whew. very full weekend. friday we engaged in minor hooliganism and hotel room trashing — those neighbors and their minibar will learn not to leave their doors propped open. i think saturday night i drank nearly a pint of whisky, not to mention the several gleaming golden cans of coors (rockies successfully tapped). sunday i enjoyed the sunshine and the mountains and was generally a happy guy fighting a hangover. i think i still sort of have a headache two days later, which signals i’m slowly turning into those people who say, ‘i’m getting to old to drink that heavily’, but you know what, fuck those people. i wear my bleary eyes like a badge of honor for a weekend successfully lived.

also saw a couple long-overdue movies while loafing on the couch — north by northwest knocked my socks off and i want to marry that main character girl. training day was great too, just not quite as masterpiece-quality as the former.

and then there’s this, a little excerpt i wanted to share from an article by david mamet i read in this crappy magazine we get for free at work. he’s mourning the lack of dramatic skill in current hollywood’s productions, and says…

once you lose their attention, you are up the creek.
this is why many would-be dramatists resort to titillation and shock. the audience can be wrenched back into a semblance of participation by violence or sex. it’s not pretty, and it’s not playwriting, but it is momentarily effective. this extortion of attention is not unlike the constant repetition of “Freedom” in a speech by a politician who has nothing to say, and much to hide.

eat that, republican party. your thinly veiled insincerity is so prevalent, you’re already an established allusion for the “cheap trick”, to be used in even the most non-political essay. advantage, mamet.