The joke is on Spielberg

 

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

 

A friend of mine would not “confirm or deny” that he has spoken with the FBI this week – nor admit that he has had an ongoing conversation with FBI agents over the years.

“Those guys got quite a giggle over what you did to that movie guy,” my friend said. “They were always hearing about how good his security was and you went around posting photos of his movie sets.”

I guess we all have to get our piece of immorality in different ways.

Some people like Spielberg become immortal by making great movies. Other less talented people get famous by pissing Spielberg off.

The FBI got their giggles over the fact that someone like me could walk through Spielberg’s world so easily.

 

*******************

 

My latest film effort got a lot of praise.

It really wasn’t me. It was format. I’ve decided to stick pretty close to film structure such as establishing shot, master shot, match cuts and the like. What I’m learning from a study of Crystal Skull is how to connect each shot so the film binds itself up internally, such as movement of characters, sound bridges, and shape, idea and other transitions.

I’ve also been looking very closely at other Spielberg films and realize how different his work in Crystal Skull is from some of his other works – even some earlier Indiana Jones films. It is clear that he has learned a lot, and is using new techniques even in films that might otherwise be seen as throwaways like Indy 4.

 

*************

 

Illness seems to be afflicting more of my friends lately. And it is scary. I guess I’ve always worn rose colored glasses when it came to disease and dying, and always assumed these things struck the way lightning strikes, more or less at random, and hardly anything to fear as inevitable. But as we age, we come to realize that we face the inevitable, and what was once “could happen,” has become “will happen,” and the only remaining question is “when?”

 

****************

 

I’m having an ongoing argument with an ex-soldier who passes himself off as a progressive, yet hates other progressives and liberals.

He actually thinks Obama is a liberal, when Obama is not.

Obama is a president designed to sooth the wounds left on the country by the Bush administration so that the filthy rich can continue to rip off the middle class and poor in the future.

Bush pushed America as close to revolution as any president since LBJ, and the illusion we live with is that we poor voters actually get to choose the person in the White House, when in fact we don’t.

As with FDR, Obama’s job is to preserve capitalism, and what we are getting is an elaborate farce designed to lull real liberals, radicals and working people into the belief that this president is different, when he is no better down deep than Bush was.

Obama retained the same power structure, kept the same people in place that spied on American, tortured suspects and established secret prisons.

In light of the fact that nothing fundamental has changed, this argument over healthcare is a joke – painting Obama with a liberal brush when he is anything but.