So I’ve been sick and feverish and both weird and wierd and watching a lot of daytime TV. Anything to make the time pass. Reality show knock-offs on obscure cable channels. “So You Think You Can Stand,” for example. I have so shame.
So I fell in love all over again with Aaron Sorkin’s “West Wing.” Jeez, what a good show. Sharp writing, camera movement like Robert Altman’s, rapid fire dialogue. Watching it always made me feel better. And its excellence served to remind me that a couple of things I was working on were just crap. Maybe fever burns away the delusionary bullshit that is usually made palatable by nine-year old bourbon?
Illness is not always a bad thing. Alternative doctors especially say, “Well, your body just needed some time away from whatever has been bothering it.” Could be true. And one of my favorite novels — “The Moviegoer” — was written by a young medical student who contracted TB before he could start a practice. As he recovered, he started to write, something he was clearly meant to do, anyway.
I tried, by the way, to keep up with the sonnet-a-day assignment but couldn’t after “fever” rhymed with “Leave It to Beaver” and then with “cleaver.” I really didn’t like the direction that was going.
RK
I had something like Ebola just before the last winter residency and watched three seasons of West Wing and had a similar experience. I also thought maybe Josh Lyman would come and save me from all of this, but when I got well I discovered that he was fictional. Wierd.
I've seen "So You Think You Can Stand!" It's on right after that new Ric Ocasek vehicle, "Dancing with The Cars."
One of my favorite West Wing scenes is when Josh Lyman finds Toby playing pool at the pub. Josh: "I thought you were supposed to be writing the speech." Toby: Rattles off several pithy sentences worth of great soundbyte. Then says, "Pencils are for wimps."
If only, if only our minds could do it all. I haven't found a show I like as much as West Wing. Trying to move and recover from building a house, I got hooked on Mad Men dvd's – terrific writing and acting. You want to feel better about a rejection? Watch a few shows. Their ads get slammed every day and the women have no sense about men . . . Go to bed, Claire. Tomorrow it's back to writing.