He began with a well planned photograph and ended a self-promoting-nighttime-talk-show-circuit-going alcoholic.

A 1947 Harold Halma photograph of Capote was used to promote the book. Gerald Clarke, in Capote: A Biography (1988), wrote,

“The famous photograph: Harold Halma’s picture on the dustjacket of Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948) caused as much comment and controversy as the prose inside. Truman claimed that the camera had caught him off guard, but in fact he had posed himself and was responsible for both the picture and the publicity.” Much of the early attention to Capote centered around this photograph, which was widely discussed at the time. According to Clarke, the photo created an “uproar” and gave Capote “not only the literary, but also the public personality he had always wanted.”

I saw Capote on Friday and I can’t stop thinking about this movie. There are so many layers to this man’s story. And after watching this movie, I have so much to say about fame, self-consumption, living in a different era, the true-crime novel . . . I made Dave repeatedly listen to my lengthy character analysis and then when our friends came over last night, we talked and talked about the movie some more. I have been jotting down notes over the weekend and am trying to compose my thoughts.

Alas, my life collides with Capote as Eli screams in the background, demanding I “find him a dark green, not a light green crayon.” I must go. He needs to finish coloring in his luck green clover NOW!

I will finish, because I feel so inspired to write about this crazy man. In the meantime, enjoy your Monday. I will be dropping Eli off at school, getting a bikini wax and then getting my hair colored and cut, because later this week we are going to DISNEYLAND!

Hopefully, later today, I can steal a few minutes or hours so I can finish.