Some Scenes from Buenos Aires

Scenes from my recent trip to Buenos Aires. These were all taken in La Recoleta, the national cemetery. It was a star attraction, like a city of tombs. I'll write more about BA as a whole later, but until then, enjoy the amateur photography!

The Lives of Others

I saw The Lives of Others last weekend and have to say that it was amazing, brilliant, compelling--and any other hyperbolic adjective I can toss at it. But it truly was a fantastic (there I go again) movie. It deservedly won the Best Foreign Film Oscar, though I haven't seen Pan's Labyrinth yet (still).

The story is about a Stasi (aka, secret police) agent in East Berlin in 1984, and he is assigned to spy on a couple--a playwright and his actress girlfriend--suspected of being anti-government. At first, the Stasi guy is a hard-assed hardliner, a ruthless bureaucrat. But soon, as he gets more and more involved in these people's lives, he has an awakening. A moral awakening, you might call it. And from there, the mounting drama unfolds. The direction, acting, score--all of it is top notch. And, though it is devastating, it has one of the more satisfying endings that I've seen in a long time. I even cried. Go see it.

Random Friday Thoughts

Decision 2008: Is it just me, or is anyone else sick of the 2008 Election already? Jesus, it's, what, 17 months away still? I guess it's a reflection of how eager we are to be rid of Dubya. I dig Obama, but in the end I just want a Democrat to win.

March Madness: My alma mater, Vanderbilt, won its first round of the NCAA! I might actually have to watch basketball this weekend. I can also claim Florida as an alma mater, since I went to grad school there. But I never liked Florida--the state, the school--so I don't bother to root for them.

Lost: I still love this show, despite what naysayers are saying. And I even love 24, even if one of its creators is an asshole rightwing freak.

Roommates: God, I so need to live alone. Or with someone rational and not a tidiness Nazi.

Weekend Reading: Got to finish a fantastic novel called Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber. I'm writing the press release for it (for another company; it's one of my side gigs that pays little but is still fun to do). Also, magazines. Stack and stacks piled in my room. Also Plainsong by Kent Haruf and Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb.

Best Movies of 2006

Here are my favorite movies from 2006, thought keep in mind I STILL haven't seen Dreamgirls, Letters from Iwo Jima, Pan's Labyrinth, and The Lives of Others, not to mention other small movies.

1. Children of Men
2. United 93
3. Half Nelson
4. Babel
5. Little Children
6. Little Miss Sunshine
7. Volver
8. The Departed
9. Infamous
10. Heading South
11. L’Enfant
12. Notes on a Scandal
13. The Queen
14. Devil Wears Prada
15. Borat
16. An Inconvenient Truth
17. Twelve and Holding
18. Casino Royale
19. The Last King of Scotland
20. Shortbus

I would have given the Oscars this way:

Picture: Children of Men
Actor: Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson (Honorable Mention: Clive Owen, Children of Men)
Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen (though Meryl and Judi and Kate and Penelope were amazing and justly nominated, but also Charlotte Rampling in Heading South)
Supporting Actor: Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children (Honorable Mention: Michael Caine, Children of Men)
Supporting Actress: Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
Director: ah, hell, give it to Martin Scorcese already, so we can stop hearing about it. And The Departed was a good movie, will edited, exciting, fun.

And, well, they did give it to Marty.

But Children of Men. Wow. It blew me away. It was bleak, exciting, funny, beautifully filmed, brilliantly acted. Go see it. Or rent it.

Long Time No See

I had all but abandoned this blog! Sheesh. I vow to be more prolific from now on. Or for a little while. On to the news.

I finished and turned in my novel! I had been working my ass off and finally wrapped it up at the end of January. Gave it to my agent and editor last week. My agent loved it, but I haven't yet heard back from my editor. If she likes, we'll move forward to the next phase. Meanwhile, I will start Novel 2 very soon. But it has been nice taking a writing break.

I am off to Buenos Aires on Saturday! Going with my friends Clay and Jason. Should be a blast. We're staying in an apartment in the Palermo area. I imagine we'll do a lot of shopping, eating, drinking, and carousing. Maybe take in a few sights/sites.

Oscars. The freaking Oscars. I am actually missing the Oscars this year! I'll be in a flight home from Argentina. So I will have to watch it on DVR when I get home on the 26th. But really, besides best picture, there don't seem to be too many surprises in store.

