Beauty comes from Night

Yes, I'm finally back to post a bit here. I know it's been ages, and Eriol has been both astute and steadfast in posting in the stead of those of us who are chronic procrastinators.
So my subject today is a director who is to me what Joss Whedon is to Eriol. A hero of sorts, M. Night Shyamalan has, in the matter of a few short weeks, won me over to a whole new world of filmmaking.
I recently took time off to go and watch the film, Lady In The Water, the aforementioned director's most recent work. Not having been introduced to him and his body of art before, I was very pleased and inspired. So inspired, in fact, that I immediately went and rented Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, and The Sixth Sense, in that order. I did that in two weeks time. I capped it all off by going again and watching LITW for a second time. I was bewildered, inspired, angered, and saddened, encouraged, provoked, and heartened by Shyamalan's brainchildren. He takes a route not often known in Hollywood; that of the thoughtful, while possibly not blockbuster, road, which winds far more deeply into the human condition and the intellect than most of hollywood fare could dream of.
From his first movie to his most recent, questions are asked that demand answers. And people in the stories are presumed upon to answer them. But even as we watch the plot twist, we can feel our minds twisting, trying to grasp the ideas that Shyamalan is pushing upon us. Questions about fear and courage, the cost of innocence, coming to terms with sorrow, understanding reality, seeing faith as more than a fluke. Even while we are entertained, we are stimlutated to start thinking.
I think that is why I was so drawn to him. Because he made me uncomfortable with questions he was asking in his films, questions that can't be answered on the first pass. Images and dialogue between characters still haunt me, as I try to comprehend them. I can't stop thinking abou them until I have arrived at a conclusion as to the answer. And if a director can inspire such deep postulation, then he has my respect and following.
Beyond that, I simply am thoroughly entertained by his movies. They have great plot twists, shocking, and I mean shocking, endings, and thoughtful characters. The cinematography is excellent, perhaps even breathtaking, throughout the majority of every film, and the writing (sans one film, I'm not telling) is some of the best I've come across in a while. If you have commited the crime of missing or avoiding this art, please, repent and make amends. It will be worth every minute.
So yes, he is presuming to be my favorite director, even at this early stage. But I don't mind. I welcome it. You can keep your Spielbergs, Lucases, and Hitchcocks. I follow the Night.

Loose Change Running Wild

Yesteday I ordered Modern Times off of Amazon (along with some schoolbooks), while I'm waiting for it to arrive, I'll be watching this performance of "Cold Iron Bounds" which was cut from Maked and Anonymous. (Thanks to Jim Emerson!)

Opus has four mp3s from the elusive folk/world/gospel/electronic band Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus. Really fascinating stuff, especially (for me) the song "Nostalgia" with samples of poetry and speeches in Russian.

A page for mp3 is Salon.com's Audiofile page. A new mp3 for every weekday while featuring range of songs from indie rock, folk, world and electronica.

The late George Plimpton, a masterful journalist (sports especially) and the founding editor of the Paris Review was wiser than the fogeys at The New York Times (among others), by not insisting the rather historic interviews of the Paris Review to be hidden behind a moneywall. So check out their pages and read interviews with the likes of T.S. Eliot and Boris Pasternak.

Our movie controversy of the year The Second Chance has been out on DVD for about a month now and here is Peter T. Chattaway's interview with director and musician Steve Taylor. I don't know if the interview will change anyone's mind about the film, but it is a good conversation and Taylor talks about what he's planning next.

Update: Opus several months ago linked to two sets of songs from the late band Havalina. One set is their Russian Lullabies, and the other are their "greatest hits" collection We Remember Anarchy. Sorry, I'm late to this, especially somebody might enjoy these lovely, folky, jazzy, and occaisionally freaky tunes.

I Can't Sing, But I Got Soul

Bob Dylan, King of Songwriters, and aging better than the Mick Jagger's children is set to loose the little cd-thingy Modern Times next Tuesday is interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine, and I can't wait for his album to come out. On Love and Theft his voice was smoky with blackness of the world, darkness of the soul coming through his blackened lungs. So he didn't even try to sing, he crooned and drawled with a near grandfatherly sweetness or regret on the slower songs, and for the faster songs he chanted like a medicine man on the warpath. I hope this style will continue; I hope he's been smoking the exhaust pipe of a diesel truck.

A few weeks ago I was able to listen to his Theme Time Radio Hour program that he hosts on XM radio, and I had to strain my ears to listen to what he was saying because his voice was so low and soft. Slowly, I was able to listen clearly to him, when that happened I wanted to go back and just listen to him talk and not understand, as he speaks with a voice suitable to spoken word lullibyes.

I hope to this weekend post on Soccer (and sport in general) and art.
To Mere-Imagers I would like it if we wrote a group post, a sort of discussion, on art, and on our preferences regarding art, but I think it work best if someone other than myself led off the discussion.