Ellipsis

• The highlight of the family festivities this weekend was my cousin talking about some woman on the news complaining about library funding being slashed in Pennsylvania. The woman on the news said something like, "It's a shame we have money to fight this war, but not the money the fund our libraries." My cousin indignantly replied, "Yeah, and if we didn't fight that war, you might not have those libraries." I hope this doesn't filter upward, or we'll start seeing news reports where the president says we "liberated" Iraq to save our precious public libraries. Somehow.
  Even my dad, a lifelong GOP supporter, spoke up at this point to say that this is the stupidest war we've ever fought and that it has nothing to do with anything. I was thus able to stay smug and silent rather than forced to make a scene, which would've sucked since that cousin was the one cooking the steaks.
  
• For the curious, my upcoming moving schedule looks somethings like this: July 31, last day of work; August 1-3, go to Michigan for the Burns; August 8, start driving with the one-day goal of Chicago and Mr. Jureller's couch; August 9, drive to Madison and the hospitality of the Infield-Harms; August 11, drive like hell across South Dakota with a Rapid City-ish goal; August 12, either drive mostly west to the Salt Lake area or mostly south to Albuquerque-Santa Fe (I haven't decided yet); August 13, hopefully arrive at a new apartment somewhere in L.A. (or pull up just short and arrive around noon the next day).
  
• Jefferson and I have started looking at places now, focusing largely in the Koreatown section and other places near/easily accessible to both Downtown L.A. and USC. Watch this space as news unfolds.
  
• If Margaret Cho were a recently laid off gay guy, her blog would probably look a lot like this. Be sure to go to the personal stuff, the favorites, and ultimately the stuff about Ernie's mom.
  
• Many of you have probably heard DEK or myself talk about Steamer, the Altoona Curve Bong. Here's a picture of Steamer, along with an amusing anecdote about Al Roker. Scroll down to June 8th.
  
• Speaking of DEK and driving like hell across across South Dakota, Barker (et al) Across America should be well on its way to Vegas right now, though their connectivity must be low-to-non-existent, as no one has posted any updates yet.
  
• The latest book to come off the checklist in my head is Steven Bach's Final Cut. This is one of the great Hollywood books of all time, and it tells a fascinating story--the debacle that was Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate, as told by a top insider at United Artists. The book works for several reasons--Bach is an engaging writer, he legitimately has widespread behind-the-scenes insight, and most importantly he is willing to contemplate his enemies and criticize his friends and himself, as well as vice versa. Admittedly, that can lull you into forgetting that this is still one man's perspective on what is surely a more complex story; sadly, for instance, we get little direct insight into Cimino himself or into the day-to-day realities of the filming, since Bach was close to neither. To his credit, though, Bach makes it pretty clear that he is telling his story of Heaven's Gate rather than the story.
  For those of you who don't know, Heaven's Gate is the most infamous bomb in movie history. Starting as a mid-budget film, Heaven's Gate's production costs and schedule spiraled out of control due to the perfectionism of its director, the ever-expanding scope (or hubris) of his vision, and UA's inability to control Cimino combined with its unwillingness to pull the plug. All this added up to a movie that cost over $40 million to make (after initial budgets of $7.5 and later $11.9 million) and grossed less than $2 million despite re-cuts, multiple releases, and at least a few supporters. In the process it sank the careers of many executives, of Cimino himself, and ultimately led to the demise of United Artists as an independent company. "Unqualified disaster" (as Vincent Canby called the film) only scratches the surface.
  If any of this sounds interesting to you, I would heartily recommend Final Cut as a witty and insightful account.
  
• Obviously, since The Beallsvonian Captivity is ending 32 days from today, this space will need to be renamed in the near future. I have some thoughts, though if I go with another geographic moniker I'll obviously have to wait until I figure out exactly where I'm moving. But by all means if you have any thoughts on the naming issue, let me know. I may post some ideas at some point and ask for feedback as well.