A Nameless Blog

This is a first: I have multiple requests for blog posts at the same time.  One of them I’ll fold into this post and needs no mention; another I refuse to do (a tribute to Henry Waxman?  Uh… long-time politician, polite Democrat, strange nostrils… he seems like the type I could disagree with amicably.  There’s your tribute, G-bomb.); and the third… well, the third confused me a bit.  Brain-cell restoration movies/music/etc.  In other words, movies (and the like) that make you smarter, rather than the dumbing-down that Transformers gave her. 

At first, I thought she meant that I should list movies about brain-cell restoration, or maybe make a post of my own.  I like that idea, too, so I might run with that on a day when I have more time and creativity.  You know, sort of a reverse of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Here’s a preview:

HARRIED MAN: Help me, doctor, I can’t remember who played shortstop for the 1983 Philadelphia Phillies!
DOCTOR: Let me zap you with this laser.  Hold still.
HARRIED MAN: Ivan deJesus!

It’s a work in progress.  But since Gretchen’s request was a little more literal, I’ll fulfill that one first.  What are some movies, albums (or whatever) that I feel have made me smarter?  It’s a good question, since ideally, all the art we consume should do exactly that.  Art should make us more thoughtful, critical, and enlightened.  So here’s my hastily assembled list of pieces of art that I feel have improved my intelligence in some way.

WAKING LIFE — It’s as thinky as a movie can get.  Richard Linklater directs this live/animated set of vignettes that surround the nature of dreams and reality.  (What I mean by live/animated: You know those kind of irritating Charles Schwab ads that are animated, but are clearly drawn over actual video?  Those ads are a rip-off of Waking Life.)  The long-haired kid from Dazed and Confused tries to figure out whether he’s dreaming.  Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy have their umpteenth lengthy philosophical conversation in bed.  It’s 90 minutes of philosophical dorkdom, brought to you by the same man who gave the world Matthew McConaughey.  Imagine that.

THE FOUNTAIN — In what I consider Darren Aronofsky’s triumph, Hugh Jackman takes us on three concurrently presented storylines that center around man’s quest for immortality.  The modern-day (or slightly in the future) storyline has Jackman as a doctor trying to find a cure for Rachel Weisz’s inoperable disease.  The historical example has Jackman as a Conquistador searching for the tree of life in the name of his queen, Rachel Weisz.  And in the distant future, Jackman floats naked and hairless in space with the aforementioned tree of life.  It’s wonderfully strange, gorgeous, and thoughtful.  The storylines, disparate as they seem, intertwine nicely.  You’ll be hashing out the story and the philosophy for days after you see it.  Perhaps most impressive is that he used virtually zero CGI.  That’s right — Aronofsky didn’t use computers to make this.

NEARLY EVERY NON-FICTION BOOK — I could go on about anything by Malcolm Gladwell, Michael Lewis, or David Halberstam, but I don’t have the time or energy.  It should be obvious to you that an informative book will make you smarter.  Go read something.

MEMENTO — Just keeping track of events is mentally demanding in this, Christopher Nolan’s first feature film.  If you aren’t already familiar, Guy Pearce plays a man with a form of amnesia that prevents him from making new memories.  Even worse, the last memory he has is the brutal murder of his wife (he was hit in the head during the struggle).  So he goes on a quest to find the killer, even though he can’t keep his train of thought for more than ten minutes.  The movie’s big gimmick is that Nolan expresses the feeling of amnesia by presenting the film’s events backward.  It’s disorienting to great effect, and it’s a nice exploration of memory and cause-and-effect.  If you haven’t seen it, I’ll lend it to you.

THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF GREGORY CREWDSON — I could go on for years about his beautifully staged, surreal photos.  His milieu is normally the beautifully unsettling.  Sometimes the unsettling is more obvious than other times, but I think you can already see the surreal quality.  There’s nothing that unusual about a man looking sad in his garage, but to have him pile sod inside is a bit off.  He loves colliding the wild with the domestic, the indoors with the outdoors, the beautiful with the disturbing.  What strikes me most about Crewdson’s photos, though, is that it seems that he’s slyly damning his own medium.  Nearly every photo is lovely to look at, but also reminds you that you’re looking at a static image.  There is almost never even the suggestion of motion in any of his images.  The cities are empty; the cars and sundries are abandoned; the models are slouching, bored, sad.  It’s all a reminder that photography is inherently limited; that no matter how you might suggest motion, a still image will never adequately capture it.  Maybe I’m misinterpreting, but I’d rather Crewdson be subtly self-deprecating.

RADIOLAB — The best, smartest program NPR has to offer.  Hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich explore all manner of curiosities from time to laughter to sperm.  It’s basically two laymen making science even more amazing.  Also, the presentation is more artistic than any talk-radio show has business attempting.  You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or visit radiolab.org for past episodes.  Listen to them all.  Repeatedly.

ARTS & LETTERS DAILY (aldaily.com) — My favorite aggregator.  They cull articles from all over the internet for new books, ideas, and essays.  If I start a blog post with a link to an article that made me think, chances are I came across it on Arts & Letters Daily.

That’s all I have for the moment.  I couldn’t think of a suitable album that I feel made me smarter on a level beyond “well, now I appreciate music better”.  Sorry about that.  Now it’s your turn — what movies/albums/whatever have made you smarter?

-Darrell

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