So there has been a lot going on in the last week or so that has social networks in a tizzy. From Paula Deen to the SCOTUS folks are in full reactionary mode. I sort of get it but not really. It completely frustrates me that we continuously give our power away. We continuously put our trust in a system that does not return the favor at all. The two party system has been flawed and ineffective for decades now, but yet we come back expecting a change to something that has shown no signs of changing. So then we get a decision like today and we wonder why it happened. We threaten to renew or get new passports and leave this evil place, but then that complacency kicks back in. We go back to our preoccupied lives and wait for the next thing to come along to rile us then pause and repeat the whole process. That was a sweeping generalization of which I usually attempt to stay away from, but sometimes what we see is what we get.
As long as we continue to be reactive as opposed to proactive about how we participate in the political process we (black people, people of color and poor people) will continue to be left behind, and/or dependent upon others to do something for us. We keep looking at the causes but never the root of the problems. Hence we keep coming back to the same place. A few years back people were angry when Troy Davis was executed in Georgia, but how many of us know our candidates position on capital punishment? How many challenged them to change their position on the subject? Personally speaking I will not vote for anyone who supports capital punishment, and this was before the Troy Davis execution. I believe in being an educated voter not just a partisan one. The political, racial and social divide in the country is getting deeper by that day and social networking and mainstream media is helping to usher it along.
I feel that we are in a time of excess opinion, so in a lot of way this blog is a contradiction. That being said I do believe we need more compassionate voices to speak out and stand up. People who have no allegiances to any party or person. People who are willing to look beyond posters and bumper stickers and seek out truth. That doesn't mean I don't believe that people cannot support the two parties. I just believe that we should be willing to challenge those we support as hard as we do those that we oppose, and right now that is not happening. Fundamentalism is running rampant and some folks are clueless as to what they are fundamentaling about. We are being led blindly, and reacting to what we are being told to react to.
I do not have all of the answers, but I have a ton of questions and a lot of passion. I do not believe a system (this system) can truly set us back unless we allow it. When the people put their minds and hearts into genuine change amazing things happen. We can't wait on legislation we have to force their hand. It cannot be a short sighted mission either, two months and then oops back to life as normal. Sustained change takes time and effort. Even on an individual level if we want change we have to stick to it to get results. A new political and social movement won't be had in one cycle or two or three. It may take more than our lifetime but I for one want my descendants to have something better than we do now.
Peace,
MAB
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
10 Lessons on Filmmaking from Director Alejandro Jodorowsky
Via www.filmmakermagazine.com
by Ariston Anderson
in Directors, Filmmaking, Interviews
on Jun 17, 2013
Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jodorowsky's Dune, The Dance of Reality
Alejandro Jodorowsky premiered his first directorial feature in 23 years at Cannes this year with the fictionalized autobiographical film The Dance of Reality. The man behind cult favorites El Topo and The Holy Mountain delighted audiences with his magic-realist account of growing up in Tocopilla, Chile. It was met with a standing ovation, and the director called the film’s reception in France one of the proudest moments of his life.
The Dance of Reality is marked by fantastic, surreal characters, from an opera-singing mother to an overzealous anarchist to a painted religious guru. It is easy to see how Jodorowsky’s blooming imagination took shape with such a beginning. His own son Brontis Jodorowsky plays his father in the film, an abusive man who dresses as Stalin, forces willpower and manliness upon the young golden-locked Alejandro, and dreams of becoming a communist hero. The film was a healing exercise for Jodorowsky, something he described as a spiritual work in addressing his abusive upbringing. The whole effort behind the film was a family affair, with his sons Adan and Axel also acting in the film, and his wife Pascale Montandon-Jodorowsky creating the costumes.
Jodorowsky fans were treated to a double bill at Cannes this year alongside Frank Pavich’s documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune, a film about “the greatest movie never made.” The feature recounts Jodorowsky’s epic adventure into adapting Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic onto screen, all while recruiting a dreamlike cast of collaborators including Orson Welles, Salvador Dali and Pink Floyd.
