Saturday Show #72: Women by Charles Bukowski (Part 2)

Summary: Saturday Show is a live recording of the Austin Writing Workshop, a grad-level fiction-writing workshop led by a former professor of literature and philosophy. The group aims to improve their craft of writing literary stories, within which can be explored profound themes of philosophic and existential importance. Also, too, much wine is consumed and merriment had by all. To add to the merriment, please contribute a buck or two to the Cheap Wine Fund on frankmarcopolos.com.<br> A listing of the topics covered along with approximate timestamps are provided below. <br> 0:00 Excerpt from a draft of “Valhalla House” by Frank Marcopolos<br> 2:38 Frank’s introduction to the podcast<br> 5:48 Group discussion of the movie “Bliss,” including being able to stay with the movie the whole way, happy endings, Netflix, other Bliss movies, two cartoon squirrels, subtitles, Merlot, message-based movies, Nietzsche, morality is slavery to custom, the movie changing, defying customs, the YUPPIE professor, waiting for the great plot twist, the story not turning quickly enough, checking out of the movie, drab cinematography, The Wizard of Oz, Gilligan’s Island, the professor’s boat, Turkish Gilligan’s Island, almost hanging herself, knowing the whole movie in 5 minutes, struggling with the customs he grew up with, character development, intuitive narration, flash forwards, changing the pacing of a story, Momento, The English Patient, linear storytelling, predictable stories, lack of need for dialogue, real acting, heavy-handedness, cardboard characters, surprise ending, the number of characters trying to have sex with the main character, flocks of sheep, hurdles, different perspectives and cultures, random fish jobs, sailing around the world, suddenly deciding to become philosophy majors at University, Scottish independence, screen formatting, the lack of Hollywood glam, and female frumpiness. <br> 26:55 Group discussion of the novel “Women”by Charles Bukowski, including guiding the group with weekly topics, “Born Into This” documentary about Charles Bukowski, autobiography, reality TV, the crazy crap of Chinaski, Harvey Pekar, American Splendor comic book series, R. Crumb, Ralph Steadman, Hunter S. Thompson, specific sexuality, grossness of the narrative, graphic nature of the novel, Marie Calloway, Marla Singer, Tao Lin, recycling Charles Bukowski material, gross and good parts of sex, lizard-beings, descriptions of the vagina and clitoris, the fact that there are no lines, blackheads and pimples, God, drinking like mad, voyeuristic quality of the novel, Barfly, capturing drunkenness on film, likeability of Charles Bukowski/Henry Chinaski, iconoclasticness, sympathetic quality of Chinaski, characters being open with their bodies, double standards, toxic relationships, misandry, stabbing a guy right in the face, managing your main character, undercutting of the character, alcoholism, Woody Allen, stand-up comedy, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Sherlock, Chinaski undercutting himself, audiences laughing at the wrong places during readings, humor, darkness, throwing up every five minutes, Barf-ly, Leaving Las Vegas, the absurdity of character vs. believability, truth stranger than fiction, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, round characters, vicarious living, Trainspotting, Requiem for a Dream, Vanilla Sky, Obre Los Ojos, Aronovsky, The Fountain, Jennifer Connally, rewatching movies, visceral stories, Almost Famous, brilliant minds, the tree of knowledge and the tree of life, Black Swan, meth ads, Werner Herzog movie on texting, laws against driving, Austin City Council banning everything including plastic bags, Austin traffic, the trappings of fame, fame as a character’s problem, mundane or trite situations, Chinaski’s ugliness, the Olson twins, Cory’s perversions and many husbands, Elizabeth Taylor, serial monogamy, co-dependence,