"If you want an animal to look at you with contempt, get a cat. If you want a box of excrement in your house, get a cat."
Lucifer
Season 2, Episode 4
"Lady Parts"
script by
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
The Last Wolf / Herman (The Game Warden & The Death of a Craft) by László Krasznahorkai
It's been awhile since I tore through all of the László Krasznahorkai books that I could find--starting with Seiobo There Below, then War & War, "The Bill," The Melancholy of Resistance, Satantango, and "Animalinside." I loved all of those books, and I wanted more. But when Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens came out, I didn't buy it. (In fact, I'd only bought the two short "books"--because there was no other way to read them--and Seiobo There Below because I loved it soooooo much.) It wasn't that I didn't want to spend the money. It was because I am in the process of divesting myself of books these days, and I am really hesitant to add more books while I am trying to do this. And I had obtained all four of the other big books from the library, so I thought it was a no-brainer that they would get Destruction and Sorrow. It came out on February 15th, 2016. I checked the library inventory regularly for months. Nada. About a month ago I went to the library web site and suggested that it would be a good book to purchase. Nada. Until today. When Destruction and Sorrow appeared in my holds list. (This has never happened before when I've suggested a purchase, so I guess someone is really looking out for me. Or maybe they've never purchased any of my previous suggestions.) So that will happen soon.
But meanwhile, another Krasznahorkai book has come out (September 27th, 2016), and (1) the library must have ordered it immediately, and (2) I was again on the lookout, so (3) I was first on the list to receive it.
It is an odd little book. On the outside, it looks like this:
And on the inside, as you would probably guess, it looks like this:
Which is very cool to me. Like one of those old Ace Doubles, if you go back that far.
And I've just finished reading the three stories this little (4.8 x 0.6 x 7.3 inches) book, and I have to say that it is well worth $12.02 price tag (Amazon book . . . $9.99 on Kindle), but I probably am not going to buy it. Though I will read it at least one more time. (Which probably won't even require me to renew it; I'm sad to say, though, that at present that wouldn't be a problem, as no one else has requested the book. Isn't there ANYbody else in Louisville who reads László Krasznahorkai? If you do, please check his books out of the library so that they won't be winnowed, thus eliminating the possibility of someone stumbling upon him--as I did. It was a complete accident that I found him. I've told the story before, so I'll just squeeze it down to a Nabokovian parenthetical: (cover, likedit).
Anyway. "Herman" is divided into two sections ("The Game Warden" & "The Death of a Craft") because they are two "versions" of the same story (which is, at you have guessed, about Herman). Both are very strange stories, but they are told in a pretty conventional way--with periods and everything. "The Game Warden" is 25 pages long, and "The Death of a Craft" is 20 pages long. "The Last Wolf" --which is 70 pages long--is more typically Krasznahorkain . . . it's one sentence long. But you know how that goes. It doesn't really feel like one sentence, but the lack of punctuation encourages you to keep reading, and it really should be a one-sitting read.
There seem to be several connections between the two (three) stories, but I don't want to do any spoilers, so let's just leave it at this: it's a slim volume, but I wouldn't have felt cheated if I'd paid full price for it.
However . . . after I finished reading it . . . and I am very gentle with books . . . it looked like this:
I don't think that's the sign of fine craftsmanship there. Come on, New Directions Books. This is László Krasznahorkai we're talking about here.
But meanwhile, another Krasznahorkai book has come out (September 27th, 2016), and (1) the library must have ordered it immediately, and (2) I was again on the lookout, so (3) I was first on the list to receive it.
It is an odd little book. On the outside, it looks like this:
And on the inside, as you would probably guess, it looks like this:
Which is very cool to me. Like one of those old Ace Doubles, if you go back that far.
And I've just finished reading the three stories this little (4.8 x 0.6 x 7.3 inches) book, and I have to say that it is well worth $12.02 price tag (Amazon book . . . $9.99 on Kindle), but I probably am not going to buy it. Though I will read it at least one more time. (Which probably won't even require me to renew it; I'm sad to say, though, that at present that wouldn't be a problem, as no one else has requested the book. Isn't there ANYbody else in Louisville who reads László Krasznahorkai? If you do, please check his books out of the library so that they won't be winnowed, thus eliminating the possibility of someone stumbling upon him--as I did. It was a complete accident that I found him. I've told the story before, so I'll just squeeze it down to a Nabokovian parenthetical: (cover, likedit).
Anyway. "Herman" is divided into two sections ("The Game Warden" & "The Death of a Craft") because they are two "versions" of the same story (which is, at you have guessed, about Herman). Both are very strange stories, but they are told in a pretty conventional way--with periods and everything. "The Game Warden" is 25 pages long, and "The Death of a Craft" is 20 pages long. "The Last Wolf" --which is 70 pages long--is more typically Krasznahorkain . . . it's one sentence long. But you know how that goes. It doesn't really feel like one sentence, but the lack of punctuation encourages you to keep reading, and it really should be a one-sitting read.
