A unique look at all forms of expression. Unencumbered by logic, credentials or ego, this is ImageChaos. Just like the Twilight Zone… but smarter.

And more, I wonder at how to get it.

I suppose most people think about it as often as I do. In fact, I would venture to say that everyone wants it. Everyone wants to be successful. So I do not want to waste time establishing this very basic fact: I want success.

The fact of the matter is that we all work towards someone else’s success. That local fry cook? Working to the success of the diner owner. The bus driver? To the success of a transportation agency. Unless your paycheck comes from your own wallet, you are working to the benefit of someone else.

I’m not sure about everyone else, but I don’t want my sweat to grease someone else’s leather wallet — Hmm, that analogy failed somewhere.

I have taken steps to work towards my own success. To work towards living my passion. I’ve taken steps in my work, in my personal life. Changes are occurring and I must be willing to work through these changes, with these changes to affect the life that I want. To gain the success that I want.

G40 - The Summit. Where ARTS and politics collide

I did something on Wednesday that I never do: I took a risk on an Art show by actually going to one. I decided to dedicate thirty minutes to go see something that I’d only heard about from a friend in a random email. With my gps acting the fool, it took me some time to find, but when I did I was floored.

“G40 – The Summit: Where ARTS and politics collide” is five floors (that’s 75,000 square feet of office floor space) of wall-to-wall ART. I mean really great art.

Usually when I go to these sorts of things put on by a community organization — G40 is sponsored by CrystalCity and more, see below — I am sorely disappointed in the quality of art and displays available, so my expectations weren’t that high. Yeah… I’ll try not to make that mistake again.

G40 features more art than you can shake a leg at with more than 500 artists contributing to displays. An entire floor is dedicated to local (DC) artists while the other four are allocated to other portions of the world. All of it, with only a few exceptions, is excellent.

There are live events including live painting and spoken word, samples of food and desserts are available on the Lobby floor from local culinary artists. Nearly all of the pieces on the upper floors are available for purchase and range from $40 to $5000.

Below are some photos I took while there. I highly recommend that anyone in the DC area take the time to spend an evening at this event.

What: G40 – The Summit
When: Wednesday 3 March 2010 – Wednesday 31 March 2010
Where:  223 23rd Street South, Arlington, VA 22202

I had to resist going insane with these things...

"Be The Change" by Munk One ($800)

A Wall Mural by JohnTaylorArt.net

by Tyler Matthew Oyer ($400)

"I Like What You Are Thinking" by Cameron Tiede ($800)

G40 The Summit is sponsored by:

Crystal City (www.crystalcity.org)
Art Whino (www.ArtWhino.com)
Vornado (Charles E. Smith)
DC Magazine
Yelp

I am inspired. I am always inspired. There is not a day that goes by where I do not consider a new story idea or a new development in those that I already have. There is not a moment that passes where I do not consider a “what if” or a “wouldn’t it be cool if?”. There are times where it stifles my attention or causes me to fixate on an object or thought to the exclusion of all other things.

I’ve heard this is ADD.

But beyond whatever implication that involves I find myself unable to focus on a project or fear to start a project simply because I know, for a fact that another idea will come along and inspire me to such a degree that I abandon the old and move on to the new. I am paralyzed because I know that something will not get done.

I’ve written and re-written one particular story in my head nearly four times, but I can never get to a point where I simply sit and hammer the damned thing out. Right now, I’m publishing “The Last Mage” on this blog, but this, too, is an idea I’ve bandied about for years. There are still others that knock on the door of my mind, demanding attention.

It is not so much that I think one is better than the other and so deserves more attention. It is that I have no idea how to reconcile and prioritize the stories in my mind. I have no agent so there is no direction there. There is no editor to focus my attention. All I have is my friends, most of whom aren’t interested in listening to me talk about my writing and even fewer interested in reading whatever it is I’ve written.

So my question to the ether is this: What do I do about it? I feel as if my mind is about to explode.

Avatar
Rated: PG-13
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang

Despite some 2D character depictions, this 3D spectacle is worth your dollars.

