The Gentle Breeze and the Raging Tiger

I am outside under the eternal sky. The sun gazes at me, a watchful eye in the face of space. Under the blue expanse, on this grand yet small planet the zephyr surrounds me. Moving with it's own intent, a great yet gentle slipstream that represents freedom. Suddenly, a bit of the hurricane force merges with me. It stirs my soul, moves me to write. It shakes something inside, like a spectator teasing an animal at the zoo. I become riled, excited, EMPOWERED! I want to keep the force within me but I cannot. It is a wild mustang, a horse that cannot and will not be tamed. A master-servant relationship, if only I knew which one I was. All I can hope to do is hold on for as long as I can. It changes the person within, makes me more beast than man. I am transfigured. It starts slow, a slight pricking within my heart. It spreads throughout my body til it reaches my head. I can feel it, burning, unstoppable. Suddenly the sensation explodes! The inspiration tries to leave like gushing water from a geyser. But it isn't what it was before. No longer a cool breeze, it is a raging river. The transformation irritates me, if only my words could capture this feeling. I am like a broken camera. The colors are all wrong, the picture is not a true reflection of my self. The result is like looking at at mirror across a mirror. The flow at my core is a raging tiger. It strives furiously to escape, to rampage across the world. In my personal state I am not the master; neither Sigfried or Roy. No Tarzan am I, no. I am Clayton, the slayer of nature. I am the king's cage, a restraint to my aggression, passion, and drive.

Comments and advice would be appreciated

Compulsive Drive

In the crowd known as life I am torn by my ambitions. I am pulled to bits by my desires, destroyed by my thoughts. Memories and emotions shatter me and scatter the pieces like glass. In this noise I am drawn everywhere and nowhere. I want everything but receive nothing. In this cacophony, this raging orchestra of greed, a voice calls out to me. The voice is lucid and clear, a single drop in a storm. There is a whisper in my being, a faint breeze in my mind. Slowly but gradually, the whisper elevates into a shout. It silences all the other voices, one by one, until finally, it is the only thing that I can hear. The voice echoes in my heart and resonates with my being. It drives me and beckons me to to pick up pen and paper. When this sound overwhelms me I know what I desire. Obsessively, compulsively, there is only one thing I can do. I must write. I realize that it's the only way to show the real me, a pure record of myself. I will imbue history with a shade of my being, imbibe this page with my soul. Like a scarlet drop, red as blood and dark as night. Blue light; calm, translucent, the sky's reflection. My body and mind cease to exist within this world's page. Only my spirit remains here.

Fantastic Mr. Fox Review

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Release date: November 25, 2009 (USA)
Reef Rating: 5/5 Stars

Director: Wes Anderson

Starring the voice talents of:
George Clooney - Mr. Fox
Meryl Streep - Mrs. Fox
Jason Schwartzmen - Ash
Eric Chase Anderson - Kristofferson
Wallace Wolodarsky - Kylie
Bill Murray - Badger
Willem Dafoe - Rat
Michael Gambon - Franklin Bean

When I first heard word of Wes Anderson adapting one of Roald Dahl’s books I of course instantly was both interested and concerned. Being a Houstonian I have always felt inclined to support the work of Houston-born writer/director Wes Anderson.

Thus far I’ve enjoyed his dry sense of humor; kind of like an Americanized version of British humor…but it is also very adult, sophisticated humor, so I couldn’t imagine him doing a family movie.

After seeing the movie I have one thing to say…Fantastic Mr. Fox certainly is FANTASTIC! Wes Anderson has made one of the best films of 2009; one that is just as good as his other movies, if not being his best yet! Everything, from voice-actors, to the use of stop animation: this film is perfectly balanced in what is certainly the best comedy of the year.

How did Wes Anderson pull it off? Well, he honestly didn’t make this so much as a kid’s movie as he did make another entry in his series of odd-ball comedies- only this time cutting back mature subjects to a PG-rating. What results is a very mature comedy that doesn’t resort to cheap gimmicks or slapstick for laughs (though there is a bit of slapstick for those kids who won’t understand the humor in Anderson’s dialog).

The story centers on Mr. Fox (voiced by the always entertaining George Clooney), who is the foxiest fox who ever foxed. An expert chicken thief he likes living dangerously…that is until his lover (voiced by Meryl Streep) becomes pregnant and demands that they settle down. After getting caught in a fox trap he agrees to her terms that if they survive he shall never steal again.

Two years later (which is far more in fox years) the couple is living in a hole with their son, Ash (Jason Schwartzmen). Mr. Fox is a newspaper columnist, who is fairly certain no one actual reads his column and is now upset that he won’t amount to anything (like his father) so he decides they must move out. His choice is a tree, but this tree happens to be located next door to the three meanest farmers the animals have ever seen. His lawyer, Badger (voiced by Anderson regular Bill Murray) tries to talk Fox out of his choice home, but he won’t hear it.

After moving to the tree they are joined by their nephew Kristofferson (voiced by Eric Chase Anderson) who quickly becomes Ash’s center of jealousy. Kristofferson is perfect in just about every way, spending his time meditating while practicing yoga, being naturally gifted in sports – everything Ash wishes he was. This drives Ash to prove his worth to his father no matter what the cost!

