Gonna have to say boo to that remark. First of all I love American film, but secondly Orson Wells was a cinematic masterworker.

Well, you know I do not [Big Red Heart] the ol' U.S. of A., and as for that oversized actor-director you praise so highly, well, he's overrated to say the least.

Okay. I'm jumping in here to say that if you read my essay L'illusion cinématographique (in L'évolution créatrice), you'd know I reject film as a way of addressing issues of "movement"—my favorite subject B.T.W. So basically this whole wall conversation is moot.

J.P.—I know you and I differ on the whole thing, but I have to say, at least film is not reality—it's a true art form.

Hey now. Film is beautiful precisely because it can imitate reality!

Well, that may be the case, but I'm here to say that as far as Citizen Kane is concerned, that director way overused flashbacks, and he's seriously cut off from the concerns of the masses. Not my cup o' tea.

I totally know what you mean! You have to read my book Nausea—you'd really relate to the protagonist. Maybe that would turn your frown upside down.

Second that rec. The book totally shows how consciousness can be footloose and fancy-free. You really nail the whole idea of being free, JP.

Much as I hate to always be the naysayer, I think you could have balanced the expository and the philosophical sides of the novel a little better. It's—how do you say?—choppy and fragmented. It just doesn't flow." Besides you make humans so unattractive—they do have some good qualities, too, n'est ce pas?

True, but it's not a novel—it's a "philosophical treatise." Not exactly a book to curl up with.

Gonna throw a wrench in this discussion: it's your best book, J.P. I flatly disagree with you, Albert. It's not only a novel—it's pure poetry!

Keep fighting the good fight, Jean. You're the coolest guy I know. Someone has to stick it to the man and shock the bourgeoisie. I'll always appreciate the way you just allow yourself to be so you. Go on—say it! Say it!

Okay: "I am a thief."

LOL! That gets me every time. If everyone accepted who they were, their lives would be better, they would no longer linger at the margin of society.

You've always been my biggest advocate. Thank you! Xoxox

No joke! If one more person asks me why I don't like Freud, I am going to blow a gasket. I'm a Marx man through and through. I have hated psychoanalysis sever since I could say Oedipus complex in German (so, like, since the age of nine?). And while I am on the subject of German, I could never understand Freud partly because he was German and I am French—even though I like Russians and Cubans, but whatever. It's just that his ideas don't make sense to my French mind.

Since we're all kinda hating on Freud, I'm just going to "slip" in here to say that the guy seriously misunderstands femininity. His whole "penis envy" thing is hogwash. I, for one, neither want a penis nor have envy.

Karen—I so get it. I prefer, er, women, too.