AL: Plot Concept -- The Band

In Almost Lynched the constant sub theme, besides Frank's development, is what happens to the band over the course of the film. The short answer is: Not much good. They eventually break up (duh!), and after trying to change styles -- What if CSNY went Glam? or Punk? -- they fall apart airing their idiotic childish grievances, as if they were the "cause" of the bands breakup, when they are really the end after effects. But in this film, failure isn't as evil and harsh as it might be in other venues. There are always comebacks, if you ever built a fan base to begin with. You can usually find some ground to work with some members of the band in some way. Hell, even Paul and John had moments of non hatred. Paul and George even held on briefly to work in 1994-5. The great lesson that Frank could have learned from hanging out with the band is that you can be a total fuck up and somehow have everything still work out. He never gets that. Many of us don't!

Sunday Morning Tableaux

First: pot of coffee, near the end of the Trader Joe's French Roast. Must somehow get some from Porto Rico coffee in NYC, while their sale is on! (first pound is $0.85!) with cream and sugar, Before and After Science playing in the background.

Second, hashbrowns with onion and a lot of black pepper, topped with a fried egg, well, ok two fried eggs, each loaded up with hot sauce, mucho slices of bacon, (baked in the oven!), sourdough toast. A ginger scone for later, as a digestivo! It's too early for grappa...

Third, That Darn Interweb. It used to be the Sunday Times, at first just reading above the fold, but plowing through most everything. Now, blogs, blogs blogs! It may be a good idea to organize my blog bookmarks that way: "Above the fold/ below the fold." Were I not a lardy carcass, I'd do that; as it is, I assign it to my Invisible Personal Assistant to do for me.

Fourth, sunshine? Eh, maybe...

Fifth, writing. Oh, yeah baby...

Find what bliss you can on this, the day of freedom from your corporate masters.

Don't worry, I ain't ferget ya!

Sorry about not posting for a bit, but it's been a mess of small things holding me up, most of them not so good.
To wit:

I've again been having trouble sleeping, which this time is leading to panic attacks that last all night and into the morning. These are terrible; I feel like a leaf in the wind, and just trying to calm down is difficult.

My left foot is sort of swollen and sore. Every answer for 'why' I bet won't cheer me up.

I'm running around doing a lot of small tasks to try to make sure I'm not thrown out of the house at the end of the month. So far, only about 25% good. Panic sets in.

My lungs are having a very hard time breathing, and they hurt in a raspy way, such that I have zero breath. I feel like I'm a 100 year old man.

But still....All this writing about AL has gotten me to start writing scenes, and filling out the plot more this week. That and watching all my Kubrick movies.

When I'm not panicking, I'm oddly centered. I think this is because I've been making a lot of efforts to connect to people lately, and these have tended to be women with small children, whom I'm enjoying more as I get older. I've also been a help to people lately, and have had some help come my way as well (Camie's futon!)

I've actually had 3 interviews this last week; not a job yet, but this is more progress than I would have thought.

Except for the lungs and the foot, I feel surprisingly good, physically! I've seen this in myself before. Once I can clear up the lung problems somehow, I get quite a bit of good energy.

I have to get The Little Man a birthday present soon...suggestions?

Send what vibes you can.

AL: Characters -- The Women

I find it interesting that the only person who really changes over the course of AL is Frank, and this change is not in a good way. The two major female leads think that they can interact with Frank and transform themselves through this interaction, but this does not become true. They both underestimate how much they determine their own fates, through their own actions, and not through what might be called a traditional female "supportive" role.

Eva, in particular, is a person who is stuck in a particular moment. It's as if achieving a personal "nirvana" means that's it, you'll not need to change anymore. Eva senses that she will fall behind the times soon, and thinks Frank is a 'divining rod' for the future, but Eva will see that 1.) he is not, and 2.) she still likes the self she has established so she couldn't get rid of her defining traits.

Evil Mrs. Partridge, (EMP) despite constantly hanging around artists, doesn't really like them. She hasn't seen one whom she doesn't think is either slow-witted or gullible, which are terms that arouse a lot of disgust in her. She realizes that Frank is neither of those and yet, she perceives his artistic temperment, and latches onto him in an effort to create a more sensitively attuned version of herself. She can't grasp that Frank may have a sensitive sense of perception, but this doesn't make him any more caring about others than she is.

Still more to come about these two.

