To me, it wasn't a coincidence.
I looked over at my clock radio early Sunday morning. 5:05 a.m. I decided to finish watching "Me and the Girls," one of my favorite dramatizations of a Noel Coward short story about George Banks, a gay entertainer looking back on his life being in charge of a collection of dancing girls with whom he toured. The ending is particularly poignant, and by it, I'm convinced that Tony Soprano was indeed killed, despite the other side of the argument. I'm late enough for that train that I've fallen face-first onto the track. I know. But it came to mind when I watched George believe that Mavis was going to come see him again in his hospital room.
I finished it, and went to my DVD player to eject disc 6 of "The Noel Coward Collection," a DVD set I will hold so close and so dear to me, as it's a steady source of inspiration. Whenever I need assurance that the mountains of words in the English language can still be fascinating, I need only to put on one of these discs and I'm smiling again, mulling over the words I hear, sounding them out, spelling them in my head, fascinated at how an "l" and a "y" can co-exist without any trouble between them.
Now, my room is stacked with DVDs and books, and old issues of The New Yorker, and a bunch of writing magazines given to me by a former editor simply because he had them stacked on one shelf of his bookshelves at his desk, and I had been eyeing them for some time. Those are on the floor nearest the one window I have in my room, a window I can't open because there's no screen in front of it and there's no point in getting one now, what with the hope of moving out soon, provided Las Vegas comes calling and my parents can sell this place, which has the hopeful financial benefit of a gate at the start of the front-door walkway (no other front-door walkway in this small area has one), and a large patio which overlooks the community pool.
I use old moving boxes for shelves. There was talk of getting actual furniture for this place, but since Mom never stopped disliking this place, the thought fell away. She's right in many ways, but those ways are better saved for another time so I can actually get to the point.
I didn't even intend to look to my right. I wasn't even thinking about it. But my head drifted over, and my eyes were pointed at the tops (really the sides, but now serving as the top) of two boxes where I had stacked issues of The New Yorker that I had bought for cheap from my local library (10 cents an issue), as well as "Pandora's Clock" and "Medusa's Child" by John J. Nance, the hardcover first edition of "Walt Disney" by Neil Gabler, and DVD box sets, such as the complete run of A&E's "Nero Wolfe," "The Stanley Kubrick Collection," and a nicely made-up special edition of "La Dolce Vita." What was sitting on top of that is what caught my eye. A three-DVD box set. I turned it over and it was the James Dean DVD box set that was sent to me so long ago, and I only got as far as unwrapping it and each 2-disc DVD set.
I laughed, because clearly the ghost of James Dean had been here, a little impatient at that moment. He is one of the actors I'm going to write about in that book, "What If They Lived?" But since I'm working in chronological order and am currently at work on Robert Harron, Larry Semon, Mabel Normand, and Fatty Arbuckle, he'll have to wait for a while longer, but from suddenly finding that box set, he doesn't want to wait. I have been thinking about his life, though. This powerful young actor gone, but revered, remembered, and never forgotten. I don't intend to try to answer the "why" of that, because there's no one answer for it. There's many answers. I want to find my own. It's like how silent film actor Robert Harron is praised in many books for his performance in "Intolerance," directed by D.W. Griffith. I don't want to use "Intolerance" in my writing for what would surely be the 394th time. I watched "True Heart Susie" on Saturday and was amazed how he could look like a young, not very intelligent boy living simply, and with a girl who loves him but he's reticent about returning the affection. He goes to college on the money the girl's collected for him, but makes him think that a philanthropist who visited his town put up the money for him to go to college. He comes back, sporting a mustache, and he looks like a man. There's no more of the boy there. It's a remarkable transformation, and not one that's as big a deal as actors today make of their own transformations in film. He appears as this grown man, and that's that. But that Harron was able to be utterly convincing as this boy and then the man is what made him a great actor of that time.
I like these ghosts. As shown with me suddenly noticing that DVD set, they want their lives to be known again. Maybe Dean, or an associate, feels that I could offer something new about his films and his life. Really it's just movie and book-driven research, but there's also the experts and historians to talk to as well. We'll see.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
An Evening Desire
It's 7:58 p.m., and the daytime has just finished conferring briefly with the approaching darkness. California is the only state I know of thus far where the daylight and the night sky meet amicably ever so briefly in the evening at this time of year.
