Daily Archives: July 25, 2017

A Million Miles Away: Valerian

by

0

This book was supposed to be about rock singles, but today I went to see Valerian for the second time and it was so deep and so beautiful that I wanted to capture the sense of immersion in a world of feeling.  Suddenly as I write I feel very heavy, some center of attention in my mind crosses over into a supernatural frequency.  This happens all the time but tonight because I am attempting this I have a deeper frame of reference, I can say “I am here” or “I am there”.  I know so much of what I wanted to create artistically wasn’t art at all but rather the communication of this other frequency, the reality of this other world.

I don’t know if this piece will make it into my book – I still like the formal idea of making it all about pop singles, but because I’m turning my attention in this direction I felt like making the attempt to articulate my feelings about this movie, good and bad.

The first time I saw it I thought it was very slow and also sentimental.  But I found it eerily fascinating and over the weekend it grew on me so I just went to see it again and I love it.  I know it’s going to stick with me forever.

Part of this has to do with the original graphic novel.  Over the weekend I went to my comic store and picked up a promotional booklet that had a story and a lot of quotes from Luc Besson about how much he loved it, and how it was part of the inspiration for The Fifth Element.  I also found the Fifth Element a little cheesy the first time I saw it, but came to love it later.  I’m sure this has to do with Besson’s sense of timing.  Ultimately it winds up being a much deeper emotional experience, quite against the grain of Hollywood at this time.

I have to think about how the link to a long-running graphic novel series affects me.  I’m a sucker for the sense of “establishment” and roots in time.

I’m also rooting for Besson, making an independent film that goes agains the grain.

And I think Cara Delevingne is hot.  Dane Dehaan is also very charismatic.  I think he sounds exactly like Keanu Reeves, which was jarring at first but ultimately Keanu sounds great and so does Dane.  I love Dehaan’s style.  I really bought into the love story and I want to see more of them. 

The first time I saw it I was a little uncomfortable with Laureline’s climactic speech.  I didn’t want to make the emotional adaptation to her.  But the second time I accepted it fully.  In other words, she convinced me.  I had a very similar reaction to The Fifth Element, feeling a little put off the first time but ulitmately being won over.

The depth of the world created in this story is luxurious.  I’m so glad I saw it and I might even convince myself to see it again.  I intend to read the graphic novels. 

I was very disappointed at the horse-race figures for the first weekend.   I hope it does better in Europe than it has here.

I’m not sure this piece will make it into the final version of “A Million Miles Away” but I am finding my own voice and emotional space on the web, getting used to writing freely about entertainment and not giving a damn what anyone thinks. 

The Buffy Diaries 7-24-2017

by

0

10:26 PM 7/24/2017

Two Buffynicities that I recall tonight, one of them major.

Buffynicity #1:  I was looking through my “Jungian Tarot” just before I went to run, sorting out the major arcana, including “Strength”.  Then this line was in the episode:

CALEB
 (checks out the First’s form) Strength. And the loneliness that comes with real strength.

It’s significant because the main figure in the tarot card Strength is a woman.  However it is a minor Buffynicity in general.

Buffynicity #2: This is bigger because I have been focusing on my various drinking habits during the last couple of weeks.  I have quit drinking alchol in general, and I have also quit drinking monster energy drinks.  Now just today I have finally gotten completely sick of diet soda and decided to quit after I drink what I have now.  This is a major issue for me, one I’ve thought about every day for weeks.  I especially have been thinking a lot today about the effect that caffeine has on my moods.  So when Faith said this tonight it was significant:

FAITH
 (smiles) Not if you’re all repenty. Takes the fun out of it. (the girls upstairs are making noise) No more Starbucks for the wannabe’s man. They’ve been spazzing for, like, hours.

This “spazzing” has been a major concern for me today, and although I’ve been considering it for weeks, gradually quitting other types of drinking habits, today is the first day I made a determination to quit diet soda. 

