Why do I feel like I'm stuck in the Sargasso Sea whenever I finish something?
By the way, I just want to point out to the more concrete thinkers out there that I was being bitter and facetious when I said I would be watching every Saw movie ever made instead of going to ALA.
Although I won't be going to ALA (which makes me bitter), people who know me will offer testimony to the fact that I rarely watch movies.
Whenever I talk about how infrequently I watch movies, it seems, people who watch a LOT of movies tend to get... well... a little tense. Like I'm bashing their religion or something. I "start" watching movies from time to time... but it's a rare movie that can keep me watching until the ending credits.
So, let me apologize for my shortcomings as a member of the audience of cinema. I suck at it.
I also never watch television.
At.
All.
Want to hear a multi-state gasp?
I know, this is going to make an awful lot of people think I'm an awful person...
I don't even know who -- or what -- Doctor Who is.
Don't tell me.
I'm saving that up for the next ALA I don't get to go to.
So.
Anyway.
In the last month, I've (ugh... here goes GREAT BIG GIANT ME again)... well... not ME... it's really because of the monsters that come out of (me)... but, my book, The Marbury Lens was the cover of Booklist... then there was that "thing" that came up in that "Journal" about me... oh, and let's not forget the Institute of Skimmed Books review... and, more recently, a very nice, swanky-photo feature interview with GREAT BIG GIANT ME in VOYA magazine, written by Matthew Weaver.
By the way, in the same issue, there is a photograph of Chris Crutcher's great big giant mustache.
I wonder why, in writing that last line, I suddenly remembered I had a most unsettling dream last night where alligators and lions were trying to eat me... they were all below me and I was standing on top of a picnic table.
I know I'm afraid of mustaches... and so I guess my brain just went to its "scary" place.
I never read articles about me. I always tell writers that.
I skim them.
Hey... I just realized that qualifies me for something.
But I don't know what.
Actually, I did read Matthew Weaver's piece about GREAT BIG GIANT ME. I really liked it.
Thank you, Matthew.
Also, the photograph in the article was taken by a very talented photographer (and writer), whose name I'm not going to mention because I don't know if she wants to be associated with someone who never watches movies (I understand she knows how to use Netflix -- whatever that is).
Anyway, I like the photograph.
She told me -- these are her words -- she was trying to go for the "non-douchebaggy" author photo look.
Just in case you ever wondered what that was, exactly.
So... regarding this whole disappointing ALA thing (but my books WILL be there)... no, I am not going.
Coincidentally, the entire rest of my family will be taking off on a vacation for a week during that time, bringing my son up to Berkeley for his freshman orientation, or whatever.
I will be home.
Alone.
Pouting and not watching movies.
Playing the role of the ancient mariner.
You can read an electronic version of VOYA (Flash required) here. My interview is on pages 136 - 137.
9 comments:
This must be why you aren't down with any big-time directors. You might want to get on that.
I wonder if you would like Invictus. Don't worry, I'm not going to ask.
That article is pretty good, and the photo looks better there than it did on FB, for some reason.
WTF is Invictus?
Just kidding. That's that rugby movie, right? No, I didn't see it.
Am I a bad person if I say that watching a trailer for it was plenty enough for me?
I love rugby, though. And I admire the manner of play of the South Africans, although they are not my favorite team nor, stylistically, the most elegant players of the sport in my opinion (and I am a certified IRB referee).
Am I wrong? It was the rugby movie, right?
I don't watch movies, I watch films.
Haha
But I DO NOT watch television. I used to and it sucked me in. When I stopped watching, I felt a weight off my shoulder. Like I could finally stop caring about these out-of-this-world reality stars and start caring about the characters (me) of my novels.
May I give you a challenge? If you haven't already, give Run Lola Run a chance. It's a great film.
Netflix canceled my account because my billing zipcode changed too many times and they thought this was "suspicious."
One time, I rented from the DirecTV guy. I lived in half his basement. I watched a lot of TV then. Except on Thursdays. That's when his fiance's jazz band practiced in the other half of the basement. I really wish I were making that up.
Now I watch the occasional DVD when I'm not too "suspicious" to rent one.
Why is it funny to me that you don't know who Dr Who is?
I use to watch more tv but there isn't anything worth watching (well baseball), but I do enjoy watching the Regular Show with the kids, it really is the only show that will have me laughing out loud. Oh yeah, I did watch Glee once because they were doing The Rocky Horror Picture Show (I am assuming you have heard of that one).
Thanks for letting me ramble miscellaneously.
Coming from a family of performers (my mom was the Safeway Lady for WA, AK, ID and OR in the 70s and 80s, and my dad was the stage manager for the Seattle Opera) I truly do appreciate film as an art form just like any other. Stage, canvas, wheel, glass blowing furnace, writing, spray painting trains. The performance of an actor (like Christian Bale in The Fighter, for example) can be almost as compelling as a great book, for me, though probably doesn't last as long, just because of the logistics of the two formats.
But that doesn't mean everyone has to feel the same way, in fact I can even be friends with people who don't, like you.
And yes, that's the movie about the Springboks.
WTF are you going to do when one of your books gets made into a blockbuster? Because I'm pretty confident that's going to happen.
Still looking for an answer to my Run Lola Run challenge.
I'll take the rec and watch the film. Can't say how soon I'll get around to doing it, though.
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