Kurosawa Noms Undergrad's Heart

This morning, as the rain fell and I was sipping tea, I pulled up "Akira Kurosawa's Dreams" on my Netflix queue and was somewhat taken aback by the lush images pregnant with historical and contemporary cultural context. I discovered Kurosawa's dramatic eye for Japanese detail a couple summers ago with the help of a film-buff friend of mine. Granted, I'd seen "Seven Samurai" and excerpts from some of his other films, the great name in international film direction didn't stick out until my friend compelled me to binge-view anime, YouTube clips of regional television, video game sequences, and, of course, films, all of which seem to be graded against the Kurosawa standard.

What struck me about "Dreams" was how relevant it was as a form of literature/film. The film's protagonist is none other than the writer/director himself. One of the last films he was to make, the film captures his dreams throughout life, creating a very intimate autobiography of not just an artist, but of a nation/culture as well. As a boy, he fears tradition, seeing the spirits of his ancestors amidst the trees who then send a pig spirit to take his life lest he not beg for forgiveness--if they choose not to forgive him, they have already provided the katana he is to use to commit seppuku. Through his portrayed dream reality, we see the end of tradition and the rise of nuclear proliferation following a long history of war and industrialization.

Aside from the film's beauty, the loose "story" (a word I'm reluctantly using because the film progresses more like a Mahler symphony than even a story-cycle film like the Raymond Carver-based "Short Cuts") blossoms from moments in Japanese cultural history. Chronology seems to determine each section's tempo while fear and loathing crescendo as the artist "I" (i.e., Kurosawa) comes into himself. Although the experiences portrayed are already universal, Kurosawa attempts to clearly bridge the East-West divide by bringing in van Gogh (played by Martin Scorsese) who illuminates the role of artist/worker/citizen; although this section of the film is experimental in nature and meant to be rather touching, it's awkward and contrived, only worsened by the fact that Scorsese simply cannot act. While enduring this section, called "Crows," I felt compelled to fast-forward into what I hoped would be a nice save; however, I loyally continued and came to realize that this was a necessary intermission for the viewer as the following section, "Mt. Fuji In Red," depicts nuclear fallout in a way that reminisces about the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the same hysteria portrayed in the infamous Odessa steps scene from The Battleship Potemkin. After nuclear holocaust, the film leaves us with how "life should be," retreating back to nature after humanity has learned its lessons from violence and terror, discarding technology and re-learning what it means to live. "I," annihilated by nuclear fallout in the shadow of Mt. Fuji, must rediscover himself with the help of a benevolent centennial, a sort of harbinger into the Nirvana that is living with nature as nature and not the soulless product of technology. The film appropriately ends by celebrating the life of a 99-year-old woman, the villagers of her town (along with her former 103-year-old lover) parade along the river bank, huzzah-ing and reveling in the beauty of life.

This film immediately lept to the top of my list of what to recommend for rainy days, times that are already so suitable for existential contemplation. 

Ruts, Roots, Routes

I feel like I'm falling into a rut. I'm lazy and bored, and it's getting old. I find that I work a lot (even had overtime on this last check!), but I feel like nothing is getting accomplished and I'm a hamster on an exercise wheel. I keep waiting for something to happen, as if I'm living in a fairytale and some adventure is about to whisk me away. But it isn't like that. Real life is hard. Perhaps that's why we need fairytales. In those, one never needs money or a job to supply it. One doesn't have to constantly worry with the washing machine or ever unload the dishes.

But the complexity of life is also something hidden amidst the fear and elation of possibilities. As I write this, there is another tab staring at me from the top of my browser that could be a way to move forward, away, toward, against. And it scares me. This spring one of my good friends is marrying her fiance, and I'll be standing there in the wedding, probably silently freaking out. How can the girl that taught me so much of how to be a rebellious hellion be conforming to the system and actually becoming a wife? It's weird. And yet, it is the way of things.

Perhaps I should remember than indecision is a decision. In the battle of the (waistline) bulge, it is true that there is no real stasis, but a continuum of loss, gain, and maintenance. So it is with life, I guess. Perhaps the time is drawing nigh for me to remember that loss of one thing is the gain of another, and that to maintain the status quo fuels dreary blog posts and coffee binges.

So, how about that tab?

Right after this coffee.

T

If you type two spaces after a period, you're doing it wrong.

This article from Slate.com is an interesting rant on typographic rules.

In other news, we here in central Arkansas have had snow lately, and what a nice change it makes. My puppy doesn't like his yard being messed with, even by the forces of nature, and he makes a point to sniff every square inch of it when a new snow falls.

