{"id":5378,"date":"2010-06-14T04:00:24","date_gmt":"2010-06-14T08:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=5378"},"modified":"2010-06-13T22:09:26","modified_gmt":"2010-06-14T02:09:26","slug":"what-it-is-61410","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-61410","title":{"rendered":"What It Is: 6\/14\/10"},"content":{"rendered":"

What I’m reading:<\/em> Less Than Zero<\/a>\"\". I never read it before, but there was a neat interview with Bret Easton Ellis in Fantastic Man<\/em> a year or two ago, and I thought it’d be interesting to read this one and then the 25-years-later sequel that’s coming out next week, Imperial Bedrooms<\/a>\"\".<\/p>\n

What I’m listening to:<\/em> The Singular Adventures of the Style Council<\/a>\"\", The Things We Do<\/a>\"\", Green<\/a>\"\", and Meet Danny Wilson<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

What I’m watching:<\/em> I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale<\/a>. Because when you only made 5 movies before your death, and the weakest one was The Conversation<\/a>, you deserve a documentary. The other four? Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter<\/em>, and the first two Godfather<\/em> movies. Wonderful documentary, albeit too brief at 40 minutes. Bizarrely, Israel Horowitz looked younger than just about every other interview subject, esp. Al Pacino, who seems to be heading toward the Phil Spector level of odd looks. Also, we watched the deleted scenes from In The Loop<\/a>, after I stumbled across this totally NSFW montage of great Malcolm Tucker moments from the movie:<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Most of the deleted scenes warranted cutting, but there are one or two that would’ve made the movie even more awesome. I admit that Jamie “The Crossest Man In Scotland” McDonald’s great monologue about There Will Be Blood<\/a> is tremendous, but it would’ve just eaten up too much screentime.<\/p>\n

What I’m drinking:<\/em> North Shore #6 & Q-Tonic<\/p>\n

What Rufus & Otis are up to:<\/em> \"\"<\/a>Handling a couple of days without their dad while I was at a press event in Chicago (and Madison, with a stop in Milwaukee on the way home). Also, Otis demonstrated his complete disregard for my authority when I took him to a kiddie-park and threw a squeaky tennis-ball about 50 feet away. He chased it down, caught it on a bounce, and proceeded to run all over the park, squeaking and leaping. Not once did he listen to me when I called his name. Eventually, he settled down and chomped on the ball while Rufus & I watched. A day later, he and Rufus did a bang-up job as ambassadogs at our local farmers’ market.<\/p>\n

Where I’m going:<\/em> Nowhere! I mean it!<\/p>\n

What I’m happy about:<\/em> That I stayed in the same hotel in Chicago as Common and Kanye West last week. Also, that my room had a Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin<\/a>\"\" stereo. The sound quality was awfully good, so I plugged in my iPod and listened to some good music while I was working\/showering\/ironing\/otherwise-ing. Here are a couple of pix<\/a> from the trip (non-hip-hop).<\/p>\n

What I’m sad about:<\/em> That Zeppelin speaker is $600.<\/p>\n

What I’m worried about:<\/em> As ever, getting the Top Companies issue done in time.<\/p>\n

What I’m pondering:<\/em> Why Less Than Zero<\/em> was a success. I’m about halfway through, and it’s a remarkably flat piece of writing. I mean, I get that that’s the point, that 18-year-old rich kids in L.A. led flat lives in the 1980s, and I enjoy some of the time-capsule aspects of it, but it’s simply not a very interesting narrative and the prose itself is artless. Maybe it gets better in the second half. Or maybe our literary standards were just as shitty 25 years ago as they are now. Maybe I’ll find out when I read that sequel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I’m reading: Less Than Zero. I never read it before, but there was a neat interview with Bret Easton Ellis in Fantastic Man a year or two ago, and I thought it’d be interesting to read this one and then the 25-years-later sequel that’s coming out next week, Imperial Bedrooms. What I’m listening to: … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “What It Is: 6\/14\/10”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[61,5],"tags":[1053,735,1052],"class_list":["post-5378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis","category-travel","tag-bret-easton-ellis","tag-in-the-loop","tag-john-cazale"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-1oK","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5409,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-62810","url_meta":{"origin":5378,"position":0},"title":"What It Is: 6\/28\/10","author":"Gil","date":"June 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: Imperial Bedrooms, by Bret Easton Ellis. Blech. Also, I read a really wonderful interview with Bob Colacello, the former editor of Interview. I'd like to it, but it's from the new ish of Fantastic Man, and they don't post content online. (!?) But Colacello was so interesting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307266109","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5398,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-62110","url_meta":{"origin":5378,"position":1},"title":"What It Is: 6\/21\/10","author":"Gil","date":"June 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: Imperial Bedrooms What I'm listening to: Walking Wounded, You Could Start a Fight in an Empty Room, and High Violet What I'm watching: Honeymoon in Vegas, Boondocks, and the end of the NBA finals. And then I watched these highlights from Ron Artest's postgame press conference, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "basketball"","block_context":{"text":"basketball","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/basketball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307266109","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10813,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-244-nicholas-delbanco","url_meta":{"origin":5378,"position":2},"title":"Episode 244 – Nicholas Delbanco","author":"Gil","date":"November 12, 2017","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 244: Nicholas Delbanco \"It's a rare day when I'm not at my desk by 6.\" He's been blackening the blank page for more than 50 years, and now Nicholas Delbanco joins The Virtual Memories Show to talk about writing, teaching, and sleepwalking through life! We get into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0340.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0340.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0340.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0340.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0340.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8996,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-132-rootless-people","url_meta":{"origin":5378,"position":3},"title":"Episode 132 – Rootless People","author":"Gil","date":"August 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show #132: Christopher Bollen - Rootless People \"I wanted to be a writer since I knew that I couldn't be a detective.\" We close out the summer of 2015 with a great summer novel, Orient (Harper) by Christopher Bollen! We talk about his new book, the difference between\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"tumblr_noaa2szheD1u3hieto1_500","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_noaa2szheD1u3hieto1_500-292x440.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15162,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-480-nicholas-delbanco","url_meta":{"origin":5378,"position":4},"title":"Episode 480 – Nicholas Delbanco","author":"Gil","date":"April 5, 2022","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 480: Nicholas Delbanco \"As you grow older, you become an amalgam of so many separate influences and so many voices that you tried to learn how to copy that you become in effect your own original, rather than a slavish adept.\" Author & MFA teacher Nicholas Delbanco\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/delbanco2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/delbanco2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/delbanco2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/delbanco2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/delbanco2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9917,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-188-hayley-campbell","url_meta":{"origin":5378,"position":5},"title":"Episode 188 – Hayley Campbell","author":"Gil","date":"October 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show #188: Hayley Campbell \"I love finding people who are obsessed with things. People who devote their lives to things are my obsession.\" Writer and Twitter provocateur Hayley Campbell joins the show for a conversation about her inability to describe her job (don't call her a \"content provider\").\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comic books & strips"","block_context":{"text":"Comic books & strips","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29993554956_b8c114e6de_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29993554956_b8c114e6de_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29993554956_b8c114e6de_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29993554956_b8c114e6de_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29993554956_b8c114e6de_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5378"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5386,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5378\/revisions\/5386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}