How to you say Chutzpah in Serbian?

This kind of stuff makes it very difficult for us fiction writers.  The story is so outlandish to be almost unbelievable.  But what I find fascinating is how far this guy got.  I'm a pretty quiet guy - don't like to draw a lot of attention to myself.  I'm not a power player.  I'm not a guy that steps on people to get where I want to go.  What makes another human think in their mind that what he is doing is okay?  That, yeah, I'll sell a senate seat and I'll sleep just fine.  The only answer I can come up with is that his brain is broken.  That he has something organically wrong in that head of his.  Wow.  Just can't get my head around this as it's so foreign from the way I think.

I Dreamed I was a Cowboy

Lyle Lovett is without question the best sounding concert I've ever had the pleasure to attend.  And hey, the guy is damn good too.  Here is one of my favorites.  It just popped up on my iTunes as I was writing and I had to share....

Don't ask me why....

There's a natural mystic blowing through the air

If you listen carefully now you will hear.

This could be the first trumpet, might as well be the last:

Many more will have to suffer,

Many more will have to die - don't ask me why.

Natural Mystic

Bob Marley

To Have and Have Not

The Howard Hawks version of Hemingway's To Have and Have Not was on cable the other night.  I searched my memory and discovered I'd never seen it.  It was Lauren Bacall's screen debut when she was mere 18-years-old and come to find out William Faulkner helped on the screenplay.  So I settled in for the quick hour and half or so movie and found it both entertaining and dull at the same time.  And I wondered why I had that feeling.  Why was I entertained but left wanting just the same?  And I've now discovered why.

I like the characters.

The story was silly.

So, being a bit of a Hemingway junkie, I went out and purchased the novel.  Now I know Hemingway wasn't particularly fond of this unorthodoxly constructed novel, but I found it quite interesting.  The way Hemingway episodically reveals Harry and his downward spiral.  And that's what's missing in the movie.  You don't get the arch of Harry's story in the movie - it centers around one aspect of the novel - and takes considerable liberties at that.

So even though we get to see the lovely Lauren Bacall give her famous "whistle" line, the movie doesn't capture the heart of the novel.  It skates along the surface, not revealing the dark heart that resides within Harry.  His anger at not being able to provide for his family while others laugh it up around him - oblivious to the pain in so many others.  And it's that anger that makes Harry real, makes him interesting, makes us want to know him.  Because we all, at one time or another, feel like a "have not."

Getting the Picture

I'm on a roll with videos lately.  And the last one I posted was kinda grim.  I'm not a grim guy.  I'm a guy that likes to have fun - but at 3:00am when I do most of my writing, it can get kinda grim.  So, before turning off the monitor and heading to bed, I crank a little Buffett to cleanse the pallet.  And here's a good one...

When I grow up, I want to be Jimmy Buffett....