Your Favorite Movies Tell You About You

I picked up my sister from the airport today. I haven’t seen her for a while. I was finally able to give her the DVD that I got her for Christmas, a movie called Chaos Theory with Ryan Reynolds. She has a thing for Ryan Reynolds because he’s “cute” and “funny”… This time, however, he plays quite an unremarkable square, and this movie was a little less funny than a usual Ryan Reynolds flick, having intense dramatic dilemmas, cry scenes, etc.

This movie does contain a theme that is held by some of my favorite movies of all time; the character experiences a revelation, epiphany, or paradigm shift, that throws his mundane reality out of wack, sometimes painful, but resulting in an awakening. Sort of like:

Fight Club

Vanilla Sky

American Beauty

Office Space

There’s something subconsciously appealing to becoming a person with nothing left to lose. I think it’s a collapse we’re all afraid to experience, whether or not we expect the resulting outcome of rebirth and liberation. Lust for comfort suffocates the soul. The world knows by now that there are a wide array of minds and personality types encapsulated in each human being, yet we are put through a mediocre school system that indirectly teaches that uniqueness is unacceptable, and that having a goal to live a banal domestic life amongst a 40-hours-per-week office job is 100% acceptable.

Of course there are apparent downsides to not following the professional corporate work approach. Money can be hard to come by. But what I’ve observed is that money has ways of flying out the door, no matter how much you’re making, and money has ways of coming, no matter what you’re doing.

“Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making plans.” -John Lennon

This is a video where a 14-year-old snagged an interview from John Lennon in his hotel room almost 40 years ago.

Avatar, in a triple 3D digital XD explosion!

I followed the hype and went to see Avatar today, in the most expensive form possible; 3D in a digitally projected XD theater (whatever that means). Only $15.

‘Twas worth it, though. It changed my life for the better. After watching Avatar, I hanker for humanity less, and now want to live in a world that doesn’t really exist.

A Frodo Christmas

Sometimes you can almost feel it when the rest of the world has relaxed and climbed off their hamster wheel. It’s a good feeling, whether you do really feel it or imagine you feel it.

Everything used to close down every Sunday the same way it does on Christmas.  Why only 1 Day off per year versus 52? It’s no wonder we’re slowly going more insane.

Today was probably the only time I’ve felt so good doing absolutely nothing, without the familiar self-induced guilt trips about using one day to do nothing. I think in the course of history, it’s pretty new to be afraid to rest. And for some reason we’re all contributing to the conditioning of one another to work ourselves mental. Not only is work something that we feel we have to do to be respected by others, but it becomes the source of our identity.

What’s the first thing people talk about with other?

“So, what do you do?”

The thing about work is, people have to tout how hard they work at this-or-that so they can buy this-or-that and get married to him-or-her. Taking a day to do nothing is unheard of and frightening to people. This isn’t about using one day to be lazy, which has it’s own toxic qualities about it, but it’s about becoming potential (versus kinetic) energy for a moment.

Heaven forbid we experience ourselves silently in our own houses.

Of course, everything-in-moderation. The human body is a product of nature, and nature is about balance. A wave has got to recede after forcing itself on shore. Trees have got to chillax a couple seasons to start pushing out greens again.

Today I read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, drank wine, watched Lord of the Rings, and didn’t open a single present. Delights.

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Please Listen to Ben’s wonderful Christmas song he created just for your Christmas, 2009.

I watch movies in my bed.

I’m back in Roswell as of yesterday. This time I came prepared with some movies to watch, a couple that I haven’t seen before. Since I’d never seen it, and I’ve been on a little bit of a Danny Boyle kick, I decided to experience Trainspotting last night.  Apparently, heroin is fun and games, till the baby turns cold and purple.

The third week of my Roswell psychological state is comparable to the tour-psychology of maybe the second week. I’ve had weekend breaks, so I still have a little sense of time. But man, despite the better pay for being out here, I’m ready to be done, away from Roswell and away from the middle-aged roommate power-farts that wake me… every… single… morning…

Sunshine

Today I had a good ol’ traditional lunch with the fam. Then I spent a few hours reading and watching videos about movie director, Ingmar Bergman:

“…There’s holiness in everyone. Human holiness. All else is attributes, disguise, manifestation and trickery. You can never make out or capture human holiness. At the same time, it’s something to cling to. Something tangible, lasting unto death. What happens then is hidden from us. Its only the poets, musicians and saints who may depict that which we can but discern: the inconceivable. They’ve seen, known, understood–not fully, but in fragments. To me, it’s a comfort to think about human holiness.”

After dinner I watched Danny Boyle’s, Sunshine. Thumbsup.

Back to Roswell tomorrow.

One Thing

Occasionally I meet up with Brian to play drums while he plays guitar. It’s apparent that our jam sessions are not frequent enough for me to remember how we played any of the songs. I usually just wing it on drums anyway, sort of like throwing paint at a wall.

Brian showed me a selection of websites, most notably sites with amazing cheap wholesale electronics from China that I never knew existed, such as cell phone watches. But, for the less-consumerist approach, I think you should check out these rather moving photographs inspired by children’s drawings.

After Brian’s, I drove straight to band practice where Coma worked on a new song. I captured the last minute here.

I finally got to see Man on Wire tonight, English subtitles in tact, and was deeply satisfied. The theme has haunted me; you pick your one thing, no matter how outrageous it is, and all that matters is that it means everything for you to do it.

Movies about movies

Sometimes my younger brother shows up at random times and demands that I entertain him, so we decided to go out and watch Inglourious Basterds. It was my second time to see it. My emotions were fully engaged in a whole new way… I guess as much as they can be, when you see a compelling movie at the discount theater, with its bad speakers and dim screen and everything.

In other news, Bread and Butter didn’t make it into the Santa Fe Film Fest. It’s still up for Slamdance, but I think it’s about time to work on another short.