Let's face it. Xanga is dead. I spent 4 years of my life posting on this thing and tried to ride it out as much as possible. I think the ride is over.

So, goodbye blogging world. I'll resurface soon, I'm sure.

I'm taking a break from the movie watching for a day. To talk about my second love...music.

I think everyone has those songs that they could put repeat and listen to 20 times and not even get tired of them. Songs that never ever get old, no matter how many times you hear them. And, for some reason, they seem to be all over the map. The songs never fit in one or two genres. You've got rap, rock, hip hop, country (ok that's a stretch), all over the place. For me, and probably me alone, sometimes those same songs are the ones that I think would make good music videos. But that's just me. Here are some of my favorite songs that I never get tired of hearing:

"I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" - Hall and Oates  I dare anyone to not get hooked by that synthesizer drum and bass hook. Don't forget John Oates' mellow guitar fills and Daryl Hall's smooth vocals. Dang.

"Warning" - Incubus  Incubus may be one of the greatest bands from the last few decades. With Brandon's vocals and Mike's tireless guitar playing. This song is no exception. Mike does this great thing during the verses of this song...and this is the guitar geek in me coming out so humor me. He has a delay pedal set to a fast delay speed then turns down his guitar and gradually fades it up after he strums, then fades it back down. It gives his guitar this wicked, ethereal tone. I never get tired of it.

"My Mathematical Mind" - Spoon  This song is perfect for driving around in the car, cranking the volume, and singing at the top of your lungs. Distressed guitar meets smooth piano and a constant drum beat.

"Peculiar People" - Mute Math  I really shouldn't have to explain this one.

So there's just some. Anyone have any to add? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

If a movie is good, it will leave you with a lasting impression. It’s as if your mind wants to cherish it for as long as possible – vividly savoring every memory until you see it again. If a movie is bad, you’ll immediately forget it, except for that horrible feeling you get when you recall it. But good movies will stay with you. Sometimes it varies on how good it is. A moving scene, a funny line, an interesting character, these can all influence how much of a good movie you remember. There’s also this feeling you get right after you finish a good movie. A moving feeling that you can’t shake for a while after you see it. Your head is replaying the film constantly. It’s all you think about for a while. I call it a “movie high”.

I watched The Fountain at 12:30 AM this morning. It’s now 8:30 PM. I just finished coming down from its high.

Darren Aronofsky’s (Pi, Requiem For A Dream) newest film looks at life and the undying fear of death. Hugh Jackman (The Prestige, X-Men) plays Tommy, a scientist who is deeply in love with his wife, Izzi played by Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, Enemy at the Gates). Izzi is suffering from an aggressive brain tumor caused by cancer. Tommy is desperately trying to find a cure to her terminal illness to keep her with him. Tommy’s love for her, however, is misguided. Instead of spending every waking moment with her, he spends all of his time in the lab trying to save her life. Tommy lives in fear of her death, unable to fathom living without her, unable to be around her, unable to see her in a dying state. By contrast, Izzi is ready to die. She embraces her fate. Inspired by Mayan culture, she desires to head to Xibalba, the Mayan underworld that is said to be a dying star surrounded by a nebula. This is one of three parallel storylines.

Izzi has also written a book called “The Fountain”, which opens up another of the three storylines in this film. It’s a story of the Spanish Inquisition in the era of the conquistadors. Queen Isabel (played by Weisz) summons her best conquistador, Tomas (Jackman), to find the Tree of Life as the Catholic church threatens on her doorstep. If he finds this tree, she promises him her love and together they can live forever. To show a symbol of their love, she gives him a ring to wear when he finds the tree. Tomas hurries to South America to find a hidden Mayan temple that, in legend, houses this tree. When he reaches the temple, he is challenged by the high priest of the Mayans. The priest gives him a fatal wound to his side and Tomas is left clutching his side as blood gushes from the stab.

This is where Izzi has stopped writing the book. Her one wish for Tommy is to finish the last chapter. She has left the story at death, the very point that Tommy faces when Izzi dies. This is where the third paralleled storyline begins.

As soon as Izzi dies, Tommy finds the cure to her cancer. And as a result of his research, has found the way to eternal life. Tommy has cured more than cancer, he has cured death. The third storyline takes place far into the future. Tommy is flying through space in a spaceship made of a glass sphere. With him is a tree. Through Tommy’s research, he has found the Tree of Life and has grown it to sustain him as he travels through the far reaches of space to reach Xibalba. Also with him are visions of Izzi. The regret haunts him still; even centuries after her death. He regrets being unable to save her when he could have. The visions of Izzi tell him to “finish it”. Finish the book she has written. Finish the last chapter. As he enters the nebula and sees the dying star (in an extremely poetic move), the tree of life dies as does his ability to live forever. Izzi appears to him again, telling him to finish the book. Tommy finishes the book. Not only does Tommy finish Izzi’s book, he also envisions himself going back to the time when Izzi is alive and making right all of the times he dismissed her for his experiments. The star collapses and brings forth light again destroying Tommy and his ship in the process. In the end, we hear Tommy say that he has finished it, and he and Izzi are reunited.

There are SO many different ways to interpret the end of this film. This is how I interpreted it: Tommy finds a way through his research to live forever and journeys to where his wife awaits. He reaches it, but finds that the only way to be with her is to die. But my interpretation is just one. My wife thought something completely different. She saw the entire future as just playing in Tommy’s head as he was trying to come to grips with Izzi’s death.

The cinematography of this film is breathtaking. The use of darkness/light, using the color gold, and the number three. There are three stars surrounding Xibalba, the operation lamp in his lab has three lights, there are three pictures in their bedroom, three windows, the list goes on. I also love the visual style of the future. When visuals in a movie are done right, I’m haunted by them. This is one of those movies that did that for me.

On a personal basis, I could partially identify with Tommy’s fear. While I have an assurance that this world holds nothing for me and I have eternal life awaiting me, I still struggle with death. It was hard to see Izzi in a sick, weakened state after what my Mom has had to struggle with for the last 7 months. I saw a lot of Mom in Izzi. Part of me wants to give all I have to keep Mom from dying of cancer. Unfortunately, I have no power over that. It’s eventually going to happen and that’s something I struggle with every day. But I have hope that when she passes on, she will live forever and I will see her again someday. I don’t have to worry about what tomorrow brings for her, for I know that we are all in God’s hands and He knows the plans He has for us.

I highly recommend this movie.

I have no idea why I'm finding this so funny...

  

movies on the sci-fi channel are so bad. It makes me cry inside...to know that idiots somewhere were given money by bigger idiots to make a film written by the biggest idiots of all.