charlieDEAN’S Blog

For several months now, I’ve walked past Endless Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at Hollywood Video. It’s not that I was resisting, only that with building the house this summer and being the parent of 2 active boys, my opportunities to rent movies aren’t what they used to be and so I end up usually getting big-budget flicks.

So last night, I rented Endless Sunshine… and I loved it. Kate Winslet is fabulous and it’s refreshing to see Jim Carrey in a more serious role. But what grabbed me was the last seen where Joel and Clementine are in the hallway outside his apartment after having just listened to the tapes and the whole conversation between them is something like, “I’m screwed up,” “Yeah, so am I.” And then they decide that it’s worth it. I think too many people are looking for the perfect lover, friend, neighbor, pastor, etc., but the reality is that we are all so screwed up, but it’s worth it!

Another thought…I’ve been thinking through an idea that I don’t know exactly how to put into words, but I’ll try anyway. I think movies like this belong in a different category for me than regular run-of-the-mill Hollywood fare. When I think of movies like this one, Garden State, Life as a House, Big Fish, etc. I think of a category that I call “writers’ movies.” Movies, where the emphasis is not on star power or special effects or novelty but upon the strength of interesting, sometimes quirky characters who hold my attention.

Okay, I’m usually pretty blaise about movies. I heard once that most big budget movies are consciously created and marketed with 19-24 year-old in mind. I think the reason that this is true is because after 24, it’s hard to find movies that have an original idea. Constantine is far, far away from predictable movie making! I laughed through most of the film (although it’s not intended to be a comedy) at all the things that I didn’t learn in Seminary. (For example, I wish I would have stayed in school longer to get the brass knuckles to beat down demons with!) But, unlike most movies that I’ve seen recently (with the exception of Garden State) I am still thinking about Constantine 2 days later.

So here’s a couple thoughts about the movie…
1. At first I was telling people that this movie is great as long as you keep in mind that it is based upon a comic book series (Hellblazer). But this is almost exactly antithetical to the director’s own purpose. Here’s what he said in a Relevant Magazine article:

“I didn’t want to make a comic book movie. I tried to base it in reality, in Los Angeles today. Real people in real places make it much scarier. It is easier to believe in the supernatural when it appears common and everyday.”

I think that one of the cool things about this movie is that it makes the supernatural real…Okay, the details might be a bit crazy (I haven’t shown you my cross-shaped gun? Every card-carrying pastor has one, don’t you know?), but I always get excited when people actually decide to think as if the supernatural really exists!

2. The second thought is that while this is a supernatural/spiritual movie, it is not a Christian movie per se. Check out this quote from Relevant:

“The spiritual battle raging around and within Constantine echoes classic literature like Dante’s Inferno and Milton’s Paradise Lost. Jamie Delano and Garth Ennis wrote most of the Hellblazer comics and the Constantine screenplay. They didn’t approach the material with any particular Christian intentions or sympathy. In fact, both writers have made their disdain for organized religion quite clear.”

Interesting that people who despise organized religion so much are still so taken by the possibility of something greater than ourselves…

Okay, I could go on…but I’ll just let you comment if you’d like…

Here’s the link to the Constantine website and to Relevant magazine.

So, I swallowed my pride and ordered the Dell DJ instead of an iPOD…it’s really just about finances…as much as I tell people that the Dell DJ has done very well in tests, and that everyone that I know that has one loves it, and it will probably be more compatible with my PC…deep down, I want to be cool and have an iPOD, and yet, seeing as how we haven’t even put in the driveway to our new home, finances prevailed!

In my CD player right now, Damion Rice, O. It’s great “working in the office” music…

Also, if you’re a fellow DMB fan, check out their website, particularly the New Studio Album section — there’s some good stuff there! My favortie quote — “It’s about the music…there is no BS in the studio!” — Fonzy

About a year ago, I went to meet a friend, who just happens to be a psychologist, for lunch. After the customary 1 hour, I asked him if he needed to go, and he responded that when he schedules lunch meetings, he also clears his calendar of any meetings with patients in order to avoid hurrying through lunch. I was impressed! Here’s a guy that probably bills on the order of $90+ dollars an hour, and he clears his schedule in order to slow down.

Since that meeting, I’ve decided to “go European.” I guess in the business world, a 1-hour lunch is the standard form, but I’ve decided that it seems that often the best conversation happens in the second hour, once you’ve gotten past the “information stage,” where you basically bring the other person up-to-speed with all the stuff that is happening in your life. I call it “going European” because Europeans seem to have a sensibility that meeting someone over a meal is not about seeing how fast one can cram food down their gullet before heading off to more important stuff. Maybe the most important “stuff” is to slow down, enjoy the meal, order some coffee and share life together.

So, if we get together for lunch anytime soon, I’ve probably planned for plenty of time, I hope your schedule will allow you the freedom to slow down!

Celebrated my 31st birthday last week. Sadly I felt like 31! I usually don’t get all fired up about a particular number, but our staff went bowling last week, so on my birthday I was sore (before you mock me, I go to the gym at least 4 times a week…how about you?)

Anyway, I had a very pleasant day at work…(I was surprised by all the cards I got…made me feel like a little bit of a jerk that I’m not very good at sending cards for people’s birthdays!)…and then had a quiet evening at home with Jen, the boys, my parents, my sister, her husband and my niece. We all watched The Notebook, we thought it was terrible — it totally destroyed the tensions left by the book, but that’s usually par for the course in Hollywood!

It’s snowing again here in Illinois…in recent days I’ve noticed signs of the annual winter-time-don’t-often-see-the-sun-mild-depression. Not that anything is really wrong, just find myself getting quieter, longing for some time on my bike in the woods.

In other news, I should be getting a laptop in the next couple of days which will help me to blog more — it’s hard to take time to blog when everything else in my office gets in the way! I’m also looking for a new blogsite — probably one that I’ll have to pay for, I find this site a bit unwieldy, epsecially with graphics…I’ve tried to insert some, but it doesn’t seem to work as smoothly as they say it should, and I have very little control over placement, size, etc.

I do need a hand…my birthday is tomorrow, and I’m thinking of buying either an i-Pod Mini, or a Dell Jukebox DJ…any preferences?