April 27, 2021

Yesterday was chilly and windy and I abandoned plans to go skate at Mar Vista. My friend has been emailing back and forth with their rec center staff about cops getting called on roller skaters. There's no love between the staff and the skaters, it seems, even though skating on the rink is probably the nicest thing to do in the whole facility. No, the rink is for hockey players -- who aren't even allowed either. Because COVID. Even though, obviously, social distancing is way more built into skating than it is to, say, sitting in the park (only yards away from the rink) with your big group of friends. 

It was a little bit of a down day. I'm less busy because I'm not teaching any classes right now. It's hard to keep the energy and pace up. I watched Richard Herring play in his self-playing snooker championship live over Twitch. That helped me feel a little better. Herring has a bracket where he pits two of thirty-odd characters together. He plays both characters and the interviewer and the commentator. There was a contentious and close match between Me5, Self-Doubting Me, and Me11, Female Me. A lot of sexist remarks in the chat, and from Richard (doing the interviewing), I have to say. But Female Me kept it cool. She won the day, both in snooker and in her calm straight-talking approach. I don't actually know the rules of snooker, which amuses me. 

I bought bread for toast at the grocery, yesterday. We don't ever seem to have just regular bread around the house. I was torn between getting 7 Grain and getting 12 Grain. Same brand. Same price. I couldn't tell the difference at all except one, apparently, has more grain. I got the 12 Grain because maybe more grain is better. If more grain wasn't better, you think they wouldn't put so many in there in the first place. Did I make the right choice? I'll never know. 

Mlog Time! 

**SPOILERS**

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH

1999

Directed by: Spike Jonze

Written by: Charlie Kaufman 

Watched: 4/25/21

Craig Schwartz, a puppeteer, gets a job as a speed filer in an office on the 7 ½ floor. The half means that the ceiling is half the height of a normal ceiling, so everyone can’t quite stand up. It saves on rent. He falls in love with a woman in the office, Maxine. One day, he discovers a portal behind a filing cabinet that leads him to inside John Malkovich’s mind. He tells Maxine about it and the two go into business together, renting the service out to other people. Craig’s wife, Lotte, comes to the office and also falls in love with Maxine. She can’t get enough of being John Malkovich, and Lotte as Malkovich starts a sexual relationship with Maxine. Craig steps in, locking Lotte in the chimp cage in their apartment. Eventually, Craig is able to stay in Malkovich longer than the usual 15 minutes, and he’s able to control Malkovich. Malkovich (with Craig at the controls) announces that he’s no longer an actor, he’s a puppeteer, and he takes the world by storm. Eventually the man and group that uses the portals to live forever kidnaps Maxine (now pregnant) and forces Craig to leave Malkovich. Then Lotte and Maxine get together – the child is Lotte’s. Maxine got pregnant when Lotte was inside of Malkovich. The movie ends with Craig looking through Maxine’s daughter’s eyes. Maxine and Lotte are now a long-term couple. 

The 7 ½ floor thing was my favorite. Although the mud shoot portal to inside JM’s mind was good too. And how afterwards you got dropped from the sky next to the New Jersey turnpike. All good. On Wikipedia it talks a little bit about the development of the film. Kaufman just put in elements that amused him. I like that – I want to do that. But maybe that’s only allowed if you are Charlie Kaufman. Both Catherine Keener as Maxine and John Malkovich as John Malkovich are great. Amusing! 

Rating: ★★★★