{"id":103743,"date":"2015-06-12T07:36:32","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T11:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=103743"},"modified":"2016-07-18T11:01:57","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T15:01:57","slug":"snapshots-75","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=103743","title":{"rendered":"Snapshots"},"content":{"rendered":"

— I have found this whole story of the of the two escaped prisoners extremely riveting<\/a>, 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<\/a>. 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. <\/p>\n

— My new job at The New York Times<\/i> 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<\/i> every day: it’s been a while since I’ve done that. Some pieces I’ve read recently that I think are amazing:<\/p>\n

The Knowledge, London\u2019s Legendary Taxi-Driver Test, Puts Up a Fight in the Age of GPS<\/a>.
\nIt 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. <\/p>\n

This book review<\/a> of The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland<\/a>\"\"<\/i>, a new book on Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland<\/i><\/a>makes it sound VERY promising. The only biography I’ve read was Morton Cohen’s defensive Lewis Carroll: A Biography<\/a>\"\"<\/i> (some thoughts on that book here<\/a>. It was interesting, but still: not good. It’s never good when an author feels too blatantly defensive towards his subject. Let it go.) <\/p>\n

And will definitely be checking out Stalin’s Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva<\/a>\"\"<\/i>, based on this book review.<\/a> It was a long time ago, but once upon a time I wrote so much about Stalin on my site that I gave him his own category<\/a>. Wow, so extreme. Still: Stalin’s daughter was an interesting person, from the information that can be gathered anyway, and I am looking forward to reading that book. <\/p>\n

I thought this piece, on architecture and psychotherapy<\/a>, was fantastic. <\/p>\n

— I also made a friend at the Times<\/i>. He drops by a couple of times a week. We have entire non-verbal conversations.<\/p>\n

\n\"windowwasher\"<\/a><\/p>\n

— 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. <\/p>\n

— 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. <\/p>\n

— I am going to see The Flick<\/i> 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<\/i> made everything else pale in comparison. Everything else now seems phony and showy. Then there’s Jim Wolcott’s piece in Vanity Fair<\/i> about it<\/a>. I am so excited I got tickets and I can’t wait to check it out for myself. <\/p>\n

— 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!<\/i> here<\/a>, really my first full-blown obsession. My friend Betsy<\/a> 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<\/a>), 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<\/i> and operatic. The first person I texted when I heard the news of his passing was Betsy. <\/p>\n

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