Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Risky business
Um… that was me that sent the adopt-a-pet link, not Mickey’s childhood friend. Though I’ve taken my share of spills like that on the subway. Man, what’s that like living so close to where you grew up? I just had to get out of Maspeth, was bugging me so much, but that’s a different story.
Captcha says ‘husband’... can’t even speculate on that right now.
I think the book ends a lot different than the movie, doesn’t it? I remember being upset when I saw the movie; I was going through my own thing, and still had my brother’s bout with mental illness fresh in mind, so to some extent I wasn’t sure how I felt about the character turning out to clinically insane, like with multiple… well, the book’s a lot different, right and that was a few years ago. Mm, I assume most people are like me and saw the movie first. I"ll be back later.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/07 at 09:53 AMHappy Saturday all, and good morning to Big Country!
James, you’re from Maspeth?! Much is now explained. And why is MY captcha “hall” when I actually WANT a husband?!
So, Inspector Clouzima, when is our target date for discussion of the Palahniuk? 2/7?
I’m being lazy today, I got up at 9am and I still haven’t done squat...and I’m good with it. It’s going up to 80F, it’s sunshiney as all get out, and I’m going for a walk with the puppies.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 01/07 at 11:15 AMHello James and Mudge...from a sunny, but cold Astoria. I had imagined our group reading project being an ongoing discussion. You know, commenting as we went along. But captcha is warning me that might mean “trouble.” If everyone agrees that we should pick a discussion start date, I’m cool with it...although I’d prefer something a little earlier than 2/7.
I’ll await the Expendables’ decision...but I will probably not wait to start my re-reading of a favorite book. Sorry…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/07 at 12:24 PMHi folks
Glad to hear Mudge is doing exactly what I’m doing, eg having a lazy & contented day doing sweet FA. Here it is not warm - outside - but in my house it is very cosy; the coffee is flowing & I’m going over some writing.
MZ, I’m happy to discuss Fight Club at any time - will start cheerfully rereading this weekend, I think. It’s an excellent book & has so many thought provoking ideas.
Storytime Saturday? Well, here’s one anecdote I honestly say is quite revealing about expectation.
Ten years ago, England played Scotland in Euro 96, in London, and England won. I’m not a football fan so it meant little to me, but in the evening I needed to get a train back to where I lived from my parents’ house. It was aboutr 50 miles away, Manchester to Lancaster.
The train turned out to be a long distance (for the UK!) one, going from London to Edinburgh. The train was full of drunk Scottish football fans ... everywhere. Having a decidedly English accent, & feeling that I didn’t particularly want to be suspected of being unsympathetic to their loss, my face fell as I got on the train & realised who my travelling companions overwhelmingly were.
Loud groups of drunk football fans are among my least favourite travelling companions - not just because I don’t like the game, or the long, tedious discussions involved, but also I’ve seen some (fringe!) football violence that was fast, savage & unreasonable enough for me to more than want to keep my head down.
I started reading, the only book I had was one a friend had leant me. Both being students, taking in classics (especially ones with some boast factor) was on the cards. So I sat there with a copy of The Outsider, thinking that at least they probably wouldn’t pay me any attention, except very briefly.
The journey progressed quite happily for a while; loud comments, burping, sounds of disgruntled sports fans who’d travelled & paid through the nose for tickets, & seen their team lose. I assure anyone reading that the Scots keenly dislike losing to England, as we dislike losing to them - if you get involved in that sort of thing. Most football camaraderie is very friendly, I have to say, with the exception of loud groups of pissheads who want to involve total strangers in what they are doing. Which they did!
My ears pricked up after a while. They were talking ... about French Existentialism ... and knew far more about it than me ... and were citing influences on Camus, various other writers ... & had a breadth of reference I could only marvel at ...
I was so glad I hadn’t been embroiled in one of those painful encounters with football hooligans,
you know, the peaceful ones with drunk sports fans
who know more about schools of literature than literature students present who thought they were improving themselves.Basically I had judged these people all wrong. Certainly they were wearing colours & a bit rowdy ... nothing all that wrong with that, & no attempts to intimidate had been made to me or anyone. I think it just shows how, what might seem quite reasonable conclusions (ie keep head down & do not engage in any remotely challenging way), can also lead to totally stupid ones.
