Thursday, September 27, 2007

Mulholland Drive

I couple of weeks ago I saw the film Mulholland Drive, the first David Lynch film I've seen. I know... I am so behind the times.

The film was, to me, rather staggering. It captured my mind, and has pretty much taken up permanent residence there. I found the ideas captivating. I have probably never seen a segment of film more moving to me than the portion set inside the Silencio. The show there, the ideas it portrayed so beautifully, was just so powerfully done. The perfect tying together of the notions of illusion and performance was absolutely astounding. And, as if the the singing of "Crying" was not moving enough, the collapse of the singer brings home the point about the disconnect between reality and illusion in brilliant fashion.

From there, the movie begins to break down... I don't mean that it falls apart, exactly. Instead, it breaks down the illusions its been building up for us. We see how Betty has bought into the illusion, and sucked us into it with her. (But honestly, didn't we feel there was something fishy about her all along? A little too perky? Too good to be true? It had to be an illusion, a construct, didn't it?)

I won't pretend I get Mulholland Drive in all its nuances yet. That's probably why it has settled into its new home so nicely -- my mind that has been so utterly captivated by it. It's weird. It's not for everyone, I suspect. But it sure will make you think.



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Thursday, September 20, 2007

How to Find Your Name on the New York Times Best Seller List



If you visit Open Horizons, you can find some tips for how to turn that manuscript now sitting in the bottom of your desk drawer into a best seller.

Here's what you'll get from Open Horizons:

1. Taped reproductions of both teleseminar phone calls, allowing you to listen to the entire system more than once.
Value: $497.00.

2. A step-by-step document outlining everything you have to do.
Value: $997.00.

3. A downloadable audio of John Kramer's talk on How to Out-Sell the New York Times Bestsellers Without Breaking the Bank.
Value: $30.00.

4. Top 700 Independent Bookstores Data Files
Data file download value: $40.00.

5. Book Marketing 101
Ebook download value: $30.00.

6. Book Marketing 105
Ebook download value: $30.00.

Don't worry, you don't need to get your calculator out and start adding those numbers -- it won't cost you near that much! The whole system, in fact, costs less than $500. You can take a look at the website today to see how you can see your name climb up the New York Times Best Seller List.

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Monday, September 03, 2007

Joining the Serkis Circus

I enjoyed watching Andy Serkis play Gollum (one of my favorite characters ever), just as I enjoyed watching him in a special production of Aphra Behn's The Rover. I think it will be fun to see what he comes up with in this next one too.



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