Tuesday, December 05, 2006

...and from the backpedaling department of the home office, Gwyneth Paltrow took pains Monday to release a statement saying how proud she is to be an Amercian and that her comments had been misconboobulated when printed in a Portuguese paper. She said she needed to take a refresher course on 7th grade Spanish. I suppose that would help, except that they speak Portuguese in Portugal. Yeah, I know it's remotely related, but it ain't the same thing. Maybe that's how they misquoted her - she was speaking another language. She should stick to English, and scripted English, at that.

She should have pulled a Michael Richards and blamed our government's unpreparedness for Katrina. I'm just sayin'...

I read hundreds of pages of Lonesome Dove today. Love that book, love the characters, I'm even kinda diggin' on cowboys now. Kinda. Good reading. Larry McMurty: cool guy.

I know a guy in his late 70s who went into a book store in the 50s or someways along in there and there was a youngish author sitting at a table peddling his books with free autograph. He said he felt sorry for the guy because people walked by and didn't bat an eyelash, effectually staying away in droves. He bought several copies.

Turns out this new author was Larry McMurtry and these were the first prints, first editions of his first book. They're worth oodles of money now. Good for him, and good for Larry. I wonder if he sat there that day and thought people would just never get his writing...

11 comments:

Tickersoid said...

That story made me smile.

Darkmind said...

Ah yes, the celebrity faux-pas de jour...

Just Another Old Geezer said...

If CRS hasn't gotten me completely screwed up, this ain't the first time lil Gwynnie has made these type comments.

Neat story about the old dude (I'm old enough to say that with respect) and McMurtry.

Just Another Old Geezer said...

Hah. I knew I was right. Ain't it grand to be retired and have the time to do all this important research? The lying little bitch said it in an interview with an ENGLISH writer for an ENGLISH paper last January. Apologize? She can line up with the Dixie Chickens, Alec Baldwin, et al to kiss my fat ol' Texas ass.

Friday January 27, 2006
The Guardian

"I love the English way, which is not as capitalistic as it is in America. People don't talk about work and money; they talk about interesting things at dinner parties. I like living here because I don't tap into the bad side of American psychology, which is 'I'm not achieving enough, I'm not making enough, I'm not at the top of the pile.' It's just kind of like, I am."

And that my friends was the English version in an English paper. Not a Portagoose translation of 7th grade Spanglish.

fuzzbert_1999@yahoo.com said...

Glad to hear that about ol' Gwyneth...I always liked her movies and hated to be down on her (as it were). Thanks for the backpedaling!

Anonymous said...

GP is a goat's hind end.

Yeah, Lonesome Dove is a terrific read - didn't want it to end.

karen said...

That is a great story (not the Gwynnie one - if you're going to talk jibberish be prepared to stand by it). Made me all warm inside. I might even go buy it myself...

Just Another Old Geezer said...

he he - mushy said "down on her" - he he

Zelda said...

Regarding Gwyneth Paltrow, it's a good thing we're all so stupid, otherwise we might not believe her.

Lonesome Dove was definitely my favorite of Larry McMurtry's novels, but I liked the opening line of Dead Man's Walk the best.

Meg said...

And I hope this gent in his 70's didn't put it on EBay.

Becky said...

What always surprises me is what has to happen for a book or author to catch on, especially back then without the media to hype it up?