The Adventures of LitBoy: Bill Brent's Blog

NOVEL-WRITING LOG: 3 days and counting

PUNK.

Today's written product is punk-influenced. Last night, I took a break from writing and watched Julien Temple's documentary, The Filth and the Fury - A Sex Pistols Film (2000), which chronicles the rise and fall of the Sex Pistols. It has the stench of truth — a garbage strike that lasted multiple years (a decade, if Johnny Rotten's claim is accurate) and abysmal dental hygiene figure prominently in the sensory-based details. (And the scene of the punk boys gleefully serving cake to the kids on Christmas Day is worth the price of admission.)

Watching made me realize (again) how much of my own work has been influenced by this impulse — and it is clear that punk is an impulse, not just some aesthetic that can be reduced to a fun and frisky use of safety-pins and hair-coloring. The impulse of dissent is what keeps the culture moving forward, however sluggishly, in its race against entropy. Fuck it, punk says, the culture is already corrupt beyond belief, so let's shred it a new one. This impulse shook loose about 500 new words for the right-brain novel today, on a day when I was so beat from this novel-writing marathon that I had to take a three-hour nap in the middle of the day, after sleeping perhaps nine hours last night.

It's also the walks that bring on the words. Sometimes, if I am completely stuck, I can go for a walk and bring back at least two or three fresh ideas, as I did just now. You can't always count on the muse to show up (and the more you expect her, the less likely she is to oblige), but perhaps it's worth remembering Nietzsche's bold claim that "all truly great thoughts are conceived while walking." And, of course, it's very healthy to walk on a regular basis anyhow — click HERE, for instance, for a good article about the powerful benefits of walking.

I didn't have any coffee at all today, by the way — I thought about it around 3:30 (after my three-hour nap) and realized how absurd it would be to brew a pot at that hour, especially after twelve hours of sound sleep over the past eighteen. If one cannot make it through the rest of the day without caffeine at that point, then I suppose one might have a real problem.

So, anyhow, I went for a walk, and added a bit to the word count.

Bill's Left-Brain Novel,
as of July 14, 2007:

69,885 / 90,000 (77.7%) [unchanged]

Bill's Right-Brain Novel,
as of July 14, 2007:

35,809 / 50,000 (71.6%)

Today's net gain: 741 words. Not bad for a day of near-total meltdown.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2007.07.15, 10:15 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

43.55 / $199.90 (21.8%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

Do-It-Yourself Social Science: Pix taken not of, but by, celebrities

One way to grab a snapshot of current celebrity cachet might be to peek in on the current fundraiser for MixNYC, the annual queer film festival, and to browse the finishing prices for rolls of film taken with disposable cameras by various celebrities and artist types.

Anyone can see the auctions that are still running at eBay, but you will need an eBay account to log in and see the completed auctions.

Now, of course, we're not talking high-quality professional photography here, since these are disposable cameras. Thus, making some allowance for the potential porn-factor value of certain rolls, we can assume that the purpose of the purchase, aside from helping MixNYC to raise money, is to acquire an object handled by someone famous.

But the highest bid to date went to the roll taken by the current Guns 'n' Roses lead guitarist, at a whopping $2,024.00...

[or try clicking on this long URL version]

…suggesting that there is still nothing in America with a higher cool-factor than being a rockstar.

Even Norah Jones, the next-highest celebrity photographer with a completed auction as of this writing, fetched a measly $676.00!

You can click on eBay's "Price" column to see the totals in ascending or descending order. Enjoy!

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2007.06.09, 2:30 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

43.55 / $199.90 (21.8%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

[Celebrities scheduled to participate in the MixNYC auctions include: Bobby Abate, Mark Adamo, Ricci Albenda, Joan Allen, D-L Alvarez, Gregg Araki, Penny Arcade, Miguel Arteta, Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Charles Atlas, Julie Atlas Muz, Franko B, Lindsay Beamish, YES Man Andy Bichlbaum, Cass Bird, Mary Birdsong, Bitch, Nayland Blake, World Famous *BOB*, Justin Bond, Kate Bornstein, Jay Brannan, Lynn Breedlove, AA Bronson, Kurt Busiek, Jonathan Caouette, Michael Carbonaro, Ryan Carnes, Walter Cessna, Patty Chang, Liz Collins, Dennis Cooper, Brady Corbet, Catherine Coulson, Cary Curran, Dangerous Muse, Paul Dawson, PJ DeBoy, Donna Deitch, Abby Denson, Morty Diamond, Todd Downing, Zackary Drucker, Bradley Eros, Barbara Ess, Patricia Field, Robin Finck, Jenna Fischer, Colton Ford, Eve Fowler, Eytan Fox, Jared Geller, Andrea Geyer, God-des & She, Anthony Goicolea, Julie Goldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sam Green, John Greyson, Kathy Griffin, James Gunn, Miss Guy, Fritz Haeg, Anne Hanavan, Bibbe Hansen, K8 Hardy, Neil Patrick Harris, Mary Harron, Tyger Hudson, Scott Hug, Phil Jimenez, Michael Formika Jones, Norah Jones, Lloyd Kaufman, Liya Kebede, Kaki King, Theo Kogan, Harmony Korine, Bruce LaBruce, Sophia Lamar, Lesbians on Ecstasy, Lez Zeppelin, Hanna Liden, Lovett/Codagnone, Michael Lucas, Guy Maddin, Ann Magnuson, Shelly Mars, Chan Marshall, Galadriel Masterson, Tara Mateik, Patrick McGuinn, Patrick McMullan, Tara McPherson, Jonas Mekas, Kenny Mellman, Leah Meyerhoff, John Cameron Mitchell, Slava Mogutin, Meredith Monk, Billy Name, Tommy O’Haver, Tara J. O’Neil, Jenni Olson, Tony Oursler, Joe Ovelman, Peter Paige, Joe Phillips, Pierrot, Amos Poe, Wakefield Poole, Spencer Product, Tracy Quan, Vanessa Renwick, Hunter Reynolds, Rob Roth, Viva Ruiz, Eve Salvail, Tura Satana, Kenny Scharf, Daniela Sea, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Eric Shanower, Linda Simpson, Casey Spooner, Annie Sprinkle, A. L. Steiner, Todd Stephens, Brent Stewart, Peter Stickles, Bec Stupak, Chris Tanner, Jeffrey Teuton, Mark Tewksbury, Scott Thompson, Betty Tompkins, Rose Troche, Guin Turner, Mark Tusk, Mark Verheiden, Jim Verraros, Rosa von Praunheim, Dee Wallace Stone, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Joe Westmoreland, Jake Yuzna, Zaldy, and Mirah Zeitlyn.]