I must acknowledge the blue, six-legged, two-trunked elephant in the room. It’s name is Avatar and it has made 1.8 billion at the time of this writing. Is it a good movie? That answer is simple: It is a great movie. While it does have a few bad points, it has deserved every cent it grossed.

Avatar tells the story of Jake Sully, an ex-marine (Sam Worthington) recruited to participate in a scientific expedition on the alien moon of Pandora. He is given the opportunity to pilot, or inhabit, a genetically engineered version of the local sentient species called an avatar and gain back the mobility he lost while in the military. While in his avatar, he is tasked to convince the inhabitants of the planet, the Na’vi, to leave their home so that a mining venture can extract ore from beneath it.

There are two things that you must know before going into the film. First: the movie is long at a bit more than two and a half hours. Second: see it in 3-D. The pacing of the film is such that you won’t notice its length with slightly unequal parts action and drama. I’ve seen the film in 2-D and 3-D and I can confidently say that the experience is worth the extra price of admission.

The film is stunning with vibrant colors in dense jungles, sweeping expanses in flight and majestic, if floating, mountains. Even the science labs and the military base are impressive. The performances of the actors were strong with a notable mention of Zoe Saldana’s portrayal of Nytiri, Jake Sully’s guide within the Na’vi people. I was stunned to witness the aptitude of the actors playing the Na’vi and the technical teams responsible for animating their computer-generated counterpart to ultimately move the characters from ‘blue aliens’ to living, breathing people.

There has been some mention in new articles of the unfortunate two-dimensional portrayal of the military characters, the similarities between the Na’vi and the indigenous people of our own history, and the resonance of historical events on Earth. While these things may exist, they do not detract from the experience of the film as a sweeping journey, a coming of age story, and as a study in the technical marvel of film. I encourage all viewers to attend the film with an open mind and ridiculous 3-D glasses.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Rated: PG-13
Starring: Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law, Christopher Plummer

Stunning visuals and blazing performances saves the sometimes hard to follow narrative.

When Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), a millennia-old monk turned circus mentalist, is confronted with the loss of his daughter, he employs the aid of the wily Tony (Heath Ledger) to help him win a wager with the devil (Tom Waits). That’s the simple version of the plot of the film, but the actual experience involves mythology, psychology, and Burton-ology.

The film is good. Good in the sense that you might find yourself on a lazy Sunday flipping through cable channels, read the synopsis and think “Hmm, that looks good.” Not good in the sense that it is a must-see spectacle. The performances by the actors are very well done with the adversarial/strange camaraderie between Doctor Parnassus and Mr. Nick (read: the devil) are some of the best scenes in the film. The environment and sets are also well imagined. A great deal of the mundane portion of the story occurs in a horse-drawn traveling stage that invokes imaginings of old-style circuses and traveling shows. The fantastical portions of the film, which occur in the titular Imaginarium, are vibrant and whimsical with a hint of Burton-style sinister.

While the settings and performances proved the strong points of the film, the storytelling seems to be its weak point. The story of Doctor Parnassus is a strange, twisted thing that wasn’t given enough screen time for the audience to fully grasp the scope of his ability and, ultimately, the intensity of his sorrow. Additionally, the Imaginarium itself was vaguely explained and it isn’t until the later half of the film that it is fully explained. It felt as if there was a great deal missing from the film that could have made it far better than what was experienced.

I must note that this was Heath Ledger’s last role in a film. He passed away midway through filming, but had completed all, or mostly all, of the mundane scenes. In the fantastical scenes, he is replaced by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law in some of the most inspired plot explanation that I’ve seen in a while. Watching them give their own interpretation of the character of Tony was well worth the price of a matinee.

Sherlock Holmes
Rated: PG-13
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong

This gritty, well-paced action-mystery does the titular character justice.

I like mystery. I like action. I like Sherlock Holmes. If you are like me, you’ll find that a combination of these things would seem antithetical as it pertains to the common portrayal of the great detective. Usually portrayed as a bookish, monocled, pipe-smoking, English gentleman, Robert Downey Jr.’s Holmes is a refreshing re-imagining of a man so brilliant as to very nearly be a super-man.

