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sexy Vulcan part deux
August 2, 2009 by jjosh
Category cam phone pix | Tags: | No Comments
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ON her birthday
August 2, 2009 by jjosh
Category cam phone pix | Tags: | 2 Comments
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before her birthday
August 2, 2009 by jjosh
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beach + babe
August 1, 2009 by jjosh
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thoughts on Philip Seymour Hoffman
July 30, 2009 by jjosh
Philip Seymour Hoffman is working in the same building I’m working in, and he’s even on my floor. When I first saw him, he was walking through the kitchen, and I was heading to the elevators and I almost didn’t notice him until we walked past each other. Even then I kind of thought he might just be some guy who sort of looks like Philip Seymour Hoffman. Right after I passed him, I instinctively spun around to follow him and see if it was really him. I was even able to look up in the air and snap my fingers as though I’d just remembered something I forgot. That way, if anyone was watching me they wouldn’t think I was strange for suddenly spinning around to follow Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
From behind I was pretty convinced that it was indeed Philip Seymour Hoffman. He seemed to move like I thought he would, and he was wearing big old baggy shorts like I figured Philip Seymour Hoffman would wear. Then later I mentioned it to the producer I’m working with and she confirmed that yes, he was in the building.
When I was leaving work yesterday I joked to my producer that Phillip Seymour Hoffman and I were going out to get drinks, and that he only drinks ginger ale, and that I told him that was fine but I also admonished him "not to go all weird on me." For some reason this cracks me up, the image of me telling Philip Seymour Hoffman not to get all weird.
I imagined if I ran into him again I would tell him how much I appreciated his work when I saw him and John C. Reilly off Broadway in Sam Shepard’s "True West" back in 2000. Appeal to the actor in him, and reference a fairly obscure work. But then I remembered reading this thing about celebrities and how all they want is for people not to come up to them and say things.
Then today as I was heading out to the elevator to get lunch he was sitting at a table in the kitchen with some other folks, talking to them. One woman was sitting across from him with a look on her face that had a beautific quality to it, as though everything he said was the most interesting thing she’d ever heard. I wanted to get closer, so I pretended to get something out of the fridge. I walked over to it, couldn’t hear what he was saying, but heard his very distinctive, low voice. I opened the fridge door and then pretended that they didn’t have what I wanted and sort of closed the door with a look of disappointment on my face. I walked back to my edit room.
Once inside the room, I experimented with imitating Philip Seymour Hoffman’s voice, but I don’t think I did a very good job of it. I had him saying things like "What the fuck?!" and "I’m Philip Seymour Hoffman."
I left my room and headed out for lunch again. I had an empty seltzer can in my room and I figured I’d drop it in the recycling on my way to the elevators. As I rounded the corner, there was Philip Seymour Hoffman, also heading for the can recycling. He threw his in, and I tossed mine; they almost collided. I continued towards the elevators and I was pretty sure he was right behind me, but I couldn’t turn back and look. My sensitivity to this progressed to such a state that I couldn’t even hold the door open for him. I walked through and sort of pushed it wide, so that perhaps he could sneak through without having to open the door. But I timed it poorly and the door swung back fast, almost to smash him in the face.
I pushed the elevator call button, and then there we were, just the two of us. I faced him, ended up looking him in the eye. He was in baggy shorts again, and a plain white t-shirt that was wrinkled and a little too small for him. His arms seemed too short. His hair looked like serious bedhead and he had a patchy beard of stubble.
"Hey," he said.
"Hello," I replied.
And then for some reason I had to look away. I looked out the window at the sky, at the people walking down below. Sometimes I use this time to check if it’s raining, if I need to go back and get my umbrella, and I pretended that this was what I was doing. Today though this didn’t make a lick of sense; the sky was a brilliant blue.
The elevator came, the doors opened. It was fairly full and Philip Seymour Hoffman and I had to squeeze in. We were in each other’s space. I could see that he had a cigarette in his hand. I figure this is a sign of a serious smoker, that he’s not waiting until he gets outside to get the cigarette out, he wants to be as efficient as possible, to minimize his time before he’s smoking. Get it out now and get it ready.
In the elevator there is this horrible small tv screen that plays stock quotes and news capsules and weather. I hate the thing. I’ve fantasized about making stickers that are the exact size of the screen that say "stop watching this" and sticking them on the screens when I come in in the morning. But I figure they’d get me on cc tv and I’d be busted. The screen is particularly annoying in the morning first thing, so I’ve taken to riding the freight elevator up.
What’s particularly galling is that this small tv takes time to play little "channel id’s" and it’s known as the "Captivate Network". In other words, they KNOW that you’ve got nothing to do in the elevator, so you might as well get some advertising beamed into your brain. Even more galling (!!!) is that at the bottom of the screen is a little graphic that never goes away that says "you’re watching the captivate network." Fuck you, Captivate Network.
The elevator is really quite cramped, and I’m close enough to Philip Seymour Hoffman that it feels a little tense, a least to me, and yet for some reason Philip Seymour Hoffman is desperate to watch the Captivate Network. He kind of leans over awkwardly, having to get even more into my space so he can see the screen. And he looks at it, blank-eyed and slack-jawed. Basically a poster child for why I hate the Captivate Network.
