Tuesday, May 13, 2008

My Ugly Betty Dream

Can't make heads or tails out of this dream I had this morning.

In it, I'm new on the job at a major city newspaper. My first assignment is to rewrite an article on a Japanese duo, written in broken English by a Scandinavian reporter who appears close to being fired (when she confesses having difficulty writing a catchy opener for her next article, the editor-in-chief simply points to her contract).

I don't know what to make of the Japanese duo--my impression is that they're old news and can't imagine why the paper is covering them. The duo is a commercial product of the singers' husbands, good-looking (in Hollywood spa fashion) Italian American brothers in their early 40s. The act is cute but hardly ground-breaking--more like this decade's Milli Vanilli.

During a lunch break I run into a Japanese guy associated with the duo at a smart downtown restaurant--and I'm hoping this encounter will help me develop the story. All I get is that the guy, whose name is Regan, is very very upset that the maitre d's reservations sheet lists his name as "Reagan."

Back at the office, I can't get into my e-mail. A former student of mine (hey, Gus!) works at the paper, but he can't be bothered to talk to me.

The woman in the cubicle next to mine is chatty--and, when she takes her breaks, she goes outside and exercises using these waterwing-like self-powered batwings and buzzes around the windows of the editorial staff, causing even more distraction.

David Sedaris drops by the office in a casual suit and a Cheeto's tan--everybody stands to greet him but he whisks by into a separate office suite, where he's going to shoot some WalMart commercials. The filming can be watched via monitors positioned over the doors, but I wake up when the woman next to me, back from her flight around the skyscraper, begins to pester me again.

As I awaken, I'm wondering if the Japanese duo is more cutting edge than I've given them credit for.

(In the dream they're universally famous but I'm not sure I ever hear their name spoken by anyone--not even in the article I'm revising--and now awake, I can't think of any group like them--except, for the Peanut Sisters in the 1960s' Mothra movies.)

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