The Last Rose

As I walk around the city I see a lot of wilting dying flowers. This may be the last healthy flower that I see this year. Winter is coming. I'm not dreading it but I'm certainly not looking forward to it.

There's something comforting about a bright flower in a patch of brown fallen leaves. Something resilient. A pocket of warmth in the cold.

It gives me hope.

Cage

I sat up and looked around. I'm in a cave or a cell of some sort. There's no door. There are air shafts on the ceiling every ten feet or so. I can see blue sky and clouds. "Hello!" I wait poised under the shaft. Each opening is ten inches by ten inches and I guess that it's about twenty five feet to the surface. Not something I could fit through could I even reach the ceiling. I wait. No answer.

I walk the perimeter of my pen. It's fifty feet by fifteen feet. There's a rusty spigot on one of the short ends which produces fresh, cold, albeit sulfury water. I drink and realize I'm very thirsty. I drink more. There is no food and no toilet. I designate a corner on the opposite end from the spigot as my latrine and christen it.

I search my person. I have the cloths I'm wearing: jeans, t-shirt, sweatshirt, boxers, thick socks, sturdy tennis shoes, a belt, a lighter, and a hardware store pocket knife with a blade that measures three inches.

Without food I calculate that I can survive eight to ten weeks given the fact I'm slightly over weight. I figure that my strength will decrease but not drastically decrease until week six.

I don't feel panic or much concern. I don't ever remember feeling much of anything. Maybe that's why I'm here.

Nerves

bursting bubbles
crawling gum
itching insides
acidic glum

insides out
outsides in
sagging tightrope
reality's thin

big moments come
then they go
climb as high
above the low

show what you can
which makes you tick
and then move on
don't stay sick

'Holy Motors' & 'Lincoln' Reviews

Holy Motors is a french film about an actor. Mr. Oscar played by Denis Levant is ferried by white limousine between 11 different 'appointments' for each of which he plays a different part. From motion-capture artist to deranged leprechaun to dying father. Levant's performance is absolutely memorizing from frame one. He embodies completely and convincing every form he takes. When he is just himself there is a blankness about him which is equally if not the most compelling. The transformative effort of his performance is stunning.

This is the most interesting narrative film I have seen all year. The concept grabs you, the acting hooks you, and the story leaves you wanting more. The film is very self referential and referential to film in general. The way the film is framed is somewhat unconventional and there are bizarre moments but it only heightens the impact of it.

There are some small problems like a scene where the premise of the film is explained, unnecessarily, about 2/3 of the way through. The ending as well is somewhat unsatisfying and absurd but doesn't spoil the feeling you take away.

My favorite section of the film was a musical interlude with about ten accordions. The film is fun, makes you think, and answers about as many questions as it raises.

Don't Miss It.

Lincoln is a struggle between two incomplete films. It can't decide if it's a historical epic or a character study. Daniel Day-Lewis's performance as Lincoln is amazing and the way he relates to regular citizens, his family, and his fellow politicians is engaging to watch. The parts of the film that work are the smaller moments. The moments where we see the day to day operation of the presidency and how politics could have been conducted in that time. Negotiations, bargains, lobbying. The parts of the film that didn't work were all the "broad epic" stuff. Music swelling, lines like "This will go down in history", and the reciting of the Gettysburg address by soldiers to Lincoln. There was a lot of fat in the film that could have been cut(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) which wasn't. There was no need to have a running time over two hours.

Over-all lots of hits, lots of misses. Maybe Spielberg is too big for anyone to actually criticize him anymore.

Rent It.

Inciting Incident 6

I ask friends "When did you first feel the need to perform?" this comes from my Rick teammate and voracious reader Ms. Laura Wilkinson.

Point Of No Return

Today is four months.

In my past attempts I haven't made it this far. At first I was scared. It's a no man's land where I haven't been before. I don't know what to expect. This is all new territory. But then I realized it's just like anything else. Go in, do your best, take it one day at a time, if need be one hour or one moment at a time. Everything is manageable moment to moment. Everything can be dealt with either by taking the time to think it through or by calling friends and loved ones. I've learned that my perception and my reactions to things may not be 100% reliable. That's why I take a second and slow things down, try to asses what's really going on. If I can't I call someone who can. Simple.

Day to day life is sometimes easy. Those are the good days. When it's hard you have to get through it. That's life. I'm an adult. And I've always found, with a clear head, the good days always out weight the bad.

Graffiti 80: Philadelphia

Evidently Philadelphia is very anti-graffiti. There weren't a lot of tags or stickers up. There were a lot of murals done by the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Back in the 80's the city hired an artist who in turn reached out to graffiti artist to collaborate and make murals in stead of graffiti. The idea I like but the product for the most part seemed variations on the same kind of design over and over again. The murals broke up the landscape, which I appreciated, but were all very similar(at least the ten or so that I saw). People painted in similar ways over and over. I wish the artists would have gotten a little more freedom. It seemed that because of the cities involvement they were only allowed to paint within certain perameters and restricitons. The above is not a mural but a large poster glued to the side of a building.

This is a band which I have never heard of but I think its kind of funny.

Demon-monkey?

Mickey Mouse flipping the bird.

I don't really know what to make of this but my money is on the bear.

"Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life- think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just let every other idea alone. This is the way of success." -Swami Vivekananda

Always be prepared.

"A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long." -e.e. cummings