Last night I was watching Adaptation. A movie I have never seen before, it stars Nicholas Cage, Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper. The movie is based on the novel Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean and the screenplay is by Charlie Kaufman. Kaufman wrote himself and his twin brother into the script and the movie is basically his struggle to adapt Orlean's novel. It is complicated to follow at times but is very interesting. Cage plays Kaufman pathetically (in a good way), while playing his twin brother Donald with more confidence and Streep plays Orlean desperately, like she is searching for more than a mysterious orchid. Cooper is good as the focus of the book, orchid thief John Laroche. I had no idea where this movie was going and didn't see it going where it ended up going. Kaufman's struggle is trying to interpret another person's piece of writing and making it into a movie script. Most pieces of art are very individual and trying to get inside another person's head is very tough. I do a lot of writing and have trouble explaining it to myself, I could only imagine the trouble another person would have trying to explain it to themselves. The link below provides information about the movie.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268126/
"A heart of gold but it lost its pride, beautiful veins and bloodshot eyes, I see your face in a new light...."
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LFS5gd35LzU
I try and write something every night. Last night I must have been influenced by the movie as the title of the piece below is Orchids. In the movie Orlean realizes that an orchid is just a flower, perhaps more beautiful than others but still just a flower. The same can be applied to anything, you might meet the most beautiful person but in the end they are just a person. There are times when we want something to be more than it is and are often disappointed by it being what it is. I think when you are looking for love, you have to be prepared to find something that you weren't looking for. Nothing is ever going to be exactly like you expected. There has to be mutual feelings but there also has to be mutual acceptance. A mutual understanding that you were both looking and you both found something good. The something you found might not be exactly what you were looking for but could be enough to make you forget what you were looking for. Accepting is not settling.
Orchids
A metal ladder extends to the roof
Perfect circles of light spin through trees
Rainwater drips down from a window ledge
I am drying off on the greening grass
Cigarette smoke escapes through a window
Thoughts of cancer fill the spring air
Maniacs scream on a talk radio show
You are moving further out west
Where wheat used to be the king
I have dreamed of meeting a queen
From under my white and yellow ceiling
Women as unique as orchids
A moment of reflection before waking
Hearing the birds chirping and singing
Their morning sounds confirm my living
I doubt a happy life more than a sad death
Nuclear fusion occurs naturally in stars
My impending explosion will be less astronomical
A silent decline of once promising talents
Barely a whimper will be heard from me
After my voice breaks and summer flames
What I could not burn to the ground
There are enough ashes of previous lives
Buried under the freshly cut green grass
My favourite smells are born in nature
I cannot bottle them for another day
When there is someone to share them with
Luck does not stay around me for long
People are the same because I am difficult
With my need to be alone and introspective
Making a city seem like a country apart
You are seeping further out of me
Where freedom is a memory being forgotten
I should have had an easy life
The tools were given to me at a young age
A plentiful garden could have bloomed
With thousands of orchids for a woman
Should she welcome me naming one after her
Accepting my need to symbolize her beauty
Originality might not be uniquely me
I have tried reinventing and redefining love
Both do not work at winning their hearts
You either feel enough love or you do not
No amount of unique orchids will change this
Their beauty only reflects my sorrow.
05/22/08
"I've got no illusions about you, guess what, I never did, when I say, when I say I'll take it, I mean, I mean as is..."
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ycIJvAh3iZQ
I suppose the song above called As Is by Ani DiFranco appropriately follows my previous ramble and poem. Oddly enough it came on as I was writing the ramble, 1 of a couple thousand songs that could have came on.
Apparently Jessica Alba got secretly married and all of us males are supposed to be upset over this. I recognize that she is attractive but she really has never interested me. Though I am sure there a few men who are obsessed with her and are upset. It is okay guys, just believe when they divorce, you will be there to come to here rescue. I have never been big on Hollywood crushes, I like Natalie Portman but don't need to know everything about her. It is not like we will ever met. These men who become obsessed with models or actresses, should really spend their time finding and loving a real woman.
"So long, my luckless romance, my back is turned on you, should've known you'd bring me heartache, almost lovers always do..."
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lsWsasqIoyk
I will admit much of the music I listen to is by male artists because I can relate to more of it. This doesn't mean that I don't listen to female artists because I do and there are a lot of good ones. The song above is called Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy, a project led by 22 year old Alison Sudol, the name of her very good first album is One Cell In The Sea.
There are facts you might know but when you read them as part of a piece of fiction they seem to leave more of an impression. The book I am currently reading called Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides tells the story of 3 generations of a Greek-American family. The current setting is 1932 Detroit and the following fact has stuck in my mind. There were 500,000 blacks living within a 25 square block radius. Eventually they would expand and take over much of Detroit but initially they were confined to such a small space. The main character in the book is a hermaphrodite based on an incestuous relationship that has lead to this gene mutation. Definitely an interesting book thus far.
"You put your girl up on a pedestal, then you wait for her to fall, I put my summer's back in a letter and I hide it from the world..."
http://youtube.com/watch?v=deVpewZ2dGQ
Counting Crows were on Good Morning America this morning and we got two songs, Hanging Tree and Hard Candy. I would have rather have heard When I Dream Of Michelangelo which they were playing as GMA went to commercial and we got the ending of A Long December. I am sure someone recorded the whole concert and will put it up on Youtube. Above is a version of Hard Candy from the 2007 Jazz Fest in New Orleans.
I haven't done a word of the day for a while, today's word is androgynous. Neither clearly masculine nor clearly feminine in appearance: the androgynous look of many rock stars.
I found the following article about how the world balance of power is shifing away from the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/opinion/21friedman.html?em&ex=1211688000&en=7b8b78e6ccea3d6c&ei=5070
Once again today the weather is very disappointing. It is very cloudy, the wind is brisk and it is 15 degrees. The sun smiles once an hour. This May has been very crappy and I will be happy when it is June.
I suppose today's blog has a little bit for everyone musically. Some Foo Fighters, Ani DiFranco, A Fine Frenzy, Counting Crows and below is the Turtles hit So Happy Together, which was used in the move Adaptation.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zixg-vIQBLM
I could adapt to some nicer weather.
jr.
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