is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spectacle and Unspectacular.
Last night I watched Baz Luhrmann�s Romeo + Juliet when I happened upon it, just as it was beginning, on some random movie channel that comes with basic cable here in Brooklyn. No commercials or anything� a nice find on a Sunday night after a day of some work-accomplishment and the building of a bookshelf. Plus, I always feel a little blue on Sunday nights in New York, because it always means Gus has just left.
Anyway, do you REMEMBER that thing? A revised R&J set in 1990s Los Angeles? Ha. Sure, it�s cheesy, and maybe even tacky, and more than a bit overwrought, but it strikes me as a good interpretation, seeing it now. It�s a good interpretation in that low-culture revelatory way that attends a punk-rock cover of some old standard song never meant to go faster than a waltz. Setting the family quarrel as an over-armed gang battle, turning Mercutio into a drag queen, casting the families' nobility as glitter and excess and bright colors, it kind of works. I mean, Romeo and Juliet is at least in part a story about teenagers doing desperate things because of love, so, though it is one of those timeless sad stories that anyone could identify with, and is full of adult folly, it�s good, also, to feature some of the immaturity and superficiality that, in the end, is appropriate to the narrative. The end.
Over the weekend Gus and I went to the new New Museum. The Unmonumental exhibit was unspectacular. Most of what I saw was mildly interesting but pretty much immediately forgettable. But I did see a great Janet Cardiff book in the bookstore, and spent a bunch of time reading it, waiting for Gus to make some purchases. Then we ate at Five Points, which was fun. And we met Linda at 11pm to see Mike Viola�s late show at Joe�s Pub. Also fun. Marshall Crenshaw played with him for a few songs. That was Friday. Saturday we spent recovering from the drink minimum at Joe�s Pub. Took a long walk, went to Target, ate at Rice in Fort Greene, came home and tried to work but I ended up napping. So, yeah, we didn�t get much work done, but that was fun.
And now it�s another week. Workworkwork. It always begins with dread but seems fine once you just get to doing it. But first, tonight I�m having dinner with Trip, Greg, and Trip�s mom, whom I�ve never met, even though I�ve known Trip for 25 years. Should be fun, plus T and G have great taste in�and a passion for�restaurants, so they always introduce me to something new.
4:41 p.m. - February 18, 2008
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
