3-Day Weekend, Netflix, Kangaroos

Coming out of the sickness, I’ve opted to stay indoors all weekend. I only left once, on Saturday to go to the post office. Mostly I’ve been devoting my time to Netflix on-demand movies. Yes, I finally signed up yesterday. My queue is now full of obscure 80’s movies, Billy Wilder films, and European cinema. The first disc in line is a film that I’ve been wanting to see again since I was a child. I couldn’t remember the title, so I just started Googling and it turns out that the movie is called Dot and the Kangaroo. It was a mixture of live-action and cartoon; it’s about a young girl who gets lost in the woods and is taken in by a kindly kangaroo who lost her joey. I remember watching it more than once on HBO, but I haven’t seen it since.

The Watch Instantly service is something I highly recommend. I haven’t had any drops or lags in the streaming process, and the picture quality is really nice. Here’s what I’ve watched this weekend:

Dark Days – A documentary about some homeless people who lived in the train tunnels near Penn Station back in 2000. It’s amazing to see how they lived and what they accomplished (cooked meals, showers, electricity) by starting with literally nothing. I later discovered that the film was shot by one of the people who lived down there. They got the camera and film as charitable donations. It’s an astounding achievement. And DJ Shadow donated some extended versions of his tunes for the soundtrack. Lauren recommended this film to me, and after riding home Friday night looking out the back of the last subway car, I knew I had to see what life would be like to live under New York City.

Koyaanisqatsi – A hypnotic montage of modern life in 1982. Music by Philip Glass. Some parts were a little irritating and heavy-handed, but overall it serves its purpose by getting you to question the ways in which we’ve shaped our world.

Bedazzled – The original 1967 film, not the sub-par remake! If you like British comedy, you need to get to know Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as a duo. Bits of their TV show, Not Only But Also, as well as their stage show, Beyond the Fringe, are available on YouTube, so seek them out. This one is my favorite. This is really the only great movie they made together, as Peter Cook was reluctant to go into film. But Cook plays the devil so well – with wit, deviousness and humanity. Here’s a clip. Oh, and Dudley Moore composed the music score. What an insanely talented coupling those two were.

Cool Hand Luke – Best. Prison. Movie. Ever. Previously I thought The Shawshank Redemption was tops. Now it’s a close second.

Barry Lyndon – Apparently the most sane film Stanley Kubrick ever made. It’s 3 hours long, but once you get swept up in it, you hardly notice – assuming, of course, that you’re the type of person who can get swept up in 18th century European drama. It’s beautifully made; shot mostly with natural light, it has a very painterly look to it.

On the Presidency

The media seem legitimately surprised that Giuliani and Romney performed so poorly in the primaries that they dropped out. Am I the only person who knew neither of them had a chance? This country had a hard enough time electing a Catholic in the 60’s; it will be a long time to never before we elect a Mormon. And a New York City mayor? That might impress the East Coast, but that’s not going to impress the rest of America, especially given his checkered personal life as well as his consorting with thugs like Bernard Kerik (which you have to admit, is almost a pre-requisite for running New York City).

Everybody thought McCain was down for the count, now it’s him and…Huckabee? OK, Huck I seriously didn’t see coming, but it makes sense for the evangelical voters left in Romney’s vaccum. And Huckabee, interestingly enough, seems to have almost as much oratorial charisma as Obama.

If there’s one underlying lesson here, it’s that America loves a flyover land candidate. Clinton, Obama, Huckabee, and McCain are not east coasters. Clinton gets to have the best of both worlds in that she’s technically a Southerner and a New Yorker. Both George Bushes managed to have it both ways as well by fooling people into thinking they’re a Texas family, when in fact they were born, raised and schooled in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

So the formula for a presidential candidate is: flyover land + charisma = candidacy. It also helps to have a compelling narrative (McCain the war hero, Bill Clinton the poor boy done good), but that’s not a necessity. Lord knows it didn’t work for John Kerry. By the way, I think Hillary Clinton gets some narrative charisma by proxy from Bill.

The formula is so tried and true that it’s working for a woman and a black man. So far, it looks like Obama’s superior charisma may win him the Democratic nomination.

If nothing else, I’m excited that not one of the candidates appears to be a drooling moron who can’t so much as conjugate a verb without a script.

This Just In: Romney endorses McCain, because Romney sure ain’t gonna do Huckabee any favors.

