Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I cannot WORK under these CONDITIONS.

I mean, dude. C'mon. They are filming one single block from my house. I can see the set from my window. They've got this prettied-up version of our old Bronco, the one that had no rear window and mushrooms would grow in the back in the spring time. The movie one is a Jeep, and has a rear window. It also has a Texas bumper sticker and a WWF one (World Wildlife Fund, not Worldwide Wrestling Federation.)

And I'm expected not to stalk? Oh, please....

Monday, April 21, 2008

In agreement with Patton Oswalt on this.

Birthdays just aren't what they used to be, are they? I celebrated mine primarily by not cleaning the house, catching up on Battlestar Galactica, and having more facebook friends than actual ones send me felicitations. Which is pretty much what turning 35 merits, I guess.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

"Happy Anniversary!"

...is what the roofers, who without warning rang our doorbell at 7:45 this morning, and who are now pounding around on our roof with very large boots and drills and much falling of plaster, did not say.

Seems indicative, somehow.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Sometimes they don't even make you work for it.

Yesterday at 4pm. Union Square. I have twenty minutes to enjoy the (chilly still) spring sun, which I am taking with a bit of Nabokov on a crowded park bench. The kid next to me is showing to the kid next to him details of his next film project on his laptop.

Which he describes as: "'8 Mile' meets 'Bladerunners.'"

I don't think any comment is really necessary.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Male-Oriented Re-Installations

So here I am, writing on our crappy second tier laptop because Eric decided he should install the new OS Leopard on mine, a matter of a few moments, he promised me, which is instead due to take two hours, with me on scary deadline, and I'm sitting here thinking about Michael Cieply. And thinking, men are mysterious and strange. Also, often, asshats.

So the New York Times wants to do an article on the next generation of "chick flicks," based, in part, on the release of the film of Julie & Julia. Who do they choose to write this article? Do they choose, oh, say, I don't know, a woman? Do they choose someone, um, insightful? Or do they choose a condescending regular from the cultural desk, an "insider", which means, among other things, that he's an ex-"producer" whose sole credit, according to IMDB, is a TV movie called Alley Cats Strike, about "a group of hip retro teenage outsiders who become involved in an interschool bowling [incredulous italics mine] rivalry"?

I have not seen Alley Cats Strike, but as an honest observer of male-oriented films, I think I can safely say that it is clearly a striking example of low-grade Lad-Flick - "if Hollywood still permitted the term."

I mean, Jesus, I don't know where to begin. How about with "female-oriented romantic films"? Now, to be fair, this is a minor point that just gibes with a current irritation of mine about the spate of articles about the mysterious "Woman Voter," as if we were some strange exotic bird to be watched and courted, rather than MORE THAN HALF OF THE GODDAMNED ELECTORATE. But that is not entirely observant Mr. Cieply's fault. And perhaps it is only New York Times-style stuffiness that leads him to define chick-lit - as if it were some up-to-the-minute new phenomenon rather than a phrase that entered the lexicon an ice age or so ago - as "books written for, and often by, professional women in their 20s.... [with] covers... bright and fluffy, with amusing illustrations...and an outlook... unabashedly feminine."

Unabashedly feminine. Yes, we females are so silly and dear with our femininity and whatnot. Ho ho, pip!

I say again. Asshat.

And he can call me a secretary, fine. I was. It's irritating, but accurate.

But to write of the movie as being about me and the "cooking enthusiast" Julia Child? COOKING ENTHUSIAST?!!! Pardon my french, but what the FUCK?!

I don't consider myself a raving old-school feminist, but this article makes me want to honestly observe male-oriented body parts by ripping them from male bodies.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Deadlines and Doldrums

Sorry, guys, I've been an even crappier blogger than is usual, I am on desperate deadline, which has put me dreadfully behind on taxes, and then, to quote Rufus, "there's those other things, which for several reasons we won't mention," which have me often in bed late and passed out early.

Plus the weather blows.