ideas : People : stories.
the Human Being stuff
I watched this on the flight back to the US and frigging LOVED it. The slow pace, the dichotomous characters, and the simplistic message of life and love. The beauty of small town living.
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-N- Stuff : Movies : Some (possible) great new movies
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I'm not really a movie person. In general, they tend to be too long and I'm too tired because we won't start watching till after the kids go to bed, which means play won't even be pressed till around 8/8:30 and, well, with a bedtime around 9:30, it's a struggle.
Also, after watching a trailer and thinking, "Yes, that looks GREAT!" I forget about them and end up never watching them, or watching them too late. After everyone else has moved on.
I think I'm older than I think I am.
Anyway. Here are a few movies I'm either intrigued enough to stay up the extra hour or so for to give it a good hardy try, or I'm going to brew another pot of coffee for because, damn, it looks good and I have to watch it.
Make Coffee: This is either going to be a knock-down, heart wrenching, artistically brilliant, beauty of a movie, or the complete opposite of that. And I'll be ticked because I'll have wasted good coffee. And I love my coffee.
Intrigued: This seems a bit darker than I normally like, but I'm a sucker for anything portraying brothers as bothers should be - loyal. And this one could be one of those.
Make Coffee: When Owen Wilson plays characters that aren't Owen Wilson, often, they're pretty good. Throw in Julia Roberts and a kid being bullied for being different but overcoming and changing the school and surrounding community . . . coffee please. And some Kleenex.
Intrigued, with coffee on hold: Not because I don't think it will be a fully entertaining movie, in the shallowest sense of the world, but because racial movies make me nervous. Movies that attempt to tackle racial tension, especially when they bring light to a difficult and misunderstood moment in history, are golden. But movies that don't can be horrifically damaging. So, I'm nervous. But also intrigued.
Intrigued: Like movies that portray brothers as brothers should be, I'm also a sucker for any movie where old people figure out life, reconcile with family, and head into their final days with their heart at peace. This could be one of those. Or it could be super cheesy and drastically unrealistic. It might be best to watch this one on a Sunday afternoon so I can end the weekend well, either with a feel-good movie, or a great nap.
Make Two Pots of Coffee: Out of them all, this one seems to be the most sure-fire. To the point that I might not even need coffee for the movie, but for the hour or so afterwards where I'll want to sit and talk or think or write about how powerful and funny and beautiful it was. And then I'll watch it again with friends. And then again with family over Christmas or Thanksgiving. And then again, several years from now when I can quote it and laugh at it and cry with it, even before the scenes and lines come. I'm pretty stoked about this one.
If you have any suggestions, write them in the comments. I'd love to hear it!
I look forward to talking about them, over coffee, preferably before 8:30pm.
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-N- Stuff : Movies : Movie Clips
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This scene has been in my mind lately, because I resonate with it.
But it's the next line, the, "I need a holiday. A very long holiday. And I don't expect I shall return" that I struggle with. In the scene that follows, he puts on the Ring and walks off and gives up.
Later, when Frodo considers a sort of giving up, he's rebuked.
"I wish none of this had happened."
So who all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that was given to us."
When we're stretched and tired and exhausted, we have a decision: give up, or keep walking, fighting, and trying.
It may seem impossible, or we might be lost and alone, but "there are other forces in this world, besides the forces of evil. . ." Forces that want to help, encourage, and support.
Forces that want to improve and build, not destroy.
"And that is an encouraging thought."
This "thesis statement," that all we have to decide is what to do with the time given us, coupled with the encouragement that there are other forces besides evil, is then supported throughout the story.
With Aragorn:
After he realizes he can no longer help Frodo, Aragorn makes the decision to rescue Sam and Pippen from the orcs. Because the fight is not yet over, and it's the right thing to do.
With Haldir:
History and past wrong doings don't influence Haldir's decision, because what was is not for him to decide. All he has is the time given to him, and the decision to make. To honor an aligence.
With Theoden:
Gondor calls for aid, the same Gondor that has abandoned and seemingly ignored Rohan when they were in need. The same Gondor that incited Teoden to earlier spit, "Where was Gondor when the westfold fell? Where was Gondor when our enemies closed in around us? Where was Go-."
