This and That

This is going to be another substance-lite collection of random thoughts. Sorry. Over the weekend I read in full a book I bought for my silent cinema course some years back (but I don't think we were ever assigned any readings from it!) ... Paolo Cherchi-Usai's superb Silent Cinema: An Introduction. Today I skimmed through Cherchi-Usai's The Death of Cinema, a fascinating book in its own right, I think. Whenever I'm able to purchase books regularly again, I think this will be one of the first film books I pick up. (By the way, have any readers read the recent book of a conversation between Godard and the Egyptian--or Palestinian?--critic?)

The Méliès films were shown at Anthology this past weekend, weren't they? Too bad I was out of town and had to miss them, because Cherchi-Usai's book has sparked an interest in looking at some silent films (on film) and I want to scratch that itch.

Last night on the subway I saw a curious pair. They were two high school boys (maybe--maybe--they were young college students) who were decked out in a carefully studied neo-retro look and sat next to each other. And I do mean "carefully studied" ... this isn't the don't-think-about-it-and-let-your-hair-grow-out-too look that marks the appearance of some people (like, um, myself). This was a planned plundering of subtle sartorial affectations from the years before and after 1980, including some shaggy rocker hairstyles with that just cut look. Anyway, the taller blond kid was sitting slouched in his seat, legs far out, staring at the floor. The shorter, dark-haired guy was sitting back straight and legs bent underneath his seat, his upright face gazing into the nothingness right in front of them. Neither moved for the handful of stops I shared a subway ride with them and a few other passengers. When their stop came, the tall one stepped in front of the short one, crossing his path, to go to the door at the front of the car, and the short one zipped to the door in the middle of the car, (effectively making a curvy X path, going to the doors on the side where the other person was closer). On the platform they eventually caught up to each other, standing just outside of reaching distance from one another, glazed gazes still plastered on their faces, not talking, not acknowledging each other. What were these two guys? Brothers who don't get along but share a wardrobe and go to the same concerts? A young gay couple having an awkward fight early in their relationship? I was just really inspired by the possibility of a telepathic link between them ...