If I had a car, and a confident sense of direction, I would go on an impromptu trip to Las Vegas right now, sure that America's Best Value Inn off the Strip, on Tropicana Avenue, next to Hooter's, would have a room available. An hour and 37 minutes, according to MapQuest, from here to Victorville where Richie's Real American Diner is, and I'd stop there for something big. Maybe a steak, maybe that five-count stack of pancakes, as big as the dinner plate they serve it on. Definitely a shake to accompany whatever it would be.
Then off to Vegas, nearly three hours to get there. I wouldn't mind driving in the dark. I'd get there around 2 or 3 a.m., hopefully get that room at America's Best Value Inn, and then crash until about 10 or 11 a.m., ready to start the day in Vegas. A late breakfast first and then hedonistic exploration. Caesar's Palace, the Luxor, the MGM Grand, and Mandalay Bay, to the high-scale restaurant row they have there, which has my favorite architectural design that I would live in if I could. I would actually put a bed there, a bookcase, a big-screen TV provided there was an electrical outlet close enough, a DVD player, I would.
I would undoubtedly go off the Strip as well. I'd want to see if the Eastside Cannery casino on Boulder Highway improved since our first visit. It appears they've gotten rid of Sweet Lucy's Tableside Buffet, which never worked, not even from the start. You'd get tossed salad and homemade potato chips at the start, then order your entrees from the table, as many as you'd like, or as many times as you could get the waiter to your table. Fortunately, we had a friendly waiter, so it was easy. But the food was too salty and not at all to anyone's taste. An unimaginative chef in that kitchen. I can see why the casino closed the place and reopened it as Cannery Row Buffet. The more foot traffic you can get there, the more people that eat and move on and the more people you can get in rather than sitting at the table, waiting. And I'm sure the food would get to the buffet faster as well. No individual orders to keep tabs on for many tables, no hassle.
I'd need a Las Vegas Review-Journal too. Can't visit Vegas without that, and despite the steady downfall of newspapers across the country, the Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun will not falter, because that's all there is in the DESERT. That's what keeps those two newspapers alive. You can't get news from anywhere else about Las Vegas. The sales will always stay level.
I'd also want to see if the Carnival World Buffet at the Rio is still the best in Las Vegas, though I'd save that for dinner. More than enough to eat to carry me through the evening, and a late-night snack, though I don't know where that would be. A lot of options, though.
And seeing The Amazing Johnathan at the Harmon Theater near the Miracle Mile Shops. There we go. That would be a perfect impromptu trip.
But I've never been that adventurous, so my mind will make the effort for me.
If I had a car, and a confident sense of direction, I would go on an impromptu trip to Las Vegas right now, sure that America's Best Value Inn off the Strip, on Tropicana Avenue, next to Hooter's, would have a room available. An hour and 37 minutes, according to MapQuest, from here to Victorville where Richie's Real American Diner is, and I'd stop there for something big. Maybe a steak, maybe that five-count stack of pancakes, as big as the dinner plate they serve it on. Definitely a shake to accompany whatever it would be.
Then off to Vegas, nearly three hours to get there. I wouldn't mind driving in the dark. I'd get there around 2 or 3 a.m., hopefully get that room at America's Best Value Inn, and then crash until about 10 or 11 a.m., ready to start the day in Vegas. A late breakfast first and then hedonistic exploration. Caesar's Palace, the Luxor, the MGM Grand, and Mandalay Bay, to the high-scale restaurant row they have there, which has my favorite architectural design that I would live in if I could. I would actually put a bed there, a bookcase, a big-screen TV provided there was an electrical outlet close enough, a DVD player, I would.
I would undoubtedly go off the Strip as well. I'd want to see if the Eastside Cannery casino on Boulder Highway improved since our first visit. It appears they've gotten rid of Sweet Lucy's Tableside Buffet, which never worked, not even from the start. You'd get tossed salad and homemade potato chips at the start, then order your entrees from the table, as many as you'd like, or as many times as you could get the waiter to your table. Fortunately, we had a friendly waiter, so it was easy. But the food was too salty and not at all to anyone's taste. An unimaginative chef in that kitchen. I can see why the casino closed the place and reopened it as Cannery Row Buffet. The more foot traffic you can get there, the more people that eat and move on and the more people you can get in rather than sitting at the table, waiting. And I'm sure the food would get to the buffet faster as well. No individual orders to keep tabs on for many tables, no hassle.
I'd need a Las Vegas Review-Journal too. Can't visit Vegas without that, and despite the steady downfall of newspapers across the country, the Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun will not falter, because that's all there is in the DESERT. That's what keeps those two newspapers alive. You can't get news from anywhere else about Las Vegas. The sales will always stay level.
