Newsletter June 2020

Pauli Murray

Where I Should be . . . but I’m not . . .
 

2020 has certainly not turned out how I think any of us thought it would, should be. Normally by now we would have settled into life under the Tuscan sun. This sucks so much.

Carrie
 

I finished a really great bio about Carrie Fisher, “Life on the Edge.” It made me sad that even though me and Bob worked with her for a while, went to a couple of her famous birthday parties and I hung out a bit at her house, I wish I had known her better. Wish I had known her struggles. She was really funny and smart and loved reading. She introduced me to Anne Sexton, I think she went in her bedroom and gave me a copy of either her work or a bio on her. I remember she loved to read to her daughter Billie. Words were important to her.
 

So, really in tribute to how fun, mostly unscripted she was in my first film, and only mockumentary (so far) I brought out the film she did with me (along with Jeffrey Tambor, Joel Silver, Fabio (who is a very healthy eater, but in the spirit of the film ate the frosting that appears to have wax in it)  and so many people I forgot I had the balls to ask to be in it!) So if you wanna see Carrie in something you haven’t she’s on my website www.lesliezemeckis.com
 

Water from the Sky
 

This is a game changer. This is so exciting. We received our Watergen machine. We heard about this last summer. It is manufactured by an Israeli company. It literally pulls water out of the air (ours is in our humid pool house so perfect) and turns into gallons (7 every 24 hours) of delicious drinking water. They have portable machines they put on trucks and drive into disaster zones. Check them out. Try and use less plastic. And gulp gulp. https://www.watergen.com/
 
 

And if water isn’t your thing, how about a little Absinthe? During its heyday thousands of Parisians imbibed of the little green drink pre dinner, though it originated in Switzerland. Those sneaky little Swiss. It was variously called a “poisonous compound” a “hallucinogen.”  It was the drink of the artists and the writers in the cafes of 19^th Century Paris. The 5 o’clock hour was named “the green hour” so popular was it.
 
 

It was claimed body and mind would disintegrate with its use. It promised to turn man into a “brute” an “animal.” But aren’t they already? Kidding (sort of.)
 
 

Absinthe is made from distilling wormwood (actually good for bugs in the tummy), anise-seed, angelica-root, origanum dictamuss, sweet marjoram. Along with super high proof alcohol where this can all ferment. If after eight days the color is not the proper color, such things will be added as indigo, hyssop, nettles or sulphate of copper! The liquor was so strong it was kept in glass as opposed to barrels because it would eat through the staves of the barrel.
 
 

If one drank to much, or maybe even a little, possible effects are tingling of the skin, uncertainty of mind, trembling of the hand, sadness,  skin becomes yellow hued, hair falls out (right there I’m out) nightmares, blindness, ultimately leading to insanity. So dangerous was the green fairy (personally I like to think of it as the green goddess) said to be it was banned for the French army and navy, this after feeding it to troops in the 1840s as a supposed protection against contracting malaria. The troops liked it. All of France liked it. It was said they were imbibing 36 million liters of the greeny meany by 1910.
 
 

A Drink that Makes you See Green Ladies
 
 

Cin Cin. Down the hatch! Salute! F Covid!
 
 

You can list that as “useless shit you never knew.” Also, the reason my next book is taking so long because I fall down the wormwood hole! (Researching NOT drinking)

 
 

Palm Springs Pup
 
 

Tramps, Trollops and the Women I Love
 
 

I love books that have a really heavy Los Angeles atmosphere. Think Joan Didion, Eve Babitz, James Ellroy. Well, this book “These Women” is thick with Los Angeles atmosphere. You can feel the Santa Ana winds, the tension on the corners of Western Avenue. I love this author! She is also a guest on my Write for Success post on IG, so check her out, along with my other best-selling authors, screen writers and soon to add songwriters.
 
 

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Montecito, CA 93108