More rants, raves, gripes, comments, and news to come.

V-Day or D-Day?

Today is election day. The day we've all been waiting for--or dreading. Voting is easy for me. I simply walk downstairs and vote in my lobby, on one of those old-timey machines where you pull a big lever and a bunch of little ones. But no matter, I would have walked a mile to vote. Happily, it looks like Democrats will clean up in New York. The national situation is less clear, though Dems are expected to take control of at least the House. I will be watching, for sure, nervously. I've lived through three miserable election nights this century (2000 was awful, but 2004 may have been worse), and I'm hoping this one will be different. Time will tell. I shouldn't get too worked up over this, because it is out of my hands. I hope I wake up tomorrow to a new political landscape. If not, I may step in front of a bus. Okay, I jest. But I will be severely depressed. Well, like I said, time will tell.

My Celebrity Crushes

My blog has been lacking images lately, so I figured it was time to add some pictures. And why not pictures of hot men? These guys are my celebrity crushes. I know, this makes me sound like a 13-year-old girl, but so what. Patrick Wilson is the newest addition to my crush coterie, having just seen Little Children and Hard Candy. He's just such a Golden Boy. What else can I say? Eric Bana? Dark and handsome and Australian. Yum. And Wentworth Miller, star of Prison Break? He's a great multiethnic beauty. Not sure what his heritage is, but whatever it is, it comes together to create one beautiful man. Enjoy!

The Elections, The War, and the Brilliant Frank Rich

The midterm elections are a few weeks away. All signs point to the Dems taking control of the House--and maybe the Senate, too. Uh, please let this happen. If not, I think I've fucking had it with this country. (Yeah, I know, I said that when Bush was not really elected and then re-elected, but this time I mean it!) Everyone says the Dems always manage to lose, to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory, etc. But can we also lay some blame on idiotic voters? (Not to mention all the losers who don't even bother to go out and vote.) Last time the Republicans fear-mongered the public to death, and stupid voters somehow fell for it, thinking the Republicans are keeping us oh-so-safe. Now, two years later, it's clear to most everyone that this disastrous war has made us less safe, not safer. So will voters finally realize that Republicans are ruining America and vote for change? Time will tell. I want to believe...but the cynical, pessimistic side of me can easily see how, once again, I'll wake up on November 7 disappointed, disgusted, and near-suicidal.

And speaking of this war. Three years ago, when this administration was "selling" the idea of the War--you know, how Iraq and Saddam had WMDs, were a threat to America, blah blah blah--I knew all along that it was bullshit. But I wasn't alone--hundreds of thousands of other people did, too. Actually, anyone with half a brain knew the war was based on bogus and fauly intelligence--not to mention lies, lies, lies. But now that the war is an unqualified disaster, people who once supported the war are now turning against it, saying that if they had known there were no WMDs, if they had known that Rummy and Gang had no postwar plan, than they would have been against it from the beginning, too. Bullshit. (My favorite word in this posting, apparently!) These people are just covering their asses because they are on the wrong side of history.

And the rest of them, who were genuinely hoodwinked? Well, if I took the time to read the papers and stay informed, and if I knew that the whole thing was based on lies, and if I knew all along that Bush and his cronies were crooked and caught up in their neocon delusions--if I knew all this, these other people could have--and should have--known, too. They have no excuse, except their own gnorance and stupidity. If they'd get off their asses and read and watch the news and engage with the world around them, instead of hoping Jesus solves all their problems, instead of spending their time bashing gays and defending marriage and boycotting French fries, well, then, we wouldn't be in this mess, and more than 2,500 young men and women wouldn't be dead, for no reason whatsoever.

God, I could go on and on. Just read the brilliant Frank Rich's new book, The Greatest Story Ever Sold, if you want to know the downright criminal and disastrous lies the Bush administration peddled (and still peddles!) to get us into this war. Nobody says it better than Frank Rich, and he has from the get-go.

So, in two weeks, maybe we'll have a new Congress, one that can turn things around. I don't expect miracles if the Dems take over, but it sure would halt the wretched policies that Bush and Republicans have rammed down the country's throat for the past six years.

