The final Third post... I think I'm gonna cry. :(...
I think Summer has officially hit Southern California and I couldn't be more miserable about it. :P It was sooo fuckin' hot today and the kicker is that it's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow! Ugh. I wanna hibernate till Fall. :P
I've been a salted peanuts fiend today. I'm sucker for a batch of perfectly roasted salted peanuts. The sad thing is that I have an odd reaction to the salt, if I eat too many I start to feel a bit dizzy and all around fucked up. I think it might have to do with my blood sugar. In any case I'm planning on pigging out on some more later tonight. :P
Another GQ arrived in the mail today. *sigh* Will I ever catch up? By the way, I'm kinda tripping out on how and where sexuality is found acceptable. Some might say that Gisele Bündchen's July cover is a tad pornographic. Not me, but I thought... interesting. It's so gray in America. *sigh*
Now that things are coming to end I thought it would be a great time, in the next few days, to watch the final film in my Akira Kurosawa Retrospective, Madadayo. Bittersweet. :D :(
Battlestar Galactica is on hiatus until Feb. '09!!! At least, that's what I think I heard. Ugh, such a long wait. But damn... that mid-season finale was fucking stellar! :D
My back's wet! This isn't natural! Curse you Summer! *pumps fist*
I can't get my wildflowers to live past a certain point in their development. I think it has to do with the way I've potted them. I learned from the first time around that direct sunlight is not the way to go... unless I'm looking for steamed veggies. :P Anyway... it's all a work in progress... I'll get it right eventually.
Gee... I don't want to post/end this, but I can't think of anything else to say. Oh well.
approximately 8 1/4" x 5"; colored pencil on paper.
This is the first piece in my 100-part Joey's Book (AKA The Black Book) project.
Because The Black Book pieces are inspired by my dreams I'm a bit wary about going in-depth with my explanations here. I just have this idea of some psychoanalyst invading my head and ripping me apart. :P I'm sure I've loaded 'em up with enough ammo thanks to all my previous posts, so why compound my offense? My dreams are precious to me. I can deal with sharing them on this level... visually, because they pale in comparison to the actual memory. I feel that the memory is safe. Building on it with my words would endanger it and open me up in a way that I'm just not comfortable with. What I will say is that this wasn't a nightmare. This was one of those third-person perspective dreams, I viewed all the players from a great distance. And I remember not recognizing my form but knowing who I was, knowing it was me.
Anyway, I'm beat. I've been... this is very much a sketch, an experiment. I've been experimenting all day with this one. My thumb's sore, my back and neck ache and my eyes are failing me... I need sleep.
This is the third piece in my 21-part Jerry's Book (AKA The Brown Book) project.
I began this piece around the same time I started this blogging project and now that this blog is coming to an end I really wanted to complete this piece in time, because y'know how much I love synchronicity. Thankfully I did finish in time, in fact this one is hot off the presses, I got it done only a couple of hours ago. Phew!
There are two deeply personal stories interwoven with this piece... or at least with it's inspiration. This is an abstract representation of a ring, my ring, which I call the Mountain Ring. As a hard and fast rule I don't wear jewelry, or at least I didn't. I don't know... just one of those things. You know how you have an image of something in your mind? Well the concept of men with jewelry was always warped in my mind. Certainly I've seen and known men who could pull off the look... but because something is right for others doesn't necessarily mean it's right for you. The idea just never sat well with me. But I wanted a ring. I needed a ring. And sometimes you don't know the why of these things. The language of the heart is not the same spoken by the mind, so I can't really peg what it was about a ring. It could've just as easily been a necklace, no? Or a bracelet? I don't know...
The search for a ring began with the two stories I mentioned earlier. Both take place at the same time but in different places. There's a timeline of events in this plane, The Physical, and another that takes place... I don't know where, The Spiritual? It was in that space that I found something very precious to me. I found it in a time of great loneliness and in deep darkness. It is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I've the image of it in my mind and the feeling in my heart. It exists. And I wanted to protect it, to save it, to hold it, to honor it, etc. And that's when another story began to unfold.
