As you may or may not have noticed, a fair number of my recent posts have been about the rich and how they live (answer: spendidly!). Kenny took me to see the rich people's houses, pardon me, estates, in Connecticut and I've seen lots of amazing places in New York as well. But last night was the first time I was really blown-outta-my-socks impressed. Dave&Tracy (tm) took me to Tracy's friend's house. Oh my god. I really wanted to take pictures, but I thought that might be kinda rude since it wasn't an actual art museum, but dammit, it coulda fooled me. There was so much cool original art (i.e. not prints) everywhere. It really did look like a modern art museum, especially since some of the artists I had seen featured in St. Louis art museums. Of course the house, even ignoring the art, was awesome. It wasn't so much that the house was huge, although small it was not. It was just that the architecture screamed "hip and modern! big open spaces! very few doors! rotating walls! skylights! skylights! skylights!" And when houses talk to me, I'm 50% scared, 40% amazed, and 110% effort. It's always gametime around here.
And today, we may be going to a comic book shop in Manhattan. From what I've hard, it will be the largest comic shop I've ever been in, which means it will be, proportionally, the greatest shop I've ever been in.
Has anyone seen Donnie Darko? That movie weirded me out. Not because of all the time travel stuff, that just confused me. No, moreso because Donnie Darko reminds me of Doc's older brother, and his girlfriend reminds me of Whitney. Scared the hell outta me. Oh yeah, if anyone who liked that movie can explain it to me, I'd really appreciate it. I'm so confused that I can't even decide if I liked it or not. The jury is out and they are banging their heads against the wall trying to figure out these key points
1) why time travel? what the heck happened at the end?
2) what was the point of the young teachers played by Noah Wyle and Drew Barrymore?
3) huh?
4) ew.
That movie was definitely strange. I can kind of see the resemblance to my brother. Although I can assure you he's not that weird...he's a little weird...but not THAT weird. I looked up some stuff online and found this explanation: http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Donnie%20Darko It makes a little bit more sense after reading that but I would probably have to see the movie a couple more times to fully understand it.
Posted by: doc at July 17, 2003 01:11 AMBen,
Donnie Darko is incredibly amazing. I rented it once and watched it with my mom and sister -- they hated it because they were just lost in it and didn't see a point. Of course, they don't watch movies to find enlightenment nor care to see movies about introspection and reality. They wanted an easy plot with amusing, semimindless stuff.
Donnie Darko is stuffed with seemingly millions of quirks and small elements/tracks which just cannot be picked up in one sitting. After the first viewing, I walked away feeling odd -- I didn't dislike the movie, but it felt like there was more meaning I wasn't catching on to. I bought the DVD a few days after I returned the video, and watched it about 3 times in the week following. (Though initially debating on spending the $15 bux for something I didn't know if I would really want to watch again and again, it was still worth having the "Smurfs" and "Life Line Exercise" scenes in my video library.. :) )
There were many things I hadn't caught on to.
I've seen the DVD about 10 or 11 times now, and I still occasionally find new ways of thinking about things.
But blah blah blah, if you want more thoughts on the movie itself, cruise thru the IMDB reviews. There's a ton of speculation in there.
ANYhow, to your questions 1 and 2 (3 and 4 were basically addressed above. ;) )
1) The ending is showing Donnie's mom in the plane after the whole Sparkle Motion thing in LA or whatever -- there's a rumble and you have no idea what's going on. I'm sure you thought this, but the engine on that plane is what falls into Donnie's bedroom at the beginning and end of the film.
One of the ideas is that the entire 28 days or whatever is showing an alternate path. One that includes finding/losing love, destruction, controversy, etc. (All of those are topics of their own...) At the break point of this alternate choice, his girlfriend is dead, he's going to be arrested and also has killed someone. The other alternative is to die, to end all.
>> To be or not to be, that is the question. (Thanks, Wil, great line)
2) They fit into the "sub topics" I kinda touched on below. As in zen, don't expect to really grasp them until you've grasped the larger picture.
Buy the DVD. :)
Damacus
Posted by: Damacus at July 17, 2003 01:29 AMJust one more thought about the movie...I don't think Donnie's traveling through time as much as he's just experiencing two different planes/paths/dimensions, etc. The important thing is that he's experiencing these at the same time. One is "reality" or his normal existence and the other is an alternate, but parallel plane. The experiences he has in the alternate plane allow him to make the choices that he does in the more tangible one.
This kind of reminds me of a conversation I had once about the choice between different outcomes. (Warning: I think I was under the influence of alcohol or drugs when I had this conversation so it's a little fuzzy) There's a theory that when we are presented with a choice we consciously choose one path and we experience the consequential outcome. However, we are simultaneously experience every other possible outcome just on different planes. I'm guessing the theory continues that some people can tap into more than one plane or have dual realities.
I may be totally misquoting this conversation but I think Shawn was there too if he wants to weigh in. Ok, that's enough abstract coversation for now. Later.
Posted by: doc at July 17, 2003 02:35 PMDoc, you own. Well said. That is all.
Posted by: Damacus at July 17, 2003 08:05 PMBen.
I can answer the second half of your second question, I believe.
2) what was the point of the young teachers played by Noah Wyle and Drew Barrymore?
Well. Here's the backstory on Donnie Darko. The writer/director first brought the script out when he was 23 years old. At first, everyone hated it because there is no genre. Is it sci-fi? Is it horror? Is it thriller? Is it drama? Is it a dark comedy? Well, it's really hard to market a film with no genre.
Then people started catching on that it was a pretty cool idea. They wanted to buy it. The writer/director said that he wouldn't sell it unless he could direct it. The producers said "not a chance in hell" ... ... for three years.
When the writer/director was 26, the script fell on the desk of a Ms. Drew Barrymore over at Flower Films. She loved it and decided to help him out. Of course, the terrible price for Drew Barrymore's assistance is that she must be in the film.
As for Noah Wyle, I have no idea.
Either way, that's the nonsense I've paid $17,000 a year at film school to learn about in producing classes.
Posted by: Ooboy at July 18, 2003 10:09 AMWhat a silly little bitch. She needs to stick to yelling "penis breath" -- it was her only memorable role that I can think of.
Ok... alright... she wasn't so bad in the film.. but she's Drew Barrymore. Yunno? ;-)
TGIF.
Posted by: Damacus at July 18, 2003 06:34 PMHey Ben,
I recently too have fallin into the Donnie Darko mindfuck. I have to say it's one of the best movies I've ever seen. Apparently the guy that wrote it has a little brother that is neighbors with some of my good friends right here in Boulder. Next time they have a party I'm going to find this guy and force him to tell me what is really going on with that movie.
Unusual ideas can make enemies.
Posted by: Ellman Wendy at May 3, 2004 09:41 AMThere was no immunity to cuckoo ideas on Earth.
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.
Posted by: Brooks Dana at June 30, 2004 11:23 AM