Nobel Time

The Nobel Prize for Literature will be announced tomorrow, which has produced a flurry of articles about who might win and about the award itself. Salon has an interesting take on the bad deeds of past winners, including Knut Hamsen, who was a Nazi sympathizer, and Gunter Grass, who was, if briefly, an actual Nazi. Susan Salter Reynolds wrote a great piece in the Los Angeles Times about the Award and how the winner is determined.

Is it art or politics or a little of both? Oddsmakers have Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk as the frontrunner, but does it ever turn out to be who they think will win? Other supposed contenders are the Syrian poet Adonis, Philip Roth (overdue?), Ryszard Kapuscinski, Milan Kundera, Joyce Carol Oates (huh?), Margaret Atwood, and so on. They've given it to a lot of Europeans lately, so chances are they won't do that again, especially to an Eastern European (since Imre Kertesz and Elfriede Jelinek are recent winners). So that leaves Asia, Africa, South America, or North America.

Who do I predict? Well, predicting this award is a fool's game. I don't think the award should be political; I think it should be based solely on artistic merit--on a brilliant body of work. But so many other factors are in play, including geographical and genre considerations. A poet hasn't won in a few years, so maybe it's time. Since Pinter won last year, you can rest assured that a playwright won't win this year.

Who would I like to see win? Well, Roth has a shot, and I think he deserves it on purely artistic grounds. If you want an African--a black African--then how about Chinua Achebe? Isn't he more deserving, artistically, than Wole Soyinka was? Of course, I really wish Ireland's William Trevor would win. Or, even more, Canada's Alice Munro (a far more deserving choice, in my mind, than Margaret Atwood). They are both unlikely to win, however, because their work isn't overtly political. And that's a shame, because they are two of the masters of the short story, whose work will surely last. Unlike, say, Jelinek's novels or the plays of Dario Fo.

As Reynolds points out in her article, a lot of biggies did not win the award, including Leo Tolstoy, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, and Marcel Proust. And a lot of head-scratchers won (anyone ever heard of Romain Rolland, who won in 1915, or Frans Eemil Sillanpää, who won in 1934??). But the award has also gone to some amazing writers, like Faulkner, Hemingway, Camus, Coetzee, Marquez, Eliot, and, yes, even Toni Morrison.

So, tomorrow, the award will be announced and then criticized or praised. But in all likelihood, it will get people talking about literature and maybe even get them to explore a new (or not so new) writer's work. That can't be a bad thing, right?

I'm still hoping for a Munro or Trevor upset!

The Pope Is (a) Dope

So, you may have heard about the Pope's recent comments about Islam. Believe me, I'm no fan if his. In fact, I'm no fan of any organized religion (more on that in a bit). But part of me (yikes) agrees with the Pope. I mean, just look at the reaction. The Pope--and I'm paraphrasing--quoted a Byzantine scholar from ages ago who equated Islam with violence and hatred. So to protest this depiction, Muslims, uh, set fire to shit, rioted, the usual insane VIOLENT reaction they have when anyone dares say anything at all about their religion.

Believe me, I'm no fan of the Pope. I hate him, actually, especially because of his backward views on gays and the world in general. And he should have kept his mouth shut in his position. But I'll just say it, I hate the Muslims, too. I'm about as liberal as they come, and I know I should be tolerant and all that jazz. But why? They want nothing more than to wipe the rest of us--non-Muslims, aka infidels, be they American, or gay, or Korean, or Danish, anyone and everyone--off the face of the earth. Why should we tolerate that?

Yeah, yeah, not ALL Muslims are evil. Not all Christians are bigots. I know. But I'm reading a fantastic book right now called The End of Faith by Sam Harris. I'll write about it later, because so far it's blowing my mind. But he argues that even religious moderates a troublesome, because they aid and abet the religious extremists, who, if we're not careful, will destroy all of us in the end. I've also been persuaded by people like Ayann Hirsi Ali, a Dutch-Somalian woman who has written about what an oppressive force Islam is and how Westerners should stop tolerating it, at least within their borders. More on her later, as well.

In the end, Harris argues for the end of ALL religions, except for those that are more spiriutal and internal, like Buddhism. He's pretty damn persuasive. Meanwhile, I hope no Muslims read this, because they'll probably put out a hit on me. Because, you know, they're NOT a religion of violence and hatred at all.

Yeah, Yeah, We Know!