I'd also want to see if the Carnival World Buffet at the Rio is still the best in Las Vegas, though I'd save that for dinner. More than enough to eat to carry me through the evening, and a late-night snack, though I don't know where that would be. A lot of options, though.
And seeing The Amazing Johnathan at the Harmon Theater near the Miracle Mile Shops. There we go. That would be a perfect impromptu trip.
But I've never been that adventurous, so my mind will make the effort for me.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
These Lives. How Many Pages for These Lives?
I shouldn't be blogging, especially when I've got a great workload sitting heavily on my shoulders, but I am amazed at the resources available for my research. I've discovered that Time Magazine's website keeps a free archive, which is a great help when there's information to find about the actors I'm writing about, and The New York Times has articles available from the 1910s. But go over 1921 and you have to pay for whatever articles you wish to read. $3.95 per article, or $10.95 for a 15-article pack. Too pricey for me. If it was one actor, maybe. But not at least 13 actors thus far. Fortunately, for the modern-day late actors, the website has free articles from the late 1980s on. I've downloaded 56 articles from The New York Times on Fatty Arbuckle alone, most about the sensationalized three trials he endured. I've still got to organize them by date in a separate Word file. They're .pdfs, but a reading order would help.
The one thing I hate about this research thus far, and possibly the only thing, is doing my preliminary research through Wikipedia. I don't get right into the books that I've checked out from my library. I prefer to start with Wikipedia, because as I've learned, the facts aren't all there in those articles. Either the writer doesn't know of any other resource from which to find the facts and post them in the entry, or they don't care, or there are no other facts. For nearly all of these actors, there are. That's where the experts and historians come in. It's tedious reading each Wikipedia page on each actor and typing out facts I need to know. But, the questions keep me going, questions I ask in between the facts. Like with silent film actor and D.W. Griffith associate Robert Harron, he was one of nine children, and saw Griffith as a substitute father, which seems to be the proper term, according to the foremost expert on Harron, whom I've talked to by e-mail recently. So the question here is: Where was Harron's real father? Working hard enough to support nine children that he didn't have a great deal of time to spend with Harron? I'm sure there aren't definitive answers for every question I have, but it leads me somewhere. I'm trying not to write the beginnings of these essays until I get well into the lives of these actors through my research, but for some, I can't help it, based on what I've learned on my own in the past when there wasn't a book to write, and when I was just reading movie history and biographies for pleasure. Not to say that this isn't pleasure, but there's a lot more to do now than just reading.
I am curious about these actors. I want to finally understand the appeal of James Dean. I see part of it just by his appearance, but what else? I want to learn about the transformation of Norma Jean Baker into Marilyn Monroe and understand as best as can be understood through various historians about how it affected her. I want to pay proper tribute to Chris Farley, because even though I don't like "Tommy Boy" as I did when I was 11, I remember how hard he worked to make people laugh, on Saturday Night Live as well. He's the only one I'm confident about on what he might have done in movies had he not died. "Shrek" would have been vastly different.
I've written movie reviews for nine years, and I know when to end each review. This is new territory. I don't want to ask for a word limit or a page limit. I think I will know when to stop. Just enough detail in each actor's biography/career overview to give the reader a full-enough view of the actor so there's an easy transition into the speculation, mainly led by the experts and historians who've agreed to talk to me about these actors. It'll work.
Here it is again: 4:49 a.m. and I'm doing exactly what I did at this time yesterday morning. Still in Wikipedia, though I've gotten further because I finished my preliminary research on silent film comedian/writer/director Larry Semon yesterday afternoon, Mabel Normand a few hours ago, and I'm still working on Fatty Arbuckle. I don't think I want to go into such detail about the three trials, since there's enough writing on them already, but I am curious about certain elements, such as William Randolph Hearst's zeal for them, which sold a lot of papers. Was it just the selling of papers that attracted him and made those tabloids sell well? Or did he have personal animosity toward Arbuckle? A lot of questions, but again, those questions should help a lot.
