words, words, words

I see this building on my way to jiu-jitsu, which, lately, is almost every day.

I am in training. Early in October there is the Scandinavian Jiu-Jitsu Open. I will be competing. If I do well, I’ll post the results. If not, I’m going to bury my head in the sand and live in denial. Or else I will sob and wail ” Why … does … this … always … happen … to … meeeeee….”

I emailed Walker’s Crisps to tell them about the the best marketing idea… ever.
They emailed me back and said, basically: If it is a good idea, then we’ve probably already thought of it.
How rude! I’m never buying your crappy crisps again.

I wrote this blog entry a long time ago but forgot to post it. I was
doing some housecleaning on my “Drafts” folder and found this.

My father and I just finished watching “American Movie” a film about
the making of a low budget horror film in Wisconsin.
After the movie ended we briefly and excitedly exchanged opinions
about whether the film were a documentary or instead a “fake-
documentary” (fakeumentary?).
The movie was funny at times, pathetic at others and the title of the
film “American Movie” may very well be a political statement as well.
Initially, I balked, then Dad reminded me of “The Blair Witch
Project.” At that the idea went from improbable, to an incredible
stroke of genius, that the characters, who seemed so real and
archetypically American could be acto
Not unlike the beginning of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, when
Mark Twain (whose real name is Samuel Clemens) writes: “Persons
attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted;
persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons
attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR
PER G.G, CHIEF OF ORDNANCE.”
Of course this is not true, an empty, unenforceable threat made by an
author writing under a nome de plume.
This of course is follwed witht this: “YOU don’t know about me
without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark
Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he
stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never
seen anybody but lied one time or another…”
This, of course, is another lie, and very subtle, since in my opinion
the entire book is a con, involving con artists and the tricks they
play.
This movie, as well, might be have one of the most American leit
motifs, that of the con.

So I was promoted at jiu-jitsu and I was really excited to go to the
new class today.
I rode the bus to the tube and by the time I got there, from leaving
my house, I was sick.
It sucks.
I haven’t been sick in a long time.
I’m not sure how I got it.
I’ve been pretty healthy.

English newspapers run out of exaggeration! Shock! Horror!

Walking past the Evening Standard booth by the tube there was a sign that said “Heathrow Lost Luggage Crisis!” Sorry, but that isn’t a crisis, it is an inconvenience. Darfur is a crisis.

I’m almost halfway through “1984” one thing has struck me, in the chapter about Goldstein’s manifesto, there is one bit that seems especially prophetic given today’s global ‘War on Terror’ ™ . It talks about how in order to keep classes separate you cannot have a surplus of goods or excess leisure, or else the lower class, “proles” in the book, will realize they are getting a raw deal. Therefore, start a war, and make sure it is un-winnable and with a confusing enemy. This way you get to destroy excess goods, keep the labor going and tap into rabid nationalism. Keep the people busy and distracted. Hmm. Sounds oddly familiar. “1984” was written in 1948.

It seems that google has withdrawn their SMS search in the UK. I was
enjoying using that. Oh well.

I just found used toothbrushes on Amazon. I bet those are flying off
the virtual shelves.

I finished “The Great Gatsby” (#2). It was incredibly good. I don’t
think I ever appreciated the writing of Fitzgerald until now. He is
a master of subtlety and nuance. I really liked it. Don’t let the
cover throw you off. Or the way Gatsby says “Old Sport”. It is
supposed to be disconcerting.

Finally, we went and saw Fuerabruta tonight. It was awesome. Really
cool. It is a bit hard to explain, except it really makes you want
to buy a Slip N Slide. I would check it out if you get the chance.

I have started on a new project. I was looking at the The Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels in English and I decided to read them all. I have read some of them, but I think I was too young to ‘get’ some of them at the time. So I’m going to read them all (again). I just finished “Brave New World” (#5 on the list), “The Catcher in the Rye” (#64) and “Animal Farm” (#31). Now I am reading “The Great Gatsby” (#2). I am going to be reviewing them on another part of this pinche site. So I can give you the lowdown on which ones I think are worth reading, if you give any weight to my humble opinion. I am going to try to read them roughly in a sort of descending rank order. However, I am going to save “Ulysses” (#1) for last. This is
for a couple of reasons. I read it already. It took me an entire summer. At moments I thought, Joyce is a genius, then five minutes later, couldn’t remember why I was wasting my time reading it, then, in five minutes, thought he was a genius again. So, since it took me three months to read, a few years ago, I am going to try and have
a little momentum till the end.