I just watched the U.S. Open men's final, which Roger Federer won by beating Andy Roddick. It was a good match, but I was rooting for Roddick. Federer is a great player. But I am sort of tired of hearing about it. Yeah, yeah, we know he's great. Now stop creaming in your pants about him. Throughout every broadcast I have to listen to that again and again. I'd watch the matches on mute, except I want to at least her the balls striking the racquets and the court.

Also, this weekend Federer had Anna Wintour in his box, and today it was Tiger Woods (another tiresome winner). I didn't know a star could be a Star Fucker, but I guess you can. Anna Wintour? What the fuck? I guess the Williams sisters are star fuckers, too. Hell, maybe they all are. I just find it amusing—and annoying.

And oh yeah, we KNOW Maria Sharapova is pretty, oh so pretty. We get it. Now shut up about it. To her credit, she actually cares about tennis and has a game to back it up. But every commercial reminds us of how bad-ass beautiful she is. Are there that many dogs on the women's tour where she gets elevated to Goddess status?

And of course they would NEVER objectify a male player. I want to see a commercial where Dmitry Tursonov (see above)—a Russian hottie, maybe the male version of Sharpova—shows his abs and bends over a lot and is basically ogled by the camera. He's quite dreamy, I think. Sigh. (Roddick ain't bad either. My other tennis crush is Richard Gasquet. Hell, even Federer is pretty damn cute. Okay, I'm being shallow and vapid, but if males can be that way about women, then I can be that way about men!)

Chapter 7

I'm on Chapter 7 of my novel. I think it will ultimately be 12 chapters, so I'm a little over half-way there. So far, so good. Of course, it could all turn out to be rubbish in the end! But I must say, I feel like I'm on the right track. And when I reread stuff, I think it's good. Or, at least, it doesn't make me cringe. I hope to finish two chapters each month, which is a tall, exhausting order. But I can get about 3 decent pages done in about an hour, if I focus, so I should be able to manage it. I want to be mostly done by Christmas, so I can just go home and enjoy the holiday and celebrate.

Farewell, Agassi

Last week I had the pleasure of being able to watch and witness--in person--Andre Agassi's last victory as a professional. This was last Thursday, a balmy night, and he was playing a young player from Cyprus, Marcos Baghdatis, who is actually #8 in the world. No slouch.

It was amazing--vintage Agassi, vintage late-night U.S. Open. I went with my friend Amy's boyfriend, Robert, a cute Irishman. Our seats were high up, but still decent. The best part was the energy, rowdiness, and excitement of the crowd. From point one, the place was nuts. Almost unruly, like we were at some Davis Cup match in South America or something.

WE didn't get out of there until about 1:00am, and then the subway ride back to Grand Central was packed and took a long time. All in all, I didn't get home until 2:30am. So the ride home from Flushing Meadow sucks, esepcially at night. But it was all worth it. Even if Agassi had lost (which he did in his next match), it would have been worth it, because then we would have seen his very last match, ever. It was historic, anyway you looked at it.

I've been a fan of his since the get-go, even when he had really bad hair and bad clothes. He's just such an exciting player--his power, his grit, his mental game. No one will ever compare, probably. I do love Andy Roddick, but he has a long way to go to achieve what Agassi did. Plus, Agassi had to rely on a lot more than just a serve.

Don't even get me started on the women's game now, which is sort of a snoozefest. I miss Monica Seles the most. And will anything ever compare to Martina vs. Chrissie in the 1980s? I know, I'm old...

Done Deal

Well, I signed my contract last week, so it's a done deal! A nice check should be forthcoming. Now I just need to finish the book by January. I am done with Chapter 4, and this month I really want to finish Chapters 5 and 6. January--the due date--is going to sneak up on me. I am taking off a week in August for a little writing vacation. I really hope I'm productive, or else I'll have wasted a week. But it's hot and unpleasant outside, so it's the perfect weather to stay inside and write.

Actually, Chapter 1(with a few minor minor changes) of my novel has just been published in this YA anthology called Rush Hour. People who've read it have been very kind and encouraging, so it's nice to know that I'm on the right track. I'm actually reading the anthology right now. I loved the first story by Greg Galloway, and David Levithan's as well. I don't think they are going to publish the Rush Hour series anymore, however, which is sad. My agent says it was "ahead of its time." Oh well.

