Tuesday 7 August 2007

Covering the guilty tracks

Erm, now I feel like a right numpty for that little rant, but not wanting to delete a post when we're so tantalisingly close to that magical triple figure, I have no option but to write something to try to bury my tracks as smartly as possible. But I guess I shouldn't be sign-posting that rant so prominenty here. Shit, oh well.

I'm becoming a bit curmudgeonly in my dotage, as was evident the other day when my normal route to work was barred by a film crew. I was happily immersed in my own musical planet listening to some Only Ones when some git started flapping his arms in front of me. Turns out they were filming a commercial for Telecom, so I gave the guy a right ticking off along the lines of 'just what world needs, some more product placement'. Not that I even watch the box these days. Then I noticed that whenever I sit on the commuter train or bus in and out of Wellington, the empty seat beside me is always the last one to be filled. Fuck, I'm not sitting beside that freak, everyone must be thinking.

Change of subject: finally got Cloud Atlas today, Rotten. Looks very good going by the blurb on the back. I then discovered a big stash of HST under the 'New Journalism' tag that I hadn't noticed before. Had the full panopoly of classics there, all the letters and numerous biographies. I know where to go next time. Fear & Loathing was a nice little hors d'ouvre.

Finally, tvc may not have seen that Paul Greengrass (Blood Sunday, United 93) is in pre-production to film Imperial Life Inside The Emerald City. Can't wait to see that one.

2 comments:

Rotten said...

I for one think that rants, numpty or otherwise, are nothing to be ashamed of.

Especially if the spleen-blow it provides prevents you from working out Virgina Tech-style on your co-workers.

And you must have been extra surly when you posted that last one, seeing as it came right as you had just "Begun hava cock sugk" from a Turkish 16-year old...

But seriously, I'm digging the travelogues. Keep 'em coming. And good work at the book store. I took your advice on The Road and read it.

So now I'm ready for some Book Club action. One thing that caught my eye in your post back when you posted about The Road was that you thought you knew how it would end but were surprised. So, now that I know how it ended, I'm curious to know, how did you think it was going to end?

Here's my guess for how you saw it winding up:

"Suddenly Kivak came in. There was a nine-year old Turkish girl. Somehow Kivak made the girl's tongue six feet long. She started licking the back of Kivak's nutbag from the other side of the abandonded room.

What the hell is this? the man said.

Blow it out yer arse, Kivak said. Can't you see I've just Begun hava cok sugked?"

Byehhhh...I was out in the sun too long yesterday...but let that stand as provocation to make you answer my question about how you really thought The Road was going to end.

ROTTEN OUT.

Kivak said...

I'll send that one into Cormac for the next edition. Just finished a quick translation for my vegetarian cousin, who's off to Prague tomorrow. He wanted to know how to tell waiting staff 'I don't eat meat, poulty or fish'. I resisted the temptation to translate it as 'I want to lick your armpit'.

Anyhow, I expected The Road to end far more grimly. I thought the father would die, obviously, but leaving the boy totally alone and facing an inevitable lonely death, much like the planet. Cormac's ending, I thought, was rather unexpectedly upbeat. While I felt some relief for the boy, I also felt let down in an odd sort of way...What's your interpretation?