The script became the size of a phonebook and the budget was blown, ultimately lending to Dino De Laurentiis picking up the book rights to have David Lynch helm. Jodorowsky had to sit back and watch while his ideas influenced sci-fi films to come over the next decade, largely leaving him behind. The majority of the documentary’s screen time is thankfully given to Jodorowsky himself and his hilarious memories. We could easily listen to him reminiscence for hours about this not-so-insignificant time in cinematic history.
Filmmaker sat down with Jodorowsky during Cannes at the Hotel Martinez to learn a few things from the master.
1. Filmmaking can be therapeutic.
I work with my family because it is a therapy. I invented a therapy called psychomagic and I apply that to my films. Shooting a film should be like opening up the limits to your mind.
First, it is good to work with your family because you collaborate with them and they with you. There are many Jodorowksys in the film. My son plays my father, ultimately acting as his grandfather. This is the seventh work I’ve made with my son.
I make pictures and theater with him. We’ve worked together since he was little in El Topo. Now he’s 50. With his acting, he’s changing the character of my father who was so cruel. Now, through my son, he becomes humorous. He becomes human. This therapy brings about a big change.
This film is like a psychological bond for the whole family. And I really cried a lot, if you know what I mean when I say that. And I hope this psychological work will help you too, because going to the cinema is not only for pleasure or leisure. It is also an experiment.
2. Filmmaking is a spiritual experience. Keep going to get to that spiritual place.
We have limits. Our family, our society, our culture gives us limits. And then the spiritual work is to open up the limits more and more, to understand more and more, to feel more and more, to desire more and more, to do more and more.
Nowadays cinema is an industry and one has to really wonder what is left for the director. The director is really the heart of filmmaking. He is the poet, the artist, creating his work. When I was shooting this work, I must say that it is something beyond me. I did not create it. I received it, because I think that is what happens. What is received is actually sacred, and that is why I made this film and that is also why the actors go much further than any other actors would, because they try to discover themselves as well.
3. Filmmaking is sacred, in fact.
Filmmaking is not a religion. It can be a mystical activity, a sacred activity.
How it’s sacred for me? Well, for me, sacred means to live “you” completely, to be what you are. If you are what you are, it’s sacred.
4. Be present, all the time.
There is no difference between preparation and being on set. When I am filming, I am completely there. In every moment you are making a picture, every day, every hour, I am a hundred percent there.
5. Talent can’t be forced. It can be nurtured.
I want inner talent. Talent is something natural you have or you don’t have. Myself, I am a monster of my imagination. I cannot invite the imagination into my work. When I was in university I had two paths in front of me: intelligence and imagination. I chose imagination. I didn’t want to be an intellectual. I am very intelligent, you know? But I had to tame it because I wanted to develop my imagination. I work hard in order to open up my imagination.
The Dance of Reality
6. Identify your skillset early on.
In another time in my life I wanted to make mime performances in Chile. I went to work with Marcel Marceau, and I wanted to be better than him. I compared myself with him and realized I could not be superior to Marceau because Marceau was a real genius in the mime. It was impossible; he was born like that.
And then I thought, “What am I doing with him? I will not finish like an old man painted white. And if I cannot be better than him in mime, I will be better than him in intelligence.” Because he was making pantomime, still like Charlie Chaplin. And I decided that I would give him my ideas, metaphysical pantomime, and that’s how I would collaborate with him.
And then I became the writer of Marceau. I made The Mask Maker. I made The Cage. I made a lot of things with him. For five years I worked as his writer of pantomime. And what I learned with Marceau, I used in Santa Sangre.
7. Stand up when you fall down.
From the experience of Dune, I learned how to fail. I say failure doesn’t exist; you need to change your way. That is all, and I changed my way. Whatever I could not do in Dune, I would make in other things. I learned how to start a new life. If you fall and you stay on the floor, it’s bad. But if you fall and then you stand, it’s good. You learn.
