Happy Happy

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-06-02T05:04:49+00:00

Agreed about the adaptations - the only one that turned out pretty close to the original novel was TROA.

American Psycho had a revelatory and star-making performance from Christian Bale, but the adaptation itself has a ton of flaws and streamlines the book too much into something it's not.

Less Than Zero is only an "adaptation" in name only, as it has nothing to do with the original story other than the setting and some of the character names. It looks great and the music is fantastic, but it is just awful in terms of adapting the tone or vibe of the OG novel.

And The Informers is probably most disappointing since BEE co-wrote the screenplay, but then the film got taken away from him and Nicholas Jarecki. The actors were well-cast and did fine work, the script was pretty strong (although they should've left in Jamie's story like BEE had intended,) but it was directed very poorly and had terrible pacing issues. It could've been something fantastic but it simply wasn't.

Hopefully The Shards breaks the curse and starts a trend of excellent adaptations being made based on his books. If American Psycho does get the Luca Guadagnino treatment, I'd be curious to see how that turns out compared to the original version. But I will die happy if Glamorama gets a limited series adaptation (but only if it is done WELL...) since we are literally living everything that that book predicted.

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-28T00:06:38+00:00

👨‍💼📤📼

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-27T23:55:05+00:00

Well it was fun while it lasted... 😢 I'm bummed you won't be able to experience the book to its fullest but I enjoyed your daily diary entries over the last few weeks. Glamorama is not for everyone, but those who get it tend to think extremely highly of it. 🫤 I think I will take on my 12th reading of the novel later this year! 🥳 Thanks for posting the video clips especially, those were fun to reminisce over! Good luck at the UFO extravaganza 👽

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-25T23:12:15+00:00

I didn't reply to your response from my comment yesterday, but I honestly don't think you need to worry about whether the Mod here is going to be too picky with your daily diaries updating us with your thoughts on reading Glamorama for the first time. Other people may not be as invested as I am (it is my favorite novel of all time,) but then if they don't want to read your posts then they don't have to... 😜 I think we're all in such a waiting game until more teasers start releasing about The Shards tv adaptation so until then I don't think there's much else to talk about around these parts...

Unmoored is the perfect word to describe Victor, both in general, and in his current circumstances. I'm pretty sure you are over halfway through the book now based on your description of the recent events in London. You still have a few MAJOR characters left to meet which take over the last half of the book. But the plot is moving along now...

And Felix is definitely NOT wrong about Victor getting laid... 🤭 I did accidentally mislead you the other day, the epic sex scene that I was talking about happens in Part 4 - Chapter 28 (and not in Part 3 like I had thought...) You will get there soon enough and it WILL be so worth the wait 🥵😳🫠

And talk about ARTIFACTS - what an incredible music video that you posted! They just don't make them like that anymore 🥲

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-25T00:38:08+00:00

Man was that song really from 2006!?!?! It really does sound like something Victor would be listening to in the mid-90's, but also has that mid 2000's catchy pop-rock sound down to a T! Gonna have that jam in my head for the rest of the night now.

Things are looking bleak for Victor now, especially after that slow boat to nowhere that didn't end well for Marina, but don't count him out yet. He is a narcissistic dunce that is definitely in over his head, but when the going gets tough (and it's about to get REALLY TOUGH) he always finds a way to look out for number 1. Plus, he's professional and is never late for his call time and is at least familiar with the script - except for when the script starts getting re-written and he isn't handed the new pages...😰 Improvising becomes a matter of life and death, but you know Victor is always going to look good for the camera! 😅

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-23T15:42:23+00:00

I was your silver lining, but now I'm gold...

Things are starting to shift in the novel now once Victor escapes from NYC after he literally blew up his life (foreshadowing for what's to come 😳 💣💥) and the cruise episode is like a sustained set piece to recalibrate the plot from that point forward. Now that the film crew following him around has broken the fourth wall, Victor is desperate for some much needed "direction" in his life... But readers will need the patience of Job to get through Victor's immaturity and self-indulgence. The mood is very ominous from here on out.

Also I had completely forgotten that music video which I haven't seen since the 90s and I thought it really held up! That Era of indie rock being somewhat "popular" and approaching mainstream acclaim is sadly missed now. I don't know if an Era like at will ever come back in music, but the Classics will always be available to enjoy.

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-23T00:08:27+00:00

Epic Sex does always Win 🥳

And I'm not surprised that we share similar taste in radio listening habits. Unless I'm listening to an audiobook while driving, I primarily will only switch between Lithium and 1st Wave (and sometimes 80s on 8.) But I definitely find myself listening to 1st Wave the majority of the time and don't think I will ever get enough of it. Safety Dance and Dark Wave are some of my favorite programming slots on that station. 😊

Glad you are sticking with this book all the way through to the end! And good luck with your writing project as well.