But when Gondor calls for aid, when the beacons are lit, Theoden and Rohan answers the call.
With Sam:
This is why Sam is the hero of this journey - because his hope, his resolve, and his courage is what carries Frodo to the end. Even when Frodo abandons him, when he gives up and feels thin, like butter spread over to much bread, Sam carries him. With all that he has, and with whatever he has left, he decides to use it all, to give it all, because he is the other force besides evil.
And that is an encouraging thought.
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-N- Stuff : On Living : Humanity : Movie Clips
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Music can make a movie. Sometimes great soundtracks can live on without the script or the people, but the people can never live on without the music. When it's taken away, when the power and fullness of the music is absent, the movie becomes ridiculously awkward, and boring. The ambiance lost. Like this:
Chewbacca's screams are hilarious though, and I love the coughing in the background. I wonder if the filming was similar to this. If so, respect!
The script is important though. If the dialogue is weak, or the monologues empty and fake, the movie will fall, and fall hard.
Except if it is so terrible, it becomes pure genius.
Star Wars, translated into Chinese, then poorly translated back into English is toes the line. "Most likely, the broken English is the result of being machine translated from the Chinese script. Curiously, the subtitles were translated from a Chinese translation when the original English script could have been used" (via). Not quite genius, but still, fully entertaining (CAUTION: F-word is used).
"Send these troopseses only." Brilliant.
"Put the Gold of the D of two together very dangerous." Shakespearian.
You can see more Backstroke of the West Highlights here.
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I’ve seen this speech several times and have used it often in class. Because it’s brilliant. I love how simple it is. No gimmicks. No pictures. Just words, powerful words. Words bursting with truth, and words that should convict us all.
The film is based on a barber who, wounded during the First World War, returns home after 20 years. “His shop has grown full of cobwebs and dust, but it is the hateful graffiti on his shop window that takes him totally by surprise. Hynkel, the tyrannical dictator, and his henchmen persecute the barber, as well as the rest of the Jewish community” (via).
"The Great Dictator is a 1940 American political satire comedy-drama film written, directed, produced, scored by and starring Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the only Hollywood film-maker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was Chaplin's first true sound film."
The Great Dictator was Chaplin's most commercially successful film. Modern critics have also praised it as a historically significant film and an important work of satire. The Great Dictator was nominated for five Academy Awards - Outstanding Production, Best Actor, Best Writing (Original Screenplay), Best Supporting Actor for Jack Oakie, and Best Music (Original Score) (via).
© Roy Export S.A.S. All Rights Reserved.
"Getting Charlie to speak also meant putting to death this character that had made his creator famous and taking the risk of exposing himself without a mask. Does the declamatory speech at the end of The Great Dictator betray Chaplin’s inability to sustain the aesthetic and comic register all the way through to the end of the film? Chaplin was well aware of these issues, which is why he wrote the words “First picture in which the story is bigger than the Little Tramp." (via).
In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin stated that he could not have made the film if he had known about the true extent of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at the time (via).
Here's the speech:
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost….
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.
To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. …..
Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!
In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will!
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
Final speech from The Great Dictator Copyright © Roy Export S.A.S. All rights reserved
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He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.
Not only does Al Pacino knock the shit out of this scene, in all its rawness, it is a transferable truth that crosses all lines of every kind.
Ironically, Mel Gibson reenacted this scene in "Man Without a Face." The tone is radically different, but the message stays the same.
Human's have been telling stories ever since we could talk . . . probably even before then, because the power (and perhaps purpose) of Story is to "connect with people on an emotional level" (via).
Which is why people tell stories of their experiences, and "write what they know," to connect with other people - to share in the Great Story.
But what if what you know is suburban Minnesota? What if all you've ever seen is Montana farmlands? How do you write about that? Because most people don't want to read those stories, we want car chases, space adventures, and monsters in the closets. But we also want to connect with the characters. We want to feel the sadness, the loneliness or the joy of the character, because when we do, we're suddenly connected. No matter where or when we're from.
Disney has known this trick for decades. From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Zootopia, Disney has been connecting audiences, from all around, from differing age groups, sexes, and social classes to a curious fox, adventurous clown fish, and a self-entitled young lion.
