Author Archives: Duff

Big Screen: The Lives of Others

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The German flick that won the foreign language Oscar.

Really, really good. About secrets and trust, and oppression and cohersion. About a sad lonely man who finds himself making unexpected decisions. About figuring out the game. When is one a pawn, and when is one the chess player?

Sad. And bleak, that deep grey institutional graffiti-ed bleakness that you may recall from old books or films you haven’t seen in a long time about that particular point in German/world history…

As my dad says frequently, “I miss the Cold War.”

Proust on…

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…the Weapon of Silence:
It has been said that silence is a powerful weapon; in a quite different sense it has a terrible power when wielded by those who are loved. It increases the anxiety of the one who waits. Nothing so tempts us to approach another person as what is keeping us apart, and what greater barrier is there than silence? It has been said too that silence is torture, capable of driving the man condemned to it in a prison cell to madness. But what even greater torture it is, greater than having to keep silent, to endure the silence of the person one loves!

…Physical Illness:
It is illness that makes us recognize that we do not live in isolation but are chained to a being from a different realm, worlds apart from us, with no knowledge of us and by whom it is impossible to make ourselves understood: our body. Were we to meet a brigand on the road, we might manage to make him conscious of his own personal interest if not of our plight. But to ask pity of our body is like talking to an octopus, for which our words can have no more meaning than the sound of the sea, and with which we should be terrified to find ourselves condemned to live.

–from “The Guermantes Way” as translated by Mark Treharne in the new Penguin edition

Fiction: Marcel Proust Bk 3 of Remembrance… titled “The Guermantes Way” in this translation.

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Finally finished this, after (supposedly) slogging through it all of February. Probably my slowest reading month in years, but I just had a lot going on, wasn’t on the El very much (my prime reading time!!), and didn’t ever get the energy to pick anything else up so if I wasn’t in the mood for this, then I just didn’t read.

I liked that in this book Marcel stays an identifiable (and seemingly) same age the whole book (vs. book 2 when sometimes the narrative tone seemed to change ages/decades intermittently). He drives you nuts though (in every book) with his obsessions. He’s so consumed with people that he doesn’t even really like but yet is completely attracted to/consumed by. So focused on those slightly above him in society. Trying to find meaning in their (in reality meaningless) aristocratic mannerisms and customs. Finding fault while at the same time trying to emulate.

I’ve said similar things before — so yes I’m repeating myself — but I continue to think the reason these books have maintained their high profile for so many years is because Marcel represents that worst part of all of us. The neurotic, obsessive, self destructive part of us that we don’t show very many people, if any. Yet reading about it is quite fascinating.

Guilty Pleasure

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So I caught the middle third of this movie on cable the other day and realized I hadn’t watched it in ages, so pulled out the DVD (yes, I own a DVD of it. so sue me.). Man, there are some really laughable things in this movie, but it is still totally fun to watch. And contains one of my favorite all-time movie quotes, although it will be memorable to no one but me I am sure and I can’t even explain why I love this line so much: “Why, you’re all charm and grace, boy.” I say this to people under my breath ALL THE TIME (and sometimes not so under my breath). I love the gruff old men conversations in this movie. Oh yeah, it’s The Presidio (only $10 on amazon! how can you pass this up?). See, I told you! Laughable. But totally a rewatch-at-any-moment (for a good time call) candidate.

So Beautiful It Hurts.

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Great Lake Swimmers went and released a new album without telling me, can you believe the nerve? Good thing I was dicking around in iTunes trying to find a place to throw money. (Weirdly the release date is reportedly March 27 but since I bought it on iTunes several days ago and it’s playing on my iPod RIGHT NOW that is obviously wrong.)

Ongiara is beautiful. Just fucking beautiful.

Who’s going to Tulsa with me?

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And how hard are you laughing that I am actually pricing flights there just to go to a fish restaurant?

White River Fish Market, 1708 North Sheridan Road, Tulsa, OK 918-835-1910

Recommended with a full page article in the March issue of Gourmet. It sounds A LOT like a great brisket place Ginger once took me to on the outskirts of San Antonio somewhere (I should find this out, no? Doh!). And by “great’, I mean, the most amazing meal I’ve ever had included creamed corn made with REAL CREAM.

Obviously this place may not have creamed corn, but apparently they have fried onion rings, gumbo, cornmeal hush puppies, and buttermilk pie (hello!). You walk in, pick your fish, and say “fried, broiled or grilled.” And that’s it.

Sounds delish!!

Tonight’s Soundtrack

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Hefty doses of “Neon Bible” the awesome new album from the Arcade Fire. Molly, you’re right, I LOVELOVELOVE “Intervention” (damn, an organ entry gets me every time!), I also love “Windowsill”, love the lyrics of “Ocean of Noise” and oooo “The Well and the Lighthouse” I like that one too. The only track I’m feelin’ iffy about is “Antichrist Television Blues” which sounds a lot like Bruce Springsteen to moi.

I’m alternately listening to Neon Bible’s 11-songs with a one-song breather in the middle: “Communist Love Song” by Soltero (MP3 linked here), which is making me happy and breaking my heart at the same time (and ain’t that just the trademark of truly great songs). It starts out slow, but ends up all in a rush…

If you would stick up for me
In the face of great adversity,
Know that I would do the same,
Know we are the same.
If you would stick up for me,
Speak kindly and poetically,
You can be my personal
Ambassador to the world.
And if you’re ever less than certain,
I will be your Iron Curtain.
I will be your Berlin Wall,
And I will never fall.

Truth in Advertising.

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While I most definitely am not a Sox fan (hello. CUBS.), I do find some of their new El advertisements really hilarious. Like this one:

We haven’t won a championship in, like…months.

Hilarious, no? On the other hand, I am not a fan of the new Illinois donor ads that say “I am going to save a life, are you?” Um hello but you are not necessarily saving a life by signing up to be an organ donor. Sure, IF you get in some crazy accident that kills you BUT leaves all your organs intact, your organs MIGHT save someone’s life. But there’s a lot of other possibilities for your death that do not leave you either a good donor or saving someone’s life.

Quote of the Day

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Reading Alicia’s archives: I absolutely do not believe that everything happens for a reason; I never did, and I still don’t. I believe that we fashion sense out of the things that happen, and create a kind of meaning in the result. And at the end of the day, you just gotta plow on through!

Agreed. If you believe “everything happens for a reason” I think you’re reaching for straws. And if your version is “it’s God’s will” well, then I just have to laugh. There’s this little philosophical concept called “free will” you may want to acquaint yourself with.