Buddha

"people mover. bad decision"

Have you ever harmonized on The Detoit People Mover? I hadn't either until last night. As the mover was curving around the track, it produced a high-pitch shriek that kind of reminded me of the effect Sigur Ros produces by bowing the low strings of an electric guitar. Gabe and I played 'match the pitch' with our voices, and it was fun.

And then I’d look in your eyes, and I’d cry, and I’d like feel all this stuff and that’s like not polite...

I didn't know his name until Ear Crack posted some enlightening info on him in late April. I to remember the "Holy Moment" scene from Waking Life as being one of my favorite scenes from the movie. I liked it so much that I recommended it as course material to my favorite college professor as a way to help us better understand "the ontology of the photograph." I highly recommend cehcking out the interview Ear Crack's Jonathan Mitchell conducted with Mr. Zahedi for Studio 360



About an hour ago, I think (I know?) I had my first lucid dream. I've been reading up on them since. I then started to think about Waking Life and finally back to the "Holy Moment" dialogue.

(A screen shows two men who are talking with each other.)

THE HOLY MOMENT

Thank you for the script.

Cinema, in its essence, is, well it’s about an introduction to reality, which is that, like, reality is actually reproduced. And for him, it might sound like a storytelling medium, really. And he feels like, um … like … like … like literature is better for telling a story. You know, and if you tell a story or even like a joke, like you know "This guy walks into a bar and, you know, he sees a dwarf." That works really well because you’re imagining this guy and this dwarf in the bar and there’s this kind of imaginative aspect to it. But in film, you don’t have that because you actually are filming a specific guy, in a specific bar, with a specific dwarf, of a specific height, who looks a certain way, right?

So like, um, for Bazin, what the ontology of film has to do is it has to deal with, you know, with what photography also has an ontology of, except that it adds this dimension of time to it, and this greater realism. And so, like, it’s about that guy, at that moment, in that space. And, you know, Bazin is like a Christian, so he, like, believes that, you know, God obviously ended up like, everything … he believes, for him reality and God are the same. You know, like … and so what film is actually capturing is like God incarnate, creating. And this very moment, God is manifesting as this. And what the film would capture if it was filming us right now would be like God as this table, and God as you, and God as me, and God looking the way we look right now, and saying and thinking what we’re thinking right now, because we are all God manifest in that sense. So film is actually like a record of God, or of the face of God, or of the ever-changing face of God. You have a mosquito. Do you want me to get it for you? You got it.

I got it?

Yeah, you got it.

And like the whole Hollywood thing is just taking film and trying to make it like the storytelling medium where you take these books or stories, and then you like, you know, and then you have the script, and you try to find a person who sort of fits the thing. But it’s ridiculous, because it’s not, it shouldn’t be based on the script. It should be based on the person, you know, or the thing. And in that sense, they are almost right to have this whole star system, because then it’s about that person, you know, instead of, like, the story.

Truffaut always said the best films aren’t made … the films … The best scripts don’t make the best films, because they have that kind of literary narrative thing that you’re sort of a slave to. The best films are the ones that aren’t tied to that slavishly. So I don’t know. The whole narrative thing seems to me like, um … Obviously, there’s narrativity to cinema ’cause it’s in time, just the way there’s narrativity to music. But, you know, you don’t first think of the story of the song, and then make the song. It has to come out of that moment. And that’s what film has. It’s just that moment, which is holy. You know, like this moment, it’s holy. But we walk around like it’s not holy. We walk around like there’s some holy moments and there are all the other moments that are not holy, right, but this moment is holy, right? And if film can let us see that, like frame it so that we see, like, "Ah, this moment. Holy." And it’s like "Holy, holy, holy" moment by moment. But, like, who can live that way? Who can go, like, "Wow, holy"? Because if I were to look at you and just really let you be holy, I don’t know, I would, like, stop talking.

Well, you’d be in the moment, I mean ….

Yeah

The moment is holy.

Yeah, but I’d be open. And then I’d look in your eyes, and I’d cry, and I’d like feel all this stuff and that’s like not polite. I mean it would make you feel uncomfortable.

Well you could laugh too. I mean, why would you cry?

Well, ’cause … I don’t know. For me, I tend to cry.

Uh-huh. Well … Is, is full …

Well, let’s do it right now. Let’s have a holy moment.

Okay.

(Long moments pass with them staring at each other)

Everything is layers, isn’t it?

Yeah.

I mean, there’s the holy moment and then there’s the awareness of trying to have the holy moment, in the same way that the film is the actual moment really happening, but then the character pretending to be in a different reality. And it’s all these layers. And, uh, I was in and out of the holy moment looking at you. Can’t be in a holy … You’re unique that way, Caveh. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy you. You can … bring me into that.

(They turn into cloud people looking at each other)

***

Should be?

It's about 4:00 P.M. right now, approaxitmly one hour until I take a final on Zen Buddhism, my final final as an undergraduate. This Sunday, two days after officially graduating from college, marks the beggining of a new chapter for me and for Detroit Public Radio.
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WDET 101.9FM Detroit Public Radio will introduce listeners to two new local arts programs on Sunday, May 7, 2006 with the premier broadcasts of Front Row Center (11am – noon) and Live From Studio A (noon – 1pm). Both programs are elements in WDET's commitment to showcase metropolitan Detroit's rich and diverse cultural life.

Front Row Center is hosted and produced by WDET's award-winning arts and culture reporter Celeste Headlee. The show will focus on all aspects of cultural affairs and include interviews, conversations, performances, feature reports and more. Listeners can expect to hear about cultural events from the mainstream to the obscure, as well as important issues that impact the cultural life of our community. The first program on May 7 will feature the baseball exhibit at the Henry Ford, an interview with Dick Clark of the Society of American Baseball Research about the Negro Leagues, and a conversation with art collector Dr. Walter Evans about the African American Art Exhibit currently at the DIA. Front Row Center airs Sunday mornings from 11am to noon.

Live From Studio A is hosted and produced by WDET music host Jon Moshier and continues the long tradition of live music performances at Detroit Public Radio. WDET's live music studio, Studio A, is one of the largest live music studios at any radio station in the Midwest. WDET prides itself on its national reputation for outstanding live music production and Live From Studio A will utilize the station's many resources. Listeners can expect to hear a variety of national, international and local artists who perform in Studio A. The first program on May 7 will feature performances by acclaimed singer-songwriter Beth Orton and Ann Arbor based local favorite Nomo. Live From Studio A airs Sunday afternoons from noon to 1pm.

"Programs like these are part of our commitment to serve the community with a premier public radio service," said Allen Mazurek, WDET Program Director. "Introducing listeners to artists and events and celebrating the cultural life of Detroit are an important part of what we do at Detroit Public Radio."
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In less than a month, I'll be stepping in-studio to become the production assistant for these awesome shows. Wooo Hooo