The one thing I hate about this research thus far, and possibly the only thing, is doing my preliminary research through Wikipedia. I don't get right into the books that I've checked out from my library. I prefer to start with Wikipedia, because as I've learned, the facts aren't all there in those articles. Either the writer doesn't know of any other resource from which to find the facts and post them in the entry, or they don't care, or there are no other facts. For nearly all of these actors, there are. That's where the experts and historians come in. It's tedious reading each Wikipedia page on each actor and typing out facts I need to know. But, the questions keep me going, questions I ask in between the facts. Like with silent film actor and D.W. Griffith associate Robert Harron, he was one of nine children, and saw Griffith as a substitute father, which seems to be the proper term, according to the foremost expert on Harron, whom I've talked to by e-mail recently. So the question here is: Where was Harron's real father? Working hard enough to support nine children that he didn't have a great deal of time to spend with Harron? I'm sure there aren't definitive answers for every question I have, but it leads me somewhere. I'm trying not to write the beginnings of these essays until I get well into the lives of these actors through my research, but for some, I can't help it, based on what I've learned on my own in the past when there wasn't a book to write, and when I was just reading movie history and biographies for pleasure. Not to say that this isn't pleasure, but there's a lot more to do now than just reading.
I am curious about these actors. I want to finally understand the appeal of James Dean. I see part of it just by his appearance, but what else? I want to learn about the transformation of Norma Jean Baker into Marilyn Monroe and understand as best as can be understood through various historians about how it affected her. I want to pay proper tribute to Chris Farley, because even though I don't like "Tommy Boy" as I did when I was 11, I remember how hard he worked to make people laugh, on Saturday Night Live as well. He's the only one I'm confident about on what he might have done in movies had he not died. "Shrek" would have been vastly different.
I've written movie reviews for nine years, and I know when to end each review. This is new territory. I don't want to ask for a word limit or a page limit. I think I will know when to stop. Just enough detail in each actor's biography/career overview to give the reader a full-enough view of the actor so there's an easy transition into the speculation, mainly led by the experts and historians who've agreed to talk to me about these actors. It'll work.
Here it is again: 4:49 a.m. and I'm doing exactly what I did at this time yesterday morning. Still in Wikipedia, though I've gotten further because I finished my preliminary research on silent film comedian/writer/director Larry Semon yesterday afternoon, Mabel Normand a few hours ago, and I'm still working on Fatty Arbuckle. I don't think I want to go into such detail about the three trials, since there's enough writing on them already, but I am curious about certain elements, such as William Randolph Hearst's zeal for them, which sold a lot of papers. Was it just the selling of papers that attracted him and made those tabloids sell well? Or did he have personal animosity toward Arbuckle? A lot of questions, but again, those questions should help a lot.
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Hair There? I'll Get It Cut When It Stares at My Eyebrows
I admit: I'm a hermit. I usually only go out on Sundays to the library to pick up my weekly 18-wheeler-load of books. That's followed by shopping at Ralph's and any other stores we need to go to. On Tuesdays, I go with my dad to pick up my sister from College of the Canyons, the only community college in the Santa Clarita Valley, as her classes end after 8 p.m., and no buses run to our area by then.
I have everything I need in this house. There's movies to watch on the Tivo when I'm compiling job listings for a five-day-a-week freelance writing newsletter (owned by someone else, so I get a paycheck), there's jazz I haven't yet listened to, there's Netflix for titles I need to review for ScreenIt as well as research for my first book (a documentary on D.W. Griffith to come, for research on silent film actor Robert Harron, as well as "True Heart Susie" from 1919 for the same purpose), and there's stacks of books to read, including the ones I need to read for research. There's not much reason to go out in this valley since there's nothing anyway. To really find anything to do, you have to get out of this valley and go to the San Fernando Valley or Los Angeles proper. I don't do it often. In fact, I don't even drive, even though I have my license.
That's why I thought it strange when my mom asked if I could wait possibly another two weeks for a haircut. I'm the only one who really looks at my hair. There are days when I let it go wild and it matters to no one. I've no social reputation to maintain. The only problem I have with my hair is when I take a shower before bed at 5 a.m. Even if I dry my hair well enough, there's always a part in the morning that stubbornly sticks up, no matter how many times my comb rampages through it. That's the only frustration from my hair getting longer.
Two more weeks? I can wait. I don't have to impress anyone. Unless the trees are picky about appearance.
I have everything I need in this house. There's movies to watch on the Tivo when I'm compiling job listings for a five-day-a-week freelance writing newsletter (owned by someone else, so I get a paycheck), there's jazz I haven't yet listened to, there's Netflix for titles I need to review for ScreenIt as well as research for my first book (a documentary on D.W. Griffith to come, for research on silent film actor Robert Harron, as well as "True Heart Susie" from 1919 for the same purpose), and there's stacks of books to read, including the ones I need to read for research. There's not much reason to go out in this valley since there's nothing anyway. To really find anything to do, you have to get out of this valley and go to the San Fernando Valley or Los Angeles proper. I don't do it often. In fact, I don't even drive, even though I have my license.
