pudding-girl episode ZERO (wk 10) (continued) SEGMENT TITLE: Five Score and 300 Years Ago rhetorical verse in Shakespearean sonnet form (a 10-sonnet sequence) (PREVIOUS WEEKS) LINK: pudding-girl ZERO (week 1) LINK: pudding-girl ZERO (week 2) LINK: pudding-girl ZERO (week 3) LINK: pudding-girl ZERO (week 4) LINK: pudding-girl ZERO (week 5) LINK: pudding-girl ZERO (week 6) LINK: pudding-girl ZERO (week 7) LINK: pudding-girl ZERO (week 8) LINK: pudding-girl ZERO (week 9)

{PGZ/10_105_01.01} JAPAN / TV ... "MUSASHI" fills the screen {PGZ/10_105_01.02} in Japanese ... and in its English form. {PGZ/10_105_01.03} JEROME & SCHOOL-GIRL CALL-GIRL ... No sex scene ... {PGZ/10_105_01.04} HIS HOTEL ROOM ... now like a college dorm ...   {PGZ/10_105_01.05} ... the night before a final -- SHE instructs {PGZ/10_105_01.06} her "stupid" Gaijin student on the tale {PGZ/10_105_01.07} set back in time four centuries ... HE sucks {PGZ/10_105_01.08} his pen instead of smoking... SHE is pale ...   {PGZ/10_105_01.09} ... and beautiful --- and kindly SPEAKS IN FRENCH {PGZ/10_105_01.10} WHICH WE WILL HEAR IN ENGLISH on our sets. {PGZ/10_105_01.11} IF HE kissed her soft neck, SHE wouldn't flinch. {PGZ/10_105_01.12} SHE wonders why he doesn't -- HE just pets ...   {PGZ/10_105_01.13} ... her long, black hair sometimes -- because he can. {PGZ/10_105_01.14} He is a journalist... but still, a man.   {PGZ/10_106_02.01} "Musashi was thirteen," SHE SAYS, "when he ... {PGZ/10_106_02.02} first fought as Samurai... He never lost. {PGZ/10_106_02.03} All Japanese know of his bravery." {PGZ/10_106_02.04} How easily four centuries are crossed.   {PGZ/10_106_02.05} "Thirteen-year-old Musashi fights his duel, {PGZ/10_106_02.06} while, 'cross the world, Will Shakespeare writes the lines {PGZ/10_106_02.07} where 'Romeo and Juliet' -- by cruel {PGZ/10_106_02.08} romantic tragedy -- meet death... DEFINES ...   {PGZ/10_106_02.09} ... the highest art that English rhetoric {PGZ/10_106_02.10} can reach -- when laced with poetry quite clear {PGZ/10_106_02.11} enough for even groundlings to catch quick." {PGZ/10_106_02.12} JEROME'S enthralled by her ... and sips a beer ...   {PGZ/10_106_02.13} ... room service just delivered with her Coke. {PGZ/10_106_02.14} And sucks his pen again, instead of smoke.   {PGZ/10_107_03.01} How can a girl like this, who knows this much {PGZ/10_107_03.02} submit herself for money? ... Even this... {PGZ/10_107_03.03} quite uncoital share of time and touch. {PGZ/10_107_03.04} Capped off perhaps with one quite perfect kiss.   {PGZ/10_107_03.05} He's "different" of course. This is "research." {PGZ/10_107_03.06} I am a writer gathering my facts. {PGZ/10_107_03.07} Legitimate discov'ry. Won't besmirch {PGZ/10_107_03.08} her honor or my own. Good beer. "Relax ...   {PGZ/10_107_03.09} ... your brow," SHE SAYS, "It's wrinkled... Just let flow {PGZ/10_107_03.10} the images on TV and my words {PGZ/10_107_03.11} in Japanese and French... Let your mind go {PGZ/10_107_03.12} not "stop." ... Zen lesson, Gaijin... See the birds ...   {PGZ/10_107_03.13} ... now flying on TV -- be one of them. {PGZ/10_107_03.14} Flap with my rhythm ... thoughtless" ... She has him...   {PGZ/10_108_04.01} ... completely at the mercy of her soul. {PGZ/10_108_04.02} The story of "Musashi" just a ruse {PGZ/10_108_04.03} for guiding his attention to the goal {PGZ/10_108_04.04} she's chosen for the moment ... or to lose ...   {PGZ/10_108_04.05} ... some time ... which otherwise might be consumed {PGZ/10_108_04.06} with groping hands, and pleading for some things {PGZ/10_108_04.07} she doesn't want to sell before she's bloomed {PGZ/10_108_04.08} completely ... So -- distracting them -- she sings ...   {PGZ/10_108_04.09} ... in French and Japanese and English, too, {PGZ/10_108_04.10} insightful and amusing lines of thought {PGZ/10_108_04.11} in perfect tones that tease enough to woo {PGZ/10_108_04.12} high rates per hour... Mom has never caught ...   {PGZ/10_108_04.13} ... on to her daughter's patterns... Though you'd think {PGZ/10_108_04.14} her family would notice ... make some link ...   {PGZ/10_109_05.01} ... between her sense of style ... and what it costs {PGZ/10_109_05.02} to dress like that -- and wonder... But they don't. {PGZ/10_109_05.03} She's doing well in school, she won't be bossed {PGZ/10_109_05.04} around by anyone. Oh no, she won't!   {PGZ/10_109_05.05} MUSASHI on the road to Edo STRIDES {PGZ/10_109_05.06} along with striking-poise encoded steps. {PGZ/10_109_05.07} His normal walk... If some poor fool decides {PGZ/10_109_05.08} to charge at him, Musashi intercepts ...   {PGZ/10_109_05.09} ... the challenge... without shifting from his course {PGZ/10_109_05.10} in time ... HE blends his line with his new foe, {PGZ/10_109_05.11} defeats his enemy with his own force. {PGZ/10_109_05.12} Musashi's blade will meet them where they go.   {PGZ/10_109_05.13} HIS RULE: Each stance, your combat stance. The same. {PGZ/10_109_05.14} And with such strides he made his way to fame.   {PGZ/10_110_06.01} "So, that's your naked sister," KEEKO points. {PGZ/10_110_06.02} (That's School-Girl Call-Girl's name ... at least "at work.") {PGZ/10_110_06.03} SAGESSE STRIDES 'cross the SCREEN ... and so anoints {PGZ/10_110_06.04} A CAR COMMERCIAL... Keeko does not smirk ...   {PGZ/10_110_06.05} Sagesse is cool. Someday she'll buy that car. {PGZ/10_110_06.06} Sagesse cannot be hired ... unless she'd praise {PGZ/10_110_06.07} the product advertised.... She will not mar {PGZ/10_110_06.08} her name... No matter how much Donny pays.   {PGZ/10_110_06.09} ... (That's Donny Deutsch, the ad-man with "good taste." {PGZ/10_110_06.10} HE'd cringe at that constraint -- just call him "cool." {PGZ/10_110_06.11} HE's real, but a bold character -- a waste {PGZ/10_110_06.012} to not use him in verse... AN ARTIST'S RULE: ...   {PGZ/10_110_06.13} ... "Don't waste your time designing 'what exists.'" {PGZ/10_110_06.14} Well, just in case: DEAR DONNY: Don't get pissed.) {smile}   {PGZ/10_111_07.01} Now, Keeko doesn't know who Donny is. {PGZ/10_111_07.02} SHE KNOWS Sagesse and Shakespeare... Stuff like that. {PGZ/10_111_07.03} The public icons ... Not the culture biz. {PGZ/10_111_07.04} The power players choosing "where it's at."   {PGZ/10_111_07.05} BUT DONNY KNOWS Sagesse ... He picked her out {PGZ/10_111_07.06} to weave into the culture with his ads {PGZ/10_111_07.07} more "normally" ... He has that kind of clout... {PGZ/10_111_07.08} to choose which symbols are not simply fads ...   {PGZ/10_111_07.09} ... BUT WHICH can carry signals to the brain {PGZ/10_111_07.10} of common culture -- Thereby monetize {PGZ/10_111_07.11} Sagesse's bold-stride victories... Insane? ... {PGZ/10_111_07.12} To pay her such high fees and make them rise? ...   {PGZ/10_111_07.13} ...while leaving HER the power to decline {PGZ/10_111_07.14} to take the money? Not nuts... Good design.   {PGZ/10_112_08.01} COMMERCIAL BREAK IS OVER BACK TO SHOW {PGZ/10_112_08.02} MUSASHI FALLS IN LOVE ... of course, it's doomed {PGZ/10_112_08.03} to poignant longing 'til DEATH by a foe {PGZ/10_112_08.04} -- not him but HER ... will too young be entombed.   {PGZ/10_112_08.05} BUT KEEKO SAYS: "That's many weeks away. {PGZ/10_112_08.06} THIS EPISODE is early in the tale." {PGZ/10_112_08.07} JEROME ASKS: "Why'd you tell me... Why'd you say {PGZ/10_112_08.08} she's going to die?" "You stupid Gaijin male ...   {PGZ/10_112_08.09} ... Read 'Romeo and Juliet,' Jerome? {PGZ/10_112_08.10} Did Shakespeare ruin the story when he told {PGZ/10_112_08.11} up front the two were doomed? ... Yet here you foam {PGZ/10_112_08.1122} in beer-breathed angst that I have been so cold ...   {PGZ/10_112_08.13} ... as ruin the tale by saying she will die. {PGZ/10_112_08.14} Wise up, I'll never kiss a STUPID guy."   {PGZ/10_113_09.01} JEROME SAYS: "Keeko dear, you know I'm French." {PGZ/10_113_09.02} (As well she does, been speaking it all night. {smile} {PGZ/10_113_09.03} though we wrote it in English not to wrench ... {PGZ/10_113_09.04} ... the minds of non-French speakers ... Ugly sight. {g})   {PGZ/10_113_09.05} "I do not worship Shakespeare like some fool {PGZ/10_113_09.06} in England or America who reads {PGZ/10_113_09.07} four-hundred-year-old sentences as cool ... {PGZ/10_113_09.08} because they're hard to understand... That breeds ...   {PGZ/10_113_09.09} ... stupidity and arrogance combined. {PGZ/10_113_09.10} I am Parisian in postmodern times -- {PGZ/10_113_09.11} not an Elizabethan... I've consigned {PGZ/10_113_09.12} the whole of Shakespeare to old English crimes ...   {PGZ/10_113_09.13} ... of world-wide domination of the tongues {PGZ/10_113_09.14} of all mankind ... We're higher up the rungs ...   {PGZ/10_114_10.01} ... In any case -- that was four hundred years {PGZ/10_114_10.02} back in the far, dim past ... Did you say kiss?" {PGZ/10_114_10.03} "Yes, 'Stupid,' if you listened... Drink your beers. {PGZ/10_114_10.04} And when you use the bathroom please don't miss."   {PGZ/10_114_10.05} She likes to play with him, he's not too bad. {PGZ/10_114_10.06} Musashi would behead him in a flash, {PGZ/10_114_10.07} but there's worse things than Frenchmen who've gone mad ... {PGZ/10_114_10.08} ... with lust for girls like me -- if they have cash.   {PGZ/10_114_10.09} While Donny Deutsch is suing us, we'll pause {PGZ/10_114_10.10} to ponder where we've been ... and how to move, {PGZ/10_114_10.11} the pudding-story forward -- study laws {PGZ/10_114_10.12} of narrative when writers leave the groove ...   {PGZ/10_114_10.13} ... of clear-cut patterns ... skipping into space {PGZ/10_114_10.14} where ev'ry week presents a diff'rent face. { # # # BOKE

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