Marilyn

Tony Curtis writes about getting together with Marilyn during the shoot of “Some Like It Hot”. This is from Porter’s “Marilyn at Rainbow’s End”, but we may be able to trust this quote as it was ostensibly gotten from Curtis’s own memoir. How truthful Curtis is being is perhaps another question. Was he, for instance, really so gentle with the little girl with the incredible body? In any case, it’s a good quote.

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“We spent the night together. We were affectionate with each other. I stroked her hair, and my hands moved all over her. Touching her, any part of her, never felt obscene or vulgar. I couldn’t be vulgar with her. I didn’t know what effect it might have on her. But how do you define vulgar? I didn’t know. That was my problem with her. I genuinely didn’t know what she wanted or didn’t want. That was probably because she didn’t know herself. She was a little girl with this incredible body. And I mean incredible. A body that had everything a man could want. She had hips like a Polish washerwoman. Not to the point that she was ungainly, but there was such a contrast between her hips and her back. She had that narrow back. And full breasts. And a long, graceful neck. She had an incredible, unique body. And she knew it. She used her sexuality.”

-- Tony Curtis

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( Pics )

a little lusty this morning

Feeling a little lusty this morning, as though I were back in my twenties, I thought, with Pop gone for another weekend, this would be a good opportunity to grab the laptop and knock out a good wank and get it out of my system for the day. Although it put me about an hour behind schedule, making for a late breakfast (and hence a late lunch no doubt), I think it went splendidly, as I also enjoyed a nice invigorating shower and won't to worry about that tonight. Such is the luxury of privacy and having the house to oneself.

LiveJournal hit the 200,000 mark

Whoa, this is the first time that I have seen LiveJournal hit the 200,000 mark in terms of the number of posts made in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, I don't know how much we can trust these Russians on these statistics. Maybe they just cottoned to the fact that it might boost interest if they boost their statistics. In the last week or two, I saw that number drop below 100,000, which was a new low.

I know that I am not sensing a new wave of life happening over there. I fondly remember that time in the winter of 2010-2011 when it looked like LJ was beginning to experience a new lease on life, referring to the days of Oleander Rue and Ms. Never, when new people seemed to be coming on board in significant numbers, and when the 'Show Your Boobs' community was bouncing back into activity. It looked for a little while like I might be getting a new wave of good e-friends, after all, but that sadly petered out before summer could even settle in.

BD Jeff

I see that BD Jeff no longer posts on LJ, but only uses his account for the communities. I guess it is just another sign that LiveJournal is not really very alive anymore. No news here; just more confirmation.

Ballet Can Be Rough

If you thought the world of American rap music is a little too wild and violent, with its drive-by shootings and murders, you should check out the world of Russian ballet.

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The artistic director of the world renowned Bolshoi Ballet was the victim of a vicious acid attack in central Moscow that may stem from rifts within the dance company.

Russian news reports say Sergei Filin was walking home on Thursday night when a masked assailant threw acid on his face and ran off.

Filin, 43, is said to be in stable condition, but the attack left him with third degree burns across his face. Doctors are scrambling to save his eyesight. He is schedule to undergo surgery today and is expected to be flown to Belgium for further treatment. Russian news reports say he will require plastic surgery and that recovery could take months.

Filin was a star ballet dancer with the Bolshoi company before becoming artistic director in 2011. Investigators have suggested that internal theater politics may be behind the attack. In a statement, the Bolshoi Theater said he had been the subject of an intimidation campaign in recent months. According to RIA Novosti, his car tires were slashed, he received threatening phone calls, and there were attempts to hack into his Facebook account.

[...]

Also, from the NYT: The stories about vengeance at the Bolshoi Ballet go back centuries: The rival who hid an alarm clock in the audience, timed to go off during Giselle’s mad scene, or who threw a dead cat onto the stage at curtain in lieu of flowers. There are whispers of needles inserted in costumes, to be discovered in midpirouette, or — the worst — broken glass nestled in the tip of a toeshoe.

-- News/LJ

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Scientology

There is a new book on Scientology, a startling exposé. I have too much on my plate to take it on, even though it does fascinate me that such a totalitarian cult can thrive in the good old United States and that the biggest Hollywood celebrities can be a part of it. It's kind of scary, actually - so many dark powers around, as if it wasn't bad enough that we have to worry about corporate overlordship and their Republcan henchmen.

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Wright’s book, “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief,” makes clear that Scientology is like no church on Earth (or, in all probability, Venus or Mars either). The closest institutional parallel would be the Communist Party in its heyday: the ruthless struggles for power, the show trials and forced confessions (often false); the paranoia (often justified); the determination to control its members’ lives completely (the key difference, you will recall, between authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, according to the onetime American ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick); the maintenance of something close to prison camps where dissenters, would-be defectors and power-struggle rivals were incarcerated in deplorable conditions for years and punished if they tried to escape; what the book describes as mysterious deaths and disappearances; and so on. Except that while the American Communist Party, including a few naïve Hollywood types, merely turned a blind eye to events happening in faraway Russia, Scientology — if Wright is to be believed, and I think he is — ran, and maybe still runs, a shadow totalitarian empire here in the United States, financed in part by huge contributions by Tom Cruise and others of the Hollywood aristocracy. ­“Naïve” doesn’t begin to describe the credulousness and sense of entitlement that has allowed actors, writers and directors to think they were helping themselves and the world by hanging around the Scientologists’ “Celebrity Centre,” taking “upper level” courses and gossiping about who was about to be labeled a “Suppressive Person” (bad guy).

