I wrote a thing for the Bee on local comedy doin's
I think I've already written more this year than I did all of last year. It's so different taking on deadlines now because there's no social life for them to conflict with. It makes the writing more enjoyable.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
cry of the day
This article on directors' memories of the Cannes film festival made me cry. Just this morning I was thinking I miss movies so bad! I think going to a movie will be an early post shelter in place activity for me, as long as the theaters put precautions in place. I'll do that before I'll eat sit down in a restaurant I'm pretty sure.
The lone exception in that article is the Wes Anderson part, which is lame and should have been cut out.
There are so many directors and movies mentioned that I haven't watched! My favorite is the quote from Hirokazu Kore-eda:
Because I experienced firsthand the vast reach of cinema and the abundance of its history. And then, once I accepted my own minuscule presence and my immaturity as a director, I experienced joy. The awareness that although I was but a single drop of water, I was flowing with the bountiful river of cinema.
He directed Shoplifters, which I have wanted to watch. Why the fuck does pasting change the font sometimes, does anyone EVER want that to happen?@? Too lazy to fix.
Everyone is talking about this Robert Pattinson profile, I have to read it!
The lone exception in that article is the Wes Anderson part, which is lame and should have been cut out.
There are so many directors and movies mentioned that I haven't watched! My favorite is the quote from Hirokazu Kore-eda:
Because I experienced firsthand the vast reach of cinema and the abundance of its history. And then, once I accepted my own minuscule presence and my immaturity as a director, I experienced joy. The awareness that although I was but a single drop of water, I was flowing with the bountiful river of cinema.
He directed Shoplifters, which I have wanted to watch. Why the fuck does pasting change the font sometimes, does anyone EVER want that to happen?@? Too lazy to fix.
Everyone is talking about this Robert Pattinson profile, I have to read it!
Thursday, May 07, 2020
Sopranos and trips not taken
Smiller and I watched the season finale in season 4 (Whitecaps) of the Sopranos last night. WOW. The acting was so visceral and upsetting. I just checked, and Gandolfini and Falco both won Emmys for it, which was their right! Falco won the Golden Globe that season 2. Their marriage-ending fights in that episode made a Marriage Story look like the weak sauce it was. There's so many little touches like how Carmela shakes from nerves or even how she squints at the light when she's sick in the first part. One of my favorite episodes.
So my memory (no plot spoilers) is that season 5 and 6 are not that great? I think there's even a chance there are some episodes I never saw. Can't remember. I am glad I have more episodes to watch though.
We were supposed to be heading for London from SMF around midnight tonight. We had a decent red-eye with a one hour layover in Newark, and then would arrive in London on Friday night. We were hoping to be early enough and not too tired to get to our hotel in Islington and then grab a pint and fish and chips. It was going to be perfect to overcome jetlag because we left at night and arrived at night. I had a reservation at Ottolenghi Islington I think Saturday? And I was casting around for places for us to get a Sunday roast. And I had made a map in Google maps of other places to eat and go. Last time we were in London I was loving hanging out near the canals and checking out the barges people live and recreate on and also going to open air markets and sampling the food. And I saw so much cool art last time - the Christo in Hyde park and Toma Abts at the Serpentine.
Oh yeah, and because I was loving the London parks last time, and because of this New Yorker article about cold water swimming, I was planning on swimming in the Hampstead Heath pond, which has a men's and women's area.
So my memory (no plot spoilers) is that season 5 and 6 are not that great? I think there's even a chance there are some episodes I never saw. Can't remember. I am glad I have more episodes to watch though.
We were supposed to be heading for London from SMF around midnight tonight. We had a decent red-eye with a one hour layover in Newark, and then would arrive in London on Friday night. We were hoping to be early enough and not too tired to get to our hotel in Islington and then grab a pint and fish and chips. It was going to be perfect to overcome jetlag because we left at night and arrived at night. I had a reservation at Ottolenghi Islington I think Saturday? And I was casting around for places for us to get a Sunday roast. And I had made a map in Google maps of other places to eat and go. Last time we were in London I was loving hanging out near the canals and checking out the barges people live and recreate on and also going to open air markets and sampling the food. And I saw so much cool art last time - the Christo in Hyde park and Toma Abts at the Serpentine.
Oh yeah, and because I was loving the London parks last time, and because of this New Yorker article about cold water swimming, I was planning on swimming in the Hampstead Heath pond, which has a men's and women's area.
Monday, May 04, 2020
dream job
I've never really had a "dream job". When I was a kid I told people I wanted to be a dentist because I knew I wasn't a hard enough worker to be a doctor and dentist sounded impressive. But I never took the slightest action to pursue that.
When I started college at Sac State I wanted to be a therapist and was a Psychology major. I still kind of wish I had stuck with that, as I probably would have been in practice for over ten years now and would be pretty established and settled probably.
But I veered off into being interested in the brain, and for a brief time (couple years) I guess my "dream job" became neuroscience researcher. I def. daydreamed about being all celebrated and garnering awards, etc. That led me into the lab and eventually into a job at UCD where I still am. But again, my realizing how hard I would have to work made me drop that. At least I know myself!
Writing about food has never really been a dream job, because I know doing it full time would ruin it. I mean maybe if I could take a time machine back to the 80s, which in retrospect was the heyday of food writing (on into the 90s), sure. But the field was small back then and I probably couldn't have cut it anyway.
Which leads me to my true dream job, which would also necessitate a time machine: working for Springbok puzzles in the 70s and 80s. If you have ever read the back of one of their puzzle boxes you know that there was some crazy creativity and wackiness going on there. And probably some recreational drugs as well. I picture pitch meetings for new puzzles, and I want to be in those meetings. So maybe my title would be creative director? Or just writer. Middle class jobs were a thing then so imagine this work allowing me to be financially secure enough to buy a ranch house, maybe with a conversation pit.
Although, looking at the Springbok history page, I see that it was founded in 63, but then sold to Hallmark by 67. Hallmark would probably suck to work for. So is my dream job even more specific than I thought? Is my dream job, being Katie Lewin and founding Springbok? What did she do after she sold it?
Wow, there is a jigsaw wiki!
When I started college at Sac State I wanted to be a therapist and was a Psychology major. I still kind of wish I had stuck with that, as I probably would have been in practice for over ten years now and would be pretty established and settled probably.
But I veered off into being interested in the brain, and for a brief time (couple years) I guess my "dream job" became neuroscience researcher. I def. daydreamed about being all celebrated and garnering awards, etc. That led me into the lab and eventually into a job at UCD where I still am. But again, my realizing how hard I would have to work made me drop that. At least I know myself!
Writing about food has never really been a dream job, because I know doing it full time would ruin it. I mean maybe if I could take a time machine back to the 80s, which in retrospect was the heyday of food writing (on into the 90s), sure. But the field was small back then and I probably couldn't have cut it anyway.
Which leads me to my true dream job, which would also necessitate a time machine: working for Springbok puzzles in the 70s and 80s. If you have ever read the back of one of their puzzle boxes you know that there was some crazy creativity and wackiness going on there. And probably some recreational drugs as well. I picture pitch meetings for new puzzles, and I want to be in those meetings. So maybe my title would be creative director? Or just writer. Middle class jobs were a thing then so imagine this work allowing me to be financially secure enough to buy a ranch house, maybe with a conversation pit.
Although, looking at the Springbok history page, I see that it was founded in 63, but then sold to Hallmark by 67. Hallmark would probably suck to work for. So is my dream job even more specific than I thought? Is my dream job, being Katie Lewin and founding Springbok? What did she do after she sold it?
Wow, there is a jigsaw wiki!