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10/6So last night I saw "Down By Law" (again). Do you think that it might be the best thing in the world to be funny? Watching Roberto Benigni, this goofy little guy, and laughing until my face hurts. And loving him for it. My friend said that to be funny requires that you be in command of the situation,a nd that you be supremely cynical, but I don't know. Cynicism especially, that's one kind of humor, but not the kind that makes me fall over. Unless it's that he's cynically manipulating his little-tramp-style lost expression, to make us laugh. it can't be. Consider Danny Kaye: For those of you who have not seen "The Inspector General,(available on video!)" --I was bound to care about it on principle, I love Gogol. A musical comedy in an older, more naive style. But Mr. Kaye! Handsome, great singing voice, amazing physical comedian/dancer. he could have been any kind of leading man, but he chose comedy. I like to think it's out of some kind of love. And I admit it, I'm a sucker for a clever lyric -if it's from before 1965-. I watched "Guys and Dolls" the movie version with Brando and Sinatra for the umpteenth time. I was singin' for days afterward. but anyway. back to humor. this is the bighearted kind, not the mean stuff. Ask pamie why she's so goddamn funny.
10/5 Ahhh back into the swing. Actually this place is pretty swingless, youngthingless, petty tasks molehilling up till I can't see over and out to see goes my gaze, the picture window maims and saves my days -I eat my heart out and the sunshine streaks in. the tide is out my attention span took with it. half hour to close and data entry's sucked me dry. prickly. dose me down with sweets, liquefy me, someone, ply me with treats. 10/2I never mentioned the fact that I have a big weakness for Rockabilly. i like the newer resurgence okay, of psychobilly madness. But it's really the old, sweet, naive, dirty rockabilly that warms my heart. the simple guitar lines and simple lyrics, about love and cars. It's not exactly kitch, actually it's not kitch at all, because it's not ironic. Even the Stray Cats phenomenon, they were seriously into what they were doing. It's a rural or smalltown vibe (I like bluegrass too). I like the roles, the boyishfaced butch d.a.-wearing tattooed tight-cuffed-jeans boys, and not so much the sweetgirls with the big skirts and the ponytails, but the bad girls, who wore tight angora sweaters an' knee length skirts, or pedal pushers/capri pants (which look so much dirtier than skirts), and a little scarf knotted round the neck. i know it's misplaced mythological nostalgia. Me or my friends would never have been welcome in many rockabilly joints back in the day. But there still is something pure in that music. Later on: a ray of hope and a puff of smoke, Unions, even the big ones, are starting to really think across some borders. they've been way too nationalistic and fixated on old visions of a nationally bounded economy and labor market. Unfortunately, the response is (as usual) swift and unequivocal. Check the story out here. Jinn Magazine.
10/1 What is economics? Many people have asked me that since I began talking about the fact that's what I'm interested in for grad school. Basic assumptions many folks make: |