You know the move

Combat was in the air today. Noel and I went out to the movies (for the first time in three months or so) to see Ironman and Redbelt. The latter made me wonder, even more so than usual, what a random moviegoer would think if he stumbled into a Mamet film. Imagine the martial arts fan who pays his money and sits down to see some fighting, only to hear Ricky Jay and Rebecca Pidgeon delivering their lines in that inimitable, mannered fashion. Yes. No. Yes. Come in. What? Come in. You're welcome here. Take the knife. What? No. Take the knife. Rubber. Take the knife.

And on a more metaphorical and personal level, I received an assassination commission today. As a competitor in Sock Wars III, I am assigned to knit a pair of socks (the "weapon") and mail them to a target. If my weapon reaches them before their own pair is finished, they are dead and must mail me their unfinished weapon and their target information. The game continues until only one knitter is left alive. (As seen in the media!)

The whole thing is rather comical, since I am the slowest sock knitter on five continents. I expect to be dead before the end of next week. But at least I'll have a pair of socks. Everybody dies. You want to do something for his widow? What? Take the knife.