May 2, 2020

Rose dissatisfied with my work on Sam-Sam last night. Sat down and wrote one of the best passages I ever wrote. Just sleep on it, children.

Evening: Surf Nazis Must Die rapidly becoming a favorite. Technically it’s very professional, the cinematography beautiful. The acting and the script are horrible almost beyond belief, but horrible in a way bordering on splendor– formal, excessive, every gesture and every line so much worse than you expect that every gesture and line arrives with a shivering thrill. It’s like No, stylized and formal. You want to laugh at No first time through, too, until you begin to develop the taste.

One of the best days of the quarantine. The day itself was blue crystal. The wings of the thrushes in sunlight blazed like coals. Excellent, breakthrough writing in the morning. At noon I began gardening, weeding mightily, planting grey stripe sunflowers and cornflower.