The moral of this story ... avoid casually reading classic books around large numbers of pissed (ie drunk) & pissed off football fans, who may inadvertently cross the eyeballs of passers by who were completely surprised, & strangely enchanted by just how unlikely it seemed.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/07 at 12:53 PMit hasn’t gone above 3 degrees (C) here for three days. nasty cold spell.
as for confessions, i once said i agreed with tony blair about something he said. i did agree with what he said that one time but just like every other time what he said and what he did bore no relation to each other.
Posted by michael on from scotland 01/07 at 12:55 PMPS MZ, how can you possibly think it excessive to drink 100K’s worth of bubbly? You strange, silly person ... apparently (not much of a wine buff, but according to friends) a white sparkling Spanish wine called Cava is much more delicious than Champagne, & costs about $6 a bottle ...
Now then, assuming they wanted a lot of fizz, a few friends etc, they could have bought plenty for (say 12 dollars a head, that’s if they were all intent on getting plenty merry & two bottles is (say) more than likely to induce all sorts of OTT behaviour.
It’s a bit of a brain spinner, isn’t it? If you arrived at a party, & the host had provided two bottles of fizz for each guest, well, you could hardly say there wasn’t enough booze - or maybe it would be nearer three bottles, but shit! That would leave way over $99,000, even if they had dozens of friends ... sadly, I doubt said people have that many real friends.
I’m glad I’m not ‘blessed’ with wealth at times. Imagine never being able to take someone’s opinion seriously - you could only comfort yourself by assuming everyone was envious & send the world #### off messages by blowing vast wodges of cash on pointless fripperie. Mm. I feel so much happier about myself & the people I know, none of whom are that stupid.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/07 at 12:59 PMhey chris - i have been on a similar train to that in 2000. some fans were discussing interesting things. others were singing a song about alan shearer that would make a statue blush but anyway…
it may interest you or anyone else (and it may not) that albert camus was a goalkeeper for a professional football team as was the last pope.
Posted by michael on from scotland 01/07 at 01:00 PMMichael, I’m intrigued - what has Tony Blair said that you agree with? Sorry, have not heard the news of his wisdom for a couple of days - often try to avoid it - & know that Charles Kennedy (third party leader in the UK who admitted having a serious personal problem the other day) will dominate the news, & hate seeing someone being judged for a painful & difficult detail of his life.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/07 at 01:00 PMMichael, I did not know that! Not that I was trying to look down my nose at football - most of my friends love it, & it’s so damn popular a wide variety of excellent people have been enthusiastic participants - & fair play to them!
It is surprising, though, to be part of someone else’s scene & realise it was exactly the opposite of what I expected! It’s true that some football songs contain ideas of such advanced & shameless crudity, it’s hard not to admire on one hand & cringe at who else might hear such things, much against their wishes.
It’s the chanting of pissed up football fans I find hardest to deal with - no way would I intervene with that many overbearing people (I’d be bricking myself) & no way want groups chanting & crowing victory around whoever is around.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/07 at 01:05 PMi was being a bit silly. technically he says lots of things a lot of us probably agree with all the time.
for example, when he said “we have to drastically cut our emissions” i agree with him. he says it , but he never does anything to ensure it. etc etc
Posted by michael on from scotland 01/07 at 01:10 PMFair nuff - I work in education, education, education, & staff are reeling from more cuts, so my view of his pronouncements are that they aren’t fit for toilet paper.
You’re dead right when you talk about saying things we all agree with, which naturally aren’t acted on! I heard something a while ago, words to the effect (can’t exactly remember) of ‘the person who takes longest to say ‘yes’ to a task is the one most likely to do it.’
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/07 at 01:16 PMHello Mickey, Mudge, James, Michael & Chris -
Mudge, you seem to be calm and relatively happy, and at peace with your life. You’ve been a real inspiration, my friend - thank you.
Mickey - Suzanne and I are going to Medford, the big town around here ( Med - Ford! ) to see Syrianna, this afternoon. While out, I’ll try to find a used copy of Fight Club. If I’m unsuccessful, I’ll check the library on Monday.
