The Writer's Life 5/19

The results are in - I paid $42 for 100 shares of Facebook, $300 less than I was willing to lay out. So if it craps out I stand to lose $4208 in my retirement account, which won't make a difference in my life. It's acceptable risk. I am expecting the stock to lose at least half its value, as I believe the overall market is headed for a big dip, finally surrendering to the fact that the European economy is a disaster. And if the Democrats retake power in November, I think stocks prices will really dive. Hope I'm wrong. Rich Lowry devoted his op-ed piece, syndicated in the NY Post, to Facebook, dubbing largely useless, a fad that might be supplanted by the next big thing. While reading I got to wondering - hoping - that FB will be the Seinfeld of stocks. One of the most successful series in TV history, it famously lampooned itself as being about "nothing."

I hadn't dreamed of a certain someone in a while. I awoke to the pleasant thought that we were married and had adopted a boy. When I fell back asleep the dream shifted gears to a post-apocalyptic world where massive re-construction was taking place. There was an element of shame to it whose meaning has eluded me. Having read Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, I always think back to events (clues) of the day before that triggered the dream. The only one I could pinpoint was the film Drive (2011), which I watched last night courtesy of Netflix. In it, Ryan Gosling sort of adopts a boy whose dad is in prison. The story takes an ultra-violent turn. The most interesting aspect for me was the casting of Albert Brooks (real name Einstein) as a vicious gangster. What a contrast to his madcap stand up bits in the 70's as an incompetent ventriloquist and a guy selling a kit that teaches one how to imitate Curly of The Three Stooges. Drive is not for the squeamish. Screenwriter Hossein Amini and director Nicolas W. Refn pull no punches. It is based on a novel by James Sallis. I was not familiar with Refn's previous nine films. On a scale of five, I rate it three-and-a-half. The folks at IMDb rate it 8.0 out of ten.

My thanks to Mary Ann, so enamored with Killing that she took a chance on A Hitch in Twilight, and to Jack of Chase Bank, who not only donated 17 books but bought three, refusing to take them as a less than fair exchange. The best part of the session was the reappearance, after a two month absence, of Bad News Billy, whose pre-teen grand-daughter is driving him nuts. It looks like she will be attending summer school - and guess who will be driving her every day? Grandpa was kind enough to buy all but two of the VHS tapes I had on display, which include two Red Skelton compilations he can't wait to watch. Thanks, my friend.