ok i just watched another david mamet film: Olleana, with william h. macy. and it's all dialogue and it's all MAMET dialogue, at that. it's not realistic in the least. it's this consistently-intellectual jargon for nearly an hour and a half straight.. a few movings around, a few sips of tea and what have you (see then you talk like this for a few hours after) but really just a play (and it was based on a play, of course written by mamet) and there is the most immense amount of INTERRUPTIONS. that's practically all the first half hour was, an interruption of someone speaking every other second. and phone conversations. because mamet loves the dynamics of phone-acting. it's that one-sidedness. but it was this ridiculous spectacle and i'm almost at a loss, i don't know what to do with myself after i see one of his films. they send me in a frenzy that i can't verbalize. my mind races when i'm following the dialogue.. these interruptions.. you know at least these were interruptions that had something to do with the conversation at hand. i have this problem with people, mostly my dad and my brother, where i'll be speaking and they'll just start talking out of nowhere, in the middle of my speaking, about a subject that has nothing to do with what i was talking about. imagine this:

dad: this is wrong, grammatically
me: well that's what i was thinking, i kept thinking that there was something wrong with th-
dad: jordan, do we need to cut your hair?

and i just stand there and stare blankly and i'm in absolute SHOCK that these people could have such a lack of consideration. but it's not just for inane things like that, see, it's for things that i care about. i'll be talking about something i CARE ABOUT and they'll do something like that. i swear to god i don't understand people. am i alone in the world? am i the only one paying attention to the needs of people? if i ever interrupt any of you, you have my permission to smack me in the face. what nerve! and it still happens! even after i talk to them about it. they still do it! so does this mean what i say isn't important to them? well half the time, i'm sure, but still - STILL. goddamn consideration, is all. common decency.

and here's how vonnegut ties into all of this..

from Slapstick or Lonesome No More!:
"I have had some experiences with love, or think I have, anyway, although the ones I have liked best could easily be described as 'common decency'. I treated somebody well for a little while, or maybe even for a tremendously long time, and that person treated me well in turn. Love need not have had anything to do with it.
Also: I can not distinguish between the love I have for people and the love I have for dogs.
When a child, and not watching comedians on film or listening to comedians on the radio, I used to spend a lot of time rolling around on rugs with uncritically affectionate dogs we had.
And I still do a lot of that. The dogs become tired and confused and embarrassed long before I do. I could go on forever.
...
Love is where you find it. I think it is foolish to go looking for it, and I think it can often be poisonous.
I wish that people who are conventionally supposed to love each other would say to each other, when they fight, 'Please - a little less love, and a little more common decency.'"

well there you have it.

lovemelo