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I almost cried for Sid Vicious today. During Sex Pistols' concerts his amp was completely turned off. He couldn't play the bass and didn't on the Pistols' famous Never Mind the Bullocks (or bullshit) album. He was chosen for the band for his "look".

He never had a chance. He was raised mostly by his drug using and drug selling mother - two father figures abandoned him in childhood, his biological father left and his stepfather died when he was still a child. His mother gave him his overdose fix the night of his death. He recreated his mother in Nancy Spungen. Maybe Courtney Love should've played Nancy in Sid and Nancy, rather than just having a tiny scene.

Was Nancy killed by Sid or a drug dealer? We'll never know - it could've been either frankly. Sid was shy but with an explosive, violent streak. It could've manifested that night in a fit or rage at Nancy, his substitute mother - the rage at having been abused and abandoned by everyone. We blame our mothers and ultimately ourselves for everything that happens. Who else is responsible for a child's journey?

Sid Vicious is a sad figure, not a romantic one - as a teenage rebel image he wasn't even close. No father to rebel against and a drug providing mother. Oh well.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is great in and as Capote. Capote's writing aid was Harper Lee, who after this period wrote and published Too Kill A Mockingbird - which is rumored to have been ghostwritten by Capote. Interesting. She wrote few things after her award winning novel which was made into an incredible film starring Gregory Peck.

Gore Vidal had an affair with 1940's sports star and WWII war hero Jimmie Trimble. My wife enjoyed Kalki by Vidal but I've only experienced him in screenplay form in Suddenly, Last Summer - an incredible Tennessee Williams adaptation. He's a great interviewee though and I don't find it odd that he wrote a book on Lincoln, given the rumors as of late surrounding his sexuality.

Richard Linklater has a new film out called A Scanner Darkly - interview here. For no particular reason, Looking for Mr. Goodbar (film).