ooooh, what's all this new shiney stuff at SG? and what does that little heart mean? hmm. Figure it all out later.
again, sorry i haven't been around too much. i DO miss it all, but the interweb has just been a little hard to access lately.
I am in the last hours before a trip across the country. At 4.25 a.m. a shuttle will pick me up and I'll be on the first leg of the journey that will show me the west coast of the US for the first time. Seattle. Creatively, my juices are spread thin and seeping into more than a couple projects at the same time, so this post will be shallow, but will deal with the deep. I want to let poeple know about two works that I have had the priviledge to wander into serendipitously. For some of you, and you know who you are, these should be considered REQUIRED media.
Firstly, during a lovely visit with the beautiful Ashley, we decided to rent movies. We each got to pick one. I picked 'Slither' and she chose 'Turistas'. Interestingly, I cannot handle sadistic violence in film IF it is done by humans. The original 'Saw' pretty much ended that fork in my entertainment road. Again I will say that, were it not for Cary Elwes being appallingly bad, say if the role were played by DeNiro, I think I would have killed myself from despair during that film. Anyway, Ashley had the alternate view. She cannot handle supernatural violence. So we split 50/50. She got a slasher flick (Turistas) and I got a monster movie. Well, turns out that 'Turistas' was out, so 'Tideland' was rented instead. Although I hope she gets her dose of stupid teenagers being slaughtered, 'Tideland' was what the Universe wanted us to see that night.
The new film by Terry Gilliam (Fisher King, Fear and Loathing, Brazil, etc.), 'Tideland' is without doubt, a masterpiece. 'Fisher King' notwithstanding, 'Tideland' may be the best work he has ever done. It is dark. It IS painful. In the first 2 minutes we watch the heroine, prepubescent Jeliza Rose, cook heroin for her daddy, Jeff Bridges. But it is also phenomenally beautiful. Truly. The film is her journey as she moves in a world of her parent's drug abuse and what a miraculous world it is. Everyone is top-notch, the material is amazing and the cinematography gorgeous. For acting fetishists, the young man who plays Jeliza's lobotomised friend like a young Tom Waits, is fantastic. Watch it. Gilliam himself says this film is hard to watch. He also has said that women find it more beautiful than men in test audiences. I'll let that stand, but I love this film. If you miss it, and you are one of the people SUPPOSED to watch it, you will notice its absence somehow, I believe.
Second comes a book. Due to a comedy of errors, I found myself at a used bookstore in St. Pete friday. After having found the Catholic prayer books far too pricey (as they are rarely 'used'), I wandered into the 'humour' section and lo and behold I saw 'Three-Fisted Tales of "Bob"', a collection of SubGenius short fiction. I remember when I first saw and thought I 'got' the Church back in the late '80's, I picked it up at a store and put it back, annoyed. I can't exactly remember why I didn't like it, but it would be honest to say that I wasn't ready. 'Three-Fisted Tales' (Fireside, Simon and Schuster) is a grouping of short stories dealing with the SubGenius mythos. I can't really say much more that would make sense, but if you have ANY inclination to the SubGenii or to post-modernism or theology, find this book. With tales from William S. Burroughs, Mark Mothersbaugh (of Devo), Robert Anton Wilson and others, this collection is thought-provoking, grounding, confusing, delicious and most of all: fun. I call it truly a holy work of great artists. And who could possibly be saddened by Nyaralothotep and J.R. "Bob" Dobbs in one place? The Illuminati run rampant here, folks, so if you can't take a joke, well, you probably have no idea what you're supposed to do. Again, you know who you are: Get this book.
Love to all, back in a week.
again, sorry i haven't been around too much. i DO miss it all, but the interweb has just been a little hard to access lately.
I am in the last hours before a trip across the country. At 4.25 a.m. a shuttle will pick me up and I'll be on the first leg of the journey that will show me the west coast of the US for the first time. Seattle. Creatively, my juices are spread thin and seeping into more than a couple projects at the same time, so this post will be shallow, but will deal with the deep. I want to let poeple know about two works that I have had the priviledge to wander into serendipitously. For some of you, and you know who you are, these should be considered REQUIRED media.
Firstly, during a lovely visit with the beautiful Ashley, we decided to rent movies. We each got to pick one. I picked 'Slither' and she chose 'Turistas'. Interestingly, I cannot handle sadistic violence in film IF it is done by humans. The original 'Saw' pretty much ended that fork in my entertainment road. Again I will say that, were it not for Cary Elwes being appallingly bad, say if the role were played by DeNiro, I think I would have killed myself from despair during that film. Anyway, Ashley had the alternate view. She cannot handle supernatural violence. So we split 50/50. She got a slasher flick (Turistas) and I got a monster movie. Well, turns out that 'Turistas' was out, so 'Tideland' was rented instead. Although I hope she gets her dose of stupid teenagers being slaughtered, 'Tideland' was what the Universe wanted us to see that night.
The new film by Terry Gilliam (Fisher King, Fear and Loathing, Brazil, etc.), 'Tideland' is without doubt, a masterpiece. 'Fisher King' notwithstanding, 'Tideland' may be the best work he has ever done. It is dark. It IS painful. In the first 2 minutes we watch the heroine, prepubescent Jeliza Rose, cook heroin for her daddy, Jeff Bridges. But it is also phenomenally beautiful. Truly. The film is her journey as she moves in a world of her parent's drug abuse and what a miraculous world it is. Everyone is top-notch, the material is amazing and the cinematography gorgeous. For acting fetishists, the young man who plays Jeliza's lobotomised friend like a young Tom Waits, is fantastic. Watch it. Gilliam himself says this film is hard to watch. He also has said that women find it more beautiful than men in test audiences. I'll let that stand, but I love this film. If you miss it, and you are one of the people SUPPOSED to watch it, you will notice its absence somehow, I believe.
Second comes a book. Due to a comedy of errors, I found myself at a used bookstore in St. Pete friday. After having found the Catholic prayer books far too pricey (as they are rarely 'used'), I wandered into the 'humour' section and lo and behold I saw 'Three-Fisted Tales of "Bob"', a collection of SubGenius short fiction. I remember when I first saw and thought I 'got' the Church back in the late '80's, I picked it up at a store and put it back, annoyed. I can't exactly remember why I didn't like it, but it would be honest to say that I wasn't ready. 'Three-Fisted Tales' (Fireside, Simon and Schuster) is a grouping of short stories dealing with the SubGenius mythos. I can't really say much more that would make sense, but if you have ANY inclination to the SubGenii or to post-modernism or theology, find this book. With tales from William S. Burroughs, Mark Mothersbaugh (of Devo), Robert Anton Wilson and others, this collection is thought-provoking, grounding, confusing, delicious and most of all: fun. I call it truly a holy work of great artists. And who could possibly be saddened by Nyaralothotep and J.R. "Bob" Dobbs in one place? The Illuminati run rampant here, folks, so if you can't take a joke, well, you probably have no idea what you're supposed to do. Again, you know who you are: Get this book.
Love to all, back in a week.
Hope you have a wonderful trip... I've missed your comments and blogs, so I guess you'll just have to write when you get back....
((((hug))) Be safe, have fun, and come back in one piece