Esther Press

A couple of photos from our weekend trip to Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, just west of Redding.

I have no idea why people think Obama is going to beat Clinton in the primaries. She'll finish it off on February 5. She leads comfortably in the big delegate states of California, New York, Missouri, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, Pennslyvania, Texas, Ohio, etc. It'll be Clinton versus Romney.

Bravo! It's about time.

Have watched several films of late:

Y tu mamá también--one of the dumber movies to reach "international success" in some time. Basically, it's a "coming-of-age-road-movie" whose seeming purpose is to show two guys kiss at the end during threesome sex with an older woman who--helped out by some stupendously bad writing--strangely feels taken by both of these drunken idiots. This movie given to me by a co-worker. Never accept movies from co-workers.

Superbad--This movie given to me by a co-worker. NEVER ACCEPT MOVIES FROM CO-WORKERS. Mindless, dull, boring story about two foulmouthed and sentimental teenagers trying to get laid. Oh, there's drinking involved, too!

Lemming--mostly interesting film which hangs together well in the first half, but slides down in the second. The explanatory ending is about as ruinous as one can get. The woman should have just watched the next door neighbor boy kick the soccer ball forever. Still, something here to see.

Kilimanjaro--To the Roof of Africa--IMAX movie--42 min. long--full of typical wide-angled "awe". The visuals are quite wonderful, as expected, but the narration by the old mountain guide is painful treacle. Don't blame him, though, for having to speak it.

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Reading Robert Walser's The Assistant. Just wonderful writing--psychologically interesting, with sweet humor and underlying loneliness & Herr Tobler.

After reading Paul Maliszewski's short story in the current Fence, I realized how much I enjoy reading stories centered around dinner parties. The form is so ripe for psychological dissections, asides, odd reactions/habits exposed (the premise of group psychotherapy) that, when done right, never ceases to interest me. I think an entire magazine should be devoted just to dinner party stories. It could go on forever.

Reading "To GlaxoSmithKline," "Robert Walsers," and "To Scheiße für Gehirne." From the current manuscript.

Gabcast! Esther Press #11

"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you need to do is tell them that they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

Hermann Goering, Nuremberg trials.

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Emphasis on always.

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The gearing up for the Iran war has been brewing, but the naval chaos offers the US the self-made excuse it's been seeking for awhile now.

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After George is done starting wars with every country in the world, perhaps he will finally go to war with himself.

Though that one appears just as unwinnable.

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A piece by Rod Smith from his book, Deed:

Ted's Head


So there's this episode of Mary Tyler Moore where Ted's trying to get a raise &
after finagling and shenaniganizing he puts one over on Lou & gets his
contract changed to non-exclusive sos he can do commericials which is not cool
w/ Lou & the gang because Ted's just a brainless gimp & it hurts the image of
the news to have the anchorman selling tomato slicers & dogfood so Lou gets
despondent because the contract can't be rescinded but then he gets mad &
calls Ted into his office & says, "You're going to stop doing commercials, Ted"
& Ted says "why would I do that Lou?" & Lou says "Because if you don't I'll
punch your face out" & Ted says "I'll have you arrested" & Lou says "It'll be
too late, your face will be broken, you're not gonna get too many commercials
with a broken face now are you Ted?" & Ted buckles under to force &
everybody's happy, except Ted but he's so dumb nobody cares & everybody
loves it that Lou's not despondent anymore he's back to his brustling chubby
loud loveable whiskey-drinking football-loving ways. Now imagine if Ted were
Lou, if Ted were the boss. You know how incredibly fucking brainless Ted is,
but let's imagine he understands & is willing to use force. That's the situation
we're now in as Americans.

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Rod Smith

Nearly finished reading K2: Triumph and Tragedy by Jim Curran. It's Curran's story about the highly fatal year of 1986 on K2. The walk-in to get to K2 takes more than a week. Just to start climbing. It's the second highest peak in the world but more difficult to climb than Everest.

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The panoramic summit part starts at 35 seconds in and ends around 30 seconds later.

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Marginalia Update: The student who marked up the Smith book has drawn a lopsided heart at the end of the longish poem "The Good House."

Caught a bit of the NH primary coverage on cable, including the candidate speeches. I really cannot stand Barack Obama's vintage, biblical, soulman routine. Who's he trying to snow? All the vagueness--"There's something happening in America..." (WHAT?)--cobbled together with the false, backpatting underdog rhetoric--"No one told us we could do this..." (Really? When?)--is just enough to rekindle all those interminable sermons I had to deal with while I was a young Catholic victim.

This also reminds me to mention that no one should be voting for Obama because he's black or because Hillary's a woman. Those are two of the dumbest reasons to vote for anyone. Vote for the person who is the best qualified, or to whom you feel connected, if that's even possible. This, too, reminds me of that old pratfall notion of "well, he's a guy/she's a woman (a presidential candidate) I think I could sit down and have a beer with." No candidate is going to be drinking beer with anyone, ever, including you, but that becomes the crazy reason to vote for him/her? Tonight softball ace Chris Matthews mentioned how attractive Obama and his wife were, reminding him of John and Jackie Kennedy. Just in case you need another terrible reason.

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Received some books recently:

Deed by Rod Smith--I thumbed through this and was pretty upset to find some student's notes on several pages of this copy. I did not remember seeing that this copy came with markings--I would never have bought it if it had. The bookseller is out of D.C. I'll have to get another copy, because this book is worthless in it's condition. On the back page, I get a list of seeming necessities:

S.E. shoes
jcrew
raincoat
chanel tint (?)
dc trip

Also received Starsdown by Jasper Bernes and The Assistant by Robert Walser.

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The best film that I've seen in some time is The Devil and Daniel Johnston.

Here we go.

Still without power here in Chico. Two days of generator, no heat in the house. It fell below 50F last night in the house. I made the neighborly decision to run a cord over to my neighbor's house yesterday, so that she and her boys could have some power, and even though my selfish self has regretted it at times--can't run the space heater, etc.--my what? "better angel" (as Lincoln had it) is ultimately glad I did. The look on her kid's face when he could suddenly recharge his Wii was pretty fun to see.

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Finished reading Eiger Dreams--Ventures Among Men and Mountains by Jon Krakauer. Wonderful stories of crazed mountaineers.

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Also watched Rescue Dawn, directed by Werner Herzog. A second movie by Herzog on the adventures of Lt. Dieter Dengler in the jungles of Laos. Very nicely done.

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Also watched Eastern Promises, directed by David Cronenberg. Not great, but worth watching.