I have some really stupid dreams.

[kleenexwoman]

Cool news: There's a Beatles fan club in my dorm. In my very own dorm. I joined, needless to say; we meet on every other Monday.
The girls who started it are a little bit in denial, in a cute way. You see, the Calkins Beatles Fan Club has three rules:

1. You do not talk about Beatles Club.

Sorry, that's "Fight Club." Anyway, the rules are this:

1. No talking about deaths.
2. No talking about the breakup.
3. No talking about Y*O*K*O.

"In our hearts," said one girl, "it is always 1964."
"Or 1969," said another girl. "But without the infighting."
(Personally, I think it's a bit of a mistake to excise history like that. I take the view that the more backstory one knows behind a piece of art, the more one can fully appreciate it. "Imagine" sounds all the sweeter for the death of its creator, and "We Can Work It Out" is all the more poignant when you can relate it to the dissolution of the band. But of course denial can be fun...)

Anyway, this week we watched "Hard Day's Night". I'd never seen it before, and I thought it was oddly bleak. Here were my thoughts.

The first scene on the train was basically British class warfare. The Beatles--four yobs from Liverpool who actually have to have lessons to learn how to behave. A symbol of brutal, vital youth tearing down the old social structure.
The middle-aged man with the bowler hat--a symbol of Britain's decaying bourgesie class. Probably sees himself as a last vestige of gentility. And honestly, if I were him, I'd have been a little scared too.
The scene where they're singing in the train was a little sad as well. They're actually in a cage. They're being caged by stardom. Even a simple card game has to turn into a concert for the demanding fans who stand around watching them.
The "clean old man", Paul's grandpa, is even worse. You can't even trust your relatives to not leach off you, that's the message here.
George's scene with the self-proclaimed pop culture director took the first theme (young and hip!) in another direction by showing the way the current social structure tried to unsuccessfully adapt to the times changing by simplifying and sanitizing the youth culture movement.
The entire film carries this theme: The Beatles are alienated from the outside world and have nobody to relate to but each other. This could be a positive message until the second half of the film, which focuses on Ringo's journey of self-discovery (and am I the only one who thought the grandpa might have had a point?). Ringo has been so used to the insulated camraderie of his fellow Beatles that he can barely function in the outside world anymore. By leaving the Beatles, he has essentially cut himself off from his entire support system and is painfully reminded of this fact when the boy he befriends runs off to join his pals.
The message here: The Beatles are alienated from the outside world and have nobody to relate to but each other, but at the same time their tightly knit group can be stifling and cramped to the point where one's individuality is sublimated for oneself's protection.

Anyway, that's just what I thought. We're watching "Help!" next meeting.

Today:
While sitting in the UC bookstore for three hours, waiting for the rain to let up a little so I could walk to my dorm without actally drowning, I happened to find a copy of The Famous Notebooks of St. Kurt of Seattle.
Flipped through them, just to kill some time. I can't read Kurt Cobain's writing. It's worse than mine. His little cartoons were fairly interesting, though. I liked the one he did of Courtney.
Happily, I could read the few typed memos. One of which contained the statement that (and I may be paraphrasing) "it would be cool if Crispin Glover joined Nirvana".
I am entirely serious. It was on page 195 or possibly 197.
Eventually, the rain abated somewhat. I went back to the dorm and downloaded, on a whim, the video to "In Bloom" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

Which led to the first fandom dream I've had in ages. And it was pretty fucked up.

Highlights included:
• Kurt and his bandmates, who were wearing dresses at the time, storming onstage while the Beatles were rehearsing and smashing everyone’s instruments
• John Lennon singing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (it sounded pretty good, too).
• Crispin singing “Johnny B. Goode” at the dance, which was filled with the Anarchy Cheerleaders.
• Marty with long hair and a flannel shirt. That was disturbing and it looked like he had a mullet. I never want to see that again.
• Courtney Love getting into a slapfight with Jay, over Silent Bob.
• Courtney Love getting into a slapfight with docsgirl
• docsgirl getting eaten by a Cthulhu. The Cthulhu complained, in Lewis Black’s voice, that she tasted like candy corn.
• Bill and Ted rocking out with Kurt in the middle of a desert. Kurt spat on them afterwards and disappeared, which I think hurt their feelings.
• Tammy singing “Automanipulator”. That kind of hurt my brain, actually.

So I woke up. And when I did, I found that I had migrated from my little tiny bed to the couch in the living room, where "Real World" was on. Luckily, I was able to excuse myself before my brain cells had a chance to die.