A La Carte

I'm making a plea to the universe yet again for cable TV providers to supply a la carte channel selection.  My cable bill went up again due to some bogus excuse from Cablevision about the package I had being obsolete so they had to bump me up to a new package...that costs more money.  However, I was told, I do get a new block of Encore movie channels.  Unfortunately, these channels don't seem to be showing anything I'm interested in watching.  Over the weekend, Shogun was showing on two different Encore channels at the same time!!  And this is what I'm paying more money for??  Gee, thanks.  In a perfect world, I'd be able to pick the channels I wanted and not ones pre-selected for me by some cable honcho.  Why do I have so many Spanish language channels when I don't speak Spanish?  Can't I trade those in for the Chiller channel or something else? 

Fruitvale Station

I saw the movie Fruitvale Station today at BAM and thought it was very good.  The acting was great and what I really liked about it was that it showed a slice of life from a minority point of view (blacks and Latinos mainly).  Minorities so often get the short shrift in movies or are relegated to being the stereotype (the help, the sidekick, the sassy black friend, the hot Latina, the Asian martial arts expert, etc.), but here you actually saw black folks going to work, having dinner, taking their kids to day care, celebrating a birthday, basically doing the same things you see white folks doing in movies and on TV.

Fruitvale Station tells the story of Oscar Grant, a young black man killed by a transit cop in San Francisco.  After showing Oscar's last day alive, the movie ends with his death and it's a sad one.  People were crying at BAM when I saw it, but these kinds of stories need to be told and I'm glad someone is telling them.  We need more minority films like this rather than more Tyler Perry movies. 

Weinergate, Part Two, Day Two

So poll numbers are apparently down for Anthony Weiner (aka Carlos Danger).  Whether this slump in the polls has anything to do with his latest sexting issues is unclear, but Weiner's looking a little limp.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist.  The jokes write themselves!)  How pathetic is it to (A) lose your political career once and then (B) possibly lose the chance to reignite your political career over a sex scandal that has no sex?  At least Spitzer (aka Client #9) did have sex with women.  All Weiner seems to have done is text them and send them dick shots.  He hasn't had sex with any of these women, I don't think.  So his career is looking like it's going to crash and burn again because he can't step away from the computer and/or smart phone?  What did he do in the days before the Internet?  Take a Polaroid and send it with a dirty letter to some woman halfway across the country? 

This has nothing to do with Weiner, but someone posted this on Gothamist and I liked it:
The best puppet master makes you forget the strings.

How true.  How true.  Just like that line in The Usual Suspects:  The greatest trick the devil ever played was to convince the world he didn't exist.

There is no Keyser Soze!!!  Right.

Cooked Weiner

Well, Anthony Weiner has, once again, shown poor judgment in his life and it leads me to wonder if it's time to throw my vote to DeBlasio in the NY mayor's race. I said previously that I supported Weiner but with the caveat that I'd drop that support if he screwed up again. How do you go back to sexting and sending junk shots to women after you lost your job over these things? So stupid.

Meatless Hamburgers and Frozen Margaritas

I don't understand why someone who doesn't eat meat would eat a tofu burger (or whatever) that looks like a hamburger.  Why would you want a meatless dish that looks exactly like meat?  I detest pickles.  I hate the way they look, the way they smell, and the way they taste.  I don't want pickles or their juice anywhere near me.  So if a product was offered that looked like a pickle but wasn't a pickle, I still wouldn't want it.  If you don't like burgers, why eat fake burgers?  If you don't like hot dogs, why eat tofu dogs?  Why???

And, speaking of food, why aren't frozen margaritas readily available on the streets of New York?  Frozen margarita places (with convenient to-go cups) should be sold here.  I, for one, would like a frozen margarita after work on a hot summer day and I don't necessarily feel like sitting at a bar or in a restaurant to get one.  Why isn't there a slushy machine like at 7-11 so I can fill my own cup full of frozen tequila goodness?  Why???

Collusion...Coming Soon

So my new book, Collusion, is scheduled to come out in January 2014.  Publisher JMS Books offered me a contract and I'm quite happy about this.  Yea!  Collusion a sequel to Clean Hands (but you don't have to have read Clean Hands to get the gist of the story).  I'm excited about this and I certainly hope everything falls into place and that the book comes out on time and is well-received.  I love my characters (Brian, Jay, and Olivia) and I enjoy writing about them.  I'll continue to update my blog about the book as the pub date gets closer and as I get more information from the publisher.

I'm also hard at work on another book with a new cast of characters.  No title yet, but I'm kicking a few around.  I hope to have that one wrapped up soon. 

