Author: Mike P. Lewis

Independence Day

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I was given the book Independence Day by Richard Ford to read by a friend of mine. It’s a great read and very well written and i liked it a lot. I do feel some odd similarities to the main character, Frank Branscombe. He has a pragmatism towards life and love that i can relate to. While of course we differ in a lot of ways – he being 45 and divorced with 2 children vs. me 30 and not ever been married – i was curious to see what he would do on every page to see if i would react in the same way. In some ways it reads like a guidebook about how to survive as a middle-aged man. On others it’s about the quest to achieve continuity and self-actualization in everyday life. Frank’s life has had its ups and downs but he’s non-apologetic and pretty agreeable as a character.

Some of my favorite quotes:

Sally (FB’s quasi-girlfriend): you just want everything to seem perfect and everybody to seem pleased. And you’re willing to let seem equal be. It makes pleasing anybody be an act of cowardice

This is a huge trait of FB in the book and is definitely MPL material. This is what i do. Interesting….

Sally: You’re too smooth from one thing to the next. I can’t keep up with you very well.FB: I think i’m just more at ease in the mainstream. It’s my version of the sublime.

Sally: And you’re also very cautious, you know. And you’re non-committal. You know that, don’t you? I’m sure that’s what you meant last night by being beyond affection. You’re smooth and you’re cautious and you’re noncommittal.

FB: My judgments aren’t very sound, so i just try not to cause too much trouble. But when i feel something strong, i guess i jump in.

Sally: Or you seem to anyway

The book is also just about FB and his thoughts about life. Some random passages:

  • About renting vs. owning: I felt owning was enough different from renting (except that you couldn’t leave). In my mind a sense of contingency and the possibility of imminent change in status underlay everything, though we stayed for more than a decade, and i stayed longer. It always seemed to me enough just to know what someone loved you and would go on loving you forever and that the mise-en-scene for love only that and not a character in the play itself
  • About the 4th of July: It is an odd holiday, to be sure – one a man or woman could easily grow abstracted about, its practical importance to the task of holding back wild and dark misrule never altogether clear or provable; as though independence were only private and too crucial to celebrate with others; as though we should all just get on with being independent, given that it is after all the normal, commonsensical human condition, to be taken for granted unless opposed or thwarted , in which case unreserved, even absurd measures should be taken to restore or reimagine it. Best maybe just to pass the day as the original signers did and as i prefer to do, in a country-like setting near to home, alone with your thoughts, your fears, your hopes, your “moments of reason” for what new world lies fearsomely ahead.
  • Better to follow old Davy Crockett’s motto (amended for use by adults): Be sure you’re not completely wrong, then go ahead.
  • From RB as he’s falling asleep: Suddenly my heart again goes bangety-bang, bangety-bangety-bang, as if i myself were about to exit life in a hurry. And if i could, i would spring up, switch on the light, dial someone and shout right down into the hard little receiver, “It’s okay. I got away. It was goddamned close, I’ll tell ya. It didn’t get me, though. I smelled its breath, saw its red eyes in the dark, shining. A clammy hand touched mine. But i made it. I survived. Wait for me. Wait for me. Not that much is left to do” Only there’s no one. No one here or anywhere near to say any of this to. And i’m sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Life's a Journey

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A good video of clay people cruising through their life. I find the video pretty mesmerizing.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3xe9dSY7zM]

The song is also pretty good. It’s called “Eliza’s Aria” by Eliza Kats-Chermin.

The Dixie Chicks Documentary is Good

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Just watched an interesting documentary about the Dixie Chicks. While about their music, it also shows the insane ignorance of americans and how the group really stood up for what they believed in when the entire industry was out to ruin them. Granted, it helped that their music was really good. I had never really listened to their stuff, but you don’t need to for the film. It delivers even if you’re not a fan.

What started a half-jokingly comment about Bush and the Iraqi war at a concert in the UK turned into pure hatred by the Right Wing. What the lead singer said was, “I’m ashamed the President is from Texas” was picked up on the AP wire and the media went nuts. The Dixie Chicks were targeted as representing everything that was anti-Bush. As a result, Clearchannel banned all their music from the radio, there were CD destroying rallies and the fanatical portion of the group sent them death threats so they couldn’t even tour. In the film, there are interviews of mothers teaching their daughters to say “i hate the Dixie Chicks.” It is incredible what happened. The Dixie Chicks are country music singers – in America – and to see the ignorance and hatred of other Americans towards them was incredible.

The highlight of the film came when the Dixie Chicks go back to the studio and make the song “Not Ready to Make Nice.” There’s a story of a band member who wrote a song called “Undivided” The lead singer (Natalie) asks: “Does that mean we would have to forgive all those people that did that to us?” He says, “Well, for the sake of the song, maybe it would.” Natalie, flinging a dismissive hand in the air, says, “Nope.” and she instead proceeds to record the title track of their platinum record. It’s called “Not Ready to Make Nice” and you can feel the emotion when they sing it. Their lives were destroyed – they were banned from the industry that they dominated b/c of their disagreement with the way. The lyrics to Not Ready:

it’s a sad sad story
when a mother will teach her
daughter that she ought to
hate a perfect stranger

how in the world can the words that i said
send somebody over the edge
that they’d write me a letter
saying i better
shut up and sing
or my life will be over

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still made as hell
and don’t have time to go round and round and round

One of the Chicks commented on how this song brought her to tears for over 6 months every time she heard the song – and I believe it. These girls went through some tough shit. No country radio station would play their music for over 3 years and yet over an 8 year period, they were Sony/BMG’s top selling artist. The movie is a captivating story of a music group’s combat against traditional media and politics while at the same time keeping it real and producing really great music.

