Pynchon

1. Movies. Graham prefers "Moonraker" to "The Spy Who Loved Me". Obviously mad, except that he correctly recognises that "Die Another Day" was a load of toss. Good man. He thinks that the Stephen Soderburgh version of "Solaris" is one of those rare films that gets better with each viewing. He is correct. His favourite films of all time are "Fight Club", "Blade Runner - The Director's Cut" and something else that escapes me at this moment. No arguments from me there. He does not know any of Daniel Craig's previous film work prior to being cast as 007.
2. TV. Graham hardly watches any TV. He has never seen "Lost". He does not see this as a problem. He is a sad, misguided fool and his life cannot be fulfilled until he witnesses the genius of that TV show.
3. Relationships. We talked about his ex-wife and some of his ex-girlfriends. We talked about Lorraine and Vicky Sunshine, tits, temptations, choices made, the meaning of commitment, sexual orientation and the Kinsey scale (1 to 5, 1 being strictly heterosexual, 5 being strictly homosexual. I think that I am a 2. When I fantasize, I think about women, but I am not disgusted by the idea of sex with men).
4. Politics. Graham thinks that Condoleeza Rice vs. Hilary Clinton will be the battle for the US Presidency in 2008. This assumes that Dick Cheney steps down from the Vice-Presidency in 2006 (due to ill health) with Rice replacing him. Lots of if's and but's here. The Democrats problem will be in finding a popular candidate with no baggage who is electable. I don't think that Hilary Clinton is that person. She might be one day, but not now.
5. Music. Graham has seen only one tribute band and they did U2. I have seen lots of tribute bands. All Mod Cons, The Complete Stone Roses, The Bootleg Beatles, The Counterfeit Stones, The Australian Doors, plus others that escape my memory. Graham likes U2, although he thinks that sometimes Bono is an arse. Bono is an arse, but don't you have to be an arse to be in rock and roll? We both like Neil Young.
6. Accents. Graham said that I pronounce a particular word in a funny way. I cannot remember the word. (Graham?) Apparently it proves that I was brought up in a particular part of Birmingham. Graham has no accent at all that I could discern.
7. Houses. Graham had to cancel the fitting of his carpet because the paint on the skirting board was wet. Apparently the house will be acceptable to enter, and the skirting board dry, by the time of the housewarming party on December 17th.
8. Booze. Graham does not like wine. Damn...
9. One day Graham would like to own one of Suburban Hen's paintings, but he does not think that this will happen.
10. Er... Lots more, but time is getting on.

Quick bit about last night.

I went to see The Complete Stone Roses at the Carling Academy. I think that it was a different lineup this time from the one that played Wolverhampton Civic Hall a couple of years ago, but I read somewhere that they change the lineup every 3 years or so to keep it fresh. Good idea. I was down the front, solid against the barrier. The band played upstairs in the bar, but there were so many people at the gig that I am surprised they did not play downstairs in the venue proper.

It was pretty disconcerting at first when a gang of 12 years olds bounced onto the stage, picked up instruments, plugged in and launched into "I Wanna Be Adored", but that quickly passed when I realised that they were managing a pretty good approximation of the Roses recorded sound. "Elephant Stone", "Made Of Stone", "I Am The Resurrection", "She Bangs The Drums", etc. Very good. They also played some stuff off the underrated "The Second Coming" album, which surprised me. I thought that that album has been pretty much dismissed.

Anyway, it was a good night out, even if I did feel like the oldest person at the gig by about 20 years. Am I supposed to act like a grownup and stop going down the front at gigs? Sorry, but nobody told me that.

# posted by Pynchon @ 10:40 pm