Page-turner

Various people kept telling me to read a trilogy of books called The Hunger Games.  They were supposedly about a post-apocalyptic world in which the Capitol of 12 districts demands a tribute of two children from each one to do battle to the death in a public arena.  I was dubious- maybe it's because it's so taboo to show the murder of a child on TV, but their battling to the death seemed really unrealistic.  Now I am obsessed.  The books are so well-written, so fast-paced, I stayed up through the night to read the second one. 

Now I am on the third and final book, and I was thinking about how the author, Suzanne Collins, must have come up with this idea.  I don't think it is giving anything away to say that it almost seems to be modeled on the story in Casablanca- the love triangle, the oppressive occupation of the districts, the rebellious spirit of the people.  The Capitol Peacekeepers have all the qualities of Nazis to me, so maybe that's why a story that sounds so fantastical in a two-sentence description actually reads quite realistically.  Whatever it is, I highly suggest that you pick up a copy.

LXX
(from The Book of Questions)

What forced labor
does Hitler do in hell?

Does he paint walls or cadavers?
Does he sniff the fumes of the dead?

Do they feed him the ashes
of so many burnt children?

Or, since his death, have they given him
blood to drink from a funnel?

Or do they hammer into his mouth
the pulled gold teeth?

-Pablo Neruda

The Waste Land

I mentioned the other day that my neighborhood sometimes resembles the Gaza Strip.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

 

But then if I stand on my roof and turn slightly to the left, I see this:

 

And if I turn even further and tilt my head up I see this 

I was thinking about perspectives.  When I'm up on the roof, you can usually tell how I'm feeling about things/life at that moment by which direction I'm facing.

The urban palm tree view makes me feel inconsequential when I look out there and think about how many people are in this city.  Then I realize that I can't see any of them from where I stand so I imagine it's a post-apocalyptic neighborhood.  No matter how bad a problem I might be facing at the moment, there could always be zombies or flesh eating viruses that wipe us out.  Things are looking up! 

If I have writer's block, I like to sit on the top of the steps that lead to the roof and face the Hollywood sign.  I try to get past the horrible conventionalism of it and focus on the idea behind the sign.  Then I immediately flash to Pretty Woman where the guy in the street is yelling, "Everybody who comes to Hollywood's got a dream.  What's your dream?" Then I wish that I could write Pretty Woman.

If it's just a really gorgeous day out like most days in LA, I might take a beach chair up and face the sun.  I will open the latest issue of Bon Appetit magazine and I will plot ways to cook an enormous green tomato. 

Today, well, you're getting a limerick so guess which direction I'm facing.

Ode to the Spider I Killed Last Night

You're the second one I've seen so far.
As big as the freakin' Death Star.
Though your game was well-played,
you were foiled with Raid.
Yet I still wonder where all your friends are.