I remember the first time I saw the ring in it's jewel case. I remember how right it felt. That's it! That's the one! It was exactly what I'd been looking for, exactly what I wanted. I had rock & steel in my mind; mineral & metal. They became chrysocolla and silver. It was perfect. It fit in every sense of the word. What I found I meant for others to protect. These people were extensions of myself. But it's just my nature to project in this way... it had to be symbolized. I envisioned mountains. Not men, not women, just people; people who lived in these mountains. Great mountains and great people. People of metal and rock. A hardy people. They are strength and resiliency personified. It is they who I wanted to entrust this very precious thing. The mountains and the people became the ring.
The actual ring exists as three that form one at the base. Again, I just have to mention how well everything fits. The sketch is partly inspired by kundilini yoga, specifically its chakra system. The inner most ring represented is the Ring of Claws that represents survival. Survival as differentiated from living. The Ring of Claws is scavenging... it's holding on... it's getting by... it's clinging to life as opposed to living it. The second ring is the Ring of Fire. This place is of procreation and sexual gratification. This is the street corner. This is the whores & hustlers. This is a life ruled by loins and lust. The outermost ring, the third, is the Ring of Thorns. This is a life ruled by competition. This place is of aggression and violence. Together, the three rings represent the Animal life... the life and aims we share with the animal world, the most base form of living, a non-spiritual life.
The fourth ring, that of the heart, occupies the same space as that of the Mountain Range. The second part of my ring is a square-cut piece of chrysocolla set in a "ring" of silver that sits atop the "animal" rings. The "ring" of silver is bound to the square piece of chrysocolla and looks very much like a range of mountains. The jewel in turn looks like a vaulted blue-green sky. Inside this space is where my Mountain People live. I envision a whole world all their own, safe and impenetrable. In each of the four directions, to give life to this world, I've represented the four elements; Eastern Earth, Southern Fire, Western Wind and Northern Waters. At the heart of the range is a representation of the actual jewel, offset by 45 degrees to call to mind a diamond/precious mineral. It's there that the burial ground exists; the safest place in all the worlds. This space, this world of mountains exists exactly between the Lunar and Solar powers. From this place the powers are undifferentiated and in balance. This is the place of the heart. This is the realm of spiritual growth; compassion. This metaphysical state exists beyond the three physical ones. This is one aspect of the heart; strength. Strength is what I've chosen to take away from my stories.
Post 360! Only five posts left!! How many more exclamation points can I use!!!??? :P It's almost over and now the paranoia has set in... I'm convinced there's a meteorite out there somewhere hurtling toward Earth with my name on it. :P
There are two sketches I absolutely need to get on this blog before the end. I've been spending the past few days working on them, or at least one of them. I'll have one day to complete the other. God I hope I make it. :P
I haven't been using the pen all that much... my thumb's so sore as a result of all this recent drawing. :(
The local Jamba Juice has been unusually hot in-store... what's up with that?
I'm dying for some Strawberry Cake... thankfully I can indulge myself tonight. :D
Been catching up with my podcasts, as usual. I love media. :D
I used to have an irrational fear of dogs. When I was young, a wee lad, I had a very vivid dream in which I was walking hand-in-hand with my mother in our old neighborhood. In the dream, we walked passed a familiar facility. Even now, I don't know what the place was exactly but it reminds me of a junkyard. And like any good junkyard it was guarded by dogs. They were vicious creatures. Thankfully they were fenced in. Whenever anyone walked passed this place they went into an uproar. Because the gate was made corrugated sheets of steel it was hard to tell just how many dogs there were. All you could make out were their clawing paws and snapping snouts. That's what I remember most about my dream. I remember having to walk across the street to avoid the clamor of these canines, but even then I was afraid. But in my dream my mother and I didn't. I don't remember anything about my mom other than I knew it was her. I can't remember how she looked, she never spoke... there was nothing but her hand and I couldn't let go or maybe she wouldn't let me. She kept moving forward and I along with her. We were walking along the fence of this "junkyard" and the dogs came. But this time it was different. There seemed to be hundreds of dogs. All of them looking to get their teeth into me. I just remember the number and the noise. It was louder than usual and there was so much dust. I felt like I was being thrown to the wolves. Ever since then I feared them...
