the man in black

went to see "walk the line" with my friend johnny (yes, really, that's his name) tonight. that's the kind of movie that'll put the hurt on, if any movie could. if you have a love life, june carter and johnny cash's story will put it to shame, and if you *don't* have a love life, well...it'll make you wish you did, so it could put it to shame. ;-)

the film had some annoying moments, some moments when it almost went bad. but overall i liked it. i agree with sarah vowell, this is perhaps the greatest love story of the 20th century. wow. [listen to sarah vowell's bit here: www.thislife.org, episode 247, "What Is This Thing?" (it's act 3), aired 9/19/03]

they could have found a better elvis. the guy who played jerry lee lewis was great (note the hair, and the leopard fur cuffs in his first scene), but the elvis sucked. not in a good way. and roy orbison...sorry, but i didn't even realize who that glasses-wearing guy was until the closing credits.

afterward, johnny and i closed down the deluxe. i had me one damn fine (strong!) margarita. and when he walked me home, there was frost on all the windshields.

Democracy

Democracy, by Langston Hughes

Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I'm dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow's bread.

Freedom
Is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.
I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.

(1949)

online dating grrrr

all i've got to say is, i'm very *off* online dating. permanently. makes me feel like a commodified piece of meat. (which i'm not, in case you were wondering.)

i have done it off and on for the last couple of years, and in almost every case (with one exception) it has led to the weirdest, fakest, most annoying interactions. you get more dates, it's true, but more often than not (in my experience) they turn icky. and it happens really quickly and somewhat inexplicably. i think the online dating format intensifies the commodified, meat market aspect of the dating scene. or maybe it's just me. yes...that actually makes some sense, because in the "real world" i avoid meat market scenes like the plague--i HATE them! so the online dating scene could just be a virtual meat market, no better or worse than a "real" meat market. it just seems inordinately bad to me because i'm not used to meat markets, and i don't understand the social codes people use in them. hmmm. no...i understand the codes, they just gross me out and i don't want to use them.

either way, i'm not going to do it anymore. (i know, i have made this pledge before, but this time i mean it. a very recent experience has sealed it.)