Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Just my imagination...
Great post, Mickey.
Posted by JOS on from Puerto Rico 10/23 at 07:35 AMGood Morning JOS and Mickey...JOS, among other things, today I will IMAGINE that I am where you are. We are having our first snow of the season. Sunshine feels a lot better on the skin than snow does............
IMAGINE if all of the troops became CO’s. It would mean an end to war. IMAGINE if all of the government run schools used the books written by Mickey, Blum, Churchill, etc instead of the textbooks that they now use. IMAGINE what life would be like if we could all be thinking about art and beauty, instead of thinking about war, torture, corruption, greed, etc......Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/23 at 08:01 AMBravo mister.
Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 10/23 at 10:33 AMHowdy fellow Expendables:
Owen, from yesterday: 45,000 words is a gracious plenty. In my mind I imagine you writing Portrait of the Tagger as an Angry Young Man or The Education of an Outsider Artist gleefully taking the piss out of power. Hurry up, I need more books to read.
RMJ: You siren you! Such a wonderful, evocative pose! The Woman of Conscience as provocateuse! I swoon....
BTW, we’re just today receiving fall weather...it’s 70, and will top out at about 75. By Tuesday, the highs will be in the high 60s-lowest possible 70s. Yesterday would have suited you: 80, sunny, breezy, and dry.
I have a guest room....
Michael, from yesterday: FIVE POUNDS for a day’s supply of smokes?! How bad do you want cancer anyway?!? Wow!
Your teacher’s explanation about some running faster than others is classic “do as I say, not as I do"-speak. Had this yahoo been the one checking up on me I’d have stopped and bought cigs before wandering back to base myself, and I’ve never smoked.
For the record, I don’t like smoking but I resent the curtailment of smokers’ liberties because what they do to you today *for your own good* they can do to me tomorrow *for my own good.* The precedent is ugly, and to me chilling. I refuse to eat low-fat, low-flavor, low-class foods...how long before They decide these are so bad for me that I can’t have them anymore, and tax beef and butter and milk and eggs into oblivion?
We’re all gonna die, folks. Being a fit and trim corpse plays no part in my personal life plan, it seems so pointless and such a huge waste of reading and writing and eating and screwing time *while I’m alive to enjoy it.* Blah blah blah strokes/heart attacks/diabetes, getting old is the result of breaking down bodily systems and all this stuff is is proof that we’re all subject to those laws. Besides, shouldn’t it be a net gain to the health nazis that fat, gross Murricans are dying and leaving the gene pool cleaner and the population smaller and more concentrated in non-Murrican countries?
[/rant]
Hi Helga! Daylesford looks nice.
Posted by Mudge on from Workin' for the Weekend 10/23 at 12:46 PMOh, JOS, how’s the back today post-handstand? And are you pleased that the Black Sox beat ex-Real Sox/Yank-me Clemens? I am...may it be their only win in the Series, though. Oh, I guess it’s okay if they win against Pettitte, too, so a 4-2 Series Sox loss against the Astros sounds nice.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/23 at 12:58 PMMudge...I am shivering in the cold, there is now snow on my potted palm on the porch, and I am already tired of winter. I will pack my bags immediately.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/23 at 12:58 PMWonderful page, Mickey Z.
Mudge, you too, are a writer…
Sometimes the great southern writers just seem to be peeking our of every line of your posts, and I get all shivery with delight, and a bit of envy at times, I confess. I hope you, too, will get something to the printers, for the rest of us.Hi Rosemarie and JOS -
JOS, it IS good to hear that your back is improving, and you’re getting back into fighting trim… You have your very own yoga guru, and you live on a lovely island in the Caribbean. Things could be worse, lad. Can ya still smoke there? Are there any honkey oldsters like me, down there?Michael - toward your post of last night:
That’s heavy coin! (No matter how it’s converted.)
I guess they’ve banned “public” smoking in all of Ireland… ( and Sweeden? )
My sense is that lots of people “think” this has all been some sort of successful grass-roots movement-
as if irate, ordinary, non-smoking people finally stood up against smoking, and the government and corporations “listened” to them, and banned the evil weed. Of course, such thinking is preposterous. It’s all a part of corporatization, but a part which most on the Left have found just too darned pleasing to oppose. It’s been a significant mistake not to have told government to #### off, here, I believe…
Smokers have always been very troublesome oddballs, militantly demanding those “little 10 or 15 minute” work breaks every two hours, and gathering together - out on the margins of groupings and neighborhoods and societies, to talk and think and complain together…
Wherever I’ve gone, since junior high school, I’ve always been able to find like minded folks -
I just look for the glow of a cigarette, or I remain alert for the smell of tobacco, and I inevitably find one or two kindred spirits.