It wasn't until some years later that I lost the fear. Or at least I lost the irrational aspect of my fear. Now I fear dogs in the same way that I fear cars or people or stairs or physics, etc. :P It's more about paranoia than anything else. My older brother helped me with this. We were vacationing in Arizona, which is notorious for the amount of stray dogs running about, and for whatever reason we had to walk from one Aunt's home to the other. The Aunt we were staying with at the time lived in a community with very many guard dogs. I mean, they were obviously pets but... well I won't get into it. This was some years back so the fear of being sued by someone who had been attacked by an unleashed dog meant dogs were running wild and unchecked all the time. On our walk we had become surrounded. At the time, it was my worst nightmare. A ring of dogs, fangs bared and all of them barking and encroaching ever closer. I just remember clutching my brother, using him as a shield... him protecting me. And I remember his strength. He was afraid, but not terrified. And he said something to me that day that I've never let go of... that I've always treasured. It was a realization that what would be, would be. There's no sense in fearing something you don't know. There's no sense in fearing or fretting something you can't change as well. It's almost a meditation on surrender. It's actually a lot of things... mostly it's about conquering fear, or at least getting there. I still feel fear but it's not unchecked, it doesn't run wild in my heart in the same way that it used to. I can reign in it when I know I need to get through something or someone. The memory of that shift... I'll never forget.
Following up on the success of HBO's hit cable series, Sex And The City picks up not far from where the show last left the four main characters.
Wow, wow, wow... I loved this movie! :D I only just got around to watching it so I'm a bit late to the party. During the time spent waiting to watch the movie I'd been hearing quite a lot of positive buzz about the film but that still didn't prepare me for the amount of fun I had. It felt like... the good ol' days. ;) I've been a longtime fan of the series and have seen ever single episode so I think it says a lot that I was more than satisfied with the outcome. My biggest worry was that the studio/production team would make a shitty film and bastardize the franchise all for the sake of making a quick buck, thankfully that wasn't the case. It felt like nothing had changed, in a good way, like I said it felt like the good ol' days. I think the film walked a fine line between feeling like an overextended t.v. show and a proper film, it was a perfect blend of the two. It felt like the show, but never did it feel bloated or exhausting. And as a film I think it did a great job of being open enough for an entirely new audience, I got the impression that you could pick up the story without ever having watched the original series. I can find no faults with this film. That said, I doubt it'll change your life... it's not a groundbreaking film, it just happens to be a whole lot of fun. But what's wrong with that? We all need to laugh once in a while. ;)
9/10 Yeah that's right, a 9. I could watch this movie over and over and over again. :P An absolute must for any fan of the series. And straight guys, no need to fear, this film isn't just for chicks and fags. :P ;) I can't imagine anyone not liking this film on some level.
It's not until I spend some time with someone who's not totally immersed in tech culture that I realize how obsessed I really am. Maybe I should cool off? Hmmm... ... ... ... Nah! :P
Apple posted their WWDC '08 keynote as a downloadable podcast... it's a doozy, well over a gigabyte! Haven't watched it but boy am I looking forward to it. :D I gotta make the mood just right... I've a raspberry white chocolate mocha chillin' in the fridge that'll be perfect for the occasion, thank the maker. ;)
I haven't really made an effort to watch the final two Akira Kurosawa films. I think... I don't want it to end, which is so weird... I love endings, but I guess... sometimes I don't.
I need to clean my keyboard... not really exciting news but I just thought I'd throw it out there, it's been well over a week since the last cleaning.
My brother and sister are gonna get a dog... a puppy actually... I think a toy dog, y'know, a really small dog. For some reason I'm really excited about it. I guess I like the idea of being able to play with it without having to care for it. :P
Did I mention that I did make some brownies the other night, for the first time? They came out okay... but I didn't have any walnuts on hand, which really rapes. The one thing I truly love about brownies are the walnuts. It's always been a dream of mine to bake 'em myself so that I could go crazy with the amount of walnuts. Guess I got something to look forward to. ;)
Okay, I think I'm done... Hell's Kitchen is about to begin in 5 minutes. :P
351!!!??? Craziness... only... lemme see... *counts using fingers*carry the one... move the remainder... only 14 blog posts left to go! :P
No links today... I hate hunting for links. Cutting and pasting is too much of a hassle tonight. :P
My brother and new sister came over today... did I mention they got married!? (I know I did ;) ) By the way, when I say married and brother & sister I don't want you getting the wrong idea... this is California, not the deep South. :P
I haven't been walking as much as I used to these past few weeks but I took a nice long one this evening... nice cool breeze. There's nothing quite like a pleasant, leisurely walk. It's very blissful if you manage to have all the stars aligned.