Detroit Bankruptcy

It's a sad day that my hometown of Detroit has filed for bankruptcy, but the situation there is dire and I'm sure there was no other choice.  The city can't pay its bills, the tax base has been dissolved, and there's very little business flowing into the city.  When the country catches a cold, Detroit catches the flu.  I sincerely hope the city will rebound one day, but I don't know what it would take for that to happen. 

News Flash: It's Hot!

Yeah, it's hot.  I'm ready for this latest heatwave to break.  At least I can sit in air conditioned comfort (that I don't have to pay for) while I'm at work, but when I get home, it's an entirely different story.  I have a portable air conditioner in my bedroom, but I have to sequester myself there at night and I can barely hear my television when I run that noisy thing.  I'm dreading my next Con Ed bill.  (First world problems, I know, but still!)  After a crappy day, I was annoyed further by some dude singing to himself on the subway during my ride home.  He had headphones on and he was singing along to the music from his iPhone.  I honestly felt like kicking him in the kneecaps (or maybe the throat so the singing would stop).  Is this week over yet????

Thanks, Rutgers!

If you've been reading my posts or checking out my Goodreads updates, you'll know that I've been reading a lot of stuff by and about John Horne Burns lately.  (I'm obsessed!)  Of the three books Burns published, I read two.  Well, finally, I was able to get my hands on the third, Lucifer with a Book (that was actually the second book he published).  My alma mater, Rutgers, had a copy and allowed me to check it out.  High five for alumni benefits!  I tried to get a copy of the book on Ebay and was outbid and the prices on Amazon were ridiculous.  (Really, $88 for a used book?  That's ridiculous!)  So now I can finish the Burns trilogy.  Yea!

John Horne Burns

I just finished reading Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns by David Margolick and I just can't stop thinking about it.  I wrote a review on Goodreads, but I have more to say.  Burns's story is such a sad one:  a promising writer who basically became an alcoholic and died right before his 37th birthday after the excessive drinking and an old head injury (that resulted from him being drunk) did him in.  After having success with his first novel, The Gallery, his next two published works, Lucifer with a Book and A Cry of Children, were critically panned.  Burns was never able to create another work as successful as his first and simply self-destructed.  On top of his alcoholism, he was an awful person to a lot of people and he struggled with being a homosexual in the 1940s and 50s.  I got the feeling from Margolick's biography that Burns simply hated himself and that hate manifested into a hatred for others.  At times he seemed to be aware of his own foul behavior, but he did little to curb it, insulting one person after another throughout his life.  He was always ready to criticize or belittle someone else and I got the feeling he enjoyed putting other people down.  But when the tables were turned and the criticism was heaped upon him, he felt like everyone was working against him.  Those critics just didn't understand what he was trying to say.  They were too stupid to understand his genius and intellect.  What a sad, delusional bastard.  What's even sadder is that he was a talented writer who basically ruined his own life.   

Eliot Spitzer and Sean Eldridge

I was talking with two of my coworkers today about Eliot Spitzer's return to politics this week and one of them asked if I would vote for him if he was able to get on the ballot for comptroller.  I told her I didn't think I would.  It's not that I don't think Spitzer would be a great person to handle the city's finances (since I assume that what a comptroller does), but I just don't feel that someone who broke the law should be in that position.  Although Spitzer's unlawful acts (frequenting prostitutes) didn't seem to interfere with his fiscal duties as governor, I'm just not comfortable having him in another government position like this.  Anthony Weiner, on the other hand, didn't break the law.  He lied to everyone, but I don't believe there were any laws broken by him (unless texting junk shots is against the law), so I'm fine with him running for mayor.  Granted, neither Spitzer nor Weiner are prizes by any stretch of the imagination.  I believe they're both power-hungry narcissists who crave the spotlight.  If Spitzer gathers enough signatures to get on the ballot, he may very well win.  He certainly has the money to fund a political campaign.

As for Sean Eldridge, his situation is similar to Spitzer's.  Who is Sean Eldridge, you may ask?  He's the husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and he's the subject of a story in today's New York Times.  Sean is, supposedly, considering a run for congress in New York state.  He and his husband Chris own multiple properties in the state and this 26-year-old native of Ohio apparently feels he has a shot against the current Republican incumbent even though he'd only lived in the area for a short time.  But he has a ton of money (via his hubby) and a lot of rich and powerful friends.  The problem I have with Eldridge is that he seems like a typical carpetbagger who moves to an area, sets up residence, and then runs for office.  (I'm looking at you, Hillary Clinton!)  What happened to living in an area for a while, becoming active in the community, and understanding the people who live there before deciding you want to run for office?  Eldridge, like Spitzer, seems like someone who figures he can buy his way onto the ballot.  And, given the current dysfunctional state of politics, maybe he can.

