sovay | They're only fighting for the chance to be last

Current Music: Fire Inc., "Nowhere Fast"

They're only fighting for the chance to be last

1. I have Tom Lehrer's "That's Mathematics" stuck in my head for no apparent reason except that within the last forty-eight hours I said to someone, "That's paranoia." I am so not filking that one.

2. I am tired. I just took the last of my ten days of antibiotics; they have wiped me out. I had a solid eight hours of sleep thanks to Daylight Savings (no thanks to the house painters who arrived at eleven-thirty on a Sunday morning what is that I don't even) and another hour in the afternoon and I might still fall asleep before two in the morning.

3. At one point in

cucumberseed's masterful "The Love Song of Admiral Piett," the narrator exclaims, "It's like grave robbers exhumed Kurosawa and splashed his guts up on the screen!" Watching Walter Hill's Streets of Fire (1984), as

derspatchel and I did on Friday at the Brattle, is a similar experience with the director's id.

Having seen The Warriors (1979) and now its obvious thematic next step, I can tell you nothing about the man personally. I wouldn't know his birthdate from a Markov chain. But he likes his rain-wet city streets. He likes men with an ambivalent relationship to shirts and/or sleeves. He likes codes of honor and characters who say no more than they need to and fights with really unlikely objects. And he likes rock music, but if you can't pick up on the prevailing mood from the subtitle A Rock & Roll Fable, I suspect this is not your film to begin with. I was genuinely impressed by the way it doesn't feel for a second the need to explain its world to its audience: The Warriors slid its retro-futuristic gangs into the cracks of a recognizably real, night-mythologized New York City, but all Streets of Fire gives you is "Another place . . . another time." In their clothes and slang and taste in music, its characters aren't living in a 1980's pastiche of the 1950's: they're occupying both decades at once.¹ As Tom Cody, Michael Paré looks like a WWII-demobbed soldier in his high-waisted trousers, his suspenders and duster and collarless shirts; Amy Madigan's McCoy fastens her jacket at the throat like an earlier war's gas cape, holsters her semi-automatic over what looks like a flight suit and pulls her baseball cap down over her feathered pale hair. Diane Lane's Ellen Aim is all Bonnie Tyler half-shouldered dresses, but her lipstick is film noir. And then we have Willem Dafoe as Raven Shaddock of the Bombers, a walking piece of pure fetishism no matter his year of origin: all that black leather, right down to the shirt; that Goth-pale Lucifer-face and his slicked-back sneer. His address to Cody, appreciative and insinuating: "Looks like I finally found someone who likes to play as rough as I do." I can only imagine the slash for this film is legion. I mean, sledgehammer fight. Would we like to get any more symbolic?²

That's probably the best description I can give of this film, really: it has songs by Jim Steinman and cars by Studebaker, a rockabilly biker bar where the stripper wears a black leather G-string and all-over fishnets, and there's a sledgehammer fight. It is quite possibly a functional version of Orpheus and Eurydike. I had a wonderful time watching it. I have no idea if it was any good. I don't care.

1. They are also sometime in the nineteenth century, because the structure of Streets of Fire is a classic Western, from the outlaws to the drifter to the showdown, but it doesn't show up so much in the mise-en-scène. This is the sort of thing I see done in fiction much more often than on film. Off the top of my head, the examples that come to mind are the collaborations of Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet and the work of Rian Johnson and then I get stuck. Julie Taymor's Titus (1999) doesn't count: it has an explanatory conceit, the survival of the Roman empire into the modern day. Ditto anything with an actual future date.

2. Attempting to deal with Walter Hill's treatment of gender in a footnote is a doomed endeavor, but I did appreciate that while Ellen is all but plot-useless except as a counter between Cody and Raven, Deborah Van Valkenburgh makes the most of her supporting part as Tom's sister who has no time for his stoic bullshit and Madigan's McCoy is a staunch, smartmouthed soldier-of-fortune who isn't written as lesbian to explain it or turned into a potential object of romance at the end. She has a boyfriend in her past. Cody's not her type. They don't ride off into the sunset, but I don't think there is one in this film. You're surprised enough every time there's a scene and it's daylight.