Had a huge helping of BBQ baby back ribs this afternoon courtesy of my brother. When did he become such a good cook? I think my Sis' rubbin' off on him. Deliciousness. :D Mmmm... *daydreaming*
I'm gonna have a go at making some brownies. I'm such a fiend for brownies which is love a cousin of mine helped foster, she makes a killer brownie. Though I know she's really old school about the prep... they're practically made from scratch. In the culinary scape, much like the tech scape, I'm a far better consumer than creator. :P So I haven't made any, ever... and it'll be a while before I attempt to make them from scratch so I'm going the Betty Crocker and... Duncan Hines? route first.
Betty Crocker & Duncan Hines are funny creatures to me... they're very quick and dirty. They're great... very good in my opinion, but there's a difference between quick & dirty and slow & loving. ;) They get the job done but you know it could be better. But like I said, they're good in a pinch. I aspire to become a lover in the kitchen... mainly a baker. I love baked goods... but then, who doesn't?
I really HATE Google's new favicon. Thought so the day it was unveiled. Why don't they change it!? I haven't heard any love for it. Change is not always a good thing.
I'm getting a headache... :( I know I shouldn't stare at this monitor any longer but there's no way that's gonna happen. :P
Apple's WWDC is only... basically a day away (it's on Monday) and I can't wait!!! I've been trying to steer clear of all the rumors about all the possible announcements, I really want the virgin experience. I love not knowing what's to come... though I know in my heart we'll see those new iPhones. Once I see that white one... ah! I can't wait!!! :D
Last night's episode of Battlestar Galactica may have been the best I've ever seen. So, so, so great! I love when... when you come down to it and year's worth of storytelling layers and builds upon itself to deliver some pretty powerfully poignant moments. I could've died watching that episode. Amazing storytelling. :D
Okay that's enough... time to indulge my latest obsession: Draw My Thing. :D Wonder how I'll fare with this looming headache. :P
Fair thee well my friends, have a pleasant journey in your part of the dream sea. ;)
I was listening to The Howard Stern Show the other day and they were having a discussion that centered around ideas of family life, child rearing, etc., none of which I want to talk about today but that discussion did spark another one I've had floating around my head for a very long time.
I've heard it all my life: Respect your elders. I hate the idea. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at odds with the idea of respecting my fellow man. I'd say everyone has some level of my respect from the outset, no matter who they are. But it's not an implicit respect. True respect needs to be earned and you earn it based upon your actions. I meet a stranger and I treat them kindly, the next move is his or hers, and based upon that interaction the degree of respect I've afforded them is either raised or lowered. In that regard I don't think I'm any different than anyone else, it just makes sense. So I never understood why my elders should be held to a different standard. I think one of the most sobering truths you learn as you grow older is that your elders are really no different than you, they're just people. And like most people, elders can turn out to be real dicks and cunts once you get to know them. And people become real pricks real quick when they feel entitled to something. I've seen certain elders take an obscene liberty with this sentiment around people who fully accept it. I'm sorry, but certain behavior is just unacceptable and I don't care who the fuck you are, if you come at me expecting to shit all over me without any reprisal you've got another thing coming. It's that idea that I have a problem with. Why kowtow to the lowest common denominator? Nobody gets a pass in my book, young or old.
This is only my second true Lyrical Exegesis post and as I come down to the end of this blogging project I really wish I set aside more time and put more effort into writing more of them, there are so many songs out there that I want to share and spin from my perspective because I feel it's a great way to share my... well, just share... my experience. I might have one more of these posts in me before the end but I can't be sure...
