Portnoy's Complaint - Philip Roth

I finished reading today Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth. It is one of the funniest books I ever read. Almost plot-less it is interesting enough to grip you. The story is a long psychoanalysis session in which Alex Portnoy “deals” with his obsession with sex, traumatic relationship with his over-worried parents, Jewish identity, inability to sustain meaningful relationship with women, Diaspora vs. Israel amongst many others issues!

“The legend engraved on the face of the Jewish nickel– on the body of every Jewish child!– not IN GOD WE TRUST, but SOMEDAY YOU'LL BE A PARENT AND YOU'LL KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE”

"American society [...] not only sanctions gross and unfair relations among men, but it encourages them. Now, can that be denied? No. Rivalry, competition, envy, jealousy, all that is malignant in human character is nourished by the system. Possession, money, property--on such corrupt standards as these do you people measure happiness and success."

"Dreams? If only they had been! But I don't need dreams, Doctor, that's why I hardly have them—because I have this life instead. With me it all happens in broad daylight!"

According to Wikipedia, this novel published in 1969 caused a great deal of controversy given its direct treatment of sexuality and numerous and detailed references to masturbation.

It is the second novel I read by Roth with the first being Indignation. Indignation is also quite clever in the sense that it is narrated by a dead person telling the last years of his life. There are common themes with PC (growing up in a Jewish family, trouble rapport with parents, love for baseball). It was also quite an engaging read but I enjoyed PC more as it showed me again that books can be entertaining, inspiring, thought-provoking but also very funny. I will certainly try to read more by Philip Roth in the future.

Across the Overpass - The Solids

In the final scene of the film Strictly Sexual there is a lovely song in the background.

It's as simple as this, here it is
Couldn't spell it out more clearly
There's only today, and the freeway,
And the pain that keeps you near me

The animation, of sinking souls,
Strung along a telephone pole
It's easy to miss

You could circle the earth
The universe
We're shadowed in the same light
It's coming undone
So you run
While I'm circling the drainpipe

An invitation to just forget
Well I'm not finished yet, I got big plans

Cut off the table, hon and do the math
Washed out and faded like a photograph
And I spell out your name across the overpass
It's as simple as that

It's as simple as this
What I miss, I will carry to the last day
Deliver my spark
Through the dark
To the angels in the ashtray
Saturation of hopeless need
But as the asphalt bleeds
Curtains rise and

Someday you'll find me standing in your path
Whether deep in the background of some photograph
And you'll see your name scrawled across the overpass
It's as simple as that

Simple's hard enough now anyway
Simple's hard enough now anyway

Someday you'll find me standing in your path
Somewhere deep in the background of some photograph
And you'll see your name scrawled across the overpass
Someday you'll find me standing in your path
Somewhere deep in the background of some photograph
And you'll see your name scrawled across the overpass
It's as simple as that
Simple's hard enough now anyway
Simple's hard enough now anyway
Simple's hard enough now anyway
Simple's hard enough now anyway........

(thanks lyricsmania!)

This song is by The Solids, a Californian band now composed by Carter Bays (vocals and guitar), Craig Thomas (drums), Pat Butler (bass) and Phil Wen (guitar). Nothing remarkable so far: a rock band that makes good songs (see myspace).

However, what it is remarkable is that Bays and Thomas are the creators of “How I Met Your Mother”, one of my all time favourites TV series (whose song “Hey Beautiful”  is also by The Solids).

Ps: maybe for a future post, people with talent for different activities (such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, football player that when retired were great managers such as Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cryuff, athletes being outstanding in different disciplines) and people with an amazing talent for one thing that failed trying a different one (for instance, Michael Jordan).

Strictly Sexual

By chance I came across this film (Strictly Sexual). The comments I saw on internet about it mentioned a film that was much more than a movie about sex. And they were right: this is a romantic-comedy much more interesting than any rom-com you can watch. Here is the trailer:

I liked it a lot. And it made me remember other American indie movies that I enjoyed very much (Sideways, About Schmidt, Little Miss Sunshine, Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Juno) and how much more I like this sort of cinema over the typical Hollywood stuff.

Bonus track: reading on the movie in IMDB I learnt that the script-writer is one of the leading characters who said something really interesting and encouraging: “"There has never been a better time to be an indie filmmaker. If you have a story to tell, you can grab a digital video camera, get your actor friends together, and make a movie... Just work hard and put your heart into it”. The budget for this movie was US$ 100,000!

Messi and his passing abilities

When Lionel Messi started playing professional football his critics pointed to the fact that he only stood out due to his dribbling and raw speed. Moreover, he was regarded as no more than a winger. In time, he showed that he was more complete than suggested starting to produce assits, scoring all sorts of goals (left-footed, right-footed, remarkably with the chest and even headers!!!) and playing a false center-forward making plays for himself and his team-mates. This video shows this then-undervalued aspect of his game: his ability to produce assits which is on par with the best in this aspect of the game (Xavi, Riquelme, Ozil, Rooney, Guti).

Whilst he was regarded as "just a winger", I believed Messi would finish his career as a play maker behind a stricker similar to Michael Laudrup. As it is usual when considering Lio, time caught up impressively fast.