and we reach a baby milestone!
One year ago: I met my niece!
Two years ago: A hot wedding.
Three years ago: San Antonio Worldcon.
Four years ago: Getting settled in LA.
I went out for coffee this afternoon and sat by the window. At the big armchairs near me were two men, one younger and good-looking, the other older. The older one had receding hair, a beard and mustache, and a pot belly, and his mannerisms and way of speaking screamed "Jewish comic." I don't know how to explain it, other than he'd be played in the movie version by Richard Dreyfuss.
From what he was saying to the younger guy, he was in the comedy business, and he talked about working in Vegas and the Catskills and appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show.
At which point, the younger guy says, "Who's Ed Sullivan?"
How the hell could you not have heard of Ed Sullivan? I mean, talk about your cultural references.
I muttered dark phrases to myself about the ignorance of today's youth, or at least today's actors in Los Angeles.
And then, as I continued to work -- damn, I haven't worked on my novel for a week; I have got to get with it -- I noticed they were having the same conversation again.
Oops. They're running lines.
Never mind.
Last night Darin and I sat down to watch The Limey. We'd heard wonderful things about it, but for some reason we didn't go see it when it came out.
The Limey is the story of Wilson (Terence Stamp), a British ex-con who comes to Los Angeles after his daughter dies in a car accident. He is certain his daughter's death was no accident and starts hunting down the man she was involved with, Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda).
There are several fantastic things about The Limey, not the least of which is the non-Hollywood take on the story. (If you think you know how the story is going to play out from the synopsis I've given, trust me, you're wrong.) It's a very sparse movie, with no extra in it: it has one story to tell, and it's going to tell only that story. The script (by Lem Dobbs) and/or the director, Steven Soderbergh, plays with time, showing you various bits (with unattached voices) and lets you figure it out.
One of the things I really liked about the movie is that it does with its script what I wish I had done with one of mine -- the ending is just perfect and totally not cliched. The ending is in keeping with the theme of the movie but not at all what you might have expected. In fact, despite the fact that this movie has car chases, drug dealers, and a shootout, none of it is what we have been trained to expect.
One of the undercurrents of the movie has to do with the 60s: Terence Stamp, Peter Fonda, Lesley Ann Warren, snippets from a Ken Loach 60s film Poor Cow. I have the feeling I didn't pick up all the implications of that.
Big news! We put Sophia in bed last night around 7. She woke up at 11 to snack a bit...and then she slept until 6 this morning.
She slept all night.
Mommy is very, very happy about this.
And we didn't have to do any of the let-her-cry-herself-to-sleep things or anything.
I still haven't written what I was going to about astrology, but you have written some very interesting things. Add your astrology story.
And add what you know about buying a house.
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Copyright 2000 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@nobody-knows-anything.com