building substance

This, too, is weird

There is a legal practice area which is growing for us, and we’re getting a bunch of book requests.  We want to buy some of these books because it’s cheaper in the long run because loan transportation costs and time spent looking for sources, and also you don’t want to wear out your welcome with libraries by borrowing too much.  But, these books are out of print and just not available -anywhere-.  Hey, what gives, folks?

This is weird

I’ll never forget this.  A few years back I was reading a book by Thomas Wolfe (not Tom Wolfe whose books I’ve never read) called You Can’t Go Home Again.  It was dark.  I was dark.  It was a weird, intense, time.  Anyway, I heard a song by DJ Shadow at about the same time and got obsessed by it.  It’s really excellent.  And finally, after days -weeks- of this obsession, I got hold of the title.  “You Can’t Go Home Again.”  (It samples mandolin from Simon & Garfunkel.  How cool is that?  Get your hands on it, listen to it, it’s wonderful.)  Well, look, it had symbolic significance of some kind, but who knows what kind.  It wouldn’t make sense to even think about because who ever knows what things mean, it’s all speculation and though I’d like to believe that some things are true, doesn’t mean that they are.  And, I did make it home again.

I’m having a “Weird Fishes” by Radiohead time lately.  It’s everywhere.  Randomly.  Ok, so maybe it’s a popular song, and good as background b/c it’s mellow, so they play it a lot.  It just kinda does something to me.

Blip in the Radar

Water me with limoncello and see
how fast
I grow
into a wondrous, joyous creature

full of hopeloveandlife

or just LIFE
i love every last one completely
thoroughly
happily
to the the essence
of what makes a person
gorgeous, unique, remarkable

and the poison that infects others
with rage misery sadness
becomes in me a soothing balm

it is true
i am an alien
unfit and unwilling
to conform or be marred
by the sludge of  pain and

thoughtless disregard

and whatever it is that’s supposed
to make one hard and tough
falls like dew onto hungry grass
that grows in me to a
greater capacity to give

i won’t be part of the mean part of the game
commonly referred to as life

and if  it won’t be respected then it remains

undiminished

strong

happy

Loosely controlled chaos

Biking in Manhattan during rush hour is of my most liberating experiences ever.  The noise, the whir of my wheels, the cabs, people, stopping, starting, delivery trucks, construction, garbage trucks, other bikers, lights, potholes, buses buses and more buses.

It’s addictive.

And, it’s like I’m in a little bubble of silence and peace.  The chaos is out there.  In my mind it’s only about dodging.

Bike commuting drunk

Here’s the coolest thing about achieving a certain level of inebriation - you forget to be afraid though if you don’t necessarily lose the self-awareness.  So I’m on my bike last night, right?  And I’m thinking - whoa, here’s that hairy interesection I usually hate.  And, I’m on the bad side to cross on b/c after the turn I’ll have to cut across three lanes to get to the right side, and there’s a ton of traffic. 

First thought - Shit, guess I should be scared

Second thought - Awww, well, fuck it, let’s see what happens

Third thought, right after turn - Shit, I’m in the middle of the street, cars everywhere, speed, all sides, shit

Fourth - Please don’t kill me as I demand my space and cross over

Fifth - Safely on the right side - huh, that was kinda fun 

So many people like to tell me how I’m going to die b/c it’s just a matter of time before I get taken out by a vehicle.  Ok, so yes, every commute so far has a number of near misses, but that’s commuting in general - even in cars, even as a pedestrian.  If you don’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re not there.  I can’t describe how awesome it feels, though, to be one of a community of bikers on the street, going over the bridge, negotiating the crap you have to to get around.  It’s totally fun.  It’s a practice in claiming your space in a city of aggressive people.   

Movie Renditions of W. Somerset Maugham Books

Ok so I just found out that Bill Murray wrote the screenplay for the movie The Razor’s Edge which is based on the W. Somerset Maugham book of the same title.  How random.  Or not?  I’ve seen a few of these.  It’s like filmmakers just really like to make films of Maugham books, kinda like the Merchant-Ivory thing for E.M. Forster.  I guess certain types of novels translate nicely into film, and truly the E.M. Forster novels do.  Most recently in the Maugham camp is the movie The Painted Veil with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.  It’s a work of exceptional beauty.

Coming to mind now - W. Somerset Maugham books to movies include - The Razor’s Edge, The Painted Veil, Up at the Villa, Of Human Bondage - that’s not including short stories or anything made before 1980 or for TV.  Except for Of Human Bondage, which is pre-1980 but I included it anyway b/c it’s such a major work.  

Then for E.M. Forster books made to movies - A Room With a View, Maurice, A Passage to India, Howards End, Where Angels Fear to Tread… again, short stories not included. 

I read a little about E.M. Forster’s personal life and found it pretty interesting that he was criticized for not being able to effectively portray physical romantic love between his co-ed romantic leads.  He was gay and this particular critic said that he didn’t know a thing about hetero sex.  That has to be the dumbest thing I’ve heard.  

Cheers.