Temporal Reviews: Dry

Dry is the third book from Augusten Burroughs, following the novel Sellevision and the memoir Running With Scissors.  Dry, like Running, is a memoir, this time of Burroughs's struggles with alcoholism and recovery.
 
Burroughs's style is very funny - and most of the book is very funny, until the obligatory relapse and ensuing self-destructive behavior.  I don't necessarily understand addiction, so I'm probably a little callous towards his challenges.
 
I must admit that I enjoyed Running With Scissors more than Dry, but for my money, Sellevision was the funniest.  I'm hoping that Burroughs will return to fiction at some point (I believe his next memoir is due in September).

Temporal Reviews: Man About Town

Man About Town is Mark Merlis's third novel, and the follow-up to the Lammie winner "An Arrow's Flight" (in my library, still unread).

I much enjoyed Merlis's first novel, "American Studies," and have looked forward to the trade paperback release of "Man About Town." (One of the many quirks to my character is that I prefer trade paperback to all other book editions. Don't ask why - I don't know).

"Man About Town" is plagued by a vaguely unlikeable narrator. This is frankly a daring choice. I'm not sure how easy it is to read a first-person narrative with a narrator who is plagued by so many neuroses and insecurities.

For me, this served as much of a cautionary tale - especially with respect to the prospect of being middle-aged and single in a gay world where middle-aged men are largely invisible.

Troubling to me were the continual references to how Joel, the narrator, had "let himself go" - implying that he was grossly overweight. What constitued grossly overweight? His waist size was 35. If/when I'm in a 35, it will be a day for rejoicing. This book, despite exploring issues of older gay men on the outskirts of the gym/AF culture, still, in my humble opinion, promotes the extreme lookism that permeates modern gay life.

This is an interesting irony in a book that idolizes the 50s/60s gay ideal that was much less gym-crazed (ie, men with natural beauty/bodies versus gym-crafted six packs). Even though it harkens back nostalgically to that time, the emphasis with how fat, lazy, and slobbish Joel is (with his size 35 waist) is insulting.

Why couldn't Joel have a 35 inch waist and be invisible and a good person? Who took pride in his appearance? He was a complete mess, as evidenced by his fatness/slopiness. He would have been just as invisible had he been well put together and fat. The latent racism was also alarming. Joel was a very dislikeable character, despite how much I might have understood/empathized with his situation.

The execution of the novel was expert, but sometimes I wonder about the plot choices that were made. In this case, I would give 2 stars to the plot/subject choices, and 3 stars for artistic merit.

Temporal Review: The Bourne Supremacy

So I went to see The Bourne Supremacy Saturday morning at the Cine Capri. Overall, I think this was an excellent thriller movie - about as intelligent and well-excuted as any I've seen.

It of course helps to have top-notch actors in the film. I love Joan Allen as a general rule of thumb - she is an actor that creates a complete characterization and then fully inhabits the role. I didn't so much like her hair in this movie, but as my friend Brian put it, it probably looked appropriate for the character.

Brian Cox is a similar actor who fully inhabits his characters. Same Brian asked if he ever played a nice guy. I suggested that his pedophile in "L.I.E." was nice, for a pedophile.

As for everyone's favorite Matt Damon - *sigh. He's my boyfriend, even if he doesn't know it yet. He brings a believability to the Bourne character - a delicate balance of earnestness and intensity. And such a cutie.

If there is a down side to the film, it is the unfortunate presence of teen queen Julia Stiles. Minor spoiler alert - one of my favorite parts of the film was where Matt bashes Julia's head into a cement wall. Hee hee hee.

Overall very enjoyable. The plot was serviceable, but much more interesting was the way the film executed the plot - with style and heart.

Nature boy

So I've been curious about getting juice instead of smoothies at In the Raw, when I stop in before work.  This morning, eschewing a smoothie I opted instead for the Kamikaze (juice of apple, cantaloupe, and carrot). 
 
It was a little too hard core for me.  I'm not sure what the problem was.  I like apples.  I like cantaloupe.  I like carrots.  Maybe I wanted it to be, I don't know, in the form of a smoothie instead of watery.  Maybe it was too murky in its unnatural glowing orange color.  Anyway, it put me right off.  So much for the concept of drinking my daily vegetable requirements. 
 
I wish I liked V8.  I've never really understood V8/tomato juice.  It smells wrong.  It smells (and tastes) like it should be warm and on pasta, not cold and in a glass.  Maybe that's the Italian in me.  Who knows? 

Here's Bernice

So I'm working from home today - which is cool - except that I slept through my morning workout. Not happy. But well rested.

I am born

Whether or not I shall turn out to be the hero of my own blog, these pages must show.   Now that I've gotten the Dickens out of me...
 
This is my first experience blogging, and I'm very excited.
 
I'd like to thank all the bloggers who have come before me - Angela Bassett, Jada Pinkett Smith, Dorothy Dandridge - and my lawyer, my stylist, my agent, my publicist...I'm not done!