( 4:54 PM )
The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler
I haven't been reading enough. I mean, I read plenty of stuff on the internet. I haven't read a novel in a while. Probably because the last few books were a stuggle to get through. I can't find anything good in the "new books" category. So yesterday I pulled something off my shelf. I rarely re-read books, but Raymond Chandler I can re-read anytime. I've probably read The Big Sleep a dozen times. So this time I pulled The Long Goodbye off the shelf and brought it with me for my 2 hour morning commute to NYC.
Here's a couple of great lines within the first 50 pages:
"I like bars just after they open for the evening. When the air inside is still cool and clean and everything is shiny and the barkeep is giving himself that last look in the mirror to see if his tie is straight and his hair is smooth. I like the neat bottles on the bar back and the lovely shining glasses and the anticipation. I like to watch the man mix the first one of the evening and put it down on a crisp mat and put the little folded napkin beside it. I like to taste is slowly. The first quiet drink of the evening in a quiet bar – that's wonderful."
Or this one:
"Alcohol is like love. The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl's clothes off."
They don't write books like this anymore. Books where each chapter is a treat and you smile every couple of pages, not because it's funny, but because it's brilliant and vivid. I'll try to post some more gems as I find them.
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( 1:18 PM )
The Olympics
So, I'm trying to watch interesting sports in this year's Olympics. Along with the usual, primetime sporting events, like gymnastics and swimming and basketball, I've managed to catch a bit of badminton, diving and fencing.
Badminton was just kind of silly. They take all the fun out of that sport when they try to smash that poor birdy onto the opponent's side of the floor. There are rarely any volleys beyond the serve and return serve. I always thought the point of badminton was to gently lob the birdy up into the air and place it in such an area as your opponent can easily reach it and return it back to you equally gentle. Leave it to violence and competition to ruin a nice backyard activity. I hate to see what might happen if backyard horseshoes becomes an Olympic event.
I was watching women’s high diving last night. What in the world am I’m looking for here? Big splash? Little splash? Flailing arms and legs? Number of centimeters their heads clear the concrete platform? As far as I can tell, they all look good. The announcer is obviously a former diver or judge or something. After each dive, the announcer makes the call before the judges (or me) can do it. “Oh, that was beautiful – her best dive yet!” Or, “Oh, that was a bit shaky – her toes weren’t pointing straight up…” What? Her toes weren’t pointing straight up? Even on the slow-motion replay I can’t tell what her toes are doing. This definitely isn’t a layman’s sport. Give me gymnastics or skating or downhill skiing. Girl falls off the beam – that’s bad. Skier does a face plant into the barricade – obvious point deduction. But girl diving off a 30-foot platform into a pool without pointing her toes – so what?
I was watching women’s soccer today. The American’s beat Germany. Now the US plays in the final match for a gold medal (loser gets the silver), while Germany plays in the secondary match for bronze (loser gets nothing). Here’s a question: why does Germany even bother? Imagine losing the LCS in baseball or the championship game in football, and getting shut out of the World Series or Superbowl – then being told to play a secondary game to see who’s the third best team? That’d suck. Is winning a bronze medal (or silver for that matter) that much better then winning nothing? You lost. You’re not the best. And now you have a token to remind you for the rest of your life that you didn’t win.
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