Lost Segueway

I was crawling underneath the desk to get at the front of the computer to see why it isn't working properly. Because of cable length dynamics the tower is facing the opposite direction than the generally useful and intended way. As I leaned forward and in upon the nappy carpet underneath the dark behemoth of a desk in this crampled closet to look at the back (front) of the computer, I saw a dusty post-it note clinging to the floor. It read, in all capital letters:

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF DAVID LYNCH?

The phrase was underlined, in a back and forth motion, several times. I had, what they all-too-appropriately refer to in culturally-informed dialogue as a David Lynchian moment. It wasn't quite like finding an ear in a sunny meadow, but in my life, that's about as close as I get. Then I recalled that there was a conference speaker a couple of years ago whose name is also David Lynch, yet is an expert on diaster recovery, and I don't think he has made any films. I still can't get the CD-ROM to work.

Flesh

I need to find more ways to get more bruises. That sore feeling when you stretch a bruised muscle is so delightful. It's like I exercised, except I didn't. Instead, I got hurt. Which is kind of like exercise, if you think about it. You're exercising your body's ability to heal. It looks badass too. Like a tattoo that you didn't mean to get.

Possible activities in the pursuit of intra-dermal hemmoraging:

Running around my apartment in the dark (I need more footstools though)
Skateboarding (I'm seriously considering this, even though I'm not a skateboarder)
Dead-arm contests on the school bus (no school bus, and I don't think people on the subway are down, so this one's out)
Freestyling walking (I kind of do this already, I just need more obstacles)
Starting fights (my pacifistic nature kind of puts this one out, also so many people carry knives, I want bruises, not lacerations)
Developing a genetic anti-coagulation disorder (I don't think that's possible at this stage in the game)

Any ideas will be tried.

Liberal Arts Mind Control

In Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters the initial alien landing point is "five miles outside of Grinnell, Iowa." What gives? Is Grinnell the archetypical "middle of nowhere"? Is this a conservative's underhanded commentary on liberal academia? Does 'Iowa farmtown' just ooze imagery of mind-controlling, parasitic jelly-beasts?

Thank You for Wearing Trenchcoats

The single best film capture of a cigarette drag that I have seen is from a Jean-Pierre Melville movie. My mind is telling me that the film is Le Cicle Rouge although the moment in the plot that I remember would seem to fit to Le Samourai or Le Doulos better. At any rate, the hard-boiled trench-coat sportin' main character is sitting in a Paris club, across the table from a police inspector. The conversation has just turned so that our anti-hero knows that he is fucked, it is only a matter of time, and he will probably end up dead. Of course, he has been resigned to this since his birth. He stares straight ahead, takes a casual yet purposeful drag from his cigarette as if summoning the nicotine jag is calling a poker hand. He holds the smoke, and as he lets the cigarette return from his mouth to resting position, a single loop of smoke drifts off from the end of the cigarette and is illuminated in the black and white of the film. It slowly curls to a circle and floats off to his left. He continues to stare ahead, releases the drag, puts out the cigarette, picks up his hat from the table, and walks out into the Paris night.

Lessons Learned:

-Up Melville; Goddard, who cares
-Hats are cool
-Crime is cool
-Smoking is cool

A New Format?

I was thinking that perhaps I would change up the blog a bit. Normally it's been the serious Plan posts that I wanted to save for posterity. Fairly lengthy, fairly boring. I think I'm going to start adding alot more of the less serious, short observations that I've been putting on Plans, simply because they are a little more readable, and maybe more enjoyable. Sure, decrying modern instances of fascism needs to be done. But we could all use a little more triviality. All of us.