When I first envisioned the Lyrical Exegesis feature I thought I would dissect a song's lyrics and music in full, but now I see that's far too daunting a task. For a song like Professional Widow there's just too much to delve into lyrically; conceptually. Fortunately, it's also one of those songs you can sum up with a short excerpt... at least, there's one facet, one message I want to latch onto. The excerpt above is the final verse of the song and the one I want to focus on.
I love this lyric, this message. I have it posted here and there on certain online profiles of mine and it was actually a friend of mine on one of these sites that sparked this post. I felt the need to explain myself and my love for these words... this concept.
I wasn't raised a Christian. That whole sphere of Judeo-Christian philosophy that exists in the hearts and minds of many is foreign to me. It's alien but still a part (however, small) of my mind and heart by virtue of being the predominant philosophy in America. You can't live here, or anywhere, without being affected by it in some way... it sees and rules all. In it's view I'm a heathen, I come from a noble ancestry of heathens. Although I also wasn't raised Navajo, It was still there... but it wasn't a part of my life in the way that Christianity was a part of my church-going friends' lives. But I had enough of that world (Navajo culture), that philosophy (Navajo spirituality) around me that I absorbed it more than anything else. It was a philosophical/spiritual osmosis... what I managed to take away came in the form of an understanding of symbology and a mind for metaphor (that's probably fairly obvious to anyone who knows me well enough). It's because of that absorption that I've been able to... relate. Comparative mythology is more my bag than anything else... I love it. So I don't have a problem with religion per se. I don't even have a problem with Christianity. My problem is with indoctrination... well even that's not true... I have a problem with misinterpretation. The greatest tragedy as it pertains to religion/mythology is mistaking shadow for substance and poetry for prose. The concept of a literal mind interpreting a spiritual language is... well I won't even get into it here, I need to focus.
Tori Amos is one of my two favorite artists of all-time, of any medium. She was raised Christian, the daughter of a minister no less. So her work is very much focused on... damn I knew this would be hard. :P
I feel like I'm on the outside in a lot of ways. I feel I'm under attack. It's that force... it's not Christianity but it's the perversion of Christianity that I feel at war with. I respond to and crave any work that speaks to that tension... The Cannonade Against Christianity, The Blitzkrieg of Blasphemy, The Salvo of Sin. It's about being under attack and opting for an offensive stance rather than defensive. To hell with the best offense being a good defense, I think... I know that allowing something as caustic and toxic as this specific form of perversion to let fly and unchecked is what the enemy would prefer; they would prefer that we not respond in kind. And I don't mean to... advocate a violent or... all I'm speaking of is fostering and owning your anger and outrage rather than dismissing or burying it. You keep it in your heart, you don't let it die, you foster it so that if you ever find yourself in a situation when it's called upon you you can come from a place of strength and clarity.
Of the many crimes perpetrated by The Great Perversion, the one I find most foul and reprehensible is the notion that Nature is fallen and sinful. So much of that philosophy speaks of strength and spirit from without rather than within; It speaks of shame. Everything I know and was raised on speaks of the exact opposite. I've known people who are damaged by it. I've seen it... this disconnection between body and soul. That Nature, the body, sex and sexuality could become points of shame and disgrace... well, I just don't understand how people could buy into that bullshit. To view sex as anything other than a Holy Communion is... it's just so foreign to me. To have a divinity that excludes, degrades or minimizes sexuality is counterfeit. That the natural and the spiritual could exist in two separate spheres is insane to me; natural is spiritual; Nature is Divine. And I don't know where you would look in this day and age and hope to argue the point. You've generations crippled by this castration and infibulation of the mind; that whole sphere of dysfunction. You've barren lands and polluted waters, all a result of this Great Perversion. You see the shame, the impotence, the pollution, the schizophrenia, the excess, the filth, the entitlement, the extinction, the perversion... is that Divine, is that Holy? It all comes to bear from an ideology that views Nature as fallen. That religion is not my religion... that world is not the world I want.
