Anirvan and I went to Porchlight yesterday. Porchlight is a story telling series. Story tellers tell their tales based on a theme. Stories are less that 10 minutes long, unscripted and told without notes and memorization. Anirvan suggested we go knowing how much I loved the "This American Life" format.
Yesterday's theme.
"Throes of Rejection: Writers Tell All."
Tamim Ansary; Josh Kornbluth; Regina Louise; Eddy Joe Cotton; Joyce Maynard; Jack Boulware; Ianthe Brautigan; Kirk Read; Dave Eggers and Holly Payne.
Josh Kornbluth thanked us Swedish Americans for our generosity (the event was at the Swedish American Hall) and spoke about the rejection he faced in New York and D.C when his film Haiku Tunnel was released and went on to plug his new fim (Red Diaper Baby) and monologue (Benjamin Franklin)- Oct 22nd at the Roxie. Funny, funny man.
The funniest story by far was Kirk Read's story about the time he took clothes to Crossroads to sell them. If you have ever been to Crossroads to sell your clothes you know what he was talking about. The humiliation, anxiety and rejection all brought to life by his extraordinary comic timing and delivery.
Dave Eggers was pretty good to and lived upto my expectations. His story was about the time he left his notebook on the plane. In the notebook was research that he was doing about refugees from Sudan. The notebook had mentions of Osama Bin Laden (who had stayed in Sudan for 6 years), Colin Powell, sketches of fire (his doodles with a crayon), the GOP, with a question mark next to it (Eggers was deciding if he should use his press pass to go to the RNC) and a list of words for inclusion in "The Future Dictionary of America". This potent combination led to his notebook ending up in the hands of the State department!
The last story that evening--touched, confused and disturbed me all at the same time. Joyce Maynard's true story about her relationship with Grisly, a convict in maximum security prison in Folsom, CA. Their relationship developed through letters that they wrote to each other. Letters from him that made her almost fall in love with him. The relationship that she decided to end when she found out what why he called Grisly and what Grisly was in for--the muder of his parents by beheading them. There was so much there.
I am definitely planning on going back...Next month's theme--Imposters:Identities in Crisis
We also saw Shaun of the Dead, the zombie satirical romantic comedy --funniest movie I have seen in a long time. Highly recommended.
Also good, the movie Saved--a coming of age satirical story about a girl in a christian school who becomes pregnant and learns about life and love.
The Porchlight series sounds very interesting especially the story about Maynard falling for the convicted murderer. I'm wondering did Eggers ever get his notebook back?
Eggers did get his note book back. It was personally delivered to him by a state agent!