8. Work with like-minded people.
I made all my pictures with thieves, gangsters, and crazy people. This is the first time I made a picture with normal people who love movies. It’s the first time I’ve done this, because I cannot work with businessmen. They pervert me. They only think to want money, to sell objects. I don’t want to think like the capitalist who is selling clocks, or coffee, or whiskey. No, I don’t want to do that.
I make pictures in order to lose money. I say to the producer when he’s making my picture, “I want to lose money,” because I don’t want to make a picture out of a desire to want money. But if we do earn money, we will take it to make another picture.
9. It’s not about process. It’s about ideas.
An artist, a real artist, does not have a creative process. It should be like a dream. What is this, a process to make dreams? I don’t make dreams; I have dreams. I don’t make ideas; I have ideas. I receive in my mind the ideas. I come and I do what I feel. But I don’t prepare a process. That’s science. I am not a scientist.
10. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a routine.
My writing routine is everyday I put a record on, the same one since 20 years. Then I burn a stick of incense, I put perfume here on the insides of my soles, I paint my left testicle red, and I write.
Alejandro Jodorowsky photo by Ariston Anderson
by Ariston Anderson
in Directors, Filmmaking, Interviews
on Jun 17, 2013
Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jodorowsky's Dune, The Dance of Reality
Alejandro Jodorowsky premiered his first directorial feature in 23 years at Cannes this year with the fictionalized autobiographical film The Dance of Reality. The man behind cult favorites El Topo and The Holy Mountain delighted audiences with his magic-realist account of growing up in Tocopilla, Chile. It was met with a standing ovation, and the director called the film’s reception in France one of the proudest moments of his life.
The Dance of Reality is marked by fantastic, surreal characters, from an opera-singing mother to an overzealous anarchist to a painted religious guru. It is easy to see how Jodorowsky’s blooming imagination took shape with such a beginning. His own son Brontis Jodorowsky plays his father in the film, an abusive man who dresses as Stalin, forces willpower and manliness upon the young golden-locked Alejandro, and dreams of becoming a communist hero. The film was a healing exercise for Jodorowsky, something he described as a spiritual work in addressing his abusive upbringing. The whole effort behind the film was a family affair, with his sons Adan and Axel also acting in the film, and his wife Pascale Montandon-Jodorowsky creating the costumes.
Jodorowsky fans were treated to a double bill at Cannes this year alongside Frank Pavich’s documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune, a film about “the greatest movie never made.” The feature recounts Jodorowsky’s epic adventure into adapting Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic onto screen, all while recruiting a dreamlike cast of collaborators including Orson Welles, Salvador Dali and Pink Floyd.
The script became the size of a phonebook and the budget was blown, ultimately lending to Dino De Laurentiis picking up the book rights to have David Lynch helm. Jodorowsky had to sit back and watch while his ideas influenced sci-fi films to come over the next decade, largely leaving him behind. The majority of the documentary’s screen time is thankfully given to Jodorowsky himself and his hilarious memories. We could easily listen to him reminiscence for hours about this not-so-insignificant time in cinematic history.
Filmmaker sat down with Jodorowsky during Cannes at the Hotel Martinez to learn a few things from the master.
1. Filmmaking can be therapeutic.
I work with my family because it is a therapy. I invented a therapy called psychomagic and I apply that to my films. Shooting a film should be like opening up the limits to your mind.
First, it is good to work with your family because you collaborate with them and they with you. There are many Jodorowksys in the film. My son plays my father, ultimately acting as his grandfather. This is the seventh work I’ve made with my son.
I make pictures and theater with him. We’ve worked together since he was little in El Topo. Now he’s 50. With his acting, he’s changing the character of my father who was so cruel. Now, through my son, he becomes humorous. He becomes human. This therapy brings about a big change.
This film is like a psychological bond for the whole family. And I really cried a lot, if you know what I mean when I say that. And I hope this psychological work will help you too, because going to the cinema is not only for pleasure or leisure. It is also an experiment.
