also: restaurants and mysteries reviewed.
Alas, the universe of facts is not a democracy. If it were, I'd vote for fried pork rinds as a health food.
One year ago: I discuss the word "pareidolia."
Two years ago: Dean Martin - an appreciation.
Three years ago: I have the same fucking Weltangst I've always had.
Four years ago: Watch this space
In no particular order:
- I made the Semifinals of the Nicholl again! Only this time I actually have to do something about it. Clearly I cannot leave things up to my manager. This is a business. This is, reportedly, the business I want to be in, I have to be proactive, my first inclination is to go hide in a corner and do nothing. If I decide to do something, I will let you know.
- I have put a link to the BBC show I was interviewed for. Note that the show doesn't distinguish between journals and blogs. Also, the file is 22 megs, so it might take a while to start playing.
- Pookie and I were taking a walk yesterday when a big guy -- taller than Darin, clearly in his twenties -- scooted by on one of those new scooters that are so popular. He had to hunch over a bit so that his hands could touch the handle. All I could think was, Boy, are your shoulders going to hurt. Boring old fogey alert: Seeing him go by, I asked myself once again: Why are these scooters so popular all of a sudden? And why are they popular?
- Seeing all these scooters of late reminded me of something my friend Damon once said to me: "I will be your surfer dude if you will be my scooter girl." Since he's gay, I don't think it was a legitimate offer. Anyone know if he was quoting something?
- Pooks has two questions in the Forum: one about fault in a car accident, and one about plaster of paris. She swears they aren't connected. She lies, perhaps.
- I went to a Survivor party Wednesday night. I'd never seen a minute of Survivor or sought out any information about it, but I could still tell you a little about it: I knew Rudy was the homophobic (, racist, and sexist -- but CBS edited that part out) ex-Navy Seal and Richard was the Machiavellian queen. I knew that there were four left for the last episode. We had a party pool: Darin picked Richard, and I picked Kelly (because, I swear, I thought, "Kelly, sounds Irish, good enough for me"). So we had a 100 percent chance of winning, as it turns out.
I thoroughly enjoyed the show. I'm a little sorry I missed the first 12 or so episodes. I would have liked to have seen the story development.
Darin says he would have taken Richard's approach to the game: that is, strategizing, power blocs, the whole nine yards. What this says about Darin I leave to your imaginations.
A reader asked me if I'd transcribed Gervase's or Sue's final comments. I did not. Does anyone know where to find transcripts of what they said?
- Darin and I finally found Indian food in LA we're extremely happy with -- Nawab of India in Santa Monica (Wilshire between 16th and 17th). We got some of our standard dishes, such as chicken tikka masala, to compare with places that we've really loved. Darin rated it as among the top Indian he's ever had. I definitely put it ahead of any Indian I've had here in LA.
- How many people are in LA? How many restaurants? Fernando and Nancy and Darin, Sophia, and I went to Ubon, Nobu Matsuhisa's quick-and-dirty restaurant in the Beverly Center, last night. We ordered an assortment of dishes to share and had some great food: barbecued eel, spicy scallops, two types of tuna tataki, chicken shoga yaki... Yum. Anyhow, as we were leaving, I hear, "Diane!" And it is Tiffany, having dinner with Wyndham. What are the chances?
Mystery corner (here there be spoilers):
I read the last Harlan Coben book I hadn't read yet, Back Spin. (Which means I read it out of order with the other books, but it didn't hurt too much.) It's another good mystery, set in the world of pro golf.
I've noticed an obsession with hidden homosexuality in Coben's books, particularly with females, but he's a guy, so I'm not going to judge too much. However, he writes a book in which one of the characters is the number one female golfer in the world and he never mentions the fact that one of the problems with the female golf tour and with female golfers is the perception and the reality of lesbianism on the female tour. It seemed an odd omission.
I also read Robert Crais's LA Requiem, which is an entry in the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. It has one very odd feature to it that not a few people have commented on: instead of being solely first-person from Elvis's point of view (which all the other books have been), it switches between first person and third person, showing us scenes from fourteen years before the current day, from Joe's point of view, from the killer's point of view and so on.
Now, as far as I could tell, Elvis solves the mystery fair and square -- he doesn't know something we found out in one of the other points of view. And Crais handles the points of view like many novels handle shifts in point of view: here's what Elvis sees and does and thinks, here's what Joe sees and does and thinks, here's what the crime scene guy sees and does and thinks... It's just that it's really disconcerting to switch between third person and first person. I just can't put my finger on why -- I've read plenty of books where I've had several third person limited POVs.
The answer to yesterday's question: Richard, the Machiavellian queen, won Survivor.
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Copyright 2000 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@nobody-knows-anything.com