What I'm Reading

As usual, I have too many books going at once. I am working on the publicity for Myla Goldberg's second novel this fall (Wickett's Remedy), so right now I'm reading Bee Season. It's as wonderful as everyone says it is. Scarily enough, I should start reading my Spring 07 books soon--Kevin Brockmeier's The Brief History of the Dead, Max Barry's Company, Charles D'Ambrosio's The Dead Fish Museum, to name just a few.

But, as always, non-work books still hold sway over me. I'm reading a YA novel called Crooked by Tom and Laura McNeal, recommended by my editor. So far it's great. I need to read a LOT more in the YA world, since I'm soon to be a part of it. I'm also reading About Town, a history of The New Yorker by Ben Yagoda. It's fascinating reading about the early days of the magazine. I love literary histories in general. I finished the Melville bio, which was fantastic, and now I may start the oral history/bio of Truman Capote.

I'm still reading Deborah Eisenberg's Twilight of the Superheroes. I've read about a story a month--very slow, I know. I love her stuff, and it's nice to slowly savor it. But I need to finish it, b/c there are about five other new story collections I'm dying to dip into (by Ben Fountain, Scott Snyder, and Edward JOnes). I got a galley of Alice Munro's new book coming out in November, The View from Castle Rock, so I'm dying to start that. Her last story in the New Yorker was great--and it's not included in the new book. The new book was rumored to be her last, so this new story gives me hope that she's still going to keep writing her brilliant short stories.

Book Deal

Allow me to toot my own horn and speak of good news. I have a book deal!

Here's the story. For more than a year, I've been working on a YA novel--YA meaning "Young Adult" for those of you not in the know. Which means it's aimed toward teenage readers, though it does have crossover appeal. (You can say that Harry Potter is YA. But my books will have no goblins, wizards, or witches, alas.) I started one novel, showed my agent some chapters, and he didn't like it. Back to the drawing board.

I'd written a short story years ago called "Alone for the Weekend." My agent had sold that story to Delacorte to appear in an anthology they publish called Rush Hour. Soon after that, I met the in-house editor, Jodi, and had a great chat with her. She told me she wanted to see more of my work, and so I asked her if she thought "Alone" could be the first chapter of a novel. She said yes. So I started work on the next few chapters.

George said that after I had three chapters done, then he might go ahead and try to sell it. It's not the usual way things are done, for novels anyway. But since Jodi seemed so keen on my work, he thought we might as well try. So I started work.

It took me about five months to finish the chapters, which is of course ridiculously slow. But I worked on it in stolen moments, weekends mostly. In May, I finally finished, then reworked them here and there, and was finally happy with the result.

I turned them in to George on a Monday. Of course, by Tuesday I was convinced that it was all crap! For days I didn't hear a peep from George. Then I called him on Thursday, just to make sure he got the chapters. He had, of course, and read them and said he loved them. A big relief! He told me we'd chat the next week about what to do next, because he was going to Ireland for a few days. That weekend I went to visit friends in DC in good spirits--my hard work hadn't been a complete waste of time!

When I returned to work on Monday, I had a message from Jodi, asking me to call her. Turns out George had emailed her the chapters on Friday. She read them over the weekend and loved them and told me that she was "going to make an offer." Sweeter words could not have been uttered. I was ecstatic and in mild shock. Of course, George was in Ireland for a few more days.

A day later, George's assistant forwarded Jodi's offer to me, which made me even more excited. Here it was, in writing, with numbers and dollars attached! George finally returned and we made a lunch date to talk about everything. He had me write up a description of the novel and where I thought it was going. But he also floated a new idea--a two-book deal. I was basically like, sure thing, if you can score it! So he had me come up with a description of Book 2, as well. Then he countered the offer and broached the two-book deal.

Jodi found the description of Novel 1 very helpful, but she wasn't sold on Book 2. It was too mature, she said, for a YA reader. But she wasn't opposed to the idea of a two-book deal. So I met with her and had a great chat, even met some of the other editors who'd read my chapters. I had a great feeling after the meeting. And it's so rare to get any kind of praise and validation as a writer. Usually you just toil in solitude, never knowing if what you're working on is good or not, never even knowing if it will ever be published. So, it was nice. This whole experience, so far, has been nice. More than nice.

