Friday, November 30, 2007

Enchanted


This movie is just too funny. When I saw the first previews, I was skeptical. I thought, "Disney's cashing in on another princess." But no. Okay, maybe that, too. But the thing is, this really is a good movie. It's clever, and it's funny, and dang it if I don't still have the tunes running through my head. Plus I'm a sucker for a good fantasy, and this one delivers. Delightfully. In a frothy, musically, Disney-ish kind of way.

It is not, however, very scary. I am reminded of what a scholar I met in Europe this summer said regarding fairy tales. He said, "Danger without death is not a fairy tale." Think about it: All the really good fairy tales have death. So I am sorry to say--since I love Susan Sarandon in just about everything she's done--as the wicket queen, she never acheives anything above mild menace, even when she turns into a dragon. But perhaps this is just the perspective of a 40-year-old. If I was six I might have a different opinion.

Another thing I found mildly dispossessing was how the movie undercuts its own theme. It presents the idea--very cleverly, I thought--that maybe it might be a good idea if the prince and princess go on a real date before rushing into marraige--"you know, go someplace nice, like dinner, or a museum, or a movie, and talk about your interests, your likes and dislikes." But in the end (and I don't think I'm spoiling anything here because, after all, it is a Disney movie) the princess falls for main man Patrick Dempsey after knowing him only a brief period of time. So its counter-theme is, hard as we try to be reasonable creatures, ultimately we humans are ruled by our hearts.


Thursday, November 29, 2007

Antidote for Disappointment



"Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell, and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough."


~William Saroyan, "Advice to a Young Writer"



Disappointment

"The question is, does California have anything left to say to America, or to the world, or even to itself, beyond disappointment? [...]

"Americans feel disappointment so keenly because our optimism is so large and is so often insisted upon by historians. And so often justified by history. The stock market measures optimism. If you don't feel optimistic, there must by something wrong with you. There are pills for disappointment. [...]

"What is obsolete now in California is the future. For a century and a half Americans spoke of California as the future when they wanted to escape inevitability. Now the future attaches consequences and promises constriction. Technocrats in Sacramento warn of a future that is overwhelmed by students, pollution, immigrants, cars, fluorocarbons, old people. Or the future is diminished--water quality, soil quality, air quality, education quality, highway quality, life quality. There are not enough doctors for the state's emergency rooms, not enough blue parking spaces outside, not enough oil, not enough natural gas, not enough electricity. More blackouts, more brownouts, too many air conditioners, too few houses, frogs on the verge of extinction, a fugitive middle class. A state without a white center. To the rest of the nation California now represents what the a nation fears to become."

~Richard Rodriguez, "Disappointment" from California



Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Island of No Return


Umberto Eco's Island of the Day Before has a fascinating premise, but it takes entirely too long to execute it, if it can be said that it comes to any conclusion at all. I was listening to this book on tape, and not even the sonorous tones of Tim Curry could rescue this tome from oblivion.

There are several fascinating elements to this story, not the least of which is the international race to find the "secrets of longitude." The trouble is, I kept waiting for some kind of payoff, some clue regarding the actual historical discovery. But that never happened because the whole of the story is set on a ship forever trapped off the shore of an imaginary island. Most of the plot is presented in flashbacks or through the intervention of an semi-omnipotent narrator, an unnamed scholar who has stumbled upon the protagonist Roberto's papers. Roberto is an unreliable narrator because he is gradually going mad, and is of questionable sanity to begin with. The scholar, although presenting himself as an authority, invites the reader's disbelief in what is sheer speculation on his part. The layers of narration, the impossibility of the island, and the hallucinatory blurring of the line between reality and dream, sanity and madness, leaves the entire novel feeling more like a creative writing exercise than anything else.

However, as a friend of mine is fond of saying, "If you can't understand it and nothing ever happens, it's probably Literature."


Tuesday, November 27, 2007

So Much Better

Elton dancing to ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky"

"So there you go--turns out I've had the most terrible things happen. And the most brilliant things. Sometimes, well, I can't tell the difference. They're all the same thing--they're just . . . me.

"You know Stephen King said once, he said, 'Salvation and damnation are the same thing,' and I never knew what he meant. But I do now. [...]

"But the thing is [...] what I wanted to say is . . . you know when you're a kid they tell you it's all grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid, and that's it.

"No . . . But truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It's so much darker, and so much madder . . .