Transition

So, I was doing the dishes, using the very end of a bottle of soap, and having to use quite a bit of it to cut through the grease I had in a pan, when I broke down and opened up a new bottle of the soap, same kind, and this new bottle? It really worked, much better than the old one, and I had to use only a fraction of it for much better cleaning. Not too mention that nice apple scent! But it got me to thinking; do even our cleaning products weary of things? Are they bored at a certain point, and just phoning it in? Yeah, yeah, science, I know. But perhaps ennui sets in in your Palmolive, and it would tell you about it -- like you'd listen! -- but it knows the end is coming soon and it bravely suffers in silence... Would a soap named Weltschmerz sell to arty types? Could be a market!

Camie's Getting Married Today!!!!

Today, of all days, my best friend Camie Vog (and Mr. Vog) are getting married! Geez, I had to write this down because I can barely believe it myself! L'incroyable! What are there like, only a few of those crucial life markers to worry about, Birth, Death, Marriage, stuff like that? Hell, the House of Vog has two of those in the last month or so!! Old Hat really, how can the encore compete? Well, perhaps if the Fluffster scores one or so we can celebrate those then. Make no mistake, though; these are the good times and we should savor them better than any wine you'll ever drink.

So if you love Camie as we here at Fluffy Stuffin' do, go on over to her blog, and give it up! Don't hold back! Say great things, things you and everyone who reads it should remember the rest of the day! There aren't a lot of these days, days where you actually encouraged to say your heart of hearts praises, sing 'em if you must, make 'em rhyme, make 'em crazy, obscene, delightful, personally yours, just be, as the Manolo says, SuperFantastic!

It's Friday -- to hell with work. Do this!

See the little yellow sliver? That's you. Don't fall off. Have a good weekend!

Yeah...that's about right!

Over at sweet Cynnie's she was running one of those quiz thingies...But rather than just put my answer up here, I tried one about answering this question:

What is the best trait of your perfect girl?

Intelligence Intelligence is most important in a girlfriend. You like to be able to talk about everything that is on your mind, and if your partner can't keep up, well, you know. You are very attracted to someone who can challenge you, and make you see things in a whole new way. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

I throw myself on the mercy of the blog populi!

It's Monday. Get back to work!

Do not doubt for one second that Sparky Godzilla here is unaware that you are probably asleep at your desk this morning. He's coming over to your office to A.) describe a fish he caught this weekend, B.) Brag yet again about his sexual prowess compared to yours, or C.) Consume your very soul with his razor sharp fangs that are designed to improve workgroup productivity. No matter how you slice it, thus begins another hellish week!

AL: Characters -- Frank.

One of the things I like about the central character of Frank is that he is the only character really internally driven. Everyone else is driven by what they do in life; Frank, by what's in his head. Have you ever met someone who has a remarkably clear set of life goals, but who is never happy? No matter what they accomplish, it always turns out to disappoint them. This constant disappointment never, I repeat never, causes them to think the problem may be them. Here is how they learn how evil the world is! Frank is like this.

What interests me is what his mind set inspires in others. Eva thinks he can be "saved", Evil Mrs. Partridge thinks he just needs to "learn what reality is." Both approaches are doomed to failure, even though they couldn't come from more different premises. This never stops people from trying...

More on the ladies next.

Almost Lynched, the first Couch Buddha film

This first film idea was inspired by both Almost Famous and Blue Velvet. I like Cameron Crowe's sweet story of a young lad who follows a band around gets those Valuable Life Lessons, but I've wondered this: What if the boy who gets exposed to Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll doesn't come out all sugar-spun and happy? What if he comes out like....Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet? Perverse, angry, totally messed up inside and willing to blame his being in the wrong place (with a band) at the wrong time, (late '60's, early '70's) rather than admit that it was him. Almost Lynched is our story. In this post let's just describe our characters.

The Band

Our band is a kinda of 3rd rate Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young clone. They think they're striving for social relevance, but they haven't really thought about things that much. They're in it for the money and chicks, really, but they bring themselves to admit that. In the band are:

The Lead Singer -- Handsome, but as much as he thinks he is, and he can sing, but not as good as he thinks he is here either. He can play the guitar, but he's a poet and thinks that that's beneath him, despite counter -examples like Dylan. He's the object of desire of the groupies.

The Rhythm Guitarist -- The most talented member of the group, he thinks if he's just great that rewards will come his way. Yes, he believes that.

