Let go your head, let go your heart and feel it now...

At the risk of having you break into song (Feelings, nothing more than feelings) this post is indeed about 'Feelings' (with a capital F). But we'll bypass Albert Morris' song if you don't mind.

Instead - let's rip into the Jackson Five's disco down boogie of Can you feel it?

The title of this post comes from the stupendous David Gray song Babylon. And just because I adore this song here it is too
David Gray - Babylon (Official Music Video) - The best home videos are here

The third of my video homages to Feelings is from The Feeling - a great British band that I've mentioned before on my music blog http://googoogarjoob.blogspot.com/


THE FEELING - LOVE IT WHEN YOU CALL
Uploaded by huntylch. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

That's all nice 'n good, I'm sure you're thinking. but why is he telling me this? And why isn't this post on his goo goo blog thing anyway? And why don't I have anything better to do than read this stoopid blog??

Well I'll tell you - it's all because of a Time magazine dated May 3 1999. Yes, that's right - 1999! It suddenly appeared in my pigeon hole at school. The cover introduces a story on the new Star Wars film, The Phantom Menace. Turns out the librarian at school came across it and thought of me! I'm pleased she did too. I've been reading this copy for weeks now. It has the aforementioned cover story but it coincided with the Columbine massacre and that story is still chilling and fascinating to read. It shook me at the time and it shakes me still. Aside from those two stories it's been interesting to look over a ten year old magazine. It puts the 'now' in perspective in many ways.

But anyway - feelings - remember. I am getting there - trust me.

The magazine also had a great interview with Bill Moyers and George Lucas. Those of you who've been along on the blog ride with me since the start will remember I'm a huge Joseph Campbell fan - he of the 'follow your bliss' line. I have a series of great interviews on video between Moyers and Campbell in which they discuss the mythic properties of, among other things, Star Wars. So when I saw this interview in this old issue of Time my heart started to pound.

Moyers: In authentic religion, doesn't it take Kierkegaard's leap of faith?
Lucas: Yes, yes, definitely. You'll notice Luke uses that quite a bit through the film - not to rely on pure logic, not to rely on the computers, but to rely on faith. That is what "Use the force" is, a leap of faith. There are mysteries and powers larger than we are, and you have to trust your feelings in order to access them.

I love this idea! Lucas says at another point in the interview that, "You have control over your destiny, you have many paths to walk down, and you can choose which destiny is going to be yours...You must let go of your past and embrace your future and figure out what path you're going to go down". This is when the 'Trust your feelings' lesson means things for me. David Gray in Babylon says 'Let go your heart, let go your head, and feel it now'. Same deal. Go with the inner voice, trust that. Is it instinct? The Holy Spirit? The Force? Different people will have different answers. I don't know what it is for you. For me - trusting my feelings leads me into the larger mysteries of the universe.

I'm reading a very interesting book at the moment by Susan Jeffers called 'Feel the fear and do it anyway'. It's a self-help book (I find these books affirming at various stages of my life - I'm there now) and her basic message is in the title. Again with the Feeling you'll note! I found the book by complete accident. I was watching CNN and a short clip from China had a person say he'd read this book called 'Feel the fear and do it anyway' and it had changed his perceptions of life. Okay! So I, of course, googled the title and then went to my local bookstore - who had a copy!

I'm enjoying the book and one passage resonates with me and all this Feelings stuff - "Stop fighting your life. Let go and let the river carry you to new adventures by the way you experience your life." I like this idea of letting go, simplifying, casting off old skins. It's very liberating! Time to stop fighting.

Love and peace and may the force be with you - W

Pages turning, pages torn and pages burning.

We're into the first week of the July holidays. Samantha has been with us for a few days and has now returned to Wellington for a week to earn some money. She flies to America in August but got a job for a week and so was off this morning. While she was here we (Jade, Jacky, Samantha and me) went up north to see dad, Ross and family. Samantha is away for a year so it was a chance to catch up with everyone before she goes. On the way we stopped off in Hamilton to see Adam, and in Auckland we caught up with Keegan. We stayed at the Skycity hotel - right next to the skytower in central Auckland.

Jacky and I ventured into the casino for a look (and to validate our parking). What a disgusting place! To quote Obi-wan Kenobi in Star Wars: "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious". I hated it - all the garish lights, the noise, the smells of greed and stale alcohol, all those shattered dreams. We couldn't wait to get out! Keegan's right - it's very disorientating being in there - not like the real world at all.

Although we had little time for looking around (not even Real Groovy or Marbecks) we did find some shoes for Jade to go with her ball dress. Yes the ball is also coming up in August - pictures are sure to follow. Then it was back to Stratford to feed all the animals. A hectic couple of days and my first and last time in a casino!

Love and peace - W

But suddenly it's so clear to me, that I'd asked her to see what she would never see.