There seem to be several connections between the two (three) stories, but I don't want to do any spoilers, so let's just leave it at this: it's a slim volume, but I wouldn't have felt cheated if I'd paid full price for it.
However . . . after I finished reading it . . . and I am very gentle with books . . . it looked like this:
I don't think that's the sign of fine craftsmanship there. Come on, New Directions Books. This is László Krasznahorkai we're talking about here.
Monday, October 10, 2016
Hoke Moseley
I just finished my first Hoke Moseley novel, Sideswipe. Was it good? Yes. Quite. How good? Let me put it this way: I've been a pretty dedicated Green Bay Packers fan since the Ice Bowl triumph in 1967. Well, tonight I had turned on the Packers / Giants game and started watching, but during the first commercial break I took a look at Sideswipe. I only had two dozen pages to go. Next thing I knew I was closing the book and the first ten minutes of the first quarter of the game was gone. So . . . THAT good.
Sideswipe is actually the third Hoke Moseley novel. It was the only one available at the library, though, so I picked it up when I got all of the other Charles Willeford books the library was holding. But I'd also ordered the Hoke Moseley Omnibus, so I'd intended to wait for it to arrive so that I could read the books in the proper order. I ripped through my other Willeford books very quickly, though, and faced with the prospect of a Willeford-less day, I decided to just have a little look at Sideswipe. You already know how that turned out. Sure hope that omnibus arrives today.
I've also been looking for the movie version of Miami Blues. I'd intended to wait until I'd read the novel before doing any serious looking, but since I was out of Hoke this morning, I looked around. Not available on Netflix. Only available via Amazon for sale or if you joined STARZ. But then I found it on the You Tub . . . in its entirety. Only two or three problems: (1) the sound has been speeded up, so all of the people sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks; (2) the picture has been reversed, so anytime there's writing it's backwards; (3) the picture is often cropped in very strange ways . . . so that, for instance, a speaking character's chest and neck will be in the shot, but not his head. But what the heck, it was free, and at least I got to see it. And it was actually a pretty decent movie. Alec Baldwin does a really good job as the bad guy, Frederick J. Frenger Jr.. And Fred Ward is pretty much perfect as Hoke Moseley The movie also features Vic Morrow's daughter, Jennifer Jason Leigh, as a young prostitute--and she looks a lot younger than 28.
So I am mos def up for some more Hoke Moseley. As soon as possible. Unfortunately there are no other movies out there. Paul Giamatti did his best . . . did a pilot for a series for FX . . . but apparently the network was not interested. Sometimes it just bes like that.
Sideswipe is actually the third Hoke Moseley novel. It was the only one available at the library, though, so I picked it up when I got all of the other Charles Willeford books the library was holding. But I'd also ordered the Hoke Moseley Omnibus, so I'd intended to wait for it to arrive so that I could read the books in the proper order. I ripped through my other Willeford books very quickly, though, and faced with the prospect of a Willeford-less day, I decided to just have a little look at Sideswipe. You already know how that turned out. Sure hope that omnibus arrives today.
I've also been looking for the movie version of Miami Blues. I'd intended to wait until I'd read the novel before doing any serious looking, but since I was out of Hoke this morning, I looked around. Not available on Netflix. Only available via Amazon for sale or if you joined STARZ. But then I found it on the You Tub . . . in its entirety. Only two or three problems: (1) the sound has been speeded up, so all of the people sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks; (2) the picture has been reversed, so anytime there's writing it's backwards; (3) the picture is often cropped in very strange ways . . . so that, for instance, a speaking character's chest and neck will be in the shot, but not his head. But what the heck, it was free, and at least I got to see it. And it was actually a pretty decent movie. Alec Baldwin does a really good job as the bad guy, Frederick J. Frenger Jr.. And Fred Ward is pretty much perfect as Hoke Moseley The movie also features Vic Morrow's daughter, Jennifer Jason Leigh, as a young prostitute--and she looks a lot younger than 28.
So I am mos def up for some more Hoke Moseley. As soon as possible. Unfortunately there are no other movies out there. Paul Giamatti did his best . . . did a pilot for a series for FX . . . but apparently the network was not interested. Sometimes it just bes like that.
Friday, October 7, 2016
Charles Willeford, Journals, and Prayerish Things
"In a godless world, the keeping of a journal is a form of prayer."
Charles Willeford
New Forms of Ugly
Charles Willeford, Sisyphus, and Bowling Things
"There is no measurable difference between Sisyphus and a member of a weekly bowling team."
Charles Willeford
New Forms of Ugly
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