The Bass Player -- Been with the two guitarists forever, but hates rock and wishes he were a jazz soloist. Not enough guts to leave the band or be a soloist, so here he is!

The Drummer -- Implacable, inscrutable, kinda like Charlie Watts only more laconic.



The Others

Evil Ms. Partridge -- She drives the bus, she manages the group, and is taking them for every penny. Take every story you've ever heard about corrupt band management, and put it here.

Frank -- Our lead. Nervous, anxious, he just knows in his heart that the right combo of drugs, women and music will bring him to a higher state of being. He's a great guitar tech, and makes the group sound better than they are. He could care less.

Eva -- Sublimely beautiful lead groupie of a pack of groupies who define themselves in a pack hierarchy. Eva sets the aesthetic character of the group, and symbolically represents a truly sexually powerful woman whose great flaw is that she is eternally stuck in 1968.


This is just to start us off. I have a lot of this in my head and more will emerge.

25 years...

Today was the 25th anniversary of Zingermans, the deli I have described at length in previous posts! I went down to the deli for $5 reuben sandwiches, a special treat for Camie and I! Let's see...is it crowded?
Oy! maybe not so bad around the corner?...

Double Oy! Well, I was in line for some time...Fortunately, the ZingerVolk kept us pleased with many free samples, and Cappuccinos for only a $1! (I later enjoyed their awesome brownies, also only a $1!) We enjoyed 4 kinds of potato salad, a very nice turine, gingerbread, a spicy kind of cream cheese, all just for waiting.

When we got to the front of the deli what awaited us in the window? A model of the deli in gingerbread!
In the front of the model are the two Head ZingerNauts, Ari and Paul!

They look like they were done by ala Wallace and Gromet in marzipan!

I must include some of my infamous cheese porn for fans of same!

The wheels of Neal's Dairy Yard cheese were especially nice looking in their gold wrappers:
Here we have a tip o' the cap for the many who have been to/worked at the deli, like Camie! Note that 'soccer ball' patterned cake which looks like the deli floor!


When you got sandwiches today...you got a piece! Whoops I'm eatin' mine already!

Girth = Love

Here is Fluffy with BabyVog, on the couch at Casa Del Vog. Not to fear; Fluffy is not as gray as this picture implies, but there is a bit o gray on the roof. We well show BabyVog the world, not unlike what we did for The Little Man, with as much delight, with as much surprise and amazement, and, of course, with all that love we've built up in us just from the world, absorbed almost by osmosis... Everybody say hi!

Follow your nose, wherever it goes...

Me, I don't go anywhere. Not that I don't want to, but that whole lack of money thing again...you know the drill.
But this doesn't mean that Cheese has to sit still! Cheese is on the move, baby! Check out the many travels of Cheese.

Cheese 'round the world!

What is the sound of one camera shooting?

Although those of you who've known me for awhile have known of this, Fluffy Stuffin would like to formally introduce Couch Buddha Enterprises, the film making wing of The Vast Fluffy Empire, which at the moment, is on the other side of broke. This means things can only look up! (and see the falling Acme safe heading straight for us!)

Couch Buddha right now is about the writing of screenplays that I intend to direct, by any means possible. These have rattled around the noodle for quite some time and it's time to start writing them out at length. I don't think offhand that I'll be putting them up here, for much the same reason I'll quit putting the novel up here as well; no one seems to be all that interested, except Herr Dinners, for whose support and comments I will always be grateful. But there's our Icon at the top of the page, sublime, stoked on coffee and on the phone! Our ideal! As I progress, I'll let you know where things are at. If folks are interested in what filmic ideas I've got, I may indeed discuss them, just let me know.

Ronaldo

"Remember, this is a comedy."

If there is anyone in a film I identify most with at this particular juncture in time it's Marcello Mastroianni in 8 1/2.
Hell, I'm even graying like that, and I'm now 6 years old that the character in the film! I'm between Big Silences (what I call "Silenceos", stolen from Mulholland Drive) Crazy Pesterings, Good Hearted Communications, Pressures That Are Eating Up My Soul, and Internal Monologs/Fantasies/Thoughts that few are privy to. Like Marcello, I'm just tryin' to move the ship forward. Granted I don't have near that many women in my life, though not that many fewer!, and I'm not cornering any of them with a bull whip! But the big Spaceship is being built for me in the background, whether I'm ready to shoot it or not. I'd like to think I can get everyone to hold hands in a big dance of life circle, but, wow, does that seem like a dream sequence! I hope I'm not crawling under the table to escape the ever-pressing mob, only to shoot myself underneath it! Still, there are chunks of the day that do seem scored by Nino Rota, so that's not so bad...

