I love a good quote…to appreciate the way words can be put together in a thought provoking statement. Inspired by 'Provoked', I’ve compiled some of my favourite Henry Rollins quotes:
“I don't believe in fate or destiny. I believe in various degrees of hatred, paranoia, and abandonment. However much of that gets heaped upon you doesn't matter - it's only a matter of how much you can take and what it does to you.”
"Don't do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts."
“It's sad when someone you know becomes someone you knew"
"Half of life is fucking up - the other half is dealing with it."
“Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on.”
"If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light. If I lose paper and ink, I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always. I will capture nights all over the world and bring them to you."
"They say true love only comes around once and you have to hold out and be strong until then. I have been waiting. I have been searching. I am a man under the moon, walking the streets of earth until dawn. There's got to be someone for me. It's not too much to ask. Just someone to be with. Someone to love. Someone to give everything to. Someone."
"Basically, men are afraid of women and can't handle the fact that they came out of the same thing they spend the rest of their lives trying to get back into."
"When life hands you a lemon, say "Oh yeah, I like lemons. What else you got?"
"Go without a coat when it's cold; find out what cold is. Go hungry; keep your existence lean. Wear away the fat, get down to the lean tissue and see what it's all about. The only time you define your character is when you go without. In times of hardship, you find out what you're made of and what you're capable of. If you're never tested, you'll never define your character."
“Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.”
“There are so many hammocks to catch you if you fall, so many laws to keep you from experience. All these cities I have been in the last few weeks make me fully understand the cozy, stifling state in which most people pass through life. I don't want to pass through life like a smooth plane ride. All you do is get to breathe and copulate and finally die. I don't want to go with the smooth skin and the calm brow. I hope I end up a blithering idiot cursing the sun - hallucinating, screaming, giving obscene and inane lectures on street corners and public parks. People will walk by and say, "Look at that drooling idiot. What a basket case." I will turn and say to them "It is you who are the basket case. For every moment you hated your job, cursed your wife and sold yourself to a dream that you didn't even conceive. For the times your soul screamed yes and you said no. For all of that. For your self-torture, I see the glowing eyes of the sun! The air talks to me! I am at all times!" And maybe, the passers by will drop a coin into my cup.”
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Henry Rollins 'Provoked' - Melbourne
I found myself working at one of Henry Rollins’ spoken word gigs in Melbourne on April 19. Having never heard of him I didn’t know what to expect. The poster for Provoked read “Quintessentially American opinionated editorializing”. I had heard he speaks for 3 hours without an interval and in moments of excitement yells at the audience…What is he? A comedian? A political commentator? A motivational speaker? Judging by the four speakers set up around his feet, he’s a man that loves the sound of him own voice!
It didn’t matter…I left that night a fan and wanting more. It’s an incredible talent to be able to speak for so long (seemingly without drawing breath), to be articulate, to hold an audience engaged (and your own train of thought) beginning a story and getting to its point twenty minutes later. It is a tirade but who cares! Rollins is an amazing storyteller and has some very interesting things to say, particularly when goes off on a tangent. Here’s a man who has strong opinions, who has led an interesting life and wants to share it with as many people as he can and perhaps make a difference somewhere along the way. Kudos to him!
I’m the sort of person who prefers to turn a blind eye to the greater problems in the world but Rollins got me thinking. It’s the way he makes his case. It’s not preachy, he just tells it the way he sees it, with wry observations and a subtle plea (like congratulating the Australian public on voting out John Howard and hoping his own country will follow the example).
At times he had me in uproarious laughter, at times he had me sad about the state of the world, but he always had me waiting to hear what he’d say next. No doubt he’s cynic and holds no punches in telling it how it is, how fucked up the world is. But he’s intriguing and even inspirational. Perhaps he spoke to me because I identified with his take on life – basically that you should get as much out of it until life is happy to see you gone.
One of his poignant points was that everyone in the world should travel more. People should visit new places and just walk around and meet people and the world would be a better place for it. He said every time George W. Bush puts a new country on his axis of evil, he makes it his next travel destination. It was refreshing to see an American being so intrigued as to what is happening outside his own country and wanting to experience it all. I enjoyed his travel anecdotes about countries such as Syria, Iran, Lebanon and Pakistan (for example walking into the midst of mourning following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto). Also notable were his musical experiences (meeting Eddie Van Halen and singing with Nick Cave). It brought worshipping gasps from the audience when he listed his involvement with music scene as legendary bands such as Van Halen, the Clash, the Ramones and more began their careers. I also loved his description of the terrifying sight of fans at a Van Halen concert devouring and spitting out junk food at astounding rates. As Rollins says, if the US invaded Iraq with those Van Halen fans they would have surrendered their oil immediately.
