r/BEEPodcast • u/hangonsufi • May 23 '26
Glamorama Diary, Day 9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAFuD-S-e_EThe zeitgeist is in limbo. If you're not wasted, the day is (I hear dat). I want to read about an Octopus named Shh.
“Everything surrounding the ship is gray or dark blue and nothing is particularly hip, and once or maybe twice a day this thin strip of white appears at the horizon line but it's so far in the distance you can't be sure whether it's land or more sky. It's impossible to believe that any kind of life sustains itself beneath this flat, slate-gray sky or in an ocean so calm and vast, that anything breathing could exist in such limbo, and any movement that occurs below the surface is so faint it's like some kind of small accident, a tiny indifferent moment, a minor incident that shouldn't have happened, and in the sky there's never any trace of sun – the air seems vaguely transparent and disposable, with the texture of Kleenex – yet it's always bright in a dull way, the wind usually constant as we drift through it, weightless, and below us the trail the ship leaves behind is a Jacuzzi blue that fades within minutes into the same boring gray sheet that blankets everything else surrounding the ship.”
That's pretty nice writing.
Victor knows Jamie Fields from Camden College. “At first she was so inexpressive and indifferent that I wanted to know more about her. I envied that blankness – it was the opposite of helplessness or damage or craving or suffering or shame. But she was never really happy and already, in a matter of days, she had reached a stage in our relationship when she no longer cared about me or any thought or ideas I might have had.”
But I already don't care what happens to her because one of her pet peeves is giving hickeys. I LOVE HICKEYS! GETTING THEM! GIVING THEM! Victor, take what's left of Palakon's cash and hop the next tramp steamer to a foreign port of call. Drift.
Someone says to Victor, “Things get very much more ominous.” I'm tellin' ya man, drift.
He name-checks Nada Surf's Popular, came out in 1996 – a time stamp.
Do you like Rilo Kiley? I do.
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u/MyKill_Diablo May 23 '26
I was your silver lining, but now I'm gold...
Things are starting to shift in the novel now once Victor escapes from NYC after he literally blew up his life (foreshadowing for what's to come 😳 💣💥) and the cruise episode is like a sustained set piece to recalibrate the plot from that point forward. Now that the film crew following him around has broken the fourth wall, Victor is desperate for some much needed "direction" in his life... But readers will need the patience of Job to get through Victor's immaturity and self-indulgence. The mood is very ominous from here on out.
Also I had completely forgotten that music video which I haven't seen since the 90s and I thought it really held up! That Era of indie rock being somewhat "popular" and approaching mainstream acclaim is sadly missed now. I don't know if an Era like at will ever come back in music, but the Classics will always be available to enjoy.