— I have found this whole story of the of the two escaped prisoners extremely riveting, and, I admit it, entertaining. I hope they both are found because they sound like terrible and dangerous people. But the details! It’s hilarious. The big dick. The bad back. The gossipy prison guards. The supervisor who befriended them and gave them tools. Say what? Her bitchy co-worker calling her a “troublemaker”. It’s all rather … fabulous.
— My new job at The New York Times is engrossing, fun, and working out well. I am enjoying it. I haven’t had a desk-job or office-job since Martha Stewart – and that ended in 2013! I’ve been in freelance mode for a while, and it’s been exhilarating and fun (“wow, look at me, paying my rent and my other bills with writing!”), and now the schedule is so drastically different. I am reading The New York Times every day: it’s been a while since I’ve done that. Some pieces I’ve read recently that I think are amazing:
The Knowledge, London’s Legendary Taxi-Driver Test, Puts Up a Fight in the Age of GPS.
It describes an entire world I never knew existed: the world of the London cabbie, and what they have to go through to qualify. It’s incredible! The dedication of these people! The obsession! An amazing portrait of obsession.
This book review of The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland
And will definitely be checking out Stalin’s Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
I thought this piece, on architecture and psychotherapy, was fantastic.
— I also made a friend at the Times. He drops by a couple of times a week. We have entire non-verbal conversations.
— I have been very sick, unfortunately, and yesterday was a bad one. I was in pain for 8 hours. I had to go to a screening after work. I felt tapped out. I wanted to be home in bed with a hot water bottle on my stomach. I made my way through the crowds. Then I got cat-called by some dude on a corner handing out fliers. He homed in on me, as I approached, and began shouting about my red hair (which was, I admit, pretty wild and huge yesterday, with the humidity), my pretty face (I’m just quoting him), and he was determined to make me smile. He was a man with a mission! I couldn’t help it. I smiled. He basically did a victory dance when he got his way, and as I moved on past him, he started shouting about my beautiful smile. I won’t lie. It made my day. I understand that some cat-calls are scary and meant to put women in their place. But one size does not fit all and I thank that guy for picking me out of the crowd. I needed it yesterday. He made me feel so much better.
— And the movie I saw last night was wonderful. Just wonderful. My review will be up on Rogerebert.com next week. The movie was long, maybe a bit too long, but it was so good I didn’t mind. I forgot about how sick I was.
— I am going to see The Flick at The Barrow Street Theatre on Sunday. It’s going to be an EXPERIENCE, I can tell, and I am so excited. I had been hearing so much about it (it won the Pulitzer Prize last year), and how different it is, how riveting. The reviewers struggle to find the works to describe the experience, so out-of-the-ordinary is it. It’s over three hours long. It’s about three characters who work in a movie theatre. My friend Dan Callahan, who sees everything, and reviews everything, told me that The Flick made everything else pale in comparison. Everything else now seems phony and showy. Then there’s Jim Wolcott’s piece in Vanity Fair about it. I am so excited I got tickets and I can’t wait to check it out for myself.
— The news of the passing of Christopher Lee was very sad, but let us not pass over the death of Ron Moody! I wrote about my obsession with the musical Oliver! here, really my first full-blown obsession. My friend Betsy shared my obsession. We wanted to LIVE in that movie. But let’s discuss Ron Moody. He had a long career with many roles (my friend, and senior prom date – incidentally – Travsd has a has a great post up about him), but it is Fagin for which he is remembered. And I just have to say: In “I’m Reviewing the Situation” … please just listen to his phrasing. Listen to the Shakespearean-villain emphasis he puts on certain words, the way he draws out syllables, the huge campy pauses he takes. It is over-the-top in the best sense of the word, as well as hilarious and operatic. The first person I texted when I heard the news of his passing was Betsy.
Yes, the big dick story! I am morbidly fascinated too. It goes beyond a Lifetime movie storyline, more like a warped opera. So much evil. So much murder. So much dick.
// So much evil. So much murder. So much dick. //
Roaring with laughter. I know!! Some commenter on Gawker said something like, “Unless that dick is 3 feet long, it won’t live up to the hype.” hahahaha
This story is really putting this dysfunctional workplace under a microscope. Everyone appears to despise one another. Wow.
Also, thankfully – it appears the prisoners did not get very far. At least from what I gather. Hopefully they’ll be captured soon because these guys are bad news.
I hope you get well soon!!
The piece about the Knowledge is incredible! So much work! And dedication! I particularly loved the tidbit about the police officer who did the Knowledge on horseback.
Rije – Thank you!
So glad you liked that Knowledge piece too. I got very wrapped up in it, and in the obsession of it. Yes, the cop on horseback!
