Now? Not as much anymore. I guess it’s logical for white men to feel alienated…even if it isn’t quite true. (Yes, a black man is running the country and a white woman is Sec’y of State … and yes, we’ve recently had two women elected to the Surpreme Court, and one was Hispanic. We’ve still got a LONG way to go.)

I just heard on the news last night that men were the hardest hit in the recession and their unemployment rates were consistently higher than women. Part of this, the newspeople said, was because “male occupations” particularly in construction were slow to rebound. Couple that with women’s wages slowly but surely catching up to their male counterparts and you’ve got a regular crisis of the white male in society.

Never a truer word spoken.

On the one hand, Harry, I think your ability to walk down the proverbial blog-street in the nude is more than admirable. It’s a requirement to get the most out of your writing and connect deeply with your audience. I couldn’t help but be moved by what you wrote and felt compassion for your situation. I don’t know if that was your intention, but that’s the effect it had on me.

On the other hand, I find what you wrote terrifying. We all have aspects of our personal lives that for many reasons we might not want to make public – whether a medical history, an episode in our lives when something traumatic happened, or anything else we might determine as individuals should stay “inside the family.”

I think this posting hit such a deep nerve with me because I’ve written on my blog about trying to tear down these walls between my personal life and my writing. I find it hard to give that up, but each time I write from a deeper emotional space I know the work is better for it. I think it’s a matter (for me) to find the balance of how much is “enough” and how much is too much.

You have so many posts on your blog that create a ripple / reaction / intense feeling one way or another, I know you’re doing something very right.

The part of me that has fear of exposing too much private stuff publically also hopes that your baring of your soul doesn’t harm you or anyone close to you in any way.

I’m hooked, that’s for sure. And I keep reading.

Carol

We all know the ACME supplies the Roadrunner has purchased are going to fail, the giant slingshot won’t work right, or the jet-powered roller skates will run out of jet-fuel, the exploding bird seed only explodes on him. It doesn’t matter – we know the shtick, it’s the same thing every time, and it’s still funny.

(Maybe the closest thing to this now is “You killed Kenny!” “You bastards!”)

As for Bugs, well, what can we say? He’s elegant, funny, witty, and sublime. He teaches us about history, literature, and opera and as kids we don’t even know we’re watching Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or Elmer Fudd doing the Valkyrie but it’s riveting stuff.

They don’t make ‘em like that anymore, but I do love the Dirty Bubble, and Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, and MOST especially Plankton.

I have to ask, do German laws allow the original author whose work was stolen to sue the crap out of the cutesy kiddie author who got the $20K grant and sold however many copies of “her” book?

My life seems to be composed of ‘waves’ of people that flow in and out over the years. Every 10 years or so it’s been a different wave, and only recently the waves have begun overlapping in a wierd time-life-warp.

It takes guts to write about your personal life, your family and your history in this way and put it out there.

I can’t laugh too hard though, I spent a lot of time with Finnegan’s Wake when I took my Senior Seminar in James Joyce as an undergrad. Ugh.

Also, before you give everything away, consider your kids. They might enjoy – or be tortured by – some of your past favorite books, CD’s, etc.

I agree on Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick was a complete obsessive about details in his films. The idea that even one frame would be altered without his consent guarantees the film could never be a Kubrick film. At least Spielberg had the common sense to say that A.I. was based on a Kubrick “script treatment.”

On a side note, John Malkovich did an indie film called Colour Me Kubrick in which some loon pretends to be Kubrick and goes around London telling people he’s Kubrick, doing business deals, trying to score free meals, etc. The film is based on a true story.

Just for fun, here are my “Top 50″ movies, but I cheated and listed Directors and Actors for multiple-hits.
http://cdeminski.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/top-50-movies-directors-actors-list/