And they've done it, predominantly, by connecting us all through a pain and sorrow that can only come with deep loss. Below is the list of movies used in the short film above. As you watch it, take note of how many of the major characters experience the loss of one or both of their parents.
In all of life and throughout all the world, everyone has experienced loss. And Disney has picked up on it, preyed upon it, and used it to connect us all.
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Pinocho (1940)
- Fantasia (1940)
- Saludos Amigos (1942)
- The Three Caballeros (1944)
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
- Cinderella (1950)
- Alice in Wonderland (1951)
- Peter Pan (1953)
- Lady and the Tramp (1955)
- Sleeping Beauty (1959)
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
- The Sword in the Stone (1963)
- The Jungle Book (1967)
- The Aristocats (1970)
- Robin Hood (1973)
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
- The Fox and the Hound (1981)
- The Black Cauldron (1985)
- The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
- Oliver and Company (1988)
- The Little Mermaid (1989)
- The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
- Beauty and Beast (1991)
- Aladdin (1992)
- The Lion King (1994)
- Pocahontas (1995)
- The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1996)
- Hercules (1997)
- Mulan (1998)
- Tarzan (1999)
- Dinosaur (2000)
- The Emperor´s New Groove (2001)
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
- Lilo & Stich (2002)
- Treasure Planet (2002)
- Brother Bear (2003)
- Chicken Little (2005)
- Meet the Robinsons (2007)
- Bolt (2008)
- The Princess and the Frog (2009)
- Tangled (2010)
- Wreck-It-Ralph (2012)
- Frozen (2013)
- Big Hero 6 (2014)
- Zootopia (2016)
Music: Really Slow Motion - Suns And Stars
Editor: Bora Barroso // Twitter: @BoraBarroso
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Back in 2000, Amazon ran a poll asking their customers what they thought were the best books, music, and movies of the past 1000 years. The results were archived by the Internet Archive.
. . . The lists include works by Shakespeare, Stephen King, and Ayn Rand; music by the Beatles, Mozart, and Miles Davis; and films such as The Wizard of Oz, The Godfather, and Star Wars. (It bears noting that the Bible received the most votes among books, but we had to leave it off our list because it was not written within the past 1,000 years.) We've also compiled tallies for the top author, musical artist, and director, based on the total votes each received for their various works. Dig deep and enjoy!
The winners in each category (and links to their works) were:
Author of Millennium: J.R.R. Tolkien with runner up Ayn Rand
Artist of Millennium: the Beatles with runner up Pink Floyd
Director of the Millennium: Steven Spielberg with runner up George Lucas
You can listen to the top ten albums here.
Recently I've been challenged with integrity, and I've been challenged to truly live it. To submit to it. But first, I need to understand it.
I know the definition, the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. Especially when no one is around, or when it's hard to do so. I've been told this since I was a young boy.
But recently, I've begun to wonder if it can also be something more. And not more as in better, but more as in more - more than what is commonly understood. In addition to.
Like this. Being a man or woman of integrity carries with it the understanding that one with strong moral principles or uprightness will not fail or make poor choices, because by the very definition of integrity, they wouldn't. That's why they have integrity.
But what does it mean when people fail, when their moral principles crumble? Does that mean they are no longer men and women of integrity? That they are men and woman of fluid morals? Because, to be honest, although I try to live a life of integrity, of moral uprightness, I don't always. I don't commit any of the heavy hitters like cheat on my wife, steal money from my employers, or abuse the poor, but I do plenty of other bad things, some of which people are all to ready to point out but none of which even scrapes the surface. Because I'm good at secrets and putting on a tie and making people laugh. Sometimes.
So does that mean I am not a man of integrity?
When my friend struggles to keep his eyes from wondering and his fingers from clicking, does that mean he can no longer be trusted? That he is a man without integrity?
Maybe. I know my Mom would say so, but lately, I don't know. And it's because of scenes like this:
A priest who gets into bar fights and who curses like a sailor could easily be described as a man without integrity. Yet, it is the very thing he accuses the young priest of - and it's the worst thing he could say about anybody!
