i have only a couple of problems with telephones - there's my chronic reluctance to leave messages, which isn't really that strong, and then there's something i've been wondering about lately: if someone else answers the phone, is it okay to just ask for the person you're calling, or do you have to make pleasantries with the person who answered, if you know them? of course it seems sort of rude not to acknowledge them, but it's sort of beside the point, no?

anyway. in general i think phones are good. i've had some good productive telephone calls today; two in the morning with alyssa and rae were striking in their contrast - reminiscent of that part in high fidelity where rob remarks on the contrast between two phone messages. i'm sure most of you remember that.

okay, i lost that thread. dan took me out for, er, breakfast, at 3 or so, to this big empty colorful place where they put focaccia and cheesy-garlic-butter-oil on your table. we got big salads and made lists of things to accomplish, his in long technical descriptions that i only partly understood.

my mind today has been on the future: if all goes well, i can go to new york this weekend (thursday?) for the siren festival, and drive up to wanakena with rae. i called delia to find out stuff (relevant for two reasons) and i think i'd just rather stay at wanakena anyway rather than saranac - it feels nice and elitist to stay at my own place with its peace and quiet and beauty. you're welcome to come too (seriously - sunday through tuesday or thursday or whenever.) hopefully that works out.

the other part, which is kind of annoying, it turns out we don't go to vermont until the 17th of august, which means we could see beck on the 16th, except that now we've found that out (of course i finally had to call delia myself because dan never got around to figuring it out) there are hardly tickets left. rrgh.

but maybe i'll see dj shadow tomorrow night. that seems likely. and maybe i'll see los lobos, cornelius, and american analog set later on. oh yeah, and something else.

my thoughts are scattered, can't you tell? my energy isn't in this.

and further on than that.

movies to comment on: The Majestic is too long and is completely superfluous, but it has some nice boogie-woogie piano. and Jim Carrey reading the first amendment. it's cute. darabont must have just decided to make it as capraesque as humanly possible.

that movie has only one thing in common (length) with Atanarjuat, which rebecca and I finally saw yesternight. man, that's a movie. They should have translated the title as "run atanarjuat run." hee hee. (i need a better blog-laugh). i recommend it wholeheartily if you're interested in seeing a three-hour epic (mythic undertones, like the Arthurian legend, we thought) about inuits. It stands out, i think, because there aren't very many of those. and really, what could be cooler?

after that movie, bec and I walked home, played a few rounds of speed scrabble (good game) and had some iced lollies. Ruth came home with $100 in poker winnings (it turned out all of her opponents were high, but still, with 25-50 cent-1 dollar stakes, that's rather a killing) and let me drive her car back to watertown.

I made a tape for Rae - an Elvis Costello compilation called "The King Sings "Alison" and other Sentimental Favorites by Popular Request." I think I need to make myself a copy too - it's all very emotional material, some of his best singing, and lots of unusual choices, thematically arranged (to make you [melt] on one side and [shudder] on the other.

here are some things that are very high on my list of likes at the moment:
+ Rufus Wainwright (whose second album i've been listening to a lot since i first heard it yesterday)
+ …Kavalier and Clay (almost halfway, and it's big! - It's Ruth's copy, so you'll have to come up here and get it, miss)
+ singleness (in the abstract)
+ tempura ice cream
+ communication
+ Rae (even more so if she can use her car)
+ t-shirt

okay, that was fun. I'm listening to the 3-cd box set "The Philly Sound: Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and the story of brotherly love (1966-1976)" right now. Carla and I are supposed to hang out today, but she hasn't called me back.

I am your stupid lover
your wretched goon