Thursday 30 April 2009

MC Envy - Blinded by the lights.


So I was at work at 2am the other morning doing very little except watching the NBA play offs and my friend Nikhil dropped in with his laptop and recording equipment to record a new track in our meeting room (It's soundproof!) Now 95% of the music he is involved with isn't my kind of thing. I like hip-hop and not so much the garage, drum and base stuff that quite honestly, just isn't my thing.

But this guy is remarkably talented and HE'S SOOOOO YOUNG!!! He's been doing it for years though and has a brilliant, positive and creative outlook on life. If you get a moment, give the guy a listen to, this is a really great track Envy - Blinded by the lights

Friday 24 April 2009

ITLADian filmmaking?

Well, after seven years procrastinating, The God Game series (six short digital films which I call surrealist documentaries) is finally going to be viewable online, thanks to the assistance of a member of the younger generation! All the films (and the final capstone work, Being the One: Document of a Delusion) will eventually be upload to my youtube channel, here

For a description of the God Game film project, which was actually completed back in 2002, you can visit my blog.

The premise of the film (surprise surprise) is quite ITLADian -  it actually began with a dream I had, about being in an acting class and using a megaphone to create an after-death persona, who would comment on one's life from "the other side." This instantly gave me the idea of making a movie - combining documentary format with role-playing, with psychotherapy, in which I would ask players to imagine their deaths and reconcpetualize their lives, as stories, seen from this transpersonal (Daemonic) POV.

An idea ahead of its time? Let's hope so, anyhow, because it's taken seven years for the films to get "released"! But here they are....

Monday 20 April 2009

The Fragmented Self

Hi Martin & friends

Here's a recent interview I did as part of a Guardian project with the artist Mark Titchner

It covers various subjects, including schizophrenia, the environmental crisis, multiple personality disorder as relating to our moods, the personal self as Frankenstein's monster, Matrix Warrior, Fight Club, the primal self, mythic narratives of moden movies, and other juicy tidbits.

JH

Saturday 18 April 2009

New Jersey Devils Playoff Game 1 with Kevin Smith and Jennifer Schwalbach Smith





On the same day I saw the fantastic play God of Carnage I was extremely fortunate to be invited to a Hockey game with the Smith's and several other friends from the world of View Askew. We were grateful guests in the VIP box seats enjoying a spectacular view and wonderful company. Although the night was cut slightly short due to their fatigue of travelling from L.A. that morning, I had an extremely good time chatting with Jen and meeting Amy her husband and once again seeing Teejay. I'd like to thank them both for incredibly kind hospitality to me on my travels and a truely amazing evening. The devils won 4-1 and spirits were high on the train as I got the NJ Transit back to the city. Thanks Kev and Jen, was a pleasure meeting you both.

God of Carnage



I was luckily enough to get tickets (not cheap!) to see the fantastic play God of Carnage during my stay in New York and I thought it was incredibly funny, truly an exhausting journey of humour and drama. Starring Jeff Daniels, Hope Davies, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Holden, this witty exploration of parental compromise is perhaps the funniest show I've had the pleasure to catch.



Perfectly paced, the pressure and tension build towards some hilarious climaxes, often at the expense of shortly lived pride and dignity. Gandolfini fluctuates brilliantly between rational and incredibly cut-throat honest. Jeff Daniels comedic timing is perfection and he enjoys some of the best interjections as the play progresses. At the beginning, Gandolfini plays the comedic beats to perfection, often waiting a good 10-15 seconds before replying with a simple one-word-retort. Hope Davies who has been fantastic on Six Degrees recently enjoys a humorous character arch. Her character seems to be the most repressed and when she finally unleashes the fury, the stage is brightened up with all sorts of mess. I hadn't seen much of Marcia Gay Holden before but she was remarkably likable. Her character was very raw, it was one that infected the other characters, she refused to compromise her position which fuels the fun and makes for some fantastic match ups. The chemistry between all four characters is outstanding as they take turns unloading on one another. Gender plays a part as the women take on the men, this is a short lived alliance though as it soon becomes a case of everyone for themselves.

Jeff Daniels monologue about the insignificance of anything we do is something I could relate to and I enjoyed it thoroughly. In the tradition of Peter Boyle's speech about "One guy gets sick, another guy gets well..." it points out how all we're doing is killing time before we ourselves are killed, it doesn't really make a bit of difference. Anna Paquin's speech at the end of my favourite film HurlyBurly is very similar.

Worth every penny, go see it if you're in New York. It's at the Jacobs Theatre.

