Movie
I said last week that I had been meaning to watch the movie Un Prophete, a French film concerning an Arab in a French prison. The flick was recommended to me by a friend James, and from now on, I will put full faith in his movie recommendations. In 155 minutes, the writers, directors, and actors conveyed a complicated network of mafia bosses as well as racial alliances, crossed over by the main character, Malik El Djebena, played by Tahar Rahim. Nothing was confusing, and there was just enough action sprinkled in with the dialogue to keep the movie bouncing between suspense and excitement. It was an interesting window into prison politics and also enlightening to me, a proud American who of course is not a fan of the friendly frogs. Don’t worry though, I won’t be that doucher who goes around talking about all the other foreign films he’s checked out.
I also recommend City of God if you haven’t seen it already. It is in Portugese and follows the story of a few childhood friends and their journeys in Brazil’s most notorious Favela.
Music
I am still vibing with the new Kings of Leon Album. I can’t get The End out of my head. My Australian friend also burned me some Eskimo Joe, which I am loving as well. The one album I have is entitled Black Fingernails, Red Wine. Lil Wayne was freed from Rikers Island in New York City yesterday so it has been non-stop Dwayne Carter for the past two days. I re-listened to the drought 3 and have been watching his takeover of fuse intermittently throughout the day. Checking out Wayne’s documentary, entitled The Carter, is a must. I also listened to some old Prodigy: Voodoo People which will always get you pumped before an event.
Books
Last week I finished up 1984 to much depression. The tone of the book is so hopeless and dark. As I turned the last pages, an unsettling feeling welled up in my gut due to a combination of sympathy for the main character Winston, and anxiety concerning the future of our world, specifically America. Orwell was a genius beyond his time and I begin to wonder how you go about thinking so forward into the future. Obviously his timetable for future occurrences was a bit accelerated, but the roots of his hypothesis are present in our society now. 1984 is a must read along with Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451. I also found this interesting graph comparing Huxley and Orwell.
Moving on, I began reading The Rum Diaries, by Hunter S. Thompson and I am currently about halfway through. The account is very easy to read and in Thompsons signature gonzo style. The reason I am enjoying the book so much is due to Thompson’s freeness in the setting of Puerto Rico. Although he has a solid job with a salary, his responsibilities are very lacking, I am living vicariously through Hunter, he’s like my personal Tyler Durden.
“All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.”
Last night my friends and I were talking about how often our thoughts wander towards leaving everything we know here, and going someplace completely new. Weeks go by where I think about it every day. I wonder if that’s what growing up is, just being content with where you are? Gone are the days when you could just leave home and wander through the U.S. hitchhiking with no plan in mind “finding your way”.
Not all those who wander are lost
-Jimmi Hendrix
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