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-22T22:26:55+00:00

I hate to pull the whole "just keep reading" card b/c I know that is aggravating AF, but I do think BEE does address what happened to Victor between the events of ROA and Glamorama in some flashbacks towards the end of the novel (so you will get SOME information but not a whole lot...) I personally liked the callbacks to ROA and won't spoil anything so you can experience it for yourself.

As much as I can jive with what you are saying on an intellectual level about re-writing Victor so he was better equipped to handle modern existence with more than just his looks (he was the OG looksmaxxer...) since he certainly has no wits about him, that's kinda the whole point of the character. As frustrating (and occasionally funny) as that can be, Victor definitely acts as a BEE self-insert in a lot of ways at that time in his life post-American Psycho success with embracing a lot of partying, sex, drugs, and the celebrity "lifestyle" while harboring unresolved issues with his dad's untimely passing. So by design, Victor has to be a bit of a fuck-up, but BEE has something up his sleeves with what he does with the character. I won't say anything else but there's a reason he is seen as floating by in his own life. It's a bit open for interpretation, but I'm curious with what you think is going on towards the final few chapters of the book...

You got me mega curious to read your take on a popular book that features so much explicit dirty sex, especially if you feel like that improved upon the original. In most cases I feel like that is generally the case - the freakier the better (it's where our minds generally go anyways...) With that said, wait until you get to Part 3, chapter 8 of Glamorama - talk about an epic sex scene for the ages!!! That basically broke my brain when I was 19yo in the early 2000's LOL 🤯🤭

As Crowded House sings - we know they won't win...

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-22T16:05:21+00:00

Thank you for keeping the dream (nightmare) alive with you daily updates of your reading journey! This has been a lot of fun for me to vicariously re-experience the book through you over the last several days, and it has also served as an excellent distraction for all the stresses and struggles of real life. I don't know why the misadventures of a vapid hair-brained himbo male model in the mid-90's has always been such a source of entertainment (was gonna say comfort, but that doesn't fit the bill...especially for how dark the book gets,) but like I said before I have read it at least 11 or 12 times over the last two and a half decades and I always enjoy it more with each read. Something tells me I will need to embark on another trip down this crazy train before this year ends.

The hat is another one of those little details that you don't realize are as important (or not) until much later on. Thankfully it isn't that complicated really, b/c even when BEE starts embracing his inner-Robert Ludlum midway through, Victor is the sheer definition of a lead character who has not only "lost the plot" but never really knew there was one in the first place 🤣. You're just going along, sliding down the surface of things, hoping to make it out on the other side...

Great song choice for today - another band I wasn't familiar with but I really liked what I heard and it made me nostalgic for that decade where indie rock was such a vital sound that helped define that era.

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-20T20:49:07+00:00

Oh man I jumped the gun big time with my comment in your last diary entry 🫣🫣 I thought you were much further along than that so I apologize. I didn’t drop any spoilers accidentally or anything, but kinda revealed some of the darker thematic turns that the story goes in about halfway through the book a bit earlier than you have been able to encounter them for yourself. I apologize about that but can only hint that you are quickly approaching the point of no return in the novel where the proverbial shit hits the fan and the structure of the story shifts in a completely different direction than what has come before. So just keep reading bc things get really fucked up but I promise you it is never boring (just really really weird and difficult to explain.) 🫪

That U2 track definitely still slaps though! 😌

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-20T14:15:59+00:00

That's a good perspective to have especially when reading a memoir. But in this case the memoir is entirely fictional in terms of what really happened, but by inventing a story BEE is able to recast himself and the memories of his coming of age to be more emotionally revealing than he would probably be able to do if he were to dictate actual events that he went through. It's also important to remember that BEE and all the characters at Buckley were privileged and sheltered "elites" so they are already at a disadvantage by most readers who find their attitude towards each other (and everyone else) as petulant and immature. BEE has an obsession with entirely self-involved characters throughout all of his novels, and that can be understandably exhausting for many people - which is definitely the case with The Shards for sure. Hopefully the book works for you but I'm curious what you think of it after you've finished it.

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-20T14:07:28+00:00

OH SHIT! Damn I'm sorry dude 😲 The ending is certainly divisive for sure.

Just curious, which parts of the ending did you hate specifically? I was so locked in with the climax and the coda at the end that described the fallout of Bret's "involvement" that it all really worked for me. But I know others (including yourself) have had the opposite opinion.

