Archetypes

I seem to view the world largely in terms of archetypes, and have done so since I was a kid.
I never remembered people's names very well, either in real life or in movies or TV shows.

In film school, I had one teacher whose tests consisted of asking if you remembered the name of the maid in the throwaway scene or if you remembered the favorite shoe of the incidental character in the other film.
I fumed that it wasn't a test so much as a trivia quiz.
Eckhart Tolle, in one of his many lectures available in audio format,
insists that he can't remember names but it doesn't imply any disrespect for the reality of the person behind the name. The audience laughed when he said this, they weren't buying it.
That was his excuse, and this one is mine: archetypes.
I don't expect you to buy it any more than Tolle's audience did, but I may as well finish explaining the theory.

On a recent project, I'd been fleshing out into a full treatment a one page idea written by one of the producers. She had the wives of the main characters doing things, I began separating them into individuals with the help of the original author. By the end, we had specific ideas about their personalities and looks, but we still were referring to them as "Mrs. This" and "Mrs. That." Neither of us felt the need to name them other than in terms of their relationship to the main character, however, we had given them all back story and motivation so that they could each write their own lines practically in any situation we put them in.

In this new long-form fiction thing I'm working on, the main character is a mix of two historical figures, several fictional characters, and myself. His supernatural girlfriend is DEFINITELY based on one of my own personal supernatural ex-girlfriends, and the woman he wishes he could be with instead is based on two actual women who were unrequited loves of two of the historical figures. So for now, while writing, they all have names which remind me of who they are based on, so I keep them in character throughout. Dumb names, the kind Joyce would use-- haha just kidding.

OK time to make the podcast, speaking of archetypal figures.

Checker Phil and the Mystery Art

 Esteemed public access producer Checker Phil
studies the mysterious art in the windows of the Roger Williams Hotel.
Who created this art? Well... we both forgot to make note of the artist's name.
And I can't find anything about it on the hotel's website!
If you can end this enigma for us, please do so,

because I don't feel like walking all the way back there.

Is mystery.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDENDUM
The mystery has been solved for us by Frank Edward Nora, better known as podcaster The Rampler!
The exhibit is called, "Yeon Jin Kim: All Intelligent Animals Are Dangerous"
Thanks Frank! Check out Frank's great internet radio website here:
http://onsug.com

Phoenix Rising

Anna's Phoenix

I was walking around in the sun just before, listening to mp3's.

The Breeders were singing to me,
"Still the sun shines! The sun shines!!!
We're gonna rise--
feel the light on my face!"
The sun WAS shining and I DID feel the light on my face.
It felt like the first time I'd felt it since I guess 2001 or so.

I'd been saying to my last partner,
just before we split up,
that the time for trying to fit in and be mainstream was over.
This particular ex-partner sings very beautiful but very
middle-of-the-road music.
I told her that with Obama coming in, it's time for artists
to be ARTISTS again-- visionaries and prophets,
not court jesters, "gangstas," bullies or Britney hacks
(not that she was or is any of these things-- she's still my friend).
I told her that I should be working with artists that were
pulling me to be more daring and original,
not someone that was
pulling me toward the mainstream.
I really wasn't very nice about it, but it was a sudden epiphany
and you have no choice but to go with those when they hit you.
My thinking is that right now,
the mainstream is about to become whatever the
coolest artists who get into the media
manage to MAKE it.


There was nothing like Beavis and Butthead in the mainstream
until Beavis and Butthead was in the mainstream in the early 90s.
Before that, Winger was actually popular (sorry, Reb).
In the later 60's, when the Beatles
decided that songs about LSD were
mainstream boy band music, then they were.
Before the Beatles, Pat Boone was a symbol
of the mainstream in music.
There are times of artistic renaissance
where things become sane
for a short period,
and artists get to have a larger say
in what subjects get talked about,
what attitudes are acceptable,
and
ABOVE: Anna Copa Cabanna on location.

Plus for whatever reason, I'm not happy
unless I have a star walking around for me to videotape.

You can friend Anna Copa Cabanna here: http://www.myspace.com/annacopacabanna

Very Serious Art Theories

If you think cartoons aren't a very deadly serious subject, you will be stunned by the sheer intellectual and existential gravity of Uncle Eddie's Theory Corner, hosted by former Ren and Stimpy/Mighty Mouse animator Eddie Fitzgerald (he also worked on Animaniacs but we'll forgive him). Perhaps nobody since Chuck Jones has been able to speak so seriously about funny cartoons. In fact, it's hard to imagine how a man so adult and mature could possibly make a living creating silly funnies for the kiddies.
If you like your cartoon commentary dry, humorless and severely intellectual, then Uncle Eddie's Theory Corner is the blog for you. Hats off to Uncle Eddie!