The Libertine

So, it seems that the previous blog of great length was not meant to be printed. That's really for the best. No one wants to hear someone else's "story" over the period of a year. It's boring. The present is where we are. And at this moment I am wishing that I had had more fun this summer. Or, I wonder, did I have fun and I'm unwilling to give it up ? There was freedom every day to do what I wanted to do. Duh.

Anyway, let's go back to yesterday. Last night I had the pleasure of watching Johnny Depp in "The Libertine." It starts with a view of the Earl of Rothschild (Depp) introducing himself and how unlikable he is. The year is around 1660 (Dryden's time) and Charles has already had his head chopped off and England has already had its revolution. The Earl's name is John Wilmot and is called Johnny. I'd like to discuss this film.

Is there something wrong with this Mac?

I just wrote a really long and personal blog and blogger couldn't publish it. I'll try again

Sunday, and the "end" of the weekend.

TOday is SUnday. I'm still supposed to be on "vacation." I will return to work on the required day of Wednesday. Many of the women (and, perhaps, the two men) have already been to their classrooms to work on them. Last year I had to change classrooms, so I came in two weeks early. Last year I was happier. Or the thought of what my job entails didn't bother me at all. I had some freedom. Jeremy had just visited me from London. He and I had e-mailed each other for two years until he came out to visit San Francisco and me. Jeremy told me that if I wanted to chuck the job he had more than enough in his house in East London. I was covered! I didn't really want to think that it wouldn't be possible for me to move to London like that with a man I barely knew. But there was security in it somehow.

Even though I"ve had a few lovers since Jeremy, no one has connected with me in the same way: staying available by e-mail and phone even though not in person. All a fantasy. Can't forget about the biblical figure (Moises). I'm doing very well with this one. The karma is lifting, albeit like a torn blanket of fog. His girlfriend came into the meditation room where I was sitting this past Friday late afternoon. She was smiling at me like she knew me very well or had me pre-calculated. There was a strange awareness this woman had of my presence. All I could think was, "Oh no, this means he coming in here soon to meet her. Better get out!" I'm trying to avoid painful situations or ones that have the potential to put me in a frame of mind in which I feel less than and invalidated. Perhaps that is why I don't want to go back to "work." I hope the sun shines all day tomorrow and that I can get a sunburn so that I can recall my trip to the Yucatan for the day.

I saw some work by Chas. Chaplin

Tonight I saw "The Kid" (1921) by Charlie Chaplin. Also viewed was a BBC documentary on the "Unknown..." How wonderful it must be to love what you are doing. There were over 183 takes done on one scene, with the camera card stating ;'"Chas.Chaplin" 186' and more like that. He rarely wrote a script. Much was improvised with such subtle humor at times that the datedness of vaudeville or the "music hall" (the British version and where Chaplin got discovered when he came to this country.

This was actually the first time I had ever watched a Charlie Chaplin film. The documentary made him and his work methods mesmerizing. His creativity was flooding the film world and the images the world watched.

The Fog and the need for more chai.

Today was the first day I had this house all to myself and the three cats. It's been odd and it's been somewhat productive. It is odd that I would even have the house to myself all of this vacation (in which I've been driving, driving, only driving). There is one housemate who works at night but is always around during the day. In any case, this is a first.

Meanwhile, I hope the ghosts were helping me today. I'm not sure, because my macmini would load video footage all of a sudden. And so there are these very interesting still-moving shots--just a few, but they're good and they're when Pablo comes in. That's all I'll give of my video project.

Wow, I've got to do the Bro Jud on Love Energy shoot tonight. It is a truly foggy, sleepy day outside. I feel like putting this thing in my hair that makes me look like I have little thee inch wings coming out of the top of my head. Perhaps I have drunk too much chai and have let my hair reveal my state, as it is.

Leonard Cohen

Tonight I saw the most recent documentary on Leonard Cohen. I went over to Berkeley to see it, because it wasn't playing in the city yet. A friend of mine who lives in Berkeley went with me and this person also wrote songs and sang in bands in the punk era in San Francisco. So, of course, we were both huge lovers of Leonard Cohen's poetry and music.

