The Clairvoyant Zoopraxiscope

I tried, and failed, to watch Mike Figgis' Time Code last night. And in fact, I intend to return the movie to Netflix this morning. I was pleasantly distracted, at first, by the quadruple split-screen approach Figgis was using. I was also moved by the real-time quality of a lot of the action. And then I became upset, and then I fell asleep. Perhaps I was drowsy to begin with--I'd been out for most of the day, but I couldn't follow the film, not at all. And it wasn't for lack of talent. I could have watched any of the actors, alone on screen, for 90 minutes, easily. But it was as if the actors in the 4 stories were all aware of each other, aware of each other's narratives, and therefore didn't try as hard as they could have.

Just watched, again, Band of Outsiders. Fine work--what has happened to French cinema? I guess that's an old question. This just seemed so full of energy and life and spirit... has something happened to France? Watched, also, Code Unknown, which the critics I respect hated but really moved me...

Have added J. Robert Lennon's Pieces for the Left Hand to the roster--100 short-shorts, seemingly of little consequence but explosive when scrutinized.

Have also added Amy Newman's BirdGirl Handbook to the rotisserie rack--my brother chose it for a chapbook contest recently. I'm pondering reading Barack Obama's autobiography as well.

Any feelings about Rahm Emanuel?

And speaking of chapbooks--not sure if anyone reads this blog regularly, or at all, so I can make such statements without fear of being too self-promotional:
Tarpaulin Sky Press will publish a chapbook of mine entitled The Pictures in the fall.