Give me peace / Love / And a hard cock is about union. To speak as a fully realized person would mean uttering and internalizing those words. It's an equal balance... or maybe no balance because there's no discrimination. The heavenly and the divine is not... it's not just the white doves. All of these elements are dependent on one another. The Holy Trinity is mind, body and soul. But it's always the body that gets left out of the picture. The body takes a backseat. The body is devalued. But we need the body if we want to taste the bliss of being. The hard cock is merely a reference to that idea, it also exists as the wet pussy or exists as whatever you need it to exist as to fully embrace every part of your being (both physical and metaphysical) and honor yourself and others for exactly what we are, The Divine.
It's really something to see Tori Amos perform live, and never more so than when she performs a song like Professional Widow that expresses this dialogue on sexuality as divinity. It's really something to see a woman with a Christian upbringing totally embracing her sexuality and playing with your idea of propriety; she'll straddle and grind that piano bench, she'll spread her legs and claw her inner thighs, she'll growl, holler and moan, she'll caress her breasts and clench her crotch, and as you'll see in the final seconds of this performance she'll wrench and slurp her microphone as a phallic object. She's so... words don't do her justice. *swooning* ;) :D
Professional Widow (album lyrics)
slag pit stag shit honey bring it close to my lips yes don't blow those brains yet we gotta be big boy we gotta be big starfucker just like my daddy just like my daddy selling his baby just like my daddy gonna strike a deal make him feel like a congressman it runs in the family
rest your shoulders peaches and cream everywhere a judas as far as you can see beautiful angel calling "we got every re-run of muhammed ali"
prism perfect honey bring it close to your lips yes what is termed a landslide of principle proportion boy it better be big boy starfucker just like my daddy just like my daddy selling his baby just like my daddy gonna strike a deal make him feel like a congressman it runs in the family
mother mary china white brown may be sweeter she will supply mother mary china white brown may be sweeter she will supply she will supply she will supply she will supply
Had such a great night playing hours and hours of Draw My Thing on I'm In Like With You. That site's all about the games and they recently unveiled some new ones, the highlight being the Pictionary clone, Draw My Thing. I met this one guy who was making me laugh sooo much. It's rare that I find someone online with my exact sense of humor. I only stopped because my gameroom froze... which is a good thing 'cause I had to eat and blog. :P
I don't really have much else to say... my mind's consumed with one thing. :P
My brother's wedding went off without a hitch... I have a new sister! :D Well, in my view I always had one but now in the eyes of the United States government it's official. :P It was a really great day... beautiful was the watchword, just everything. It was one of those days. :D
Decompression day. ;)
Almost missed Million Dollar Password on CBS. I scheduled it via iCal on my iPod touch almost a month ago but I guess they juggled the times around since then. Pretty awesome show, I'm a sucker for Password/Pyramid.
20 posts left and my Ring sketch isn't done yet. Took 'im out to Starbucks today and it's all falling together. :D
Seems like the Wii bug's been spreading. My cousin's Wii died on him... sorta. It'll turn on but it won't read discs... guess it's pretty obvious that it's the disc drive. I'm so glad all is right with the world on this end. :P ;)
Massive clouds of gnats have been plaguing the neighborhood today... it's insane! I don't know what's up and where they came from. *shivers*
Did I mention that I think my wildflower might actually survive? I can't be sure... but I think life has found a way. :D
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008) - directed by Steven Spielberg The fourth film in the wildly popular and successful Indiana Jones franchise finds the titular character entangled in a plot with Russian militants bent on attaining a world-ruling power; to be bestowed in return of a lost, ancient relic.
I feel funny about this review because I feel a review is based around the idea that I'm to dissuade or sway an audience toward a particular film and I can't imagine anyone not seeing this movie; There's nothing I can say, bad or good, that's going to stop someone from doing so. So what is there to say? I think the one thing you'll hear over and over again is that it was fun. It was entertaining. It was fun and it was entertaining. I'm sure there are very few that will say they love the film and truly mean it. I didn't fall in love. :( In fact, I might have been more than a tad disappointed. But y'know how I feel about expectations and disappointment. Maybe the blame should be on me, but I don't think I built up any expectations... at least nothing so grand. I only wanted the film to live up to the greatness of the previous three and I don't think it made it.
