Like running a business

I heard a line in a song and thought, 'I hope that line wasn't what it sounded like, cause I want to use that in something.'

I heard the singer say, 'Running away from you is just like running a business.'

I thought, 'Business? did she really say business, like running one?'

Sadly, that is exactly what the line was.  I can't use it.

Happy accident averted.

Power, Corruption & Lies

Initially I was going to put up a list of a few of my favorite, tried and true albums, but I don't always like the way lists obscure the value of the titles.  Maybe this will become some kind of series of my favorites, maybe not, but I wanted to start with New Order.

I consistently feel like I 'get it' when I listen to this album.  I'm not sure what I 'get' but I do.  If you don't know New Order, this is where to begin, critics say that it changed the course of pop music.  I have no idea how true that statement is but it makes sense to me.  I included a link to a live performance circa the year of this albums release just so we could all bask in the glory of the early 80's together.

 

Heights

Muriel

Alain Resnais has always held a place of prominence with me, though until recently this was entirely based on two films, Hiroshima, Mon Amour and Last Year at Marienbad.  They resonate with me on a continually shifting plane, they are unconquerable films.  Though each viewing imparts some profound truth, they each maintain a mystique that calls you back to reconsider them again.  The beauty lies in the allusive nature of their contemplation and Resnais' perpetual (almost cyclical) questioning of time and memory.

In approaching Muriel I did not expect to encounter anything more than a shadow of Resnais' previous films.  But Muriel somehow stepped around the shadow of Hiroshima and Marienbad, it is an important film in it's own right.

It holds the same enigmatic beauty that Resnais exhibits in his earlier films but it's composition pushes it into territory that feels untouched.  The film's exploration of tension and regret center around the ambiguity of memory in a way that illustrates how memories are a construct of choice as much as a result of their experience.  Though this theme of memory as choice is nothing new, Resnais underlines not the concept itself as the focus but the fear of it's reality.  The images he chooses and the sequencing of events make Muriel feel like something beyond comprehension is boiling just under the surface the whole time.

Seeing this film was like hearing a language for the first time and inexplicably understanding it.  Though I suppose that is true of all his work.

The real thing

 

Strangers

I left my house yesterday and immediately felt that I was out of step, I was staring and perplexed.  Everyone I saw looked strange.  Every stranger had a body type that seemed wobbly or disproportionate, their faces all looked to have some mild disfigurement, or disfigured expression, and all their hair was standing or sitting uncomfortably.  I couldn't understand what it was that was putting this lens onto my view.  The snow storm from the weekend was giving way to sunshine, maybe all of our artifices were melting away as well.  People look different and exposed in a strong wind, maybe sunshine is the same but more complete.  Maybe I over slept, too much sleep, maybe I had been away from reality for just long enough to begin to forget it.  I wonder if dreaming can do that to you, can it do that to you? Or maybe it is just the melting snow.

Burning the...