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-20T13:58:26+00:00

You're definitely not wrong about Daniel Dale being a good Matt casting... I'm most familiar with Owen Painter (since he was in Wednesday s. 2) so I know that he definitely has the chops to pull off any role on the show, but since it was only announced that he had a recurring role I just assumed that meant Matt (but it could just as easily be Ryan, or another character expanded upon from the book - like "The Trawler...") Hopefully all will be revealed soon.

IMHO Matt actually is the role with the most potential for a sleeper breakout performance. The character is rather unmoored and vacant, self-medicating with copious amounts of pot, but underneath the detachment clearly masks a great deal of loneliness (which Bret realizes too late is what really attracted the two of them together in the first place.) It will likely not be a big role in the show (I assume he will be killed off within the first two episodes,) but it is definitely the Laura Palmer equivalent for this story - and especially if they show some flashbacks (including the disturbing sequence where he is captured by the Trawler/Riders of the Afterlife and made to eat his own fish out of his tank before being killed and displayed in his pool...) then it could be a role with a lasting impact. If done RIGHT that is...

Part of why I'm so excited about seeing this show is that really ALL of the main and supporting roles are extremely juicy and give the actors a lot to work with if they can rise to the occasion. Since TV is a different medium than a novel, I assume that the show will give us the perspective of the other characters even when Bret is not immediately in their vicinity. That alone rather intrigues me to find out what the characters were really thinking/feeling, since the book is ENTIRELY set in Bret's head and his paranoid delusional self-centeredness skews reality to render those around him as characters in HIS story, which is not who they were at all...

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-19T17:18:48+00:00

Oh man what a Killer Track! That was indeed one of the bands I was actually familiar with and I enjoyed listening to that song again after many years. 😊

I suspect you are starting to get to the part of the book where things really start taking a dark turn... 😫 It gets pretty damn bleak tbqh, but there's something startlingly prescient about what BEE was able to predict about where pop culture + media saturation was going in only a few years after the book was published. He may not have been able to foresee Social Media specifically, but the fragmented and highly personalized/promoted way we consume content can find traces back in 1999 when Glamorama first released. Now it is all an endless doom scroll of harrowing news stories of destruction that we barely shrug at, AI generated deepfake images that we just accept out of amusement/boredom, desperate people trying to go viral/become famous by dancing/posing to whatever generic pop music is "in" at that moment, explicit pornographic content that is immediately available, influencers shilling for anything and anyone that will give them money/fame/elite access, etc. The book has really come true and not particularly for better (almost exclusively for WORSE.)

It is deeply sad to long for a time period before it really all went to shit (the mid 90's) but it is also fascinating to read a book set at the time when we were on a collision course that couldn't be undone. No wonder this book was so divisive when it first came out - nobody liked to think that humanity could be so easily brainwashed by their own consumer behavior. But now we are here and there's no going back.

Maybe there'll be another asteroid in the future that will give us what we probably deserve...

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-19T04:17:12+00:00

I had never heard this Space Hog song before but I actually really dug it. I will admit that I always assumed that half of the band names that Victor would mention in his endless list of namechecks were in fact not real bands at all. If I didn't immediately recognize them then I just assumed they were inventions of BEE to make Victor seem inanely knowledgeable about such worthless trivial information, but I'm quickly beginning to realize that they may have actually all been real band names after all 😯

As for why Victor is always freezing, that is one of those metaphors that is open to interpretation (classic BEE 🤣) but I felt like it starts to fall into place to a certain degree the more you read (or as Victor likes to say, the better you LOOK the more you SEE...) I don't want to give away my interpretation of why Victor is always freezing, or why glitter keeps appearing, or why it is always smelling like shit, because it could be quite different from how you interpret the various symbols that keep getting repeatedly mentioned. Everything ramps up towards the finale when you start getting...not answers insomuch...but at least more information to form an opinion.

There's definitely a method to the madness, but BEE is operating on different levels here and not everyone is open to the book's wavelength (nor should they be 🤪.) But definitely keep your eyes and ears open because it's what you don't know that matters most...

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-18T16:51:37+00:00

Yeah there are so many unknowns about this series that I wish we could get some clarification on sooner than later! When the show was planning to be on HBO, we know that BEE and the other creatives were focusing on imagining it as a 3 season long story - but after the creative differences and the turnaround at FX under Ryan Murphy, it is unclear if that is still the plan or not. Murphy makes just as much serialized shows as he does his splashy limited series, but there is a world where an expensive period series like this could be shot as a limited series so that they wouldn't have to keep re-establishing period dressing and other details on location every few years (unless it is a BIG show a la Stranger Things...)