That's why I thought it strange when my mom asked if I could wait possibly another two weeks for a haircut. I'm the only one who really looks at my hair. There are days when I let it go wild and it matters to no one. I've no social reputation to maintain. The only problem I have with my hair is when I take a shower before bed at 5 a.m. Even if I dry my hair well enough, there's always a part in the morning that stubbornly sticks up, no matter how many times my comb rampages through it. That's the only frustration from my hair getting longer.
Two more weeks? I can wait. I don't have to impress anyone. Unless the trees are picky about appearance.
The Post-Teeth Pull Recovery List
On Thursday morning, my mom has to get two wisdom teeth pulled. Every time she's gone to a doctor for something, including the operation she had on her sinuses, I've always been there for support. This isn't going where you might think it would, since I might go again, not only for the usual support, but also because it's at 9 in the morning, and I could stand getting up early at least once this week, particularly with the minefield of work now laid out before me. Yesterday at the library, I picked up 27 books, 1 DVD (disc 1 of the Noel Coward Collection again), and 1 CD (Eartha Kitt: Greatest Hits - purr-fect). 10 of those books are research for "What If They Lived?" I'm a speed-reader, but I've no idea how detailed research works. I know I have questions about these actors that I hope will be answered. I know that there's details in their lives I want to know about. I want to know what Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle liked in his life outside of making silent comedies. I want to know, if possible, what caused Robert Harron to squeeze that trigger in suicide. Was it only D.W. Griffith paying less attention to him? It's known that Harron saw Griffith as a father. Not as a father figure, but apparently as a father, though I'm not really clear on that yet, as to how much attention his birth father gave him. But a poor Irish-Catholic family that included 9 kids, there most likely wasn't a lot.
I want to know more about the easy, good-natured rapport Arbuckle and Mabel Normand had together onscreen. Did it remain that way offscreen? What made Normand become such a physical silent film comedian? What did she like about the work?
There's so much to know and I hope there's a crush of questions enough that I don't have to think about how to begin each essay. I'll just find something within each person that sparks something in my mind and off I go. But those historians and experts I've contacted will be ultra-valuable because I still need insights into what these actors might have done in their careers had they not died. I read that Normand had retired from movies, before she contracted tuberculosis and died a year later. Well, she retired. Wouldn't that be the end? The public had begun to welcome Arbuckle back into movies, and then he died. Now that is something to consider.
What do I do? Do I just read and hope something grabs me by the throat, demanding that I write it down? I'd like that. I'm not a masochist, but that would help. There I go again, though, overthinking the whole thing. I love all this and I should just concentrate on what can be accomplished each day, while being mindful of the deadline in late January of next year.
So on Thursday morning, I'm also thinking of going because it'll get me up early enough and let me produce something on a full day. More time to read, more time to consider, more time to write down pertinent information.
Then comes my mom's recovery from this teeth extraction. My dad wrote down a list of what to pick up from Von's and Ralph's. It's all that I like too:
- Apple sauce
- Ice cream (no detail on what kind)
- Chocolate milk (more is always better)
- Jello (pkg) Straw/Banana - Powdered strawberry/banana Jello that my sister will make
- Pudding cups (in red on the list: Mixed chocolate and vanilla) - Chocolate on top top, vanilla in the middle, chocolate on the bottom.
- Cottage cheese - Didn't pick up any yesterday because it was too expensive. $4.49? Mom goes for that more than I.
- Hawaiian bread - Hard to find a good loaf of bread in this valley, or at least one to stick to for more than a week.
- Gatorade - Fierce Strawberry - Didn't find it in Ralph's yesterday, but they did have my kind, Fruit Punch.
- Ginger ale (in red: individual bottles)
- Crackers - soup - Oyster crackers, I thought, but she said that the last kind we got was too salty. Geez, how long ago was that? I'm guessing the soup will likely be chicken noodle. It's a reliable standard.
- Iced tea - What other kind of iced tea would she need? We've got Lipton Cold Brew bags in one of the cabinets, and I have to make more this week anyway.
- Yogurt - She likes fruit-on-the-bottom yogurts. I used to like the blended kinds, but now I like working for the fruit. However, my absolute, no-change favorite is the Yoplait Thick and Creamy, which I was fed as a baby, when it was called Custard Style. I wish it still was. And I wish they had kept the strawberry drawing on there, which was a lighter red, it had an outline, and the seeds were more prominently shown.
And this is the week. Up to Thursday, heavy research. I hope it'll be easier after I write my essay on Robert Harron. I have to also remember to read more, and not just what I have to read. Inspiration is always useful in big projects. This is the biggest I've had in my life so far. Today, we also have to clean the birds' cages. Then Thursday, keeping tabs on Mom after the teeth-pull, while also still concentrating on the research.
