louise on the left (coast)

Brattleboro, Vermont. A town where the word freak no longer exists.  Not much here ever seems odd.  Somehow things seem acceptable here.  No matter what. (Cue music:   Radiohead.  Weird Fishes .) A truly Neptunian depot. There is a central parking lot, named Harmony Lot, where everything, since I first saw it back in 1968, has actually in been in harmony with zen-like acceptance to what chooses to roll through this particular crossroad. I get out of my Boston car rental and hear random notes of music floating around me. I am jet lagged.  As far as I can see from this block-sized parking lot, there are only coffee shops and art galleries. And suggestions of music. And I say to my kid Why do I keep hearing odd music? She says because, there's wind chimes.  Wind chimes in a parking lot? I look up. Indeed, there are wind chimes. Huge ones.  Duct taped way up in a tree in the middle of the parking lot someone has duct-taped a set o...

Just saw a screening of The End Of The Tour , a bio pic about writer, author/journalist David Lipsky, interviewing uber literary star, David Foster Wallace, during his 5 day book tour.   The film stars Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg and is superbly written by playwright, Donald Margulies.  Not to mention it's also expertly directed by James Ponsoldt, who gets out of the way to allow the story to unfold as it does. This is the kind of film that transcends all the trappings of similar bio pics, or road-trip movies, to be come something seamlessly much larger one ever suspects it will be. I'm pretty sure Jason Segal will earn an Oscar nomination, even possibly one for both leading men. Not to mention one for best screenplay. End Of The Tour, is at it's heart, a gift to watch. It will stay with you, hopefully for a long, long time. You don't need to be a well-read pop-culture freak or literary aficionado to be touched by this film. You just need to care ...