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.