Hey guy!

January 28th, 2004 · No Comments

I went to the opening dinner for our conference on film criticism tonight, at a nice house on Brattle Street, the part of Cambridge other people mean when they say “Caaaaambridge,” the home of Longfellow and the type of places I worked on when I temped for Sotheby’s Realty, transcribing listings for properties like these at their office in the Back Bay. I love being a bit player at these things – no one important really cares who I am, so I just hang out with the other people who are necessary but not crucial, the people who make the reservations rather than those for whom the reservations are made, and we eat the cake, drink the wine, and stay on the perimeter of the conversations. We talk about how strange the guy is who resembles a character from an El Greco painting, and we sit back an listen as the French Consul and the German cultural director discuss the American electoral situation: “Zere would haff been none of zee problaims wiff Floreedah and zee Supreem Caurt if zere had been zee dyerecht elections….”

It was a little on the surreal side, with my boss still doing his part, admirably so, two days after having been booted out. We had a second to talk about it, and our conversation disintegrated into self-conscious laughter at how strange it was at the end of every sentence, afraid as I was to actually say anything meaningful.

The dinner was very nice, with good food, plentiful wine, both the good and the affordable kind, and any dessert that features countless raspberries is a winner with me. Stars of both the behind-the-camera and the behind-the-desk variety were present, and the evening made for a successful start to to tomorrow’s symposium. Now we just need to make sure our visitors from Igloolik make it in ok, and we need to get our calendar in on time, and we can all breathe a little easier. I even started talking about my ideas for a documentary on postcard shows; maybe now I’ll have to buy a camera and start doing something about it. If someone besides me thinks it might be interesting, then maybe it’s worth pursuing.

Tags: Cambridge