My take was that it was a serious and affecting piece of dualist literature. I think the constant indexing of clothing, food and lifestyle are so completely meant to be contrasted with his affection for torture and murder - and are so completely supposed to sound as unaffected as the torture and murder sequences - - that they come off as brilliant. I also like the fact that it's uttery repulsive in the way it makes it very, very clear that the murder is simply an extension of his high-living, that he has so much control over his own life, he feels the need to add more to it (control is like power, you thirst for it - you get it, you want more and more) - like an extensionon your house. And the beautiful thing is that it's a vicious cycle - he needs more power, but it gradually destroys him from the inside. It's really something to watch it happen to a first person narrator, in particular -  one who recognizes it subliminally, but can't quite come right out and say to the audience : "I have a problem that will end up killing me".

And I loved the way it made me feel. Again, duality. I alternately (like you said) loved and hated myself while I was reading the book. I hated myself because I began to explore my own superiority complexes and I loved myself because, hey - let's be honest - the book has an effect on us and we feel somewhat, hmmm, we feel - - like we're in charge and self-assured and, again, like you said : self obsessed. I like being self-obsessed. At least I know plenty about my obsession.

"Can't wait to see the movie although the book is far from a classic...Christian Bale should make an interesting Pat Bateman, and Chloe Sevigny is in it.  Also Jared Leto and Reese Witherspoon...it comes out April 14, and I'll be there opening night.  If the film is half as violent as the book, the MPAA should have a field day."

Gear magazine had Bret Easton Ellis write a review of the film. It will be nothing like the book. The film will be straight black comedy, less violence, etc. He loved it though. That's consilation - ha!

Ben : When does Volume 2 of the soundtrack come out?
PT ANDERSON : Is there anything you would like to hear on Vol. 2?
Ben : How did you decide to create the suspense the way you did in the sequence with the firecrackers?
PT ANDERSON : I was influenced by a film called Putney Swope by Robert Downey, Sr. Please see it. It's brilliant.
Ben: How did you get Mark Wahlberg to sing so bad with "Feel the Heat" and "You've Got the Touch"?
PT ANDERSON : I asked him to sing the best he could, and he delivered.
Ben : Does your house look like Jack Horner's house?
PT ANDERSON : I'm trying to make my house look like Jack Horner's house.
Ben : Will the video be released letterboxed, by any chance - please say it is?
PT ANDERSON : The VHS video will be released pan and scanned and letterboxed.

Question : How did you get to be a director?
PT ANDERSON : I was arrogant enough to say "I'm the director". If you write a script that someone wants to make, you can blackmail them into letting you direct it.
Question : What made you decide to cast Burt Reynolds as Jack?
PT ANDERSON : You can't write a movie about porno in the 70's with a character named Jack Horner and not think of Burt Reynolds.
Question : Mr. Anderson do you believe that the title of a film has the same importance to success as that of a book, and if so, do you think Boogie Nights is a good title depicting a film?
PT ANDERSON : I think any title with two "O"'s in it is a good title.
Question : What made you cast Mark Wahlberg as Dirk Diggler?
PT ANDERSON : He has a 13 inch penis so I guess it's typecasting.

Randy:  i just saw A Clockwork Orange at the revival theater
 Drexyl5987:  Were you disappointed watching it again?
Randy:  disappointed is too strong a word.  but i didn't love it as much as I remembered it in high school
 Drexyl5987:  BINGO
Drexyl5987:  I was slightly disappointed watching it on DVD recently. I think it works better as a rebellion film for me, personally, to have watched when I was too young
Randy:  it's not as cool as it was then.
Randy:  it drags in places.
 Drexyl5987:  and now, it just seems so much more literary - like it has some strong message and point and I'm just no longer interested in embracing it....which is wierd b'c
 Drexyl5987:  as a parent, I've changed the way I do that more and more
 Drexyl5987:  That sounded really grown up and odd, I'm sure.
 Drexyl5987:  Anyway.
Randy:  and I never really fully realized that it is essentially a comedy.
 Drexyl5987:  Yes.
 Drexyl5987:  My friend Ed told me he never laughed as loud as the second time he saw EWS
 Drexyl5987:  and Nicole Kidman says that the film is essentially a comedy
 Drexyl5987:  I think Kubrick has a sense of humor....that's beyond normalcy and only those on the fringes of their grasp on reality can buy into and make sense of it.
Drexyl5987:  Maybe not.
Randy:  Kubrick is funnier than he lets on
 Drexyl5987:  Yes, I agree.
 Drexyl5987:  But I totally and utterly hold with what you said...that it wasn't nearly as cool as when we were in High school and refuting your mom's quote of : "It's crap".
Randy:  it's not crap
 Drexyl5987:  Oh, I know.
Randy:  but it's not as perfect as i once thought
 Drexyl5987:  I mean - we used to debate her so, if you recall.
Randy:  yes
 Drexyl5987:  And I was watching it in the afternoons before Mom would come home.....and feeling like I was accomplishing maturity