As he encouraged people not to feed their children junk food (or they will turn into couch potatoes attached to a remote control and ‘books will be turn to salt in your hand’), he also explained why he’s never had kids (I paraphrase): ‘I’ve never had children because I’d fuck them up. One day when my boy is about 11, I’d sit him down and say, ‘Look kid here’s the truth, your mum’s a whore, you’re dad’s an asshole and in a few years you’ll be one too…the world’s fucked up!’
One of my favourite Rollins’ lines was “you have to approach old age with a sense of humour, irony and humility.” I hope I can remember that when the years start ticking by at breakneck speeds!
I walked out feeling like I’d had an ‘experience’. Yes, as Rollins warned, my butt cheeks were sore but the epic length was part of the impact. We had endured and enjoyed!
It didn’t matter…I left that night a fan and wanting more. It’s an incredible talent to be able to speak for so long (seemingly without drawing breath), to be articulate, to hold an audience engaged (and your own train of thought) beginning a story and getting to its point twenty minutes later. It is a tirade but who cares! Rollins is an amazing storyteller and has some very interesting things to say, particularly when goes off on a tangent. Here’s a man who has strong opinions, who has led an interesting life and wants to share it with as many people as he can and perhaps make a difference somewhere along the way. Kudos to him!
I’m the sort of person who prefers to turn a blind eye to the greater problems in the world but Rollins got me thinking. It’s the way he makes his case. It’s not preachy, he just tells it the way he sees it, with wry observations and a subtle plea (like congratulating the Australian public on voting out John Howard and hoping his own country will follow the example).
At times he had me in uproarious laughter, at times he had me sad about the state of the world, but he always had me waiting to hear what he’d say next. No doubt he’s cynic and holds no punches in telling it how it is, how fucked up the world is. But he’s intriguing and even inspirational. Perhaps he spoke to me because I identified with his take on life – basically that you should get as much out of it until life is happy to see you gone.
One of his poignant points was that everyone in the world should travel more. People should visit new places and just walk around and meet people and the world would be a better place for it. He said every time George W. Bush puts a new country on his axis of evil, he makes it his next travel destination. It was refreshing to see an American being so intrigued as to what is happening outside his own country and wanting to experience it all. I enjoyed his travel anecdotes about countries such as Syria, Iran, Lebanon and Pakistan (for example walking into the midst of mourning following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto). Also notable were his musical experiences (meeting Eddie Van Halen and singing with Nick Cave). It brought worshipping gasps from the audience when he listed his involvement with music scene as legendary bands such as Van Halen, the Clash, the Ramones and more began their careers. I also loved his description of the terrifying sight of fans at a Van Halen concert devouring and spitting out junk food at astounding rates. As Rollins says, if the US invaded Iraq with those Van Halen fans they would have surrendered their oil immediately.
As he encouraged people not to feed their children junk food (or they will turn into couch potatoes attached to a remote control and ‘books will be turn to salt in your hand’), he also explained why he’s never had kids (I paraphrase): ‘I’ve never had children because I’d fuck them up. One day when my boy is about 11, I’d sit him down and say, ‘Look kid here’s the truth, your mum’s a whore, you’re dad’s an asshole and in a few years you’ll be one too…the world’s fucked up!’
One of my favourite Rollins’ lines was “you have to approach old age with a sense of humour, irony and humility.” I hope I can remember that when the years start ticking by at breakneck speeds!
I walked out feeling like I’d had an ‘experience’. Yes, as Rollins warned, my butt cheeks were sore but the epic length was part of the impact. We had endured and enjoyed!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Truffaut's "The Bride Wore Black"
The first thing which struck me about the Bride Wore Black (1968) was the similarities to Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. They both follow a violent murderous bride taking revenge some time after her wedding day was violently disrupted. Both brides cross the names of their victims off a kill list. Additionally, I was struck by the similarities of each film having a murder staged in a familial home, with the presence of a child potentially disrupting the bride’s murderous intentions. Tarantino has been open about his influences and Kill Bill is clearly an homage to a range of genres such as samurai, kung fu and the Western. I was interested to read Tarantino says in an interview he’d never seen the Bride Wore Black and is not a Truffaut fan. He’s a Godard man.
It’s not surprising Tarantino cites a French New Wave director as a major influence. Afterall both their styles of filmmaking involve repackaging familiar stories into new forms. The Bride Wore Black can be seen as an homage to the Hitchcockian device of building suspense. It creates a sense where you know a murder is going to occur (and the likely victim) but you don’t know how or when it going happen, until you are almost doubting whether it will happen at all. It is less about the killing itself and more about the buildup. Hitchcock is also famous for his focus on seemingly mundane objects (flagged by a close-up) which will take on crucial significance later on. Truffaut uses the same device. The most telling example is the Bride’s action of pouring a glass of water into a potplant, the repetition of which will later reveal her identity to one of the victim’s friends.
