November 5, 2008

Necrology


If you're ever able to track down the 11-minute long 1971 short film Necrology by director Standish Lawder, you should do so. It's a wonderful experience. Gorgeous and serious, and then -all of a sudden- Lawder stuns you with one of the best and longest-lasting jokes in cinematic history.

I'm not a fan of short films generally (even though I'm currently making one), but Necrology is really something.

Even on the internet it's a little hard to come by information about it. Here's the best link I could find.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I watched the results, and the speech. So did you, probably. I got emotional. So did you, probably.

Yep.

It was a warm day in Montreal today. Thanks for the nice weather Mr. President-elect. Seriously. He can do anything.





3 comments:

Jon Coutts said...

did you know that a few minutes before obama came on for his speech they played a music montage and the song was an instrumental version of The National's "Fake Empire"?

I just thought that was awesome. I turned and said to my wife: "Sure is nice to have a contemporary president. Usually right now all we're hearing is REO Speedwagon and Garth Brooks." (Also couldn't help but wonder: Is there irony in the song title?)

Another time I felt this was when he was laughing at McCain's rhetoric in one of the debates. I felt like I knew him. I bet half the country at that moment related strongly with McCain and the other half (or significantly more than half it seems) solidly related to Obama.

He is sure a good speaker, he seems to look at the world in many ways I feel I can finally connect with, and seems genuinely desirous of real political dialogue. I find that semi-exciting. I pray it doesn't get beat out of him, either by his foes, or by the always bubble-bursting inevitability of having to make decisions in lose-lose situations.

s$s said...

Fake Empire!?! Woe. That's either a great joke, or a stroke of genius I can't quite comprehend. I had the TV on mute until Obama came on-screen (I can't handle commercials, so I usually watch TV on mute).

I love John McCain. I really do. He's a totally inspiring figure. However, during the campaign I don't know what happened to him. He turned into a more typical partisan Republican. It felt like he gave control to somebody else; as if he said to his advisors, "here are the lines I won't cross, but beyond that I'll do whatever you tell me to -so long as it gets me elected." So that sucked.

As for Obama: I've completely bought into the hype. Honestly, I think he has already changed America -just by getting everyone thinking optimistically and with much more open minds. But it will be interesting watching the rubber meet the road when he actually begins governing. But I'm very optimistic. He has asked the world to get their hopes up, and so I have. He's got balls, raising expectations like that. He must think he can deliver.

He's a peacemaker, so I don't think it was empty rhetoric when he told the people who didn't vote for him that he'd be their president too, and would hear their voices. For me it is the sincerity I feel in such expressions that make Obama such a compelling figure.

Yesterday I felt like someone had injected a good mood into the universe. I realized the cloud we'd been living under since September 11th was hinting that it might begin to lift.

We'll see.

I'm truly hopeful.

Look around you: across the globe people are daring to feel good. What an accomplishment already.

Jon Coutts said...

yeah that's something. the cloud from 9/11. good point.