What gives him the right for such an accusation? What sort of understanding does he have that I don't?
I wonder if its honesty.
The older priest doesn't pretend to be someone he is not. He doesn't follow a bunch of religious rules because it looks good and puts him in good standing with the community (which is what I am often tempted to do), but does what he knows is right. Like apologize.
Could a man or woman have integrity AND falter? Could their morals shake AND they maintain integrity?
I think so. I hope so. Because the men and women I respect most in this world are not the ones that do all things right all or most of the time, but the ones that have enough courage and humility and love to admit their faults, seek forgiveness, and try again tomorrow - with grace and understanding. With integrity.
These men and women know what their looking for, they just find it hard to get there sometimes. They need help. And that is something I can relate to, and someone I want to follow.
If I'm honest.
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"Pablo Picasso is widely quoted as having said that “good artists borrow, great artists steal.” Whether or not Picasso was truly the first person to voice this idea is in some dispute. One can find passages in T. S. Eliot’s critical works which discuss how artistic theft of others’ work contributes to the creation of new art. The idea itself is probably much older. Shakespeare routinely stole plotlines and even whole scenes from other writers for his own plays." (via) Even Steve Jobs believed this ideology allowed for the best of what humanity had to offer to emerge.
Recently, while reading The Princess Bride with my kids, I read the following scene and chuckled. Because I know of another artist who stole it.
The scene reads:
She was outside his hovel before dawn. Inside, she could hear him already awake. She knocked. He appeared, stood in the doorway. Behind him she could see a tiny candle, open books. He waited. She looked at him. Then she looked away.
He was too beautiful.
"I love you," Buttercup said. "I know this must come as something of a surprise, since all I've ever done is scorn you and degrade you and taunt you, but I have loved you for several hours now, and every second, more. I thought an hour ago that I loved you more than any woman has ever loved a man, but a half hour after that I knew that what I felt before was nothing compared to what I felt then. But ten minutes after that, I understood that my previous love was a puddle compared to the high seas before a storm. Your eyes are like that, did you know? Well they are. How many minutes ago was I? Twenty? Had I brought my feelings up to then? It doesn't matter." Buttercup still could not look at him. The sun was rising behind her now; she could feel the heat on her back, and it gave her courage. "I love you so much more now than twenty minutes ago that there cannot be comparison. I love ou so much more now than when you opened your hovel door, there cannot be comparison. There is no room in my body for anything but you. My arms love you, my ears adore you, knees shake with blind affection. My mind begs you to ask it something so it can obey. Do you want me to follow you for the rest of your days? I will do that. Do you want me to crawl? I will crawl. I will be quiet for you or sing for you, or if you are hungry, let me bring you food, or if you have thirst and nothing to quench it but Arabian wine, I will go to Araby, even though it is across the world, and bring a bottle back for your lunch. Anything there is that I can do for you, I will do for you; anything there is that I cannot do, i will learn to do. I know I cannot complete with the Countess in skills or wisdom or appeal, and I saw the way she looked at you. And I saw the way you looked at her. But remember, please that she is old and has other interests, while I am seventeen and for me there is only you. Dearest Wesley - I've never called you that before, have I? - Westley, Westley,, Westley, Westley, Westley, - darling Westley, adored Westley, sweet perfect Westley, whisper that I have a chance to win your love."
And with that, she dared the bravest thing she'd ever done; she looked right into his eyes.
He closed the door in her face.
Without a word.
Without a word.
Buttercup ran. She whirled and burst away and the tears came bitterly; she could not see, she stumbled, she slammed into a tree trunk, fell, arose, ran on; her shoulder throbbed from where the tree trunk hit her, and the pain was strong, but not enough to ease her shattered heart. Back to her room she fled, back to her pillow. Safe behind the locked door, she drenched the world with tears. (pg 49-51).
Here is M. Night Shyamalan's "stolen" version:
"Good artists borrow, great artists steal," and perhaps the greatest artists of them all steal from great artists.
Well done M. Night Shyamalan. Well done.
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Sometimes, when the faults, mistakes, and ideas of others become so overwhelming that I can no longer see straight or hear myself think, these two facts wipe clean the mirror, and I drop my stone. If only for a little while.
