Thinking

I've been having a bunch of trouble updating my blog lately. I have two theories as to why. One is that it is because I was trying to do it using Mozilla Firefox as my browser, and somehow that screwed it up. Today I'm trying using IE. I really like Firefox as a browser, by the way. You should check it out if you haven't already. Anyway. My other theory about my difficulties in posting makes less sense, admittedly. I was thinking that it was because I posted scathing reviews of the movie Robots and perhaps Blogger has some connection the studio that produced Robots. That might be taking my conspiracy theory thing too far, though. Anyway, don't see the movie Robots is the short version of my previous unpostable posts about it. It is trite, predictable and emotionally manipulative. It was the most predictable movie I've ever seen. The only highlights were Robin Williams' character and a 5 second shot of a robot doing the robot dance (hee hee hee).

Last night I rediscovered my favourite artist, Darren Waterston. Andrew and I saw an exhibition of his art in Nashville last Reading Week when we were down there visiting his parents. We actually went for the other exhibition which was all famous artists - Renoir, Van Gogh, Monet, etc. We saw the famous Renoir talked about in Amelie with the girl and the water glass. That was a highlight. However, my favourite part of the visit was when I got bored of the "classic" paintings (this happened quickly - I'm not a huge art connossieur) and wandered off by myself into another gallery. There I found Darren Waterston's paintings, and I didn't want to leave. These paintings speak to me so that I feel that I could spend the rest of my life staring at them and be perfectly content. I feel like they have an important message for me that I need to decode. Check them out at the link above and see if you like them too. The ones on the site right now are different from the ones I saw last year, and the style is a bit different. It's also harder to connect with them when they are online, but you can still get an idea. I hope to someday be able to afford at least one, when I'm rich. I don't usually respond well to art, especially sort of abstract art like this, but there is something there that gets me where it matters. Andrew didn't understand my fascination with these works, and it's not something that I can explain. Just see for yourself.

I've also rediscovered Beatles music today. I'd forgotten how much the Fab Four speak to me in that secret language. These paintings and this music make me feel understood again, because here are people creating art to express those things that I can't express myself. I guess that that's why people respond to art and music and literature and film (good film, not Robots) - because artists express those things that ordinarily we cannot. I'm on a big theorizing communication and art kick right now. I'll let you know if I come up with anything original.

Yesterday I watched the movie Kinsey. I quite enjoyed it. It made me re-evaluate my thoughts on sex, because I thought I knew what I felt about it, but certain elements of the movie either made me uncomfortable or I was OK with that I didn't expect. It's a good movie to get you thinking about sex and sex's role in society. And it's well done, entertaining, etc. Plus, you get to see Peter Sarsgaard make out with Liam Neeson - very hot. Peter Sarsgaard looks much better in this movie than he did in Garden State - much more clean cut.

I had a reflection on the coming of spring in the upostable post. Luckily, I have that part saved. Spring is here! On Saturday, I realized that the Earth had woken up and started breathing again. I could smell her, and I knew that she was alive again. Monday I saw the first crocusses peeking their heads up. There is still a bit of snow around, but it's raining now and it's supposed to rain for the next 2 or 3 days, so I don't imagine it will last. It's amazing how all the clichés are true - walking home from school in the rain Monday, I felt like I was waking up as well after a winter's hibernation. I hate having feelings like this. I feel like I'm feeling what I've been indoctrinated to feel after reading all of the nature symbolism in literature and seeing pathetic fallacy in movies, but the weather and the outside does have an effect on me. Andrew would probably applaud me for finally realising my connections to the earth, and will probably expect this to usher in a new era of non-nocturnal living, but I don't just want to accept this. And I especially don't want to give up being nocturnal until I absolutely have (read, get a "real" job). I sleep so much better in daylight than in moonlight. But, that's a whole other topic. Back to this spring thing, my parents back in Ontario said that they saw a robin in their backyard the other day. So, that means that spring is really here. I do enjoy having longer days, I will admit, and the promise of the sunshine and tanning and the energy that come with summer is a nice one.

Last night I stayed up until about 7am. I meditated, or at least had quiet time in my living room from about 6:15am on. It's amazing how doing this can make you feel so centered, so calm, and so snapped into place. Of course, the feeling doesn't last, but I suppose it would if you made a regular habit of meditation/quiet time. There is something really beautiful about mornings, if you have stayed up all night. Watching the sky lighten and hearing the birds squabble and just hearing the quiet everywhere.

Anyway. I do have to rejoin the real, outside world tomorrow, so I guess I should go make some dinner and do some reading and research. Here's your question to ponder: What are dreams? Are they just manifestations of what's going on in your subconscious, or is there more to them than that? Is there an actual separate dream world that people travel to, or is that just something weird New Agey people tell you? Discuss.