And now he’s so close that I can smell him, actually smell what he smells like. This is weird. "Don’t get weird on me, Philip Seymour Hoffman," I think. He smelled odd but familiar, the phrase that popped into my head was that he smelled like "an old dad." Sweat and cigarettes and old white undershirt and human-ness.
And I think about this science-y thing I read at some point about smells, about how scents are actual molecules of the thing you’re smelling that are coming off of it and into your nose. Actual physical parts of that thing that trigger your nose and brain in some way that it reads like a scent, but it’s these molecules. I am actually inhaling microscopic pieces of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Everyone in the elevator is. In some weird way part of him is going in me, becoming me. I wonder if he can smell me. He must be able to.
He gets out of the elevator first and I am right behind him. But even with this small lag time between us, by the time I get outside he’s already smoking.
*****
(in NYC in 2000, in front of the poster for True West, I impersonate Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mike H impersonates John C. Reilly – image courtesy our good friends at balgavy.com)
Category life | Tags: | 5 Comments
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story
July 30, 2009 by josh e-mail
I want to write a story about a guy who is walking on his way to work, lost in all the crap he has to take care of, when suddenly he smells the smell of a cafe grilling some meat and the smell just totally transports him.
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omg so awesome I swear
July 30, 2009 by jjosh
I think this is how short stories will read in the future…the characters are so strong, the dialogue so real, the conflict moves forward so dramatically…is this for real omg? it just gets better and better…
reblogged from kfan who got it from the source, new perspective on shit…
April:: yo, i’m kinda into this busta rhymes “respect my conglomerate” joint.
Millie:: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
April:: hahahaha
Millie:: i haven’t heard it but that is seriously the BEST NAME FOR A SONG EVER
April:: IT IS!!
April:: and it has a BRITISH LADY SAYING THAT FOR THE CHORUS
April:: SO OFFICIAL!
April:: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q__J-CAWFoM
April:: i don’t know who invited TYRESE, though
April:: i’m seriously into this
April:: busta rhymes rarely gets it wrong
Millie:: his sick ass beats are surely consistent FOR REAL
Millie:: best beats ever
April:: seriously
Millie:: by the way, i’m serious when i say i FEEL lil’ wayne
Millie:: don’t ask me to explain
Millie:: but i totally love him
April:: HAHAHAHAHAHA
April:: “you can’t handle the truth.”
Millie:: like i have this weird feeling we’d be BEST FRIENDS if i knew him in real life
Millie:: i have NO idea why i feel that
April:: HAHAHHAHA
April:: I HOPE YOU LIKE WEED
April:: that dude is FOREVER STONED
Millie:: I HOPE YOU LIKE GETTING YOUR FACE TATTOOED
April:: EVERY SINGLE video interview i write text for, dude is UP IN SMOKE
April:: like STRAIGHT CLOUDS OF IT SURROUND HIM
April:: he’s like pigpen, but with weed smoke instead of dirt line
Millie:: hahahah a rapper into weed? THAT’S WEIRD
Millie:: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
April:: i’m just saying, he’s ABOVE AND BEYOND
April:: like SNOOP is like, “dude, chill”
Millie:: when they konk his head cartoon style, instead of stars it’s pot leaves
April:: HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA TOTALLY
Millie:: i have no idea why i think we’d be best friends
April:: he seems nice enough
Millie:: HAHAHAHAHAHA “he seems nice enough”
Millie:: “he seems nice”
April:: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
Millie:: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
April:: “he seems like a decent fellow”
April:: he EXCELS at loving weed thoughCategory net, people | Tags: | No Comments
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big man
July 29, 2009 by jjosh
Category life | Tags: | 3 Comments
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subway
July 29, 2009 by jjosh
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Wulego
July 28, 2009 by jjosh
This is better than I thought it would be…
Category music | Tags: | 3 Comments
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what else indeed…
July 27, 2009 by jjosh
Grant Morrison continues to stand out as a singular visionary in the world of comics:
AVC: What is it about the comics medium in particular that appeals to you as a storyteller?
GM: The essentially magical qualities of inert words and ink pictures working together with reader consciousness to create a holographic Sensurround emotional experience. What else?
(Thanks MM for hipping me to this great interview…)
Category comics | Tags: , comics | No Comments
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I’m putting you on the game grid, Flynn.
July 27, 2009 by jjosh
Holy bonanza of bananas, that Tron 2 that’s been threatened for ages turns out to be a (virtual) reality, and the trailer makes it look promising. Nice to see some old faces in there, feels like it’ll be good to get back to Flynn’s. I can’t be objective about the original Tron at all because I saw it at the movies in England, and my dad came along, and I remember the 12 year old me geeking out over it about as hard as I could geek out over anything (even more than the 11 year old me (& 9 year old KT?!) going to see the triple feature all 3 Star Wars films in a row). When I first got a DVD player I was so excited when the TRon special edition came out, with the Making Of documentary that was actually longer than the film itself! Good times.
There’s probably no way the new Tron will be able to echo that 80’s early computer kid geek film feeling, but hopefully it won’t besmirch the legacy (pun intended). Check it.
Category films | Tags: | 3 Comments
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concrete
July 24, 2009 by jjosh
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true
July 24, 2009 by jjosh
Category life | Tags: | No Comments
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best payphone ever
July 23, 2009 by jjosh
Category life | Tags: | No Comments