pic·a·resque [pik-uh-resk]
–adjective
1. Of or relating to a genre of usually satiric prose fiction originating in Spain and depicting in realistic, often humorous detail the adventures of an engagingly roguish hero of low social degree living by his or her wits in a corrupt society described in a series of usually humorous or satiric episodes: picaresque novel; picaresque hero.
n. One that is picaresque.
2. of, pertaining to, or resembling rogues.
—Synonyms 2. prankish, rascally, devilish, raffish.
Of or involving clever rogues or adventurers.
[French, from Spanish picaresco, from pÃcaro, picaro; see picaro.]
"The Artist, the free-flyer, the person that dares to be mad can always go back to that madness. You cannot corner that person. That person has an instrument, has a piece of paper, has a pencil, has two dollars worth of dime store paint, has some sand on the beach... That person can always go for Truth. You cannot corner that person. You can lock them in solitary and they'll scratch it on the wall, and if you cut off their hands, they will scratch in in their mind."
- Wulf Zendik
"To journey is to be born and die each minute. Perhaps somewhere in the vague recesses of our minds we perceive parallels between this series of dissolving views and our human life. All the elements of life are in constant flight from us, with darkness and clarity intermingled, the vision and the eclipse; we look and hasten, reaching out our hands to clutch; every happening is a bend in the road...and suddenly we have grown old. We have a sense of shock and gathering darkness; ahead is a black doorway; the life that bore us is a flagging horse, and a veiled stranger is waiting in the shadows to unharness it."
-Victor Hugo
"Two gallons is a great deal of wine, even for two paisanos. Spiritually the jugs may be graduated thus: Just below the shoulder of the first bottle, serious and concentrated conversation. Two inches farther down, sweetly sad memory. Three inches more, thoughts of old and satisfactory loves. An inch, thoughts of old and bitter loves. Bottom of the first jug, general and undirected sadness. Shoulder of the second jug, black, unholy despondency. Two fingers down, a song of death or longing. A thumb, every other song each one knows. The graduations stop here, for the trail splits and there is no certainty. From this point on anything can happen."
-John Steinbeck, Tortilla Flat
Put a dead cat on the railroad tracks when the wolf bains blooming by the tressel. And get the eyeball of a rooster, and the stones from a ditch, and wash 'em down with bilge water and say you'll never snitch. Take the buttons from a yellow jacket, the feather from a buzzard and the blood from a bounty hunter's cold black heart. Catch the tears of a widow in a thimble made of glass. Tell your mama and papa they can kiss your ass. Poison all the water in the wishin' well and hang all them scarecrows from a sycamore tree. Burn down all those honeymoons, put 'em in a pillow case and wait next to the switch blades at the amusement park for me. Strangle all the christmas carols, scratch out all the prayers, tie 'em up with barbed wire and push them down the stairs. And I'll whittle you a pistol for keeping nightmares off your blinds. Those sunabitches always seem to sneak up from behind. Syphon all the gas from your daddy's pickup truck, fill up johnny's t-bird, I got a couple of bucks. Put on a little perfume and ribbon in your hair, careful that you dont wake up the hounds. Tear a bolt of lightning off the side of the sky and throw it in a cedar chest, if you want, I'll tell you why. Bring the gear shift knob from a 49 Merc and lie down here beside me, let me hold you in the dirt. And you're gonna tremble. Tear the throat out of the night. Sink your teeth into my shoulder. Dig your nails into my back. Tell that little girl to let go of my sleeve -- You'll be a woman when I catch you. Come, baby, fall in love with me. Then with my double barrel shotgun, and a whole box of shells we'll celebrate the 4th of July.
We'll do 100 mph spendin' someone else's dough.
And we'll drive all the way to Reno on the wrong side of the road.
Whatever was I THINKING when I put The Biddy Bums 8th???
For shame. BiddyBumsBiddyBumsBiddyBums, Massive Attack, Tori Amos, Ani DiFranco, Tom Waits, The Smiths, This Mortal Coil, Smashing Pumpkins (pre-crazy Billy), Tom Petty, Modest Mouse, The Biddy Bums, NIN, Violent Femmes, Portishead, Fischerspooner, Billy Idol, Pink Floyd, ABBA, Social Distortion, The Biddy Bums, The Faint, bla, bla, bla...
V for Vendetta, Nochnoi Dozor (Night Watch), Down by Law, The Big Lebowski, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, High Fidelity, Royal Tenenbaums, Lost Highway, Zoolander, Garden State, High Spirits, True Romance, Edward Scissorhands, Requiem for a Dream, Reality Bites, Bram Stoker's Dracula
No thanks.
Wuthering Heights, Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Generation X, The Stand, Mr. Strange and Mr. Norell, Rules of Attraction, anything Jane Austen, Sam Shepard, Da Vinci Code, Anne Rice, Wycherly, Douglas Coupland I don't know, it's hard to remember everything I've liked. Oh! and The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau which I'm reading right now. After seeing V for Vendetta I thought I'd finally bust it out, and it's shocking how poignant it is almost 300 years after the fact. Brilliantly observant. It should be mandatory reading in every high school (with our government, yeah right) but I can't believe how long we've known how things should be, just for some reason something distracts us...
Dustin Hoffman. I ushered for Inside the Actor's Studio and got to hear him speak in person for 5 1/2 hrs. Yeah. From 7:30pm to 1am -- and I didn't want him to stop. Listening to him was like going to theatre church. He completely revived in me my faith in what I'm doing. I bow down to Priest Hoffman. Aannnndd...
Ellen Burstyn, which is actually funny b/c I saw her the same night Dustin Hoffman was on stage, she's one of the chairs (or something) for The Actor's Studio so she was there for their 200th guest. She's just... ahh! I can't even say. -- She is just a phenomenal actress.
Oh yeah, & I'm panned to in Hoffman's Studio interview -- I realized this just recently after my mom showed me the show. I wrote the previous Ode de Hoffman before this knowledge, but now I can say the Master & I have shared screen time... ;)