d.b.
PROVOCATIVE MAGAZINE COVER OF THE DAY: (On this month's Atlantic Monthly)
Is Israel Finished?
DANGLING CLAUSE OF THE DAY:
And I say that with full respect for your thwarted heterosexuality.
SUCKY NEWS OF THE DAY:
I've rebroken my thumb in the exact same place as last time. On a nearly identical play. Strange to say, but my Achilles Heel is my thumb.
ALMOST COMPENSATORILY GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY:
I ended up getting the steal on that final play and our team won the game.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE DAY:
That if this post were a meal, it would be mostly condiments and dessert and lamentably little protein or vegetable.
COOLEST THING EVER OF THE DAY:
50 people spontaneously freeze for 5 minutes during rush hour in Grand Central Station--and then resume their activities as if nothing had happened. It's not just an interesting thought experiment. It's the work of Improv Everywhere (go to youtube.com and do a search for them)--a public performance art collective. Their carefully conceived and expertly executed interruptions of the ordinary are really inspired--ranging from 80 men and women showing up at a Best Buy in blue shits and khakis (the store worker uniform) and hence making it impossible to distinguish the employees from the customers to a musical about napkins that spontaneously breaks out in a food court to a 1 minute sequence of carefully choreographed events that loops for 5 minutes inside a Starbucks. Of course, the best part of the spectacles is the reaction of the onlookers--as they slowly adjust to this abrupt and extended undermining of their expectations--the emotions of perplexity, frustration, concern and delight legible on their faces. The performances range from the prankish to the poetic and I am personally more compelled by the ones (like the frozen people in GCT or the Groundhog's Day looping of events inside the Starbucks) that are less committed to the merely comedic than to the strangely beautiful or the metaphysically evocative.
P.S. TO THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE DAY:
I hope that last paragraph added at least a bit of tofu or broccoli to this nutritionally deficient post--perhaps even elevating it from mere snack to the most modest of meals.
RANDOM SINGLE SENTENCE PORTRAIT OF THE DAY:
He had simultaneously totally wasted his life and overachieved.
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Posted on 4/11/2008
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April 02, 2008
EXCUSE OF THE DAY: (In honor of Hillary)
Sorry I'm late for the status meeting. The sniper fire on my commute was heavier than usual.
REVELATION OF THE DAY: (In honor of David Paterson)
Even blind guys have a wandering eye.
LFAQ of THE DAY:
Yes, it's a terrible thing. But why is it that we know 4000 times as much about the pregnant marine who was killed in the U.S. than we do about the 4000 troops who've died in Iraq?
PROPOSED POLITICAL COMMERCIAL OF THE DAY:
Moveon.org is challenging people to submit 30 second commercials that communicate why Obama should be the next president of the United States. I tried to avoid messages that were bitter and negative or that merely preached to the choir and I came up with the following idea which I submit in roughly scripted form for your feedback.
"America in the Mirror"
We open on a slightly stooped, run down, disheveled looking Uncle Sam walking down the street. He gets a glimpse of himself in a full length mirror and does a double take. He isn't proud of what he sees.
He adjusts his hat--so it's no longer askew.
He straightens out his off-kilter bowtie.
He sees some food stuck in his white beard and removes it.
He realizes a few buttons on his shirt are misaligned so he re-buttons them correctly--then tucks in his shirt.
He adjusts his jacket, shaking out the wrinkles.
Now he likes what he sees. He stands up tall and gives himself a little "That's more like it!" nod.
TITLE CARD: America, Let's feel good about ourself again.
TITLE CARD: Elect Barack Obama.
Cut back to the new, high self-esteem Uncle Sam giving himself a little "Hey, you're looking pretty good!" look in the mirror.
OBAMA: (Unseen audio). Yes. We. Can.
/>CONFESSION OF THE DAY:
I always feel like a nut--at least when it comes to the choice famously offered by 2 iconic American candy bars.
UNDER-REPRESENTED GROUP OF THE DAY:
March Fools.
CONCEPTUAL ART IDEA OF THE DAY: (The following words written on a mobius strip.)
still running river running still
PROPOSED HEADLINE OF THE DAY:
Conspiracy theorists claim second shooter in Kurt Cobain suicide.
COMEDY OBSERVATION:
In comedy, chaos tends to be funny--except when manufactured by Robin Williams.
SARTORIAL/POLITICAL OBSERVATION OF THE DAY:
Saw Bush strutting out to a chorus of boos in his bright red Washington Nationals jacket to throw the first pitch of the season. It reminded me of seeing him in that now infamous "Mission Accomplished" flight jacket in 2004. It strikes me: The guy loves to play dress up and make believe--although he's not really interested in or competent for the real thing. It's a shame the presidency doesn't have a uniform. Cause he'd probably like to dress up and pretend to be doing that job too.
CARTOON WITHOUT ILLUSTRATION OF THE DAY:
VIS: Someone has clearly just sneezed...really loudly.
MAN: "Jesus!!!!....I mean, God Bless You."
RANDOM THOUGHTS OF THE DAY:
a)
It's be really strange if I heard a cell phone ringing from inside of me. And the people around me heard it too. And I had no recollection of swallowing a cell phone. It might be enough to get me to believe in the supernatural. Or at least to get me to visit a doctor.
b)
It's be really strange if a man (who was, it should be noted, not an OB-GYN doctor) walked over to a woman and broke the news to her that she was pregnant with his child!
CULTURAL OBSERVATION:
Leonard Lopate after long absence: Just too insufferably calm and reassuring. He'd make the apocalpyse sound like a warm bath.
PROMISORY NOTE OF THE DAY:
Some brief comments about Denis Johnson's "Tree of Smoke" which I'm almost done reading.
SENTENCE OF THE DAY:
In the last 22 years, not a single day has gone by when I have not not thought about you.
PEEVE OF THE DAY:
Those Taco Bell "Melty cheese" commercials...where the phrase "melty cheese" is used ad nauseum. Melty Cheese; The final breakdown of reason, civilization and the articulate order.
UNCANNY EXPERIENCE OF THE DAY:
There is something incredibly creepy about opening a door or turning a corner in tight quarters and stumbling upon a still and silent person--who just stands there--failing to acknowledge your approach or warn you of his or her presence. Very Blair Witch. Also very Teddy's hallway.
BILL MAHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY:
"Bush the uniter has united the middle class with the lower class."
"The corporations believe in the free market for profits but they want to socialize losses."
EXCHANGE OF THE DAY:
Man sees woman in 32 t-shirt.
-Magic Johnson?
-No. Old Navy.
Commentary on the death of meaning (and general reduction of signification to fashion) to follow.
ACCOUNT OF THE DAY:
Getting out of a train by the river at dusk. Walking in the gloaming towards the just-after-sunset on a wide and empty downtown street. An alternate dream topography of a somehow familiar place. I start to run then decide to believe I can fly and I lift off the ground--at first so precipitously that I am afraid it is a metaphor for my death but then in a more controlled way, leaning forward into the unknown, soaring in some manageably giddy angle of ascent. Before i know it my interlude of weightlessness has ended and I am back on the ground in strange but not unpleasant encounters with the dead. My father, in a little boat he is paddling around and a woman I once loved, on some side street. Things that can no longer be remembered were said, and shapes I can no longer inhabit were assumed. Upon awakening, I bear within me a trace of the memory of flight and loss; familiarly twinned in half familiar places.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DAY:
It is a space where all the givens are no longer given. Where all the givens have been taken back.
RANDOM SINGLE SENTENCE PORTRAIT OF THE DAY:
He liked to moderate every conversation he was in.
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Posted on 4/2/2008
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