Today is my birthday! I don't really have any plans... but I've never minded a lazy day. I've been trying to contact my mother for the last couple of days to ask if she wants to go to lunch with me... I finally got a hold of her today and found out she's in Las Vegas. For my birthday. Ugh.
My Day:
-Woke up at noon (day before bday)
-Went to work from 5-11pm
-Stay up til 6-7am (on my bday) to go to a Hot Rod Donut ThingyMaJig
-Sleep til 4ish (probably)
-Go to dinner with my loveyyy
What I am Going to Address:
-the book "What Makes Sammy Run?" by Budd Schulberg
-the short story "No One's a Mystery" by Elizabeth Tallent
-the short story "Sweet Talk" by Stephanie Vaughn
-the movie "Being John Malkovich"
-the movie "Repo! The Genetic Opera"
-the movie "Existenz"
"What Makes Sammy Run?" by Budd Schulberg
This book started rather plain. The chapters went on and on, and I felt half of the reason I was constantly reading it was because I wanted to get to my next book. So maybe I was slightly disappointed with it. Its hard to explain... but I liked it a lot as well. Maybe 1/2-3/4 of the way in it started to get pretty interesting. I wouldn't call it life-changing, however. Just a bit insightful.
The Basic Storyline: Al Manheim, a journalist, becomes intrigued with the new copy boy, Sammy Glick, who is always running everywhere. No one seems to like him, but no one can deny his skill. Glick, on his way to print out Al's column, notices a few glitches and rewrites it himself. He gets on good terms with the boss, who eventually allows Glick his own radio column.
One day, a fellow employee named Julian shows a story to Glick to see if its any good. Glick says its "alright," but as soon as Julian is out of sight he calls a major producer trying to sell the story. Soon later, Glick is sent to Hollywood where he cheats everyone out of the picture and uses their work in order to become famous.
Al becomes obsessed with Sammy, and his life goal seems to be to find out what makes Sammy run.
Some of the major themes in the story are the idea of a childhood's influence on adulthood, whether or not you can completely blame your childhood for who you become, and karma.
In my opinion, childhood definitely directly affects your personality and who you become. However, that doesn't stop a person from getting help, so I don't think "I had a bad childhood" is a good excuse for being an ass of a human. And, of course, karma will always come back to bitecha :P
"No One's a Mystery" by Elizabeth Tallent
Its really short, only one or two pages, and its definitely worth the read. My teacher, Professor Obstfeld, assigned this to us and, as always, he has a knack for revealing the most intuitive and awe-inspiring stuff. Here's what we went over-
The Title: implies that people are predictable
Jack=Naturalistic
Girl=Orthodox
(Similar to Bruce Springstein's "Thunder Road")
First Paragraph: It is clear that Jack doesn't care much for her, but she doesn't seem to get it. A diary is not only a pretty lame present, but its something you usually give to a child. The diary is also something he didn't spend very much money on, as noted by "light as a dime" in the first sentence. Furthermore, we are introduced to his wife, who is driving a Cadillac. He most likely bought that for her, which means he can afford it, and is most likely rather rich... which further emphasizes his lack of care for this 18 year old mistress. He then shoves her down into the foot room of the car, and its evident that the girl is used to this; her insight has been drowned out by romantic notions, and she obviously doesn't notice that this isn't the guy for her.
At the very end of the first paragraph, the girl is describing petty details about Jack's pants. She notices these minor details rather than the situation itself; she is observant, but not insightful.
Jack describes his wife, and its evident that she is very orthodox as well considering she follows the speed limit, drives with her lights on, etc etc. She's a very cautious person. At the end of that paragraph, Jack says "It doesn't matter that you can look up and see that the sky is empty." This is a reference to there being no God, once again giving away his naturalistic point of view.
A few paragraphs down, the girl notes that she's been with Jack for the last two years... which means they've been dating since she was 16. Eww. Talk about a cradle robber.
Lower down, Jack says "I just know. Like I know I'm going to get meat loaf for supper. It's in the air. Like I know what you'll be writing in that diary." This directly ties into the title and theme of the predictability of human nature. He tries to change it, because it really frustrates him, but he denies both people and his ability to change... so TADA its a Tragic Comedy.
In the following paragraph, the girl describes the Wyoming scenery. She makes it sound all beautiful, but if you really imagine it, its actually pretty ugly. This is her infatuated with the scenery, just as she's infatuated with Jack.
Towards the end, Jack says to her "No, you can't. You can't imagine it" in response to her saying "I can't imagine anybody loving anybody more than I love Jack." No one's a mystery; this is her first experience with love, and she is so caught up with love and romance that she doesn't really use her sense. A key thing my teacher always brings up is that you always need to make sure you're in love with the PERSON, not the IDEA of the relationship.
The girl continues to fantacize, and within a year she expects to be married to Jack. He mentions "It must have been a fast divorce." She seems to completely forget the fact that this guy is married.
In the very last paragraph, Jack says "And her breath would smell like your milk, and its kind of a bittersweet smell, if you want to know the truth." Throughout the entire story Jack is trying to show her the truth, but she doesn't want any part of it.
I think this story, despite its brevity, is a great wakeup call. It helps me remember not to get caught up in the idea of romance, because thats the killer of relationships. If you expect things that really aren't necessary just because you saw it in some cheesy romance film, you're never going to be happy.
"Sweet Talk" by Stephanie Vaughn
Since I can't find the text online, I'll just make this one short, even though this one is my favorite. If anyone is interested, I can scan my copy of the story with my notes for further review.
This story explores the idea of the myths of history and the American promise. Born into this country, we are promised a good job, a good income, a good spouse, good kids, etc as long as we get degrees and do well in school. The two characters in the story both have the highest degrees possible, and are married, yet neither have jobs. They're poor. And its ruining their marriage. Many references are brought up regarding the past and the lies we are presented with about them. For instance, they go to the Donner Museum where the family is praised for their perseverance. They bring up the fact that they all ate each other and their rescuers to boot. There is even evidence that they had meat left over, but preferred the taste of human flesh.
The entire point of the story is not to rely on promises, but figure out what is important to you and make it happen. Enjoy what really matters.
"Being John Malkovich"
I haven't seen a movie this crazy in awhile. It involves adultery, body switching, love triangles, and scandal all in one! While I wouldn't consider it to be life-changing with its ideas, its definitely a mind blower, and totally a must-see.
The Basic Story-Line: A man finds a port hole into the mind of the famous John Malkovich, which lasts for 12 minutes and then you're thrown onto the side of the New Jersey turnpike. Through the suggestion of his wannabe mistress, they exploit this newfound mystery for $100 a ride.
"Repo! The Genetic Opera"
This is the most unique film I think I've ever seen. Completely gothic and dark, the story is set about 50 years in the future and involves the new organ transplant market. GeneCo, headed by Rotti Largo and his surgery-happy children, gives organs to those in need. However, if you don't keep up on your payments, the Repo-Man comes and takes the property back- killing you in the process. Its a musical, and totally strange, but if you can handle it I suggest watching it. It explores the obsession with physical beauty and the ethics regarding organ transplantation.
"Existenz"
I was very skeptical watching this film. Even halfway through I became rather frustrated. But I think that crazy twist of an ending made up for it all, and tied it in quite nicely. It explores the future of video gaming, and I'd say also the morals of the effect violence in the game can have on the players in real life as games become more and more realistic. While my description might sound rather dull, I can assure you, you will never find yourself bored watching this film... maybe just saying "wtf?!"
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