2005-07-04 - 12:56 p.m.
What I'm listening to: London Calling-The Clash.
My landlord has shut the water off, so I figure that this is a good time to update the blog.
Today is the recovery day between the waves of guests. I had a few friends come in from Ottawa last Thursday for the weekend. It was nice to see them again. He teaches political philosophy at the university level, and she is an ESL teacher. They tend to get into a lot of debates relating to grammar. Always interesting to hear them chit chat. She's heavily into poetry and is also an up and coming documentary filmmaker. She has had a few contracts come up over the past few months that are keeping her busy.
Thursday night I took them to Le Figaro in Mile End. The food was good, and they enjoyed the ambiance. Friday was walking around, a picnic in the park and a bit of jazz festival. They did however express an interest in seeing a movie: Star Wars.
I had already seen it, but I told them that I'd see it again. They were kind enough to pay for my ticket. Nice people.
The second screening was more enjoyable than the last. The first screening was just taking it in, and trying to piece together the various strands of the saga's narrative. I got to appreciate the subtle nuances a bit more this time, like the unbelievably bad acting (I laughed out loud more this time than the last), and the blatant homo-eroticism between Anakin and the Chancellor. It reminded me of the opening scene in Gilda where Ballin Mundson meets Johnny Farrell.
Saturday was a lazy day, we eased into the morning, and I decided to tag along with them onto their next journey: the Laurentians.
He is what one would call physically active: he rock climbs, skiis, hunts, fishes, etc. So they were on their way up to a rock climbing site up north, and invited me along for the ride. I figured that it would be a good opp to get out of the city, and do some serious writing and serious smoking.
I managed to push out two good pages of significantly relevant brainstorming within barely an hour or so. The project that I'm working on now is only a 5-pager for a former prof from undergrad. So the two pages will no doubt be edited down, but a lot of important themes are there.
They were on their way back to Ottawa, and another friend was coming from Ottawa to Montreal the next day (Sunday). So I got to go home for about 12 hours, just to check up on the folks. My mother's asthma has been really bad with the recent heat wave. Even for the short time, it was nice to see them both again.
When I go back to my parents' place, I love showing up unannounced. It's way more fun that way-the surprise element. I got home, and nobody was home. I waited around, and when they came into the door, I greeted them, and my mother's jaw dropped, and my dad cracked and ear to ear grin. That was nice, and is an image that will be burned into my memory forever.
I have an equal amount of admiration for each parent, but as I got older I found myself picking favourites. My favourite out of the two without question is my dad. He's super chill, artist, intellectual, enjoys bad taste, travelling, road trips with no map, etc-just more in common.
Then on Sunday I came back to Montreal, with my friend from Ottawa who is going through a divorce. We were to take a Schwartz's lunch to our mutual friend in NDG, because this friend just underwent a hip replacement, and can't move around much. He looks better, but is still recovering.
Anyway, the friend from Ottawa really did need a change of scenery, as I saw him actually glowing for the first time in months. It was like this giant release. He ended up talking non-stop the whole day, to the point where my own internal thoughts were his voice. I had no inner voice anymore...sheesh....but, it did feel good to be there for him in his time of need, and we all gave him the floor out of courtesy, because he needs our attention and support right now.
So I'm hanging out in NDG, surrounded by three hippie burnouts. Nixon came up a lot in conversation, as well as various protests in the late 60s, as well as Woodstock, and various Montreal concerts including Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, etc. I always enjoy the company of older people because I find them generally more interesting. They've been through so much more than I have, that it makes for really interesting conversation. Not only that, I like it when they talk about the past with that glint of nostalgic romanticism in their eye. I'm not really interested in abstract ideas of fact or truth, but more interested rather how the story is told, and how it works discursively, especially when the stories are romanticised and idealized.
My friend in NDG who just had his hip replaced used to teach philosophy at UQAM. He's also a large format photographer, and has started calligraphy. His wife teaches literature at a CEGEP-courses include cyberpunk and humour. She's really cool, because she teaches a humour course, so naturally she has a great sense of humour, and appreciates the finer points of pipi-caca jokes. For better or for worse, some of us never grow out of that phase.
Of course, BlackAdder came up in the conversation, as well something to do with cannibalism. I found a good opening to add:
"I wonder what kind of barbeque sauce one would have with somebody who's...I dunno...caucasian, around 40, heavy smoker? Perhaps a Teryaki variation?"
She responded: "That's a tough question, because you like spicy cuisine, so maybe something along those lines would be good for you".
She's cool, and loves playing with that type of humour. She also was a musician-lead guitar in a punk band. The last time I met them, we started chatting about punk. I mentioned that that was an area of music that I don't know much about, but have always been interested to learn more about. Come to think of it, she would be an interesting person to talk to about my recently renewed interest in romance novels as cultural objects...
So anyway, she gave me the primer on The Clash, and sent me on my merry way with London calling. One of the things that she told me was that The Clash broke up when they could have been as big or bigger than the Beatles, and the thing with the Clash was that it was about the music-the need to make music. So when they became too commerical, that was the time to quit.
Interesting thought.
So I was just working on the finishing touches of my current painting, "Composition in Yellow" (dimensions are about 2 feet by 6 feet-I like working with large surfaces), while listening to "London Calling", while keeping this 'need to make music' theory in mind. Makes more sense. That's probably why I've been feeling so detached lately. I haven't painted or done any writing in a while-almost a week.
I need to think critically. I need to be an intellectual. I need to write. I need to paint. I need to photograph. If I don't do those things, I'm not being myself, or true to who I am.
I have a friend coming in from Chicago this weekend, so I'll be hosting again on Friday night. No bedding involved, but I'll be giving a guided tour of Montreal on a shoestring budget.
