random thought generator
With numbered bullets, my favorite:
1.) I have been reading a book called "Wonderful, Wonderful Times" by an Austrian author named Elfriede Jelinek. It is a bizarre, quirky novel about a group of disaffected, nihilist teenagers in Austria in the late fifties. One is the son of a slain communist agitator, one is the wealthy daughter of anonymously wealthy parents, and the other two are twins whose father had been an SS officer who still treasures his memories of killing people during the war. Perhaps you have guessed by now that the title is painfully sarcastic.
Anyway, I finally finished reading it last night at work and oh my god. Not since "Life of Pi" has the end of a novel left my mouth gaping open in shock. I could not believe how this story ended and I can't convey my surprise (or cause you to really care) because I don't want to spoil it if you decide to read it. It would be worth reading, because it's quirky and interesting, and the surprise ending is just a bizarre, macabre bonus. You'll have to find it at a library though, even Powell's City of Books doesn't carry her stuff.
2.) Thanks to everyone who posted supportive comments re: my trip to Vegas. After awhile I started to understand why it impacted me so strongly: see, Vegas is evil. Just as the air in Vegas has no moisture, the whole creature that is Vegas has no soul. And just as the dry air was sucking all the moisture out of my body during my stay there (I came back itching all over), the whole creature of Vegas was trying to suck my soul out (via my ATM card). And it was a terrible, terrible feeling.
Has anyone seen that awful David Lynch film "Mulholland Drive?" I don't think I'm twisted enough to really appreciate any of David Lynch's work, but I did watch "Mulholland Drive" a few years ago and I tried really hard to understand it. I never did quite get a grip on it, but several images stuck with me. Remember the monster that lives behind the diner? The monster that comes in the end and brings the tiny little people in the bag to drive the girl crazy? He was so scary and just knowing he lived in that town, right there behind the diner, waiting to do evil things for money, it was like he embodied the soulless evil of Los Angeles. I suspect there is a creature like that lurking around Vegas and just being near him for two days was enough to make me almost as crazy as that chick in the movie.
3.) But I'm feeling much better now.
4.) My friend Shmeel from work is coming over in an hour to try and fix my car. Yay! Cheaper than the shop, no towing necessary, and done by a friend. Hopefully it's really the alternator belt, like everyone thinks, and not something more complicated and expensive. Otherwise, I might just be learning how not to have a car at all...
5.) Speaking of cars, and I can't believe this is coming in as an afterthought but it's only because I was trying really hard not to mention Mahavira... One of Mahavira's friends, we'll call her Manne, was in a car wreck yesterday and the other driver died. Damn. Mahavira got a call from the very hysterical Manne just after she left my house, and Manne asked her to come to a certain location on Columbia Blvd, then she said "I killed somebody." Turns out, the accident wasn't Manne's fault at all, and all witnesses (including the dead guy's son, who was a passenger) agree to this. She was driving down the street and the other guy pulled out right in front of her, she had no time to avoid him. But that doesn't make her feel a whole lot better. She kept saying "I killed somebody" and Mahavira kept trying to reframe it: "You didn't kill anyone. You were involved in an accident and there was a fatality." Hopefully that will help.
6.) Now I'm going to go take a shower.
1.) I have been reading a book called "Wonderful, Wonderful Times" by an Austrian author named Elfriede Jelinek. It is a bizarre, quirky novel about a group of disaffected, nihilist teenagers in Austria in the late fifties. One is the son of a slain communist agitator, one is the wealthy daughter of anonymously wealthy parents, and the other two are twins whose father had been an SS officer who still treasures his memories of killing people during the war. Perhaps you have guessed by now that the title is painfully sarcastic.
Anyway, I finally finished reading it last night at work and oh my god. Not since "Life of Pi" has the end of a novel left my mouth gaping open in shock. I could not believe how this story ended and I can't convey my surprise (or cause you to really care) because I don't want to spoil it if you decide to read it. It would be worth reading, because it's quirky and interesting, and the surprise ending is just a bizarre, macabre bonus. You'll have to find it at a library though, even Powell's City of Books doesn't carry her stuff.
2.) Thanks to everyone who posted supportive comments re: my trip to Vegas. After awhile I started to understand why it impacted me so strongly: see, Vegas is evil. Just as the air in Vegas has no moisture, the whole creature that is Vegas has no soul. And just as the dry air was sucking all the moisture out of my body during my stay there (I came back itching all over), the whole creature of Vegas was trying to suck my soul out (via my ATM card). And it was a terrible, terrible feeling.
Has anyone seen that awful David Lynch film "Mulholland Drive?" I don't think I'm twisted enough to really appreciate any of David Lynch's work, but I did watch "Mulholland Drive" a few years ago and I tried really hard to understand it. I never did quite get a grip on it, but several images stuck with me. Remember the monster that lives behind the diner? The monster that comes in the end and brings the tiny little people in the bag to drive the girl crazy? He was so scary and just knowing he lived in that town, right there behind the diner, waiting to do evil things for money, it was like he embodied the soulless evil of Los Angeles. I suspect there is a creature like that lurking around Vegas and just being near him for two days was enough to make me almost as crazy as that chick in the movie.
3.) But I'm feeling much better now.
4.) My friend Shmeel from work is coming over in an hour to try and fix my car. Yay! Cheaper than the shop, no towing necessary, and done by a friend. Hopefully it's really the alternator belt, like everyone thinks, and not something more complicated and expensive. Otherwise, I might just be learning how not to have a car at all...
5.) Speaking of cars, and I can't believe this is coming in as an afterthought but it's only because I was trying really hard not to mention Mahavira... One of Mahavira's friends, we'll call her Manne, was in a car wreck yesterday and the other driver died. Damn. Mahavira got a call from the very hysterical Manne just after she left my house, and Manne asked her to come to a certain location on Columbia Blvd, then she said "I killed somebody." Turns out, the accident wasn't Manne's fault at all, and all witnesses (including the dead guy's son, who was a passenger) agree to this. She was driving down the street and the other guy pulled out right in front of her, she had no time to avoid him. But that doesn't make her feel a whole lot better. She kept saying "I killed somebody" and Mahavira kept trying to reframe it: "You didn't kill anyone. You were involved in an accident and there was a fatality." Hopefully that will help.
6.) Now I'm going to go take a shower.
posted by reasonably prudent poet at 10:22 AM
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