What I’m reading: Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up
What I’m listening to: Sir Lucious Leftfoot . . . The Son of Chico Dusty
What I’m watching: Thanks to my iPad, I find I’m watching more movies, esp. on that five-hour flight home from Portland on Wed/Thu. On the way home, I watched (500) Days of Summer, Up, and about 40 minutes of Once In a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos. I rented Greenberg from iTunes while I was in Portland, with the notion of watching it on the flight home, but a 7-year-old girl and her dad were in the seats next to me, and I felt that might not be appropriate viewing if the kid sneaked a peek in my direction. And on Saturday, Amy & I went out to the IMAX theater to watch Inception. Instant reviews? No chance! You’ll have to wait till tomorrow! (On TV, we watched another 2 episodes of Louie on FX, which is so fantastic that it’ll surely be canceled, and the latest Deadliest Catch, in which Captain Phil gives up the ghost. And we watched American Splendor Sunday night to commemorate Harvey Pekar’s death last week.)
What I’m drinking: Well, now, that’s a story. For some reason, almost every restaurant or bar I visited in Portland turned out to be well-stocked with both local boutique gins and other lesser known brands. So I managed to have G&Ts of Bols Genever (the spiciest gin I’ve ever had), Dry Fly (the dominant note is Fiji apple, of all things), Organic Nation (clean, with nothing else to recommend it), and 12 Bridges (is that pine needle?), as well as the local brand Aviation, which I’ve had several times already. Given all that, you’d think I was wasted for the whole trip, but I managed to pace myself well, at least until the last day, when I had a little too much time on my hands and no driving to do.
What Rufus & Otis are up to: Missing me, and trying to stay out of the heat.
Where I’m going: Nowhere! Congratulate me! Although I am thinking of taking a day or two off this week and maybe hitting NYC to visit the Frick, Met, etc. I’ll let you know.
What I’m happy about: Getting to see some old friends while I was out in Portland, and also getting to visit Powell’s Books and Winn Perry, even though the latter was “between seasons” and I had to talk myself into picking up a Hentsch Man shirt and a tie.
What I’m sad about: That some of my friends seemed to be almost exactly who they were 15 years ago, in terms of subjects of conversation, art/books they’re interested in, etc.
What I’m worried about: That they thought the same thing about me.
What I’m pondering: Whether that’s the case. I like to think it’s not, and that I’ve changed in some unpredictable ways since 1993 or thereabouts, both in terms of emotional maturity and in aesthetics. I wonder if it’s possible that I’m more of a snob now but also less pretentious than I was back in my college years.