Kubrick to Friendship Books

After "Barry Lyndon" was "The Shining." Today was "A Clockwork Orange," to be followed by "Eyes Wide Shut." I remember watching EWS when it first came out in the theater. I was so disappointed. I guess I was expecting...I don't know, something sexier?

Perhaps I will appreciate it more today, being more familiar with Kubrick's work, how he operates, what care he takes in crafting each shot, casting stellar actors, and his pacing. Also, I think about the pre-production research that goes into each film. "Stanley Kubrick's Boxes" was completely fascinating and I developed a deeper appreciation for his genius. Not a prolific filmmaker, but a quality one. I also like the fact that he would go into stationary stores and get excited about the latest thing. If he hadn't visited him when he was alive, Kubrick would have loved stationary stores in Japan.

I could (and practically did!) spend hours meticulously browsing the aisles of pens, paper, inks, cards, stationary sets, and journals at those Japanese stationary stores. Which leads me to another memory I had of having over 60 penpals at one point when I was in my early to mid-teens. I took out a penpal ad in "Star Hits" magazine and I think by keeping my gender ambiguous through my pen name "Chit" I got a lot more penpals b/c male penpals were pretty rare. I met the most interesting people who I never did get to meet but we exchanged mixed tapes, dried rose petals, photos (which we had to send back b/c they were the only copies we had), and Friendship Books, I daresay the precursor to MySpace and Facebook.

Each Friendship Book consisted of several stapled blank pages, the first one containing the name, address, and some collage, picture, or design of the first person who entered their information. You then pass this FB along to one of your own penpals, introducing them with a line or 2 on their blank page, and it continues on to other penpals until the book is full and then the last person must send it back to the person for whom the FB was made. Often this is the first person in the book, sometimes a FB was made for someone else. During the FB's journey, you would see your predecessors, and decide, based on their page (naming their favorite bands, what they're into, etc.) if you'd like to write to this person and become penpals with them. Of course, in those days and in those circles, these were mostly folks of the goth and dark metal genre. I wonder who else out there remembers these FBs. Relics of the past!