I Am Legend is a Good Read

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I just finished the book I Am Legend.

The book is about, well here’s the synopsis….

A terrible plague has decimated the world, and those who were unfortunate enough to survive have been transformed into blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Except, that is, for Robert Neville. He alone appears to be immune to this disease, but the grim irony is that now he is the outsider. He is the legendary monster who must be destroyed because he is different from everyone else.

I really liked the book. It is a quick and entertaining read – especially for being written in 1954. I’m not really in to vampires, but this isn’t about vampires. It’s about a man who is the last man on earth and he’s trying to deal with being alone, and trying to figure out what has happened to the rest of his race. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for some light summertime reading

There are periods when Neville’s coping with his solitary existence – sometimes he drinks himself into a coma and other times he just zones out for months at a time. It reminded me of Cast Away when Tom Hanks was just dealing with being stranded. It is interesting to read and to get inside the head of a character like that. Cast Away had over 40 minutes of silence, but in I am Legend you a exposed to the inner thoughts of the survivor. I can only imagine what it would do to a man – but it sure makes for good reading.

I have heard that there is a movie of I Am Legend coming out where Will Smith plays Neville.  I’m not sure how this will translate to the big screen as there are only 2 characters in the entire book but i could see it being similar to Misery and V for Vendetta.  Anyone heard anything else?

John Quincy Adams was a Badass

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John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 – Feb 23, 1848) was a Federalist, the son of the last Federalist President and was one of the most talented men to ever serve the country. He held more important offices and participated in more important events than anyone else ever in the history of the nation. Early in his career, he alienated his political party (the Federalists) by voting in favor of the President Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase and even attended parties for its approval (imagine that happening here in DC!).

Also, at the time, the British (being the little bitches they were) were capturing American ships regularly and confiscating the vessels. Quincy wasn’t having any of it but his boys – the Federalists – were sympathetic to the British. So, Quincy Adams went to the Republican meetings and helped them draft a bill of America’s fighting resolution and put in place an embargo. This embargo made John QA, who was a senator at the time, extremely unpopular with his constituents (the local shipworkers) as it halted their production – but he believed it was the right thing to do at the time and “private interest should not be put in opposition to public good.” Times were so bad back then and business was struggling so bad that New England frequently talked of seceding. The embargo was a big deal and Quincy Adams was enemy #1. In fact, the main focus of Federalist party (QA’s party) in 1808 became the destruction of Q.A and he was actually voted out the party by his peers 9 months before his term ended. He had no friends and was basically ruined.

He may have been ruined, but he was a badass who walked alone and acted solely upon his principles and I back it. 17 years later, he was able to regroup and come back and become president. Talk about a comeback! In today’s world of politics, i couldn’t see anyone going against the public, against their party at the expense of their career to do what they thought was right. That’s integrity.

His birthday is today so raise a glass

Klosterman Reading

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I went to a reading tonight of Chuck Klosterman at Olsson’s in DC.  As expected, he was articulate and very funny.  He read a passage from his new book, Chuck Klosterman IV, and he describes how the book came to be.  When he was on a book tour for Killing Yourself to Live (his 3rd book), he encountered all sorts of journalism students and aspiring writers and many of them had never read his stuff and asked where they could get a copy of his previous writings. That’s how he got the idea of packaging up all his previous works and selling them as a very cheap paperback.  He didn’t want his best fans to feel ripped off so he put in the novella at the end and the few tidbits/observations.  (Note: he also remarked that he’s finished his 5th book which is a fictional novel about a person in North Dakota)

He reading was from CK4 and it was about how to find and deal with your nemesis and your arch-enemy:

What you need is (a) one quality nemesis and (b) one archenemy.  These are the two most important mechanisms in any human’s life.  We measure ourselves against our nemeses, and we long to destroy our archenemies. They are the catalysts for why we do everything.

How do i know the difference between my nemesis and my archenemy? Here is the short answer: You kind of like your nemesis, despite the fact you despise him.  You will always have drinks with your nemesis.  you would attend the funeral of your nemesis, and -privately- you might shed a tear over her or her passing.  However, you would never choose to have a cocktail with your archenemy, unless you were attempting to spike the gin with arsenic. If you were to perish, your archenemy would dance on your grave, and then he’d burn down your house and molest your children.  You hate your archenemy so much that you keep your hatred secret, because you do not want your archenemy to have the satisfaction of being hatred.  

If this distinction seems confusing, just ask your girlfriend to explain it in detail; women have always understood the nemesis-archenemy dichotomy…. 

Matt Damon Interview

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I’ve been a fan of Matt Damon since Good Will Hunting and he’s continued to rock since then. Here’s a link to a pretty good interview with him. One of my favorite parts is when he talks about how he takes roles where the character doesn’t say much. He references a quote from Clint Eastwood:

apparently he got a script, read it, came to the first rehearsal, handed the script to the writer and almost all of his lines were crossed out. Clint said, ‘It’s such a great script’, and the writer said, ‘But you crossed out all my lines.’ Clint said, ‘I crossed out your lines because now I don’t have to do any work. I know what my character is thinking’.”

(interview link is here).

This is only slightly related, but i read this quote about The Departed

Matt: (on working with Jack Nicholson) I have a lot of funny stories, but I like this one. Marty [Martin Scorsese, director] called me up and said, ‘Jack had some ideas for your scene tomorrow. He’s going to wear a dildo.’ So I thought, ‘Uh, okay.’ I thought he was joking, but he actually did! I was impressed at how obscene he was willing to be. With Jack, you expect the unexpected.