2. Filmmaking is a spiritual experience. Keep going to get to that spiritual place.
We have limits. Our family, our society, our culture gives us limits. And then the spiritual work is to open up the limits more and more, to understand more and more, to feel more and more, to desire more and more, to do more and more.
Nowadays cinema is an industry and one has to really wonder what is left for the director. The director is really the heart of filmmaking. He is the poet, the artist, creating his work. When I was shooting this work, I must say that it is something beyond me. I did not create it. I received it, because I think that is what happens. What is received is actually sacred, and that is why I made this film and that is also why the actors go much further than any other actors would, because they try to discover themselves as well.
3. Filmmaking is sacred, in fact.
Filmmaking is not a religion. It can be a mystical activity, a sacred activity.
How it’s sacred for me? Well, for me, sacred means to live “you” completely, to be what you are. If you are what you are, it’s sacred.
4. Be present, all the time.
There is no difference between preparation and being on set. When I am filming, I am completely there. In every moment you are making a picture, every day, every hour, I am a hundred percent there.
5. Talent can’t be forced. It can be nurtured.
I want inner talent. Talent is something natural you have or you don’t have. Myself, I am a monster of my imagination. I cannot invite the imagination into my work. When I was in university I had two paths in front of me: intelligence and imagination. I chose imagination. I didn’t want to be an intellectual. I am very intelligent, you know? But I had to tame it because I wanted to develop my imagination. I work hard in order to open up my imagination.
The Dance of Reality
6. Identify your skillset early on.
In another time in my life I wanted to make mime performances in Chile. I went to work with Marcel Marceau, and I wanted to be better than him. I compared myself with him and realized I could not be superior to Marceau because Marceau was a real genius in the mime. It was impossible; he was born like that.
And then I thought, “What am I doing with him? I will not finish like an old man painted white. And if I cannot be better than him in mime, I will be better than him in intelligence.” Because he was making pantomime, still like Charlie Chaplin. And I decided that I would give him my ideas, metaphysical pantomime, and that’s how I would collaborate with him.
And then I became the writer of Marceau. I made The Mask Maker. I made The Cage. I made a lot of things with him. For five years I worked as his writer of pantomime. And what I learned with Marceau, I used in Santa Sangre.
7. Stand up when you fall down.
From the experience of Dune, I learned how to fail. I say failure doesn’t exist; you need to change your way. That is all, and I changed my way. Whatever I could not do in Dune, I would make in other things. I learned how to start a new life. If you fall and you stay on the floor, it’s bad. But if you fall and then you stand, it’s good. You learn.
8. Work with like-minded people.
I made all my pictures with thieves, gangsters, and crazy people. This is the first time I made a picture with normal people who love movies. It’s the first time I’ve done this, because I cannot work with businessmen. They pervert me. They only think to want money, to sell objects. I don’t want to think like the capitalist who is selling clocks, or coffee, or whiskey. No, I don’t want to do that.
I make pictures in order to lose money. I say to the producer when he’s making my picture, “I want to lose money,” because I don’t want to make a picture out of a desire to want money. But if we do earn money, we will take it to make another picture.
9. It’s not about process. It’s about ideas.
An artist, a real artist, does not have a creative process. It should be like a dream. What is this, a process to make dreams? I don’t make dreams; I have dreams. I don’t make ideas; I have ideas. I receive in my mind the ideas. I come and I do what I feel. But I don’t prepare a process. That’s science. I am not a scientist.
10. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a routine.
My writing routine is everyday I put a record on, the same one since 20 years. Then I burn a stick of incense, I put perfume here on the insides of my soles, I paint my left testicle red, and I write.
