Overheard at Booth 1: "Weetzie Bat" by Francesca Lia Block

Just finished this book.  Thought it was written in 1988, and was thinking "This is pretty bold for 88 - especially with the AIDS epidemic in full swing."  But it shows a copyright 1998, which brought it down a notch for me - it didn't seem so bold anymore, somehow.

Basically, it's about a late teen girl whose best friend is gay, he finds a lover, she finds a lover, they live in a dead woman's house in LA and they live quite happily making independent movies.  Along the way she wants a baby, her lover does not, she sleeps with the two gay guys so that she can get pregnant.  He gets mad and leaves, eventually returns, and we find out he'd impregnated a witch who leaves her baby with them.

One big happy California family.

The book is sparse, as in zero adjectives.   Rather hallucinogenic style, almost as if she had read too much Beaudelaire in bad translation yet still wanted to write something with Bukowski-cool.  

But maybe I'm being too harsh.   I was thinking about it yesterday: I'm disappointed in the book because I cannot "see" the characters.   I do not know what she looks like, nor her gay friends Dirk and Duck, or her boyfriend, named My Secret Agent Lover Man (or Max).   Yet her father I can see.   He looks like Charlie Swan from Twilight.  Strange I know, but at least I have a visual.   There's a chapter in the book where Weetzie goes to see him in New York and he takes her around New York and he tells her he won't go back to LA because everything is fake there, it's all a façade. 

Then he dies.  Either because he's dying any way or just accidentally ODs, but he dies.   And when I was thinking about how "there goes the one actual clearly-defined character" I also then thought about what he'd said about LA, and then thought, "Maybe this is what Block is doing:  I feel no connection to the characters.  I cannot see them.  They don't feel real to me."

That is supposed to be a sign of bad writing, and maybe it is.  But what if she also meant to do that - keep the characters as nothing but cardboard cutouts.  If so, then she's brilliant.

All I know is this: however much I think the book is rather hazy, somehow I know it's going to stick with me for a long mile, playing at the back of my brain.   And that, my friends, is the standard by which I do judge good literature.

Overheard at Table 1: The Marc Pease Experience

The Marc Pease Experience is vaguely uncomfortable, but that's its brilliance.   Unfortunately, the discomfort leads it to be not as funny as it should have been, it's in that gray area, in which it is not quite a black comedy, but it is nowhere near being a straight up comedy.

The actors, however, are very well-suited to their roles:  Schwartzman as a 20 something who simply does not get that his dreams of being a professional singer are never going to materialize, and Stiller as the high school music teacher who is schtupping Schwartzman's 18 year old girlfriend (she's that girl from Twilight).  In fact, Stiller has just the right amount of sleaze and arrogance - shown how he avoids Schwartzman and his casual dismissal of the girl), yet in it is the touch of pathos.   How pathetic his own life is - as a rather talentless music teacher himself.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen more of the vocal group.   Schwartzman leads a quintet of singers - down from an octet, which they had when they graduated high school.   In the one or two scenes, there seemed to be some hints of some history there among the singers, their different expectations.   These are people who have been caught up in Marc Pease's dream so much that they have not yet gone on to start their own lives - they're too busy following his.   And he's living this pipe dream.  It is so sad.   I would have loved to have seen more of the vocal group, and their dynamic.

Still, Anna Kendrick is the only one who makes it out of this movie with her character unscathed, and possibly with the brightest future.  She tells off Stiller and Schwartzman, ultimately a gentleman, lets her go, so that she won't be tied down by his failure.

Sweet, sad, tragic disaster we make of our lives sometimes.  That's what this movie shows so well.

Overheard at Booth 5: The Tomb

In Booth Five there is a husband and wife, listening to the conversation about movies between Verble and his clientele.

The husband says, "I'm gonna tell them about The Tomb"

The wife puts her hand on his hand and says, "No, you're not, honey."

He says, "But, why not?"

"Because the movie sucked, dear.  Don't embarrass us."

Overheard at Booth 3: Vampire Killers

Niall Carter calls out to Verble from Booth 3, which he is sharing with John Steppenwolf:  Hey, I've got one even worse for you - Vampire Killers!

Verble:  Saw that one too.   I'd say that's a cut above Savages.

Niall:  It's like the writer got Evil Dead 2 and Shawn of the Dead mixed up with every forgettable vampire movie ever made in the 80s. 

John Steppenwolf: At least it's set in England.  That was cool.

Verble:  And it had a couple of good lines.   But I'll admit, it was pretty weak, even by B-movie standards.

Niall: All I know is that the LBGT community should be outraged.   These guys claim they're out to rid of the world of "Lesbian Vampires" - what, they're not gonna kill "Straight" vampires too?   Aren't they going to be equal-opportunity vampire hunters.  

John: You're right.  To single out one group is a human rights violation.

Verble: Except that they're undead.  Are they even protected under human rights laws.













At this point, the Barista takes off her apron and says, "If this is where the conversation is going, I'm clocking out early for the day!"

After she heads toward the back, John Steppenwolf says, "I kind liked the vicar.  He was sorta cool."

Overheard at Table Two: Savages

Verble: Wife left yesterday with the kids to visit her sister in Santa Fe, and that means Verble gets to watch some action movies instead of ingesting a healthy diet of chick flicks, and what kind of monster do I have the grave misfortune to waste two hours of my life on?

Savages.

I should have known it would be a major turkey when I saw the two words: Oliver Stone.  I have NEVER, I repeated NEV-ER, liked an Oliver Stone film.   It's like he wants to be Martin Scorcese and Quinten Tarantino so bad it just hurts him.   But since I'm a sucker for Salma Hayek I gave it a try.

Crikey what a snoozer!  Two guys growing the "best weed" get involved in Mexican drug cartel, run by Salma, and there's kidnapping and mutilations and murder and blood spurting out of every orifice and eyeballs getting whipped out of eye sockets and it's just a useless bloody mess with no sense of style, no class.

If you want to see a good shoot-em-up with Benicio Del Toro, watch "Way of the Gun." That one has all the blood you can swallow, and with the added benefit of little things like "characters" and "dialogue."  The only good line in this movie is when Salma tells the blonde bimbo, "They obviously love each other more than they love you.   Otherwise they wouldn't share you."

But now that I've told you the best line, please spare yourself this incredible soupy mess of a movie.

Please!

Soundtrack to "Good Jakes"

Soundtrack to Good Jakes

Ingrid Michaelson - Soldier
Cristina Perri - Jar of Hearts
The Postal Service - There's Never Enough Time
Iron and Wine - Such Great Heights
Simple Minds - (Don't You) Forget About Me
Rogue Wave - Eyes
Whitley - More Than Life
Fountains of Wayne - Valley Winter Song
Gregory and the Hawk - A Wish
Death Cab for Cutie - My Mirror Speaks
Colin Hay - Waiting for my Real Life to Begin
Patti Griffin - Take It Down
Angus and Julia Stone - Hold On
Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
Midnight Choir - Mercy of Maria
The Walkabouts - Life Full of Holes
The Walkabouts - The Train Leaves at 8 (Mikis Theodakis)
The Walkabouts - Desierto
Angus and Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane
Sinéad O'Connor - The Last Day of Our Acquaintance
Angus and Julia Stone - Mango Tree

David Gilmour "Echoes" Acoustic Version

Abbey Road is just the code name I have for the big warehouse space I have out back.   You can imagine it's the real Abbey Road studios if you wish.  But I do thank David and Richard and the others for treating us to this song today!