The plot is simple: Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) comes back from the dead to terrorize London. Frankly, that’s all beside the point. The point is: the film opens with Sherlock Holmes kicking a guard’s proverbial butt with such efficiency that one wonders what else he’s capable of. Fortunately for us, the film proceeds to show us how excellent a detective Holmes is.

Beyond the detective work, the film also shows us the human side of Holmes. He is condescending, sometimes callous, and socially awkward. More than that, though, we see the pain one experiences from having such a powerful intellect. We also see the fine line that Holmes walks between genius and madness. To this end, his companion, Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) provides the understanding foil to Holmes’ genius, focusing him and supporting him through his eccentricities.

The environment and color of the film skews toward a darker, grittier London while still touching on the grandeur of the privileged in certain scenes. The plot is complicated with new twists and turns added at an even, steady pace. There is action, martial arts, and a very, very large explosion, things that other Holmes films had reduced to simple fires and running after a shadowy figure down a dark alley. This is today’s Sherlock Holmes.

The film leaves me with positive feelings about the future of the Holmes franchise and Downey’s career.

The List

I bought some notecards yesterday with the intention of doing some story-boarding but today all I ended up doing was writing a list of all the things I’m doing in my life outside of work. All of my projects that I’ve either started or intend to start this year. It’s a little disheartening. Some of these things I’ve been working on for years. A book I’m trying to write has been percolating in my mind for nearly seven years.

Seven years.

What the hell am I waiting for? For someone who has never read my work to plop a contract on my desk and say “Write, and I shall pay you!” Well, yes. But the thing is, rationally, I know that this is not how the world works. I know I have to actually write something to put up and publish and send out and do the leg-work of getting it published. I know this, but I am stuck in the mentality of ‘it will just happen’.

So, In December,  I said that I wanted to do things ten days at a time. That was to be my New Year’s resolution. That didn’t really come to fruition. Mostly because I forgot about it. Also, because I didn’t find anything compelling about it. Okay, sure, the prospect of having something actually done is amazing, but, then again, I’m a lazy bastard.

Sigh.

There are so many things that I want to do and I find myself lost in the details and work of it all. At this point I’m suspending the ten day goal until I can fully understand what it is that goes through my mind.

Mood: Frustrated.

–

PS – I think I just lost all of my posts from my old blog.

Mood: Extremely Frustrated.

I suppose it’s time for a quarter-life crisis, though I have six months until the date when it happens. But I’ve been thinking and reflecting on all of the things that I want to change about my own life. And, content that I have a comprehensive list of all of my faults (fixable and non), I turn my thoughts outward.

I have discovered that I am tired. Not in the physical fatigued sense, though I am that, too, but in the emotional and mental sense. In the sense that there are things in the world that are stressing me. Of course, there is the ever-ubiquitous work. That is what it is and there’s no changing that. But then there’s politics and health care reform and gay rights and religious rights and all this stuff constantly talked about in the 24 hour news cycle that I get to a point where I just want to take a bat to my TV and just be done with it.

And then there’s stupidity. Also ever-ubiquitous. I can’t get away from it. It’s on the Metro in the mornings and evenings (Stay out of my way and you won’t get your heels stepped on), it’s in the craziness of missed appointments at work during the day, it’s in the homeless guy standing outside of the McDonald’s asking if someone would buy him something to eat (No, I won’t. I just saw you smoking, jackass. Where’d you get the money for THAT?)

Then, there’s media. Did you know that I can’t watch regular television anymore? I simply cannot bring myself to sit and watch weak writing being spoken by weak actors underneath a weak as hell soundtrack.

I’m also tired of people in my personal life. Just generally tired. And it’s kinda funny because I don’t really deal with very many people in my personal life. Just some folks at work, my family and a few friends. But they get to me as well.

So, yes, I am tired. Exhausted even. Hopefully a good night’s sleep will remedy the situation. I doubt it, though.

People will still be stupid when I wake up.