Suffering

I was reading the book you see to your left--transcript of an interview by Bill Moyers of Joseph Campbell--and, as usual when I read Campbell, got my mind blown.

If you aren't familiar with Campbell, he was one of the world's foremost experts in mythology--its meaning, the common threads woven through myths from around the world and throughout time, and how they are still relevant in our daily lives.

Campbell always seems to provide food for thought. Many times when reading one of his books I'll encounter a paragraph or even just a sentence or two that will strike me as very profound, and lead to further thought outside of the context provided in the book itself. Many times he manages to add a missing piece to something I was working on.

Such was the case today, when I ran across the section where Moyers and Campbell talked about the significance of Christ's suffering on the cross in Christian mythology. Basically--and I'm terrible at explaining abstract concepts, I much prefer to demonstrate them in the context of a story or something--he said that the humanity in Christ and the deity became merged because of his suffering. That the yearning of god for man and man for god were unified in his agony.

For some reason I found that to be very profound, and I started thinking about love and suffering. It seems to me that love is not possible without pain, and the more deeply one loves, the more pain one feels. Also, the more pain one is willing to feel.

For example--I have a dear, dear friend who suffers from migraines, and another medical condition that causes her a great deal of pain. I love her, deeply and completely, and if I could I would take her pain away, even if it meant I had to experience it myself. I would not only do it, I would do it gladly--even as I felt the pain I would know it was pain that she was not feeling and my joy at giving her relief would offset any pain I felt. It's quite different from me experiencing my own pain--for example, the pain of this twisted ankle I've had for a week or so. That pain is personal and only involves me and I'd gladly get rid of it if I could--as long as getting rid of it didn't cause someone else to have to experience it. (Ankle's a lot better, btw, thanx for asking.)

This is, of course, really only part of it. Another part is the desire to consume and be consumed by the object of one's love. For example--imagine, if you worship some deity, that this deity is a sun, and its love for you is its heat. It's overpowering, inconceivable. It'll consume you. You'll experience intense agony while this happens. But it's an agony you crave, because while it consumes you, you are becoming one with it, experiencing its total and overwhelming love for you. Like a drop of water in an ocean--it merges and becomes mingled with the rest of the water until it is indistinguishible from all the other drops of water.

This is the missing piece for a story idea I've been struggling with for a while now. It fit into the hole in the puzzle with an almost audible click!

I do hope that makes some kind of sense---and if you were wondering, my atheism is still intact. It's just a fascinating and, I think, illuminating idea, especially when applied outside of the context of religion.

Anyway, if you haven't read Campbell I recommend you do so. He'll blow your mind, too.

"Take My Breath" now available

I just uploaded a new song, "Take My Breath," to the above links. If you go to my Facebook or iLike page you can download the free MP3! That's about as good as it can get! Anyway, click on over, check it out.

Okay, girls, here's why he didn't talk to you . . . maybe . . .

So, you're out with your friends and you see a hot guy. Your eyes meet. There's a connection. You keep glancing over at each other. Maybe he even comes by and chats you and your friends up.

Then he leaves. Didn't ask for your number or anything. Walks out of your life forever. Maybe.

Girls, you gotta give us a chance. If you like the guy and he seems to like you, he's not gonna make his move with your friends around. He doesn't want to get shot down with witnesses, and no matter how obvious the heat is, he's not going to be confident enough to take that chance--unless he's completely drunk or an obnoxious jerk, in which case if you say no he'll immediately hit on your friends. There's a reason we're a little shy when it comes to this--us guys have all ran into women who seem to spend their lives sending mixed signals, and been sent spiraling into the ocean, trailing flames and smoke. So, no, we don't want your friends to overhear when we ask for your number or otherwise make a move. In case you are one of those girls. Give a guy a break--he just met you, okay? How's he to know?

Of course I'm an expert at getting shot down, so I know what I'm talking about. I've hit the silk more times than I can count. In fact, I've been shot down so many times that when I hear 'yes' it takes me a little time to realize it--mentally I'm hearing 'no' again. So, I know all about getting tagged in the dating game.

So, separate yourself from your friends for a few minutes. Go to the bar to get drinks for your friends. Take your time, even a little longer than necessary. Give him a chance to approach--we're gonna want to appear to be cool, so he won't come running over. He'll kinda saunter over, like he was heading this way anyway and it's a happy coincidence that you just happen to be there. He can help you take the drinks back to your table, too. He'll be glad to help.

Of course, this is just an example. I'm sure you can come up with much more creative ways to do this. You don't have to wander around a dark alley alone or anything--you can even stay where your friends can see. Just as long as they are out of earshot. The basic point is give the dude a shot. If he blows it, he blows it, but at least he got a chance--which, trust me, is good karma for you, even if you decide to pass.

Then you can tell your friends all about it.

It's what's for dinner!

Got a boneless chicken breast thawing right now. Here's what I'm going to do with it.

Make a marinade:

2 cups buttermilk
1 clove garlic-minced
a big pinch of kosher salt
a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
a teaspoon of ground red pepper
2 teaspoons or more of basil

Mix the marinade. Cut the chicken breast into strips and put it in the marinade for around a half-hour or so. Prepare the breading:

A cup of flour
a quarter cup of corn meal
a teaspoon of salt
a teaspoon of black pepper

You can put the above ingrediants in a paper lunch sack, blow some air into it, and give it a vigorous shake to mix it all. Then pour that into a pan. Add the strips and roll those in the mixture. Deep fry the strips for nine minutes or until done. Serve with ranch or honey mustard dressing for dipping. Sprinkle malt vinegar over the strips.