We're having a cute-wave!

OK, am I just a grinch?

Everyone is ooh-ing and aaah-ing over this little bit of otter-bonding:

[ backup for this link: CLICK HERE ]

...because it's spring, right? Please tell me that it's so. Then I will feel less embarrassed for humanity.

Everyone seems focused on the otters, who may not even be bonding. I mean, do we really know this for sure? Would any otter-ologists out there care to give me a reality check? I am guessing that the otter pair is just doing some mutually beneficial flotation support. Or maybe they really do enjoy the mutual touch. OK, I get that either way. Yet what tickles me most about "otters holding hands" is the predictably robotic gush-fest from the humans.

I know that most of my friends would have a similar reaction. Why do I roll my eyes? Or at least I want to. I don't need to offend friendly sensibilities by providing a politically-incorrect counterpoint, either. Yet the thought remains.

As of this writing, the gush-fest continues unabated over at the cute overload blog.

This brings to mind all the treacly, sentimental schlock I was exposed to during that gushiest of all possible eras, the late-Hippie phase. In 1970, I was ten. Think of it. An intelligent ten-year-old mind is open to anything it can absorb. Yet for the next several years, I was awash in a patchouli-scented, beer-can-hatted, pet-rocked, bell-bottomed, peace-medallioned, flower-emblazoned, macramé-hangered, troll-dolled, Keane-eyed, happy-faced wave of constant cute-a-grams. It seemed like every other toilet tank featured one of those ugly "Love Is..." statuettes made of that horrid molded plastic.

"Love Is..." didn't strike me as cute, then or now. This is serious business, peeps.
Check it out.

I seem to have had a bit of a problem with "the cute thing" for most of my life. I remember going to see "The Lion King" in college. I watched the first few minutes of it with my friend Steve: the rather magisterial procession of animals through the jungle. OK, militaristic. The animated precision marching held my interest, regardless, until the king of the forest, standing on a promontory, surveying his vast animal kingdom, broke into a shit-eating grin. Then I knew I was in Disney-schlock gridlock for sure. I leaned over to Steve, and hissed the line that he still reminds me of:

"Lions don't smile!"

That pretty much ruined the movie for me, right there. The remaining footage was mere confirmation. But then, of course, it was parlayed into the biggest hit on Broadway. I consider this a testament to my CARA theory ("cara" is Italian and Spanish for "dear") — Cute Animals Run Amok. Wave a CARA at most people's pusses, and they will knock each other over in their rush to gush.

It's hard for me to suspend my disbelief when I know that Disney could send me a cease-and-desist note forbidding me to post images from their crappy movie on this blog. It's only a question of pragmatics. Do they feel it's more in their interest to permit the viral dissemination of their product line, or to shut down any unauthorized reproduction? I suppose it usually boils down to whether someone else is big enough to bother with, i.e., potentially a parasite on the take for anything that's based on their licensing. Presuming there's any reasoned and well-measured assessment of the risk to their franchise. Which I don't. (I've had a URL-related run-in with eBay over similar principles.)

Conversely, I don't like gratuitously gritty, rub-your-face-in-shit "reality" films, either. I guess I just don't like excess, period. Maybe that's really the issue here. At times I find excess aesthetically offensive to a point of near moral outrage. It's strange, because I have a degree in Drama, and I have always enjoyed the theatricality of the theatre. But I guess I don't like schmaltz in any venue, real-life or theatrical, and this is what I think "Dancer in the Dark" shares in common with "Love Is...," Keane eyes, and the reaction to "otters holding hands." Even though it is a bleak movie about a single mother sentenced to death for a crime she didn't commit, it suffers from the same brand of bathos.

Interestingly, YouTube linked me from the "otters holding hands" to "otter porn":

[ backup for this link: CLICK HERE ]

Yet who is going to gush the same way over two otters fucking, except for maybe this creepy guy saying, "Stick it in her, boy!" Actually, I think he's a riot. And there's a certain humor to the gritty reality of his vicarious pleasure that for me is entirely lacking in "otters holding hands" or the grim 106 Steps scene from "Dancer in the Dark."

Moreover, during any YouTube moment, it pays to read the comments. Typically, YouTube comments have provided me with more unintentional moments of hilarity than the videos themselves. It's basically the same principle as watching people gushing over otters. The human parade, if nothing else, is fraught with pratfalls.

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Wishing you a beautiful (but not cute) day,

€”Bill Brent

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $179 per year. That's before it pays me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

31 / 179 (17.2%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution within 24 hours.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.