-- Michael Kinsley at The New York Times

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Pi says, "I don't mean to go off-topic, but doesn't Michael Kinsley usually write with, uh... a more basic style? All these parentheticals and dashes, and I thought he was very anti-semi-colon."

Monk says, "I know what you mean. I could be tempted to think that this is another guy with the same name, except the "New Republic" association rings bells for me and it does sound like his brand of sarcastic wit. Maybe he wrote this on the fly, even though it is for the New York Times. He perhaps could have used another round or two of editing, but, I don't know: it's kind of busy but still fun.

Writers on Rewriting

A nice collection of well-known writers commenting on the craft of rewriting.

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“Don’t look back until you’ve written an entire draft, just begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work which is all in the edit.”

-- Will Self


“Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.”

-- Raymond Chandler

from Flavorwire.com

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Daimon says, "Did you find anything useful in that, Monk?"

Not really. I have all my trouble in coming up with the first draft, with having anything meaningful to say.

Daimon says, "I can see how that could prove to be a serious stumbling block for a, umm, writer."

It's terrible. One of these days, though, I am going to overcome it and break through that block, and when I do, I will write the greatest thing ever and my work will be immortal and my name shall be worshipped!

Daimon chuckles, "It's getting kind of late, isn't it?"

I know, but I got nothing better going on. I'm just hoping that I will still have enough life in me to be able to enjoy some of that groupie action.

Spike Lee

We have remarked in passing on some of the heat that Quentin Tarantino has been getting for "Django Unchained". In this piece, we get a taste of that with the heated comments of Spike Lee and Jamie Foxx. Mr. Foxx is in the movie and defends the work.

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“it’s disrespectful to my ancestors, to see that film. [...] American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them."

-- Spike Lee


"The question for me is: where's Spike Lee coming from? He didn't like Whoopi Goldberg, he doesn't like Tyler Perry, he doesn't like anybody, I think he's sort of run his course. [...] I mean, I respect Spike, he's a fantastic director. But he gets a little shady when he's taking shots at his colleagues without looking at the work. To me, that's irresponsible.”

-- Jamie Foxx

(Source: ONTD)

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Daimon says, "You know, aside from a TV special on Michael Jackson, I cannot think of what Spike Lee has offered up in a looong, long time."

Pi says, "I don't think it's just Spike Lee. There is the ban on the dolls that are based on the movie, for instance."

Daimon say, "Yeah, but who knows how much of that is based on Spike's prompting. I wager that he is suffering more from a bad case of creative frustration, to put it elegantly, or a case of penis envy, to put it more bluntly."

Pi says, "Uggh, I'll leave it to you guys to measure and compare. Meanwhile, I think Monk owes us another chapter of Middlemarch before the sun goes down."

creative breakthrough

Daimon says, "Whoa, I do believe that was the first time we had a dialogue without you intruding yourself in on it."

Monk says, "I know. I think it is something of a creative breakthrough. Who knows, maybe I am on my way yet!"

Daimon pats Monk on the back, "Well, don't order the champagne and strippers yet. But it is interesting; I will grant you that."

Monk says, "I particularly like the way it allows me to hide away from the page, creating the pleasing illusion that it is not about me. Who knows, this conceivably could lead to the creation of more characters as well. We could be on our to crafting some real fiction. Maybe even achieving true Writerhood!"

Daimon shakes his head, "Indeed, you already seem to have moved into your own Fantasy Land. But aren't those crash landings a little hard on the ego?"

Monk says, "Yeah, but it is so worth the ride, to fly a little."

Daimon says, "If you are serioius, of course, you really should consider going beyond this brute, cynical male and sensitive, nurturing female dichotomy, and dig a little deeper for your characters, you know, try to be genuinely creative."

Monk sighs, "Baby steps, baby steps."

Pretty Picture

Gun Appreciation Day

As gun rights activists celebrated the turnout at gun shows for national Gun Appreciation Day Saturday, police responded to at least thee accidental shootings that left five people injured at shows across the country.

-- News-LJ

Pi says, "Guns don't kill people; idiots do!"

Monk says, "A big part of the purpose of these shows is to protest Obama's attempt to tighten gun regulation. And I don't think these mishaps have dissuaded them, nor even dulled their yippee-kai-yay zeal."

Pi says, "And these people should be guarding our school children?"

Daimon shrugs, "Hey, this is how the West was won. You have to expect a few casualties, right?"

Monk laughs and Pi rolls her eyes.