I guess you could say that I've been practicing "The Secret" for the last couple months. Kind of.
I'd been meaning to watch/read/experience the "magic" for probably almost a year now, and also been putting it off, putting it off, blah blah. But when I flew back to Colorado for Gabe's wedding in April, in a stroke of brilliance (or habit), I took my blessed MacBook on the plane, and decided to buck up and watch the damn thing.
Despite the apparent torture required to catalyze my viewing, I really did enjoy it. It was inspirational and empowering, if not occasionally hokey.
So, when I arrived back at LAX, Allison and I got into one of those little deathtraps they call "airport shuttles" so we could get back to the parking lot where we left our car. We lugged our borderline-weight-limit Samsonite up both little shuttle stairs and heaved it onto the storage shelving. On my way in, I noticed that Jesus was going to be our driver.
Of course, he was a hispanic gentleman — correct pronunciation: Hey-soos — but as I normally feel just a little scared for my freakin' life when circling the Los Angeles airport (if you've ever done it, you know what I mean), I instantly felt a little better knowing that the Savior would be my driver that day.
But it turns out that Jesus' driving: not so good.
He screamed around corners, scraping bumpers and inciting all sorts of hostile honking. He ran red lights and stopped abruptly, causing baggage to fly angrily off the rack.
With my newfound Secret, I, of course, was "attracting" safety.
Pure, unadulterated safety.
I caught the gaze of the middle-aged business-suited gentlemen across from me, and knew he was thinking the same thing I was: "Sorry I didn't learn your name before we both died in a horrific shuttle crash."
Things I never thought I'd say: "Man, Jesus needs to go to driving school."
But I made it out alive... guess The Secret works. ;-)
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A Fine Frenzy, "Ashes and Wine"
Jeremy Lister, "Ready To Fall"
Iron & Wine, "Boy With A Coin"
Hem, "Half Acre"
Griffin House, "The Guy That Says Goodbye To You Is Out Of His Mind"
Michael Buble, "Everything"
The Weepies, "Gotta Have You"
Marty Sampson, "Landslide"
Robert Randolph & The Family Band, "Ain't Nothing Wrong With That"
Mario Spinetti, "Resurrection"
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So, if you are a regular reader, you probably already know that I write freelance articles and movie reviews for RelevantMagazine.com. It's been a lot of fun for me; I've really grown to appreciate the brilliance of the medium of film for communicating ideas of all kinds.
About two months ago, I reviewed Spider-Man 3. I rather liked the movie and, apparently, the rest of the world seriously did not, so upon reading some of the comments that got posted below my article I felt very much like, oh, what do they say... a whore in church. Yes, that's it. (Of course, the fact that that phrase means what it does saddens me on another level, but that's probably another day, another post, eh?)
I'm not going to retract anything I said about Spider-Man 3; I still agree with myself. I'd like to see the film again, actually, and will definitely buy it when it comes out on DVD (widescreen, please). But it has occurred to me that I did, perhaps, omit a few things from my review that should have been said. Forgive me, dear readers, for missing it the first time (and for it taking me two months to write it down):
THE PARAGRAPH MY REVIEW WAS MISSING:
Unfortunately, there were just too many villains. Yes, in a sense, it made the editing even more impressive (because despite the 80+, give or take, bad guys it was still quite understandable), but it's also true that the overall movie would have been vastly improved by simplifying the myriad villain storylines. Specifically (sorry Thomas Haden), we could've done without Sandman. The effects were a lot of fun, if not slightly exaggerated, but I think almost every Spider-Fan would agree with me when I say, "Give us more Venom!"Fin. //
"This is how it works You're young until you're not You love until you don't You try until you can't You laugh until you cry You cry until you laugh And everyone must breathe Until their dying breath//
No, this is how it works You peer inside yourself You take the things you like And try to love the things you took And then you take that love you made And stick it into some Someone else's heart Pumping someone else's blood And walking arm in arm You hope it don't get harmed But even if it does You'll just do it all again" --On The Radio, Regina Spektor
*ESPECIALLY FOR MUSICAL THEATER / POP CULTURE JUNKIES*
I just watched "Rent" the other night on DVD. I very much enjoyed the film, but something about the opening scene and thematic elements seemed eerily familiar to me...
And then it hit me. It's "Friends."
Seriously, think about it -- you've got a number of friends all living/congregating in NYC lofts, dealing with complex inter-relationships with each other, and even an initial character whose girlfriend/wife left him for another woman...!?
Coincidence???
Who knows -- I can't find anything online about this theory, but I thought it was pretty interesting.
I originally speculated that the creators of "Friends" borrowed some of the concepts from the musical, but the first episode of "Friends" was aired on September 22, 1994 whereas Rent's first dress rehearsal wasn't until January 24, 1996, so maybe it's the other way around...?
Maybe Jonathan Larson was a big fan of the TV show and wanted to bring in some of that Greenwich Village feel to his production... or maybe it's really just coincidence.
Just seems a bit strange...
If you know anything about this, please leave a comment below!
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