Truffaut’s Bride is from the outset presented as a mysterious femme fatale. Men are invariably drawn to her although they are not sure why and she reveals little. Significantly all these men are womanizers or crooks. Initially it would seem that she is killing at random, perhaps as revenge on behalf of all disenfranchised females. However, approximately two-thirds into the film her motives (and the men’s involvement in her newly wed’s murder) are revealed. Suddenly the tone and the audience’s relationship to the film shifts. It is no longer an intrigue about why she is killing but whether she will finish off all her victims. She declares her single-minded purpose, but do we really believe she’ll go through with it? This is what makes the section with Fergus, the artist, so fascinating.
Will love save this merciless killer? Her affiliation with Fergus is the longest of the film and when he confesses his love for her there is the possibility that she will abandon her plan and learn to love again. She takes her time with him and the audience is lulled into a momentary hope for her redemption. It is the old Hamlet dilemma – is she delaying the deed from lack of want or simply lack of opportunity. When she ruthlessly disposes of him too, it is sudden and not even shown on camera.
Interestingly she does not succumb to any maternal or sexual instinct, which are supposed to overcome women (and indeed do Tarantino’s Bride who gives up her Deadly Viper Assassination Squad lifestyle to become a mother). Truffaut’s Bride is remorseless when confessing. This is a film open to a feminist reading. Not only does it have an active female driving the storyline, unlike the femme fatales from the 40s noirs, she is never overtly punished (or domesticated). Sure she ends up in jail (however this is deliberately as part of her plan) and there is the implication of punishment but the film ends ambiguously with the Bride fulfilling her plan and disposing of her final victim. Again, this is not shown nor what follows. The final shot of the film is the prison corridor, leaving a certain ambiguity which does not overtly punish. It is a bit like Thelma and Louise’s triumphant drive off the cliff or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid being frozen in action as they run into a hail of bullets, consequently immortalized.
It’s not surprising Tarantino cites a French New Wave director as a major influence. Afterall both their styles of filmmaking involve repackaging familiar stories into new forms. The Bride Wore Black can be seen as an homage to the Hitchcockian device of building suspense. It creates a sense where you know a murder is going to occur (and the likely victim) but you don’t know how or when it going happen, until you are almost doubting whether it will happen at all. It is less about the killing itself and more about the buildup. Hitchcock is also famous for his focus on seemingly mundane objects (flagged by a close-up) which will take on crucial significance later on. Truffaut uses the same device. The most telling example is the Bride’s action of pouring a glass of water into a potplant, the repetition of which will later reveal her identity to one of the victim’s friends.
Truffaut’s Bride is from the outset presented as a mysterious femme fatale. Men are invariably drawn to her although they are not sure why and she reveals little. Significantly all these men are womanizers or crooks. Initially it would seem that she is killing at random, perhaps as revenge on behalf of all disenfranchised females. However, approximately two-thirds into the film her motives (and the men’s involvement in her newly wed’s murder) are revealed. Suddenly the tone and the audience’s relationship to the film shifts. It is no longer an intrigue about why she is killing but whether she will finish off all her victims. She declares her single-minded purpose, but do we really believe she’ll go through with it? This is what makes the section with Fergus, the artist, so fascinating.
Will love save this merciless killer? Her affiliation with Fergus is the longest of the film and when he confesses his love for her there is the possibility that she will abandon her plan and learn to love again. She takes her time with him and the audience is lulled into a momentary hope for her redemption. It is the old Hamlet dilemma – is she delaying the deed from lack of want or simply lack of opportunity. When she ruthlessly disposes of him too, it is sudden and not even shown on camera.
Interestingly she does not succumb to any maternal or sexual instinct, which are supposed to overcome women (and indeed do Tarantino’s Bride who gives up her Deadly Viper Assassination Squad lifestyle to become a mother). Truffaut’s Bride is remorseless when confessing. This is a film open to a feminist reading. Not only does it have an active female driving the storyline, unlike the femme fatales from the 40s noirs, she is never overtly punished (or domesticated). Sure she ends up in jail (however this is deliberately as part of her plan) and there is the implication of punishment but the film ends ambiguously with the Bride fulfilling her plan and disposing of her final victim. Again, this is not shown nor what follows. The final shot of the film is the prison corridor, leaving a certain ambiguity which does not overtly punish. It is a bit like Thelma and Louise’s triumphant drive off the cliff or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid being frozen in action as they run into a hail of bullets, consequently immortalized.
My first blog
How to fill a blank page? Or rather blog? It's taken me awhile to jump on the blogging bandwagon but here I am! My motives: I love writing and I want to share it with people out there. I also love films and the experience of watching them. Sometimes I have thoughts I want to share about things I see and experience and maybe someone out there will find it interesting. So I'm off to start some blogging....
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