Here's the best reaction I've seen so far about the major pop star who died recently and has dominated the news in such a comprehensive manner but who shall otherwise remain nameless because you all know who I'm taking about.


Hours and hours and hours and hours of meaningless babble, blather and balderdash on FOUR cable news stations. Yeeeccchhhh!

I read an interesting justification for the saturation coverage on a BBC editor's blog. You can read it yourself at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/ - just scroll down to the second post. I notice she's had over 100 comments on this post - clearly it's an issue with a lot of people. I've read a few of the comments and they seem to follow a similar theme - sure cover the story for a start but what is the point of days and days of coverage after the whole world knows he's dead. I can understand why the BBC did so - everyone else was! But really - we expect more from the BBC - the only quality news gatherer on the television.

I'm thinking of reinstating my ban on television news. We get four news channels - Skynews, CNN, Fox, BBC plus TV1 and TV3 news hours of the terrestrial variety. Fox is the worst by far - all gloss/glamour and zero substance (kandy floss has more nourishment!). Sky is next - all brash headlines, extreme close-ups and gore galore. CNN is passable most of the time but not very comprehensive - obviously a bias towards US coverage. The BBC, therefore, stands alone. When even they stoop to blanket coverage of sensational events, we are in serious trouble!

Love and peace - W

Just the trees Johnny, just the trees.

Yes you're right - that is not a line from a song. Instead it's from a Seinfeld episode (when Kramer went to Los Angeles to be precise). But it's an appropriate title cos this post is all about trees! To give you all a break from mountain vistas, or me talking about movies, or me talking about poetry here are some snaps from home, in the mirk and rain of the weekend, of trees!







Love and peace - W

And in the end on dreams we will depend

It's been a wet weekend. In preparation I hired out a stack of movies. Basically I went into the video store and got 11 movies I hadn't seen before as fast as I could. One was Cassandra's Dream. A Woody Allen movie from 2007. I love Woody and thought I'd watch it when Jacky was working or sleeping or out with the horses or...Basically Jacky HATES Woody.

Oddly we do have a Woody and Diane Keaton still from Annie Hall on the wall. Clay gave it to me years ago and it's survived Keegan's attempts to borrow it over the years. Jacky loves it. Go figure. But she won't watch a Woody movie. No way. No how.

So this morning, as she slept in, I started watching it. Not with a great deal of hope I'd have to say. The last few years since his last great film - The Mighty Aphrodite - have been very bad! Here's the list since then with him as writer/director, and he's nothing if not prolific: Everyone says I Love You; Deconstructing Harry; Celebrity; Sweet and Lowdown; Small Time Crooks; The Curse of the Jade Scorpion; Sounds from the Town I Love; Melinda and Melinda; Matchpoint; Scoop.

How many of those have you even seen? Did ANYONE see Sweet and Lowdown?? Okay - so not a rich field and I watched those last three through gritted teeth out of duty to the genius of Stardust Memories, Manhattan, Annie Hall, Bananas, Hannah and her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors and The Mighty Aphrodite.

The verdict? Cassandra's Dream is a film that you should see and think about. Now, as a rule, I'm also not crazy for Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor (here playing brothers) but Woody has finally stopped casting younger versions of himself and has given these two actors something memorable to chew on. The use of Cassandra in the title clues you in to the idea that warnings will not be heeded; that we're probably heading into tragedy territory so I won't be spoiling things for you if I reveal that, as in Crimes.. , the bad guy gets away with things and it's not a happy ending for the brothers.

Why should you think about it? Because it deals with some big issues - the choices made; their consequences and the moral decay of modern life. I found the movie a hopeful one and, while not a comedy, there are some comedic moments that tell us Woody isn't taking himself too seriously. The brothers each face their individual crisis after they've murdered someone and Woody's writing allows them to work through the consequences of this act well.

And there's a great shot of London Bridge!

Funnily enough, Jacky wandered into the lounge about an hour into the movie, sat down and watched. At the end I asked her if she liked it - and she did! I then revealed the fact that she'd watched a Woody movie and her comment was, "Yes but he wasn't in it!" Can't argue with that.

Love and peace - W

My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums, should I leave them at your gate, or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

In this world that’s drowning in data, abstract written thought that represents a synthesis or a culmination of information into a digestible form is in short supply. That’s always been the prescription for poetry that matters.

I like this - it's from a post by a guy called Larry Sawyer. No, I don't know who he is either - probably like me, he enjoys the outlet of the blog. Larry uses his blog to publish his poetry. He's on the left if you want to read his stuff (under the blog title Me-Tronome). This post isn't about Larry though, or me. It's about poetry generally and Robert Bly in particular.

We are drowning in data aren't we. At school I look at data daily - suspension/ discipline data, achievement data, attendance data...and on and on. My English class teaching time is often the best part of my day. I can stretch myself a bit and think about things via that abstract written thought stuff Larry's on about.

