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contours provocations
journal - 2003-0925 - 1900 Magical Kitties; Technological Illiteracy; "All About Eve"; "My Fair Lady" I'm sitting here on my couch trying to eat a cookie and type at the same time. And my black feline companion seems to think that the cookie was purchased for her. The lot of them have a preoccupation with people food. I was here one night nibbling on a cheese sandwich, and one of the darlings reached over and grabbed the sandwich and ran. I continue to provide food and water to the cats that live under my house. One has fluffy grayish-white fur, and the other is much sleeker with a gray and brown coat. And there are also two kittens with the gray and brown look. This family is almost magical. They are so quiet that I never hear them. And I rarely see them. A couple of weeks ago, I stepped out on my back stairs, and I noticed movement behind a flower pot. I carefully glanced over and realized it was a kitten. It's color was somewhere between the color of the red clay pot and the shadows. Is was the perfect camouflage for the setting. Maybe they are indeed magical, and only I can see them. The web transformation at work continues to ebb and flow. I'm astonished at the technological illiteracy. The mantra appears to be "We want this on the web." Actually that's too clear. Usually it's more along the lines of "someone said this needs to be on the web." *!#$@*#!!! I've been reading (Keith's) Personal Online Journal. This is Keith of KeithCam from San Francisco. He's been in New York City for several months working on a large computer project. Nothing goes right. In his last entry, he mentioned that the lead person had been replaced. People are re-writting other people's code. Nobody really seems to know what they're doing. If you're accustomed to following a process, this drives you crazy. And short of a brain transplant I don't know what the solution is. Earlier I watched the first 30 minutes of "All About Eve." And one of the great moments of cinema has to be the look on Bette Davis' face as she watches Anne Baxter receive the theater award. A look of emotional depletion, and sheer loathing. Bette in her long flowing hair and off-the-shoulder black gown and glimmering pendant is the picture of a star. But it may be more than that. It may be the picture of a picture of a star. As though the director was very much aware of the artifice. In college, I had a poster of Bette in that guise on my dorm wall. Which no doubt did more than a little to brand me. Or maybe it was those Judy Garland records. No wait! It had to be those Broadway original cast albums. I'd totally forgotten about them! A strange memory to suddenly surface. How many people did you know in college who knew most of the lyrics to "South Pacific"? Other guys had posters of babes and cars. I had Bertrand Russell and The Beatles. Other guys read "Playboy," I read "The New Yorker." Other guys went to frat parties, I went to the Fellini Festival. Time to go! I need find my album of "My Fair Lady." PAX!
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