Lance Manion Meets SuperFrog
So yesterday I was one of the select few to hear celebrated author Haruki Murakami at MIT. Mrs. Manion got there early and saved me a seat. This was a good thing because the fire marshalls ended up chasing out everyone who didn't have a seat. In the words of Professor Junot Diaz "That's some cold shit." I wish more professors were street like that guy.
Anyway, eventually things settled down enough for the reading to begin. Murakami spoke excellent English and seemed like a genuinely nice guy. He read from my favorite short story "SuperFrog Saves Tokyo" It's dark tale about a giant frog that battles a giant worm to save Tokyo from disaster.
The only disappointment was when Murakami let some other MIT faculty member take over reading the story. I mean, I didn't haul my butt into Cambridge to hear some random guy read the story. I came to hear Murakami read it. Ah well.
Then there was a Q&A session. The questions were good for the most part. I had a question, but didn't get to ask it. In the unlikely event that Haruki Murakami reads Mercenary Words, I'll post it here:
"Many of your novels open with the protagonist talking about how he's awkward with girls, and has very poor luck meeting women. And yet during the novel the protagonist needs to carry an umbrella because tail just rains down from the sky onto this guy. Seriously. This guy scores like a freakin rock star. This guy scores like he's LeBron James playing against a team of handicapped midgets. This guy scores like he's invented scoring. This guy scores like he's playing the lead role in the movie 'The Guy Who Scored All the Time.' This guy scores like..." My question goes on in this vein for a few minutes, but I'll cut that in the interest of space. "...So yeah. What's up with that?"
I like to close my questions with "What's up with that?" I feel it makes them more intellectual. I also wanted to suggest a sequel story where SuperFrog and Worm team up to battle Rodan. Maybe next time.
LM
Anyway, eventually things settled down enough for the reading to begin. Murakami spoke excellent English and seemed like a genuinely nice guy. He read from my favorite short story "SuperFrog Saves Tokyo" It's dark tale about a giant frog that battles a giant worm to save Tokyo from disaster.
The only disappointment was when Murakami let some other MIT faculty member take over reading the story. I mean, I didn't haul my butt into Cambridge to hear some random guy read the story. I came to hear Murakami read it. Ah well.
Then there was a Q&A session. The questions were good for the most part. I had a question, but didn't get to ask it. In the unlikely event that Haruki Murakami reads Mercenary Words, I'll post it here:
"Many of your novels open with the protagonist talking about how he's awkward with girls, and has very poor luck meeting women. And yet during the novel the protagonist needs to carry an umbrella because tail just rains down from the sky onto this guy. Seriously. This guy scores like a freakin rock star. This guy scores like he's LeBron James playing against a team of handicapped midgets. This guy scores like he's invented scoring. This guy scores like he's playing the lead role in the movie 'The Guy Who Scored All the Time.' This guy scores like..." My question goes on in this vein for a few minutes, but I'll cut that in the interest of space. "...So yeah. What's up with that?"
I like to close my questions with "What's up with that?" I feel it makes them more intellectual. I also wanted to suggest a sequel story where SuperFrog and Worm team up to battle Rodan. Maybe next time.
LM
posted by Lance Manion at 2:48 PM
3 Comments:
Dear Lance-san,
Your blog is very funny. I give you haiku in honor of your blog:
The sky is pale blue
empty, but for tail raining
on my too-big crank.
Keep it real, Lance. Under the radar 4-eva!
Very truly yours,
Haruki
P.S. Thank you very much for coming to my reading.
But was the Superfrog story as good as the story of Vitor and his, um, ladies?
Murakami-sama, you do me tremendous honor. Indeed, your crank is large.
Vixen, welcome to Mercenary Words. Thanks for dropping by. Help yourself to the complimentary tequila shooters!
Ah, Vitor. Sadly, no, SuperFrog was not nearly as, um... provocative as young Vitor. Now there was a man...
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