The end of George Eliot’s “Middlemarch”
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Tag Archives: books
do you know i love you, i do
over the past few days ive been the subject of the interview, which is weird for me, but ok
and when you dont really know whats coming you end up giving the weirdest examples in your answers
it’s also made me very grateful for the good life ive had
one guy was all, why arent you a millionaire by now?
and he would let up.
i was all, uh… that wasnt my goal?
one of the things i learned quickly when i moved to LA was there were some people who handled being hugely financially successful like that extremely well
but then there were the large majority that couldnt
youd go to college with their kids and even the kids would have really unhealthy relationships with money
so early on i was all
follow the love.
so ive worked at a gas station, ive sold beers at a baseball stadium, and i drove uber
of course ive had normal jobs also, but
if i was worth like a few million dollars would i really drive uber? it’s not particularly safe
as my mom would remind me nearly every night i did it.
and i did it for like five years.
also when you do the things you love you just feel better… physically.
the job i hated the most id be sick all the time, i even had to go to the doctor because it was so worrisome
and he said, you’re puking blood not because youre sick, that job just sucks.
turned out he was right.
i miss that doctor.
so yes, walking down memory lane with these people has made me grateful not just of the gigs but the people i got to work with.
most of my stories and fond memories are about what other people did or what other people taught me, usually indirectly.
i should write a book.
everything is more than zero
ive lived in LA so long and ive met so many people but
im still a stranger and i havent met you and you and you and you
in the 80s i met a guy who ended up in brett easton ellis’s book shortly after he met me
not only did he meet me but he “borrowed” some of my clothes and left behind his super expensive threads.
i have kissed the prettiest girls. earned money in the fanciest homes. heard the best stories and written a few.
im thinking about starting an instagram about my neighborhood. i am thinking about every day going out and talking to just one person and either taking their picture or video taping it. even though video tape doesnt exist any more.
so much doesnt exist. even people. which is why i really need to document them.
sure theres humans of new york but and no offense but fuck new york. new york is the exception to all the rules. it may as well be a planet in another solar system.
LA though is different. so different. and hollywood even more so.
you drive around LA and into other counties. the further the better. and then you come back to this one and it dawns on you “how can anyone afford to live here?” how do they do it. which is im sure what you can say about NY too but fuck NY. why snow? why rain? why the yankees?
in a million years why the yankees?
but LA is the american dream. LA is where dreams come true is the best part. LA is where No Cal and Mexico french kiss on a balcony at 12:31am on the last night of summer.
new york doesnt even have summer.
his name was atif.
busy philipps’s book is good, you guys
a long time ago i dated a wonderful young woman whos bff was busy philipps’ bff and in 2005 i interviewed her on my short lived podcast and she was a delight.
so needless to say, i have been rooting for her.
her book is really good you guys. she tells it all. perfectly. and if you get the audio book she reads it and it just flows.
i listen to a lot of “books on tape” because im a busy gentleman and im in my car a lot and even with all the channels that Sirius delivers, often i just want to hear someone reading a book to me.
i prefer the ones where the author reads it themselves but sometimes those are bad too because the author isn’t great at reading.
busy being a longtime actress is fantastic at reading and it’s her life and so it should be great. but on top of that she has weirdly interesting tales to tell about her rise to fame and the struggles she had getting there.
for example did you know that she wrote the concept for Blades of Glory, the comedy starring Will Ferrel and Jon Hader? i didnt either. and the reason we dont know about it is a very sad story that she describes perfectly right down to someone telling her that no one cares who the writer is… and how that plays out at the hollywood premiere.
sorry, writers.
there were some tragic moments, some happy moments, and even if you watch her Instagram story every day like i do, there was one surprise about her relationship with her husband that i for sure didnt see coming. mama mia.
but best of all are her impersonations. when she reads the quotes of her mom, michelle williams, and her other bff Emily BB, they are hilarious and perfect. especially how softly she delivers michelle and Emily’s words.
the release of her book came at the perfect time because she just taped her new talk show for E! yesterday and maybe im not her demographic but i wasnt crazy about the first episode, but i am for sure crazy about the book because it is a very good look at the inside of hollywood from a person who is super honest and has done big things on tv and film and was right there for some really interesting moments.
i wish busy all the luck on the tv show. i will continue to watch it and im sure it will get better. first shows rarely tell you what it will look like in the future. i clearly remember not being gaga over the first shows of Trevor Noah or Colbert’s Late Show and now i cant get enough of them. so maybe it’s me.
anyway, if i ever do a podcast again i would love to interview her because the book had me asking lots of questions that didn’t really seem resolved.
i save my reading for listening
as i drive around this fair city i enjoy having others read to me
Morrissey’s autobiography was a delight mostly because Moz is an exceptional writer
and it makes me feel like i should stop watching so much TV and start reading
you know, actual books
because when you hear someone lie Morrissey explain things or describe things
and every sentence is so descriptive with analogies and metaphors that come from ancient scrolls
and legendary literature and you’re all, wait was that original or a Shakespearian quote
you feel equal parts excited and ignorant.
i also liked that he just wanted England to love him and it didnt. not like LA or Mexico or Scandinavia.
here people would dress like him and scream his lyrics right back at him and fill up this one and that one
theyd damn near riot, but in his beloved UK they’d barely bat their lashes
i also like that his record labels barely supported him and no one knew what to do with his successes.
it is a pattern that i have seen in my own life: some people and organizations are built for mediocrity
they have zero interest in wild success, all they want to do is keep on keeping on.
