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June 29, 2005

Pieces & Bits

The film opened last Friday in cities like Boston, Minneapolis, DC, Portland, Nashville, San Diego, Atlanta, and St. Louis. Boston (at the Kendall Square Cinema) was especially exciting because, well, I live here now, and a lot of close pals came to either Friday or Saturday's 7:25 screenings, both of which I introduced.

There were Beantown authors galore-- Tom Perrotta, author of the fantastic Little Children! Jennifer Haigh, of Baker Towers fame! Candyfreak himself, Steve Almond! Celebrities in Disgrace author Elizabeth Searle! My godlike Avoidance author boyfriend Michael Lowenthal! And (for me) most exciting of all, Jayne Anne Phillips, who way back in the 80s published one of my all-time favorite books, Black Tickets. (Really, if you're looking at this, and you want to read some of the weirdest, saddest, most explosive short, and short-short, stories ever, I highly recommend this book. For me, it's right up there with collections like JESUS' SON.) We all had drinks afterward, including beer in cheap pitchers, with lots of other cool folks.

Above are some pictures from my two days in Provincetown for the Film Festival there. John Waters. Dan Minahan. Craig Chester.

This week, the hideously ugly Dennis Rader, aka the BTK Strangler, finally confessed to his murders. Ah, Kansas. Chalk another up to churchgoers, community pillars, and scout leaders.

Are you a fan of Mogwai, like me? Then think about checking out the new A Northern Chorus cd. I also really like The Remote Viewer, probably due to their Hood connection.

The BOSTON GLOBE did a little feature this past Monday. "Film gets into this novelist's skin" was a silly title, but David Mehegan, the writer of it, was fantastic. The photographer, and the pictures, were really nice, but there's nothing that horrifies me more than an extreme close-up in which the world can see my pores--one of my most hated things about myself.

Have QUICKTIME on your computer? Hate the repulsive mediahound Tom Cruise? Then try not to die laughing when you watch THIS.

I received other excellent news this week--WE DISAPPEAR news--but for various reasons, I have to wait until next week to report it.