Saturday, December 09, 2006
A weird thing happened today. Everything went according to plan.
I know. What is this madness? Surely everything couldn't have gone to plan? Surely something went wrong? A late bus delayed you? An irritating person pissed you off in the cinema? You were unable to buy something that you wanted to buy?
No, I tells ya! Everything went according to plan. I made a list last night of everything that I needed to do and I did it.
You want to hear about it? OK.
I went to bed early as I needed to get up early. (I was in bed by 10:30pm. I don't remember the last time I was in bed by 10:30. I think it might have been sometime around 1976.)
I got up early. (6:50am.)
I ate some breakfast (pecan nut crunch -yum) and watched some kids TV.
I washed, dressed and changed Moon's cat litter. (He was having a laugh, horrible, vile animal, but unknown to him, the mighty Pynchon had already factored him in. Who had the last laugh today then, Cat?)
I was on the bus at 8:30am. I was in the supermarket at 8:40am. I was out of the supermarket at 9:15am. (Everything was in stock and everything was where it should have been.)
I was in Comet at 9:20am.
I purchased a wireless laptop and mouse set for Lorraine for her laptop, for Christmas (she hates the flat keyboard and finger slidey mouse operation thingy that she uses at present) and some batteries. The girl who served me looked about 13 years old and had an expression of catastrophic boredom on her face. I asked her if it had been a bad day so far. She said that it had and that the worst thing was that the shop had only been open 25 minutes. Poor cow.
I was out of Comet by 9:30am. I was on the bus at 9:45am. I was home at 9:55am.
(Takes a deep breath.)
I had some cranberry juice and some tea. I chilled with Moon The Cat. He chilled with me back.
I was on the bus into town at 10:50am. I was in town at 11:10am.
I was in Rackhams at 11:12am. In a triumph of hope over expectation, I wanted to look for lingerie for Lorraine. (Whenever we are out together I always ask her if she would like me to buy something "nice" for her - meaning nice for me, Ha, Ha! - and she always declines, because she says that she is too fat. Utter nonsense, but that is Lorraine for you. I sometimes use Christmas to buy her some nice underwear.) I say hope over expectation because Rackhams does not stock lingerie for real women. Rackhams stock lingerie for fantasy women, who subsist on a bit of lettuce for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It didn't upset me. I had time to kill and I killed it.
I went to W H Smith and purchased various magazines (Web User, "Lost" magazine and the TV Guide magazines for next week and the two weeks after that - the Christmas edition).
After that I went to the UGC Cinema on Broad Street and saw "Pan's Labyrinth".
Oh, wow! I liked "Pan's Labyrinth" a great deal.
Not having read any reviews I somehow got it into my head, probably because the lead character is a young girl, that "Pan's Labyrinth" was a film for children. It is most definitely not a film for children. It is a very dark, violent and brutal fantasy set in 1944 during the immediate aftermath of the Spanish civil war.
A young girl moves with her heavily pregnant Mother to be with her adoptive Father, a captain in the Spanish army (a supremely cold and ruthless Sergi Lopez), who is occupied leading the fight against anti-Franco/Facist resistance. Here she discovers a fantasy world of fauns, fairies and doorways into other worlds. That is all you are going to get from me with regard to the plot. Nothing else, Jack.
Go and see "Pan's Labyrinth". It exceeded my expectations. It is a truly beautiful and melancholic piece of work and it works on all sorts of levels.
Please beware, though. "Pan's Labyrinth" is (eeek!) a subtitled movie. Do not let this upset you. You can do it. You can read and watch pictures at the same time. Be big. Don't be like the teenage couple who left 10 minutes into the film today. I waved goodbye to them, as they left. I am sure that they enjoyed "The Santa Clause 3" that was showing on the screen next door.
I am a bit tired, now. I will finish this tomorrow. Lorraine-return-day. Hurrah!
I know. What is this madness? Surely everything couldn't have gone to plan? Surely something went wrong? A late bus delayed you? An irritating person pissed you off in the cinema? You were unable to buy something that you wanted to buy?
No, I tells ya! Everything went according to plan. I made a list last night of everything that I needed to do and I did it.
You want to hear about it? OK.
I went to bed early as I needed to get up early. (I was in bed by 10:30pm. I don't remember the last time I was in bed by 10:30. I think it might have been sometime around 1976.)
I got up early. (6:50am.)
I ate some breakfast (pecan nut crunch -yum) and watched some kids TV.
I washed, dressed and changed Moon's cat litter. (He was having a laugh, horrible, vile animal, but unknown to him, the mighty Pynchon had already factored him in. Who had the last laugh today then, Cat?)
I was on the bus at 8:30am. I was in the supermarket at 8:40am. I was out of the supermarket at 9:15am. (Everything was in stock and everything was where it should have been.)
I was in Comet at 9:20am.
I purchased a wireless laptop and mouse set for Lorraine for her laptop, for Christmas (she hates the flat keyboard and finger slidey mouse operation thingy that she uses at present) and some batteries. The girl who served me looked about 13 years old and had an expression of catastrophic boredom on her face. I asked her if it had been a bad day so far. She said that it had and that the worst thing was that the shop had only been open 25 minutes. Poor cow.
I was out of Comet by 9:30am. I was on the bus at 9:45am. I was home at 9:55am.
(Takes a deep breath.)
I had some cranberry juice and some tea. I chilled with Moon The Cat. He chilled with me back.
I was on the bus into town at 10:50am. I was in town at 11:10am.
I was in Rackhams at 11:12am. In a triumph of hope over expectation, I wanted to look for lingerie for Lorraine. (Whenever we are out together I always ask her if she would like me to buy something "nice" for her - meaning nice for me, Ha, Ha! - and she always declines, because she says that she is too fat. Utter nonsense, but that is Lorraine for you. I sometimes use Christmas to buy her some nice underwear.) I say hope over expectation because Rackhams does not stock lingerie for real women. Rackhams stock lingerie for fantasy women, who subsist on a bit of lettuce for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It didn't upset me. I had time to kill and I killed it.
I went to W H Smith and purchased various magazines (Web User, "Lost" magazine and the TV Guide magazines for next week and the two weeks after that - the Christmas edition).
After that I went to the UGC Cinema on Broad Street and saw "Pan's Labyrinth".
Oh, wow! I liked "Pan's Labyrinth" a great deal.
Not having read any reviews I somehow got it into my head, probably because the lead character is a young girl, that "Pan's Labyrinth" was a film for children. It is most definitely not a film for children. It is a very dark, violent and brutal fantasy set in 1944 during the immediate aftermath of the Spanish civil war.
A young girl moves with her heavily pregnant Mother to be with her adoptive Father, a captain in the Spanish army (a supremely cold and ruthless Sergi Lopez), who is occupied leading the fight against anti-Franco/Facist resistance. Here she discovers a fantasy world of fauns, fairies and doorways into other worlds. That is all you are going to get from me with regard to the plot. Nothing else, Jack.
Go and see "Pan's Labyrinth". It exceeded my expectations. It is a truly beautiful and melancholic piece of work and it works on all sorts of levels.
Please beware, though. "Pan's Labyrinth" is (eeek!) a subtitled movie. Do not let this upset you. You can do it. You can read and watch pictures at the same time. Be big. Don't be like the teenage couple who left 10 minutes into the film today. I waved goodbye to them, as they left. I am sure that they enjoyed "The Santa Clause 3" that was showing on the screen next door.
I am a bit tired, now. I will finish this tomorrow. Lorraine-return-day. Hurrah!
# posted by Pynchon @ 11:39 pm 
