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Daniel, Eric, and Jennifer Mendelsohn

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from: Eric Mendelsohn

What's Next for ERM

Posted Thursday, June 21, 2001, at 7:37 PM ET

So Daniel and Jennifer--this is it, is it?

Huh! I'm afraid you've caught me a little off guard with that one, yes indeed-y. Call me Colonel Alzheimer, but don't I have a clear-as-day memory of Jennifer saying this was going to be a yearlong gig? Huh? No matter. You're not likely to find me crying over the broken shards of our collective consciousness vessel--no way! You've got the wrong guy, here. A couple of minor returns to local retailers and I will be fine--thank thee very much. Woo--hooo! Free as a bird! Save your receipts on this trip called life, that's my motto, baby! Noblesse moi, le deluge!--that's what I say--!

And yet, I must admit, as I pace the widow's walk of my converted zeppelin in New Denmark, Pa. (I've driven off to the country for this last installment), the sky darkening to a color that makes me suspect it might require a biopsy--I can't help but feel a sense of regret. Did we do enough, I ask myself, and the answer comes without hesitation--"Yes! Of course we did! Now get some kind of lo-cal treat and call it a day." And I hear those words--that mental click that comes after the exhaustion and exhilaration of hard work--and I know my job is done and a complete mental breakdown is unavoidable.

Eric Richard

(Eric Mendelsohn is currently working on a new screenplay titled Pants Macabre and is married to Joan Himmler-Mendelsohn, the writer of El Rio Boredom.)

the breakfast table
entries
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from: Eric Mendelsohn

What's Next for ERM

Posted Thursday, June 21, 2001, at 7:37 PM ET
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Daniel Mendelsohn, book critic for New York magazine, is the author of The Elusive Embrace. Eric Mendelsohn is the writer/director of the film Judy Berlin. Jennifer Mendelsohn is the author of Slate's "Keeping Tabs" column. To read their previous "Breakfast Table," click here.
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Reader Comments From The Fray:

[Thursday notes from the Fray Editor: A true "Breakfast Table" thread got going here: starting with made-up words, moving on to dead languages, salaries, and cheerful insults, plus a chance to find out which BT regular is a public defender, and what he likes about the the job (the pens are nice, and he doesn't meant penitentiaries). Another cross thread started here (OK, Amber, you are a high-maintenance troublemaker too. It was nothing personal, but you don't confine yourself to the "Breakfast Table". ) Good discussion on death penalty starts with new star Ender here. In fact, there are good threads everywhere this week, none of them staying on topic for long, and all of them involving being rude to other posters: "the only reason you are elevated [to gold stars] is so the rest of us know who to make Ad hominem attacks against."]


Daniel,

Please restrain yourself. According to my calculations, at this rate you will have used up the world's supply of parentheses (left and right) by 2:21PM on Thursday

--Keith M. Ellis


(To reply, click here.)


[Tuesday notes from the Fray Editor: By sheer chance, the Fray index at one point reads:

The Mendelsohns are back!
Appropriate Police Action

We would like to stress that the second post was on a completely different subject: we don't want the Mendelsohns getting cross with us. And we're not going near the whole 'provincial hicks' area.

One highlight of the Mendelsohn's previous "Breakfast Table" was the occasional appearance of the Missing Mendelsohn Brothers, and we have an early sighting of one here. He was replying to Arthur Stock's evocatively named "Vote for your favorite Mendelsohn here" post. Neill Hamilton is the official troublemaker to the Breakfast Table Fray, and outdid himself, below.]


It's starting well: someone has called Texas elected officials retarded. Next, as a parent of teenagers I think that sibling arguments can be awful heated. I am open to suggestions as how to provoke one among the three siblings talking this week. Perhaps one of the topics they could address is which one of them was treated best by their parents. Or perhaps they could rehash embarrassing moments that one other sibling caused. Whatever, there is lots of potential here.

--Neill Hamilton

(To reply, click here.)

[Now read how Neill Hamilton, with the grumpiness we love him for, changed his mind...]


We [Joseph Britt, Arthur Stock and Will V] shamelessly shilled for the Mendelsohns when we occupied the [Fray posters'] Breakfast Table. It didn't take long for Slate to invite them back.

Wonder if they'll return the favor...

--WillV

(To reply, click here.)


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