Creativity Forged in a Fevered Mind

I’m sick again. Something flu-esque, I think. Anyway, I stayed home again today, and in my sleepless bed-ridden state I tried to find thoughts with which to amuse myself. I started to make up silly band names using only references from the film Blazing Saddles. Here are the highlights:

Lilly von Schtupp and the Schnitzengrubens
Sheriff Bart and Do What He Say
The Waco Kid and the Dazzling Urbanites
Hedley Lamarr and the Phoney Baloney Jobs
Sheriff Taggart and the Kansas City F*ggots
Governor Le Petomane and the Indignant Harumphs
Olson Johnson and Want Don’t Want the Irish
Mongo and the Bean Scene[1]
Candygram for Mongo
A Laurel and Hearty Handshake
Vatican Stampede
The French Mistake

1.) I picture this group as made up of cast members from a failed Sid and Marty Krofft pilot of the same name. And maybe the characters all went on to have parts in The Banana Splits or H.R. Pufnstuf.

Diagnosis for the Modern Man, 1962

I’ve been reading Stand Still Like the Hummingbird by Henry Miller. It is a compilation of essays, many of which have a unique philosophical and almost motivational flare; so much so that I wish he had started a religion instead of L. Ron Hubbard. Here’s an example of what he was on about way back in 1962:

…the American is incapable even of enjoying the little which is permitted him…I mean, his physical wealth. His car may take him wherever he wishes to go, but what is he met with on arriving at his destination? If it is a restaurant, the food is usually unpalatable; if it is a theater, the spectacle bores him; if it is a resort, there is nothing to do but drink. If he remains home with his friends, the conversation soon degenerates into a ridiculous argument, such as schoolboys enjoy, or peters out. The art of living alone, or with one’s neighbors, is unknown. The American is an unsocial being who seems to find enjoyment only in the bottle or with his machines. He worships success, but on attaining it he is more miserable than ever.

The remedy? Well I’m not even halfway through the book, but I’ll let you know when I find out. Based on the earlier pieces, I’d wager that the answer is something he declares on page 13:

No, happiness is desirable, but it is a by-product, the result of a way of life, not a goal which is forever beyond one’s grasp. Happiness is achieved en route. And if it be ephemeral, as most men believe, it can also give way, not to anxiety or despair, but to a joyousness which is serene and lasting. To make happiness the goal is to kill it in advance.

By the way, you can read the whole thing at Google Books.

The Unintended Consequences of the Dollar Menu

Last week I went into the McDonald’s Express on 7th Avenue, not because I had any particular craving, just because I’ve come to recognize the McDonald’s (and the even more ubiquitous Starbucks) logo as the international symbol for “public restroom.” At the Express, the menu’s focus is the dollar menu. Now, in a large city, this draws a very specific demographic from the lower end of the economic spectrum. The place was populated almost entirely by sad old folks who are unwilling or unable to shop and/or cook for themselves, and by the apparently homeless and/or just plain crazy. I’m not saying it was like visiting the set of The Fisher King, but it was not your average fast food crowd.

Because I’ve learned my lesson not to use a business’s bathroom without buying something[1], I bought a $1 burger and Coke and sat down to eat (the line for the bathroom had two older ladies in front of me). An older gent sat down next to me and greeted the lady to his right with familiarity; apparently this McDonald’s is the neighborhood cafeteria, or more like the local bar for people whose drinking days are behind them.

Having seen the film version of Fast Food Nation, I’m always aware that there is a reason why the meat costs $1. I don’t eat at McDonald’s often enough for it to matter to my health[2], but it scared me to imagine that these poor souls do. And as fewer young people seem to know how to cook these days, the number of individuals on this particularly sad trajectory will only increase[3].

I’d like to blame McDonald’s or capitalism or whatever Big Evil people like to shoot at, but really it comes down to the individual’s choice of convenience. Cooking a meal requires grocery shopping, pots and pans to wash, and the time and labor of cooking. The only way out of this mess is to get people to enjoy cooking a meal or at least view it as something that must be done, like brushing your teeth. My crackpot scheme would be to change public schooling such that Home Economics is a senior-level, yearlong course; because everything I learned in Home Ec, I forgot by the time I went to college. Nutrition education needs to be expanded in there as well; kids need to know that McDonald’s should be the gustatory equivalent of candy – something that is not to be consumed in large daily quantities. But then there are a lot of things I’d like to change about public schools…

And so it goes.

1.) In ’06 I was locked in to a restaurant over near 48th street after I was seen using the restroom without buying something.
2.) I get the jones for a quarter pounder with cheese about once every three months, milkshakes one month.
3.) I am reminded of a defendant in my dad’s court whose justification for writing hot checks to Burger King was “I had to eat, your honor.” My father then informed the accused of the wonders of the grocery store, particularly the produce aisle.

The Week in Photos

I haven’t done much today, but I did run some errands up the street, which allowed me to take some pictures of the antique store and some interesting neighbor’s yard. There’s also a guy on Court Street who sits in the small window of what appears to be a shop of some kind, but I can’t see past him, and I’m not sure which door is his. I’m afraid to take his picture. I’ll have to figure that out some time.