That reminds me. There's a few thank-you e-mails I have to send to a few people who've agreed to talk to me, including director Richard Shepard, who's known for "The Matador," starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear, but who also made a documentary about actor John Cazale. That's going to prove very useful once I get to researching his life.
I want to know more about the easy, good-natured rapport Arbuckle and Mabel Normand had together onscreen. Did it remain that way offscreen? What made Normand become such a physical silent film comedian? What did she like about the work?
There's so much to know and I hope there's a crush of questions enough that I don't have to think about how to begin each essay. I'll just find something within each person that sparks something in my mind and off I go. But those historians and experts I've contacted will be ultra-valuable because I still need insights into what these actors might have done in their careers had they not died. I read that Normand had retired from movies, before she contracted tuberculosis and died a year later. Well, she retired. Wouldn't that be the end? The public had begun to welcome Arbuckle back into movies, and then he died. Now that is something to consider.
What do I do? Do I just read and hope something grabs me by the throat, demanding that I write it down? I'd like that. I'm not a masochist, but that would help. There I go again, though, overthinking the whole thing. I love all this and I should just concentrate on what can be accomplished each day, while being mindful of the deadline in late January of next year.
So on Thursday morning, I'm also thinking of going because it'll get me up early enough and let me produce something on a full day. More time to read, more time to consider, more time to write down pertinent information.
Then comes my mom's recovery from this teeth extraction. My dad wrote down a list of what to pick up from Von's and Ralph's. It's all that I like too:
- Apple sauce
- Ice cream (no detail on what kind)
- Chocolate milk (more is always better)
- Jello (pkg) Straw/Banana - Powdered strawberry/banana Jello that my sister will make
- Pudding cups (in red on the list: Mixed chocolate and vanilla) - Chocolate on top top, vanilla in the middle, chocolate on the bottom.
- Cottage cheese - Didn't pick up any yesterday because it was too expensive. $4.49? Mom goes for that more than I.
- Hawaiian bread - Hard to find a good loaf of bread in this valley, or at least one to stick to for more than a week.
- Gatorade - Fierce Strawberry - Didn't find it in Ralph's yesterday, but they did have my kind, Fruit Punch.
- Ginger ale (in red: individual bottles)
- Crackers - soup - Oyster crackers, I thought, but she said that the last kind we got was too salty. Geez, how long ago was that? I'm guessing the soup will likely be chicken noodle. It's a reliable standard.
- Iced tea - What other kind of iced tea would she need? We've got Lipton Cold Brew bags in one of the cabinets, and I have to make more this week anyway.
- Yogurt - She likes fruit-on-the-bottom yogurts. I used to like the blended kinds, but now I like working for the fruit. However, my absolute, no-change favorite is the Yoplait Thick and Creamy, which I was fed as a baby, when it was called Custard Style. I wish it still was. And I wish they had kept the strawberry drawing on there, which was a lighter red, it had an outline, and the seeds were more prominently shown.
And this is the week. Up to Thursday, heavy research. I hope it'll be easier after I write my essay on Robert Harron. I have to also remember to read more, and not just what I have to read. Inspiration is always useful in big projects. This is the biggest I've had in my life so far. Today, we also have to clean the birds' cages. Then Thursday, keeping tabs on Mom after the teeth-pull, while also still concentrating on the research.
That reminds me. There's a few thank-you e-mails I have to send to a few people who've agreed to talk to me, including director Richard Shepard, who's known for "The Matador," starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear, but who also made a documentary about actor John Cazale. That's going to prove very useful once I get to researching his life.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
1:46 a.m. - The wandering night
1:46 a.m.:
- Watching a movie, "The Adventures of Mark Twain," which I Tivo'd on Thursday from Turner Classic Movies.
- Was outside earlier, looking up at the stars, as much out of the glare of a burnished-orange light that remains on near the pool, even with no one there. Never understood that, not even with keeping the underwater pool and spa lights on. It's not like there's anyone who would sneak around that area anyway, being that this neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods are so quiet at this time of night, you could swear that they were either just built and awaiting new residents, or the real-estate crunch had caused their downfall. However, there's two ducks on occasional nights who sleep in the pool, and they're at least quieter than the residents set to use the pool in the coming weeks, when it opens back up.
