I went looking for a picture of Spalding Gray just now and decided on this one. As I uploaded it, I discovered it moves. This is creepy to me.
If, like me, you're feeling Februaried out, you might want to hold off on this until June. I went against my better judgment - which is practically what I'm famous for at this point - and read it anyway. It confirmed for me that Gray was one of the most unique actors of his time, and that Tim Burton should have given up on his maudlin brand of movie-making sometime before Edward got his Scissorhands on.
For some reason I couldn't get the idea of Spalding's final moments out of my head for the better part of last week. It was so haunting. Not to sound callous, but I kept thinking what a monologue must have lead up to it, and culminated with it, and I have to wonder how the experience compared to his expectations about the moment itself.
Anyway, looks like I'm going to be around my computer today, finally. I plan on posting many happy things in a vain effort to make up for the bleakness of this link, but I had to mention it. He's someone whose originality I've admired greatly, and I can't help feeling he'll be more missed than he was maybe ultimately able to grasp.
Posted by ÿ at February 11, 2004 09:58 AM