Thank You to Martin Huxter

I just wanted to say a  hearty  thank you to Martin,  for his company while he was in New York City last weekend.  I t was wonderful to see you again,  and to partake in your lovely conversation.  My niece and son really enjoyed meeting you.  Here's to many more such visits!

Thursday 9 April 2009

My Blueberry Nights



I watched this for a second time the other night and I really, really like this film. It's a very unconventional romantic drama, in the way that it concentrates on the (eventual)couple's time spent apart, rather than their time together. The Cafe owner (Jude Law) that Elizabeth (Norah Jones) becomes close with tells her the story of the big bowl of keys. Customer's that have left their keys behind after having had too much to drink, also left a story for Jude's character to tell. That's really what the film is about. How we're all making impressions on each others lives, we become entangled with others and often we don't even realise how much. It's in this message that the film really appeals to me.


When we're gone, all that's left is the memories we leave behind in other people's lives.


Elizabeth writes to the Cafe owner she became entangled with in the first 15 minutes of the film. She is asked "Why not just pick up a phone?"

She explains that somethings are just better explained on paper. There is a real glimpse into the decline of romance in modern day times due to technology. The greatest romances include travel, separation, longing, suffering, letters and stories being told. With the invention of social networking sites today it's so much easier to stay in touch with people and also to find people who we sadly lose. This is a great and wonderful thing, but I believe it comes at a price of great story telling.

Imagine:

It was the greatest night of my life, we spoke for hours, we laughed and soaked up every minute of each other's company. Then suddenly, we were separated in the crowd and I couldn't find her. I was heartbroken. I made a promise to myself on the way home that one day I would find her. Half an hour later I looked her up on Facebook and found her, I sent her a message and heard back from her immediately. Then I ate some pie.

You see? Not quite as romantic is it!

But back to the film, Norah Jones and Rachel Weisz look EXACTLY THE SAME!! It's sneaky to put them in a scene together, even when they cross paths they can hardly believe it. Elizabeth gets into several adventures on her travels, forever becoming a part of the lives of several other people who are facing their own problems. She arrives back to the cafe a year later, a better perspective on love, life and anything else that matters. The film is a journey and it's an enjoyable journey.

Sunday 5 April 2009

Anthony Peake - Author of the month.

My friend, the author Anthony Peake has been voted Author of the month on the Official Graham Hancock website. There are fantastic updates every day on there from the world of science and technology.

Please click here and go and show your support or simply soak up the wonderful discussions that are currently taking place there

Sideways



Probably the best film from 2004 and another for my Top Ten which may have run into the teens in a somewhat strange fashion. It's the most generic method ever to simply take two characters that are very different, put them together and watch the hilarity, but this film is so much smarter than that. We've been both of these characters at different moments of our lives and they illustrate the plight and misery of all men, regardless of circumstance.

Miles (Giamatti)is a self destructive writer fresh off of divorce, clinging to the hope that his recently finished novel will sell and therefor make everything else in his life, seem that much better... Or perhaps just a little less shit. Miles is taking his long time friend Jack (Hayden Church) on a Wine tasting get away in the vineyards of Santa Ynez Valley. Jack is an actor with a sexual appetite that refuses to compromise with his impending marriage and all that this commitment entails. Jack is on the hunt for fresh flavour while Miles wishes to recreate moments of comfort and familiarity. We are given a glimpse of their differences early on when Miles stops by to pick up Jack and is asked to sample two different types of Wedding cake. One of them is light, one of them is dark. If pressed to make a decision, Miles chooses the dark, oh, yes he certainly does.

Before they begin their week, Miles takes Jack on a small detour to see his mother on her birthday. After getting annoyed at her constant meddling in his (ex) marital affairs and complimenting his friend ot the point of embarrassment, Miles believes he has received enough crap to justify stealing a healthy amount of money from his mother's underwear draw. The scene is nicely capped off by his mother asking if he needs some money... oops.



Finally arriving in wine country, Miles hesitantly points out Maya (Virginia Madsen)to Jack. She seems very pleased to see Miles and Jack is not surprised by this, he sees the good qualities in Miles and wishes his somewhat negative friend would attempt to do the same. Still before long he has his own agenda, Maya's friend Stephanie (Sandra Oh) who is a single mother with an appreciation for Jack's more care free approach to life.

What follows is a hysterical exploration of sex, deceit, friendship, a naked trip through an ostrich farm, golf course violence, disappointment, heartbreak and a lot of laughs. The running metaphor of wine is climaxed beautifully in a scene between Miles and Maya. Miles tell us the reason why he likes Pinot Noir so much, it has to be coached and encouraged to reach it's full potential, it can't be rushed and much patience is needed to see the beauty it has to offer.



