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Wrote this a while ago for my blog, solely based on this photo I found online. It's sort of the precursor to the piece "Boyfriends" my friend Kara and I had published earlier this year on Electric Lit's Outlet Blog:
Anyone know where this photo came from? Can't remember where I found it...wish to give them credit.
This is all kinds of brilliant and funny, Shelagh. That photo kills me...*
LOVE Love love this, Shelagh.
The writing is incredible, and you have nailed it so completely -- from the guy you meet at a Hungarian animation festival (HA!) to -
This is the guy with the fingernails that are a little too long, with the smile that hints at a surplus of hidden tooth decay, with the perpetual outline of his penis pushing through his tight pants.
oh yeah.
(ever see freaks & geeks?)
thank you --
Where are these guys now?
ha!
holy shit, this is great!
stars
oh I was going to say, I think "pouring" should be "poring"....
Great stuff here!
Yes, brilliant. The last sentence of the second paragraph knocks me down every time. Wonderful.
Wow, you guys are too kind. Thanks so much! Fixed the typo, Kathy.
And yes, Freaks and Geeks was a favorite of mine, Sarah. James Franco perfected his stoner roll in that!
I feel like I've just been out and had a great time with friends. (And the drinks were especially good and cold.) Big star for you, Shelagh. * -- Q
Thanks so much, Quenby. Let's have Negronis next time!
Nicely done. I like the read.
Looking for love anywhere. Brilliant.*
dead on hilarious. read it earlier today, read it again now - pitch-perfect and I want in on those drinks. *
Good story. I too like the Hungarian Animation festival. Ha!
The description is vivid and sharp and the phrases funny and pointed ( the guy who "violently argues with himself" and whose "own physicality is foreign to him"-- a great portrait, by the way, of an insane and nerdy solipsism-- personal favorites among many other fine constructions)
Thanks y'all...! Well that guy in Virginia would say that...wish we could all have drinks together!
where are these guys now? they're not in europe, this much is clear. we got our own brand of boyfriends. great piece, shelagh, almost a script. i not only enjoyed but actually read it closely, mouth open, one eye on the mirror, glad for the grey hair on my temples.
Thank you, Marcus. hmm, probably meet the geek at a Harun Farocki festival over there! I know I'd be there!
I love to find a photo and create the story to go with it. Here you created much more than that, you have brought people to life so they can craft their own stories. I really enjoyed reading it and it makes me want to do more writing myself. Plus, Hungarians really do some damn fine animation, so you roped me in early....
I LOVE THIS!!! And I LOVE visual prompts. This is terrific! Fave.
Thank you Meg! I think the photo is simply "glamouring" everyone...
Hahaha...now I know what you did under the bleachers! Seriously though,I loved this! The whole thing, but those last couple of paragraphs (creeped me out a little) but absolutely blew me away! Very cool.
foreground dude...i can see he's just about to make the peace sign...cut him off, man he's bad news!
You absolutely nail the tone in this...bouncing along between flip and fraught with menace and the last line ties it just right, back to the photo prompt...the strange package of closeness and distance of snapshots from the past *
Thank you Doug and Kim!
This is so rich with good on the money stuff. And this- 'his own physicality foreign to him, disposable, carelessly draped over his frame as an afterthought.' Great piece. *
this is very rich and full of imagination. Amazing what you can do with that photograph and the directions you go in.
this is wonderful!
Intriguing. *