In the end, George negotiated a great contract for a two-book deal. I have to turn in the first novel--tentatively titled What They Always Tell Us--in January of 2007. Publication will probably be in 2008. As for the second book, I don't know what it will be about, nor do I know when it is due. At this point, I just need to focus on the first one!

So, in many ways it's a dream come true. It's what I've been working toward for years. I thought it would happen sooner, and then I wondered if it would ever happen at all. Now I have a lot of work ahead, but so far the work and the writing have been fun. I love the characters, the story. And having a book deal, I must admit, makes me believe in my writing a bit more--I'm writing with confidence for a change. I'm no Proust or Faulkner, but at least a few people thing I'm worthy of publishing books!

The Golden Age of Television

I'm not ashamed to say that I like TV. Sure, most of it is utter crap. There are, after all, hundreds of channels filled with hundreds of useless programs. But quite a few shows these days (and in days past) are excellent. Entertaining, fun, smart, even brilliant. To name just a few of the current gems: 24, The Sopranos, Deadwood, Lost, Alias, Prison Break, Veronica Mars. Soon to return: Deadwood.

These people who don't own TVs or claim not to watch TV--they all act like they're such cultured, wonderful, superior beings. If that's what they want to believe, fine. I happen to think they're a wee bit pretentious and out of touch. I read tons of book, see great films, go to art museums, read newspapers, and love the high-brow. But that doesn't mean I'm too good for TV.
Back to those shows. This season in particular seems full of amazing shows. Shows that are innovative, challenging, exciting, with the narrative drives of big-budget movies. I'm a big fan of the high-concept shows like 24, Lost, Alias, even Prison Break--shows that somehow, despite their sort-of crazy premises, keep going, adding twists and turns, even when you think they can't possibly top themselves. Lost is not only high concept, but it is a treasure of great characters and strong performances. The show's mysteries and oddities and conspiracy-like shenanigans are a big draw--but it's the characters who make it worth going back to week after week.

And 24 is a wonder--in it's fifth season, it's better than ever. What's made it so good this year, for me, are the strong, beautifully performed female roles. Chloe, played with feisty acidity by Mary Lynn Rajskub, is one of the best supporting characters ever to grace the small screen. Audrey now has a backbone, and Kim Raver has done a great job making her, finally, a likeable heroine. Jean Smart is brilliant--from her first scene, when she dunked her made-up face in cold water--as the first lady: emotional, humane, fragile but also strong. All three of them deserve Emmys! And Jayne Atkinson, who's an American Helen Mirren lookalike, as the new CTU chief is fantastic as well. And how can you not love a show, in this day and age, that makes the smarmy president its main villain? I can't wait to see how it plays out.

My only complaint about TV these days is that there are too many shows that I like, that I feel compelled to watch. Just like there are way too many books to read and too many movies to see. We live in a world that is just too much.

Random Thoughts

Some days, I walk around (or sit around) and a thought will pop into my head, and I think, "I should blog about this." Usually it's politics, and something has ticked me off--the umpteenth tax cut for zillionaires, Donald Rumsfeld's lies and bluster, the eternal clusterfuck that is the Bush administration, even Mary Cheney and her stupid who-gives-a-shit autobiography. (Do we call her an Uncle Tom or an Aunt Tom?) And then, by the time I get to a computer, my drive to write about any of this has died. Alas. Or my time has simply dried up. Or I just don't feel like being verbose. Plus, I sort of feel like so many people say it better than I ever could.

So, instead of going on and on about something, I'll present some random thoughts, rants, raves.

Moderation. Is being a moderate today really that admirable? Once, when I was a young man coming out of the fog of the Reagan years, I thought moderates were the ideal--neither too right wing, nor too left wing. Jusssst right. I kissed being a moderate goodbye years ago, but still, I had no problem with moderates. But nowadays, with the right creeping to the right of Atila the Hun, I think being a moderate is, well, being a big pussy. Take a stand! Really, even as a true moderate, you can't stand by Republicans and conservatives in this day and age--they're too scary, extreme.

Pet peeves. People who stand right in front of the subway doors when you're trying to get off. I long ago stopped acting civilized. I'll push even old ladies aside if they're standing in my way! Also, people who don't stand to the right on the escalators, so that people walking up can pass by. Funny, now that I don't have a car and don't have to drive, my road rage has been supplanted by subway and sidewalk rage.