Still, it’s not a direct reference to diet soday, only caffeinated beverages.  So i’m going to lump this together with another buffynicitous occurrence related to drinking – the fact that I have quit drinking alcohol unitl I lost the last 25 pounds I want to take off, except today when I went to see Valerian again it was in a new theater that has waiters who come to your seat.  I just had to take advantage of this and get some wine.  I ordered a red Chardonnay but it turned out they only had white.  So when Caleb makes his speech about wine:

CALEB
 "Drink of this, for it is my blood.“ (drinks) You know, I always loved the story of the Last Supper. (looks at his glass, turns, paces) The body and blood of Christ becoming rich, red wine. I recall, as a boy, though, I couldn’t help but think: what would happen if you were at the Last Supper, and you ordered the white? A nice oaky Chardonnay or White Zin…

It was definitely synchronous, having my first glass of wine on this day, especially since I was focusing during the movie on my other "drinking problem” – the two drinks I had that got spilled on Friday at Valerian and Saturday at Ravinia.  That was such a blatant synchronicity that it’s become a new touchstone and high-water mark for me to think of when I want to remind my subconscious how deeply arranged my life is. 

So yes, there was a lot today about my money- and time-wasting habits of drinking various beverages. 

Buffynicity #3 is the simplest and most spectacular.  This is the first episode I’ve watched since I saw Blondie on Saturday (my tablet was messed up yesterday), and then in tonight’s episode came this line:

FAITH
 Should’ve known it wasn’t blondie behind the wheel. She’d never throw down like that.

Seriously, how many times is the word “blondie” used in this series?  Probably not since Faith was last on the show.  So that’s pretty spectacular and makes me feel good.

Another synchronicity, although not directly Buffy related, was that I was looking up theaters today, trying to decide whether to see Valerian tonight, and then on the way home as I transferred from the Blue Line to the Red Line at the Jim Thompson Center I realized there was a therater there in Block 37.  I walked up to check showtimes and found that Valerian was starting in ten minutes so I just had to take the opportunity.

At work this morning around the time of the Moon inconjunct with Pluto I got an e-mail saying my company is going to be checking all of our LinkedIn profiles to see that we aren’t telling anyone who we work for.  That was a bit of a jolt, reminding me that my employers may read my web writing at any time.  Ultimately I don’t care but it was a kind of Plutonian collective energy, broadening my awareness of what I’m doing.

The Venus opposition with Saturn at 9:54 was fascinating.  I was having very exciting images, knowing just what I want to write for The Darkening, feeling very confident about the directions I want to move, and feeling very clear with my own spiritual contacts.  Then just at the time of the transit I got the call that the delivery I was expecting the reason for me being down there to begin with, had arrived.  Last Thursday there was a Saturn transit and this delivery was aborted.  Today I had to be down there again for it and it came right at this transit – a validating experience.

Furthermore, I had been dreading this delivery a bit because it was very heavy and I wasn’t sure how well I could handle it by myself.  However it turned out to be extremely easy, and I was done dealing with it at almost exactly the time of the next transit, Mercury trining Uranus.  This was related to the unexpected ease with which this difficulty was resolved, and my sense of accomplishment and confidence in the fact that my writing is genuinely magical whether or not anyone ever reads it.  I am really making major changes with this.

Mercury inconjuncted Chiron as I was finishing the last of my work and turning The Darkening over in my mind.  During a break I was looking up the London Goth scene in the 80s and I found an interesting website to pick over and some movies to watch.  I was getting a very deep sense of the characters.  They are really taking shape in a form that can drive the whole novel and I am very happy with that, and I was also very happy with the resolution of a lot of my feelings about music.  This is true shamanic magic that fits perfectly with the astrological meanings of Mercury and Chiron – communication, thought, healing old pain.  It was really working for me today in spite of the worry I had yesterday when I saw all the intense aspects that were happening.

The Moon was trining Saturn after work, just as I was starting Valerian.  This was related to the way that I “just happened” to wander into this new theater I’d never tried before just ten minutes before the show started.  It was also related to the “space” theme of the movie, and my use of moviegoing as a trance-meditation in general.

The Moon sextiled Venus during the film and this was related to the happiness I was feeling, the way I was using this second viewing to do away with boredom and get the maximum enjoyment and imaginal effect from the viewing.  I really went deep with it and felt great about it. 

So today went much better than expected and then tonight’s episode had a couple of rock-solid Buffynicites.  I’ve also got some other things for The Darkening and “Million Miles” to put up.  My trepidatious predictions from yesterday were too timid – today worked out pretty well, although I still have some anxiety about what it all ultimately means.

As for tomorrow the Moon will be in Virgo by the time I wake up, and Mercury will enter my natal Virgo tomorrow evening – it should be very powerfully magical.