Shrinking Violet: Style and Structure
Alright, since my last post had about as much coherence as one of the boss's more opaque exercises in allusive prose poetry and as sharp a point as a ball-peen hammer, I figure I'll go with a series of short items a la San Francisco's hero of fishwrappery Herb Caen (who, according to my favorite living but now non-practicing local gossip columnist was not necessarily the nicest of guys -- but great to read nonetheless). And in a further nod to our ink-fingered foremothers, what follows is link-free.
What is it about shade trees and a wall of brownstones under a warm sun that's so aesthetically compelling? All the more compelling when for the first day I could enjoy them with eyes clear of Summer's sweaty, humid haze...Amidst a group of nerds klatching at a local startup last night, the conversation turned to singularity -- the great melding of man and machine eagerly anticipated by the likes of Ray Kurzweil and the family Wachowski -- but in the debate over hippies versus geeks and who would save humanity, all I could think was, "I hope our meatbag free existence means an end to honkies with fauxlocks."
Read more...Speaking of fashion victimhood, what's with galoshes? During our little rainy spell, a sudden bloom of women shod like some sort of New Wave Paddington Bear emerged from the ground. I even saw a man wearing rubbers like a pig in shit matching them with a dashiki in some sort of pile-up on the fashion cycle turnpike...Gents, don't bother with the Salvation Army on West 8th, I picked it over last week and there hasn't been a new shipment since. But ladies, I saw someone drop off three pairs of Manolos while checking out last time...Waiting at the bookstore to return a mistaken purchase, I found myself behind an obvious case of late-stage anorexia nervosa, including the distinctive "fur," which is not something I remember from my first four years of undergraduate study. Now that's truly tragic.
During a class Q&A with Ezra Sacks, a scribbler behind such hits as the Goldie Hawn vehicle Wildcats, I asked, "What's with the cliche that no one in Hollywood reads? Do they all have people for that?" He blamed studio executives with motivations and interests beyond just making movies, but if you hand someone a script with Brad Pitt attached, "you can be damned sure they'll read it"...Did anyone besides the trendizens at Fashion Week notice the taxi strike? I was busy reading on the F train...Playing reporter on a story, I was thoroughly chastened by a woman at the East End Temple when I called looking for quotes from a rabbi the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah. Any suggestions on how a mishegoyim can atone for such a sin next week?
A friend recently remarked, "You know that your 'hood has been completely gentrified once you start seeing nannies." So I'll stop making fun of Park Slope -- at least they push their own kids around...Back to the left coast for a blindish item: Which web-enabled cultural phenomenon was seen dispensing black cock cakes on Curb Your Enthusiasm's season premiere?..And the only thing that came near to moving me to tears Tuesday was a theoretical physicist praising science and critical thinking as the only hope for the humanities. "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
If you've made it this far, your reward is one link. If you follow the allusion to its conclusion, yes, I'm comparing my current stay with the bittersweet time Willie Mays spent in a Mets uniform.
What is it about shade trees and a wall of brownstones under a warm sun that's so aesthetically compelling? All the more compelling when for the first day I could enjoy them with eyes clear of Summer's sweaty, humid haze...Amidst a group of nerds klatching at a local startup last night, the conversation turned to singularity -- the great melding of man and machine eagerly anticipated by the likes of Ray Kurzweil and the family Wachowski -- but in the debate over hippies versus geeks and who would save humanity, all I could think was, "I hope our meatbag free existence means an end to honkies with fauxlocks."
Read more...Speaking of fashion victimhood, what's with galoshes? During our little rainy spell, a sudden bloom of women shod like some sort of New Wave Paddington Bear emerged from the ground. I even saw a man wearing rubbers like a pig in shit matching them with a dashiki in some sort of pile-up on the fashion cycle turnpike...Gents, don't bother with the Salvation Army on West 8th, I picked it over last week and there hasn't been a new shipment since. But ladies, I saw someone drop off three pairs of Manolos while checking out last time...Waiting at the bookstore to return a mistaken purchase, I found myself behind an obvious case of late-stage anorexia nervosa, including the distinctive "fur," which is not something I remember from my first four years of undergraduate study. Now that's truly tragic.
During a class Q&A with Ezra Sacks, a scribbler behind such hits as the Goldie Hawn vehicle Wildcats, I asked, "What's with the cliche that no one in Hollywood reads? Do they all have people for that?" He blamed studio executives with motivations and interests beyond just making movies, but if you hand someone a script with Brad Pitt attached, "you can be damned sure they'll read it"...Did anyone besides the trendizens at Fashion Week notice the taxi strike? I was busy reading on the F train...Playing reporter on a story, I was thoroughly chastened by a woman at the East End Temple when I called looking for quotes from a rabbi the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah. Any suggestions on how a mishegoyim can atone for such a sin next week?
A friend recently remarked, "You know that your 'hood has been completely gentrified once you start seeing nannies." So I'll stop making fun of Park Slope -- at least they push their own kids around...Back to the left coast for a blindish item: Which web-enabled cultural phenomenon was seen dispensing black cock cakes on Curb Your Enthusiasm's season premiere?..And the only thing that came near to moving me to tears Tuesday was a theoretical physicist praising science and critical thinking as the only hope for the humanities. "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
If you've made it this far, your reward is one link. If you follow the allusion to its conclusion, yes, I'm comparing my current stay with the bittersweet time Willie Mays spent in a Mets uniform.