My friend said that when Leonard was living as a Buddhist monk he had someone entrusted with his money. Apparently, the man whom Leonard trusted stole his money instead. The film may be a way of getting some of his money back. Mel Gibson was one of the produces of the film, and it is set in Sidney and in New York.

Basically it comprises a group of musicians who were mostly Canadian--like Cohen. Those guys from Ireland were in on it, too. Bono the poet/savior (I like him, I'm just playing) and his band are interviewed often and play with Leonard Cohen at The Slipper Room in New York City live.

Not a whole lot about his childhood was covered...just his father's death, and the time he began to write and think about writing.

I hope this film does well in theatres. It was shot for tv, so the faces are a bit bigger than you might see in an actual film. I loved the red bubbles/lights.

A Kind of Buddhist Meditation

Tonight I went to my friend's flat to meditate with intention. The first thing we did was decorate the scene:; gigantic beeswax candles, Tao pieced little candles, food, a whole corner of a room which is an altar to many gods. We had all made some kind of something to eat. I made Indian curry with Thai coconut sauce with cauliflower and all the peppers the sweet peppers.

After eating, we began to write on pieces of paper our intentions: things to let go of. We threw them in a bowl with some wax which took the intention into its flame. I noticed that the flame grew higher during different people's intention's burning. We had to put a metal plate over the top of the bowl when the flames were really insistent.

All was saved and it was time to talk. Different topics were brought up. But the most powerful meditation was coming up for me: the four corners meditation. We started facing north, and then someone rang out from a singing bowl to start movement to the next directions. I had many and various thoughts pass through in meditation: especially in the east and south. I was wondering if this might have something to do with the planetary alignment in my chart. I am for pronoia.

The Club Deluxe

Tonight I went to see two friends perform at an open mic at the Club Deluxe on Haight and Ashbury. It was a pretty charming event. The presence of so many different strands of people in one place was truly great. I felt bad when I started calling out to my friend when the guy with the requisite knit hat and plaid shirt was giving his poetic piece. Yes, this is a venue for poets. And there were many poets there. One of my friends did a frenzied recalling of the coming of Mary Magdalene. The crowd was with her. The crowd was with everybody.

And, my other friend wrote an inspired poem with the chorus: "and the fashion/is love and compassion." Hooray.

Breakfast on Pluto

Today I went to the 4Star to rent a movie. My friend and part-owner Jamie was there. He was helping me pick something out. I had wanted to rent "The Libertine" but it's always out when I want to rent it.

So Jamie and I went throught the 4star-recommened videos, and I had seen "Junebug," "Benny and Joon" and others. Too bad at this moment I can't remember the name of the film he recommended from this section. It was a British film about two loverr in their forties... Then he leaned over to "Breakfast on Pluto" which has quite an appealing, kind of techno-psychedelic cover.

The film is Irish (by Neil jordan) and, I was told, had some IRA scenes. So far all I've seen is the life story of an Irish queen/transgender person. Now, of course, withing the Irish world sexual choices have always been heterosexual, so I was taken aback when the main character was different from others in terms of physical representation and life choices. It's actually fun to watch these Irish people not really go beserk or even do anything but whisper to one another. In this film, at lest, Ireland is shown to be a more integrated socieity somehow.

Oh, now the guns are mentioned. It must be IRA time. More on this later...

the news is on...

The news is on right now. I never read or listen to it. But i just can't get this bologna about a "civil war" In Iraq. When do the
lies and misconceptions end?

Today Bro Jud was showing me a "teaching video" with the topic being "how to argue." Excuse me, but the assumptions made when going from large to small in epistemological terms is always overwhelmed by the largeness. Did all those people really
vote for Bush?

