things watched and read

we watched Wendy and Lucy last night. the movie is based on a story from Jon Raymond's Livability called "Train Choir." as with Old Joy, written by Raymond and then directed by Kelly Reichardt, this movie was better than the actual story, denser, moved a bit quicker, and picked up on interesting things, images, more than Raymond's story. I'm beginning to believe that while Raymond does a good job writing quiet, un-plotted stories, he doesn't have the eye or language to really get into the depths of things. His stories translate to film well because they're a bit skeletal. i'm beginning to believe he should be writing screenplays. someone may have said this already. either way, though, Wendy and Lucy is strong: a quiet character study about a lonely woman who isn't exactly sure where she's going. her '88 Accord breaks down; the last of the dog food for her dog, Lucy, causes her to steal; she gets a hand from a rent-a-cop; a group of teenage boys laugh at her as she sleeps in her car. and in the background, the grinding and crashing of trains through a forest. the images onscreen were what kept the movie fascinating, and the character's desperation tempered with a kind of resolve kept me watching.

Matt Bell's How the Broken Lead the Blind. i emailed Matt to see if i could get one of his chapbooks even though they were sold out. he didn't have any at the time, but he was nice enough, months later, to remember me and send me a book, signed and all. it's an excellent read: the stories move like an electric storm, quick jolts of energy and change, then stillness. i was so, so impressed by the first story, "Ten Scenes From a Movie Called Mercy," which is a sort of film montage wherein the story itself saves a young girl from a killer by time-looping the film. that's the the only giveaway, spoiler thing i'll mention. most of the stories can be found online, like "Player Piano," which i first read in Juked. it's interesting to see the changes Bell made to the book, small edits, line cuts, that made a difference. really, in some remote way, however strange and odd and fun Bell's stories are, they're always about relationships (not necessarily romantic), the small things we do everyday to use, mis-use, abuse, connect, caress: Bell transforms these small moments into the unearthly images of dream; this is a world skewed from our own, reminding one of mysteriousness and strangeness, a world almost begging not to forget these things.

emily had never seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, so we watched that. i believe she was 'blown away' by it. i forgot how calculating Kubrick is. just 'a master of the medium.' so neat to watch again after so many years.

edit: i cut a thing i wrote hear about some of my stories coming out. i don't know why i wrote it or cut it. double edit: i wrote "hear." heh.

two crazy panthers on the prowl maahahahahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-_aw17_qxE

it's really disappointing. i wanted to embed the above clip but youtube won't let me, which means my big great big joke post i was going to do is ruined. i really wanted billy bob's enormous smiling chompers on my blog. and i like billy bob i suppose, bad santa is funny, he's good in monster's ball, but this, i mean, this might be unstoppable. i can't embed it, though. aww well. it's so funny. it's not supposed to be funny. i don't know, if it's not funny, i apologize, but i mean, i've watched it at least thirty times in the last week.

the youth

the kids outside our duplex have accumulated three footballs, one basketball, two super-soakers, a toy car, an inflatable dog, a shoe, numerous rocks, and a log on top of our roof. the police have been to our duplex three times in the last two weeks. twice a ten year old was threatened to be taken to juvie, but was not taken. i'm not sure who's phoning the police. i heard one kid call another kid a bitch. then the kid who was called a bitch called the other kid a mexican.

one of our cats has developed meditative powers and stares at me with such intensity that i now know she is enlightened. it's difficult, living with an enlightened being and not being enlightened oneself. it hurts the self-esteem.

i cut almost four thousand words from this novel yesterday. it was not difficult. it was all very bad and uninteresting writing. i did feel a little sick afterward.

i saw the new star trek, which was fun. i read some things about people thinking it was stupid or has a conservative message or something. i don't know. it's star trek. it's supposed to have explosions and silliness.

back in the sc yo

johnson city is over. i'm undone with many things: grading; looking for a new job. these are things that will pass. the 'book-i'm-working-on,' i believe it takes shape. i believe the 'book-i'm-working-on' may be close to being a book. the book is summer, which i abandoned over the winter to write winter stories, and now these past few weeks summer pushed me back into the 'book-i'm-working-on.' the characters may be unfleshed and sunk into themselves; there may be too much thinking; there may need to be more things to see: that dead tree, those twin girls, a broken tooth, a broken arm.

i can't work on any of this right now though. right now i have to steam-vac a carpet that had dog diarrhea on it. the dog, he is sick. he is very close to explosive. he will be making a visit to the vet today. i am hoping the vet forgets to ask us to pay for this.