In my continuing effort to read books that Kubrick has made movies from, in conjunction with my effort to read more classic fiction, I just read The Luck of Barry Lyndon. A great book, although horribly depressing and oppressive at times. Kubrick's movies is actually very faithful to the book, only having minor alterations, except for the duel at the end of the movie (perhaps my favorite movie duel), which does not happen in the book. I think Kubrick added that duel to give some sort of climax, and also so that Barry can do something noble right before the end of the movie, instead of just being a complete jerk. Anyway, good book.
I'm a bit fictioned out at the moment, so I'm taking some time out and reading Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. Should be very interesting. It fascinates me to be in an area with so much history. Every little place has had so many interesting events happen there. In Stranger in a Strange Land, when Michael goes to a city, he cannot believe how much psychic history there was. He almost cannot stand the collective remnants of so many emotions. It's easy to get a similar feeling walking around Manhattan when you stop to think about it. Well, at least that applies to my job is in Manhattan, I don't think where I'm living in Queens has much interesting history at all.
I ate at Katz's Deli for the first time today. The word on the street was that their pastrami was the absolute best, but that everything else was better at other places. I'm not sure about the latter part, but the former is absolutely true. Their pastrami was so fresh, so juicy, so wonderfully tender. They take a complete side of pastrami out of a big steaming vat, and slice it up right in front of you for your sandwich.
I also tried an "Egg Cream". I'm still not sure what it is, but it tastes like cream soda plus a syrup.
Yesterday for lunch I went to DeMarco's, at MacDougal and Houston. It is an offshoot of the much loved Di Fara's in Brooklyn. I've never been to Di Fara's, so I can't compare. However, this was the best slice I've had. Not the best pizza, but the best slice. The crust was nicely charred, the sauce was smooth and garlicky, and the cheese was high quality. Plus, they grated real Parmesan on top. Nice. I also had a square slice, which had a thick, crunchy, charred bottom, and a nice saucy top with some cheese. The sauce tasted different than the slice sauce: the square sauce had a bit more assertive flavor.
The place had a strange setup. Ordinarily, you just go up to the counter for a slice, but the counter had no pizzas at all. You have to order at the counter, sit down, and get served. Weird.
Afterwards, I went around the corner to St. Alps Teahouse, which my friend Brian recommended in a previous comment. The tea was too ice-creamy, which is my main complaint with the Pearl Milk Tea's in New York, and in fact some of the places in California suffer from this too. It might be a taste thing, though, so I can't say for sure it is a flaw. However, some of the pearls were quite dense, much denser than normal. So, not so great.
I just finished reading Heinlein's classic sci-fi novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Such a class, I felt I had to read it. Well, I can see why it was a classic, it certainly has a story that would become an occasional sci-fi device: a visiting "alien" sees humans from an outsider perspective. Interesting. But actually, not that interesting, when you get down to it.
There are a few problems: Heinlein's dialog is way too snappy. No one talks like that. And the female characters are basically just there to look pretty and exchange this snappy playful dialogue with the male characters. I suppose it is a product of it's times, and probably was progressive then - at least in most ways. It is totally misogynist, though. And the last third of the book is just creepy, with the hero acting as cult leader, and killing scores of people without a second thought.
Did I mention that there were some scenes in heaven in this book? Well, there are. What the hell was that about?
Well, it turned out that it was in fact Tom Gruber that I saw at the screening for the Aviator. I just had lunch with him and my fellow Intraspecter, David Tashima, at Fraunces Tavern, which is where George Washington gave a farewell to his Revolutionary war officers. Next door was a Pakistani place, which George Washington was always going to for their wonderful Nihari.
I went to the Director's Guild last night with Adam to watch a screening of the Aviator, Martin Scorsese's latest movie. It was great in every respect. The story was fascinating, the acting was terrific, the cinematography produced a really great look, and of course innovative and impressive directing.
After the movie, Adam and I stopped by Carnegie Deli to get a sandwich. Not only is it $12 for a sandwich, but they charge $3 to split it! It was good, though.
