My hit song... over and over and over

Presumably artists get sick of singing the same hit song over and over again. Here's one way to handle it: Madonna singing "Like a Virgin".

My little room among the misty isles

This is my little room Chez Parents. Not really a garret... more like a hotel room. Le Hotel Parentahj. These are pics from when I was here in March.

This is Gunny, whom my step-mother picked up in Scotland. (Gunn is the Scottish line of my dad's family.) She brought him out when I was feeling homesick. You can see he settled in with a good book.

Here's the 7 PM intense sun bath. The sun sets on this side of the house.

The other bed serves as my side table.

I don't have this little desk setup anymore, cause the house is now on the market for sale. Kind of a pain to bring the wheelie chair back downstairs if there's a visit. But I miss it. Very comfortable.

Bookshelf just waiting for me to fill it!

A stormy night.

View from my little desk.

The setting sun.

The misty outlines of the islands around here always make me think of the Bruce Cockburn song: 

Rain forest. Mist and mystery. Teeming green.

Today when I took my walk I came across a teeny park, just a staircase down to the ocean. It was a windy day so the water looked like it was shimmering and hopping about; the waves were splashing loudly against the rocks and pushing around a few logs that must have escaped the loggers. I sat down on the grass and did my daily meditation.

If you've never heard Cockburn's "If a Tree Falls" do yourself a favor. He was one of the best political songwriters of the 70s - 90s. Really poetic writer, and fantastic guitarist.

This is something other

Busy monster eats dark holes in the spirit world

Where wild things have to go

To disappear

Forever

Writing Comedy: The Moderns

My favorite scene from The Moderns, about American expats in 1920s Paris. I've been told it's not funny unless you're watching the movie. Well... bah! Here it is anyway!!


* Oiseau (Wallace Shawn) has decided to fake his own suicide to get out of his contract.
* Nick Hart (Keith Carradine) is trying to get Rachel back, and hates the man she's with, Stone. They recently boxed and Stone won.
* Hemingway is writing a book.

Oiseau: Writing about yourself can be very lonely!

Nick: What are you writing?

Oiseau: It's my obituary. It's too important a task to leave to those hacks in the obituary department.

Nick: Oiseau why don't you just quit the goddamn paper?

Oiseau: Now this'll interest you--I've decided on poison! Drowning was my second choice. I mean, ha! It's much better than asphyxiation. I saw a man once who'd been hung; he looked a bit... disappointed.

Nick: You can't kill yourself Oiseau we're going to Hollywood.

[Hemingway joins them.]

Hemingway [to Nick]: I'm gonna tell you why Carlos beat you in the ring a couple days ago.

Nick: Who?

Hemingway: Carlos--Stone. I'm working on something, it doesn't matter.

Nick: Right, let's have it.

Hemingway: Scruples.

Nick: Scruples.

Hemingway: Scruples. You can't win Andrea with scruples.

Nick: Who?

Hemingway: Andrea--Rachel, forget it. I'm sitting there watching him waltz around you like he owns you--

Nick: He doesn't own me. He does not own me. He thinks just because he buys something he owns it. It's all the same to him: a piece of ass, a piece of property, it's all about ownership. He doesn't own me, he doesn't own Rachel, and he never will.

Hemingway: Hey, guys like that are bad for all of us, Clark.

Nick: Nick.

Hemingway: Nick.

Oiseau: Who? -- You know writing about yourself can be very lonely!

Hemingway: What are you writing?

Oiseau: It's my obituary. It's too important a job to leave to those hacks in the obituary department.

Hemingway: Why don't you quit that goddamn paper like I did?

Oiseau: Now this'll interest you--I've decided on pills.

Nick: He doesn't own me.

Hemingway: Who?

Nick: Stone.

Hemingway: Carlos.

Oiseau: Who?



What Makes It Funny:


* Oiseau contemplating his own obituary.
* Repetition ("He doesn't own me!" "Writing about yourself can be very lonely!")
* Hemingway getting people's names wrong, cause he's clearly "writing about what you know" - putting his friends into his novel. And this confusing Oiseau.

Well, sorry if that doesn't do it justice. Sometimes I just need to write these things on my blog.