Home

It's time to tell you about where I live.

December 1, 2009, I moved into this house on the outskirts of town- it's a 45 minute walk to my job downtown. The house id owned by a 48 year old man I'll call Papa Bear. He's a very cool guy, very enthusiastic with a lot of energy. He has a white Alaska Husky that's a lot like him, Porter. Porter is very friendly, always shaking his tail and holding a toy in his mouth.

For at least 20 years, Paopa Bear has been friends with an older guy I call Stickman. Stickman has been living here with him ever since he bought the house around 1995. Stickman is around 55 but looks and seems older (though I think he thinks he can pass for 40). He's a second shift nurse and he expects to have the bathroom all to himself for the 2 and a 1/2 hours leading up to the time he leaves for work. He takes insanely long showers and God knows what he does with the rest of the time.

The third and final roommate is a 20 year old coolege student who works part-time but spends most of his days and nights playing computer games. He pays partial rent and Papa Bear buys all his groceries and cooks dinner for him every night. I call him Baby Bear. Between his size and the way that Papa Bear cares for him the name fits perfectly. I like Baby Bear. All he needs to be happy is a computer game, some pot, and maybe some Doritos and Mountian Dew. He's got a good attitude. Like Papa Bear, he's got a good attitude: enthusiastic. It'll be late afternoon after a long day of work, or it'll be 10pm and I'll be in bed so that I can be up at 5am, and I can hear Baby Bear on his headphone/ speaker set, talking to his teammates, and it's very relaxing. It's loud sometimes but it never bothers me; it puts me right to sleep.

Here's how everyone gets along: I get along with everyone. Me and Papa Bear talk a lot. It can be rough sometimes- he's always gotta be right. And he's the dominant dog. Sometimes, too, it seems like he's being contrary on purpose. But that's it. Those are my only complaints, and, anyway, that's what makes him Papa Bear. I'm always happy to talk to him and he's very easygoing and flexible.

If I don't talk with Baby Bear much, it's only because he's almost always at the computer and i don't want to interupt. There are some trust issues as well. For instance, he never owns up to doing anything wrong when Papa bear asks who's the one who did something. On the other hand, I've overheard him rat out Stickman for certain things.

I've gotten along with Stickman but he's gotten crabby with me over stupid shit, like cutting into his bathroom time. But really, it's not that we've clashed so much- I avoid him because I overhear his fights with Papa Bear.

About once every 3 months Stickman will come home from work and get into a shouting match with PB. These fights get loud and ugly. Once, PB yelled that Stickman was a miserable piece of shit with no friends and no teeth. I was listening and laughing into my pillow.

Stickman and Baby get along alright. The have pot in common. But really, I don't think that Baby likes Stickman. I think he's using him for free pot and free cigarettes. Baby helps himself to smokes from both PB's and Stickman's packs when they're not around. I've heard them yell at him but most of the time Baby gets what Baby wants.

I mentioned that I have some trust issues with Baby Bear. It's because of this: For the first 6 months that I lived here, baby was sneaking into my room and taking cigarettes. Now I just said that he'd take cigarettes from the other guys. Well that's different. They had an understanding. Baby would help himself while PB was at work or while Stickman was outside doing yardwork all afternoon.

Baby was taking my cigarettes when I went to take a piss or while I was downstairs for 2 minutes putting my clothes in the dryer. It seemed like sometimes I'd have less cigarettes than I thought but I didn't think anything of it till one day I brought a load of laundry downstairs. As I walked past his room we nodded at each other. When I opened the washer door I could hear squeaking of floorboards directly above me and my bedroom was directly above me. I dropped my socks and rushed up the stairs. Honestly, I didn't want to catch him- that would be too awkward. But I caught his shadow in the hallway. When I got to the top of the stairs he was across the hall in Stickman's room, playing with Porter.

What really confirmed my suspician was one day later that week when I had company but they didn't park in the driveway. Baby came home a few minutes after we did and I was taking a piss. From the hallway you can always tell if someone's in the bathroom- you can hear the fan and you can see light through the door. My friend told me after that he opened the door without knocking, looked surprised to see them, and then said he was looking for a Sharpie to borrow.

So, yeah, I like Baby, but he's a little sneak and that bothers me. I feel like I should visit with him more often, but since i don't trust him I figure, Why bother?


To be continued...

Journal

I've been keeping a journal since I was in high school. I ended up throwing away the first 5 years- it all sounded so dumb. I also threw away another big chunk so now what I have is some notebooks going back to 2005, plus some enries that I made on the computer.

Nowadays I always write on the computer. One problem is that a year ago I had to delete my hard drive and one whole year had to go. It didn't bother me because nothing had really happened. Nothing happens in my life; it's very boring. I guess I'm lucky. In fact, I know I'm lucky.

My family is, for the most part, happy and healthy, as am I. I'm in my mid-30s and both of my parents are still living. Plus I have an enjoyable job and a place to sleep and a little bit of money and I owe less than $300.

I wish, though, that my diary was more interesting (I almost went back and deleted "diary" and replaced it with "journal" but, why bother?).

Maybe I'll start making entries here at RJ Battles instead of on Microsoft Notepad. That'll force me to make them more interesting.

