Jordan, ‘10

Did anyone know that Ben Affleck can write?  And direct?  Okay, okay.  So he won an Oscar for screenwriting for Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon.  But I once heard a comedian talking about Ben Affleck and the Oscar and say, “It’s sort of like a guy–[Matt Damon]–brought his dumb friend along for the ride.”  Which is probably unfair but still funny.  And after Gigli, Ben Affleck needed (and really wanted) to get a piece of respect being shot at that ambitious head of his from more than one or two directions.  Well, I just came home from Gone Baby Gone, which came out back in 2007 and is now available on iTunes (so yes, it is not a new release) but is now available for viewing in Australian theatres. 

I’m blown away by the film.  It’s not often that I see something so dark and disturbing that is still inspiring (in an artistic sense).  And I might have mentioned this before–but I like when movies, books, poems, documentaries, debates disrupt a natural moral code of right and wrong and invent a moral spectrum.  They don’t really have to invent it–one just exists inherently in life; nothing is black and white and choices can always be distorted to the benefit of the actor’s (the doer, not a movie actor) conscience.  They ask what is wrong? instead of saying it is.  They don’t shy away from uncomfortable choices.  AND, this is something that doesn’t happen enough in real life and might be why I truly appreciate film, the players always make a decision and accept the consequences of their actions.  Finally someone chooses!  And they’re not even real; pity. 

Anyway, that is how I spent the last three hours of my life…watching a movie about a city ten thousand miles away, about people I don’t know but came to love, about an area I’ve never seen but am given momentary flashes of its gruesome and tragic beauty, about a child that isn’t real but may as well be. 

I also have a sad obsession with ethereal soundtrack singing–or just that sort of singing in general.  One song that may give you an idea of what I’m talking about is the final song from the movie Gladiator called “Now We are Free” sung by Liza Gerard, music by Hans Zimmer.  And sure, there’s Imogen Heap or Enya.  But there’s also “Breathe Me” by Sia and there are a few songs by the band Enigma, and you can’t forget a couple songs by the Groove Armada.  Even “9 Crimes” by Damien Rice has that high-pitched loveliness.  ”Let it be” off the Across the Universe soundtrack works as a reference, or “Teardrop” by Massive Attack.  Every track off of the Once soundtrack qualifies too.  These are all the songs and albums where you know the female singer is in complete control of her voice and, if you love this type of singing like I do, she’s also in complete control of you.  Often there are male ethereals as well, and they’re wonderful too.  Listen to it if you want, but there’s a song on this soundtrack that has a woman singing directly to my obsession.  So yes, even the soundtrack has my approval.

In other news, I read three books in one day–The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Fight Club, and The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village under the Sea by Mark Haddon, which is techniquely a collection of poetry, but it counts.  The provost of my school just sent out his condolences for any student here who’s lost relatives or loved ones in the cyclone hitting Myanmar (Burma).  I have two more weeks of classes and I’m going to the Grampians this weekend on a camping trip.  I’ll have more to write next week on that.  I also completed the lyrics to a song, which I think are pretty good and will be complete when I get my guitar back and write music for the words.   Apparently, I’m doing really well in all my classes and the hair on my arms is golden in the light of my desk lamp.  Um, but that’s random.

Enough for now.  Hey, this ramble had to end some time.  So I’m gone baby gone….haha!  Okay, Jordan, that’s unneccessarily dim.

Taste the notes behind the music,

Jordan

Here I am.

Quote of the week (why not right?):

“I always believed it was the things you don’t choose that makes you who you are. Your city, your neighborhood, your family. People here take pride in these things, like it was something they’d accomplished. The bodies around their souls, the cities wrapped around those. I lived on this block my whole life; most of these people have. When your job is to find people who are missing, it helps to know where they started. I find the people who started in the cracks and then fell through. This city can be hard. When I was young, I asked my priest how you could get to heaven and still protect yourself from all the evil in the world. He told me what God said to His children. “You are sheep among wolves. Be wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves.” –Casey Affleck (voice over), Gone Baby Gone