Romania Checks In

Although I'm not naive enough to think that it is just the "entertainment quality" of my writing which draws page views from around the world

(as evidenced by the fact that some of my more "popular" posts have borne titles such as "Eating Myself Out," "Things Could Explode Here," and "The Saturday Evening Post") yesterday saw a surge in traffic from Romania!

Romania	40
United States	21
Ukraine	7
Germany	2
Greece	2
Russia	2
France	1
United Kingdom	1
Mexico	1
Poland	1

It is nice to see that the Lidgleys of London apparently continue to look in. The current jigsaw puzzle that I am assembling depicts a house in Herefordshire, England, which I think is where the Lidgeleys hail from. Could it be their neighbors house?? "Herefordshire, England"   Two Days Off A Moving Experience   I took Sunday and Monday off from busking (and apparently from blogging) for "restorative" purposes. I spent Sunday making juice out of the fruits and vegetables which I had loaded up upon that morning at the Ideal Market on Broad Street, consuming them and staying away from alcohol and cigarettes. 6 Movies In 20 Years  Staying away at least until about midnight, when I made a run for cigarettes and a bottle of wine to go with the second of two movies which I wound up watching that day.   The movie, "Barry Lyndon" (Stanley Kubeck sp?) was on pause as I ran to the store and back, dodging skeezers, by traversing the opposite, or Spanish side of Broad Street.    They (the Latinos) sit on their stoops listening to their music, drinking their Corona, and asking not what I have and what they can get from me as I go past them; and the skeezers stay on the other side of the road.    Being recognized as a patron of the Ideal Market (and one who makes his best attempt at speaking to them in their native tongue when in there) has garnered me a few nods, a wave or two and at least a smile, as I pass, unmolested despite having a cigarette in plain view.   Ideal Market (left): The cleanest, most efficiently organized and well stocked store, run by hard workers, that I have ever been inside of, and that anyone has ever parked a white van in front of;  ruining a photo.   These bring to 6 the total of movies that I have watched in the past 20 years.   I never owned a TV throughout that period (and if I did, I would just watch Late Night With David Letterman, in black and white, and then snap the set off before the ensuing newscast sucked me in and usurped my time) and I never went to the movie theater, never visited a friend to sit down and watch a movie, and when I was in jail, I would read in my cell while the bulk of other inmates watched movies in the common room. When I did poke me head out and glance at the screen, all I seemed to see were explosions and gunplay; so I never thought I was missing anything.   Having not watched a movie in 19 years ("Waterworld," 1996) I was impressed by the high quality of the picture, and noticed that the shock value has generally been vamped up; whereby, now there are huge bloody scenes of carnage, whereas, when I was a kid, a simple murder in a small town (which was only implied by showing the killers shoes treading across a squeaky wooden floor, and then a pealing scream) was enough fodder for suspense...   I have watched "Barry Lyndon," "A Fist Full of Dynamite," "Momento," and "Kill Bill vol. 2" and have hit the reject button on a couple, to include "Last Tango In Paris," which actually gave me my first glimpse of Marlon Brando. He is lauded enough that I had heard of him, and I could kind of see what all the fuss is about, during the 20 minutes that I watched; but I couldn't deal with it being in French, especially after having already wracked my brain ordering foods such as lampara entera (whole tillapia) at the Ideal Market.   "Momento," I watched twice, both because I didn't grasp the plot the first time, and because it was intriguing enough that I wanted to grasp the plot.   The movies have been coming from Tim, my Unity caseworker, who brings them to me on a data stick. This could be part of a larger cosmic plan to turn me into a screenplay writer (who composes the music for the soundtrack, also) some day.   I don't know if this means that I am going to start to watch movies; I have really just discovered them; but I really couldn't wait to see the conclusion of the movie that was on pause, as I went along Canal Street with my bottle of Irish Rose wine; and I even broke into a jog...