The Little Prince

Excuse my excessive French. This post is not suitable for children.  Oh the irony.

     The Little Prince is the greatest fucking children’s book. EVER.   I fucking love this book.  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is a fucking bawce for writing this.  Ugh.  So.  Fucking.  Genius.

Why?

     You could read this book at different chapters in your life and you’ll get something new from it every time.  I read this for the first time in elementary school and it was the first book that I could relate to.  The little prince is one curious little bugger.  Honestly if curious George wasn’t a monkey and wasn’t manhandled by a dude in a yellow jumpsuit all the time then I might be able to relate with that book too or if Clifford wasn’t a big ass red dog… then maybe.  But seriously, where the hell did Clifford sleep?  What did he eat?  How did anyone clean up his shit?  It must have been huge.  There are too many unanswered questions.  I digress.

     Where The Wild Things Are comes to a close second, but The Little Prince exudes such a magical tone, for me, I get the same feeling as when I watch Judy Garland’s The Wizard Oz and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.  There’s an unexplainable magic to them.

     I re-read The Little Prince a handful of times through my years and every time I read it, the rabbit hole goes deeper and deeper.  I wouldn’t be surprised if I find Alicewandering around in a hidden chapter the next time I decide to read it.  There were multiple film adaptations throughout the 60’s and 70’s from France, Hong Kong, and Japan, but all failed to capture the beauty of Saint-Exupery’s literature.  He’s able to somehow tap into our childlike imagination and let that rusty wheel turn.

If you’ve never read this book, you need to go read it NOW.  It’ll change your life.  For reals.

And I Just Kept Running

     Ever have one of those days where you want to watch a specific movie?  Yeah, I got one of those.  It was a bad case of I-really-want-to-watch-Forrest-Gump-Tonight.  And I realized when you have these urges, you don’t let go of it.  You go for it and do it.  Or in my case, you find it and you watch.

     I love Forrest Gump.  It’s definitely one of my favorite films of all time.  This was probably my 7th time watching the film, and I still love it.  I consider it to be THE most epic love story.  I'd like to believe that there is a Jenny out there for all of us - you just got to be patient and just keep running.  You don't stop running... because if you stop, your Jenny is probably running off with the wrong man in the wrong direction.  You keep running straight and you might catch up to your Jenny, instead of just waiting around for her to walk into your life.  You never know what happens in life, she might never end up coming to you.  One of my favorite lines in the film is when Forrest says, "Me and Jenny goes together like peas and carrots."  Peas and carrots just don't come together.  Things happen.  It happens.  They happen.  Love happens.  "I'm not a smart man... but I know what love is."

     We're all at that age.  Where we want to understand this thing called love and have someone to share it with.  There are times when the process of liking someone has to involve a series of wise decisions, and appropriate words stitched together with the right amount of weight on the meaning.  But then there's the other side of the shadow where it's all about just believing.  Believing in oneself, believing in one's heart that he/she likes the other, believing that it'll work out.  I read something that made me smile and laugh, the blunt words carried themselves so heavily and deeply into my heart... maybe because I can relate.  It said, "When I get in your car I want to kiss you and say, 'There you are! I am so glad to see you.  You've been on my mind for weeks!' But I'm sure I will just smile and say, 'Hello.'"  I like Forrest Gump, because I can relate to him.

     Forrest Gump.  Brilliantly written.  Brilliantly directed.  Brilliantly acted.  All in all – Brilliant.

Jenny Curran: Were you scared in Vietnam?
Forrest Gump: Yes.  Well, I-I don't know.  Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out... and then it was nice. It was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou.  There was always a million sparkles on the water... like that mountain lake.  It was so clear, Jenny, it looked like there were two skies one on top of the other.  And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn't tell where heaven stopped and the earth began.  It's so beautiful.
Jenny Curran: I wish I could've been there with you.
Forrest Gump: You were.

Film #003

     I'm glad I finally got to see this documentary - Exit Through the Gift Shop.  I've heard a lot of great things about it from my peers, and I've been wanting to watch it since I sawthe trailer early last year.  So did it live up to the hype?  I would say so.  It was interesting to see a story told of the cameraman who captured images of himself and others, actually being told by a different narrator.  By the end of the film, it felt like, not only did Banksy create "Mister Brainwash", but also ironically brainwashed us [the viewers] in the process.

     What I appreciated was how well the movie moved along.  Being a fellow filmmaker, I could only imagine how grueling it must have been capturing and editing all those footages.  The editors really need a round of applause for their amazing work.  They were probably shooting themselves in the foot every day just to see if they could still feel the lower half of their body, and I wouldn't be surprised if they turned bald from pulling all their hair out.

     I honestly don't have much to say about this film except that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.  Go watch it, you won't regret it.  I don't want to go into too much depth or analysis because there's no way to try to explain myself without ruining the beauty of the film.  The experience of watching it is the beauty.  Just go watch it if you haven't already, and we could talk about it via comments or in person over some coffee/whiskey/both (if I know you).

     A film like this creates an interesting dilemma in my opinion.  It definitely has the potential to imbue a strong sense of social effect because of its dynamic relationship between the viewer and the character within the story.  However, this is a genre of film that is very underrated – Documentary.  Documentary films are not garnered with overwhelming positive feedback, mainly because of the lack of exposure.  I’m not saying that the majority dislike documentary films, it’s just most people don’t know of many documentary titles or where to view them (if they have heard of it before.)  Most documentary films don’t have the budget nor are they picked up by big companies (i.e. Warner, Universal, Disney, etc.) for a mass distribution around the main theaters.

     Maybe it’s because documentary is a difficult genre of story telling.  Ironically enough, although documentaries have innate stories to tell, if there isn’t a strict set of rules of how to tell the story, it is very easy to beat around the bush.  Maybe the majority really doesn’t adhere to the genre of film.  Maybe documentaries are boring because instead of helping the viewer escape reality, it only shines light to it.  Or maybe it’s not widely distributed because of how powerful documentaries can be.  Maybe some people are afraid that it could bring social change faster than we want.  Whether that change is positive or negative.  Or maybe I’m just rambling on too much and getting lost within my own thoughts.

     Maybe I should just shut up so you could stop reading this and go watch the damn movie.

AH! Real Monsters.

Just wanted to take a little bit of time to write a quick post about three fantastic bands who are making their way in the scene.  If you're into the folk/rock genre, be sure to check them out!

Monsters Calling Home
www.monsterscallinghome.com
www.facebook.com/monsterscallinghome

City Bird
www.citybirdmusic.com
www.facebook.com/citybirdmusic

Feats In Inches
www.featsininches.com
www.facebook.com/featsininches