[UPDATE UPDATE: Ignore the update below this one.]
[UPDATE: A genuine, no-fooling triple feature is looking like a distinct possibility at the moment, so look for one long post on this madness some time on Saturday.]
Anyone who read this post knows the basic score: this weekend, I'm going to watch The Piano Teacher, Inside and Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom, in that order, and record the experience here for posterity, or as evidence in case anything should happen to me. The only question that remains to be answered (well, other than "What the fuck!?") is "How exactly am I going to go about this?" And the answer is still pretty much "Search me, chief." At one point, I thought I might do that thing that's so popular these days, despite the fact that everyone seems to hate it, called "live-blogging". Here's an example of how that might have looked:
9:30 pm - I put The Piano Teacher into the DVD player. It is dark outside, and the wind is blowing. My cats are looking at me. The fat one wants his treats. Well, you're not getting any, because you pissed in my shoes again. Hey, I think my pizza's ready. I don't really want pizza, but egg salad takes too long to make. I should have just bought some, pre-made.
And etc. Since I've decided not to go this route, I think you'll agree that we've all dodged a bullet. But what options are left? Nothing too interesting, I'll tell you that much. I have to get started on this tonight, though, so here's what'll happen: I'm going to watch all three as fast as I can. A genuine triple feature is a possibility, depending on how long I can stay awake tonight. If I manage that, then on Saturday I'll write up the whole thing as one experience. If that doesn't pan out, which it more than likely won't, then I'll just end up writing three posts, one for each film, all going up between Friday night and Saturday afternoon. If I end up with three posts, I'll try to keep a kind of flow between them all -- for when the piece is eventually and inevitably collected for publication -- and if anyone doesn't happen to check in until the second or third post is up, or even if you all decide to wait until Monday, I'll provide links to the previous installments. Because scrolling down is a pain.
So that's it. Extremely simple and not worth the effort of writing this, really, but I did want anyone who was interested to know that this little project is still "on", as they say. So be on the lookout!
12 comments:
Nice. I'm excited. Although now I kinda wish you were doing the live blogging. "The fat one wants his treats" itself sounds like a line from some kind of bizarre arty horror flick.
Wow, you're right. Taken out of context, that line is pretty damn creepy.
"The fat one wants his treats. And he shall have them, once night has fallen..."
And of course by treats, I mean human flesh...
And "the fat one" is, of course, a bald shirtless man who lives in my closet.
Actually I keep thinking of the creepy bulbous creature that lives in the basement and eats people's dreams in Interiorae, but the Internet is not being my friend in finding images of it, so I won't be able to share the creepiness.
The who in the what now? Ed, I just viewed your complete profile, as they say, and you're into some pretty obscure stuff, aren't you? I haven't even heard of a lot of that stuff. But From Hell is as good as it gets, isn't it? I wish more people would read that.
Also, I've always wanted to read Donald Barthelme's short fiction. I read The King years ago, and wasn't thrilled, but I know it's his short stories he's best known for. Maybe I'll see if my local B&N has anything...
I was gonna save some kittens, build a church, and water every tree in Austin this weekend... but F**K that! I'm staying glued to my laptop for the TKOFYH post on this club sandwich of a triple feature!
For the record, I love live-blogging. I think it's funny b/c of the spoteneity in it. Of course, live-blogging movies kinda goes against my ethics b/c that means taking your eyes off the screen (!!!), but I think you would be hilarious doing it.
Thank you Fox. Part of me still wants to live-blog it, because I think it would be fun, but it's really not feasible, since I don't have a laptop. I really want this to feel spontaneous, though, so I hope this thing ends up gelling.
I feel so violated, Bill's checking out my profile...
From Hell is absolutely amazing, everyone should read it. It's one of the greatest comics ever. I don't know about obscure, but I'm into a lot of comics, and Interiorae is one of them: I wish I could find a picture of the big fat basement creature, because it's pretty creepy.
I haven't read The King, but Barthelme's two books of short stories are really fun (and funny): very simply titled Sixty Stories and Forty Stories. They're the kind of books you can just pick up at any point and read a few pages and get a complete experience. Really brilliant stuff.
Ed, I shall look into those books tonight (or tomorrow). He's a real blindspot for me.
But everyon, seriously: From Hell. If you haven't read the comic, do so. I'm not kidding. And if you don't want to take my word for it, take Ed's. For me, Moore and Campbell's From Hell is the pinnacle of that particular artform. It's headspinningly amazing.
Interesting-- I was just recommending From Hell to a student in my comics class today who was reading Watchmen. He asked me about the film, and I said I enjoyed it but it's very different from the book. The joy of the book for me is all the stuff about history and the city and weird Freemason riffs-- all the stuff the movie leaves out, in other words.
But yeah, great book. I saw Campbell speak once, and he had funny stories about working with Moore-- how he'd get faxed script pages like "[character's name redacted to prevent spoilers] puts the heart in a jar," and how surreal it was.
Not as surreal as the fat one who wants his treats, though.
I'd love to see an actual Alan Moore comic script some time: they're supposedly really dense and complex and lengthy. You're right Brian that's what great about From Hell is how all-encompassing it is, how much ground it covers beyond its central story.
Also, Campbell seems like he'd be a hilarious guy. As dense and serious as From Hell is, the comics that Campbell's done on his own tend to be really witty and fun and light. Bill, from what I know of your taste I imagine you'd really get a kick out of Campbell's The Fate of the Artist if you haven't read it already. It's a really funny and wild mixed-media book, a great and compact way to get a sense of Campbell's style outside of his collaborations with Moore.
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