Night driving

In the car, where I seem to live, I chanced upon Diane Rehm's NPR interview with the writer E.L. Doctorow. I like listening to invisible people's voices while driving. Voices that provide writing metaphors that invoke cars & roads. Says Doctorow:

"Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."

Nice, no?

E.L. Doctorow: Homer and Langley (Random House) (Rebroadcast)

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(500) Days of Summer = (past)(present) + (soundtrack)(dance sequences)

Maybe it's that the movie (500) Days of Summer is so clearly aimed at my age demographic (romps through IKEA! A main character in Clash and Joy Division t-shirts!) Or maybe it's the parenthetical title, which refers to the time span Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the now-grown kid from TV's "Third Rock from the Sun") and Summer (Zooey Deschanel, of the film All the Real Girls, which should be watched for the brief clown-dancing scene alone) meet, do or don't fall in love, and leave Tom to piece together what happened in a narrative that jumps around in time. Whatever the case, I spent much of the movie making my own parenthetical asides, mostly in my head so as not to disturb other theatergoers (though it's impossible not to exclaim over the scene with Pixies karaoke. What bar do I need to go to for PIXIES KARAOKE? Apparently a bar in Los Angeles.)

This is the kind of film that anyone who's had their heart broken could appreciate, if only for the vicarious closure of revisiting the past and learning to see it objectively rather than selectively. Good luck with that, eh? Or maybe it's possible, as we watch Tom's attempts (when did the kid from "Third Rock from the Sun" get so...handsome? And why do I keep saying "30 Rock" instead of "Third Rock from the Sun"? Need to watch the "30 Rock" premiere. Hope the Tivo worked.) Tom's a sensitive guy -- reminded of Summer by the song "She's Like the Wind" by Patrick Swayze (sad. He died last week. The Barrelhouse folks put together all their Swayze Question answers as a tribute. Nice.)

And then there's the public dance sequence to Hall & Oates, as Tom revels in a particular morning after. (She's All That, 13 Going on 30 and Ferris Bueller's Day Off also have excellent spontaneous-ish dance sequences, though S.A.T.'s actually takes place at a dance, making it comparatively pedestrian. I am drawn to these moments because I harbor a secret wish that it will happen in the middle of my day. I've given some thought to this, logistically speaking. I find mass demonstrations of coordinated movement inexplicably moving.)

There's also a scene when the characters go to a movie, and they are facing us, eating popcorn. Which was weird, because we were watching them, eating our popcorn. (I don't care what anyone says, a little artificial butter every once in awhile is gooood. But I suppose I could've skipped the Reese's Pieces.) And French film is gently lampooned (funny, because Audrey Tautou showed up in a preview - Coco Before Chanel, mayhaps? - and she is adorable in Amelie, which I'd just been thinking about watching again. I used it in class a couple times and it went over better than expected. Good students.) (And there was that other preview for a movie set in Paris, as well as New York I Love You, a redux of Paris Je'taime but, um, in New York. What's with all the Frawnch previews? Why isn't anything getting blown up? Arts Cinema. Got it.)

It took more than half the movie for me to realize it was set in L.A., which, if it has a distinct and picturesque downtown, was inaccessible for shooting. One train scene had lovely shots of the ocean through a dingy window at sunset. (Pretty effect for photos, but so glad I finally cleaned the living room windows. You finally can see so much more clearl--)

(You are spending an awful lot of time thinking about things you're reminded of, considering the $$ you paid to go to a movie and clog your arteries. Pay attention already.)

I am looking at you looking at each other

"We've become a race of Peeping Toms. What people ought to do is get outside their own house and look in for a change. Yes sir. How's that for a bit of homespun philosophy?"

-Stella, in Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW, 1954

Get a Gripz

Monday. Grocery time. The empty fridge takes no holiday, nor do I. Today's majestic shopping discovery was a product called GRIPZ, which are not designed, as far as I can tell, to keep one upright in the shower. These snack foods come in specially designed pouches with instructions to "RIP n' TIP." It is not stated if the bag should be ripped open with one's teeth, though the tipping action, I cautiously assume, should be directed toward the mouth.

I got Cheez-Its and Chips Ahoy. There was a special offer should you purchase two, which is not so much a discount as a Stupid Tax for paying more than planned. But the savings! And I get the salty AND the sweet!

One of the realities of the semester, of teaching many classes on two campuses on the same days, is the lack of a proper mealtime. A couple days a week, I eat with one hand and drive with the other while shuttling between schools. A temporary situation, as are most semester/schedule-based problems, but it has caused me to be temporarily obsessed with practically packaged foods.

The GRIPZ aren't the first. I have also succumbed to Go-Gurt and its limited yogurt flavor options (picture Flavor-Ice but less fun.) The most tolerable is Berry, which happens to come in a box with another flavor that, as far as I can tell, is "Blue." The main course is sandwich-like, because anything that needs heating is out: enrollment's up and parking's static, so I'm a circling lot vulture for the chunk of time that could be spent getting civilized with the department microwave.

Today is Labor Day, which means no school, and I have so far eaten two meals at a table. A third's in the works; chances are high this will also not be eaten in a car. Small victories, laborers. Because tomorrow I'll be swinging my insulated lunch bag, ready to Rip n' Tip.

Mwah

"Walk slowly and quietly. Do not wear brightly colored clothing. Your parked car can serve as a blind and birds will approach closer than if you are on foot. If you are quiet and partly concealed, you can often attract songbirds and draw them close to you by repeatedly "pshshing" or "squeaking" or noisily kissing the back of your hand."
-Birds of North America: a Guide to Field Identification