4. DooWee & Rice is my new favorite amazing affordable restaurant. I can vouch unreservedly for the Vietnamese chimichurri steak and the ginger chicken bao; I have slightly more qualified feelings about the braised pork over seasoned rice, but only because it doesn't come with the great white sauce and that stuff is addictively tasty. The eggrolls are just very solid. Rob and I ate there two nights in a row. I want to go back for the crispy chicken hearts (with or without fries underneath) and the Vietnamese pumpkin soup I saw on the board on Friday, although of course it may have changed by now. The chicken wings with death sauce—"By ordering, you are verbally signing a waiver"—are probably calling my name.

5. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is putting its entire back catalogue of publications online. Goodbye all the time ever.

More and more, I hear about the impending demise of Livejournal, but I will never find Twitter or Tumblr or Facebook a viable or even attractive alternative when it comes to social media. I need long-form. Movies. Books. Photobombs. Random assemblages of days. I'm sure there's an art form to them, but I was not designed for minimalist updates or conversations I can't keep. We might be evolving toward permanent tl;dr. I still need the room to write.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

This makes me wonder what you would make of the film Bunraku (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1181795/), if you haven't seen it already. It's . . . I don't even know what it is. I thought of it when you brought up Westerns, because it's this ridonkulous collision between samurai and Western genres, not in the Kurosawa way, but in the way where you've got your nameless drifter and your lone samurai and they team up to fight crime in the form of Ron Perlman. The staging of it is outrageous, and deliberately so, and I'm not sure the plot makes a lick of sense but who cares.

Re: footnote 2 (and let's not think about what this says about my .... everything), the only things I remember about Streets of Fire are, precisely, that slick wet nighttime streetlight look--and the prisoner girl tied to the bed. That must have been Ellen, right?

Re: Livejournal, my current feeling is that it's just going to end up being a much smaller community, but I do believe that the community that remains will be pretty intense and committed. Though, within that framework, what gets to me is one's sense of vulnerability when one of those intense and committed people pulls away, for whatever reason. You miss each person that much more if, for whatever reason, they can't or don't post.

I am in the same boat about Livejournal and its demise. I want to write and read in long-form. I cannot stomach Facebook, which imho encourages people to seem fake, or Tumblr, which is to me both incomprehensible and upsetting. Twitter is all right for small things, but it is just an appetizer. I agree with Francesca that the community will shrink but never quite go away - in fact, it has already shrunk, but it is still here. Some of us need the long form.

The Vietnamese food sounds wonderful.

I can only imagine the slash for this film is legion.

You would think so, but no. I considered it once, back when I was seventeen, but then I realized I would have to preface it by explaining what the fuck this film was to most people, so I settled for internalizing it.;) It did, however, become one of the centrepiece arguments for my foe-yay 'zine Open Mouth, Insert Gun.

Also, though I do have both a Twitter and a Tumblr, I'm with you on needing an LJ: I will never find your insights tl, at least not so much I want to dr them.

Edited 2012-11-05 14:43 (UTC)

Yes. Yes. Bunraku is ... something.

Another fan of DooWee & Rice here. The "great white sauce" is just Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise, which is more flavorful than the American stuff.

I thought of it when you brought up Westerns, because it's this ridonkulous collision between samurai and Western genres, not in the Kurosawa way, but in the way where you've got your nameless drifter and your lone samurai and they team up to fight crime in the form of Ron Perlman.

You have just succeeded in making this movie sound like something I want to watch.

the only things I remember about Streets of Fire are, precisely, that slick wet nighttime streetlight look--and the prisoner girl tied to the bed. That must have been Ellen, right?