Alejandro Jodorowsky photo by Ariston Anderson
Monday, June 17, 2013
Mortal Lives
One day we will wake up and be gone. Life as we know it will have ended. Loves ones will cry and other may not. There will be a void left where your presence once stood. Life is that valuable, that precious and honestly that fragile for some. Things can happen in a split second. Your food can go down the wrong way, or you can cross the street at the wrong time. Any number of things can happen in a moments notice. I try not dwell on it too much, but since my Moms was 36 when she passed sometimes it just hits me. Or when I am thinking about someone I adore and that one of us will out last the other. I don't know it is kind of weird to me really. I mean I have my beliefs about the after life, but for real I don't really know what happens after that last breath.
So yeah, remember nothing is a given. Say frickin' thank you when someone does something nice for you. Smile back when someone smiles at you (provided it ain't creepy). Do something random like run through the rain (I was gonna say in your undies, but that would be creepy). Feed someone's meter or leave the change in a soda machine for the next person. I guess my point is...DON'T TAKE SHIT OR YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY! I mean I have causes and beliefs that I am passionate about, and I put in mad effort but life goes on with or without me. I take my personal health serious but not too serious where it infringes on others ability to be around me. That's what I mean when we take ourselves so seriously that others can't have an idea or thought that contradicts our narrow view of the world...
Anywho! It is almost my bedtime and as I thought about my prayers and family it hit me to write what was on my heart at this moment.
Peace & Love,
MAB
So yeah, remember nothing is a given. Say frickin' thank you when someone does something nice for you. Smile back when someone smiles at you (provided it ain't creepy). Do something random like run through the rain (I was gonna say in your undies, but that would be creepy). Feed someone's meter or leave the change in a soda machine for the next person. I guess my point is...DON'T TAKE SHIT OR YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY! I mean I have causes and beliefs that I am passionate about, and I put in mad effort but life goes on with or without me. I take my personal health serious but not too serious where it infringes on others ability to be around me. That's what I mean when we take ourselves so seriously that others can't have an idea or thought that contradicts our narrow view of the world...
Anywho! It is almost my bedtime and as I thought about my prayers and family it hit me to write what was on my heart at this moment.
Peace & Love,
MAB
Friday, June 14, 2013
Intrusions On The Soul
People that occupy spaces in our life has been on my mind a lot lately. Mainly because I have been spending more time with mySelf lately, and gaining more insight into my own inner workings. Anyway, as I've been thinking about how people enter into our lives and how they occupy the spaces once they get in. Some people just off of just their own energy take up a lot of space and make their presence known and felt every step of the way. While other exist in your space but are rarely felt, and they are just as memorable and just as impactful in in our lives. There are those within each group who are energy zappers in that they take from your space and when they are gone, or even still around, you feel especially drained from the encounter. Sometimes we are the zapper and are not aware of it because of what is happening in our own lives at the times. Relationships, careers, finances or other issues can cause us to seek out help from those who we believe get us and so get into that space and just let it all go until we feel that sense of relief we were searching for. Because it is a loved one of some sort we may not be cognizant of the impact our dumping may be. Actually they may not either, and honestly may not care. That is not to say that we should not have folks in our lives that we depend upon when things look bleak, but it would be nice to make sure we aren't burdening them just to feel better while leaving them weighed down and tired from the experience.
So yes, intrusion on our souls. As I stated before people come into our lives on some bigger than life type energy. Everything they do is memorable from the clothes to the speech and everything in between. It can be fun at times to hang and be around folks like this because they just liven things up inadvertently at times but inevitably it almost always happens. Conversely it is almost always impossible to just have a low-key conversation with them, have simple dinner plans or just chill. They don't know how to do it, or do it well should I say. On the flip side are the folks who come into our lives and take up very little energy. Sometimes you barely know they exist, and they don't require very much "maintenance" if you will. They just go with the flow and whatever happens happens. Most times this is cool, until you need that assertion or boldness to pick you up or motivate you. It just isn't them. They are not the pep talk kind of person.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Enjoy Ourselves To Death
These are some thoughts of mine about our society and our need for excess...
Monday, June 3, 2013
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