Just finished listening (mostly) to Terry Gross (on NPR's Fresh Air) interview Woody Allen. Unfortunately, I was distracted by something (I think it was Corine at Hidden in France, yes. It was. It's her fault.) I recommend the podcast. It was good to hear him; I didn't gnash my teeth or talk back to the radio once. Terry asks good questions & allows people to answer thoughtfully. Or not. I thought: what would make me happy, materially, right now. No one lecture me about 'materialism' -- not until you're in my shoes-with-holes. Don't you dare. (Woody's list, along with non-material 'things' is quite similar to mine. I don't know if that's good or bad. It's amusing.).
I'd like to have an antenna so I can watch the BBC News feed on PBS at 6pm; watch Dave Letterman's monologue, tape Craig Ferguson & puppets (don't judge), & see the scenes from Iran today. Or watch anything but 'here's how you fix your freaking TV that you thought was digital.' And for the record, before one more well-meaning person says it's a blessing in disguise: I have no problem, whatsoever, ever-ever, with turning off the television. I have taken to old-guy behavior of circling programs for the week. Because even here in DC, there are few daily prompts to watch World News or Frontlline. When it's your choice, it's one thing; when you've no choice, that's elitism talking. Oh the poor will be so much better off it they do not have their telenovelas..
This is an excuse to start posting photographs of rooms-I-like. Some are white, some are multi-colored, all styles. I'm not a magpie...I can be happy with many different styles. I am not so high-maintenance that it has to be 'roses' rather than 'liles' (or vice versa...anyone who read The Rose Thief knows about the parsley-in-creamer jug.) Beautiful peonies at the market this afternoon...surprised I wasn't charged to sniff.
So other than replacing/fixing everything that is tattered, & making sure this computer doesn't crash, & of course a camera...what would make me happy? A bed-frame that is not broken & propped up with old art books. It is far beyond bohemian, I assure you. Other people romanticize this kind of life. No, I want a bed-frame & to send out the carpets to be cleaned properly. Mary Cassatt's poppies, while lovely, are not helping. Unless I had them here, in a one of my favorite vessels. These Mediterranean photographs were torn from a magazine many years ago & stapled into notebooks. I think it might be Marie Claire Maison.
I resisted the urge to crop out the Louis Vuitton trunk in the Med-bedroom.(my reverse snobbery). I have to take the html out later but I'll leave it in for now. The scan of the room with all the 'stuff' is my reply to "toss everything out' articles I've seen (especially lately). Someone (paid) to pontificate in the Washington Post wrote recently "throw out those little paperbacks..." & keep the hardback books. Whaaaaaa? I'd have to buy them back. I have volumes of poetry & vintage paperbacks. I re-read them. Why on earth would I toss them out? This was written by a person who does not read, I am convinced, much less re-read. Oh, yeah, I'm really going to toss out vintage first paperbacks of Plath, Camus-and-Gide-in-French (1950s) & a few copies of New World Writing (that's what I can see from here, where I sit. Literally.).
Back to being upset that I don't have the magazine information. I'll do that tonight & then back to rereading Gatsby, as I do every summer (at least once). Just to keep myself in check. I actually know a Tom & a Daisy (unwillingly). Yeah, I do. Believe it or not.
[I must insert something about Iran: Have been "tweety-birding" with some friends there. Also, the Post today is so very incorrect about the polling in Iran. They are wrong. I can hardly believe my eyes & ears at times. If you are interested in Iran (& you should be, for all kinds of reasons), pay attention to Robin Wright. She's at the Woodrow Wilson Center, used to be at the Post before they bought out people-who-know stuff. Robin & Geraldine Brooks are the two Westerners I trust about Iran. Read them; their books are wonderful. I'm so very glad that I did not "toss them out." They love Iran, too, so the snoot factor is not there.]
4 comments:
distracted you? what did i do this time?!
The jaw dropping action happening in iran is rocking my world right now. i've never met a revolution I did not love. But this is grand! I hope your internet connection can allow you to see the videos in real time. (My guess is no) As for TV you're not missing much. they're saying nothing, waiting to see where the wind will turn, as usual. You can definitely catch some of the live emotion on twitter. Viva la revolucion!!!!
Of course, it's your fault, Corine. With those distracting photographs of of pretty rooms & titles like 'riveting.' Do you seriously think I'm going to take responsibility for my own sloth? The closest I'll come is the label in bricolage 'personal character defects.' I don't use it as much as I ought.
I have been tweetybirding w/buds in Iran. And again, I am missing out television. Really. Seriously. And if we have an emergency here in DC, I'm really screwed. About Iran & pundits here? No, that wasn't my point, but then I did not express it well. So that's my fault.
I can't leap up & down as much as others, knowing people who are being dragged off, though. We'll see. That's why I recommend Robin Wright's books. Especially In The Name of God, with subtitle that I do not want to type.
Be careful about revolutions...they're always more complicated than they appear. But you know that...xo
Susie, Get some sleep, especially since this verification word is restr. Kampala restless. If you see this, enable Twitter feed to a few of us on your cell.
AB
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