JonR510:  i thought of a situation for a short film i could do.
 Drexyl5987:  That is.
 JonR510:  do you want a small dose?
 Drexyl5987:  Yes. I do.
 JonR510:  it is basically a guy who is alone at the mall eating and he is watching this old woman buy her lottery tickets and proceed to sit and scratch them off. he watches as she struggles to see whether or not she won, and finally she finishes without showing any emotion that would make him believe she won......
 Drexyl5987:  Ah, the fly-on-the-wall catalyst enjoying some of life's everyday voyeur-friendly entertainments (that would be bland in any other context)?
 JonR510:  she gathers the tix to put them in the trash and passes him, as she does a ticket drops. he almost says something, but figures it is useless b/c it is only trash which she dropped. as he sits there he is looking at the ticket and he eventualy picks it up only to realize it is a winner.....
 Drexyl5987:  Is it important why this woman dropped it? Was she careless, too? Was she frustrated? What will he do with it that will somehow vindicate the coincidence - in other words - how will he transcend "simple luck" byy setting the equilibrium of the universe equal between he and this stranger and the situation...
 JonR510:  now this is where i start to get confused...  so i think i want him to sit and discuss whether or not he should return the ticket to the woman, i may have him discuss it with his best friend and girlfriend who would act as his good-evil sides...
 Drexyl5987:  Me, personally....
 JonR510:  now what to do next......
 JonR510:  yes,   what?
 Drexyl5987:  and this is mere hypothesis : He should have that battle inside - and on his own playing field.
 JonR510:  i was thinking maybe voice-over, or maybe even have him talk aloud but only to himself
 JonR510:  nobody would notice it
 Drexyl5987:  I know, from experience, that I like watching films where one character goes through a range of emotions without a girlfriend/good friend influencing a fragment of thought that plows the snow for him - makes the path, so to speak.
 JonR510:  true true
 JonR510:  and i think i want him to come to the conclusion that it just would not be right to keep the ticket....
 Drexyl5987:  The talking aloud has promise - although, you'll see in the best foreign films that they have few subtitles when they are character-driven, simply b/c they understand that serenity and quiet say more than eloquent dialogue.
 JonR510:  but also....
 Drexyl5987:  but WHY wouldn't it be right?
 JonR510:  (i dont know)
 Drexyl5987:  And voice-over should only be used when it can be done creatively, originally, or multi-reason/meaning
 JonR510:   ( i want him to maybe imagine that the woman's lottery habit is her only joy left in life, because he feels that she is alone)
and he doesnt want to return the ticket because by doing that he would be ending her joy
 Drexyl5987:  Voice-over has become the most volatile language in film - and therefore the most cliched - and whenever I find myself using it - I want to "slap my own face....
 JonR510:  i dont want voice-over, it is out, i like the talking aloud
 Drexyl5987:  I like how you choose not to stifle yourself - you had an idea that the woman should enjoy the gamble of lottery and you apply it to his decision....you're on your way.
 Drexyl5987:  Less dialogue, more visual language.
 Drexyl5987:  Interperate his thoughts - the ones you percieve - as onscreen cuues and body language
 JonR510:  do you think this could be a decent short,    you can be honest... i dont mind at all
 Drexyl5987:  And have an aimless, but thought-provoking ending to boot (and have it in mind when you begin writing, as I've said before)
 Drexyl5987:  I think it COULD be.
 JonR510:  hmmm
 Drexyl5987:  here's some film ideas :
 JonR510:  ok
 Drexyl5987:  watch 'the minus man' when you can to see how vo should be used - sparingly, etc - and how quiet can disembowel the viewer sometimes.
 Drexyl5987:  Watching films by Takeshi Kitano (Fireworks, Boiling Point - not the Hopper/Snipes shit - Sonatine, Violent Cop, Gonin) will give you an understanding for what you can do with the least of emotions - and they can show how to stretch an idea into stylistic poetry and back.
 JonR510:  will do
 Drexyl5987:  And finally, any of the recent lottery movies (Lotto Land, the Winner - - and there's another one that escapes my mind) - and Danny Aeillo in '29th Street' - so you know what's been done, so it isn't done again.