Miles is a painful character to watch. We watch as he reaches several conversational crossroads and can see he has the ability to make the right choice displaying his many positive qualities, but time and time again we are subjected to him running scared into the familiarity and comfort of misery and failure. It would be rather depressing if it wasn't so funny. "Did you drink and dial?" Jack humorously asks after Miles gives us a display of self-pitying at the restaurant. Moments before they went in there Jack anticipates the fuck up and warns him not to ruin the night. It's at this point that Miles barks the quote of the film at his friend.

I am NOT drinking any FUCKING MERLOT!!!

Having read the book and loved it, I can honestly say that this film does more than do the story, characters and everything about it absolute justice. The type of colour the film is shot in is a distinctive one and really adds to the beauty of the Wine country these two characters embark upon. An absolutely classic film that really shouldn't be missed by anyone.

Thursday 2 April 2009

Agents of Chaos: Alan Moore's Alchemical Worshop, and an Authentic Miracle of a Movie

Warning: the following review is likely to be somewhat “biased”: When I first read Watchmen in my early twenties, it affected me as deeply as any work of fiction ever had—it changed my life. So my responses to the movie—as described below—are going to be more than a little colored by a highly personal connection to the source material.


Watchmen, the movie, directed by Zack Snyder and adapted by David Hayter and Alex Tze, sticks remarkably close to the source material, the ground-breaking graphic novel written by visionary author Alan Moore (whose name isn’t on the film) and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Moore is a self-confessed magician and uncontested genius of comic books, and his twelve issue, 300+ page superhero epic is a stupendously ambitious work, not merely one of the great accomplishments of comic book writing, but an outstanding work of fiction in any field. (It made Time magazine’s 100 greatest novels—what more do you need to know?!)

When I first heard about the Watchmen movie, I was skeptical—to put it mildly. In fact, I was indifferent. And when I saw the first stills from the movie, I knew, absolutely knew, it was a bust, that they were turning it into something gaudy and noisy and messy and dumb—what Hollywood does best. Beyond all doubt, “the visionary director of 300”—a mind-numbingly vacuous live-action cartoon cum commercial for Spartan warfare—would debase the material by catering to the lowest sensibilities of the mass audience. 


But within ten minutes or less of the movie, it’s clear that something else is happening. The film, like the graphic novel, starts with the murder of the Comedian. The perfect pre-credit sequence, it sums up the delicate resonance of the story by both keeping to genre conventions (for an opening action set-piece and plot-starting murder) while adding a whole new layer of emotional nuance and poignancy. The Comedian’s weary acceptance of his fate speaks volumes. He has been waiting for this moment, and he’s secretly relieved that it’s finally come. If he puts up a token resistance, it’s only because he doesn’t know how not to. He keeps up his end of the mythic narrative to the bitter end. 

This is followed by the lovely, eerie frozen images of the credits, by which flesh and blood becomes comic book image, or vice versa. The credit sequence is inspired: both delightful—enchanting—and wryly amusing, it lets us know that we are in good hands and can settle back to enjoy the most fully satisfying and morally complex superhero enactment in the history of movies. Watchmen is an authentic miracle of a movie—the best of its kind (the philosophical action fantasy) since The Matrix came out ten years ago. (Plot wise, Watchmen is less ingenious than The Matrix, but morally it’s far more sophisticated.)

What’s really astonishing about this movie is that, in under three hours, it manages to capture not only the spirit of the novel but the full, epic breadth of its storyline. I’ve read the comic book at least a dozen times and yet I couldn’t even say which parts the movie misses out (except for the obvious, the parallel story within a story of “Tales of the Black Freighter”). The odds against a big budget Hollywood adaptation of a fiction masterpiece being almost 100% faithful, and at the same time managing to translate it whole into a new medium, are truly phantasmagorical.

Yet therein may be a problem: Watchmen is so completely true to its source that anyone not already enamored of the comic book may be unable to fully grok it. The storyline is straightforward enough, but the peculiar blend of social realism with the pulp roots of comics, and the idiosyncratic, poetic, magical genius of its creator, make Watchmen utterly unlike any superhero movie, or any movie, we've ever seen before. It’s a freak in the best sense of the word: a creature of unfathomable beauty so unique that some people may mistake it for ugliness. It creates its own aesthetic.


