Monday, December 30, 2002

Thanks, I think...

I went out on a limb yesterday, and the limb basically broke and I took a fall. In english, I put on an event. I had a partner, and we both went in and out of the space of being able to create anything. ANYTHING! the problem is, we both to varying degrees, let resignation and cynicism creep into what we were up to, and, most importantly, did not distinguish when that happened. When people challenged the goals of this event, I, for one, got scared. And as the saying goes, scared money don't make none. I was so scared, I stayed here alone in San Diego on Christmas day, instead of going up to LA and being with my family.

The result of the event? Zero guests. Not one person that I or my partner spoke to came. I am not sure how to be with that. The thing is, I know I tried hard, but when I was trying so hard, what sort of message was I sending? Who was I being?

I am certain that I worried the event to death, to use my mother's phrase.

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Future Novelists...

These are actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays:

Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two other sides gently compressed by a thigh master.

His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

He spoke with wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

She grew on him like E. coli and he was room temperature Canadian beef.

She had a deep throaty genuine laugh like that sound a dog makes just before he throws up.

Her vocabulary was as bad, as, like, whatever.

He was a tall as a six foot three inch tree.

The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge free ATM.

The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7 pm instead of 7:30.

Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.

The hailstones leaped up off the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

Long separated by cruel fate, the star crossed lovers raced across a grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resemble Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East River.

Even in his last years, grandpappy had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

Young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

"Oh, Jason, take me!" she panted, her breasts heaving like a college freshman on $1-a-beer night.

He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a really duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a landmine or something.

The Ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids with power tools.

He was deeply in love when she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

She was as easy as the TV guide crossword.

Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in any pH cleanser.

She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.

Her voice had that tense grating quality, like a generation thermal paper fax machine that needed a band tightening.

It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Turkey Day

I have to run out today, so I thought I'd let Michael Moore have the floor. Go see Bowling For Columbine!

November 27, 2002

A Thanksgiving Day Letter from Michael Moore

Dear Friends,

It is Thanksgiving 2002 and it would seem that there is little to give thanks for this year. W. has scored an unbelievable hat trick and is now the first Republican since Eisenhower to control the House, the Senate and the White House. There is no getting around just how damned demoralizing and depressing this is. I wish there was a way to put a better face on what has transpired, but my well of optimism is just about dry. Bush has his "mandate" for war, his "mandate" for global frying, his "mandate" to turn our government into his own private corporation.

Except...

Only about 20% of the American people showed up three weeks ago to vote for a Republican. That's it. Just 20%. And about 19% voted for a Democrat (an amazing number considering how few fights the Democrats put up around the country).

And 61% said, "To hell with all of them!" and refused to show up and vote.

I am not surprised this happened. My greatest fear after the 2000 election was that the majority of Americans would just give up and say, "Why bother?" If there was one message to the average American from Bush's theft of the White House, it was this: "Not only doesn't your vote count, but even if you do vote, we're not going to count it!" I fear millions earlier this month saw the futility of exercising their right to govern when those who did the governing decided that the will of the people could be disposed of as easily as a drunk driving citation on a Kennebunkport back road.

Even worse, African Americans, whose right to vote was the most egregiously violated (and who usually are the first to stand and fight injustice), seem to have given up. Betrayed, forgotten and taken for granted by the Democrats, black voters saw no reason to revolt in 2000-and little reason to show up in 2002. They got the message loud and clear: "This is White America-we call the shots, we run this place, so shut the f*** up and stay home. The polls have closed for you."

Of course, those in charge are thrilled that 61% of the country has given up. That's right where they want us-out of the way! And it is for that reason alone why we must not now throw in the towel. If we sink into a collective state of despair, disgust and disinterest, we are truly doomed. Bush & Company (and this includes the Democrats) are all-too-happy to be left alone to run amok in the candy store. And, in the end, here is what we'll be left with: billions of impoverished people around the world hoping for a chance to kill you and me someday!

Ok, so what do we do? Perhaps the silver lining in all this is that Bush will actually think he has a "mandate" and pull such a big, stinking whopper that his re-installation in 2004 will be rendered impossible. Or perhaps some prosecutor somewhere will have the guts to indict him for the insider trading he conducted while on the board of Harken Oil. Who knows. A lot can happen in 23 months.

In the meantime, you, me, all of us, have to get together and come up with a plan that gets this country back in our hands. I have a few ideas. I'll bet you do, too. Why don't we have an online brainstorming session from now through the holidays? I'll set up a thread on my forum at http://www.michaelmoore.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=30 for you to post your comments and to generate a discussion about what we do for 2004.

Or, if you want to send me your thoughts directly, email me at 2004@michaelmoore.com. I've just learned the site is getting over 2 million hits a day. Right now, 2,000,000 heads certainly feel better than one.

Pass the turkey.

Yours, Michael Moore Mike@michaelmoore.com http://www.michaelmoore.com http://www.bowlingforcolumbine.com

P.S. Thanks to all of you who continue to pack the theatres for "Bowling for Columbine." It has now broken the all-time box office record for a documentary in America. I am not only grateful for this, but I am thrilled that it has ignited a national discussion about guns, violence, the NRA, racism, why the Canadians don't lock their doors, and the insane preparation for an expanded war in Iraq. I am now getting reports of people around the country trying to get stores in their towns to ban the sale of bullets. The NRA candidates lost the race for Governor in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Illinois (three hunting states). The film continues to set box office records in the UK, France and elsewhere. And, next week, "Stupid White Men" begins its 10th month on the best-seller list. Thank you all so much. Have a happy Thanksgiving.