We stand together and look in as the “Prom Queen” is crowned, and another generation of youngsters is accepted into the great American fraternity of the undead…
We nasty smokers stand off on the periphery and dissect and ponder the events on center stage - much as happens right here…
and inevitably, we find them absurd, and dangerous, just as we here conclude they are.Lately, though, when I enter a gathering of some sort, I’m all alone out on the edges. And when I “go back in” and wander about in search of those quiet dissidents within the circle -
I find no one at all… And I find that, generally, the “Left” is pleased by these developments.Captcha word: hope
Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/23 at 02:05 PMWhat time shall I meet you at the airport, RMJ?
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/23 at 02:06 PMAh shucks Mudge, I think that you will just break my heart. You are so likable and you use big words that impress me. I can feel heartbreak in my future with you. I am checking the plane schedule right now.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/23 at 02:15 PMHow do Joe, glad t’see you’re in cranky form today. I reiterate, what They do to cigs today They can do to triple-meat triple-cheese bacon burgers tomorrow, so #### off government, and shame on the hypocrites who want freedom only for them as agrees with ‘em!
I am floored by your kind words regarding my rantings. I diligently work to replace the four completed-and-under-revision novels I lost in the Great Crash of 9/24. If I could dream a writerly voice into existence for myself, I’d want to be the bastard child of Tennessee Williams and Eudora Welty, with Allen Ginsberg and Carson McCullers for godparents. Dream big and aim high, right?
I watched Testosterone last night, a black comedy of unrequited obsessive love based on a novel by a dead gay guy. Very very close to wonderful, definitely good, and like most good movies based on books the experience causes me to now want to read the novel. Punkin Blossom, my 23-yr-old playmate, says he thinks the book would have to be dull because the movie was so hot. This logic is completely lost on me. Any Expendable able to enlighten me?
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/23 at 02:30 PMHeartbreak, RMJ? Just because I bat for the other team doesn’t mean I don’t have good sense and a strong admiration for women of your courage and clarity. Or is it the fact that I am even as we speak experiencing 73 degree glory, with that wonderful dappled light that comes from mostly cloudy skies and brisk breezes? Does that break your heart?
Ignore the words, listen to the meanings, as my wise-if-nasty old mother used to say....
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/23 at 02:33 PMMudge, It matters not what team you bat for, it only matters how you play the game....and yes, I am also feeling a bit of solar envy right now.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/23 at 03:04 PMHello Expendables. Please excuse my tardiness, but I do have a note. Been spending time getting interviewed by Greg Elich for Monthly Review AND interviewing RMJ. More on both of those soon.
Mudge, I may dare say your dear Punkin is thinking (sic) that the written word cannot match the celluloid image in terms of heat. It may be time for The Mudge to write something that sends his 23-year-old libido into orbit. Defend the pen, my brother.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/23 at 04:10 PMI hope I’ll be forgiven this brief lapse into porn…
Mudge, your discussion with Punkin reminds me of a line from de Sade’s “Philosophy in the Bedroom.” Dolmance, the great and fearsome Libertine and philosopher, once said, to Eugenie, I think:
“Frig me, dear, while I write this down...”Ahh, the joy of great art…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/23 at 04:38 PMI’ve heard of action painters, Joe, but action writers?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/23 at 04:54 PMAction Writing! I think I’ve discovered what I want to do with my life, Mickey. I knew that, if I was patient, the right occupation would present itself - ready to hand, as it were.
Hey, Mr. Z, I’m very much looking forward to those interviews.
PS - My son has been reading Proust’s “Swanns Way.” He asked his English teacher if he could write a small book report on it, for some extra credit. The teacher said no, he could not, as the class is focusing, this year, on American and British writers, only…
(My son added: “I bet he’s never read Proust. I’ll bet that’s it...")
I’ll bet he’s right.
Captcha word: lost
Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/23 at 05:22 PMRMJ, to complete your apotheosis from Ice Cold Snow Demon to Solar Envy Queen, imagine the long, slow twilight I’m experiencing now! The slanting golden light brightening the newly fall colored pear trees over my fence...the wonderful splashing sussurrus of the bright leaves in the cooling evening breeze, still just slightly warm from the day but, like the higher clouds turning deep gold and cherry red, signaling evening in their changes....
Jealous yet? How about this cherry on the Sunday: My captcha word is “summer.” When’s the plane?
MZ, I confess that Storytelling Saturday inspired Punkin and me to create a version of same...uh, shall we call it “Fantasy Saturday” and draw a veil of modesty over the details?
Joe, le marquis is a worthy model for emulation, no?
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/23 at 05:25 PMJoe, can you imagine if we starting outing everyone who’s pretended to read Proust?
Mudge, I’m here to inspire. I claim no responsibilty for the form that inspiration takes.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/23 at 05:31 PMJoe, my town’s in a swivet here lately because the International Baccalaureate program has on its reading list a book called The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Some igmo parent read the Library of Congress description of it and became all bent because the book is pornographic!