And “Knowledge Boys” and “Knowledge Girls” on motorbikes!! I love knowing this, for the next time I go to London. I can keep my eyes peeled for them.
I liked the name of the guild, the Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers.
And this sentence “The Knowledge stands for, well, knowledge — for the Enlightenment ideal of encyclopedic learning, for the humanist notion that diligent intellectual endeavor is ennobling, an end in itself. “
I mean, it’s so true. As we well know, with our group study of sigils and devil’s traps and Enochian codes. :)
It’s just fun to go down these rabbit holes – for no reason – except to learn more, and to ask more questions.
Also: that it’s called The Knowledge. That The Knowledge is one thing, and it basically has an address, where you can GO. Where all of this information is stored up. “Take me to The Knowledge immediately.”
It’s a really well-written article. I’d like to see a documentary about this whole process.
I came across a book review recently where the reviewer made the comment “The Enlightenment, in short, amounted to an assertion of epistemic democracy. Whatever can be known by one person can, in principle, be known by all, as long as they master the techniques for knowing that are relevant to a field.” That thought makes me happy, simply. My favorite professor commented that poetry ought to be memorized and spoken out loud.
There’s something better about having knowledge in your head, and not just having access to knowledge.
Having said that, I really appreciated how well my iPhone directed me around the greater Seattle area when I was looking for a place to rent a couple of weeks ago. Damn.
“Next time I go to London” – ha. It makes it sound like I jet there constantly. Which I do not. However: now that I know about Knowledge Boys/Girls, I want to see them in action. I also love maps of any kind, so that story was a dream come true.
//I’d like to see a documentary about this whole process.//
Well, no sooner said than done:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctinfKDcVjw
Not particularly recent, but sounds like nothing has changed except a few one way systems and more fancy restaurants. And whoops, tons of swearing. And introduced by professional Londoner, Robert Elms.
Oh Helena! Yay! I’ll watch it this weekend. Should have just Googled around myself.
Thank you!!
Oh, and when you next come to London drop me a line and we’ll grab a taxi and set the driver some fiendish journey!
It’s a date. We can test him/her on The Knowledge.
It’s funny – I Tweeted that article last week or something, and a bunch of proud London cabbies found it and re-Tweeted it.
Hahaha! Excellent! You’ll probably get a free ride out of that.
Could you please take me to the local Men of Letters chapter? kthxbai.
Via Diagon Alley, thanks so much.
Ha! Yes!!
Ahhh, thanks for the link about the prison break. I’ve been waiting for as much of that tale to be told as possible. And this incident points up another big problem I have with local news media: one of them committed his crimes in Niagara County, which is the county just north of mine and considered local. ALL the headlines — newspaper, local teevee, everything — screamed out, “Niagara County Killer On The Loose After Escape From Jail!!!” They went out of their way to make it sound like the murderers were on the loose right here, but no — it’s way on the other end of the state. But you have to scare people into clicking/reading, right? Ugh!
Jaquandor – you know, when I saw the maps I thought of you and wondered if you were close to it. I only know a couple of people in up -state New York! Look out, the killers are in your tool shed!!
Yes, because it’s important that news FREAK EVERYONE OUT.
They still haven’t been found!! – although it seems that the dogs have sniffed out a hideaway where they might have camped out – I think in the same damn town as the prison. Or next one over. Not sure. But they’re definitely not whooping it up in Tijuana or anything like that.
and the accomplice on the inside has been arrested! WHAT was she thinking? Was it the big dick that blinded her to the wrong-ness of her actions?
Leave it to the New York Post to come up with the perfect headline, referring to the woman on the inside as the “Shaw-Skank.”
I don’t like that word, but hats off to that headline.
and I know Gawker is silly – but they are entertaining. Look at this headline.
http://gawker.com/woman-arrested-for-helping-big-dicked-convict-and-frien-1710997073
To bring up a recent news item, have you been following the whole Rachel Dolezal thing? I am rubbernecking but I swear to god I can’t help it. It’s so bizarre. She pretended her brother was her son! She had some random guy play her father at a fundraiser! She has apparently like ten different wigs to hide her own extremely white looking hair! Just what the hell is even going on. I can’t wait for someone to write a book.
Yes. Obsessed with it. It reminds me most of the lady who pretended she was in one of the towers on 9/11 and became an advocate for survivors. She was never there. A documentary was made about her – can’t remember the title though.
This Rachel person is a total fabulist – but wow, what a dedicated fabulist. The hair, the “son,” the “father”, the whole thing!!
