Monday, March 19, 2007

a bit of a wash

Last weekend went alright, as weekends go, relatively uneventful and somewhat plain. I finished Jan Kjaerstad's "The Conqueror" (review shortly forthcoming) and started "That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana" by Carlo Emilio Gadda (recently reissued by NYRB). Its a book I'd purchased used years ago after reading a reference to it in one of Jonathan Rosenbaum's film reviews (probably either in Movies as Politics or Placing Movies). The fact that its being reissued is certainly good news. It is definitely a unique "murder mystery" that more probably investigates the sickness of a society, but not without humor and a touch of the absurd. Apart from that, I finally got around to seeing the movie "Dirty Harry" as it was playing at the Brattle this weekend. Having read J. Hoberman's The Dream LifeI was more than prepared for the picture however, in retrospect, I didn't imagine the film to be so cartoonish. So much of the film felt like a very low-grade morally loaded argument. More sledgehammer tactics to make views from the periphery seem like the only sensible position to adopt. Oh well. Things are brightening up at the moment, weather-wise at least. I still have another issue of the NYRB to sift through, amongst other things. I have also been steadily transcribing other earlier journals, to be served up in some for or another, expect some of that shortly.

That's all for now.

P.S. I will be on the air this Friday, March 23, 2007.

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