And, I ramble, I quote, "Hezzobollah is hit, and then hit, but won't go away." Why not make Israel the 52nd state (after Puerto
Rico).
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"Drawing Restraint"

I'm so tired tonight. For the first time in over a month I got up before 12 noon. I got up at 10 a.m. There was a lot to do today. The main part of it--i.e., two hours of it, was dedicated to watching Matthew Barney's "Drawing Restraint" at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It is free to get in to see this film. Be ready to follow image after floating image. The primary setting for the film is the sea and two ships. But then in any Matthew Barney work I've seen there have been many scenes, many mise en scene. I will write more about it later. I encourage anyone to go see it. There were children under 12 there!

To be or not to be a Francophile.

A friend of mine gave me a Merchant/Ivory film called "Le Divorce." I can't really understand why it was so bad, but then when I
think about Paris and what a Parisian flat would look like and etc., it was all too weird. Alot of it was shot in studio and then the street scenes were filmed in France.

There was so little to the plot line that Paris is really the star. In the end, everyone is happy, even those who got divorced. He gets his Soviet mistress and she (oh, I forgot to mention there are two sisters, both American at the heart of the story) is left to a new French guy who doesn't look at all like her husband. I think this film was made for Barbara Streisand.

It's been so long since I've blogged.

July 4th I cleaned a friend's toilet and surrounding areas. July 5th I thought of an old karma bum of mine. The 11th brougt the full moon and attempts to read from Amma but a better sense of "Pee Wee's Playhouse.' But today, July 14th, I saw a film that I thought rocked very hard in so many ways.

That film is "Crossing the Bridge--The Sound of Istabul." It was narrated and by Alex Hacke, the bass player for Einsturzende Neubauten. I saw them play at the Fillmore in summer of 2000. Now I was seeing this guy playing music with some very esoteric Turkish musicians. The film takes off to reveal so many aspects of Turkish music, for example the fact that one may find a 5/8 beat pattern or a 1/3 1/3 3.

If you've heard of Mercan Dede, you've heard of one of the more well-known experimental/house/beat in Turkey. A well-known rapper was interviewed. He sees rap as a political vehicle more than sounds about sex, violence and gangster stuff. Ah, this film had so much depth in showing the people of Turkish music from the street musicians to the Turkish elite of music. Even Kurdish music and that Romany were heard.

"The Break Up" and "Keeping up with the Steins"

We who go the cinema often find ourselves surprised to see films that are somewhat incategorical. Genre? Yes. But category? No. How can one define "category"? It's really a kind of gothic word with some French mixed in. But definition? Who cares, I can't find exactly the right word to describe the fact that some films are on the actual viewing stupid and then yet with some value as a film? Who would like to debate this one? If I could summon up the Heidegger in me I would try but I don't have a dictionary at hand.

In any case, I saw the two films listed above at the Balboa Theatre which often puts together two films with similar styles or themes. I want the day to return, though, when the Balboa showed "Keep to the River on your Right" with Mike Leigh's "Secrets and Lies."

The two films in question, though, "The Break Up" and "Keeping up with Steins" were silly movies with silly people and comedic potential...possibly. There were few laughs in "The Break Up." It was structurally as a film quite sound yet without any depth. I suppose when Jennifer Aniston is in a film she will always be tan no matter the season or place. Vince Vaughn's character is a quandry. You might know what I mean if you've seen pictures of him.

That statement makes me just as 'shallow' as one of the girls in the Hebrew school of "Keeping Up with the Steins." A bar mitzvah party on a cruise ship? ,,,in Dodger's Stadium? ....Darryl Hannah as a hippie wonderwoman?--these are the aspects of this film that one might find funny. I really liked the performance of the boy whose family is trying to keep up with those Steins in the bar mitzvah party arena. Some might find the reunion of the grandfather with his son simply amazing but the film's
main event is rather miraculous.

Bumperstickers.

Driving around San Francisco and the rest of the area I've seen some pretty funny bumperstickers. Most people either wallpaper their cars with them or have one or two discreetly placed. Today I saw someone with a reticent bumpersticker. It was in the driver's side window of his newish car and was not placed so that it could be read well. Anyway, it read:

BU(little LLs)SH(little it).

