Chamblee54

This repost is Part Three of a book report series. The topical text is Hollywood, by Charles Bukowski/Hank Chinaski. The book is a semi-fictional account of making Barfly. Other parts of this series are available. one two four five Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
22 – I finally broke down, and cheated. The Hollywood (Bukowski novel) wikipedia page is the decoder ring, to see who the fictional names are. The technical name is Roman-à-Clef, even when nom de guerre is more accurate. It turns out that the producers are not Harvey Weinstein/Orion. BF was produced by the Cannon Group. Cannon/Firepower seems to be as crooked and devious as Orion … an occupational hazard of show business.
23 – Hank and Sarah go back to the ghetto, to visit Jon and François. Life is lots of fun. People sneak into the crawl space. They will knock on the floor, and let the residents know they’re there. After a live demonstration for Hank and Sarah, François started cussing out the crawlers. François is a French actor named Steve Baës. He’s one of the best characters in the story, yet does not have a Wikipedia page. At the end of chapter 23, Jon Pinchot gets a phone call from the crooks. The picture has been cancelled again. All’s fair in hate and Hollywood.
24 – Pinchot decided on a plan. He’s gonna go see the producers. He will threaten to cut off his little finger if he doesn’t get his way. Hank doesn’t think this is a very good plan. You need your little finger for typing a. Pinchot says that he never types a. He may be a type a, but he never types a.
This reminds me of a story. Paul was on the payroll, allegedly as a salesman. Most of the time he was in the office, looking at the accountants. One day, our store manager wrote a message on the white board. “Clean the head, Jim.” Jim was a driver. I went to the white board, erased Jim, and wrote in Paul. When he saw this, Paul got mad. “I shouldn’t have to clean the bathroom, I never use it.”
I am moving this production into the living room. There’s a nice comfy chair here. Take the mouse, book, and pink glasses to the living room. Since cataract surgery, I’ve been dependent on reading glasses. Every time I go to the dollar store, I pick up another pair. Every pair that I get is a little bit tackier than the one before. The latest one is flamingo pink. It is going to be tough to get something tackier than flamingo pink. All things are possible in a world without God.
There was a twitter notification. I made a comment about the instability of calling human ivermectin “horse dewormer.” There was a reply. This is what you expect from the kool aid drinkers who believe everything that Rachel Maddow says. @chamblee54 What about corporate media labeling a safe drug like ivermectin as horse dewormer? ~ “safe drug” 1) with a common side effect of causing you to shed your intestines? 2) that is known to cause kidney failure? 3) that available data does not show is effective against COVID-19? They’re labeling it horse dewormer because that’s what too many idiots are ingesting ~ “context needed” ~ Context: If someone eats a product sold to deworm horses, calling it horse dewormer is accurate. If someone refuses to take a proven safe/effective vaccine, but willingly shits their intestines out after eating horse dewormer, they are in fact an idiot. Context supplied.
25 – Hank and Pinchot have a meeting with a lawyer named Zach Nick. Pinchot brought his Black and Decker saw, and he repeatedly threatens to cut his little finger off. The lawyer gives him the contract, then deletes one of the chapters. Pinchot says it has too many ambiguities. Hank asks Zach Nick if he’s read anything of his. His daughter read Cesspool Dreams. Surely that’s a fake name, even if Cesspool Dreams is tasteful by Hank Chinaski standards. The meeting finally ends. Zach Nick says the practice of law gets stranger all the time.
26 – Hank is in movie production hell, again. He’s going to work on “the poem” now. There isn’t much money in the poem, but it sure was a big playground to flounder around in. It seems like Hank signed a contract years ago. It gives somebody else the rights to the character of Hank Chinaski. Now, they can’t make this movie. Hank gets on the phone with his old buddy, who’s somehow connected to the guy that owns the rights to Hank. He gives Hank a release, and the movie is on again
27 – The movie is back with the Canon Group. Now they’re having problems with actors. Francine Bowers got sick, and it’s gonna have to be out for a couple of weeks. Mickey Rourke has to have a Rolls Royce limousine. Some of his buddies are gonna get up on the hood of the Rolls, and do shots, and pound all kinds of insecurities into the hood. They’re gonna be moving into a hotel, with a bunch of real barflies … is barf short for barflies? I always thought that barf was short for bar food, especially after eating some. Of course, some of the barflies are nasty to eat, so maybe barf does mean barflies. The Bay Area Radical Faeries should be ashamed.
I really do need to see this movie. I did a multi-part book report for Catch 22 a while back. I had seen the movie Catch 22, when it first came out. C22, a so-so flick, did not turn out to be a hit. I saw C22 in this old theater that smelled like a popcorn machine. Margaret Mitchell was trying to cross Peachtree Street, to get to this theater, when she was run over by a taxicab.
A facebook friend posted an item. ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ merchandise at Alaska exchange crossed AAFES’ line on vulgarity “In the days leading up to Christmas, a temporary vendor at the exchange … sold wooden bear figurines fashioned to resemble former President Donald Trump and holding signs reading, “Let’s Go Brandon.” … The foot-tall bears sported long red ties and slicked-back blond hair in Trump fashion. … “Let’s Go Brandon” serves as code for some who oppose Joe Biden’s presidency. Pro-Trump crowds routinely chant the phrase during rallies, and it now adorns T-shirts, hats, coffee mugs and a host of other merchandise popular with conservatives.”
28 – They’re starting on the movie. Filming is in this old beat up hotel in Los Angeles. One of the rooms they’re using, in the movie, is a room that Hank lived in. They’ve hired some of the degenerates living in the hotel, to work as extras on the movie. The hotel is gonna be torn down for some commercial venture. The residents don’t know where they will go.