I think I’ve mentioned that John and I have been friends since I lived in B’more in the '70s. I just got his 2003 Holiday Greeting: a glass tree ornament, inscribed “Happy Holidays from John Waters,” with a fake (I hope) dead roach inside it!
I’m plotzing. “Oh, my God almighty, someone has sent me a dead roach!”
I wouldn’t bet on it being fake.
It is John Waters, after all.
That’s a little disappointing actually. I woulda figured he’d come over dressed as Santa and lick your sheets.
I wonder if he collected the roaches in Hampden.
tell John he is soooo cool.
I’ve alwasy admired him.
On the other hand, myfirst thought after eading your thread Title was "and Eve will then say,“While your down there!”
(dont mean to shock you Eve…):o
He’s been known to use the “real thing.” Well, that’s what Divine’s telling would lead you to believe.
I NV your roach…
Merry Holiday
Crap, and all I got was another CD from AOL. Eve, you ooze cool.
Oy vey!
True, but since it IS John Waters, the roach isn’t just a roach. ( And let’s just face it, ladies and gentlemen and all the ships at sea, when is a roach just a roach? ).
It’s a starch commentary on the suffocation endured by humankind in every large faceless brutal city on the planet. The cockroach breathes through its shell ( more or less. ). And yet, this one is not allowed to breathe. THIS roach, a John Waters Roach, is perfect in its visual presentation and yet is not alive. It has been denied the most fundamental need- air.
Lest we miss the layered message, not only has the John Waters Roach been denied air and suffocated just as so many of us are mindless insects, slithering and crawling, mewling and pawing our way through our tawdry and stultifying existences, but in his sublimely transparent brilliance, Mr. Waters has delivered the coup de grace: The Dead Roach is encased in not only clear glass- but ROUND SMOOTH clear glass.
A bit ham-fisted in my opinion; this symbolism ties the roach to the world upon which it tread for its brief and insignificant life. The roach suffocated within the brittle fragile sphere that is our planet. WE are responsible for its untimely demise, just as- in his typically brilliant way- John Waters is reminding us all how responsible we are for the untimely demise of our Mother Earth. It is a dreadful symbiosis. We are trapped within and yet trapped without, holding the life of our own planet and its fragile ecosystems within the symbolic palms of our hands.
It is a humbling and rich message, Eve, and I would beg you give it due care and respect. In so many ways, that cockroach is like Pippin, or Luke Skywalker. It is the mythically powerful and universally regarded “Everyman”. Symbolic of the daily struggle for existence and enlightenment.
Would anyone care to discuss the “Odessa Steps Sequence” from Battleship Potempkin by Pudovkin?
What? 
Cartooniverse
What a cool gift! It must be all the rage this year. Heh. I was at a holiday craft fair this weekend and came upon the booth of the bug curator at Chicago’s Field Museum (and also does bug work at the Smithsonian). He was selling this year’s catch to the general public at a substantial discount than you’d get at the Field Museum.
Behold! He had a spider-under-glass that was As Big As My Face ™ . He knocked the price down to $100, which I came very near paying, as I know my son would love a spider As Big As His Mother’s Face ™ hanging on his wall. However, armed with limited funds, I had to let the deal pass.
Interesting how Bug Boy preserves his bugs. He said he has to run a wire through each joint, and also suck the guts out very carefully and replace it with glycerine. I think he said more stuff, but I was nearing a panic-induced coma (this guy had a lot of BIG bugs!). I hope your bug gets a prominent spot on your holiday tree!!!
Eve, I’m sure it’s not really dead. I mean, just break the glass, get a clip, and see if you can’t re-light the sucker.
I am every bit as envious as you suspect, Eve.
Cartooniverse, you are full of hot air. Anyone can see that the commentary is on the rapidly declining reign of humans as the dominant species on earth. The cockroach, perfectly preserved in glass, symbolizes the cockroach’s inevitable victory over mankind. As civilization fails, as man degenerates, the cockroach remains the same, never changing, yet somehow surviving, even thriving, on every change. In our dehumanizing society, man must become like the cockroach to survive, but is doomed by the very spark of independence that is so admired (although not encouraged) by the debased masses. Of course the cockroach is encased in a round globe of glass, that is the earth–devoid of humans, pristine and pure, populated only by cockroaches–man’s successors. John Waters, as one who would flame the fire of independence of spirit in all mankind (and womankind as well) is the perfect voice for such a message–a prophet daring the few to save humanity by breaking free of the constraints of societal norms and living true to their hearts.
It brings tears to my eyes. I want one, I really, really want one.
Kallessa, talk to Bug Boy at the Field Museum. He can get you a Japanese Beetle that’s as big as a potato.
Bwahahahahahahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
I think I love you. What a mind !
Nice (albeit odd, but what did you expect?) gift.
I’m curious about the story, though, seeing as how John Waters can’t befriend every college student in Baltimore (I hope)…
Heh. I had a dream that I was in a dingy office building following John Waters around…I had a notebook and I was asking him all kinds of questions. He looked at me like a side dish he didn’t order and told me to beat it. Of course I persisted. I woke up before he had me arrested. Why would I even dream that???
[Bundy]Glass ornament my a**. That’s a restaurant ‘free meal’ grenade. So where are you going for dinner…? [/Bundy]
Hafta respond to this on two fronts:
Perhaps. But if you were going to befriend one person and Eve were in town, wouldn’t she be the one? [sub][/shameless flattery OFF][/sub]
It’s amazing how much Waters has kept a rep as a “man of the people.” Since moving to B’more, I’ve had several people ask if I’ve met/know the man. Clearly, my acquaintances see me as the “Eve of my generation.” [sub][/ridiculous ego OFF][/sub]