But while those trivial matters go on Mr. Fox can’t resist the call of the wild, and with his opossum building superintendent, Kylie (voiced by Wallace Wolodarsky) plans a return to his dangerous life of “cussing with” the farmers’ heads. At first this starts as simple crimes, but soon the farmers declare war against Mr. Fox and the entire animal populace! It becomes the job of Fox save everyone from the farmers’ wrath…which he caused!

There's also a great (not to mention HILARIOUS) bit involving Willem Dafoe as an insane, finger snapping rat-henchman under the employ of the farmers, but I wouldn't spoil that for the you! You'll have to see the movie to get what I'm talking about.

Fantastic Mr. Fox of course differs from its source material, but for what it is Fantastic Mr. Fox is a great comedy. I say “comedy” instead of “animation” or “Family” movie because its values really are more comedy oriented than they are trying to entertain an entire group of people. In fact, the theater I saw this movie in was full of kids under the age of 10 and very seldom did any of them laugh: the humor was just way over their heads, and I won’t hold that against them.

For adults and mat kids over the age of 10 or so Fantastic Mr. Fox is a fantasy comedy full of whimsical characters that will leave them chuckling, and quoting its ingenious script long after they’ve left the theater. Parents can also approve of the film’s message of “everyone has their own individual talents,” be it thief, landscape artist, or demolitions expert.

It won’t stand up against a movie like Pixar’s Up in a ‘Best Animated Feature’ contest, but then again I doubt it was even trying to. What the movie does is set out to be a sophisticated comedy – something that is rated PG, but is just as good as any comedy directly aimed at older audiences. Fantastic Mr. Fox is rated PG but is more adult and sophisticated than this year’s smash hit The Hangover.

Fantastic Mr. Fox truly is the most fantastic movie of the year.

5/5 Stars!

Untitled

Selling my soul to make things right
Cause i can't stay locked up tight
Finding my way when it's dark as night
There's no way i can win this fight
Unless somewhere i can find light
To trudge on with all my might
Until i'm wrapped up in another plight
With no end in sight.

No longer will i bend,
Waiting for you until the end.
This broken heart i will try to mend
And stop eternally trying to fend
When all it can do is rend
Because you have nothing left to lend.

The grief an sorrow took control over me like a dictator over his country. I had no consolation what so ever looking at everybody's faces to look, to search, to see, to find my childs face or to hear again the sweet and angelical voice yelling mommy! mommy! like when he wanted me to turn around and watch him do something new, but not anymore. I will never forget the little voice that woke me up in the mournings screaming and jumping "its time for work! get up its time for school!"or the minuature ,soft and warm hand i held when walking to the park. Those are memories that are not to be forgotten and yet to be remembered, when out in the distance i saw you! -Mayneli R.

You and Me

You don't pay attention to me.
You're too clingy.
I don't like your friends.
I don't like your parents.
We don't see each other enough.
We see each other too much.
I don't like your smoking.
I don't like your drinking.
Well I don't like you.
Well I hate you!
I hate you too!
Kiss and make up, rinse and repeat.

Movie recommendations: Dark City (1998)

Dark City (1998)

Director: Alex Proyas

Starring...
Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch
Richard O'Brien as Mister Hand
Kiefer Sutherland as Dr. Daniel P. Schreber
William Hurt as Inspector Frank Bumstead
Jennifer Connelly as Emma Murdoch

A $28 million budget art house film that features several actors who have now ascended the ranks of stardom. The story follows John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) who wakes up in a bath tub at the scene of a murder where he soon finds himself pursued by a mysterious group of black clad, pale fleshed men lead by Richard O'Brien (you may know him as the creator, writer, and co-star of the midnight screened, all-time cult favorite musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show) and John must recieve aid from a man claiming to be his doctor (TV's 24 star Kiefer Sutherland). Discovering that the black-clad men (refered to as Strangers) control all that is within the city it is up to John to discover the secret of the city, the Strangers, and why the city never sees daylight. To do this he must discover the location of Shell Beach; the place everyone knows about, but no one seems to remember the directors to.

The film also stars William Hurt as the detective who is placed in charge of the mysterious case, and Jennifer Connelly as the woman who claims to be his wife.

Dark City has over the past 11 years become a cult-favorite, starring actors who have risen in status in recent years, starring film-cult-figure Richard O'Brien, and being the immediate follow-up of director Alex Proyas' critically acclaimed adaptation of The Crow (which starred the late Brandon Lee who died from a technical acident during filming) and Proyas continues to dazzle with low-budget visual flair in this film-noir masterpiece that earned the title of being Roger Ebert's top film of 1998. Alex Proyas may be used as a corporate tool now, having his style severely cut back by studio control (see: I'Robot, and Knowing, both of which are severely different than Proyas' original ideas).

DVD to watch: I strongly recomment the director's cut over the theatrical cut, not so much because of content, but because the pacing of the director's cut is far more