I often think about poetry. moods and thoughts from all sorts of sources. Song lyrics make up a lot of thoughts. This post is titled from a Dylan song - Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. A love poem set to music for his wife Sara. Another example? I watched a movie today called Snow Cakes. Set in Canada the main character says he's on his way to Winnipeg and I immediately have the Neil Young lines in my head from his song Don't Be Denied -

When I was a young boy,
My mama said to me
Your daddy's leavin' home today,
I think he's gone to stay.
We packed up all our bags
And drove out to Winnipeg.

And so to Robert Bly. I often think about lines from his poem 'Six Winter Privacy Poems'.

1
About four, a few flakes.
I empty the teapot out in the snow,
feeling shoots of joy in the new cold.
By nightfall, wind,
the
curtains on the south sway softly.

2
My shack has two rooms, I use
one.
The lamplight falls on my chair and table
and I fly into one of my
own poems -
I can't tell you where -
as if I appeared where I am now
in a wet field, snow falling.

3
More of the fathers are dying
each day.
It is time for the sons.
Bits of darkness are gathering around
them.
The darkness appears as flakes of light.

4
Sitting
Alone

There is a solitude like black mud!
Sitting in the
darkness singing,
I can't tell if this joy
is from the body, or the
soul, or a third place.

5
Listening to Bach

There
is someone inside this music
who is not well described by the names
of
Jesus, or Jehovah, or the Lord of Hosts!

6
When I woke, new snow had
fallen.
I am alone, yet someone else is with me,
drinking coffee,
looking out at the new snow.

Many of Bly's recurring images/phrases/words are here - rebirth, snow, darkness, solitude, light...But, for me, the synthesis is pretty perfect in this poem. I love the simplicity of lines lines like, 'About four, a few flakes' and the Thoreau like idea of his shack having the luxury of two rooms but he only ever is in one!

This one also resonates for me:

After Long Busyness

I start out for a walk at last after weeks
at the desk.
Moon gone, plowing underfoot, no stars; not a trace of
light!
Suppose a horse were galloping toward me in this open field?
Every day I
did not spend in solitude was wasted.

It's almost haiku like. Again the simplicity and clarity of expression make him
stand out for me. Did I mention haikus? Ok - so, here's one of mine to
finish
off this post:

The door is half closed,
dividing the dark and light,
'till morning comes again.

Love and peace and solitude - W

They're gonna put me in the movies...we'll make a film about a man that's sad and lonely.

This post is a twin to one I did on my music blog http://googoogarjoob.blogspot.com/ . Samantha and Jesse on their recent visit went out to hire some movies. They came back with Across The Universe and two others - The Kite Runner and Stranger than fiction. They were good choices - three out of three! This post is about Stranger Than Fiction. Here's what it's about so that you're in the loop -



Warning - this next bit will ruin the film for you. If you haven't seen the film but want to (it has Maggie Gyllenhaal in it so of course you want to see it!) - stop reading. Now. Okay...but you've been warned. Last chance...

The conundrum at the end of the film is whether to kill off Harold or not. The 'book' being 'written' in the film has been leading up to this event. Harold has met the Maggie character and fallen big time, so we as audience have something (a little thing) invested in their future and therefore - his survival. But everyone agrees Harold HAS to die. Everyone? Well the university English professor - played by Dustin Hoffman, and Harold both do. Yes Harold! Having read the 'book' of his life, he agrees the story needs to end with his tragic death. However, the 'writer' of Harold's life, played by Emma Thompson, has second thoughts and questions killing her hero.

And this is the conundrum. And this is what the writers of this film had to work through. Do they have a tragic end? Do they have a Hollywood, happy, end? And you know in your heart, don't you, what they went with (this is not Hamlet after all). And it was a giant mistake (a lot of 'Ands' I know). Yes at the time I was semi-hoping for a happy ending, but also hoping for a ending that did justice to a very good film. Alas - twas not to be.

It did get me thinking about films with great endings - happy or otherwise. About a Boy springs to mind - all gathered for a cathartic Christmas but open ended as well. Zabriskie Point with the blowing up of a luxury house is also memorable. My two favourite endings though, are Lost in Translation and Pelle The Conqueror. Both do the films justice and are not happy in any Hollywood style. Bob Harris (Bill Murray) walks away from Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) in a Japanese street scene after mumbling something in her ear. WHAT WAS IT???? This is a great ending. He will return to his wife and his American life? Maybe. The greatest ending of all belongs to Pelle. Not only my favourite film ever! But the best ending. Pelle and his father (Lasse - played by Max von Sydow) have gone through hell together. Pelle's mother has died, he is treated as a virtual slave and has Lasse, who likes to drink, as his only companion. Lasse is an old man and Pelle's life is all about getting out into the big world finally. And so they part at the end of the film. Pelle and Lasse embrace and then Pelle turns and walks off in the snow, along a seashore into...who knows what.



Wow. What an ending! Perfect. And how often can you say that?