Thursday, May 17, 2007
Somehow I managed to forget to write about this wonderful book. I read Miles Harvey’s The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime over a year ago and it is brilliant. I’ve been thinking about it lately because of the awesome song “Maps” by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. You see, I have been in love with this song for months and I just can’t make any sense out of it. Let’s ignore the fact that I had heard the song a dozen times — and loved it — before I (a) knew the title and (b) realized that what she is singing in the chorus is “Maps / They don’t love you like I love you.” Maps? MAPS? What the hell does that mean?
So I’ve decided that she’s madly in love with this guy. She found a bunch of maps in his possession and now assumes he is going to leave her for someone else far away. The “they” in the song refers to the people at his destination. The “maps” is just an anguished exclamation. It works.
But a few days ago I started thinking that maybe she’d read this book. Maybe that’s what this song is. She’s madly in love with the main character in the book and is desperately trying to convince him to stop stealing maps and (re)turn his attention to her. The maps don’t love him. (He’s a little bit twisted.) Either way: Great song. Great book. I recommend them both.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Last night we celebrated the birthdays of Aly & AJ with a big bash at Les Deux in Hollywood. My girlfriend fiancée and her cohorts planned the whole thing and it was pretty rad. The girls made a grand entrance on a caravan of roaring motorcycles, the Plain White T’s performed, and I spent most of the time eating sushi from the Geisha House and visiting with Frankie and Becky. MTV was there filming for “SuperSweet 16: The Movie” (debuts July 8 on MTV), so the paparazzi was out in full force. (I posted some photos to my flickr account, but there are a ton more at wireimage.)
Monday, May 14, 2007
I saw this sign on A1A in Daytona Beach while driving back from my grandmother’s wake. It’s the kind of thing she would have thought was pretty damn funny.
I really can’t think of a better name for a “gentlemen’s club” on the ocean.
Monday, May 7, 2007
“The cheap stuff” in LA right now is creeping up to $4.00/gal. It’s ridiculous.
17.478 gal x $3.659/gal = $63.95
Friday, May 4, 2007
Anna S. Albanese
10/28/1920 - 05/04/2007
My grandmother passed away died this afternoon. I hate “passed away”. It’s so … passive. Nana was not a passive person. She was incredibly, astoundingly active. She’d been pretty limited for the last few years, but that’s not really how I’ll remember her. When I was in elementary school I used to be very proud that she was the president of the local Italian American Association. She could crochet like a mother#$@*; she was an amazing cook; she was in all sorts of women’s clubs; she had a full-time job for a long, long time after she should have been … I don’t know. She just didn’t “pass away”.
I don’t know why I’m writing this. But I hate the thought of seeing the obituary in the paper when I get to Florida. I remember when my grandfather died I hated the obituary. Hated it. My uncle (or someone) had a bunch of them laminated and made into bookmarks and I just hated the idea that a life could be summarized in two or three column inches like that. So here goes …
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Friday, May 4, 2007
She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh. Funny. Very funny. Keep laughing, sweetheart. You just go to sleep giggling your pretty little head off while I am stuck in the freaking bathtub. How is that fair?
