Writing, Moping, Shakespeare, Late Capitalism; The Indigestible Bits of Existence

 Monday

I signed a lease. Will be paying over the damage deposit today. Yesterday was not a good day. I think the sinus infection made a return. All I did was make a couple of changes to "No Ordinary Word" - a sentence in the first paragraph, and a change to its title to "Learning The Passion and Control Twist". I was submitting the story to a place where I had sent an earlier version of the story, and I thought let's figure out a new title. I went from entangling yin and yang to twisting to twist. It was almost "Twisting the Night Away with Passion and Control", but I thought that was too long, and night doesn't really come into the story. I got a bunch of submissions made. I got a pile on the table that needs taken care of. Also, I learned that liver goes well with cumin and with curry powder, and that I will never fix liver ever again!

 

At the Shakespeare Festival by David Schurman Wallace (Paris Review) is at the bottom, melancholic, but a reminder of how Shakespeare persists.

Speaking of Shakespeare, a Harold Bloom video which I have not previously posted:

 Unlike about every academic I have read who discusses Shakespeare, Bloom has a passion for Shakespeare. He sees the earthy energy of the writer. Seeing the same thing, it is good to see someone else with the same opinions!

I re-watched the movie Hopscotch last week, and I never mentioned it. Thing s I should say get lost in the heat of the moment. What struck me was first and foremost that no one younger than me would find it interesting - no spectacle, no violence, no sex. Not that it was a big movie back then, but it did make money (if I recall what I learned from checking up it out on Wikipedia). It would have been a date movie. Nor do I think Walter Matthau's humor would work nowadays - an intelligent cynicism does not seem to flourish nowadays. If it did, we would not be so ready for a dictator. We prefer brawn to wit nowadays. Finally, I did not recall Glenda Jackson was so both such a gamine figure and so androgynous. 

 I also watched a Sonny Chiba samurai movie - Quentin Tarantino talked about Chiba and that sparked my interest - and had a good time with it, even if it is a bit grim. I have acquired some of the tender sensibilities of the current era, which defines winning in a different manner.

 Not much of a Ginger Rogers fan, but after the following, I appreciate her more:

 

 A short lesson in late capitalism, that kind of put a dent in the phrase for me:

 A Patti Smith interview that touches on her performing Bob Dylan's response to the Nobel Prize. I ignored Smith for most of my life, but in prison I came to appreciate her more. She is from Philadelphia, which takes pride in that. A very intelligent woman; my fault in ignoring her.

 And I did a Lone Wolf and Cub movie:

 And I think that brings me up to date on some items.

sch 6:08 

 I worked up another blog post that will come out today at 3 PM on Charlie Kirk, went thought the email, and submitted "Going for The Kid" to Unlikely Stories. I found that the publication has a YouTube channel. Although, I like the magazine, but have not had time to give it proper attention.

 Time I did something besides type.

 7:55

Waiting to go to Indy, so this will be very short.

I went to the bank for my damage deposit, and then I ran that up to my landlord. That was between 10:30 and noon.

Before that, I did some work on "The Women in His Life".  Afterward, it was fixing lunch, then a meal in the slow cooker, reading the mail, doing the dishes, getting ready to make the Indy trip. I just finished up with some of the email.

2:11 PM 

Jerry and Ann picked me up around 3:30. I started fixing the Table of Contents for my collection "The Dead and The Dying" - and was glad to have a reason to stop.

We got to Indy's westside close to 6 PM. I did get to see the WaWa in Chesterfield, after hearing about it for years while in Fort Dix FCI. It strikes me as a McDonald's that had unnatural relations with a 7-Eleven. Or a Quiznos.

It took me about 2 hours to get back, but I made a stop to see T1. 

That was a very strange experience. She came to the door, asked can I help you. While I expect an angry greeting, her completely not recognizing me was unexpected. Then there was her husband poking his head around the door - or I assume her husband. She was recognizable, if a bit too aged. Absolutely no questions about how I was doing, or even any real greeting. She asked if I was there about Nic. I fibbed a little by saying yes. She told me she had lost track of him years ago. Also, an oddity. Truth is I had several things to talk to her about, but, as she said, they were sitting down for dinner, so I felt no sense of welcome to talk more. I realized when I was leaving, she probably did not know or care about Joni's death. It also crossed my mind that she did not ask for my telephone number. I got a very strong sense that she had cut herself off from her past. There was another, smaller, sense that they - she and her husband-had cut themselves off from their surroundings.

When I got home, I felt like a zombie with a bad case of indigestion. 

 And like a zombie, I spent the next few hours watching videos on YouTube.

Like Lone Wolfe and Cub (what can I say, I'm a fan!)

Before that, a lot of historical/political stuff while I worked on my email:

 

 

 I got on an MC5 kick before that:

 

 Tuesday was not good. I woke late, fuzzy-headed, but stubborn about getting to "The Dead and The Dying". This I did, and got it out in the email.

I had Doug Kershaw playing on the background, and I went through a lot of his recordings. Some surprises came up while listening:

 

 Then I moped for the rest of the day; pretty much the following movie was the highlight:

 I have not seen the movie in around 40 years. Having seen a video about the movie on YouTube, it got my interest up and when YouTube put it in my path, I grabbed it. I did not know before this was a Michael Mann film. I had forgotten all of the cast but for Scott Glenn and Jürgen Prochnow. But it had left an impression in my mind. I agree with the YouTube video, it is pretty good until the climax. Think the ending of Wonder Woman. The special effects could have been better even back in the day. On the whole, it was good watching it again. Other thoughts: this might be the only Mann movie without any Americans; Prochnow was a very good actor, whether it was possible now with digital formats to improve on older, weaker special effects, and whether the supernatural aspects were as well-thought-out as the realistic.

The other highpoint was getting a date for going to Evansville. 

Today was a better day for the writing, even if I still had a roiling stomach and my neck got stiff from sitting for about 5 hours. Having Jerry's car, I made a run to Payless for Coke Zero and cleaning supplies and lunch. Otherwise, I was at the computer from 5:30 to 11:30.

I was also back at my story for the afternoon. Now, I need to do the editing/proofreading. That is not on the books for tonight. I may have a date tonight.

The dishes are done, the trash is out.

 I will leave you with one more video, about one of my favorite Japanese filmmakers:

 

I broke off for an hour. MW called and got me up earlier than planned. I called her back, and we spoke for a while.