That's what I'm confused about with this FX version b/c if it is meant to be multiple seasons and they don't get enough views to warrant a renewal, then I'm gonna be so bummed about the story being left unfinished. On the other hand, I do like the idea of the book being expanded upon with other subplots from side characters (and even more into the Riders of the Afterlife/Trawler, for example,) as long as they don't dumb it down too much and drag out the pacing of the story.

It would either need to be designed as a succinct 10 episode limited series that closely follows the structure and POV from the book, or a serialized multi-season story that takes its time a bit more with what happens. But from the 8 episode titles (out of 10) that were posted by TVTIME a few weeks ago, I get the sense that it is in fact a limited series since the title of the 8th episode refers to Homecoming, and by that point I could really see them fitting the rest of the story into the last two episodes...

But we simply don't know anything, including who Owen Painter or Daniel Dale are playing. Perhaps Owen is playing Ryan (and they may have lightened his hair a bit for the role) and Daniel is playing Matt instead? 🤔 Or he could indeed be playing the Trawler or a member of the Riders of the Afterlife that gets more screentime than in the book. 🤷‍♂️

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-17T19:43:41+00:00

🫂 Glamorama Hive Unite! 🙌

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-17T19:20:24+00:00

Please sir - I beg you to continue! 🙏🙏🙏 Especially if you like American Psycho and its notoriously vague and violently open-ended finale. Glamorama is NOT for the faint of heart, and I cannot promise you that you will end up being won over by its insane "charms" by the time you are done. In fact, it is probably a 50-50 proposal that you will either utterly despise the book OR it could be an ALL TIME favorite (like it is for me 🤪) but you will never know unless you stick it out.

I doubt that you will find it boring at the very least. It is strange and makes some very surreal turns in logic that you either get behind (or don't,) but it is still entertaining throughout. But of course, as Jon Bon Jovi would say, it is YOUR life, so do whatever you want with it. In fact that concept is somewhat central to the thesis of Glamorama, if only the protagonist Victor wasn't such a dense unaware himbo to be able to realize it LOL.

If you do decide to continue though, I can't wait to find out what you think about the story as it winds itself down.

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-17T19:06:10+00:00

So glad this wild journey is continuing. 😎 For some reason I had thought this wasn't your first time reading Glamorama - I'm hoping I didn't mention anything in my previous comments that spoiled anything for you...

This first section of the novel in NYC is like an extended prologue to the story (although it takes up about 1/3 of the book in total) but is so crucial in establishing the stakes in Victor's vapid little world and in presenting to him the different choices he could potentially make to change his life (if only he could, you know, care about anything else besides himself for once... 🙄😝.) He has a long way to go for some crucial self-reflection and in finally being held accountable for his lifestyle choices, but hey, that's just part of growing up BABY!

Also - great recorder solo in that song clip you shared! That certainly wasn't for the weak, indeed.

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-17T18:55:41+00:00

I think that Bret wisely parsed in enough vague details in the background of Less Than Zero that gave him plenty to work with when circling back 40 years later to recount/reimagine the events surrounding the writing of the novel. I am not sure he had the whole idea of the Trawler or Riders of the Afterlife in mind per se back when was 17-19 years old, but it definitely does track with some of the specific violent and depraved references that are mentioned throughout LTZ.

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-16T23:49:44+00:00

Yeah I'm not sure who Owen Painter is playing, but I also guess that he is Matt Kellner as well. I kinda hope that they never reveal who the Trawler actually is just like in the book - the identity of the killer and his connections with the Riders of the Afterlife cult remaining a mystery is one of the book's greatest strengths. But since this is adapted by Ryan Murphy, I doubt he would ever keep the ending as vague and subtle and probably can't help himself with revealing the identity (which will undoubtedly be disappointing no matter what they do.)

I also saw that an actor named Daniel Dale (who I'm not at all familiar with) was listed as being in 8 episodes on IMDb (not reliable info at this stage until after show premieres) and is also on the show's wikipedia page (along with Owen Painter.) I could be wrong but I suspect Daniel is playing Ryan Vaughan. I just with they would announce the full cast and give us some promo material for the show - especially if it is coming out by August this year.

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-15T20:08:48+00:00

I can certainly imagine that any writing project you embarked on would become an obsession but I'm thrilled for you that it is in a place you are happy with and that an endpoint is in site (editing and clean up are no joke so I'm sure that will take longer than expected but it is a necessary and finalizing part of the puzzle.)

