I thought class war had come to The Hill. That might have been interesting and this is the problem with these things: the reason never matches your imagination.
Monday, 13 September 2010
Today's lame marketing exercise
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE
I have not read Infinite Jest. I have it, but every time I pick it up the sheer density of the book is off putting - the detailed writing, the nuanced ideas, the sheer number of pages covered in text and footnotes. I look at this book and I realise it’s going to take me the best part of a year to get through it. Can I commit to that? Do I want to? It’s the perfect book to take travelling – chunky to take the punishment of the road and long enough to absorb its boredom.
Of course, I chickened out when it came time to pack for my travels. Instead I opted for the Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy. But I’m going to read it – I can feel its mass drawing me past his other works, such as, A Supposed Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again and now this, equally DFW titled book about DFW, Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace.
Really, it should be called Although Of Course You End Up Talking About Drugs, Depression and DFW’s Eventual Suicide. His death stains the book. How could it not? David Lipsky has edited his tale of five days on the road with America’s rising star of literature because we are all in some small way, reading to find out why he hanged himself. DFW’s depression, possible drug and alcohol use; Lipsky circles these subjects, trying to tease some indication as to why he did it as they fly, drive, smoke and eat at Denny’s across the Midwest. But there’s none to be found. The closest he comes is in the foreword: DFW had recently changed his medication before he committed suicide.
Shame, because his death is often at the expense of all sorts of fascinating details – descriptions of DFW teaching, the revelation that even after his second novel was published, he had to take work as a security guard. And that David Foster Wallace was a big Alanis Morissette fan.
Originally, Lipsky’s trip was to be the basis for an article for Rolling Stone. It was never published. It would be interesting to know why.
Friday, 3 September 2010
TSS#4
The place was huge, it takes ten minutes to pass it on the train. Every summer for two weeks the it shuts down for a complete clean.
Casper's job was to wear a space suit and climb through the massive chemical pipes spraying out God knows what heavy metal gunk had collected there. For twelve hours he would be up to his knees in the dark with just a high-pressure hose and a flash light for company. There were miles of pipes.
It was filthy,oppressive work - despite the amazing pay. And even suited-up, Casper would find he had a sour, metallic taste in his mouth at the end of each shift.
I think he worked there for two weeks before he quit.
The taste of this drink reminded me of Casper's story. Price: 59p
Thursday, 2 September 2010
My film for 26 Seconds
Regular readers may notice Uruguay vs. Ghana is clearly not the film about drag racing I said I was going to make in this post here. Don’t worry, Against The Clock is still going ahead, I just haven’t finished filming Nigel’s progress through the 2010 Nationals.
I did try a 26 second cut of the footage I’d shot with Rich, but it became pretty clear as my subject is Nigel Holland, drag racer and not drag racing, the format was suitable to tell his story.
Instead I’m entering a film about the last minutes of the controversial 2010 World Cup semi-final. Come along and have a look if you like.
Saturday, 28 August 2010
TSS#03
Friday, 27 August 2010
Monday, 23 August 2010
TSS #02
This time it's tasty whole corn snacks that not even Jaws himself can resist. Must find the biscuits Robert Shaw nibbles too - are they sweet or savoury? We will never know for he is dead.
Price self evident.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)