The post title refers to the little note that Fellini always kept on the camera in front of him while shooting...

Who needs K-Fed?

I figure we get a few Old Pretenders over here, get 'im 3 sheets to the wind, and tell 'em that's Britney! And, hell, by the time they get here it may well be Britney! Then we take odds on who believes us. Camie holds all bets!

Click, Click, What?

Hey say, Fluffy readers, all 6 of you! I haven't forgotten you, no, no not at all! I just have been producing food posts lately, and I wanted to mix it up and move on to other things. Of course I'll come back to food, how could I not? But there are other parts of life, ya know.

Well, they disconnected the cable the other day, so for the first time in more than 20 years, I ain't got no TV! Shocking, that whole lack of money thing. I'm not one of those who stick their nose in the air and talks about how they don't need it. Bullhockey! I hate those people who don't have it out of sheer cheapness or some form of cultural snobbery, because when they've come over they get sucked down the TV rathole faster than I ever will. I had to go to Camie's last night to watch the shows we like because the end of sweeps is neigh, and we needed some bonding energy with SproutVog too. The Little Man was in fine spirits and we had a lot of fun just slamming around in his room, playing a form of baseball with stuffed animals being hit in a specific sequence. His delight in living, having fun, throwing himself at me like I'm a big stuffed animal myself, makes me happy and reminds me of delights that I haven't remembered for myself since...I was his age!

I gotta remedy this problem somehow, with monies that don't yet exist, because I know it will drive me nuts eventually. But until I do, I've taken to watching a whole movie at the end of the night just before trying to "go to bed," like I really just fall asleep anymore! It may not have been the wisest choice to start with Marat/Sade, but Lubisch's To Be or Not To Be, Lost in Translation, and Rounders, have had almost a pallative effect. I think this is good. Why? Gotta think about that one.

Find your bliss.

Smacked me upside m'demo!

See that? I tried that tonight, and damnation if it didn't do exactly what I wanted it to do, and I'm pissed off about it! What is it? It's a bag of frozen veggies, a special bag, which somehow knows exactly how it should be cooked. Throw it in the microwave, give it a good zap, and veggies sans fuss.

So? Why be PO'd about that? Because it plays right into our worst tendencies, which tend to center around hope for the future. Now this thing has me thinkin'; if they can make a bag of veggies that knows when it's cooked, why not one that just throws itself on the plate? Or one that knows what condiments should be applied and, hell, why not just have them in the bag too!

Hell, why learn to cook? Someday We'll just be winging bags which are smarter than us, in ovens that are smarter than them, put on plates that are hellfire prettier than we are, complete with lazer-powered forks and knives that will track and shoot down wayward foods before they even think of getting close to our shirts, so I could shovel it in like Harvey Weinstein at a Coney Island SpeedEating Competition and come out minty fresh!
Naturally these foods will be of a quality that will make Per Se seem like a sack o' sliders; I expect nothing less.
I'm going back to the couch. Wake me up when they get there, willya?

Today, I know that when I cook badly, I did it! It's a triumph of me! No one else could screw it up like me! So, on those rare occasions when you don't screw it up, well....that's yours too. Better than perfect steaming every time...

Oh, I didn't have that particular collection of veggies. I just had broccoli.

ZingerDough

The photos I took the other day of Zingermans were of the deli. I may go back that just to take photos of the sandwiches -- trust me on that one -- but today I went to another Zing location, the Bakehouse! To wit:

Please notice when your bread arrives for maximum freshness:


With the speciality breads, you should also know the day!


For those who like sweet, the chocolate cherry sorta pumpernickel is excellent, but I love the parmesan pepper bread: big chunks o cheese with hot peppercorns interspersed throughout. I don't even make sandwiches with these breads, just eat 'em as is!

Let's look at some bread, eh?


And a bit more...ooops! Blurry photos=no coffee!


What else we got? Brownies...multiple flavors...


Scones...


Croissants, and more..


Palmiers and Cinnamon Rolls!


and lastly, let's send you with some cookies! Ok, back later!


Update: You can now take baking classes from one shots to 4 days of baking madness!