gathering in light

This is an article that was published back in the fall in Fuller’s “newspaper” the SEMI (that issue of the paper can be downloaded via .pdf here). There are two reasons I am posting this now: first, I held off publishing it on gathering because I submitted it to another online zine hoping they would “print” it but alas, they apparently didn’t want it or at least that’s how I interpreted three emails to them with no response back.  And second (and more importantly!), Emily just got me a copy of the film today so it is on my mind. Given that The Darjeeling Limited came out this past September you may feel that this is a bit late, but in a world of such high DVD sales and rentals there’s no better time then right now (the movie was only recently released on DVD). As you will see I found the movie to be anything but a disappointment and think Anderson’s writing is very rich and worthy to be mined. In fact, many of you may remember me posting my initial reactions to the film here, and while there are some similar themes between these two, you will find that what you see below is an attempt to theorize and engage the film at a deeper level. » Read the rest of this entry «

» Read the rest of this entry «

We finally got to see The Darjeeling Limited this past weekend at the Arclight (our first time there) and the whole thing was a magical experience. Darjeeling, the 5th full length movie by Director Wes Anderson, does not disappoint. Besides the typical things we’ve come to love in Anderson’s films – slow motion scenes with classic rock n’ roll in the background, the luxurious colors, the farcical characters, and the off beat dialogue – there are plenty of new twists and turns. For one, this is the first of Anderson’s movie to reference any kind of explicit spirituality. The Darjeeling Limited is the name of a train that crosses the vast landscapes of India, and India as the context for the movie is not without rich resources for offering its own account of Eastern spirituality. Throughout the movie we see the three main characters, who are brothers in the film, tinker with a variety of religious expressions and forms, experimenting to find what works best. These spiritual experiments, over the span of the movie, work to break down the walls between the brothers. And while this is an essential aspect to the movie’s overall scope what is possibly the most important part of the movie is that while the main characters seemingly don’t find anything at all (none of their spiritual explorations seem to “work”) this leads them to discovering exactly what they set out to find: a renewed trust in one another.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Every week I post a random assortment of links, videos, pictures just for fun. In this week’s edition of “Dress Down Friday” I have found some fun stuff this week ranging from LA Metro/Google Map Mashups and new solar powered messenger bags!

• For wordpress users who have your own hosting, check out this theme generator. And here’s a great looking grid-styled theme similar to the one I use.
• This week I found out about a couple treats from google. First, not only does google offer a really nice word processor and spreadsheet for free, but now you can also make presentations (just like in powerpoint). Second, they’ve started their own bookmarking and sharing service and it looks pretty nice.
• Sigur Ros has a new movie coming out.
• Twitter friend, Vanessa, has posted some great resources on “Baby Steps Toward Greener Life.” Or you could just buy this, I wonder if you can power appliances off it?
• OK, This is pretty funny.
• And now on to Los Angeles: Check out this list of google map mashups for all you Angelenos. And even better is this google maps powered LA metro map.
• If you haven’t updated handbrake you need to check the new version out. Handbrake easily rips videos off DVDs and puts them on your computer or ipod.
• And finally, look at all the new Wes Anderson commercials. This should help get you ready for his film Darjeeling Limited which comes out next week.

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