I could probably rip this film apart if I wanted to, but as I said, I enjoyed myself and to be hypercritical now would be very disingenuous. It wasn't the greatest disappointment. I think I should just be grateful that it wasn't on par with the failure that was the Star Wars prequels. Anything looks better in that light. :P There was a lot I liked about the movie... but it didn't have the polish to make the grade. I guess it's true what they say, you can't go home again. :|
7/10 Sadly, my least favorite film of the franchise. A fine argument that digital effects aren't the be-all and end-all in world with practical effects. While not the best film of the franchise, definitely worth the watch for the awesomeness that is Cate Blanchett with a wicked Russian accent. Yowsa! :P ;)
A collection of eight short, self-contained films inspired by the dreams of visionary director Akira Kurosawa.
Of all the films that were on my list to watch during my Kurosawa retrospective, Dreams was the film I most looked forward to watching. It was during the time I first conceptualized my own Dream project that I learned of Kurosawa's. It was one of those things, a sign. Having worked primarily in black & white I was hesitant about experimenting with color, that I would also be sharing something as personal to me as my own dreams paled in comparison to that initial fear. I'd always been a fan of Kurosawa but it wasn't until I learned of Dreams that I felt a true affinity for the artist. In my mind he existed in the old world of classic black & white cinema. I remember first seeing the cover/poster work for Dreams and feeling things click. I remember the color most of all; the dichotomy between old and new. I was instantly drawn in and had to see this film. But I had to wait...
If for nothing else this film is worth seeing for the first short, Sunshine Through The Rain, which just so happens to be the inspiration for the cover/poster artwork of Dreams, it's that good. While the rest of the shorts didn't quite live up to the grandeur of the first, I did find things to take away from each of them. I'd say this film is largely a visual experiment... in that vein I found it to be arresting, compelling, strong and dramatic. There are so many images you'll walk away with after having watched the movie. Unfortunately, given the structure, there's not much to take away in terms of a coherent storyline. In fact, the film is characteristically Asian in that the film provides very little dialogue. It's exactly the film you would expect given the pitch. It's scattered, poignant, visual, meditative and mysterious. Certainly Kurosawa's most artistically experimental film to date. I loved this film through and through.
8.5/10 In my opinion, Kurosawa's most visually arresting film. A film for the art set.
Tonight's the night... the Lost season finale!!! :D
My brother's wedding is in a few days and now I'm worried about things falling into place... there are a few details that need tending to at the last minute. I suppose it wouldn't be my brother's wedding if that wasn't the case. :P
I need to finish uploading those year-old photos to Flickr by the end of this month. D'oh! :P
My wildflowers won't grow. :( Perhaps they were offended by my first careless attempt.
The weather's been beautiful these past few days and the next few look to be just as peachy. :)
I'd forgotten how awesome the Wii's Internet Channel is. Sadly it can't play Flash video from the TED website. Fortunately it can play video from YouTube which TED posts to as well.
Laundry day today. I can't remember what doing laundry was like before I owned an iPod... I'm typing up this blog post from the laundromat! :D
Looking forward to the Sex And The City movie... I'll catch it sometime next week though.
I just noticed the other day that Dina Lohan has the longest (disproportionately long) arms I've seen on a person. Also, I hate that I know Dina Lohan's name.
This shirt feels like a blouse... it's like a tent. I knew I should've trusted my ghost when I bought it. I'm a medium guy, but this medium is more like a large. :| O where o where is that small shirt now?
Another raspberry white chocolate mocha is chilling in the freezer. Life is good. :D
So I was having a chat with a friend of mine the other day and he mentioned something that sparked something else in my head... that seems to happen quite a lot, conversations within conversations.
For anyone who's unaware West Hollywood, which just so happens to be West of Hollywood :P, is a city here in Southern California that's a hub of homosexuality, a man-on-man mecca. I have a love-hate relationship with the place. I love it in the same way that I love the Navajo reservation. There's something about being around people who are like you, there's this familiarity and safety. It's just a pleasant feeling. It's hard for me to imagine myself being anything other than exactly what I am but I would think, I would hope, that even if I were straight I would be enamored with West Hollywood for this overwhelming sense of freedom and acceptance. The place is less about being accepting to the GLBT community and more about being accepting of acceptance. It's a lovely place when you think about it. Everyone is exactly who they want to be, doing exactly what they want to be doing and there's no fear of being shamed or threatened into anything else. There's a spirit about the place... a strength, a courage, a fearlessness, a bravery... heroism.