Black Twitter has been absolutely HILARIOUS in its response. I have been laughing out loud at some of the jokes. I love it when something like this breaks and the main response is humor. (Like the Nobel guy saying female scientists shouldn’t be in a lab because they cry if they get criticized and they turn on their male counterparts. So what was the reaction of female scientists? Not screams of outrage. But they started posting pictures like this of themselves: https://twitter.com/MegMassa/status/608990529309814784
hahahahahahahaha
But yeah, this Rachel thing – I am looking forward to the big long article that finally delves into all of this. That interview clip where she walks away when they ask if she’s African-American. I’m sorry – her behavior tells the whole story. She is LYING.
Also, I’m at the point where I believe she sent those “hate-crime” packages to herself. Terrorizing her children. Like, she is willing to terrorize her children in order to keep up the front.
I mean … it’s Munchausen … but with race! Fascinating!
Oh, I absolutely think she sent those hate-crime packages to herself. Her poor family in general. It seems like they’ve known about this for a long time but didn’t say anything until contacted by some sort of outside source. Which is kind of odd, but I guess also understandable that they wouldn’t want to get mixed up in this, or at least would not know how to deal with it.
Also this article about her hair is cracking me up:
http://jezebel.com/rachel-dolezal-definitely-nailed-the-hair-ill-give-her-1710899988
Do you know how expensive that must have been? That is so much money and effort to throw at maintaining a lie.
I know. The HAIR. That Jezebel thread is some high HIGH comedy.
//She is LYING.// This is exactly the problem. Munchausen is so on the mark – extensive lies, hiding behind this image of who you want to be versus who you are, getting others to buy into that false identity. Brilliant call!
What a fabulous week for news stories. All real life written like fiction.
When she tears up about her “black sons” in that interview …
like … sociopath? What the hell?
Oh, and here’s the story about the pretend 9/11 survivor. Her lies were so elaborate:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/06/inside-tania-head-s-terrible-9-11-lie-the-woman-who-wasn-t-there.html
Or like people who have lied about being war heroes, or in combat.
I am trying to think of an equivalent for this insane situation.
The fact that her real family is throwing her under the bus, one after the other after the other, kind of says it all.
The only story that seems to come close for me is that of Frederic Bourdin, who pretended to be missing teenager Nicholas Barclay:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/08/11/the-chameleon-2
Oh yeah, forgot about that one!
“Demons, I get. People are crazy.”
Seriously, we are amazing.
Our long national nightmare (hyperbole) is over. The escaped prisoners are now either dead or captured. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/29/nyregion/second-new-york-prison-escapee-shot.html
I know they’re horribly dangerous and I don’t make light of it – but the details continue to amuse/entertain. They threw pepper behind their tracks, to confuse the search dogs, because they had seen it done in Cool Hand Luke.
Of course. Cool Hand Luke. Because that’s the kind of story this was.
Was it really a shotgun that Mr. Matt wouldn’t lower before being shot, or was it a different weapon? Questions remain.
So far the coroner is neither confirming nor denying the rumor of his huge weapon, which is the major disappointment in this gripping tale.
The officer was heard to say “Don’t point that thing at me!”
Frisky women begin to employ the euphemism “Ridin’ shotgun.”
hahaha This whole thing has been so insane. Very glad they were captured though – they sound like dangerous psychopaths, the both of them.
I see that you were going to see The Flick, and if you were going to post some thoughts about it you probably would have done so by now, but I’ll nonetheless ask/suggest/plead that you do it anyway. I am a longtime reader, and my favorite posts are your extraordinary reviews of movies and plays. I learn so much when I read one of your posts after having seen something myself, and I always find myself reevaluating my entire viewing experience. I recently saw The Flick myself (loved it), and one of my first thoughts afterwards was how much I would like to read your review (or even some brief impressions), if for nothing else than how you describe the incredible performance of the actor who played Avery. Anyway, keep up the great work.
Jon!! I remember you! It’s so weird you commented – because I just regaled my pal Jen on Sunday with stories of The Flick telling her she HAD to make sure to see it.
I actually got as far as blocking out what I wanted to say and then other stuff got in the way – other reviews, real life, blah blah. No excuse though!! :)
I am so thrilled you saw it – it was one of the most unforgettable theatrical experiences of my life – I almost never feel this way, but I thought: “My God. This is actually something new.”
Thank you so much for the nudge – I’ll put something up when I get a moment. I would really like to talk about it with someone who felt the same way about the play (and the incredible performances).
Maybe a couple of days from now – and thanks again!!
and yes, Avery. That phone call to, presumably, his therapist? I felt like the entire audience held its breath for the entirety of the phone call.
Amazing.
Great, I look forward to hearing your thoughts. And agreed it was definitely “new”– seemingly so little happened for the first two hours, but then the impact of the major plot resolutions was extraordinary because I really felt I knew the characters in a deep way. And I was so pissed off at Rose! Really a great evening. (And there were several walkouts in the show I saw, which I do not understand at all)