That was Ellen tied to the bed, with Raven making the usual sexual threats. ("You're making things real hard on yourself. You act nice, you and me fall in love for a week or two, and then I let you go. Nobody gets hurt.") They couldn't use the railroad tracks because the Bombers were popping motorcycle tricks up and down them.

Though, within that framework, what gets to me is one's sense of vulnerability when one of those intense and committed people pulls away, for whatever reason. You miss each person that much more if, for whatever reason, they can't or don't post.

Yes. Almost none of the people I got an LJ to follow (eight years ago!) post much anymore. And some of the others I discovered since then have drifted off. I mean, I don't mind being able to see photographs of my friends' cats or children—in a couple of the latter cases, I care quite a lot that I do. But no human being on earth needs that much daily exposure to political macros. And again: I like words. You can't get enough of them in a hundred and forty characters for long.

I cannot stomach Facebook, which imho encourages people to seem fake.

I am not necessarily disagreeing, but I'm curious how you think so.

I agree with Francesca that the community will shrink but never quite go away - in fact, it has already shrunk, but it is still here. Some of us need the long form.

I hope you are both right. Without that option, I think my internet presence would pretty promptly disappear.

The Vietnamese food sounds wonderful.

Come to Boston and I'll take you!

You would think so, but no.

That really confuses me!

. . . Their fandom is apparently too obscure for Yuletide. I didn't think those existed in nature.

It did, however, become one of the centrepiece arguments for my foe-yay 'zine Open Mouth, Insert Gun.

Have I mentioned lately you're awesome?

Also, though I do have both a Twitter and a Tumblr, I'm with you on needing an LJ: I will never find your insights tl, at least not so much I want to dr them.

Thank you. Same.

Edited 2012-11-05 17:52 (UTC)

The "great white sauce" is just Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise, which is more flavorful than the American stuff.

Good to know.

"Streets of Fire" sounds pretty damn' amazing.

I use Facebook (I find I prefer commenting these days), but I'll always prefer LJ. For one thing, I just find it a much more friendly place than the other alternatives. And long-form, every time.

I thought that might be a pitch you'd like. :-)

I had a FB account for my graduate school cohort and colleagues, and I simply had to quit. Everyone was always posting their very very curated lives, extremely elaborate dishes that they have the time to cook daily, exhibitions that they visit, travels to faraway countries, etc. Nobody ever seems to work or struggle with money or go through any difficulties whatsoever. I didn't get from it a sense that I am sharing in my friends' lives the way I get here on LJ, but that I am examining window dressings of hipster stores. I understand the attraction, but it is not for me.

I am looking forward to visiting Boston!!

I like words

Me too! And conversations--conversations among multiple people, and yet with the privacy that space gives us, and with time to think about what we write a little. It's been a perfect medium for me.

*sigh*

. . . Their fandom is apparently too obscure for Yuletide. I didn't think those existed in nature.

<lol>

It could be a Yuletide fandom, but I guess nobody has yet been motivated to nominate it. Such things do, indeed, exist.

Yes. This.

Yes. This.

Friends, they may think it's a movement!

I'm now broadcasting "New Math" into your head to replace it.

Edited 2012-11-05 21:01 (UTC)

Nobody ever seems to work or struggle with money or go through any difficulties whatsoever. I didn't get from it a sense that I am sharing in my friends' lives the way I get here on LJ, but that I am examining window dressings of hipster stores.

I know people who are less glossy on Facebook: theirs may be as carefully constructed a self-presentation, but at least it's a self-presentation that includes stress and colds and traffic jams and sleeplessness and upchucking cats and/or children, which I do consider more honest (and more useful, if what I'm trying to do on Facebook is keep track of people's lives). I agree with you that that doesn't seem to be the mainstream, though.

I am looking forward to visiting Boston!!

Good!

"We might be evolving toward permanent tl;dr. I still need the room to write."

When I read your entries, I don't find any of that time was wasted, and yet most of the 140-character or less posts I read waste it tremendously.

I'm now broadcasting "New Math" into your head to replace it.