I don't think I'd seen this one before. I really liked it. I wanted to ask him to place it in a place in which it would be really legible.

Sam Lowry, or Isaac in metallic silver over Brazil.

For some reason, this evening I wanted to rent a film that would either be about music ("Scumrock" was my first choice here),
love (I couldn't finish watching "The New World"--or whatever it is called), sheer genius or otherwise funny. SO, I decided to rent at my favorite video store (no, not Leather Tongue, even though I like them and maybe should have some alternate video store choices) The Four Star, Terry Gilliam's "Brazil."

Orwell's "1984" is a must read for everyone. Often, we don't want to be reminded of it. This weekend I went to see the '70's band Heart put on the hits and play some other people's songs at Konocti Harbor up north in the most bizaare area of northern California: Clearlake. It was blazing hot and beautiful with a plague's worth of bugs flying around on stage as Ann Wilson sang with her usual sweetness. Some eight or nine women sat a few rows ahead with penis-studded fairy ears.

I could go on about the concert. Is that their original guitar player who plays with them? Probably not, right, since when he was introduced it wasn't like he was recognized or anything. It was really Ann and Nancy and some very good musicians around them. They covered a Tom Petty song and two Zeppelin songs. I was hoping that they'd play some of their deeper material, but they went for the rock hard '70's sound. They deserve a musical dvd for distribution.

"The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie"

To dream or not to dream, that is the question in this surrealist funhouse. It was such a weird film. At center is the Ambassador of "Miranda." He is Spanish, and 'miranda' means "seeing." I love all this convoluted stuff in a film. It is the ultimate dream state. I haven't remembered a dream in its entirety for months and months. In this film by Luis Bunuel, almost everyone has a dream--except the women. They are there to make commentary on the men and help out now and then.

Remember they are the bourgeiosie and therefore must be held up to ridicule. In one scene the three ladies are in a cafe and the waiter tells them at different moments that there is no more tea, there is no more coffee nor milk nor herbal tea. This film even comments on marijuana. The Ambassador and some military men as well as one of the ladies sit around and smoke pot. Was this a dream?

I'd never heard of a "Junebug" until...

I rented a video of this film from my local bazaar of video, "Four Star Video." Kind of a retro name, but who really cares as long
as there is a wide selection of genres and internationally-made videos. Such is this "Four Star." They had put a hand-drawn telephone-type "star" next to the markered posting of this video. I thought, "I've looked around and all the films that I would have wanted to have seen have been rented.

There's the story of the actual desire to watch a film I'd never heard of nor a bug (I like bugs) I'd never seen in a magazine.
I won't tell the story but the film has something to do with love, art, mental acuity, love, the art business, personal desire and the desire of another.

What I really liked the most about this film is the theme song by the band Yo La Tengo which I saw play here live in 1996 or something like that. The song is as lovely as love. I really recommend this film. Although I think here are some flaws in the actual presentation of conflicts between humans in a coupled situation, the film's like lingering in the woods and the jumpcuts that Nature provides.

"Happy Endings"

Tonight my friend and I rented a film: "Happy Endings." On the cover of the cd is a photo of a woman's back and a towel wrapped atop the buttocks. For some people, this film might seem like soft porn. However, it's is far from porn and
closer to barbecued corn.

This film deals with relationships in a multi-colored world. At times I was taken away by the cinematographic effects--long shots through green-grayish rooms with a certain blue. These colors dominate the film, giving its edge, its biosphere.

There are multiple relationships in this film, too. There is a portrayal of a male gay relationship. Laura Dern plays a lesbian.The parts of the story revealed by dialogue are instead typed onto the screen, while letters on black. I actually haven't seen this device used since the silent movies.

Maybe I'm not giving it a better review. It does provide ensemble acting in that the characters become interconnected in some way. There are no major Hollywood stars in it to wreck it. Yay.

What more I hate about money.

Someone said "there's no free ride." I think most Buddhists would agree. However, how would a Hindu (and many and all other spirituals beliefs respond?