"And so much better."

~Elton Pope, Doctor Who, Second Season, "Love and Monsters"





Monday, November 26, 2007

Shine



Shine It All Around
~Robert Plant


This is the land where I live
Paint it all over golden
Take a little sunshine spread it all around
This is the love that I give
These are the arms for the holding
Turn on your love light shine it all around

Shine it all around, shine it all around
These are the times of my life
Bright and strong and golden
This is the way that I choose when the deal goes down
This is the world that I love

Painted all over troubled
Take a little sunshine shine it all around
End a little sign now, spread it all around now
Shine it all around now, when the deal goes down now
Shine it all around, Shine it all around

This is the heart of the man
This is the heart of the matter
Break a little bread now spread it all around
Break little bread now, all around
Shine it all around, shine it all around

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Now I will believe...

I met a man in San Francisco. He told me a story, and like all the best stories, it is true.

Last Christmas Eve, he went to the Post Office and selected a Dear Santa letter to answer. It was an incredibly sad letter--two kids, single mom, desperately poor, no power, and no hope of celebrating anything.

So he went to the toy store just before closing time and bought every toy he could lay his hands on. Then he mapped out the address and followed it out to a remote location. And at the end of a long dirt road he found a shabby trailer. No power, just as the kids had said. When the mom answered his knock, he said, "Hi, I'm Santa Claus." She burst into tears. He gave the kids the toys, and he gave her everything he had left in his wallet, about $50. He said he wished he could have given her more, but it was all that he had.

Bless you, Francisco, wherever you are.

Take back the world. Give more.



Thursday, November 22, 2007

A dream of human decency



from the Afterword

"...and I want you all to remember -- that you must not dream yourselves back to the times before the war, but the dream for you all, young and old, must be to create an ideal of human decency, and not a narrow-minded and prejudiced one. That is the great gift our country hungers for, something every little peasant boy can look forward to, and with pleasure feel he is a part of -- something he can work and fight for."

~Kim Malthe-Bruun, resistance leader, age 21, on the night before his execution, Denmark, c. 1943.


Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Ashes to Ashes


"And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods."
~Doctor Who, Second Season, "The Impossible Planet"
from "Horatius" by Thomas Babbington Macaulay


Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Monday, November 5, 2007

Going Digital

The theory class I'm a GA for had a guest speaker today--a professor who spoke on the topic of "digital theory." Imagine that. Digital theory. She's building a project around how the English language is changing in relation to technology. How we use language and our perception of the "Book" is changing rapidly due to our use of text messages, email, and online media. An interesting point, though, is that even though our perception of these things change, these older forms are still with us. The scroll did not go away with the invention of the codex; the hardbound book did not go away with the invention of the dimestore paperback. And the codex will not go away with the invention of the computer. In a way, we've come full circle: how often do we think of how our ancestors may have read scrolls when we're scrolling down a webpage?

To me, there will always be a tactile pleasure from curling up with a good book that simply could not be replaced by a computer (or even one of those little electronic book readers). But the digital world is here, and there's no going back now.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Baptism by Sand and Fire

It's been about two months since Isabel and I went to Burning Man. Sorry it's taken me so long to post pictures. Just to give you a little taste...

This is what happens outside of a tent during a sandstorm...


This is what the inside of a tent looks like after a sandstorm...


This is what happens outside of a tent after a sandstorm...


This is what happens at night...


More later...

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Keep my mind from constant turning...


Darkness, Darkness
~Robert Plant
(songwriter: Jesse Colin Young)

Darkness, Darkness, be my pillow,
Take my head and let me sleep
In the coolness of your shadow,
In the silence of your deep
Darkness, darkness, hide my yearning,
For the things I cannot see
Keep my mind from constant turning,
To the things I cannot be
Darkness, darkness, be my blanket,
cover me with the endless night
Take away the pain of knowing,
fill the emptiness with light
Emptiness with light now

Darkness, darkness, long and lonesome,
Is the day that brings me here
I have felt the edge of sadness,
I have known the depths of fear
Darkness, darkness, be my blanket,
Cover me with the endless night
Take away this pain of knowing,
Fill this emptiness with light now
Emptiness with light now

Darkness, darkness, be my blanket,
cover me with the endless night
Take away this pain of knowing,
fill this emptiness with light now
Oh with light now.
Darkness, Darkness, be my pillow,
Take my head and let me sleep
In the coolness of your shadow,
In the silence of your deep
In the silence of your deep
In the - oh oh yeah
In the summer baby
come on come on come on baby...

