Althouse: "Half of us thought that he wasn’t John Waters, because that would be impossible, and half of us thought that he was."

May 27, 2012

"Half of us thought that he wasn’t John Waters, because that would be impossible, and half of us thought that he was."

"So we argued about it for one exit, and the only way to resolve it was to just turn around and go back."

The things people do to generate material for a book.

"t was two people able to agree to disagree and still move on and have a great time. I think that’s what America’s all about."

10 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Some people are better at making conversation than others.; 5/27/12, 9:45 AM
edutcher said...: The world's greatest reason not to pick up hitchhikers.; 5/27/12, 9:45 AM
ndspinelli said...: Waters is an intelligent and interesting man. I don't abide much of his thinking but I would love to drives across country w/ him. Who the hell wants to just associate w/ like minded people?

And, Waters discovered what I absolutely loved about doing surveillance. When he says he enjoys not knowing where he's going really speaks to me. When I followed people doing surveillance I never knew where I would end up. It was often times mundane like following a subject to a mall, grocery store, restaurant, etc. It was usually within 5-10 miles from their house. But, sometimes it was to UW football games, Brewer games, Summerfest, Chicago, upstate Wi.[my longest tailing job was ~250 miles to near the UP]. I had a guy who worked for me who couldn't handle the uncertainty. He wasn't very good @ surveillance. I embraced the uncertainty. Waters is ok in my book.; 5/27/12, 12:30 PM
Lyle said...: America is awesome, yep.; 5/27/12, 12:45 PM
somefeller said...: John Waters came to Houston a couple of months ago and did his monologue routine at a fundraiser for a local arts organization. It was quite possibly the funniest 90 minutes of my life. I'd imagine spending a few hours driving in a car with him would be very enjoyable.; 5/27/12, 1:15 PM
David said...: Never heard of him.; 5/27/12, 2:38 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Never heard of him."

You're either very, very young, very, very old, or very, very square.; 5/27/12, 2:43 PM
yashu said...: I'd imagine spending a few hours driving in a car with him would be very enjoyable.

Totally. Waters has always struck me as a great guy.

ndspinelli, love your description of doing surveillance, embracing uncertainty. The mystery of even the mundane. There's something very seductive about that-- letting oneself go, giving oneself up to the adventitious unknown.

I think of Scotty trailing "Madeleine" in Vertigo… wherever she leads. "Wandering about."

There's something existentially vertiginous about the hitchhiking thing-- hitchhiking for the sake of hitchhiking, not going anywhere in particular. (I'd heard about the Waters hitchhiking thing days ago; it's less interesting now that I know it's for a book. There's a rational "purpose" behind it.) I think of "the girl" in Two-Lane Blacktop. Always been haunted by that movie, for reasons I can't explain even to myself.; 5/27/12, 3:04 PM
ndspinelli said...: yashu, I never really thought about it but I always hitchiked across the northeast in the 60's/70's and loved the journey as much, if not more, than the destination. There almost always was a destination, but a few times I just had to get away and went wherever the person driving was going. Ended up in Pittsburgh for my first time doing that. I love uncertainty, probably a big part of my love of gambling. I love "different." Different places, people, food, etc.; 5/27/12, 3:44 PM
donald said...: I went into a men's room at Hartsfield airport in atlanta one day, sidled up to a stall, just happened to look over and there he was. I actually was quick enough to say fancy meeting you here. He laughed!

Great guy and he was awesome on Homicide.; 5/28/12, 2:12 PM