beta hopscouch

Been battling food-poisoning over the weekend, watching the tube through barely cracked lids. Grateful now that we have cable, as I cannot move from the couch without the greatest of deliberation. Though all two hundred-plus channels melt under an aching body fever that grows worse with the radiators on at full-blast, not to mention that any water poured onto my stomach evacuates.

Trying to catchup on my Curb and Sopranos viewing, I keep mixing up Larry David and Tony Soprano, remembering them hitting each other's marks. As if Richard Lewis wouldn't ever be at Ba Da Bings or Jeff wouldn't be down with Sylvio, too. Seeing the Public Enemy and Anthrax collab makes me tear up for no reason; watching Metal Mania on Classic VH, I cannot begin fathom as to why Salughter's "Up All Night" features this flanged choir singing "America the Beautiful" at the very end. Something to do with that patriotic image of women with wet hair, I presume. The only thing I can recall about L.A. Confidential now is that it has a hooker with a heart of gold. And retroactive from watching Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol, I keep seeing Kevin Spacey in the roles of Baynes. Surely there must be a remake in the works.

Growing slightly more lucid, I watch Walter Matthau in Hopscotch. While one has to wonder how such hatred of Ned Beatty's face can fuel Matthau's revenge (which entails writing a tell-all about the spy trade, setting off both CIA and KGB manhunts), who knew that punchlines about "the Hilton" could still resonate in the 21st century, or that strains within the FBI and CIA would be glimpsed even in an 80's comedy (Beatty's acronym for the FBI is "Fucking ball-busting imbeciles." So Tenet-like, n'est-pas?) I am envious of Matthau's writing habits, to say the least. Waking up to some Puccini and Rossini in a silk robe as he cranks out chapter after chapter would make any writer envious (maybe a portrait of Ned Beatty by the typewriter would help). And let's not forget the tossed-off line about national security: "Yeah, that's a phrase that lost a good deal of meaning lately."