Try not to finish your “nth” rereading before I even begin my first read, OK?James - good to see you. I’m glad to hear that Frank’s fine, and smart enough to know when to head for the tub!
Chris & Michael, I really enjoy your conversations about life & times in the British Isles… We do get glimpses of your world here in the States. One of our main TV channels is PBS - public broadcasting. They have lots of “high-brow,” though usually mainstream-like, programming, including documentaries and orchestral presentations and operas. However, tucked into their scheduling, is a lot of British stuff: “Monte Python,” “Black Adder” and “Mr. Bean,” “Fawlty Towers,” various British “Mysteries,” and that absurd show about Mrs. Bucket… People in her neighborhood will say: “Hello, Mrs. Bucket,” and she’ll respond:
“That’s Bouquet!”
This is the extent of our view of life “over there.”Jim - from last night. I didn’t even see your last post. It unnerved me to encounter it, this morning. I felt like a guy who’d just cleaned and emptied an entire room, stepped outside for a moment, and returned to find a vase-full of flowers sitting in the center of the empty space. I was completely undone for a moment.
Thanks for the perspective on Iran.
I’m still quite preoccupied with the situation. We all know the horror and death that is about to be unleashed, and yet the world goes about its business of selling shampoo and toothpaste and new SUV’s, eliminating cigarette smoking, improving our bone densities, and making sure that “no child is left behind...” ####.Posted by joe on from Oregon 01/07 at 04:36 PMPS: My mother-in-law is a Mormon. ( A fairly mellow Mormon… ) She heard, recently, that the church is recalling American Mormons from Venezuela. Apparently, the leadership believes that there may soon be military confrontations with the US…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 01/07 at 04:44 PMWhat a lovely, lovely day. It was 81F on my back porch. I sat out there with limeade and puppies and George Orwell’s essays to wile away my time. The breeze is 15mps from the northwest, so it’s dry and slightly cool.
Joe, thanks for saying I’ve inspired you...but today I’d only inspire sleepy contentment in any watcher. My third grandchild was born a few minutes ago, a girl named Genevieve Pomerantz, and I must now shower and change and go make cooing noises.
xoxo
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 01/07 at 05:35 PMHello Michael, Jim, Chris, Mudge, Mickey and whomever I’m forgetting,
I lieu of a story (and I enjoyed the soccer existentialist story a lot, Chris), I’d like to point y’all to a very cool thing that happened in my life here recently. It’s a first, and I don’t know how to take it in with any level of grace… but I’m also very excited and would love to get some feedback from my friends amongst the Expendables.
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 01/07 at 05:57 PMHello all.
Great exchange, Chris and Michael. Thanks.
Congrats, Grandpa Mudge.
Joe, looking forward to hearing what you and Suzanne thought of Syriana.
Hawk: Bravo. Thanks for sharing what is indeed a very cool thing. You should feel proud to have such an “effect” on others. Great photo of you, too.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/07 at 06:09 PMQuite a confession there, Mickey! Thanks for brightening up my Sunday (well, it is Sunday morning, 10:27 am in Daylesford, Australia, and we’ll have a reasonably pleasant 84F or so today). Also like your very own reading of ‘IBM’ - wasn’t HAL in Kubrick’s ‘2001’ a pun on those three letters?
And hi to all you expendables - hope you are all reasonably well.Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/07 at 06:27 PMRe the group reading project, Mickey - do we all have to read the same book? As you know, I am reading ‘The Great War for Civilisation’ by Robert Fisk, and that book is 1,283 pages long - am up to page 220 and am looking forward to reading the other 1,063 pages. Highly recommended!
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/07 at 06:30 PMOh, and Chris, I entirely agree with you about the pleasures of drinking cava. Mr and Mrs Helga used to have a whole bottle over various lunches in Barcelona - with entirely predictable results ..
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/07 at 06:37 PMHi Helga. As far as I know, HAL was chosen because it’s one letter behind IBM in the alphabet. Very clever, huh?