It also seems of interest that my house seems to be going in the direction of organic local produce and partial vegetarianism. There aren't any real rules at this point, but we are trying to be more conscious of how we eat and how we can eat better in a multitude of ways. Buying local produce allows us to have good quality, fresh produce as it is in season. It also insures that we are eating vegetables that are from farms that aren't going to be pumping them full of weird fertilizers and then ripening them with gas in a giant warehouse. We also get to support local farmers in their efforts to make a living. Of course the environmental impact is lessened when you don't have to ship food in from Argentina, too. Not to mention that this allows our on-going affair with sweet potatoes to flourish with very little guilt. Eating a semi-vegetarian diet also helps us to consume lower on the food chain. This is good for everyone, since it takes a whole lot more energy to raise a cow or pig than to raise a sweet potato or a cabbage. I have to point out that we are also doing it because the ways that industrial ranches raise cattle can be scary. We are not, however, going completely vegan or anything, and I think this is because we are trying to make changes we can actually live with instead of throwing out everything and being mad about it and finally rejecting the diet altogether. P.s. It's healthier than slathering everything in bacon (as is my favorite way to eat anything...ever), and we who do the cooking in my house could stand to lose a few pounds. (Oddly, those who mostly do the eating aren't heavy... unfair genetic roulette.)

I challenge anyone to make a lentil soup with Garam Masala and a squirt of Sriracha, blended smooth, and then to complain that they miss the meat. You can't. It's delicious and filling and perfect for snowy days like this one.

T

Archies 2010

I've been meaning to get this going, and Donna B. has reminded me that I have not yet posted an Archies list for the year that has just passed. But yesterday was Epiphany, so I guess this year is really started, the Christmas season is over, and it's time to start afresh.

So, without further ado, the Archies are things that made the biggest impact on my life in the past year. That's the sole criterion as I understand it. I'm not including relationships with people here, because that's just not something that goes on this kind of list. Here we go.

-National Public Radio
-Netflix instant streaming
-Starbucks Doubleshot on Ice with Caramel
-Amazon Kindle
-Suscitatio Incendia (it's me, but it's a new way of me thinking about and processing things)
-Dexter, king of my backyard
-St. Peter's Episcopal Church
-CatalogLiving.net
-Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
-Etsy.com

There are probably more, but these are the ones that I always seem to come back to. Thanks, 2010. You were a lot better than 2009.

T

Google Blows My Mind

As you may very well know, Google is in the process of ruling the world. Currently, they are one of the biggest information aggregates in the known universe, and so much ad revenue is being poured into their tinkering adventures that they're able to pump all sorts of advanced software into pop culture without the masses even batting an eye. In fact, after watching their December 7 public speech (see it here), I realize that one of the major goals individuals with this company strive for is to operate behind the scenes, out of public awareness like, dare I say it, a social consciousness.

Okay, that might sound like I'm going on a limb, but work with me.

Carl Jung, Freud's underling until a theologically related falling out, suggested that humanity is tightly held together by systems of shared experience in what he referred to as the collective unconscious. There are some uncanny parallels between this system and current evolutionary psychology research: People consistently show a cross-cultural preference for images depicting the Savannah, are more prone to fear stimuli that existed in their ancestral history, and have specific internal "drives." But I want to look at the Internet as a collective unconscious. Trending is a remarkable example. Around the world, people refer to and research specific events more than others--examples include the Chilean coal miners, Oscar buzz, Lady Gaga--and random global attentional shifts seem to happen willy-nilly. In this way, a non-real social reality is developing at our fingertips. Music, art, business, science, all of our social constructs are being linked together in a way that has less and less physical reality and more and more social reality, a literal shadow existence that can only be understood through learning. For thousands of years, culturally formulated realities co-existed simultaneously around the world, in different languages and using a variety of mediums; now, though, these man-made parallel realities, the realities mankind has forever used to combat mortality, are fusing together, eradicating the culture-based systems of individuality and resulting in human universals. The fascinating thing is, companies like Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and other information conglomerates are now able to probe humanity and find how much attention is being directed at what.

I know I'm not saying anything new, but this stuff's been on my mind lately and I wanted to bring it up. I'll continue thinking about this, occasionally typing little rants, and maybe even spark conversations along the way.

This amused me. So... enjoy.

In marginally related news, check out Hipster Hitler.

Please to enjoy.

T

The many names I call my dog, Dexter Albus Thurman.