April 1, 2007
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Burger Steph and Stew One…
Well well well, blog time seems to be moving forward at a brisker pace. We finally arrive at December 2006. So what went down in the late fall…
Ever been to a fancy shmancy French Hotel in midtown?
Ever noticed a strange line under a funky neon sign?
Murray, Garza, his girl, and I did, thanks to a tip somewhere.
And wouldn’t you know it, a fancy place like that has a little greasy burger joint with great shakes. You should check it out, if I could remember the name of the hotel.
We then went to Rod’s apartment, where his roommate keeps it real with a massive tv. But we had to leave, because we were off to see a movie.
And here, the story got a bit interesting, sans pictures. I thought it would be Rodrigo and me, so I said let’s go see “Stranger Than Fiction.” The group then increased to include Murray and Kallop (a fellow Catie I had not seen in a bit). Ever go to a Sci Fi movie? The previews are usually sci fi. Action movie? Action previews… you get the picture. This is rule we all understand. So as the previews started to roll, and we were hit by “Dreamgirls,” followed by “Something’s Gotta Give,” the guys, who I dragged to this film I had always been curios about, began to panic and turn away from the screen. And I wondered if I had misjudged the slightly magical-realist preview so bad to drag guy guys to a worthless romantic comedy. I got nervous.
But in the end, maybe because our expectations fell so much. We all seemed to enjoy the movie. I thought it was quite intelligent and charming, though a bit too clever at parts. I hope Brent liked it.
Anyways, I have one more non picture story. Jenna was away that weekend for a wedding of her cousin, a weather girl, to her new husband, the sportscaster, and as she dislikes going to movies at the movie theatre, I made a weekend of it, and saw 5. Yes, five. Déjà vu, The Fountain, Casino Royale, Stranger Than Fiction, and Shortbus. Now, that’s what I call a weekend.
Monday, I got in the money for the first in a long time at the Post Production Poker game.
Then the next Saturday, Jenna and I got a real treat, Stephanie Land, our receptionist, put on a show.
She takes amazing pictures.
And makes great stationary.
We all had a lot of fun.
And I think she made good money. It was a good showing.
The old ex made it in for the day.
So Kerry and I hit Saigon Grill for some lunch.
That night, Sarah Tew and Keith threw a party at their apartment.
Good old Michael showed up.
And heated discussions were had.
Jeff showed up, his website’s new bee tee double-u.
Obviously, a hostess picture was necessary.
Biggest surprise, Alex, with his girlfriend, who I’d never met.
And you know it can’t be a party unless Patrick steps through the lintel.
Or is it Patrick and Paul who have to both be there?
I think they’d agree.
Even Dan K. showed up, with a Ben Van H. look alike at the left.
And let us not forget Ms. Slepian, making everyone have a good time.
At this point, not being paired up with anyone to talk to, I stood on a chair.
And took a continuous stream of pictures.
After a few years of a having a camera, I like to take a picture and tell the protaginsts of the frame as I show it to them, that what we have just captured is “already a classic.” In this instance, I did not lie.
I met this guy, I think he was a marine.
And this guy, who had a dope oldschool Polaroid.
He shot an awesome portrait, too.
Don’t you just love Keith’s small canvas wall?
Or older generation Wesleyanites whose name you don’t remember?
Or even better, a Barbie orgy lamp?
Which brings us to this Guy. God, what a weird awkward moment. He really wanted to do this magic trick, which he commandeered the room for, but only begrudgingly from some of the other folk, and he actually pulled it off. Obviously, this took doing things in a specific way, which Polaroid then began to question, asking for more shuffling and the like… Well as he did it again, and Polaroid kept at him, and the tension began to suffocate us all, I pulled a weirdly diplomatic trick, which I am not ashamed to say I am proud of, and gave a little speech like this: “listen dude. Obviously it’s a trick, and he needs to do things in a certain way, and obviously, you could point out these things, but wouldn’t it be more fun if he actually did the trick?” Polaroid agreed, and magician finished the trick. And then we all moved on to watch Magician sink himself lower and lower into weirdness when he tried to bully us all into playing poker. Then he wouldn’t pose for the blog unless he pulled this weird pose. Pretty Crazy.
At some point Michael’s girlfriend Leah arrived, who thought I did not remember her, but how could I forget this?
And then, in a zestful party mood, I went on to chat with Michael about a myriad of topics, falling finally onto the shared class we took the fall of senior year, Surviving Ulysses. Now, that was a life changing class for me, not only did we gorge ourselves with the literary masterpiece of our time, but we also blew through the major modernist novels that followed, Ezra’s Cantos, Mrs. Dalloway, Murphy, and T.S.’s The Wasteland. I had an eye opening blast. So I asked Mike what he thought, pretty sure we would get into a nitty gritty discussion of its greatness, only to be shockingly disarmed by his reply, “I didn’t really like it.” He didn’t really like Ulysses that much either. Wow. I just never saw it coming. Then, a few sentences later, as we discussed other huge novels of the same ilk like Infinite Jest, I uttered something I do believe is true, “part of the appeal of these big huge hard novels is being able to say that you have read them. People look at you differently.” I like being honest, and this was a sort of academic truth I think we all know but don’t confess. Michael laughed at this, couldn’t believe I would say it, and in some weird rebuke to his not liking the class, I just kept at this point like it was the only thing about the book I like. I think by the end of it, Mikey thought I was a bit deranged, I definitely feel like he lost some respect. So, Michael, if you do ever read this blog, yes I enjoy telling people I read it, but those huge big books that I love, Ulysses, Infinite Jest, and Gravity’s Rainbow, are fucking masterpieces, with a literary depth and allusion that really rocked my young impressionable mind. And yes, their erudite diction and length is a bit much, but that makes them all the better, because after you finish climbing the behemoth word counts, you feel different, you have accomplished something that not many have. They made me smarter. They made me want to write better. And that’s the truth, I love those books because they are fucking great, probably the best I’ve ever read.
Phew! I’ve been meaning to say that since it happened in December. On with the post.
I met this girl, friend of Beth’s I believe.
The party continued.
I had a great time.
As did Mr. Gallagher.
And especially the cat, Mr. Business.
Oh, and I’m trying something new. Seeing as I am so way behind on posting, I opened up a flickr account that I will upload photos just as I live them. So enjoy.
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