Camping

I was e-mailing with someone today and she told me that she and her family had gone camping over the July 4th weekend.  I told her she was a brave person because if I went camping, I'd be freaked out waiting for Sasquatch to come out of the woods and maul me.  This e-mail conversation led me to wonder why black people don't generally go camping.  I know why this black person doesn't go camping, but I also know I'm not alone in my anti-camping bias.  I have never had the desire to sleep outdoors.  Camping in a wooded area or a national park (via a tent or a camper) just doesn't seem like a lot of fun to me.  I'm all for enjoying nature, but going to sleep in the middle of it is a no-no for me.  Too many critters.  Too much of the unknown.  Too few ways to escape Sasquatch, the Mothman, or the Chupacabra if one (or more) should happen to come up on you in the night.  At least at the Hilton, Sheraton, or La Quinta I've got a fighting chance for survival (along with cable TV).  I'm just a city kid.  I enjoy sleeping in a bed and watching television and having snacks nearby and cool drinks in the fridge. 

Jackie Blue

I took a vacation from my day job to have some dental work done today.  Unfortunately, I needed a crown to replace a filling on top of a cracked tooth.  (This is what happens when you're old and your teeth start to fall apart!)  Anyway, my dentist is a fan of classic rock music and it's normally playing at the office when I go there.  It's a good thing I'm also a fan because I'm not exactly a fan of dental work and having someone drilling into my mouth for an hour.  Thankfully, the classic rock station was kicking out some good stuff this afternoon.  During my procedure, I heard "Sister Golden Hair" by America, "Dream On" by Aerosmith, and "Jackie Blue" by Ozark Mountain Daredevils.  (There were other songs also, but these three stuck with me.)  At one point during "Sister Golden Hair" the dentist, the technician, and I were all kind of bopping to the song while waiting for my teeth molding to dry.  But now, hours later, I can't get that freaking Jackie Blue song out of my head!  (Wooh ooh hoo Jackie Blue.  Lives her life from inside of a room...)  I didn't even realize a man was singing that song until I looked it up on Wikipedia.  I'd always thought it was a woman.  Go figure.  It's a great song, but do I want to be humming it for the rest of the day?  Not really.

Happy Birthday to Ringo and Me!

On this very hot July 7, Ringo Starr (the forgotten Beatle!) and I (and others) celebrate yet another birthday.  Yea!  I've only met two other people who had the same birthdate as I do and neither one was born the same year.  Someday I'll meet that elusive person with the same birthday and year as my own.  He or she is out there somewhere! 

In a totally unrelated topic, I watched the movie Night Shift on cable last Friday morning.  I hadn't seen it in years and it was still funny to me.  Henry Winkler was so un-Fonzie-like and Michael Keaton was hilarious.  If you've never seen it, I highly recommend you get it from Netflix or something.  I guess the whole prostitution business run out of a morgue wouldn't work today because everyone is a private contractor via the Internet (i.e., Craigslist).

I'm So Excited (Yeah, Not Really)

I saw Pedro Almodovar's latest film I'm So Excited today and I really thought it was terrible.  I believe I've seen many of his films and enjoyed them, but this one was the worst.  Ridiculous (and not in a good way), disjointed, boring.  The trailer made it look fun and interesting, but it wasn't.  Blow job gags, people being drugged, and sex jokes just don't make a movie (at least not for me).  Nothing worked for me in this movie.  (Correction, I did like the colorful sets and costumes.)  Almodovar always seems to bring something different to each of his movies.  Volver, The Skin I Live In, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown are examples of his work that really take moviegoers outside of the norm in a good way.  That's why I'm So Excited was such a disappointment to me, I guess.  My friend who saw the movie with me liked it and other people in the audience seemed to enjoy it, but I just found it tedious and unfunny.  At least the theater was air conditioned.

Out of Print

After reading an excerpt from a biography of the author John Horne Burns in the New York Times Sunday magazine a few weeks ago, I became determined to read the author's three published books.  Unfortunately, only one of them (The Gallery) is still in print.  The third book (A Cry of Children) is out of print, but I was able to snag a copy from the Brooklyn Public Library and I'm currently reading it.  The second book, Lucifer with a Book, is the problem child.  I can't seem to get my hands on a copy.  It's not available at the Brooklyn or New York public libraries, I can't seem to find copies available for sale on eBay or Amazon or at the Strand bookstore.  There are a few copies floating around at college libraries, but they're hard to get a hold of.  I sent a message to HarperCollins (whose Avon Books imprint originally published Lucifer back in the 1950s) to find out if they have any plans to republish this book, but so far, no response.  I understand books go out of print, but once there's renewed interest in a title or author, publishers who hold the copyright should really get on the stick and republish these works.  I guess publishers are too busy looking for the next Twilight series or Fifty Shades of Grey to worry about things like this.