Last night I went out to The Tea Lounge, which is a great little jazz venue and tea shop on Union in Park Slope. After that I went to Joe’s Pub to see the always delightful Mike Viola play. No pictures, sorry, because the weather was warm enough for me that I didn’t need my coat. Listen to his tunes, though. He’s like a happier Crowded House.

I guess most of the latest pictures are from last Saturday. Lauren and I went to the Knitting Factory to see Edan and Prince Paul, who together gave me my first truly revelatory hip-hop show. Edan is a virtuoso – he’s an MC, a DJ, and guitarist (with the fancy chords, no less!). Sometimes all at once.

Earlier in the day I wandered around Manhattan, taking pictures of whatever jumped out at me: the cat at Bleecker St. Records, Rebel Rebel music store, traffic, the famous Chelsea Hotel and its attendant guitar shop, and various sundry flea market items.

Oh, and here’s a picture of Rob Riggle from The Daily Show, who apparently decided not to use my footage this last week. Maybe they’re saving it for next week, but here’s footage that was taken that day.

The Internet Isn’t All That Big

Amy IM’d me this evening to tell me about this group she’s been listening to. I checked out their myspace page, and read their amazing bio – two musicians who were fans of each other, met up, and eventually married. What a neat coincidence for them, I thought. Then I scrolled down to their comments section, and the most recent comment was left by none other than my friend Elizabeth!

My other recent coincidence was meeting my new friend Lauren via Flickr. I just happened to add this picture of her to my favorites because I found it on Atticus‘s favorites list. She sent me a message, and it turns out we live in the same neighborhood, work in the same neighborhood, and we both did a semester abroad in London, where we lived on the same street three years apart.

My life is beginning to resemble on episode of Lost. Actually I feel more like Richard Dreyfuss, staring at his mound of mashed potatoes, going, “this means something.”

Guitar to the Rescue

I stayed home from work today because everything below my esophagus is kaput. OK, it’s not that bad, but my digestive system has caught the office bug, in addition to suffering almost 3 weeks of nervous stress. I’ve been on edge every day, not sleeping well, and assuming it will go away as I get a better handle on things. But as I get a better handle on things, I realize how much is in front of me.

I’ve always been the type of worker who has a personal stake in my performance. I want to please people, and when they’re not pleased, I internalize that. But I need to let it go. I need to separate the business from the personal. So today I got some rest, and tried to get my mind off work. I tried meditating, but I’m not good enough at it to completely clear my head. Tonight I was reminded of what works for me: guitar practice. I haven’t really funneled heavy stress into practicing in a long time. I played for about two hours and it really helped. In addition to helping me let go of everything, it also improves my chops. My Eric Johnson strat is a great guitar for practicing like this because it’s not so easy to play. It puts up a fight, and that’s even better.

I can’t say the stress is gone for good, but I can say that I’ve found a workable way to decompress. I don’t know how you regular humans do it without a musical instrument.

October 2006

The seeds of my current shift in residence were planted in October of 2006, when Tara, Joe and I took a trip to New York. I knew that I wanted to see the Zappa Plays Zappa tour, and figured it would come nowhere near Arkansas, so catching them in New York on Halloween seemed like the best idea. Little did I know that the places I would go and people I would meet would eventually cause this massive upheaval in my life.

This morning I realized that the pictures that I took during that trip were never uploaded to Flickr, so I uploaded them just now. If you were here for the travelogue, then you’ve seen the pictures.

It only took me a year and two months since that trip to get here.

I’ll Be on TV in Two Countries

Union Square is an interesting place. It’s apparently the epicenter for TV crews looking for man-on-the-street footage. Walking to Quizno’s this afternoon I was asked by a Japanese TV crew to tell me about movies I would watch for Valentine’s Day. I said The Apartment, because it is romantic even though it’s not your traditional romantic comedy. Then they asked for something more recent, so I just said Almost Famous, because it’s a movie that has some things to say about love, and it’s a movie I always have to make sure gets seen by those who haven’t seen it.

Just after that, I turn around, and there’s Rob Riggle from The Daily Show, asking people who they’re voting for and then shooting them free t-shirts from his t-shirt cannon. I wasn’t sure if they were staging something so I just stayed out of the way and took a picture. I went on to Quizno’s still impressed by my contribution to Japanese televsion.

On the way back, Riggle was still there, this time asking for volunteers so I stepped up and said I was voting for Obama. Truthfully I hadn’t actually decided between him and Hillary, but it was the first thing that popped into my head so it must be my preference, right? It’s not like I’m actually voting in the primaries anyway.

So it looks like I’m going to be on The Daily Show! I don’t know when; I’m not sure what the turnaround time is on the correspondent segments, but I’ll post the link as soon as I see it on www.thedailyshow.com.

Oh, and the shirt? It’s grey and says “Will Work for Freedom.”