The Moon is Blue

I actually picked up the needles again after a four month hiatus. I'm making Super Giant Killer a pair of legwarmers. They'll be pastel purple and blue stripes. I'd post a pic of the early-eighties-aerobics-craze pattern (oversize sweater and wide belt optional) but I'm way too lazy for that.

Speaking of Jane Fonda, she was featured on TCM's Summer of the Stars (also too lazy to look and see if that's the actual title of the series) the other night. That's where they play almost a whole day of a particualr star's films. First of all, I find that idea to be exceedingly annoying. Once in a while it's ok -- say when a star has just died or something -- but come on, 18 hours of Broderick Crawford? Ok, so ambivalence reigned the other night when it was Jane Fonda's turn. She has always annoyed me. Much like Nicole Kidman does today. And no, it has nothing to do with Vietnam. One thing is that both actresses' mouths bother me (and not in the Gable-Lombard sense). But with Jane I'm pretty sure it's the bleating. The point is, though, that I DVR'ed most of them because I love a lot of her characters in the pre-Barbarella. Haven't sorted that part out yet. Here are the possibilities: a) I've always been fascinated by what was going on in the world during the time that I was alive, but can't remember anything -- the unquenchable thirst of the historian; 2) similarly, I'm fascinated by the roles of women in that period between the late 50s and the women's and free love movements and try and figure out how my mom and aunts fit into those roles; and d) when I was a kid and I watched Jane Fonda movies, I always thought that (since she often played whores and kept women) it must have been weird doing those things with her father's friends. By the way, where are all the kept women these days? Anybody know why there are no kept-women movies anymore? Maybe there are and I don't see them (Flatulus?). Those are some of my faves from the era: Butterfield 8, The Apartment, Boeing Boeing, Any Wednesday. Maybe there aren't anymore kept women?

Still with me? C. F. Kats let me cruise around with her last night after Chinese food and thrifting. That was nice of her and I had a great time.

Today we are going to attempt to make some Cute Dolls from the new Aronzi Aranzo books. Here's a sample:












Personally, I like the Bad Book.

Do you not love the early evenings lately? I would love to have a decibel meter to determine just how loud those cicadas are. YHWH and I got out the car the other night and realized we had to yell at each other five feet apart to be heard.

Almost. Always. Again.

OK, I guess it’s safe to come back. Based on recent retributive actions at the Last Public Place in America, I had a quasi-panicky reaction to posting until I could review my previous posts. But I did not give out any specifics and I only mentioned how much I simply adore the job. In fact, I think the only negative thing work-related was the cowardly anonymous hate comment I got a few months ago. So I think Gary has blown the all-clear sireen. Famous last words, huh?

I‘ve toyed with the idea of keeping this thing subscription-only, but where’s the risk in that? Between open access blogging and unsafe sex with dirty needle users, I guess I’ll take the blogging. Consorting with heroin addicts and trips to Africa will land you on the banned list at the blood institute and I’d hate to give up my only charitable outlet.

Still, I can’t promise it’ll be interesting anymore (if it ever was) with the Last Public Place and C. F. Kats off limits; they’re the most catalytic post-generators out there. And the most universally interesting. You’d think that since my friends make up the largest readership, there’d be plenty to talk about, but I realized the other day that I must be the weird friend or the charity friend of all my friends because I have very few common interests with pretty much everybody. Let’s run it down:

Baseball…maaaybe Purple Bunny
Knitting…Tex and Ste. Rose
Football….Guy and Tex sorta
Music… hmmm… cue Jeopardy theme …
Civilization … absolutely nobody
Politics… I always get the feeling I’m the token centrist or (relative) right-winger
History … hmmm … maybe everyone, but probably no one

That leaves out a lot of regular readers…
(And, no, I do not know why I have all these ellipses here)

Anyway with this nascent book career going – one on the shelf, one on the presses, one under consideration – and my three regular writing gigs at work, I’m running pretty low on creative energy. One thing I’ve been doing a lot lately is thinking about me and Kats. I decided to try and write a poem about us after I interviewed a couple of poets for a work project. I have never understood poetry, but some of the things they said made me want to try to write some for the 35,000th time. It’s not going very well, so don’t worry you won’t have to read it! One thing I did was try and think of who would write the novelization of our relationship and I decided it would be Thomas Hardy. YHWH quickly agreed. The movie would be directed by M. Night Shaymalan, mainly because of the many Sixth Sense correlations.

So who would write the novelizations of your big relationships? Or movie, if you're not a reader.