summer of cheever.

i decided after being a huge fan of john cheever's work, to read the pseudo-authorized bio by blake bailey. i've read cheever's collected short stories and his journals, provided by his family. did i need to read more? yes. i've always had a prurient interest in his life. it was gratifying and horrifying to read 800 pages about a truly tortured, vain, selfish, brilliant and, at times, cruel man. it left me thoroughly depressed. in a good way.
this is a writer that i have held in esteem since i was 13 and read my father's copy of collected stories. that big red book is one of the only books that i have taken with me in all my moves. it was heartbreaking to find that i had lost it somewhere between moves. but luckily amazon came through with a much nicer copy than my old one.
i also picked up his collected novels at the library a few weeks ago, and just finished falconer. although it contained some beautiful and hilarious passages, it felt "lite". it was written shortly after he taught at sing-sing, and i believe many of the characters and situations are loosely based on his experience there. the novel read like a self therapy session in advanced latent homosexuality. perhaps, after sobering up and taking stock in his life he felt it was time to write this.
after my disappointment, i picked up the big red book again, hoping that i was not wrong about this guy. could it have been youthful folly? did i like him just cause my dad liked him?
after re-reading the first sentence of The Enormous Radio, i knew why i loved him; this was a man who knew vitriol, knew the corrosive, knew the deep sadness and the hilarity of the american dream. and don't get me started on The Five Forty Eight, The Sutton Place Story or The Swimmer. my advice: get the big red book.

my kind of exercising

this is what i'm talking about. also, the website has some amazing footage.

awkward family photo #2

this photo was taken right before my father blew my head off with that musket.
and those were my real glasses.

my mother, my son.

this is awesome.

interview project

this reminds me of the avedon american west photos. except in color and they speak. beautiful.

"must stop leaving the house in sweatpants."

this made my day. worth the 2 minutes. click on the video.

slap shot

i've been re-watching alot of 70's films, and this one is absolutely one of my favorites for myriad reasons. here are a few:
1. filmed in my hometown.
2. i was alive when they filmed it.
3. paul frickin newman looks hotter than ever; a washed up, blue-eyed lothario, desperately trying to save his livelihood and his team's in the worst way possible.
4. the carlson brothers (well, at least 2 out of 3) who played the hanson brothers in the film. all of these guys played for the johnstown jets (the true-life hockey team that the movie was based on). the third brother was played by the real life dave hanson, originally slated to play dave "killer" carlson. i had seen all these dudes kick ass as jets players at the war memorial ice arena.
5. the war memorial shots. i grew up learning to figure skate here. i saw my first rock concert here. i watched the jets play here. i watched my hockey playing brother kick ass here. i can still smell the lingering odor of ben-gay.
6. rampant and unfettered sexual content.
7. my sister is in it as one of the skating rockette girls.(and paul newman winked at her in real life during filming.)
8. paul's awesome leather trench with fur collar.
9. the overwhelming sense of pride and shame mixed together. it's like watching any minor-minor league team go through the motions of doing their job.
10. paul frickin newman.

awkward family photo #1

this photo has everything: hillbilly pompadour, wary hydra headed cross-eyed baby and a 4 year old flashing gang signals.
and yes, i am the baby. and why am i not wearing shoes? or even socks?

my new favorite

website. just glorious. and horrifyingly painful.

television.

i realize i do not watch much tv, but tonight i turned on my mom's old big samsung and adjusted my antennae, and the feature that came on was something on nbc, called, i'm a celebrity get me out of here. i thought maybe i would Live-Blog about it.
8:05: and the end.