Well, after countless hours of meditating on the subject, writing down little notes in various notebooks, and having my wife Susan roll her eyes every time I talk about my ideas without actually writing anything, I've decided to start a blog. The only problem is that my mind usually runs a mile a minute when I'm away from the computer, but as soon as I sit down it all goes blank. I've got a really good story idea that I've been sitting on for about nine years....well, I've actually written a few chapters; the rest is scattered amongst the 187,264 spiral notebooks I've accumulated.
I don't really do any political stuff, since I have friends on both sides and any mention either way seems to spark a debate that I really don't want to participate in. My own politics are a strange mix of both sides, so I worry that I really don't agree with anybody. I also don't like sappy stuff. What I do have is an innate knowledge of popular culture...
...of course, since the early Nineties everyone has. The only difference between me and the slackers of old is that the references that I make go to a deeper and more irritating level; that, and the fact that I've always had a job over the past twenty years. Whenever the Eighties revival came around, it's almost as if the powers that be had earmarked certain songs for immortality (Tainted Love comes to mind). But one of my favorite 80's songs was Sweetheart by Franke and the Knockouts. It took me EIGHT YEARS to find a copy of this song that didn't require that little round spacer that goes on the record player spindle.
Something else about those days that I hate was that stupid yellow book that they had in all the record stores (this was pre-Internet, of course). How it worked was you would walk up to the clerk and tell him you wanted to order a copy of 'Tommy Tutone 2'. Then the guy would repeat your order: "Did you say 'Tommy Tune?". Then you would correct him: "Tommy Tune?! Look, If I listened to show tunes, do you think I'd be dressed like this?". Then he would find your album in the yellow book and mail off your order and you would receive your album before the music formats changed again, if you were lucky.
That's another problem: I tend to go off on tangents.
Anyway, the point is that I know about pretty much everything that doesn't matter. Knowing that director Lucio Fulci's first wife committed suicide isn't going to benefit me in the job that I do. The fact that I know that Thora Birch's mother was in Deep Throat isn't going to help me if I put it on my resume. So I guess I'll just write about all of that stuff so that everyone else can learn it, if they're still reading.
Awesome. I did not know Thora Birch's mother was in Deep Throat. I consider myself schooled.
ReplyDeleteYeah; she was the blond who....well, actually she was the only blond in the movie.
ReplyDeleteThe other day Lynn and I were listening to Steely Dan, and the lyric "they wear the Steely Dan t-shirts" came on. I mentioned the fact that you and I were 2 of probably less than 1000 people on earth who would casually mention "that's the only lyric they have that references their name."
ReplyDeleteI went on to add that you (Gary) never really seem to realize how cool you are. To which Lynn responded, "Yeah, and you try too damn hard Neal!"
It's really nice to have someone who understands where I'm coming from; it's too bad we live so far away from you guys (and that I have this social phobia)...
ReplyDelete