I'm reading About a Boy by Nick Hornby but take a two hour break to watch Defending Your Life. Fever Pitch, also by Hornby, is sitting there, waiting for me to finish up with Marcus, Will, and Fiona, so I can delve into the story of an Arsenal fan, yet I am compelled to take a short break and watch the Albert Brooks film before his new book 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America arrives. I like to chain smoke writers.
His being an uptight, neurotic New York Jew creates an instant familiarity for me, but the self-reflection in this movie hits home hard. Not just because I've had time to spend the last few years doing my own introspection, but because the first glimpse of what this movie is really about is, to me at least, the very thing that ruled my own life for the first thirty nine years: Fear. Its slow dissipation began in a doctor's office two and a half years ago, and despite the name of this blog, I wouldn't dare call myself Brave, but everything I do these days shows just a little more bravery than the last time I did it. There was a time when I couldn't go for a yearly check up without a friend present. You know, in case they found cancer. But now I take my yearly Pap Smear, Mammogram, and MRI all on the same day, and I don't need a chaperone or drugs to do it. I only ask that The Boy be present at the reading of the MRI.
Nothing like a good fucking disease to put some perspective into your life.
So after Daniel Miller's death, he arrives in Judgment City, the pit stop where one's fate is decided. His appointed lawyer explains that there is no Hell, but in order to move forward and avoid being sent back to earth again, he must defend the actions of nine specific days in his life where it appears that Fear got the better of him and interfered with his life - a signal that he may not be ready to Move On.
"Being from earth as you are and using as little of your brain as you do, your life has pretty much been devoted to dealing with fear ... Everybody on earth deals with fear. That's what Little Brains do ... Did you ever have friends who's stomach hurt? ... It's fear. Fear is like a giant fog. It sits on your brain and blocks everything. Real feeling, true happiness, real joy, they can't get through that fog. But you lift it and buddy you're in for the ride of your life."
It's no coincidence Albert Brooks' real last name is Einstein. He's fucking brilliant. And so is Ian Brown:
For each a road
For everyman a religion
Find everybody and rule
For everything and rumble
Forget everything and remember
For everything a reason
Forgive everybody and remember
For each a road
For everyman a religion
Face everybody and rule
For everything and rumble
Forget everything and remember
For everything a reason
F.E.A.R.
Final eternity arouses reactions
Freeing excellence affects reality
Fallen empires are ruling
Find earth and reef
Fantastic expectations Amazing revelations
Final execution and resurrection
Free expression as revolution
Finding everything and realizing
You got the Fear
☯ F.E.A.R.
His being an uptight, neurotic New York Jew creates an instant familiarity for me, but the self-reflection in this movie hits home hard. Not just because I've had time to spend the last few years doing my own introspection, but because the first glimpse of what this movie is really about is, to me at least, the very thing that ruled my own life for the first thirty nine years: Fear. Its slow dissipation began in a doctor's office two and a half years ago, and despite the name of this blog, I wouldn't dare call myself Brave, but everything I do these days shows just a little more bravery than the last time I did it. There was a time when I couldn't go for a yearly check up without a friend present. You know, in case they found cancer. But now I take my yearly Pap Smear, Mammogram, and MRI all on the same day, and I don't need a chaperone or drugs to do it. I only ask that The Boy be present at the reading of the MRI.
Nothing like a good fucking disease to put some perspective into your life.
So after Daniel Miller's death, he arrives in Judgment City, the pit stop where one's fate is decided. His appointed lawyer explains that there is no Hell, but in order to move forward and avoid being sent back to earth again, he must defend the actions of nine specific days in his life where it appears that Fear got the better of him and interfered with his life - a signal that he may not be ready to Move On.
"Being from earth as you are and using as little of your brain as you do, your life has pretty much been devoted to dealing with fear ... Everybody on earth deals with fear. That's what Little Brains do ... Did you ever have friends who's stomach hurt? ... It's fear. Fear is like a giant fog. It sits on your brain and blocks everything. Real feeling, true happiness, real joy, they can't get through that fog. But you lift it and buddy you're in for the ride of your life."
It's no coincidence Albert Brooks' real last name is Einstein. He's fucking brilliant. And so is Ian Brown:
For each a road
For everyman a religion
Find everybody and rule
For everything and rumble
Forget everything and remember
For everything a reason
Forgive everybody and remember
For each a road
For everyman a religion
Face everybody and rule
For everything and rumble
Forget everything and remember
For everything a reason
F.E.A.R.
Final eternity arouses reactions
Freeing excellence affects reality
Fallen empires are ruling
Find earth and reef
Fantastic expectations Amazing revelations
Final execution and resurrection
Free expression as revolution
Finding everything and realizing
You got the Fear
☯ F.E.A.R.
...the only thing we have to fear
is fear itself.
You "chainsmoke authors." Love it!
ReplyDeleteI am not a writer so I must admit I was pretty proud of that phrasing. It's a pretty accurate description too... :)
ReplyDeleteBravelyDone, you are a better writer than many "writers." Lol. You have a great natural voice.
ReplyDelete