What’s perhaps most unusual about the film is its complete moral ambiguity, the way in which it steps entirely outside of the usual mythic paradigm of good and evil, spins off a parallel reality, and weaves its very own mythic narrative. Just as the graphic novel did within the comics field, Watchmen creates a new paradigm for the superhero movie. It’s a paradigm which I highly doubt other filmmakers will be willing, or able, to match, much less develop. There are no heroes in Watchmen, and no villains either. There are rather extraordinary (and extraordinarily flawed) human beings, struggling to make sense of a world in chaos, wrestling with their own complicity in that chaos. These are easily the richest and most affecting characters to ever grace what is ostensibly a fantasy movie. They are not just functions of the plot, as Neo and Morpheus are functions of the plot. As in all great writing, Watchmen’s story develops out of the characters and not vice versa. And these characters are nothing if not ambiguous.


The most dislikeable of the characters, Ozymandias, is driven by a seemingly pathological, philanthropist desire to save the world, and this he succeeds in doing. But we don’t admire him for it—we can’t admire him, because no end could justify these means. He’s an elitist, driven by intellect and a sense of his innate superiority, but devoid of heart. On the other hand, there is much to admire in the murderous vigilante Rorschach—who is all heart. His code of no compromise, his ruthless implacability, his deranged sense of justice, beneath which is a strange tenderness and a deeply wounded soul. Rorschach simply cares too much not to cause mayhem. Like Travis Bickle, his pain, rage and confusion spills out into the world—and he matches it atrocity for atrocity.


Dr. Manhattan, on the other hand, cares little for humanity’s plight: he’s moved beyond that. Was ever a god this chillingly disconnected, a superhero this utterly disaffected? Yet, as Billy Crudup (the only recognizable face in the movie) plays him, Dr. Manhattan is deeply touching. He’s human despite himself, and in his way he’s as lost a soul as the rest of these characters, because he is so utterly, completely alone. As written by Moore, Dr. Manhattan is the first fully believable depiction of a superhuman being—a god—in movies.


On the face of it, the Comedian is the most sheerly unpleasant of the characters: a rapist and child killer, the puppet of the military industrial complex (in a beautiful twist added by the moviemakers, he’s also JFK’s actual assassin). Yet, loathsome as his actions are, he doesn’t ever become hateful to us. None of the characters are defined—or limited— by their actions; they are far too alive for that. Moore’s genius is that he uses the very limited and limiting genre of the superhero comic as an arena—a sort of child’s playground, but also an alchemical workshop—to work through his philosophical themes and develop flesh and blood characters—like forging gold from lead. With Watchmen, he created a kind of feedback loop that expands the story from genre melodrama, into infinity—the realm of archetypes, of true myth. Paradoxically, by turning superhero archetypes into ordinary, believable human beings, ordinary beings are transformed into something extraordinary, something magical, transcendent. 


Moore creates a world of impossible possibilities, and the movie recreates that world with breathtaking fidelity—the kind of loyalty and integrity that seems unimaginable in Hollywood, but that has somehow come to pass. Admittedly, the film does fail in one crucial area: that of mapping the endless series of synchronicities between images, words, events, that form the texture of the graphic novel, and that in a sense are what it’s really about. More than the story, or even the characters, Watchmen describes the texture and flow of mystery that living in a quantum universe entails, and what’s lacking in the film is the necessary plethora of fine details, of recurring motifs and themes. Besides that smiley face, I didn’t notice any repeating phenomena, and so the scenes aren’t woven together at this subtler, more esoteric level. The result, for those who aren’t familiar with the original story, may seem to be an almost straightforward, though complex, action movie; they may well miss the finer undercurrents moving beneath the gloriously gaudy surface. 

There are other minor flaws: the sex scene to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is something we could certainly have done without; perhaps more seriously, the extreme violence seems out of place here, largely gratuitous—it doesn’t add anything and may even detract from the dreamlike quality of the story (though with the Rorschach scenes a degree of savagery is probably intrinsic to the material). And sometimes what works in the graphic novel can seem mannered and contrived on screen (such as Night Owl’s question, “Whatever happened to the American Dream?”). Moore’s dialogue is often self-consciously clever, loaded, and this works better when we can hear it in our heads and give it our own inflexion. Actors can be all at sea with these multi-layered lines. There are also areas, such as Rorschach’s revealing the abyss of his soul to the liberal-minded psychiatrist, that need more time to be developed, that are rushed and hence diminished, and the film would probably have worked better, been less choppy and more textured, if it had been allowed an additional ten or twenty minutes of screen time.

But despite these flaws, the sheer joy and originality of the source material fills every frame. It animates every performance with an exuberance, audacity, and poetry, that is unique to the genre. I haven’t even begun to analyze the schizophrenic subtext of this film—perhaps another day?—but I can honestly say that, in thirty years of movie-going, I have never been so pleasantly surprised by a movie. Watchmen has every imaginable reason to crash and burn. Yet somehow, against impossible odds, it takes flight.