they don’t want failure, but in an odd way they feel more comfortable with a hiccup or two
than they are huge accomplishments.
they’re terrified of breaking records, leading the pack, or breaking through to the new thing.
here The Smiths and Morrissey were selling hand over fist – even when the group broke up, yet the labels were far more willing to spend endless amounts of time and effort into the unproven and even failed,
than they were to the quirky vegetarian straight edge asexual exception to the rule.
in the book he even says that Michael Stipe has always wanted to go solo.
fascinating!
today i learned Stiff is worth $90?
sometimes when i get low i think what have i done so far and i think NOTHING
such a question is so subjective because what is value? what is the right answer? who cares what youve bought or “earned” or made.
but tonight i was looking for a Blogger hoodie because i am wearing one right now and i want to wear it a lot because i love it so it would be great to have a backup.
so i went to ebay and one thing lead to another and there i was searching my name to see what would pop up
and holy cow there’s Stiff and someone thinks it’s worth a ton of cash.
i mean, it is the best thing ive ever written, and it is good, and i am proud of it because it’s wild and creative and
ALL ME
and i love it.
but never did i think it would be worth that much.
the seller has a bunch of images from the book like where i signed it. for some reason i just signed it Long Live Vegas which i totally agree with but it gives me no hint as to who i had sold it to.
but the best was the thanks.
it made me laugh because i forgot what i wrote there.
because Stiff is an extension of some of the weirdest stuff from How to Blog i wanted to be honest about that
and i also wanted to acknowledge that the rest of it originally came from this, the world famous blah blog, i thanked myself
“for the use of my own shit”.
i have had a good life. i have nothing to be ashamed of. i have nothing to fear about whatever comes next. there is no pressure other than to peak ontop of peak
and to clean out the kitty litter tomorrow because it’s stinky.
and whatever book i write next i want it to one day get sold for $200.
thank you Blogger for all that youve given me,
because sometimes all we need is a bigass canvas in which to rock.
people have been offering me things
ways to get out in the public more.
one nice person wants me to MC his wedding.
another nice person wants to host a weekly thing where i interview people at his home.
a podcast of sorts, but it would have a studio audience.
very flattering, all of this.
except i have an idea for a disgusting comic book, and i would like to write it first.
it would be educational, and exactly the thing Schools would love to have:
modern, funny, real, mostly true.
except the illustrations and dialogue are going to be of an adult manner.
this way children will sneak around their house, searching to find the hiding places
where their parents tucked away these mildly pornographic
glimpses into the history of the world
and secretly learn their lil hearts out.
im trying to write a comic book
but i dont read comic books
i really want it to be a little book for tourists and locals.
i want it to be a series of little books
$6.66 each
(cheap)
but i want them to tell the dark history of LA and Hollywood and California and rock music and film
and murduhhhhhhhhhh
and attempted murder
and i want them sold where the drama took place
so lets say i write a little book about the murder of Biggie Smalls, i want the little books to be sold at the Peterson Auto Museum, who will never sell them, so how about at the 99 cents store kitty corner to where he breathed his last breath.
i want them illustrated by my favorite illustrator of all time. someone who enjoys putting a smile on misery and tragedy and gunk.
so that part is all easy. the hard part is writing it. but fortunately these will be Mostly True which means i get to fluff it up a bit and add some color to it which hopefully people will like but you know people, they like to complain, so let them complain, all it will do is make them bring more facts to the conversation, which is great, because thats what i want them to do. i want them to talk about history and what really caused someone to wanna kill someone in this beautiful city
because i cant imagine that.
even in the middle of the night, when a mouse was in my house and i was freaked out enough by that, and i was washing my dishes trying to make my apartment as mouse-unfriendly as possible, and i heard this knock at my door. and then a huge bang. and then the door get whaled on. i could see it trying to give. someone was trying to get into my place! NOW! BANG! BANG!
even then, as scared as i was, if i had a gun i wouldnt have killed the guy.
instead i just used my magical Shout power and i said NO!
and it scared the guy and made him run away.
which is why im fascinated by what it takes to get people to do more than that.
because that level is foreign to me.
and hopefully always will be.
i have a lot of books. dont read any of them.
they look good on my shelves.
the ladies think im smart.
the crooks never know which ones have cash in them.
im sure many of them are good, especially the ones written by my friends.
but come on, people.
hows a man in 2016 supposed to work two jobs, binge watch television, blog, keep up with current events
go to concerts
date east side super models
participate in several fantasy sports leagues, and create something cool for the LAist, which by the way will start poppin sooner than later so hang in there.
hows a brother supposed to do all of those things AND read all the books in his many mansions?
heres what i suspect my life will be like after i win the powerball. i suspect i’ll be doing more traveling and less driving. and on those trips i will read more books.
especially in those planes where they let you lay down in yr cocoon.
and poolside
and oceanside
and beachside.
i had to wake up at 6am this morning to work. today will be interesting.
you know how good a book is
by how many people you loan it to rave when they return it
the #1 book in my little library that people rave about when they return to me is Lynda Barry’s “Cruddy“.
you probably know Lynda by her comics in the LA Weekly and other free newspapers
according to whitney from pop candy, Lynda has a new book coming out called “What It Is” and because whitney is the greatest she even has seven exclusive excerpts from the book, which as you can see are filled with crazy beautiful funky details.
meaning not only will there be great tales, interesting details, but a return to Lyndas totally unique art.
theres only one Lynda Barry and she has a new book out. the world is good again.