The reason that I've always kept a journal is because I wanted to preserve my memories. My goal was always to record events that happened so that I could go back and read the diary and instantly be brought back to that particular day. It hasn't worked.

So maybe this new way will be better. We'll see tomorrow.

"Lost in Translation"

I was reading Final Girl last night and saw her review of Battle Royale (2000). The name sounded familiar- where have I heard that recently? I know. Online I saw a clip of Quentin Tarentino listing his 20 favorite movies since 1992. Battle Royale was his top pick. He listed some other Japanese movies, including Audition, which Final Girl reviewed recently also. Plus, Boogie Nights, Speed, and The Matrix. A lot of his choice surprised me, especially Lost In Translation. I'll defend Sofia Coppola for The Godfather III, but I'm not crazy about her movies. The Virgin Suicides was good for what it was- it set a mood, which I consider one of the best things a movie can do, but I don't really like the mood that she set. Then there's Marie Antoinette- it doesn't do anything for me.

And then there's Lost In Translation. I'd seen parts of it before. It's just people lying in bed watching TV. That's what I do and I don't want to see that. Boring.

I'm 45 minutes into this movie, I keep waiting for it to wow me but I just wanna go to bed. Is this really a good movie? Really?

"Pumped Up Kicks"

"Pumped Up Kicks"
Foster The People

My friend Amy slept over last night and she woke up before I did so while I was laying in bed I heard some of the songs that were playing on whatever music station she had the TV turned to- probably VH1- and I heard this song and I love it.

It's so cool and so fucking catchy. I've been playing and replaying it on Youtube for the past half hour and I can't get enough of it. Check it out.

Corinne Bailey Rae "The Love EP"

The Love EP
Corinne Bailey Rae
Released: March 13, 2011

I wish more artists would do things like The Love EP. I love covers. Of course, my favorite thing is when musicians cover recent songs, like when Joss Stone recorded The White Stripes's "Fell in Love With a Girl", but I'll settle for an older song.

Here, Corinne Bailey Rae covers Prince, Wings, and Bob Marley, but most importantly, Belly. That was a surprise. Even more surprising was the song choice. It wasn't "Feed The Tree" or "Gepetto" or even "Judas My Heart". She chose "Low Red Moon", the slow, dark track that closes side one of Star.

"Low Red Moon" is the second track here, and it stands in sharp contrast to the song that opens the EP, Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover"

Here's the full tracklist:

1. I Wanna Be Your Lover
2. Low Red Moon
3. Is This Love
4. My Love
5 Que Sera, Sera

If you like Corinne Bailey Rae, or if your just interested in hearing new versions of these songs, then you should pick up The Love EP, it's a great CD.

David Fincher and flashlights

I've never seen this mentioned anywhere before, but David Fincher seems to be obsessed with flashlights. In Se7en there are some scenes of cops in dark rooms shining flashlights. In Panic Room, Kristen Stewart does Morse Code with a flashlight. Even in The Social Network there's a party scene towards the end where cops show up with flashlights. I'm pretty sure Zodiac had some flashlight scenes too- I can't remember. You can go back to David Fincher's early work- Aerosmith's video for "Janie's Got A Gun" has cops with flashlights searching a car.

Estelle Parsons

I was just watching the last 20 minutes of Dick Tracy. I remember I saw it when I was 14 and I had a really hard time following it.

Anyway, the credits rolled and I was looking over all the big names. When it came to the characte of Tess Trueheart's mother it said "Estelle Parsons".

Why does that name sound so familiar? I looked it up and now I know- Estelle Parsons was Beverly, Roseanne's mother on Roseanne.

Online, I noticed that Parsons starred was in Bonnie & Clyde and I'm thinking that's probably where she met Warren Beatty.

Estelle Parson's was great on Roseanne.

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club (1985) directed by John Hughes

A lot of people love John Hughes's movies from the 1980s. And for most people, their favorite is The Breakfast Club. I have a soft spot for those movies too, but my favorite is Weird Science- it's more of a sex comedy and it's very funny (we'll talk more about it some other time).

Anyway, The Breakfast Club was on yesterday and it had been a long time since I'd seen it all the way through so I watched it.

It was hard. The movie has some good scenes- it's like a well written play- but there are certain scenes that I can't even look at. I'm talking about those ridiculous 1985 dance scenes. They seemed out of place back when I saw TBC in the late 80s and now they just seem funny but not in a good way. How about when Emilio Estevez shouts and the glass shatters.

And speaking of glass shattering. Whenever I'm flipping around and happen to catch TBC at the beginning I always forget about the David Bowie quote. It's something from one of his older albums, Hunky Dorey maybe, and remember how the image acually shatters and the pieces fall away like it's a Friday the 13th title sequence?

I just can't take The Breakfast Club seriously. It's a total product of 1985. It's a shame when talented people try to be fashionable instead of trying to be timeless.

I'll say one good thing, though: I love the scene where Judd Nelson sticks his knife into a table or chair or something, and then when nobody's looking Ally Sheedy reaches over and steals it. Perfect. That's better than 10 shattering David Bowie quotes.