Bee Season

I know it was a book first, and obviously a great one, based on the film. Thanks to a great friend I got to see this the other night and it was wonderful. Binoche plays an interesting role and the young girl is really astounding. My only backstory is that I have a friend who is Gere's double: Michael could have got me on the set and I could have met Binoche but I chickened out. Perhaps someday...

I also want to mention that the story deals with a kind of mystical connection to words or language. I certainly understand this as a writer and mystic, although I think that the spiritual connection often transcends words. I do want to say that I was exposed early as a child by my mother to mystical ideas including ESP etc. and while I have learned to be cautious around such ideas I do appreciate knowing that sometimes they are indeed valid and real and have a basis in something Other...

Rashomon

Well I just watched Kurusawa's classic film Rashomon, and before I read or listen to any commentary I'm going to put my two cents in. I have read a bit about it so I know what at least some prevailing opinions are. The essence of the story, or stories, is that there are several different versions of a rape/murder told by various people who are involved or not involved. There is also the aspect of a court or tribunal and the judgement entailed. At first I thought the film was a reaction of a director who is tired of being judged or critiqued or expected to "tell the truth" with his art. And it may be partly that. On the other hand, you just have a story told several different ways from different perspectives, which is interesting enough on its own. There is also the theme of the priest and his belief in the essential goodness of man. I don't know the direct tie in to the multiple stories but he does find a way to continue his belief in spite of the lack of absolute truth, which I guess makes sense. A fascinating and scary and beautiful film.

from england to poland and back

my friend Brian details his adventures and stops along the way. worth checking out. one of my favorite directors is polish, but I am starting to see there is more there...

brian has been my guide through finnegan's wake and a few other realms.

Editorial from NYTimes: Adventures in Testifying

from the above linked article, which reminds me also of one of Capt. Willard's lines in Apocalypse Now:

The Justice Department later tried to clarify Mr. Gonzales's comments with a statement so profoundly Orwellian that it just made us more nervous: "The attorney general's comments today should not be interpreted to suggest the existence or nonexistence of a domestic program or whether any such program would be lawful under the existing legal analysis."

the Sheen/Willard quote:

"Sir, I am unaware of any such activity or operation - nor would
I be disposed to discuss such an operation if it did in
fact exist, sir."

doubleplusgood

light installatiOn @ Exploratorium

light installatiOn @ Exploratorium, originally uploaded by (jennY).

lovely photo by jennY

interests

my interests as I have them listed on my livejournal profile:

aa, apocalypse now, beauvoir, bertolucci, black flag, bowie, bowles, eno, buddhism, climbing, conceptual art, cronenberg, dark phoenix, daydream nation, de kooning, de man, derrida, diane arbus, duchamp, fatboy slim, galway kinnell, graphic novels, greenaway, hamlet, heathers, heideggar, heroes, hinduism, husker du, infinite jest, installation art, james joyce, jean cocteau, joko beck, joy division, kafka, kali, kerouac, kristeva, kubrick, lacan, led zeppelin, light, london, magritte, mary daly, massive attack, meditation, mexico city blues, miles davis, milton, moby, mochas, monty python, new order, nine inch nails, nirvana, optic nerve, painting, paradise lost, philosophy, picasso's castle, pink floyd, plath, poetry, pollock, portishead, post-structuralism, postmodernism, primus, proust, r.e.m., radiohead, reading, recovery, river's edge, rollins, rothko, running, rush, samuel beckett, san francisco, sartre, sex, sfzc, shunryu suzuki, skateboarding, snowboarding, songs for drella, sonic youth, soto zen, soundgarden, spiderman, spirituality, sunlight, thai food, the beatles, the castle, the color yellow, the doors, the hunger artist, the mission, the nation, the ocean, the outdoors, the pixies, the sheltering sky, the silmarillion, the smiths, the sound of rain, the south of france, the the, theory, tolkien, triathlon, tuolumne, underwold, unitarian universalism, vegetarianism, velvet underground, very dark chocolate, white noise, wicked, wittgenstein, writing, x-men

most of the entries in my livejournal "blog" unlike this one, are only viewable by a small group of people. personal, journal-like stuff. I like the idea of connecting the two a bit more, as they know this blog moreso than the other way around. as it should be, I suppose. maybe something will show up on a search engine somewhere or in del.icio.us/ck23.

The Danah Boyd Factor

danah goes head to head with Bill O'R, originally uploaded by lawgeek.

Danah Boyd of Apophenia discussed Myspace with Bill O'Reilly tonight. See her blog for more info. If you have not read her work, well, there is a reason she is talking to this guy.