here comes the jackpot question in advance...

Oh lordy. I have been a lazy sack of useless shit. At least that's what I *feel* like. I have had some time off work and I haven't been writing. Bad news for me. Makes me sad-like.

Granted, since Friday I have an excuse: I tore a ligament in my ankle and it's a bloody pain. Yes, I have been using crutches, which are evil. And yes, they gave me vicodin--which, my friends, is not all it's cracked up to be. I feel DOPE SICK on it. (I think I have officially felt what Tim Armstrong was singing about.) Other than that (feeling generally out of it and cursing my crutches) I am OK. I am healing...I think.

Things of note:

*One productive thing I actually accomplished: I made mix CDs for people. This is due to the glorious fact that I have my very own beautiful, black Dell computer in my living room right now! A very joyous activity. Brings cheer to the heart, really. I have noticed that I have a really hard time NOT putting the song "Burning Up" from Madonna's first album, on pretty much every mix I have ever made. It's a sickness. It's just so great, though! It's not *that* well known and it finds young Madonna at her MOST sexual, really. How can I resist? But on another note, I think it was the first time I put Richard Hell on a mix...as well as Antony and the Johnsons (cuz I only first heard of him a few months ago).

*I saw three fantastic movies in the last week: "Brokeback Mountain"-- during which I wept like a wee babe and honestly: it is one of the finest films I have ever seen. It became an instant earner of placement in my Top 10, I do not lie. I wrote a little about it...might post it.... it so deserves many pretty words about how magnificent a film it is.Then I saw "Breakfast on Pluto," which was frenzied and confusing and depressing and crazy. I liked it...sort of. I loved what it coulda been more, I think. It ended well. It was all about this Irish sweetie-pie (Cillian Murphy is a beautiful, beautiful man, this I will say--for Elizabeth and myself) who gets all tangled up with the IRA and what-not in the 1970s. He's so pretty in the movie that when my dad saw a promo for it (just a pic) he thought he was a *she.* Which is, of course is the point. Oh, and Bryan Ferry has a cameo!! It's a creepy-deepy one, though. I warn you, it'll give you the willies. Fitting, though, eh?

*Saw KONG, baby!

It was fucking GREAT. It deserves ALL the hype. I said it. It does.

The first hour was slightly questionable, but mostly enjoyable. Naomi Watts is so, so... WONDERFUL. She is just at another level of powerhouse acting. You get the feeling she would do anything for a scene to work. "Mulholland Drive" proved that theory, I'd say. This time she had to act all by her lonesome...against a green screen. As maybe sad and too modern as that might sound, it's needed to make Kong so incredibly realistic looking... and you know she knows that. You fall in love with her instantly and she is the one that makes the love story between her and Kong so believable and touching. Well, that and the marvelous technology employed by Peter Jackson. And...lest we forget the talents of Andy Sirkus. Those expressions, those eyes!! Yes, I cried. I cried when Ann finally finds him in the Manhattan street. AND I cried before that, actually. The sunset scene on Skull Island is...breathtaking. Just wish those kids could made it work...

*Saw a doc on Vincent Van Gogh with my pops and it was incredibly moving and well done. Wotta glorious fuck up. Things I did not really know: he died in his bro's arms (who was immensely important throughout his life--emotional and financial support for his art, etc.) from a self-inflicted gun shot wound. He drank turpentine and ate paint. Yep. He cut his ear off because Paul Gauguin was staying with him and left him. This made him fly into a rage and he did it, and then took it to a brothel. Wha–? So, no it wasn't for the sake unrequited love from a women (although there was *plenty* of that in his life) it was because he was totally fucked up and he didn't want to be alone. Maybe I'd be that crazy too if I had produced over 700 works of art and starved and ate paint and moved all around Europe before one was finally purchased for 400 francs. Whew. I want more, of course. There's this film with Tim Roth (who I really, really like "Gar§on, coffee!!") called "Vincent and Theo" and I put it on my Netflix queue. It's directed by Robert Altman, so that's promising...

* Two of my favortie writers together...in a way. A.O. Scott reviews "Match Point," Woody Allen's latest and says it is: "his most satisfying film in more than a decade, the director once again brings the bad news, delivering it with a light, sure touch. This is a Champagne cocktail laced with strychnine." Oh, and the review's title refs the Clash. WTF? too perfect.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/28/movies/28matc.html?hp

*Jim's Blog, people. http://blogs.citypages.com/jwalsh/
Wotta bloke. I love this guy. He keeps promoting me, so I thought it only fair... (on his latest post look for the bit about The Darkness. I keep coming back to how great they are and their second album has to be my guilty pleasure of the year.) Jim is officially the only person that I can really call a mentor... he is a HUGE reason I keep on writing. He is also part of the reason I got the bug in the first place, I think. He can be Mr. Heart-On-His-Sleeve, but he is so much more. A true, true lover of (and maker of) music and an incredibly, naturally gifted writer, he keeps plugging away and it stays fresh.

Thanks, Jim. For everything.

Happy New Year, everyone!!!!
Party at my house on Saturday night!! (I'm completely serious.)

PS Look for my Best Pop (culture) of 2005 coming soon....I had a request! Honest!