It's a shame that I reach this point at the end of the day and I have absolutely no yen to write. Where the hell did that zest go? Up until only a few weeks ago, it was more of a compulsion than a sentence.
Right here and right now, I feel like I'm in a spot where I just can't muster the stamina.
I need to do something pretty drastic to try and get it back.
And I shouldn't be counting these days, besides. I ought to be enjoying the moments, but these moments haven't exactly been worth savoring since I got here.
More tasks for Ruthie's list (another 21):
22. Arrested Development (at this point, "I've made a huge mistake" seems appropriate).
23. The writings of Raymond Carver.
24. Then watch Short Cuts.
25. Then a few other films from Robert Altman. I suggest Nashville and Gosford Park.
26. Watch Psycho, but do it from the perspective that you know nothing of the story and you'll see what a genius Alfred Hitchcock was.
27. Other great examples of Hitchcock's virtuosity: The Birds, Rear Window, Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest, Rope and Shadow of a Doubt.
28. Another trash classic: The Carpetbaggers, by Harold Robbins.
29. Lace, the 1984 miniseries. Now, I'm always a book-first proponent, but this is the one case where I'll make the exception. Seriously, this is about 4 to 5 hours of your life that is definitely well spent.
30. Read Teresa Carpenter's piece in The Village Voice on Dorothy Stratten, "Death of a Playmate." It's one of the reasons I wanted to become a journalist.
31. Then watch the Bob Fosse movie Star 80.
32. Three great books by Sidney Sheldon: The Other Side of Midnight, If Tomorrow Comes and Master of the Game
33. John Irving's The World According to Garp
34. Then watch the movie (if for nothing more than John Lithgow's performance).
35. Gay classics you should read: Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin), The City and the Pillar (Gore Vidal) and And the Band Played On (Randy Shilts) - one of the books that made me want to be a journalist.
36. Gay classics you should watch: Beautiful Thing, Milk, Brokeback Mountain, But I'm a Cheerleader, Parting Glances, and Weekend.
37. Check out Pedro Almodovar, especially Matador, Bad Habits, Bad Education, All About My Mother and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
38. Watch All About Eve, which may be one of the truly best pictures ever to win the award.
39. And American Beauty (I saw it four times in the theater).
40. Binge the following: Parks and Recreation (for the Snake Juice episode), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (for the one about the death of Chuckles the Clown), Rhoda (for the one with Rhoda's wedding), and Nurse Jackie (when you get to the final episode, you'll realize just how perfectly written the show was, and you'll wonder whether the final scene was planned when the pilot was written - from start to finish, a really good depiction of the nature of addiction).
41.Really listen to the words from Foster the People's Pumped Up Kicks. If you haven't yet, you're about to get a different perspective.
42. Now, this was a rough one for me. Read War and Remembrance right after you finish The Winds of War. From just before the invasion of Poland to the release of prisoners in concentration camps. It's a BIG, sweeping story with an American naval family at its center. Each member of the family is sort of strategically placed around the world as war rages in Europe. I guarantee you'll fall in love with the same character I did: Natalie.
That's all for tonight. I think I hear some Jackie Collins trash calling my name.
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