Friday, November 2, 2007

I can't take that 9-to-5 life...


The Wanderer
~Donna Summer

Woke up this morning
Dragged myself across the bed
Alice went to wonderland
But I stayed home instead
I started feeling bad
’cause I was left behind
’cause I’m a wanderer
Oh yes, I’m a wanderer

She climbed right through the mirror
Oh that really blew my mind
I think I’ll follow through her rhythm
And her rhyme
I know I’m ready now
It’s just a little time
’cause I’m a wanderer
I’m a wanderer

’cause I’m a wanderer
I travel every place
’cause I’m a wanderer
From here to outer space
’cause I’m a wanderer
Got no time
’cause I’m a wanderer
Just a wanderer

Slipped down the back stair
On my toes
Then out the door
They didn’t hear
Now they won’t
See me anymore
’cause I’m can’t take
That nine-to-five life
It’s a bore
’cause I’m a wanderer
Just a wanderer

And so it’s up and out
And on and off the road
Won’t have no troubles
’cause the whole world
Is my home
No need to worry
’cause I seldom am alone
’cause I’m wanderer
I’m a wanderer

’cause I’m a wanderer
I travel every place
’cause I’m a wanderer
From here to outer space
’cause I’m wanderer
Got no time
Cause I’m a wanderer
Just a wanderer

Now you may see me
Any time and any place
And you may know me
From the same look
On your face
And I don’t know if I could
Change your frame of mind
’cause I’m a wanderer
Just a wanderer

’cause I’m a wanderer
I travel every place
’cause I’m a wanderer
From here to outer space
’cause I’m a wanderer
Got no time
’cause I’m a wanderer
’cause I’m a wanderer
’cause I’m a wanderer
’cause I’m a wanderer...

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Art vs. "Product"

Someone said something in class tonight that got me thinking. And the man who said this is mature, a junior high school teacher, and to all appearances reasonably intelligent. So I was mildly surprised and amused by what he said.

What he said was, "Music by Britney Spears really isn't that bad. In fact, it's rather good." For which he got some good-natured ribbing and comments that Britney Spears does not actually "make" her music. To which he replied, "No, she doesn't. What she is is a brand name. She is part of a product, and just like any other product, it can be good or bad. Yes, it's the engineers and technicians and song writers and choreographers and image makers behind her that do all the work, but they slap her name on the end product and that's what sells the records. It's no different than Madonna, or Paris Hilton, or even the Monkees."

Now Madonna I've got a grudging respect for. She wasn't much more than a Britney, perhaps, in the beginning of her career, but I think just by sheer longevity she has gone on to prove that not only can she create, she is also capable of reinventing herself as well as making some pretty canny business decisions. Paris Hilton. Pffh. I don't really know. I haven't bothered to listen. But I have my doubts about someone who gets on a label just because she's rich.

But the Monkees? My adorable Monkees? How dare he make such a comparison? Okay, so they were a "studio" band. So they never actually played their instruments. So they didn't write the songs. So what? They could sing. And they were cute and funny and made me laugh. In a good way. So *not* like Britney Spears.

His comment revealed one of my own prejudices: I have more respect for the Jewels and Sarahs and Toris of the world--musicians who truly create, live and breathe their own music-- than I do for these megastar "faces" on an industry product. Why should the struggling unknown musician, singing and playing in the corner of some cafe somewhere, seem more authentic to me than a Britney Spears? Because I do agree with him on one point. The product itself is an authentic creation through the group effort of creative people. Why do I give them less credit? Why do the works by these other musicians seem more "real"?

I think what it comes down to is what these "brand name" people have to bring to the table. I don't see Britney really working for her product. All she does is show up. If she were contributing something worthwhile-- hours of practice before she appears on national television, for example-- that might be something. If she took voice lessons, or songwriting, and contributed something to the creation of her product other than whining about her tabloid lifestyle, that might be something else entirely.

And then there's the fact that this "product" is so industry driven. They are playing to the Lowest Common Denominator, to the bottom line. They will produce whatever their market research says will make the most sales and rake in the most dough. I don't think that's coming from that "truly creative backwater" that Gibson was talking about.

Anyway, I'm going to go listen to the Monkees and meditate on "Another Pleasant Valley Sunday" and "Daydream Believer."