 Drexyl5987:  But don't fall into the pitfall of blindly using the material to completely obliterate your objectivity - and render you a thin xerox.
 Drexyl5987:  It's a fine line. Straddle it.
 JonR510:  maybe the old woman  knew she won, and was going to throw it out anyway
 Drexyl5987:  That's an idea.
 Drexyl5987:  then you have one scene of dialogue between the two
 Drexyl5987:  or one scene where he hypothesizes the whole idea of her purging her win
 Drexyl5987:  and you're never sure whether she did
 Drexyl5987:  or did not
 JonR510:  thats right
JonR510:  i am at a pause as to why the man doesnt want to, or can't keep the ticket for himself.
 Drexyl5987:  frame it around the fact that you opened your short with him watching the old woman - imagine that it's not the first time he's done so - and even if it is - if he's watched her long enough to notice such things as the lottery tickets, her expressions, etc. - - - -he's developed a far-off repore with her, one that can easily flag him to a "hey, maybe I should include her in this whole bit".
 JonR510:  so maybe he feels bad "stealing" her money, but at the same time doesnt want to give it to her
 Drexyl5987:  I don't think the short is really about the money.
 JonR510:  nor do i
 Drexyl5987:  It's more about a ticket that's different than the rest - and a woman that's different to him than the rest of the strangers - because he's taken an interest in her.
 Drexyl5987:  That, and if there's a dilemna - the money can't be that important to him.
 JonR510:  true
 JonR510:  do you think maybe he has seen her here before, buying her tickets, and this time it becomes evident what the lottery tickets mean to her
 JonR510:  you can criticise all you want, i like to hear all opinions
 Drexyl5987:  Yes.
 Drexyl5987:  that's one way.
 Drexyl5987:  You've got to choose the path - has he seen her before, or is he intrigued at that moment?
 Drexyl5987:  My gut tells me that he's seen her before...in which case you must declare his reason for being at that place at that time - and other times.
 JonR510:  hmmmm
 JonR510:  any ideas?
 Drexyl5987:  I like that he has been watching her, casually (not a stalker, not obsessed - you must underscore and make that clear), for quite some time.
 JonR510:  well i have had an idea that he has a fantasy about what her life is like,   lonely, solemn, and this has come about because he used to see her at the mall and she was never with anyone,  always just at the table playing the lottery tickets...  maybe he even imagines he knows her name.... maybe he unconsciously "meets" her to watch her , not realizing... hoping she will win... and it is in this day that it becomes clear to him that she isnt playing to win but rather......
 JonR510:  she is playing for what?   to live,    to have something to hope for?
 Drexyl5987:  Those are your big questions.
 JonR510:  when he realizes the ticket is a winner it becomes clear to him that he doesnt know her, he doesnt know her name and obviously he has been hoping for the wrong thing.... and it is this realization that leads him to throw the ticket out rather than end her routine (or joy,   or life?)
 Drexyl5987:  any other fates you can think of for the ticket? Anything boldly ironic?
 JonR510:  what could he do with the ticket ?
 JonR510:  well it depends   how much is the ticket worth too
 Drexyl5987:  Right.
 JonR510:  the only thing i can come up with is that he gets her more lottery tickets. He could either get her all lottery tickets instead of the worth of the winnings, or he tosses the winning ticket (because although it is a winner, it is less important than a ticket that hasnt been scratched off) and buys her another ticket....
 Drexyl5987:  I like the idea of him giving her all the tickets...
 JonR510:  what,  all the tix instead of money
 Drexyl5987:  how about him paying off her tickets for years to come with the winnings  - - - but by cashing the winner in to the vendor in exchange for her tickets being paid for.
 JonR510:    it is like the tickets will take care of this woman as the money would take care of any other person... by giving her all the tickets he is ensuring her well being in a way
 JonR510:  like the money would bring some people joy for the rest of their life, but for her its the tix`
 Drexyl5987:  that's a thought - but for what we've worked through tonight, there must be some deeper elemental meaning, something even more than the tickets meaning more to her than money - a statement about that kind of appreciation
 JonR510:  thanks