Oh, the kerfuffle! There’s both hoo and pla in the paper, scandal scandal blah blah blah...I thought that anything causing this much trouble hadda be good, so I got a copy from the library, saw the glowing reviews excerpted on the cover, greatest living Japanese writer major contribution to world literature, so I’m practically drooling by now, and…
what a letdown.
It’s an okay book, not very sexy let alone pornographic, and I can only assume the translation does the work no favors if this is the greatest living Japanese writer. I liked Banana Yashimoto’s Kitchen better than this, and considered it a more successful example of a novel, too. Banana ain’t dead. Hmm.
So the upshot of my story? The committee of teachers who picked the book off the International Baccalaureate list said they “didn’t have time to review all the cadnidates for inclusion into the program” and they selected the book because it was “representative of modern Japanese culture.”
How would they know? They admitted they didn’t read it, and not one of ‘em is Japanese, and if I were the Emperor I’d sue their saggy butts for saying such a horrible thing about my Empire.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/23 at 05:38 PMYeah, Mickey - I’d imagine all the worlds “actual” Proust readers would fit into a few square blocks in Astoria.
( A - story - A ), can you tell us a bit about it’s name and the origins of this section of my favorite borough?
Mudge, le Marquis presents several perversions with which I’m thoroughly conversant, and even more thoroughly delighted.
Have you read Mishima?
Years ago I was pretty taken with him. Began with “The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea,” and went on to stories in “Death in Midsummer,” and a biography. A powerful and most disturbing fellow.And, has anyone read August Wilson?
I confess that I have not. I read about him just a few weeks ago, and was astonished that I’d completely missed a writer many are calling the greatest American playwright, ever. When I looked into his life, I discovered his time spent in my old greasy haunt in Seattle, and I’ve been most curious ever since. Yet, I’ve zero time to add books to my must read list…Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/23 at 06:42 PMI feel the same way about August Wilson, Joe. I just don’t know anything about him...but I’m not sure how that happened.
As for Astoria, here’s some history:
http://www.myastoria.com/history
And some images:
http://tinyurl.com/9c56yPosted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/23 at 07:11 PMThanks for the links, Mickey. Great outline of Astorian history. I guess I should have thought my way through a list of names of elites and robberbarons, before I asked about the word “Astoria.”
The photographic “walk” through the area is astoundingly comprehensive, obsessively-compulsively comprehensive, in fact. I’ve never seen anything like it. Well, it’s an act of love, however overdone.By the way, my compliments on your piece at Press Action. I forgot, earlier, to thank you for it. The Benderman’s (sounds somehow like poor English, don’t it)-
the Benderman’s are impressive people. He’s got serious stones, and she’s pretty darn bright and articulate.
My wife and I are going to send him a card, though it hardly seems an act of any significance. What he’s doing, he’s doing for all of us - and I’ll sleep well in my own bed, in my own home, next to the woman I love, tonight… while he’s in a fucking military prison doing (I’m sure) hard time…Mudge - about the “Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.”
I guess it just proves that controversy sells…
Just before you publish, we can begin some internet blather about your book: It’s actually a history of your life as a covert operative and your scandalous, illegal affair with Kamir, hot-blooded, dangerous, dapper, former Bath Party agent, found dead in Washington, DC, shortly after the start of the Iraq war…
That ought to get things going, eh?Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/23 at 11:57 PMJoe, you’d lie like a rug for my publishing success? You’re a prince among men.
Mishima’s Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea was gorgeous...so was Remains of the Day and Spring Snow. One day I’ll get around to reading Confessions of a Mask. His seppuku in 1970 was a big loss to literature, and he wasn’t even 50 at the time! Damn his gay-hatin’ literature-loathin’ father anyway.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/24 at 12:51 AMThe Windup Bird Chronicle pornographic? spose it could be if you´re illiterate. That´s one of my favourite books, I did nothing but lie around and read it. A surreal sort-of-detective novel about a househusband stagnating hanging around at home listening to jazz and cooking pasta, his cat and his wife disappear and he gets some odd phonecalls. It´s got some fascinating chapters about Japanese and Russian troops on the Chinese front in World War II, which got Murakami in some hot water at home because of the national amnesia surrounding the period.
Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 10/24 at 04:12 AMA comment from Helga-come-lately (as far as this post is concerned):
Great photo of Rosemarie - and I heard Mr Arnove speak at the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco on 26 March 2003 - very impressive!
And I agree with JOS - great post, Mickey!Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 10/24 at 06:39 PMHi, Mudge!
Daylesford does look nice - in reality as well! If you ever come to Australia, make sure to give us a call.Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 10/24 at 06:42 PM
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