A Few Week's Worth of Stuff

When we last met, I had just gotten back from a two day break from campaigning.

Here's some scattered happenings since then.

1) Campaigning has filled most of my days and been great. I completed knocking on every door in the Village on Thursday. It's not that small a place when you hit every person. And when you make a point of trying to talk with people, as opposed to only jamming flyers in their doors, it takes a while. Though not everyone was home when I popped in, I spoke to hundreds of people, many who I never see in my daily travels. Very enjoyable, very informative.

I also appeared on local access TV for a 1/2 hour interview and participated in Candidates Night at the County Courthouse. Those were fun as well, especially the latter as residents get a chance to ask questions that are on their mind. The feedback from that night has been incredible.

2) The usual 2-3 movie per week schedule is still intact. I saw The Invention of Lying, a mostly unfunny Ricky Gervais film. It may be the first Gervais project that didn't crack me up. It is pretty subversive, though, on its out and out shot at religion.

There are a few Robert Altman films I haven't seen. Sad to say Thieves Like Us with Kieth Carradine and Shelly Duvall, was one. Finally caught up with it and, like all Altman flicks, it's a treat. Quirky, muted story that packs an emotional wallop and leaves you with the feeling that you've watched real people. It's easy to forget how great Duvall is now that she's out of the spotlight, but, man, she delivers.

What is that quality, exactly, that makes a horrible movie so enjoyable? I watched Dolemite last week in my ongoing effort to cover "blaxploitation" films. Such bad acting, such terrible editing, a boom mike that makes appearances throughout. But when the actors take a peek at the camera as they leave the room, it's a hoot. 1970's film nudity is, as I've mentioned before, unnerving. Since the actors are not creations of a plastic surgeon, but real people without clothes on, it feels like a real invasion of their privacy to be peeking in. Dolemite has the most troubling nudity since Schindler's List, but Spielberg wasn't trying to be sexy. Dolemite is and it is the worst assortment of naked flesh I've ever seen!

The best movie I've seen lately is Moon, directed by Duncan Jones, formerly known as Zowie Bowie. He was, and still is, David's son. I can't really get into it without revealing too many plot points, but let me say it is a worthy addition to brainy sci-fi classics like 2001 and Blade Runner. It's that good and will stick with you for days.

3) Writing has taken the back burner, especially Katz Komments. I have finished a book proposal that an agent was interested in, which is, as I think about it, a huge deal. We'll see how that plays out. I did knock out a couple of Maybe Baby stories, and the new issue of ragazine has two pieces of mine. (http://ragazine.cc/category/music/). I'm also writing a bit for Seamheads, a solid baseball site. An article appears here: http://www.seamheads.com/2010/02/20/the-scapegoat/.

Slowly, time permitting, I've also been working on a sample chapter for a proposed book on N., our autistic son, now a college boy. That's the primary focus now that some time has opened up.

4) I finally bought some albums I've always wanted, some old Eminem, Wu-Tang. Fun stuff. Of actual new releases, I love the new Soft Pack CD and appreciate Paul Lukas' leading me to the band last year when they were still called The Muslims. The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good, except the song "White Sky" is an absolute musical rip-off of Paul Simon's "Crazy Love." Ringo's new disc is typical of recent Ringo, but more enjoyable than the last few. You get what you expect from Mr. Starkey, which if your sensible, is a bar set fairly low. Yet, I persevere, not quite the Beatle completest, but a fair approximation.

So that gets us up to today. Hopefully, there won't be as big a delay until next post, but I know you'll all understand.

March 16 - Election Day in Cooperstown!