Love Is Strange

I saw the film Love Is Strange today. It's about an older gay couple, played by John Lithgow and Alfred Molina, who are forced to live apart after Molina's character loses his job at a Catholic school after he marries Lithgow and the school, etc. find out about it. With the loss of income, the couple is no longer able to stay in their Manhattan co-op and are forced to sell it and live apart while they try to find new accommodations. The film should have been titled How New York Real Estate (Nearly) Ruined My Life because that, to me, was the crux of the story. The characters here didn't make a killing when they sold their co-op either. After flip taxes and everything else, they ended up with less than $20,000, a paltry sum that's not nearly enough to put into play in the New York (i.e. Manhattan) real estate market. However, the two men could have found another place to live outside of Manhattan. What about renting in Inwood, Queens, or an unfashionable part of Brooklyn (like Kensington, where I lived)? These options were never explored because then the movie would have been over with in about half an hour.


The movie was sad and funny and the acting was great, but the whole real estate thing just hung over it like a rain cloud. New York real estate is so ridiculous, but also fascinating. The things that people are able to get away with regarding real estate in New York are unbelievable. Apartments that wouldn't even be deemed inhabitable anywhere else are legal and rented in New York. (Or even if they're not legal, they're still rented.) No stove? No problem. Get a hotplate and/or a microwave and go to town. Bathtub in the kitchen? That's a win-win. You can bathe and wash dishes at the same time. Multitasking! Dorm-sized fridge? Wonderful. Who needs to freeze food anyway? Yes, New York is great, but it's not so great when you don't have any money and are living in a room with a toilet, a sink, and a view of a brick wall. (Sounds like a prison; maybe it is.) (For the record, the picture below was my living room in Brooklyn and I didn't think it was a prison [despite the bars on the window by the fire escape]. I thought it was a nice place actually.)

Crazyville

People seem to be losing their shit more and more these days. I just read about two cases of people flipping out during flights over reclined seats. I suspect most people hate it when the person in front of them reclines his/her seat on a flight. It's annoying. However, is this something worth getting into a fight about? Is this something that the flight should be diverted to deal with? No and No. I do, however, think the device that prevents a person from reclining the seat in front of you is kind of ingenious. It's like those devices that block a person's cell phone connection. Sneaky, yet effective. But these devices can also cause trouble. Can't people find ways to solve problems that don't result on physical violence or diverted flights?

Teacher Removed

I read this story today about a teacher who was removed from his job because he'd written two novels (under a pseudonym) that dealt with school shootings. Here's a link to read more about the story:




http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/english-teacher-under-investigation-for-writing-a-fiction-featuring-school-shootings_b89654




I find it bizarre that this man would be suspended from his job for fictional books that he wrote. What was the basis for his suspension? Is he a threat to students and/or faculty? Has he shown violent tendencies in the classroom in the past or had any kind of disciplinary action brought against him? I certainly hope this guy's union helps him to keep his job. So many things come back to bite us and it's a shame when your own fictional writing leads to something like this.

Huh?

Why did the Emmys suck last night? Because so many of the winners weren't that great. Why do these award show judges keep picking the same shows and the same stars over and over? There are a lot of new, interesting shows that aren't on network TV, but the Emmys must be run by network honchos because the non-network stuff just seems to get passed over. Does Jim Parsons really need another Emmy? Does Modern Family? I don't think so, but that's just my opinion. (I don't actually watch the Big Bang Theory or Modern Family.) Only one (well-deserved) award for True Detective? Huh? Emmy awards won't stop people from turning to cable or Netflix to watch shows that are innovative and willing to push the envelope. And, speaking of shows, when are Colbert and the Daily Show back on? They've been on vacation for nearly a month now. Grr!

Grow Up

As I've said in the past, I lurk on a few websites daily for celebrity gossip, etc. I also read many of the comments posted. Normally, I don't put a lot of stock in these comments. Some are funny, some are mean, some are offensive, and some don't make any sense to me at all, but I read one comment recently that really made me want to tell the writer to grow up. The writer, who posted that he was male, stated that he wanted to read gay-themed books, but not ones written by women.(He also didn't want to read any sci-fi, but I'm dealing with the gender issue.) Okay. I've heard this song before. Some gay men don't want to read gay romance (or any kind of gay-themed book) that's written by a woman. Some blacks don't want to read books about black people that are written by whites. Some women don't want to read books about women that are written by men. And the list goes on. To all of these folks, I would simply say, "Grow up!" I would never let the race or gender of an author dissuade me from reading a book. I'm interested in the story, not the author. Can women not write about men? Can men not write about women? Can blacks not write about blacks? These same people who have such rigid views about what they'll read are probably the first ones who would jump up and shout to the heavens if they were discriminated against because of their race, gender, or sexual orientation. So how can they justify practicing that exact same discrimination against someone else?

Writing Classes

I took a non-credit writing class a few years ago at NYU and largely enjoyed it. The class members were diverse in sex, age, and race (hey, our instructor was half Mexican!). The class provided me with a great opportunity to workshop my own writing, but also read the writing of others whose work was in progress. I keep flirting with the idea of taking a screenwriting class because I want to learn how to write a screenplay. I checked into an introductory screenwriting course at a local community college, but I was disappointed that the same woman was teaching every section of the class. Also, it didn't look like anyone had signed up for any of the four courses offered--a bad sign for a prospective student like myself. I wish writing classes had more diversity in terms of the instructors. Too often, I feel like the instructors for these workshop courses are basically the same: middle to upper class white women in their 30s who write literary fiction. No disrespect to these ladies, but is there a way to open the door and let a little more diversity into these writing courses? Can course administrators work a little harder to try and recruit more men, more people of color, and just more people who write in different genres? 

Public Spaces

I'm not the kind of writer who can set up my laptop in a Starbucks and just write. I prefer to write in my own space rather than in a public space. However, I do, on occasion, go to the library to write because it seems to be quieter than a Starbucks or some other coffee house. So today I spent a few hours working on my current novel at the local public library and everything started out great. I found a nice cubicle to sit in by the window and I was good to go. Then, about an hour or so in, some woman sat on the other side of the cubicle wall from me. First, she was on her cell phone. She wasn't speaking in a loud voice, but still, it was annoying. Whatever. I had on headphones, so I was able to tune her out. Then, once she gets off the phone, she starts setting up her work station. I don't know what she had over there, but she seemed to having a hell of a time getting it all together. Okay. Whatever. Eventually, she settles down and starts writing or typing or something. Soon after that, the coughing starts. She coughed a lot. Perhaps she was or is a smoker. Maybe she had a cold. I don't know, but the she kept coughing and the joined cubicles shook every time she did. After about half an hour, I couldn't take it anymore, so I packed it in for the day. 


Public spaces are great when the public isn't annoying the hell out of you.