- Recently recorded on the Tivo: "Chinese Box," starring Jeremy Irons and Gong Li (credited as "Li Gong"), "Camilla," starring Jessica Tandy and Bridget Fonda, and "Funny Girl," starring Barbra Streisand. I deleted the first a few months ago to conserve space, the second I recorded because of Jessica Tandy, and the third was because if you live in my house, then you know all about Streisand, whether you want to or not. I like her as a singer and actress (partly genetic, since I have my parents' musical tastes, with the addition of jazz, electronica, and some techno dance music), and had never seen "Funny Girl," so there you go.
- From what I can tell, this Tivo box in the living room is called "DirecTV Plus." There might be a newer version, but why can't this one retain actors' names and years of release after a movie or TV show has been recorded? Before something is recorded and during it as well, you can find that information on the guide. After, you're left only with a synopsis, what you recorded, the genre, whether it's closed-captioned, and what it contains (in the case of "Camilla," "adult content" and "adult language," abbreviated as "AC, AL." I know I can get that information online if I want, but I like having it right there.
- I remain connected to Las Vegas through the websites for the Las Vegas Sun, the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the blog of VegasRex (http://www.vegasrex.com/), who has made known his intention to run for mayor in the coming election. He's ready to disclose financial details and every other kind of detail that's dredged up in these elections and he's serious about it too. Not sure how much publicity he'll get, what with Oscar Goodman, a former Vegas mob lawyer, wanting yet another term (I heard something about there being term limits on that, but he wants to eliminate that), but Rex has fans, myself included. One of the other ways I remain connected: Every week, I call the automated line for the movie theater the Hacienda Hotel and Casino in Boulder City, which is three miles from Hoover Dam. I've never forgotten the view from the mountain adjacent to the casino. Every dream I've ever had in my life so far seemed like they combined to create that view. They wait for about two weeks or so to get prints of what were then first-run movies. For example, "Monsters vs. Aliens" was reduced to one showtime, while "Fast & Furious" gets three. Cheaper rates for prints I'll bet. It shows, with "Hannah Montana" and "Duplicity" beginning there on May 1st. But with tickets at $3, why not?
My mom has become more pushy about Las Vegas, and with good reason, considering that we've lived in the Santa Clarita Valley for a little over five years, and last year wasn't by choice. The Clark County School District had stopped hiring teachers, and then the economy tanked. I got to thinking about Florida as well, and whether we might move back there. Not possible, because of the insurance rates for hurricanes and all the other high-priced insurance that goes with living in Florida. It was then that I realized Las Vegas was it, finally. That's where I belong. I know it's going to be home, and the word "home" will actually mean what it's supposed to mean this time. Not as fluid as "Let's go home," where "home" is just where you live, as it is for us in Saugus. But "home." As is said in a lyric from the song "Home" by Simply Red: "Home is a place where I yearn to belong." I have that in my Facebook profile. I know I belong in Las Vegas. I've felt it every time we've been there and I know it'll be different living there than just visiting, but I can get used to it.
- 27 books to return to the library today. Have to. The books I need for my research have come in and now the research officially begins, even though I've been stockpiling resources for the past two weeks, mainly in experts and historians to interview and quote in my essays. I've seen a few silent film comedy shorts that Fatty Arbuckle has starred in and directed, and he knew what he was doing, despite what his appearance may indicate. No clumsiness there at all. Just playing a middle-class man often stuck in farcicial situations, and guaranteed he falls on his back at least once in each film. I told my sister that this is harder than I had hoped. Not that I'm dreading the opportunity to research some of these ghosts of cinema's past, but there's so much to read, though I am looking forward to many of the movies I plan to watch to remain relatively well-informed. My sister reminded me that this is my first book, so of course it's going to be hard. 21 essays to write, and hopefully it'll get easier after the first one.
Time to disengage. Have to gather the books I intend to return, and also load many in the trunk that likely won't fit in a full tote bag. Then a shower and bed. Seems about right for a Sunday. Back to the routine of it.
- Watching a movie, "The Adventures of Mark Twain," which I Tivo'd on Thursday from Turner Classic Movies.
- Was outside earlier, looking up at the stars, as much out of the glare of a burnished-orange light that remains on near the pool, even with no one there. Never understood that, not even with keeping the underwater pool and spa lights on. It's not like there's anyone who would sneak around that area anyway, being that this neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods are so quiet at this time of night, you could swear that they were either just built and awaiting new residents, or the real-estate crunch had caused their downfall. However, there's two ducks on occasional nights who sleep in the pool, and they're at least quieter than the residents set to use the pool in the coming weeks, when it opens back up.
