Four (now FOURTEEN!) Effin' Years! How will you celebrate?

[Sason]

I'm so glad we have this and other pictures to remember that wonderful place, that plays such an important role in our movie.

[CellarDweller]

I'm glad I got to sit on those rocks with Pete Tannen. 

[serious crayons]

I will celebrate by trying not to think about the 170 days, 9 hours and 16 minutes (almost half a year!) I've spent here as time I could have been writing stuff that made actual money and instead think of it as time I spent developing great friendships. 

[Front-Ranger]

Also, think of it as research too, friend! I've developed several topics first explored here into full-fledged blog posts, essays or articles. This is where I really start the "deep dive" process, where I feel safe to think my truest thoughts.

[serious crayons]

Also, think of it as research too, friend! I've developed several topics first explored here into full-fledged blog posts, essays or articles. This is where I really start the "deep dive" process, where I feel safe to think my truest thoughts.

My son is currently struggling with an academic paper he has to write for his Media Arts degree. He's writing about the Coen Brothers' films and how they explore chance vs. free will vs. God's will, etc., especially in "No Country for Old Men" and "A Serious Man." As I help talk him through it, I keep thinking about how Brokies would analyze these things, what signs they would look for. I rewatched ASM last night and saw a bunch of things thanks to my Brokie-educated eyes.

For example, at one point the main character gets out a ladder and climbs up on his roof to check out the antenna. The first thing you see is the H shape of the top rung of the ladder against a pure blue sky. "Heaven," I thought, my Brokie spider senses tingling. Then he looks down from the roof to his neighbor's backyard and spots her sunbathing -- the same neighbor who later entertains him in an extremely red-tinted scene, asks him "Do you partake in the new freedoms?" and tempts him into smoking marijuana. Satan/Hell, I guess. I'm not sure whether the neighbor represents Satan in other ways -- she seems nice enough, if a little odd -- but I knew it must be significant.

[Front-Ranger]

...Then he looks down from the roof to his neighbor's backyard and spots her sunbathing -- the same neighbor who later entertains him in an extremely red-tinted scene, asks him "Do you partake in the new freedoms?" and tempts him into smoking marijuana. Satan/Hell, I guess. I'm not sure whether the neighbor represents Satan in other ways -- she seems nice enough, if a little odd -- but I knew it must be significant.

Well, that's a reference to David and Bathsheba if I ever heard one. I've been thinking about King David recently as a kind of Biblical Trump, in a way.

[serious crayons]

I don't celebrate my anniversary until early January, when I saw Brokeback Mountain at the cool little remodeled Main Street multiplex in Oak Park, IL, where I then lived. I chose that over Munich and The New World simply because the time fit better with my schedule. I had read the short story and liked it, but wasn't particularly excited about the movie.

I never did see Munich or The New World. I should probably try them one of these days. I generally like Steven Spielberg, who directed Munich, and I am a fan of Collin Farrell, Christian Bale and director Terrence Malick, all of The New World.

But of course I could watch nothing but Brokeback Mountain for several months after that, and by then those other movies weren't as available in theaters. I think the first movie I saw after BBM, several months later, was Thank You for Smoking, which was palatable only because it was so different.

[serious crayons]

Clip of "Four years. Damn." "Yeah, four years." http://yarn.co/yarn-clip/fde9cd5a-9157-486b-a002-354fe27e20f4

[southendmd]

Nice!

[Sason]

Yeah, nice clip!

And interesting site. Seems to be clips from various movies with more or less the same wording. Creative idea!