As long as I'm complaining, I just had no luck with the subway system yesterday. I had 45 minutes after I put the kids to sleep to get into the movie, and I'm told that the Director's Guild doesn't let you in once the movie starts. So, I walk briskly over to my local subway stop, which has two express trains I can take: the F, which has a stop within a hundred feet of the theater, or the E, which is 4 blocks south and more than an avenue over. So I get to the subway, and arrive just as an F was pulling away. Fuck! So I wait, and in a few minutes, an E shows up. I'm holding out for an F, though, since that will save me almost 10 minutes of walking. It's now half an hour to the movie, and I know the ride takes 20 minutes, so I'm starting to get a bit nervous. Five minutes later, the next train comes, and it's another E! Now I'm doubting that waiting another 5 minutes or so for an F will be the right thing to do, so I just get on the E, cursing myself for not getting on the earlier E, thus buying myself some time. When I get off the E, it's just two minutes to the start of the movie. I run and run, and in about 4 minutes get to the Director's Guild, which hadn't started the movie yet. I saw Adam, sat down, and in a happy, sweaty way, relaxed and got ready for the movie. Coming home, it was after midnight, and trains only come about 1 every 15 minutes then. I get to the station right as the train is pulling away, of course.
The interesting thing is, I swear I saw Tom Gruber, the CTO of Intraspect, in the theater. He left before I had a chance to talk to him, but I've just sent him mail to see if it was truly him. It would be quite a coincidence if it was him, seeing as he lives in Palo Alto.
I finally got a chance to read the great book What's the Matter with Kansas by Thomas Frank. It is an interesting analysis, especially so since it was written before the 2004 election, and so accurately called it. While everyone, myself included, were stunned by "values" voters who turned out in huge numberes for Bush, this was predicted exactly by Frank.
He describes the "backlash" movement, a movement against all-powerful liberals on the East Coast and in Hollywood. The backlash's belives that liberals are the cause of moral decay, instead of capitalism - that is, market forces. In Kansas, the backlash is a product of the poorest counties, who churn out incredibly hard-working activists to elect Christian Republicans. The Republicans then go ahead and help out the richest in Kansas, and of course nothing is ever done about values. Nothing can be done about them, abortion is not about to go away, and neither is "moral decay". And that's the beautiful thing, as far as the Republican effort is concerned. Since nothing will be done about it, the candidates always have an indefeatable, amorphous enemy to stir up anger against, and the anger is what keeps getting them elected.
In Kansas, the battle is lost between Democrats and Republicans, there are pretty much only Republicans. There are only moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans, differentiated by their stances on abortion and other social issues.
One thing Frank only briefly touches on is anti-semitism, which seems to me an obvious force in all this. I mean, in the campaign trail you saw clip after clip of Bush going to small towns in "the Heartland", and saying that the people there "are the real Americans", not those people in Hollywood and the East Coast. Combining that with the backlash's hatred of "liberals", "East-Coast elites", Hollywood, and "intellectuals", I'm wondering if all how all things that Bush and the backlash decry are things associated with us Jews. Or perhaps it is just coincidence?
At any rate, it is interesting to see this take on things. The diagnosis seems obviously right, since it has proven predictive power. Looking at things in this way, would the best candidate for the Democrats last election have been Gephardt? The solution, for Democrats to talk much more about class differences, and to be less business-oriented, however, may not be correct. Did the Democrats become more pro-business because of the money, as Frank implies, or because the new-Deal approach is discredited? It is an interesting discussion, and one that should seriously happen.
I had a chance to see a small screening of Before Sunset, with special guests Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, but I couldn't make it. My friend Adam went, though, and reported back. He said that Delpy and Hawke talked for about 15 minutes about the film. One of the interesting things they said is that there was almost nothing cut - what was filmed was almost exactly the script. They had only one line which was cut, a line about religion. I think the Delpy character asks if the Ethan character goes to church, or something like that. The Ethan character replies that he "doesn't like to take the guided tour". Nice line, I wonder why they took it out.
My blog (among others) has been getting a lot of repetitious posts that seem to almost be spam, but do not advertise anything or link anywhere. My guess is that it is supposed to be spamming the normal way, with links, but something went wrong. Since there are no links, the normal blacklist I have does nothing. I modified my previously mentioned pre-blacklist script to delete these things in bulk. As mentioned in the previous post, the script is here in case anyone wants it for their own uses.