James McNally – Page 203 – Consolation Champs

Literary Aspirations

Another gem unearthed at Paul Ford’s place.

Spoon Photos

I added some excellent photos to my Spoon interview, courtesy of Thadd Day, who’s making a documentary about the band. More details as they are available.

Brooke and I saw Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra last night. I’m not a big jazz fan, but I’m glad Brooke impulsively ordered the tickets. I enjoyed the show a lot, but as always, found the jazz musician’s habit of sitting around looking bored waiting for his next solo annoying. The only performer who really seemed into things for the entire show, apart from Marsalis, was the drummer, Herlin Riley, who was excellent. When he finally soloed in the second to last piece, there was a collective whoop from the audience.

So Long, Jack

One of my favourite actors is gone. Jack Lemmon, maybe the finest comedic actor of his generation, died last night. And although I didn’t find out about it until this morning, someone found my site last night about 9:30 by asking Google: “What kind of cancer did Jack Lemmon die of?” I find that sort of creepy.

Sensitive Masculinity

“There’s something so wounding about growing up a boy, especially a broken-hearted sensitive boy stuck in a tough-guy demographic with no fine words for his finer feelings.”

Caterina, eloquent as ever, explores sensitive masculinity. How did I make it through adolescence and young manhood with my sensitivity intact? I wrote lots of poetry, most bad, some good. I saw a lot of serious films and read a lot of serious books, and talked seriously with my closest friends about them. I made a lot of girl friends (usually with the objective of removing that space between the words) who were able to help me hone my listening skills. And I kept a journal. Essential survival tactics. One has to train oneself to articulate feelings or else those feelings stop coming.