Thursday, March 25, 2010

"Would you rather be the pope or Pablo Escobar?"

http://www.elle.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/elle/pop-culture/celebrity-spotlight/the-graduate/2753406-2-eng-US/The-Graduate_articleimage.jpg esquire magazine published one of james franco's short stories in this month's issue called "just before the black". franco, currently an MFA candidate at both columbia and NYU for creative writing and film, respectively, is rumored to have a collection of short stories published sometime this year.

i very much enjoyed "just before the black" and highlighted my favorite lines below. bret easton ellis meets jd salinger, if you will. read the story in it's entirety at esquire.com.

....


...the surprise punch in the nose that takes you back to childhood and there's an immediate link to every other time you ever had your nose hit, by a ball, by a head, by your own knee, and after the surprise it doesn't go away...

....

I laugh like crazy, a laughter that bubbles out like popcorn, because he looks so fucking silly, and because my name isn't even close to Manuel, that's his brother's name, his equally stupid older brother.


Joe just looks at me with that stupid look, covered in flowing blood, going onto his shirt like ketchup randomness, so much messier and more random than I could ever plan.


But I did paint those swirls, because I drove Grandpa's car into the wall.

....

I wish I was Mexican, or Hebrew, I mean Jewish, I mean Israeli, or Mexican Jewish, or Mexican Jewish gay, because it can be so boring being you sometimes, and if you were the most special thing like that, it could be really great, but maybe some people say the same thing about you, and you want to tell those people: "No, you're stupid, it's no fun being me."

....

I can tell that Joe is looking at me like he is trying to figure me out, and I know that he can't figure me out because he isn't laughing and he isn't arguing, he is just staring.





7 comments:

ershadsocal said...

It is scary. You are brave. I would be scared to hold it the way are holding.

ershadsocal said...

Oh I just noticed that there is a picture of a home in your homepage tab. I never noticed it. Very artistic and creative.

boops said...

i don't like the use of bubbles in this line "I laugh like crazy, a laughter that bubbles out like popcorn..." Bubble implies a fragile, ephemeral formation. I would have used bursts or erupts as a verb instead; much more indicative of the small explosion when the kernels pop.

Passport Smiles said...

Wow. Speechless. This story is very dark, so raw, so vulgar and so fucked up! I'm surprised...what else can this guy do? I like the quotes you chose and I like these as well:

"to just sit in the shadows and let life slow"

"I guess in some lives lived, no one tells you what to be, and so you be nothing."

And I like all the dialogue with Hector.

ólöf said...

oh I like it
I also just like James Franco..:P

Jay Braun said...

Haha! He's got a bears' head.

...

Donut Lover said...

James Franco is so yummy.

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