My friends. I turned 33 a few weeks ago. My friend Scott calls this the perfect age. Ha. But I threw myself a party, invited my friends, had a yummy buttercream cake, drank a lot, and basically just had a great time. And I realized what great friends I have. How interesting and fun and genuine they all are. Awww, big lovefest! (Check out the pictures at http://martinwilsonpics.shutterfly.com)

Summer. It's almost here, though New York weather seems to want to hold on to spring a bit longer. Summer brings the wonderful summer work hours (half-day Fridays for people in publishing), an emptier Manhattan, smelly streets (especially in my neighborhood, which is close to Chinatown, which stinks during ALL seasons), popcorn movies, and shorts and short sleeves and the dreaded swimsuit (not to sound TOO much like Cathy, the cartoon character). I need to lose about 20 pounds before I even think of showing myself in a swimsuit in public. I don't even a swimsuit that fits anymore, I don't think. How sad is that?! Or is it so sad it's funny? Oh well, I have more important things to do this summer, like make big headway on my novel. I'm turning in three chapters to my agent next week. Hopefully he'll like it.

Scalia the Asswipe

Not to insult asswipes, who are quite useful, unlike this greasy, scaly beast.

Anyway, so here is a quote from one of our Justice Scalia:

"Question comes up: Is there a constitutional right to homosexual conduct? Not a hard question for me. It's absolutely clear that nobody ever thought when the Bill of Rights was adopted that it gave a right to homosexual conduct. Homosexual conduct was criminal for 200 years in every state. Easy question."
—U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, talking to students at the University of Freiburg in Switzerland, according to CNN
FROM OUR SPONSOR

Can I add him to my spaceship to send right to the sun? How could I have forgotten him in the first place?

Well, Tony, there are lots of things that nobody ever thought about when they came up with the Bill of Rights. Scalia would probably revoke rights for women and blacks if he could. What about right to privacy? If he wants to haul gays away for being criminals, then he might as well haul away every hetero male who has given his wife oral pleasure, haul away every wife who has given her husband a BJ. Hell, haul away everyone who has non-missionary-style sex, why don't you. How did this jack-ass get appointed? And, scarily, are Roberts and Alito just like him? Thankfully I live in New York, otherwise I might be put in prison for being myself.

I'm a Bad Blogger

Okay, so I haven't written anything in a while. I'm a bad blogger, the same was I became a bad journal keeper.

So, here are some random tidbits, thoughts, etc.

Wither Republicans?
Tom DeLay is finally stepping down. Ding, dong, the witch is dead! Is this a sign of things to come for the Republicans this fall? I've read a lot of articles that predict Democratic gains in the House and Senate. Here's hoping! But don't underestimate the idiocy of American voters to keep many of these creeps in power. Okay, so maybe, maybe the Democrats aren't very visionary these days--as the media continues to tell us. I happen to think they are, but they're not in power and thus have no good way to present their vision. But it doesn't matter--they should win based on the corruption and pure evil-ness of Republican policies. Since we're stuck with Bush for a few more years, having a Democratic-controlled House and/or Senate would be a dream come true. Especially if they can prevent more right-winger white men (or, scarier, right wing women or minorities--who are these people???) from landing in the Supreme Court.

People I'd Like to Put on a Spaceship Headed Straight Toward the Sun
Yes, I'm feeling like a hater today. So, here are some people I wish would vanish off the face of the earth: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Rummy, Condi Rice, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Focus on the Family, all evangelical Christians, all radical Muslims, all Neocons, Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, Bill O'Reilly and anyone else on FOX, Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, Paula Abdul. Hmm, I know I could list a lot more. But that would do for now.

Who I Love?
Okay, so not to be a total hater, who (and what) do I love? Well, besides my family and friends and colleagues? Here's a current love list: Natsuo Kirino (author of Out), Deborah Eisenberg, George Clooney, Frank Rich (come back soon!), Paul Krugman, Barack Obama, Salon.com, Gawker.com, Amazon.com, St. Mark's Bookshop, guys with beards, springtime in New York, Cote du Rhone red wine, wine in general, 24, Lost, Sopranos, especially Michael Imperioli and Edie Falco, Eric Bana, gay French movies, Trouble by Patrick Somerville.
See, I have a lot of love in my heart!