Just for that, you get the decimal version.

"Streets of Fire" sounds pretty damn' amazing.

It may not be good, but it is that!

I use Facebook

And I comment on your posts! They are often interesting and epigrammatic, which I suppose is the ideal of the form. But that still doesn't cover first drafts of poetry.

For one thing, I just find it a much more friendly place than the other alternatives. And long-form, every time.

Huzzah. I would not like to lose you.

When I read your entries, I don't find any of that time was wasted, and yet most of the 140-character or less posts I read waste it tremendously.

Thank you very much.

I thought that might be a pitch you'd like.

I may be obvious, but at least I have good taste about it!

Thank you! I'd not like to see you deserting the net, either.

I had to look up tl;dr. I'm quite pleased that I didn't know what it meant.

Otherwise known as 'that mayonnaise I use to make everything except when I make mayonnaise myself, which is why you actually like it'. Wonderful, terrifying stuff-- I mean it's shelf-stable before opening, WTF.

Though I don't post as often to LJ as I used to, I still read it every day. I suspect LJ will continue, just not in the centralized way it once did.

I'd not like to see you deserting the net, either.

So long as I have somewhere to write 2500-plus words about Peter Cushing, we're good!

I had to look up tl;dr. I'm quite pleased that I didn't know what it meant.

Heh. I got it from

rushthatspeaks; I usually see it used in a warningly Wittgensteinian sense ("cut for tl;dr").

Edited 2012-11-06 00:57 (UTC)

I suspect LJ will continue, just not in the centralized way it once did.

I just don't want the columnists and the photographers and the interesting conversations (and the people who post silly quizzes, which I like a lot better than political macros) to go away.

Otherwise known as 'that mayonnaise I use to make everything except when I make mayonnaise myself, which is why you actually like it'.

It goes great on Vietnamese chimichurri steak.

(They're two doors down from Tu y Yo. We're going.)

Hi. I've actually just added you because I share your feelings about livejournal. I had a journal I kept up for 10 years and last month, my last reader decided to delete their journal. It hit me hard and I decided to jump from friends' list to friends' list, reading entries of people who still write and adding those I find interesting. If you look at the entry in my journal from 5 or 6 days ago, it echoes your comments regarding the LJ community.

I have two entries on my new journal, but I plan to update once a week. I live in LA, and grew up in Boston and will likely be writing a little bit about the culture shock of interacting regularly with B and C list celebrities, as well as my discovery of the California landscape through hikes and day trips.

Don't feel pressured to add back, but I hope you don't mind if I read and comment on your entries occasionally.

Don't feel pressured to add back, but I hope you don't mind if I read and comment on your entries occasionally.

Not at all! Very pleased to meet you, and you're welcome to comment all you like. I hope your new friendlist proves of sterner stuff.

1. Tom Lehrer is one of the unsung geniuses of this world.
3. I hereby declare

cucumberseed another of the unsung geniuses of this world.
3a. Netflixing this already.
5a. I just turned off my Facebook (the not-delete is odd). Ostensibly for thesisgrind reasons, but also I'm just finding Twitter & LJ far higher signal-to-noise. (It amuses me also that I use them in completely different ways). I do like small doses of cute fluffy animals & political snark; but I also like being able to curate my own content, & FB was slowly pulling that out from under people. It is odd being sold as the product. apropos.

Tom Lehrer is one of the unsung geniuses of this world.

I sing him every chance I get! Frequently around

derspatchel, who (as the person in this relationship who actually knows Russian) does a mean "Lobachevsky."

3. I hereby declare cucumberseed another of the unsung geniuses of this world.

Well, this I can't disagree with.

3a. Netflixing this already.

I'm almost surprised it's on Netflix, it seems such a classic late-night theater cult movie. On the other hand, I'm glad it's available!

5a. I just turned off my Facebook (the not-delete is odd). Ostensibly for thesisgrind reasons, but also I'm just finding Twitter & LJ far higher signal-to-noise. (It amuses me also that I use them in completely different ways).

