Tag Archives: Invisibility

The end of the beginning.

Posted by Marco Sparks on

Speaking of endings…

Two amazing things happened to me today. The first: I got to watch a couple break up. How often does that happen in public anymore? But today it did and I got to witness it. It was like watching a car crash happen in extremely slow motion and it was fascinating and it makes you feel weird to witness it. I’ll give you this one and only tidbit from it: As I walked past this couple (to throw something away, I swear, and not purposely listen in), the girl was saying to the guy, “See? And now you’re crying. And now you’re crying. At least… At least the fact that you’re crying tells me that this meant something to you and you’ll never forget it.”

And I thought, “Wow.” I’ve always loved people watching or, quite frankly, eavesdropping. Perhaps it comes with the package of calling one self a “writer.” You’re constantly studying the world, like a scientist, looking for fault lines and vulnerabilities and things that are strong and terribly interesting, like a thief. Whenever I’m with someone, a friend, a loved one, an acquaintance, I try to give them all my attention, even when they don’t realize it, even when I don’t want them to know they have it. But whenever I’m out there in the world by myself, all alone, I’m just lost. Usually in my own head or in my surroundings. It’s like the noise dies down and I can watch the interesting things that are all over the world as they just happen. Or not happen.

Perhaps that’s answer to the eternal question: Which super power would you rather have, flying or invisibility? Typically I, as one always should, will say: “Both!” But maybe today was a day in which I may lean towards invisibility. Anyway…

The second thing I witnessed: A man tutoring a boy, probably aged somewhere in the vicinity of going to junior high-ish, about math, of all things. A dreadful, disgusting subject if ever there was one. At some point, they finished some unit in the boy’s math book and the boy said very excitedly, “That’s it, right? We’re finished!” The guy tutoring him chuckled and replied, “Finished? No, ha ha, that’s not the end. That’s not even the beginning of the end, I’m afraid. We are maybe – maybe – at the end of the beginning though.”

The boy just kind of sighed. And I smiled, knowing that the guy was paraphrasing Churchill.

It was silly, yeah, but I also found it funny.

That said, I’m going to take a little break. Just until next month, I think. There may be more Counterforce transmissions between now and then…

…or I may be back tomorrow,  or perhaps neither, I don’t know, but right now I’m planning on chilling out through the rest of May. And next time I see you, we’ll speak only of beginnings…

Time is on my side.

Posted by Marco Sparks on

“I confess that I do not believe in time.”

-Vladimir Nabokov

“A User’s Guide To Time Travel,” from the super powers issue of Wired.

There’s a lot of other great stories in that issue, like stuff on how to be invisible and antigravity.

Richard Alpert/Ram Dass talks about LSD.

Desmond, and to a certain extent, the show as well, are being sued for sexual harassment.

Warren Ellis says that the future will be one of the eat or be eaten variety. Mostly the “be eaten” variety, actually. Prepare for the Robochompocalypse.

“Wild nights are my glory,” the unearthly stranger told them. “I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I’ll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.”

-from A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle, one of my favorite books growing up and one of those few books that I try to read again once every year.

Blah.

Speaking of time travel, the new Star Trek comes out today and I’m excited.

“I Want to go ahead of Father Time with a scythe of my own.”

-H.G. Wells

He’ll flip you. Flip you for real!

Posted by Marco Sparks on

I’m sitting here reading an interview with Benicio Del Toro in Rolling Stone about the Che movies and the upcoming Wolf Man film, and I’m focusing on the reported rumors about the man. The supposed sex in an elevator with Scarlett Johansson after an awards show, or the long ago knife fight with Steve Buscemi. Or the juvenile crime spreed he apparently went on as a boarding school student in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Or even the time he apparently put Hunter S. Thompson up against a wall for critiscizing his casting as Dr. Gonzo in Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.

I’d like to do a piece about the rumors swirling around Del Toro (the youngest ever Bond villain), especially since he’s been called “the new Brando” for some time, and how the rumors are just another brick in this very calculated sense of myth building.  Even with the squint, the slouch, the paunch, the mumbling, etc. it still feels very calculated. For example, this passage from the interview:

“What do I see when I look in the mirror?” he asks. “Most of the time when I look in the mirror it’s to see which way my hair is going, because it doesn anything it wants.” He takes off his cap. His hair is a startling, gruesome highway wreck, crumpbled and twisted.

He returns the cap to his head.

“After that I make eye contact with me,” he goes on, “just to make sure it’s me in the mirror. Yeah. Just to make sure it’s me.”

That said, I wouldn’t dismiss the talk of him being “the next Brando” outright. He’s certainly doing better with that title than the last “the next Brando,” Mickey Rourke, despite Rourke’s success with The Wrestler and having been supposedly cast in the Iron Man sequel (Can’t we get a little more love for Angel Heart here, people?). But like I said, I’d like to list a few more of those wild and fun rumors, but the internet seems oddly cleansed of their reporting, which is a shame. Well, no, it’s not, because they’re trash journalism, but it never hurts to dip into the trash a little every now and then, right?

Kanye would like to pose nude for you (after he’s had a few months to work out) and then have less fans. I think those two go hand in hand.

Young lovers caught in action in a obersvation wheel, make it into the Saturday paper.

Sex offender wins half a million in the Alaskan lottery.

Tips on improving your cognitive performance from a savant.

Two men stoned to death in Iran, but a third man escapes. The top 11 compounds in the US’ drinking water. 17 sensational and free graphic novels to download.

If you get a chance, I highly recommend Rolling Stone‘s faux exit interview with GWB. “The farwell interview we wish he’d give,” they say. here’s an excerpt.

“Hell, my dad barely went through two sticks of deodorant his entire presidency. He and Mommy spent all of 1989 in a cribbage game. I remember walking in the Residence once and being like, “Communism just collapsed.” And they’re like, “Just a minute, son.”

Special thanks must go to out to Fuck Yeah Pandas and Bebe Le Strange for pointing us in the right direction on some of these lovely pictures. And the Centennial Society, of course.

Invisibility becomes more than just a fantasy.

The inauguration is coming up, so don’t forget The Audacity Of Hops!

Stuff journalists like.

The trailer for the remake of Gore Vidal’s Caligula. How can you not want to watch this? Starring Courtney Love, Karen Black, Milla Jovovich, Gerard Butler, Helen Mirren, Gore Vidal as himself, and Justine Bateman. Oh, and Benicio Del Toro as well.