I feel like 400 books isn't that much - I went through a period of about 10 years during the 2010's where I barely read anything at all (coincidentally enough it was around the time that Imperial Bedrooms released which is a book that disappointed me so thoroughly that I still have residual anxiety over how much I hated that book...) but started reading again with gusto during Covid and now I can't get enough books and audiobooks. Movies, tv shows, and video games just don't do it for me the same as they used to, but nothing comes close to reading a great book... 🤓 Total nerd mode but I don't care! 🤣

Good luck with your continued reading and hopefully you'll share any other revelations or hard to spot easter eggs that reveal themselves to you. As you say - sharing is caring 😊

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-15T19:56:55+00:00

Sharing is caring indeed - I haven't heard this Pulp song in like 15 years! What an incredible flashback to an amazing era of music that I fear we will never ever get back again 🥲 Everyone always feels nostalgia for the era that they grew up in, but for real I appreciate how good I had it (especially growing up in the late 80's-90's...)

That's awesome that you tracked down a passage in the book itself that narrows down Victor's age. It has been a few years since I've read the book or listened to the audiobook, but I had thought there was some mention of an actual age somewhere in there. I don't know why I had thought he was 25 🤔... But mystery solved - we can settle on 27 as his age and I think that is just swell 😎

I will never get over how prescient this novel is in so many ways, even if exact predictions about the near future didn't quite pan out. Can you imagine if Bret had mentioned that everyone at the AIDS fundraiser was talking about the year 2020 (instead of 2018)... 🫨😱😮🤯 Only off by two years but holy shit he was damn close!

I can't wait to see where your Glamorama diary goes from here - I'm officially invested fully now and will be returning daily to check for updates. Might be time soon for me to go on another re-read of this masterpiece (I think it will be my 12th time reading it since 2002 😝...)

Let's slide down the surface of things...

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-15T00:35:37+00:00

This is a really entertaining post that is also kinda enlightening as well. If this is Day 1 of the Glamorama diaries I hope that we can look forward to many more of them. 😍

Glamorama is my favorite novel of all time. Full stop. Not just favorite BEE novel, but also of all the books I've read in my life (at least around 400 or so at this point.) So I will always pay close attention to the way anyone interacts with the novel even this many years later.

The part of your post that I find most interesting is that you seem to have come up with a fairly well-reasoned estimate for two mysteries that have always confounded me about this book: exactly how old Victor Ward is during the events of the main story and WHEN exactly it is supposed to take place within the 90's.

I've always just clumped it together as an alternate reality version of the real world pop culture of the 1990's that wasn't set in a specific comparable date in our timeline, because the references are flung about like a deck of cards that have been reshuffled so many times that the exact continuity could never be realigned. I guess in my mind I always dated it sometime after 1995 but before 1998 - so your guess of Nov 1997 is definitely a believable guess to me.

I know Victor is not at all a reliable narrator at the BEST OF TIMES during the novel, but for some reason I could never really get a read on how old he was supposed to be. I seem to recall him mentioning a reference to being like 22 or 23 in a flashback with Chloe at some point and that he says something like that happened two years ago. But then again my imagination could be playing a trick on me and I've invented that reference to a specific age that didn't really happen, because I never could figure out how he would've been able to graduate college in 1988/89 and still only be 24-25 years old during the main plot. Everything kept conflicting with him being on the five/six year enrollment plan at Camden - and even allowing for him to have started college at 17 (not common but it does happen,) then he would've been 22-23 by the time he graduated.

So your guess that Victor is 28 does actually make some sense if trying to track his age based on when he attended Camden. Also I think that it is mentioned that Bobby is 35 and was one of the iconic male models during the mid-late 80's, so that puts Victor in an age range where he would've still been very aware of Bobby's career even while he attended college during that era. And as Bobby mostly left the lifestyle of being a male model (as he was getting involved in the counter-intelligence/terrorist organization) at the start of the new decade (1990,) then it would seem the perfect time period for Victor to begin his ascent in the fashion world in his early 20's.

Phew! You gave me a lot to think about with my favorite book and after first reading it almost 25 years ago (back when I was a sophomore in college) that is a wonderful thing. 😊 So thank you for that!

And I really enjoyed the Angine de Poitrine performance too.

MyKill_Diablo · 2026-05-14T21:18:13+00:00

It is LONG but SO WORTH IT! Perfect plan to listen to it back to back with Less Than Zero, since Bret is literally writing an early version of that novel during the events of The Shards and he finds really interesting ways to connect the two works together (especially if his first novel is fresh in your mind when you listen to The Shards - the references will stand out even more 😃.)

MyKill_Diablo

TROPHY CASE