The MOMA runs a series of films by young and upcoming film directors (feature films and documentaries). I go to see „First On The Moon“ a mockumentary by Russian filmmaker A. Fedorchenko about the Soviets first try to fly to the moon in 1938. It’s a beautiful and very witty film shot in black and white, giving the almost perfect impression of vintage film footage. Some archival footage is cut between.
Among the highlights of the film is a piglet which gets shot into the sky in a little test rocket . The piggy gets back to earth in a little capsule with a parachute. As it is released from the capsule it runs around on the ground squeaking. As it gets fed with milk from a baby’s bottle it is all well again.
In a laboratory scientists try to put a funny looking astronaut’s helmet on a test dog’s head and they get bitten by the little bastard.

10 days ago I started walking again. That’s a small step for mankind but a huge one for doggy, who used to limp for 2,5 weeks. I feel like Kevin Spacey in the final sequence of „The Usual Suspects“, only that i have not killed anybody and don’t star in a movie, but in my own life.

… cockroaches
Coming home from the Bowery Ballroom I smash another four of them. These are Size A, which is by far the smallest in my categorisation from A to D.
The bugs that I smash are that small, that I even cannot tell, if they are roaches. Charging from the speed they are running at and the way how they radiate their antennas, they are. Thus I put them to death.

The Ark are a group of 5 monkeys. They perform after Princess Superstar at Bowery Ballroom. They play music of what they might think is Glam Rock. They are Swedish and they are funny in the first place. They are all dressed in black. While the 2 guitar players wear tight trowers in a 60ies Mod-style and short leather jackets, the singer is dressed in carrot trousers, 80ies style. He also wears a short black fur jacket and nothing underneath.

His face resembles a bit Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode. But it is squeezed vertically and put on a small, untersetzten body. One guitar player looks a bit like Steve Tyler of Aerosmith, with a wanna-be-Iggy-Pop-haircut. The lead guitar player has red coloured hair to distract viewers from the fact that he is cross-eyed. He looks rather Finnish, as he resembles a beaver. The band is a complete fake, but, according to the singer, they bring a revolution to NYC. This revolution is all new, it’s the revolution of the body! Everybody is very impressed. So am I.

is located on Delancey 6, not on Bowery. Some features of the ballroom are still left That makes it a nice concert place.

I come home at night and I check the sink. As usual I spot roaches. It’s 4 of them.
I put on the rubber gloves and the action begins. The index finger of my left hand comes down on all of them. It seems to me that my finger acts on behalf of some superior power. It must be the wrath of god.

Through a film (produced by Amour Fou, Vienna), I discover the US-band Eels. I buy 3 of their records. „Souljacker“ is great, as is „Electro Shock Blues“. „Daisies of the Galaxy“ is good,too. Their lyrics are great. So is the voice of their singer E. Their style is sometimes rough, sometimes smooth. It’s a good mix of Americana. Sometimes they sound like Beck, but they have a wide range of sounds. That makes them great.

After all the nice things I experienced last weekend, (which u can read as follows), I have an encounter with THE MOTHER. I turn the lights on during the night as I want to make some tea. As soon as I get near the sink, I discover three little roaches on their favourite playing ground, and there is … THE BIG ONE, too! Wow, I am stunned!

It is quite frightening to get across HER again after a long time. I first handle the little ones and manage to squeeze 2 out of 3. The 3rd one gets away. The mother hides under the dishes, where I cannot really reach her. I don’t try too hard, though. I have heard that, if u mash a cockroach, its eggs get squeezed out and u finally end up with hundreds of THEM. So I let HER get away. I have to think of a strategy…

The Film Forum runs a Don Siegel retrospective, the director of films like „Invasion of the Body Snatchers“ and „Dirty Harry“. I go to see „Charley Varrick“ starring Walter Matthau.
From the very beginning I have the feeling that this is a great movie. The photography and the colours are fabulous, the actors, especially Matthau, are great. The film is a very elegant, fast moving and often funny thriller, which is shot in a great landscape. Many of the women in the films are really cool and so are the cars. Matthau is witty and outrageously cool, which is also demonstrated by the great number of chewing gums, which he eats during the film.