Memorial Day weekend is over now, and after nearly a month absence from my diary here, I�m back. Hooray.

So over the weekend I watched Requeim for a Dream again. Angela did not like it, and I have met numerous people who either couldn�t watch it, or just dimissed it before actually seeing it. Here�s my take on it: This sophmore film for Darren Aronofsky is just as good, if not better than his first film, Pi. Both films were brutal in their intensity and suspense, but this one took the cake. I�ve been a fan of the author of the book this was adapted from, Hubert Selby Jr. for a while now. For some reason he gets no respect in America. When folks talk about contemporary authors in America they always leave him out, yet he�s huge overseas. It would be unfair to put him in a category, but he would fit comfortably along the lines as Burroughs, Bukowski, Algren, etc. The film allegedly got a standing ovation at Cannes when it was released. The NC-17 rating for this movie is completely unfair, there is practically no violence in the film at all. I�m sure there is plenty more in Pearl Harbor. Apparently, the NC-17 rating was due to the sexually violent scene at the end of the film. So this film is all about the lie of the American dream, or how striving for it will just destroy you. By the end of the film you will feel exhausted and disturbed, but I think this should be required as an anti-drug film, as well as a wake up to folks who are slaves to their televisions. It�s ironic that films such as Pearl Harbor, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or any other movie with a good amount of fighting and violence are trumped up like they are. Well, we know people can�t fly over buildings like ninjas and beat the shit out of each other, so it�s okay, it�s just a movie. And Pearl Harbor, well that was real, but we tacked on a love story (Ben Affleck dies at the end btw), so it�s okay. But when we show something that�s real and shove it down peoples throats in the same way the entertainment industry does, it�s bad. Anyway, the drug addicts portrayed by Jared Leto, and Marlon Wayans, are not the winners in this film, it�s Ellen Burstyn as the lonely old woman hoping to get on television, obsessed with eating, and diet pills. If there was ever a brutally shocking scene in cinema it would be the scene where she is given electro-shock therapy. Suire the movie is not for the faint at heart, but to dismiss it when you haven�t seen it would be a shame. The film looks beautiful, and the direction is top notch. If you ignore this film, and you are a film buff, you are missing out. Nobody ever said my taste was the law though, so don�t bitch at me when you don�t enjoy it, you probably just don�t get it; go rent Trainspotting instead.

So the band is going pretty well right now, the CD�s are printed out, we are writing new songs, we have some shows, and we are in the process of learning a whole Pink Floyd record to perform live at one point (not Dark Side of the Moon, or Wish You Were Here). Aside from that, I feel anxious, and I currently have a stomach ache. I�m out.

before & after