My Lost Youth

After our last project Beanpole asked me to send him a couple quotes and lines of poetry that spoke to me which he would then use for inspiration. This is the first in the series.

Got introduced to this stanza in this scene from In The Bedroom.

There are things of which I may not speak;
 There are dreams that cannot die;
There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak,
And bring a pallor into the cheek,
 And a mist before the eye.
  And the words of that fatal song
  Come over me like a chill:
  'A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.'
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Stark Blast

Frozen nose hairs inside nostrils
kissed by ice cap runoff sludge

Skin exposed and thus in danger
mindless- sheep bleet and buzz.

Arctic air invades a city,
masses cowed by frostbite threats

If I live to be a-hundred
the cold will be my one regret.

Weird iO Conversations 4

Tonight before Schwa, one of the guys on the first team grabbed me as I walked by. He was a close talker.

Guy: I forgot your name.
Me: Ah...Steve...(we shake) What's-
Guy: (interrupting) Do you know Ariel D----?
Me: I'm sorry?
Guy: Ariel D----. Do you know her.
Me: Um. Yeah. I use to coach her. She's a good friend.
Guy: Is she single?
Me: (unbelieving) Is she single?
Guy: Yeah. Is she single.
Me: Ah...I don't really know.
Guy: (staring intently, unmoving)
Me: ...um...I don't think she was a couple months ago...but now...who knows?
Guy: OK. Thanks.
Me: Ah. Yeah. (realizing Ariel would decimate this guy) Go for it man!

'47 Ronin' & 'Anchorman 2' Reviews

47 Ronin is a fantasy action movie based on the 18th century masterless samurai who avenged their masters murder. Keanu Reeves stars as Kai a half breed raised by a group of magical monks whom he flees. Kai is taken into the service of Lord Asano where he is roundly outcast and treated as inferior. Due to treachery and witchcraft Lord Kira manufactures the downfall of Lord Asano and usurps his land and becomes betrothed to his daughter Mika. The remaining masterless samurai are now ronin, doomed to disgrace. A year passes and the remaining ronin gather and seek revenge.

Fantastical creatures, shape changers, and magical weapons weave together to make a surprisingly entertaining movie. Reeves, the presumable protaganist, is out shown by the Japanese leads and supporting cast, in this case Reeves is more a hindrance than an asset. His deadpan and inscrutable performance almost seem not to be one at all and the love story between Kai and Mika is distracting as well as unfulfilling. Reeves doesn't have enough screen time or lines to detract in any meaningful way to a good popcorn adventure.

The fight choreography and CGI mesh well to propel a narrative that clips along to a logical however odd conclusion. 

Rent It.

Anchorman 2 is the long anticipated sequel to the 2004 Anchorman. Ron Burgandy is back and this time he's pioneering the 24 hour news cycle with GNN- Global News Network.

Fans of the original will certainly enjoy this follow up, at the very least for nostalgic sake. All the performers return and heightened on their previous portrayals from the original but there is something most assuredly lacking.

What is most evident in Anchorman 2 is effort. The movie is chock full of surreal gags and absurdist circumstances, some of which solicit a fair amount of laughs, but ultimately the sequel tries too hard to top the original. The characters, already caricatures to begin with, go so far they no longer resemble actual people. Anchorman was the culmination of  the Adam McKay and Will Farrell collaboration suppressed by SNL that exploded into an electric break-neck comedy. This movie is forced. Farrell and McKay may be too old, or too successful, to recapture the spastic irreverent brilliance of their original.

Enough laughs but nothing surprising or inspired.

Rent It.

We All Owe A Death

Stephen King's Dark Tower series is one of my favorites, I just finished reading it again. One of the lines is "we all owe a death", it's a line King has used in a couple of his books, a version of the line originally from Hamlet. It always struck me and strikes me still.

I don't think about death often. I don't fantasize about it, I don't fear it. But I suffer no illusions regarding it's inevitability. I was given a gift, life, by some entity more powerful and knowing then I will ever be. A fleeting thought passing through some cosmic creature. And to that entity a debt is owed, the price of life is death.

Sitting on the train finishing one of my favorite books I read the line and sat back and reflected. If I died today I could accept it. Not because I desire it but because I am content and happy. For the first time in a long time I've been living well, have been of service, have been finding joy in things little and large, have been freely expressing love and receiving it from friends, family, and Nicole. There would be nothing I wish I would have said, no regrets to weigh me down. I would want more and be saddened by the snuffing of my little flame but bitter- no. I am grateful for my days, each and every one.

After years of misery and addiction I'm learning how to live. I look to the future with hope and nothing more.

'Inside Llewyn Davis' A Review

Inside Llewyn Davis is the latest film from the Coen brothers, a musical set in the 1961 Greenwich Village folk scene. The film follows the life of struggling musician Llewyn Davis for about a week. Everything about the film from the music to the colors is understated. Reserved.

The film is allegorical without a conventional narrative structure, simply a glimpse into Llewyn's, possibly cyclical, life. It is unclear whether Llewyn is suppose to garner sympathy or scorn, probably both. He is talented but egotistical, charismatic but self-involved, proud and pathetic, admirable and juvenile, uncompromising. He is, in short, polarizing. Portrayed by the versatile Oscar Issac Llewyn shines when he plays, all irritants and insecurities fall away and we see a stripped down artist, an enigmatic creative machine.

We watch Llewyn struggle externally as a musician and struggle internally with the choice to be a musician. The film portrays the daily grind of an artist and asks the question "Is artistic expression fulfilling in and of itself?" Is making it financially the goal?

The sound track is impeccable and infectious. It fills out the world and brings to life a subdued melancholy, creates an authentic somewhat stagnant scene poised for the revolutionary Bob Dylan. The cast is full of interesting actors putting in engaging sometimes quirky performances. The only weak link is Carey Mulligan, her portrayal is strident and one note, partial fault could be given to the script for underdevelopment. There is so much music in the film there may be a little shortage on actual scenes. The characterizations are so interesting and the dialogue so layered, most notably a dinner scene with two older professor friends of Llewyn, we are left wanting just a little more.

A puzzling, thick, magnetic film that is difficult to get a hold of but gratifying to reflect on.

See It.

Tisher Beseeches The Gods

"Hear my plea ye Gods of stone and tree, of moon and key, open your ears to this human worm.
The Giants of Winter and Old Night have once more emerged from their mountainous cloister and covered the land with their suffocating frost.
Gods! We wretched slugs despair! And cannot fight the icy hands, deathlike, upon our throats!
Mercy gracious Allfather. Mercy on us, your tortured creations, insipid in our imperfection."

"Oh, capricious Gods! The deaf ear of Dagr cannot deepen my misery.
Frost Giants, red eyed, reek havoc in Jörð's domain.
Soul-sick we swine of Hoárr are herded to a dank and certain doom.
Your paltry poppet doth plead and plead for spring.
Stay the cold! Stay the night!
Stop the frigid kicks to this lone curs side however deserved they may be!"

"How can one feckless nag endure this solitary chill?
Bone-bitten and heart-sore I wander this wasteland in white.
The only comfort- oblivion. The only companion- torment."

"Lo, Gods, see your creature, see him well.
Divine sludge rendered in your image.
Have pity."

-Andrew Tisher on winter in the Midwest