George W. Bush Never Stays For the Credits
You want to understand the president? Just eject the tape before the final statements. “We will flow a river forth unto thee.” Watch The Boondock Saints: when Irish Catholics go too far.
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Danny Dawson
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Danny Dawson
More Donnie Darko Analysis
I watched Donnie Darko again last night and decided to look up some further analysis of the movie.
I found a few websites with reviews and plot/timeline breakdowns which were almost notable, but they seemed to lack something. Then I came across Mark Joseph Young’s analysis. Reading through it made for an interesting lesson in time travel, but it wasn’t until the second to last paragraph (jump to Conclusions and scroll down) that I found what I was truly looking for (some semi-spoilers):
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ur0b0r0
i like how you think.
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Danny Dawson
Paranoia Strikes Deep – Donnie Darko
Long, meaningful posts are always difficult to compose.
First, let me say that I tend to identify strongly with movies in which the central character has some sort of schitzophrenic break with reality. Memento was one. So were A Beautiful Mind, 12 Monkeys, The Ring (to some degree), The Bourne Identity, Vanilla Sky, The Game… And now, Donnie Darko. I got this movie in the mail from Netflix yesterday. Darko and The Rocky Horror Picture Show were the last to come before Netflix put my account on hold because I’m flat broke. I watched Darko tonight.
“I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad”
Fans become fans because of the identities they perceive, the samenesses, between their own lives and the characters they watch on screen or read about on pages. I’m tempted to scratch out “their own lives” and replace with “their desires” – I don’t know which is true. I’ve had my own breaks with accepted reality, and I occasionally wonder where the real truth lies. Sometimes I wonder which I want the real truth to be.Keeping in line with the Foolish Fan Club theme, here’s tonight’s indulgence in coincidence:
Halfway through the movie, I paused to go outside and have a cigarette. I noticed the sky was unusually bright for 10:30pm, and wondered what phase the moon was in. The moon came out from the clouds then, and I saw that it was full. I also remembered that today there was a total lunar eclipse, unfortunately not visible from the Western Hemisphere.
I don’t believe in horoscopes, not of the daily kind anyway, but I give a lot of thought to coincidence. I feel that the moon is a sort of governing force with me. Full moons in particular often mark changes, transitions, important moments, or times to get up and move. I would much rather lead my life by a lunar calendar than a solar calendar, but in most cases, I’m forced to concede to the rest of the western working world and go Gregorian.
Anywho, I decided it would be nice to implement a Moon Phase sidebar on the weblog here, so I started to google (my laptop always accompanies me for a smoke). “Php cron job moon phase.” The link I clicked was this one. I figured “Hey, lets see what code other weblogs are using to do the same thing.”
The entry I opened up started “Continuing on the theme of paranoia,” which fit my mood, but the entry itself was actually about backing up her Movable Type installation. I got curious…I read the entry…I read the comments. Halfway down I look to the right and see “Watching Donnie Darko.” Okay, so the girl is interesting. I go to her about page. We have a few things in common. “Don’t get me wrong – in respects other than my interests, I am resolutely female.” I wonder what I would think of this girl if I met her.
Then my mind wanders back to the movie. Donnie Darko. Danny Dawson. “What kind of name is that? It sounds like a superhero.” “What makes you think I’m not?” (I’m paraphrasing here.) “What if you could go back and erase all the darkness?” The idea that everything can be classified on a spectrum between two extremes: Love and Fear, Good and Evil, Light and Dark, Light and Darko…
Ideas of absolute Good and Evil scare the hell out of me. The strongest existential crises I’ve experienced, the moments I call “Panic Attacks,” happen when I allow myself to believe, for a split second (or sometimes for a few split seconds, or once for about eight hours), that things are as simple as two polar opposites. The belief that things are more complex allows me to get through day-to-day life. As long as my life is more than just a simple choice between existence and non-existence, I can think; I can retain full function. If everything I did, every action I took was a choice between the two Absolute extremes, all it would take is one wrong choice and everything would be over; it would all fall to shit.
But I screw up all the time, and I’m still here. The one choice I’m glad I don’t have is the ability to go back and make changes. I make irreversible decisions everyday. I would have , I could have, I might have…
Instead, I remain.
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Danny
By the way, I heard about Donnie Darko from my friend Sam Hancock who I worked with at Venus Restaurant, which was mentioned in the SF Chronicle today. The picture in the article is of Amy Murray: co-owner, head chef, my old boss, and Burning Man enthusiast.
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Carlos are discussing. 
ur0b0r0 is discussing. 
Carlos 9:19 pm on Wednesday, September 8, 2004 Permalink
It’s about freakin time
Oi! 3:04 am on Thursday, September 9, 2004 Permalink
I have nothing to say on this, but I’ve moved slightly so you’ll need to update your links; sorry for the inconvenience.