What are those? (And what do you like about Twitter?)

apropos.

"For bandwidth is no longer a problem, but attention is as valuable a commodity as you will find on the web. Pay no attention to me and I cease to exist. Hide me, mute me and I will be consigned to a social limbo, there to dwell amongst the givers of reputation."

Yeeagh.

I think I feel about this aspect of online interaction the same way I do about face-to-face: if you want to break with me, fine, but don't break with me and not tell me about it. There are worse things than finding out that someone you have heretofore considered at least an acquaintance has been systematically avoiding you, but it's still not good. If nothing else, it really kicks up the paranoia.

Edited 2012-11-06 05:16 (UTC)

I'm almost surprised it's on Netflix
Sorry, my naming mismatch: Quikflix, the Australian clone.

What are those? (And what do you like about Twitter?)
thesisgrind reasons? I have a deadline to finish, and was checking it too often: Pavlovian response had to die.
My social media are loosely divided up by FB:{geographically co-located and formerly co-located people}, LJ:{poetry etc}, Twitter:{professional/outreach/now also some poetry}.
I like Twitter for the pleasing mix of shared experience (and cheerful humour and snark!) with colleagues, the back-and-forward of tips and tricks of the trade, the pings of fellows reporting on conferences I can't be physically at myself. I like being able to do a little outreach between worlds; the short-form of it is a single line from a poem. Writing something technical that way is a joy. I'm a lot more technical there than I will be on LJ, for example.

I think I feel about this aspect of online interaction the same way I do about face-to-face
It's utterly horrifying; and even more, an odd codification of cowardice.

I can imagine worse songs than any of Tom Lehrer's to have stuck in one's head.

I hope you've had some good rest and that the antibiotics have done their job.

I'm not sure how I missed "The Love Song of Admiral Piet". Streets of Fire sounds interesting; I'm glad you had a wonderful time, and your review shows it.

The restaurant sounds lovely. I wish they had a branch where I could visit it.

Thanks for the excellent news about the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the back catalogue. I only found the time to download one book of African ivory carvings, but I expect to be making frequent use of this. You're right about saying goodbye to time, of course.

I agree that Facebook and the rest aren't a substitute for LJ. I'll be staying here as well, for similar reasons to your own. Even aside from the fact that I'm on FB under my real name and am friends with relatives, which means that I pretty much can't admit to writing anything I write that's not nonfiction.

FB is handy for keeping up with folk, especially folk with whom I play tunes or whose concerts I'd want to be at. Most everybody in Irish music is there, and there's a sizeable Irish language userbase, so I find it useful. It's also a nice way for certain friends to share their vast collections of cute animal photographs, and seems to be the only way some few friends of mine can ever manage to communicate that's not face-to-face. But you're right about the lack of space to write. I couldn't give that up, either.

Surprised not to see anyone mention Dreamwidth yet. Does it just not have the critical mass yet for you?

Does it just not have the critical mass yet for you?

I don't think most of my active friendlist maintains Dreamwidth accounts. You and

rushthatspeaks are notable exceptions; I also know people who use DW as a backup or a mirror, which I have considered doing, although I'd have to disable commenting (I do not think it would be a good idea for me to run multiple conversations on the same material; I would feel obliged to keep track of it all and there would go any productivity I have left). It is important for me to have a social medium, but it is also important for me not to get sucked into more internet than I can comfortably handle. I suppose if someday Livejournal disintegrates completely and everyone I know translates, I would seriously think about following suit, but right now the situation would have to be that dire.

I hope you've had some good rest and that the antibiotics have done their job.

Now I'm exhausted from my flu shot, but I think the antibiotics did what they were supposed to.

But you're right about the lack of space to write. I couldn't give that up, either.

I'm glad that's a binding force for people.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

They're only fighting for the chance to be last

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

"That's Mathematics"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject