TNY weekend reader: the “real” thing
(image: carolita johnson)
Jane Mayer’s piece, “Whatever it takes,” about the television series (which I love), “24” and its rather twisted creator, Joel Surnow, addresses the suspected effects of the show on the American public, but fails to address the possibility that people who allow a fictional (verging on action comics) television show to influence their convictions on the subject of torture and human rights are in need of psychological observation, and certainly not fit to govern or work in the military:
Laura Ingraham, the talk-radio host, has cited the show’s popularity as proof that Americans favor brutality. “They love Jack Bauer,†she noted on Fox News. “In my mind, that’s as close to a national referendum that it’s O.K. to use tough tactics against high-level Al Qaeda operatives as we’re going to get.â€
Let’s hope addled minds like Laura Ingraham are not common in Washington. Because my appreciaton of the show is proof that I like a good suspense thriller on a Monday night, and not of any belief that torture is an effective means of extracting truth from a terrorist. If only it were.
Richard Brody’s title to his review of the Robert Mitchum DVD collection should get an award of some kind: “The Credible Hulk.”
Kate Julian quotes “The Third Man” on Switzerland’s contribution to the world in her Tables for Two on the Swiss eatery “Trestle on Tenth,” which seems a cruel generalization. So here’s another, positive one: I think the Swiss compensate for their dull history with the most considerate and consistently pleasant lovers, as generally agreed amongst the people who have experienced them. And the country itself inspires such amusing theses as my friend, Juan, once presented, proving that Geneva does not actually exist.
Tessa Hadley’s “The Swan” is a nice variation on the spouse-gone-awry template, injected with with a feeling of senselessness that for some reason reminded me of “Straw Dogs,” although there was no violent gang in it. It was as if the gang had been internalized, somehow. See if you agree.
Meanwhile, David Sedaris continues to force himself to do odd things in order to write humorously and without perjuring himself about them: this time, using yellow water from a flower vase to make his coffee, and possibly using chicken broth to shave, and champagne to flush the toilet, in “The way we are.” I believe this is a cry for help from darkest Normandy. The best part of the story is the blast from the past, leading to the reflections on sexuality and traditional roles.
February 18th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
I could have sworn I spent a few disoriented hours, early Saturday evening, in between reading about “yellow vase water” and reading my (lately arrived) issue and realizing it was yellow water from a vase of unspecified color. Where did I see that? Yellow vase water? Did you update this?
Again, I love serious Sedaris. Pyncheon’s Against the Day feels like sitting in the houses of people who want to to know “Which one’s the man?” Ug, ug, ug.
February 18th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
I may have updated, since a phrase like “yellow vase water” might have bothered me upon rereading (water from a yellow vase? or yellow water from a vase?). I reserve the right to update at will, just so you know! That’s the joy of blogging.
I love Sedaris, but I think he’s pushing it lately. For some reason he feels obliged to be more outrageous than he apparently is. There’s nothing wrong with domestic bliss, even if “happy love has no story”, and we all know it takes a mature writer to be able to continue being interesting when s/he’s happy. I think he’s in transition. So if he wants to make himself ill drinking water from a vase so he can say he did it, for a laugh, I don’t think it’s a crime! I’m just not going to stand by and not say something! Perhaps for his own good!
And of course, I don’t have to dislike someone in order to have issue with something they wrote. (I received my literary education in France, not in the land of “you’re with me or against me”!)
I think it’s time to import a bit of that kind of magnanimous attitude.
And hey, people ask that “which one’s the man” of heterosexual couples all the time without realizing it. We’re all idiots in that respect. It’s a rare bird that isn’t. It’s equal opportunity bigotry, really!
February 19th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Just so; people are always asking “which one’s the man,” period. And it is so tiresome.
When I say “I love serious Sedaris” it has nothing to do with a person, everything to do with serious themes handled Sedaris-style . . . and I would never imagine that you had anything personal against any stunts a writer might or might not pull.
It’s odd though, I laughed the hardest at “hardscrabble pioneer woman” and the bit about, I think, milling one’s own flour or whatever. A writer wouldn’t have to pull any stunts for these allusions (to real or fictional or metaphoric figures/actions) to be funny . . .
February 19th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Exactly! I think Sedaris is a good writer, and should bank on his writing skills more than on coming up with whacky exploits. All his previous whackiness came naturally and led to the stories. I realize a lot of people think they need to be miserable or in financial hardship in order to be creative, but I think that’s bunk. That’s like saying life doesn’t provide enough problems, and that you can actually run out of them and need to go shopping for more!
February 26th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Hi Carolita:
Re: Third Man/ Switzerland reference. I don’t know if any New Yorker fact checker caught this, or even cared, but Welles said in a long-ago interview that the Swiss never made cuckoo clocks-they are made in Austria, at least at the time he wrote and filmed his speech for the Carol Reed film, one of my favorites.
March 1st, 2007 at 4:00 am
I only know of cuckoo clocks made in the Black Forest, which is in Germany. (And in the Far East, of course…)