wordy word-kisses

i absolutely hate scrabble.

everyone i know, or mostly everyone i know, because mostly everyone i know is a writer of some kind, loves scrabble. i want it to die. i want scrabble to suffer.

i love words, though. sentences, clauses, paragraphs, lyrics, dialogue, pages, books… love.

i spend much of my vacations/roadtrips with my friends writing down the funny things they say. with every book i read, i find a way to highlight (not with a pen) phrases or words or paragraphs i love.

anyway, i noticed over the weekend i have several drafts saved of phrases/quotes in my phone that i like, and i guess i should do something with them rather than just letting them sit there. so, here goes. words and phrases i like. try to contain your excitement, yeesh.

one night, before a showing of “all about eve” on some channel, they showed a little behind-the-scenes special about it.

the director said he wanted anne baxter to play eve, because she displayed a “bitch virtuosity” that another actress just didn’t have. that’s kind of a genius phrase, no?

– – –

i have a feeling an entire blog post or column is going to come out of this one. i watched a “biography” episode on david bowie, and he said:

“i don’t begrudge any artist for getting an audience. i’m sorry, i’ve never found that poverty meant purity. that’s rubbish.”

– – –

another “biography” quote, this time from the cat stevens.

he was saying, basically, that he would not let his past determine his future – that whatever he’d been in his past, or whatever he had come from, had no impact on who he was or who he would be.

“i listen to my future,” he said.

– – –

ok, the following favorites aren’t in my phone. they’ve just been floating around in my head.

the word “retreat” has come up a lot lately, somehow, and everytime it’s been pretty cool, i think.

some character in my chemical romance’s “killjoys” story named Agent Cherri Cola (sigh, why didn’t i think of that?) tweeted, “suggestion for anyone in my way. lather. rinse. retreat.”

i know that’s not profound or anything, but i think it’s pretty hardcore.

i can’t help but love this phrase in this gaslight anthem song, “meet me by the river’s edge” – “no retreat, no regrets.”

i won’t lie, i think that would make an incredible tattoo. just don’t tell my dad.

– – –

another lyric i love now is from the smashing pumpkins’ “an ode to no one” –

“destroy the mind
destroy the body
but you cannot destroy the heart.”

– – –

and, finally, some star & micey lyrics that keep rolling in my head:

“i gotta go find myself now
i gotta go find my own town
if it hurts somebody else
even if it hurts myself.
what will i do if it hurts me too?”

ps. was just watching this interview with gerard and mikey way of my chemical romance, and i liked what gerard said in response to being a dad and growing up and how it influenced the band’s new record: “…i grew up but then accepted that i’d grown up, but on my terms. …at the end of making ‘danger days,’ no you have grown up, but you’ve done it the way you wanted to.”

gerard also points out this terrific lyric from their new song, “sing” – “you’ve got to be what tomorrow needs.”