As for the book reading “plans,” I’ll bet you could read Fight Club whenever you take breaks from Fisk. It’s a quick read. Hope you do it and join us.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/07 at 07:13 PMCongratulations Grandpa Mudge...I just found out a few days ago that I will be blessed with a second grandchild in August.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 01/07 at 07:15 PMCongrats Mudge & RMJ - so the vile turnips in the stew of your lives have been sweetened by the apple cheeked dumpling darlings of new life gurgling forth.
Hawk, it’s a wonderful thing to be able to inspire people & I envy the lady who had the chance to receive your wisdom first hand. Combining meditation & writing - what a wonderful idea! One of my best friends writes (& finished his first novel very recently) & meditates daily; how splendid to share such winds all about!
BTW, I’ve got the vaguest of ideas, so please tell me - what is a yogi?
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/07 at 07:28 PMCan I share a line from one of my favourite books - “The shark ethic prevails, eat the wounded” - a description of greed in America. How great to have space away from that - the MZs, Mudges, Hawks et al of America stand proud. Wonderful to break away from the vast swathes of conditioning. Blinkers off!
(In England there is still plenty but, I imagine, far less programming. I have the choice to do anything I want, so long as I feel sufficiently awkward about it - that’s the English way!)
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/07 at 07:32 PMI’m playing a quick game of catch up - my apologies, reading today makes me certain that my reading of last night’s discussions was clearly too brief and I need to go back since I’m congratulating Rosemarie but have missed Mudge’s announcement somehow - Congrats anyway!
James, I’m afraid that not only do I not live in Toronto, but I don’t know anyone who cycles except for kicks (used to know one woman but it was years ago now) and come to think of it, I don’t know anyone who’s lived in NY!According to an online search my library does not have any copies of Fight Club. Must go and check it out in person. Next couple of days ought to do it.
Syrianna is only showing at 10 pm! I’ll need to wait until it gets to the cheap theatre- maybe another week or two?
My belated good morning to EveryExpendable.
OH! Hawk that’s fantastic about the article and the discussion with you about the retreat. The way that a thoughtful group meditation can affect one is truly moving and I was a little suprised to hear of the deep emotional response, it sounds rather similar to what can happen in the practice of Ashtanga but that’s a very physical practice.
Minds are fascinating my “friend”.Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/07 at 07:41 PMAh - forest for the trees sort of a thing happening today -
Mudge, congratulations on Genevieve’s introduction to the planet! I think it’s a lovely name. Happy cooing. (I always secretly want to squeeze them) Oh. I really mean that in a good way, like a good Nonna pinches your cheeks.
Thanks for the story MZ. My confession is that your description of the manner in which the door caught his shoe made me utter a snickered chuckle of laughter.
I have a very dear friend who I need to give some time to but I’m very glad to hear all of Joe’s and Mudge’s and Rosemarie’s difficulties (and hopefully JOS’s too) have all been lessened or less prominent in the last day.
Off to defend my utopia for now, I’ll be back later.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/07 at 07:58 PMCongrats, RMJ. I am putting my “hands” together in applause for you and Mudge…
...and always glad to make you chuckle (even if it’s in guilt), Empress.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/07 at 08:09 PMCongrats, RMJ and Mudge!
And I’ll try and find a copy of ‘Fight Club’, Mickey ..Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/07 at 09:08 PMMickey, Amelopsis and Chris: Thanks for checking out the article and interview, and for the kind words. This must be what it feels like when, just by doing what comes most naturally, and being who you already are, the universe responds with a thumbs-up. Seems like it happens when you’re not necessarily gunning for anything in particular, but are just funneling your gifts out into everyday life.
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 01/07 at 09:24 PMWise & beautiful words.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/07 at 09:50 PMHawk I hadn’t quite realised that you are an astrologer. I’m quite ignorant about astrology (certainly can’t make a chart or read any such a thing) and quite intrigued at the same time.
Just as you say when you feel most humbled, the universe can pat you on the back; synchronicity sometimes presents itself in the most mundane & fascinating of ways:
Just a few days ago I became quite intrigued by this post at one of my regularly enjoyed reads.
Might prove interesting for anyone...interested.
http://tinyurl.com/94m79Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/07 at 10:15 PMHawk, I echo Chris’ sentiments.
G’Night, all…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/07 at 10:16 PM
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