Strange Visions and Ideas.

It was four in the morning when I tried to go to sleep last night and here we are again. Last night the issue keeping me from slumber was the idea that I could just put a movie on and pass out. Sometimes though, those movies end up being bad ass and I stay awake to see how it all plays out. Tonight though, those movies are still bouncing around and still taking up space in my head. I tried to distract myself but the fact that I have been drinking has left me incapable of focusing on anything else for the time being.

First I watched a movie called ‘The Way Back’ with Ed Harris and Colin Farrell. Supposedly based on a true story but the thing to watch it for is the incredible scenery. It starts at a Gulag camp in Siberia in the early days of World War 2 and it follows  a handful of escapees over mountains and deserts, documenting their incredible journey to freedom in India. Powerful stuff if you’re into that sort of thing, adventure and survival stories, wilderness and men being manly. Since it was made by National Geographic, it was done right, it was done beautifully and it focused more on the surroundings and the journey more than the heartfelt human interactions, even though all the characters were likeable and believable throughout. Setting in this case was the undeniable star of this movie.

As the sun started coming up I started a documentary called ‘Erasing David’ figuring it was a perfect one to nod off to. It only took about ten minutes to figure out how wrong I was. Not only did I say awake watching it but for most of the day just thinking about the movie. Netflix is great for someone like me but becoming paranoid about the internet and how much information I put on it was pretty terrifying. The film maker hired some private eyes and tried to disappear and hide from them by going off the grid and he gave them a month to find him. It took 18 days for him to be found just from data the private eyes found online. They tracked him with using his phone and it was fun watching David start going nuts over the course of the movie. Pretty amazing stuff and I was inspired to get a book about how to disappear, written by one of the experts in the movie.

Now I am watching one called Zenith. So far it’s about secret societies and a world where people a genetically enhanced to always be happy and they buy emotions like drugs. In this world, words have lost their meaning and the main character is trying to figure out how it all happened.  So far so good. Lots of strange ideas and unknown filmmakers are creating visions in my head. Nothing new there though, it’s better this way.

3/5/2012 9:49 PM