The thing I hate about West Hollywood and places like it is seeing people shut themselves off in self-imposed ghettos. The picture's not all rosey. I don't see everyone as courageous or brave. I know people who are there because they are the exact opposite. I see people living in fear. There are people there whose entire life is that one place. It's the literature, it's the theatre, it's the community, the culture, everything... all of it is centered around this one perspective. We live in a global community, there is no disputing that. I try not to be judgemental and rarely do I say something is wrong for fear of being wrong myself. But our greatest threats as a global community are these rabid and fanatical enclaves of exclusivity, these self-imposed ghettos. There's this fear and resistance to change that's fostering a toxic xenophobia. It's a dangerous state to live in, literally and metaphorically. But y'know, I don't pretend that my story is that of everyone else. There might be... I'm sure there are reasons for the way things are. People can be ugly, vicious, brutal, violent... and if that's all you've ever known of others who am I to say what you're doing and where you're living is wrong? I don't say it for exactly that reason. I don't know everything and I don't know what's going on... but I feel like something's off.
A Japanese period drama adapted from William Shakespeare's King Lear; A tale of an aging king driven to madness by his feuding sons; a house divided by avarice and treachery.
I wanna keep this short and sweet (along with future Fetish posts), so I'll just say that I liked the film. I didn't love it, but I did enjoy myself. It's hard to go wrong when you pair two geniuses like Kurosawa and Shakespeare. However, given that the story is so simple the film is largely a visual experience and that might have to do with my lukewarm reception; I didn't view the best version of this film... I missed out on the Criterion edition. The copy I saw was the original DVD transfer and it looked quite muddy. If I had viewed the pristine version of the film I might have been bowled over by the visual impact, so much so that I might have forgiven the film's slight failings. The story, or, at least the screenplay seems to be quite lite with Kurosawa's epics... lite and drawn out. It's hard to live up to Shakespeare but if the writing were anywhere near as interesting I might have been able to forgive the muddy visuals. Anyway, it's a solid film... sadly despite my viewing experience, at this point, Kurosawa is working against himself; the film is nowhere as compelling as his earlier work.
7/10 A visual treat of period Japan underlying one of Shakespeare's great works.
Currently making love to the Juno soundtrack. Listened to Cat Power's Sea Of Love cover quite a lot, now I've been ensnared by Barry Louis Polisar's All I Want Is You, it's the first track featured in the film and the first of the soundtrack. Much like the rest of the album it has the feel of a children's tune; quite infectious.
In a world of Drum, Guitar and Keyboard guys I'd have to call myself a Keyboard guy. Then I might be a Drum dude. It's very rare for me to celebrate my inner Guitar guy. PJ Harvey's the only known soul to really bring him out.
I'm coming to the end of my Akira Kurosawa retrospective. I watched Dreams (1990) last night which means I've only to watch Rhapsody In August (1991) and Madadayo (1993) and I'll be done. :( A very bittersweet ending. I'm still trying to figure out what will come next. I always thought I would begin the documentary march not long after...
The week's just about over... and I'm so glad I was able to cope with the loss of Lost and Battlestar Galactica (not to mention Law & Order: SVU, Survivor... and ER). :P Although, maybe that had something to do with having four Kurosawa films, four Harry Potter flicks, the Indiana Jones DVD box set, three episodes of Hell's Kitchen and the usual collection of vidcasts to watch. :P Still, I can't wait till next week! :D
I don't know if I mentioned on this blog, but my Wii came back to life! :D That last sentence would be much sweeter if I had a history of impotence. :P I love amusing myself. ;)
Been catching up with The Dawn and Drew Show and episodes 751-758 have been fucking stellar! Just hilarious! *LOL*
I've been consuming so many raspberry white chocolate mochas from Starbucks it's not even funny! Well, maybe it is. :P Funnier thing is that I might grab another one tonight. O_O I can't stop myself! Help! :P