- Recently recorded on the Tivo: "Chinese Box," starring Jeremy Irons and Gong Li (credited as "Li Gong"), "Camilla," starring Jessica Tandy and Bridget Fonda, and "Funny Girl," starring Barbra Streisand. I deleted the first a few months ago to conserve space, the second I recorded because of Jessica Tandy, and the third was because if you live in my house, then you know all about Streisand, whether you want to or not. I like her as a singer and actress (partly genetic, since I have my parents' musical tastes, with the addition of jazz, electronica, and some techno dance music), and had never seen "Funny Girl," so there you go.
- From what I can tell, this Tivo box in the living room is called "DirecTV Plus." There might be a newer version, but why can't this one retain actors' names and years of release after a movie or TV show has been recorded? Before something is recorded and during it as well, you can find that information on the guide. After, you're left only with a synopsis, what you recorded, the genre, whether it's closed-captioned, and what it contains (in the case of "Camilla," "adult content" and "adult language," abbreviated as "AC, AL." I know I can get that information online if I want, but I like having it right there.
- I remain connected to Las Vegas through the websites for the Las Vegas Sun, the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the blog of VegasRex (http://www.vegasrex.com/), who has made known his intention to run for mayor in the coming election. He's ready to disclose financial details and every other kind of detail that's dredged up in these elections and he's serious about it too. Not sure how much publicity he'll get, what with Oscar Goodman, a former Vegas mob lawyer, wanting yet another term (I heard something about there being term limits on that, but he wants to eliminate that), but Rex has fans, myself included. One of the other ways I remain connected: Every week, I call the automated line for the movie theater the Hacienda Hotel and Casino in Boulder City, which is three miles from Hoover Dam. I've never forgotten the view from the mountain adjacent to the casino. Every dream I've ever had in my life so far seemed like they combined to create that view. They wait for about two weeks or so to get prints of what were then first-run movies. For example, "Monsters vs. Aliens" was reduced to one showtime, while "Fast & Furious" gets three. Cheaper rates for prints I'll bet. It shows, with "Hannah Montana" and "Duplicity" beginning there on May 1st. But with tickets at $3, why not?
My mom has become more pushy about Las Vegas, and with good reason, considering that we've lived in the Santa Clarita Valley for a little over five years, and last year wasn't by choice. The Clark County School District had stopped hiring teachers, and then the economy tanked. I got to thinking about Florida as well, and whether we might move back there. Not possible, because of the insurance rates for hurricanes and all the other high-priced insurance that goes with living in Florida. It was then that I realized Las Vegas was it, finally. That's where I belong. I know it's going to be home, and the word "home" will actually mean what it's supposed to mean this time. Not as fluid as "Let's go home," where "home" is just where you live, as it is for us in Saugus. But "home." As is said in a lyric from the song "Home" by Simply Red: "Home is a place where I yearn to belong." I have that in my Facebook profile. I know I belong in Las Vegas. I've felt it every time we've been there and I know it'll be different living there than just visiting, but I can get used to it.
- 27 books to return to the library today. Have to. The books I need for my research have come in and now the research officially begins, even though I've been stockpiling resources for the past two weeks, mainly in experts and historians to interview and quote in my essays. I've seen a few silent film comedy shorts that Fatty Arbuckle has starred in and directed, and he knew what he was doing, despite what his appearance may indicate. No clumsiness there at all. Just playing a middle-class man often stuck in farcicial situations, and guaranteed he falls on his back at least once in each film. I told my sister that this is harder than I had hoped. Not that I'm dreading the opportunity to research some of these ghosts of cinema's past, but there's so much to read, though I am looking forward to many of the movies I plan to watch to remain relatively well-informed. My sister reminded me that this is my first book, so of course it's going to be hard. 21 essays to write, and hopefully it'll get easier after the first one.
Time to disengage. Have to gather the books I intend to return, and also load many in the trunk that likely won't fit in a full tote bag. Then a shower and bed. Seems about right for a Sunday. Back to the routine of it.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
3:59 a.m. newspaper delivery
From inside, on this computer, doing preliminary research for "What If They Lived?" (i.e., Wikipedia before I check out from the library on Sunday the first hundred books I need on four silent film actors), I hear a car (or maybe it's a van) pull up to my next-door neighbor's garage door to throw today's L.A. Times at it. In my head, I'm already at the door, at the car, just desperate to talk to this person for a minute or so, just to know their take on the night hours, how early they have to get up, if they notice certain details of the night that no one in my neighborhood sees. Or maybe it's just a job for them, as I'd expect.
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