With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.
I enjoy paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.
September 04, 2005 - 11:30 p.m.
Wow hardly anyone read my last entry. You know what that means, I’m going to ask you to read it now.
I saw an amazing film today, one that I thought that I had seen but I hadn’t. It was Michael Powell’s The Edge of the World. It is about the death of a small island in the far north of Scotland. Life there became economically unviable and everyone has to leave. That is the plot; it doesn’t begin to touch the magic of the film. Nothing I write could, the film is told visually. You have to see the spectacular landscape, especially the sea cliffs for yourself. You also have to see the characters. It is a culture as foreign as can be, in some ways they are totally alien, yet you can see that in so many ways they are just like us.
The film is an Indie film from before there were Indie films. Powell had worked as a director for hire before this, making quickies, 20 films in 8 years. He wanted to film this story and found someone to give him the money to make is vision real. The film doesn’t use fancy camera tricks, it tells the story in a linear and easy to follow style. It makes no attempt to be weird. Yet it is as personal film as I’ve ever seen. Nobody else could have made it.
I’m sure I’ve raved about Powell and his frequent collaborator Emeric Pressburger before. If you appreciate great films you need to see as many as their films as possible. Here is the list of ones that I’ve seen in reverse chronological order:
- Peeping Tom
- Pursuit of the Graf Spee aka Battle of the River Plate
- The Red Shoes
- Black Narcissus
- I Know Where I’m Going
- A Matter of Life and Death aka Stairway to Heaven
- The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
- The Thief of Baghdad
I am actually watching The Thief of Baghdad right now. Every Sunday this month TCM is going to show Powell films. Don’t miss them.
I had my best home cooked meal since I started taking care of my mother today. I barbequed. I bought some really good steaks the other day and today I grilled them. That is my one real cooking talent; I can grill a steak or a chicken like nobody’s business. My mother really appreciated it too. I’ll have to do it more often.
Can you believe that somebody stole one of my garbage cans? It was the one I use for mixed paper. I had to run out to Home Depot to buy another one. I’m always a little nervous when I leave my mother alone but I think it helps her feel less helpless.
The International Jewish Banking Conspiracy - October 07, 2008
On the Road to Westchester County - October 06, 2008
Inside the Madison Square Studio - October 05, 2008
I'm a Bosniac and I'm debating like I've never debated before - October 03, 2008
Islands in the Stream of Consciousness - October 02, 2008
Email me: GordonLew at gmail
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile September 04, 2005