This also works to make very tasty onion rings, fried squash, fried okra, even brocolli if you are so inclined. Just about any vegetable that can be fried is quite good this way. Adjust cooking times accordingly. I like to make onion rings with the chicken, then fry up some french fries to go with it. With a nice liberal sprinkling of malt vinegar over everything. Yum!

I adapted this from my copy of The Joy of Cooking. If you cook, don't cook without it. Lots of essential info contained within!

Was it good for you?

I reached a sort of milestone just now--finished the first draft of my spec script, Mythophobia.

I've mentioned how concerned I was about the ending, about how I was afraid I wouldn't be able to pull it off. Re-reading what I've done I think I managed it. It certainly affected me, and I'm not a sucker for my own stuff in that regard. Normally I underestimate the impact of what I've written, so if this hits me this hard then it might be lethal . . . heh.

Actually I doubt it, though my hope is, if this thing ever gets produced, you'll have some tears in your eyes at the end. And your throat will be raw from screaming, too. It is, after all, a horror movie . . .

What I've learned is a good sign, as I've mentioned before, is my complete immersion in it--it took a couple hours for me to write what I did today, which was the finale and the coda, and I felt like it was only a few minutes. Plus, I worked up a good sweat, too. Another good sign. It's hard work, making up stuff like this!

Anyways, I hope I'm not fooling myself with how good it is. It does need a rewrite--there's some stuff I need to tweak, some things that need to be edited, and I want to add a couple short scenes, stuff like that. Plus I need to work on the pacing--my most common complaint with a lot of films is herky-jerky pacing. It should flow, like a symphony--some faster tempo sections, some slower, some moderate . . . a good mix, working towards an overpowering finale. And a sweet, satisfying coda, to finish it off. Let's hope the music I'm making with this thing is something people will want to hear!

Now I need to take a day or so off from it. Gonna watch a movie or three, listen for a few dozen tunes, maybe record something new. I need to get some distance from it so I can be a little detached and approach it with a fresher perspective.



Speaking of music, I found a bit of inspiration in Sirenia's 13th Floor CD. Lots of mythical imagery and interesting dreamscapes to be found in this one. Very helpful soundtrack to assist with creative thought. Check it out!

O, for a Muse of Fire . . .

I got one of those. A Muse of Fire, that is. I'm understanding what Shakespeare was talking about at the beginning of Henry V.

I'm in the final act of this spec script I've been working on, Mythophobia. I've been worried about it for a while now--I felt like it might be a little too big for me. It could be one of those things that elevates this work to a special place, that makes it different from other films.

Or it could be a pretencious piece of crap.

So, with some anxiety I began working on it yesterday. Worked on it some more just now. So far, I'm pleased.

Sure, it's just a first draft, and it'll need some refining. To me, anyway, that's the easy part. The hard part is getting it down in the first place. Once it's out there it's just a matter of massaging it, snipping parts, moving stuff around, adjusting the flow, and all that.

A good sign--I have a huge playlist in ITunes I use, carefully selected music that provides my imagination with a proper context, a soundtrack, something to assist it in creating this stuff. When I checked I was about twenty songs into it before I quit for now. About an hour and a half. I had no clue I was at it for that long. This, in my experience with how I work, is a Very Good Sign.

I think one more session like that and I'll be through most of it--there will just be the coda, which won't be all that much, really. Maybe by tomorrow afternoon I'll be done with this part, and I'll be able to get out my blue pencil and start hacking away at it. Heh.

There is no feeling like this--putting something together, be it a story, a screenplay, a song, whatever. There is nothing like putting together a project and knowing that, even if it never gets published, produced, or whatever, that it is something special, something rare and worthwhile. That you brought something beautiful, truthful, rare and wondrous into the world.

Nothing like it. Nothing.

I like beer. And etc.

Right now, as I type this, I'm sipping my very first glass ever of a Samuel Adams ale--the creamy stout. And I'm enjoying it--as advertised, it's a little creamy, full-bodied, quite tasty. I dig it.

I like beer. I don't drink it very often, but on hot days when I have to be outside, or if I've been extremely busy and a bit stressed, a nice cold glass of something foamy is very refreshing. Just one, maybe two. Plus it gives the added benefit of helping me to relax a little. It also helps to get the creative juices to flowing, to lower inhibitions just a tad, and let those ideas sort of come out past my sometimes over-zealous editor. More than two, though, and I start getting drunk, and that never leads to anything useful.

Haven't done any writing yet. I've been running errands. There were some things I just desperately needed to do, stuff I needed to get, and then when I got home I had an invite to a lunch at work. How could I say no? So I went back to the office on my day off to share a sub sandwich with my co-workers.

Now I'm going to chill for a little while before diving back into the world of Mythophobia. I'm into the final act now, and this is when the true nightmare begins. My favorite part. If done right this could move this baby from the realm of the standard slasher flick into something special.

As such I want to be at a point where I can just sit and write and write and write until I'm done. Interruptions should be avoided at this point. Wish me luck.

Have I mentioned how much I dig Tristania? If you indulge in creative pursuits their music is conducive to the creative process. Really. Give them a shot. You won't regret it.