Sunday, December 29, 2002 ::: so I was reading the script for sunset blvd for work and came across these fabulous photos of gloria swanson, silent film diva:
ok, so I've been up and down the coast over the past few days and haven't had much of a chance to make new posts. At the moment I am visiting my sister and brother-in-law in nyc. Speaking of which, there's a weblog that I've started reading of late: tales from the city. Espied at the gawker sidebar.
Tuesday, December 24, 2002 ::: I also feel the need to post a quote from a recent new yorker article in which dr seuss meets litcrit:
"These semiotic felines do exactly what a deconstructionist would predict: rather than containing the stain, they disseminate it. Everything turns pink. The chain of signification is interminable and, being interminable, indeterminate. The semantic hygiene fetishized by the children is rudely violated; the "system" they imagined is revealed to have no inside and no outside. It is revealed to be, in fact, just another bricolage. The only way to end the spreading stain of semiosis is to unleash what, since it cannot be named, must be termed "that which is not a sign." This is the Voom, the final agent in the cat's arsenal. The Voom eradicates the pink queerness of a textuality without boundaries; whiteness is back, though it is now the purity of absence—one wants to say (and, at this point, why not?) of abstinence. The association with nuclear holocaust and its sterilizing fallout, wiping the planet clean of pinkness and pinkos, is impossible to ignore. It is a strange story for teaching people how to read."
this is the sort of thing best not taken too seriously.
So I was looking around American Memory at the Library of Congress, and they have a collection of photographs from the Chicago Daily News, spanning from 1902-1933. There are a lot of Police/Crime photos, but I came across this curious photograph of a man in drag. His handlebar mustache precludes any attempt at passing, and there is a great deal of mystery behind how he got to be in the situation that he is now. Unfortunately, the article that accompanied this photo has not been included, so his story is unknown. His expression is one of abject humiliation - he must have been arrested, but under what circumstances? Was it a raid on a gay bar? Was he just coincidentally having a little fun at home when the police arrived unexpectedly and carted him off? Was he a fugitive in disguise, nabbed as he was about to board a train out of town?
so gawker looks new and worthwhile, being a sort of new york-centric weblog-magazine. I particularly recommend exploring the links on the sidebar to the right. link from jason kottke who is its ghost in the machine.
Monday, December 23, 2002 ::: So I saw the latest installment last thursday - and I was a little disappointed, but I'm one of those people who demands slavish attention to the book. I didn't care too much for the unplanned detour towards the end of the movie. It needed more Christopher Lee being evil, also. Gollum was amazing. Also, I came across a weblog apparently written by Ian McKellen (with ugly background) - spotted earlier at Reenhead.
Tuesday, December 17, 2002 ::: So the dec 16 new yorker has a profile of harvey weinstein (mr miramax) and it's all about the semi-independent movie business and is all quite
interesting, a sort of continuation of the bumble ward article from sep 23. Definitely worth a read, although the article isn't on the new yorker website.
Speaking of movies, there are a lot that I want to see and I don't know where I'm going to find the time to do it - but I am totally seeing the two towers, tolkein nerd that I am. And Gangs of New York, since that I'm all about 19th century new york, in all its grubby unwashed glory. Oh, and adaptation looks good too - what with the same writer/director team as being john malkovich.
on the other hand, I feel the need to quote from this user review of rob schneider's "the hot chick":
"while I can't quite say that I enjoyed it as much as some of Rob Schneider's other movies such as Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalo..."
what? no deuce bigalow, you say? I'm shocked, SHOCKED.
Monday, December 02, 2002 ::: NO WAY. Multicolored dollars are going to take some getting used to. I remember what a shock it was when the new york times went color. The gray lady just couldn't, could not be, in color. It was just wrong.
Sunday, December 01, 2002 ::: one of the more interesting biographies I have read was one of truman capote where his life was recorded by friends, former friends, associates and enemies reminiscing about various events in his life. There is an excerpt available online about the magnificent black and white ball (given for katherine graham, who mentions it in her memoirs, also excerpted, but not concerning the ball). via memepool.
