Ashes of Time Redux

Released in 2008, Ashes of Time Redux is Wong Kar-wai's revisiting of his 1994 film, Ashes of Time. There is some re-editing, restoration, re-recording of the dialogue, and additional soundtrack by Yo-Yo Ma. Like all of Wong's films, Ashes of Time explores the emotional interactions, the impact of lost love, and longing.
I am pretty sure Wong Kar-wai is one of my all time favorite directors. The film is set in ancient China, and is very loosely based on the Condor Trilogy; essentially a few shared characteristics and character names are as far as the similarities run. Wong has likened The Condor Trilogy to "a Chinese Lord of the Rings."
For me, it is impossible to imagine films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, and/or House of Flying Daggers without Ashes of Time having been made.

Anyway, the point of this post isn't a review or analysis of the movie, or anything of the sort, but of course the monologues and dialogue (quotes).

"It is written in the Buddhist cannon: 'The flag is still. The wind is calm. It is the heart of man that is in turmoil."
"...the root of man's problem is memory. Without a past, everyday would be a new beginning."
"I long to be loved, yet only manage to hurt others."
"If love is a contest, I am not sure she is the winner. But I know for certain I've been a loser from the start."
"It's said memory is the root of man's troubles."
"I was born under the influence of a total eclipse. Love was destined to be out of reach."
"The more you try to forget, the better you'll remember. People say when you can't have what you want, the best you can do is not to forget."

The following are from an interview included on the DVD but fit in so well with the above expressed.
"The blossom will always be there, but the faces will change."
"Things change a lot and to revisit, is a very emotional thing."

it's funny how it's ok when your friends do it.

Herbert Marcuse

Tonight I am reading Herbert Marcuse's 5 Lectures, which I am borrowing from our dear friend, Jason Stopa.

I don't have the time, patience, nor the discipline to write up a full biography, so settle for this quick introduction to give some background and context, or do your own research.

Marcuse (July 19,1898 – July 29,1979) was a German Jewish philosopher and sociologist, a member of the Frankfurt School. He was also one of Angela Davis's professors at UCSD. (Angela also studied under Adorno in Frankfurt for a time, someday I'll look at her more closely). Marcuse is widely known for tying the theories of Freud with Marxism.

Herbert's Hippopotamus is an intensely engaging and inspiring, 1 hour 9 minute documentary that was made by UCSD film student, Paul Alexander Juutilainen in 1996. The film examines Marcuse at UCSD mainly from 1968 to 1969 - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5311625903124176509 - which is also available for download if you notice the link on the left. There are a lot of interesting parts in this movie (ie, the interactions with Reagan are amazing, however did he become our president?), and I highly suggest it (of course). "Why... the visionary force of a youth movement had been over 70 years old"

here are two passages from Freedom and Freud's Theory of Instincts, that I found amazing.

pg 3.
"The irrationality of unfreedom is most crassly expressed in the intensified subjection of individuals to the enormous apparatus of production and distribution, in the de-privatization of free time, in the almost indistinguishable fusion of constructive and destructive social labor. And it is precisely this fusion that is the condition of the constantly increasing productivity and domination of nature which keeps individuals- or at least the majority of them in the advanced countries - living in increasing comfort. Thus irrationality becomes the form of social reason, becomes the rational universal. Psychologically - and that is all that concerns us here - the difference between domination and freedom is becoming smaller. The individual reproduces on the deepest level, in his instinctual structure, the values and behavior patterns that serve to maintain domination, while domination becomes increasingly less autonomous, less "personal," more objective and universal. What actually dominates is the economic, political, and cultural apparatus, which has become an indivisible unity constructed by social labor."

pg 9-10.
"Life is experienced as a struggle with one's self and the environment; it is suffered and won by conquests. Its substance is unpleasure, not pleasure. Happiness is a reward, relaxation, coincidence, a moment - in any case, not the goal of existence. That goal is rather labor. And labor is essentially alienated labor. Only in privileged situations does man work "for himself" in his occupation, does he satisfy his own needs, sublimated and unsublimated, in his occupation; normally he is busy all day long carrying out a prescribed social function while his self-fulfillment, if there is any, is limited to a scanty free time. The social structuring of time is patterned on the structuring of the instincts completed in childhood; only the limitation of Eros makes possible the limitation of free, that is, pleasurable time to a minimum deducted from full-time labor. And time, like existence itself, is divided into the primary content "alienated labor" and the secondary content "non-labor."
But the structuring of the instincts that dethrones the pleasure principle also makes possible ethics, which has become increasingly more decisive in the development of Western civilization."

I honestly intend on "unpacking" the above statements, as well as a better essay on Marcuse, someday, for now, it's there for you to do what you will with it.

Morrow CD out now!

Morrow CD out now!
Originally uploaded by
damianhade

Morrow lives in Bloomington, Indiana. In 2005, Morrow began as a singular project by Jarod Isenbarger and has since been working independently in the DIY scene. Emerging as a full band in May 2006, Morrow toured the Midwest and East Coast for one month with friends Burial Year and Future Ghosts. Now they are moving forward with a powerful first twelve-song full length—recorded by Mike Bridavsky at Russian Recording, mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service, and to be initially released by [excursions into the abyss].
Morrow is a conduit of the modern and classic. Invoking ancient forms while seeking to cut a musical path of their own, they arrive at a diverse, nuanced sound suffused with the new and familiar. With hearts neither black nor pure and having considered the gravity of their icons' melancholy teen spirits, some might say Morrow was born to run against the wind, up sugar mountain in search of an inner harvest that is the result of a great unraveling of their rock and roll tradition.
"Who will count the dead when there are no flies left? Who will count the rich man's gold?" Morrow's self-titled debut finds the band wrestling with questions of love, philosophy, religion, and politics. As adept as they are at communicating a world of, alienation, harsh truths, and the insidious in the mundane, the lyrics also point to the beauty and strength in our capacity for resilience, for reaching out to others in need of common comfort and protection, and perhaps ultimately in letting go of pain and loss. Sometimes the lyrics have a fictional lean, notably to Lovecraft.
This is dark, brooding, soulful rock and roll, switching elegantly from minor to major keys, and attracting enthusiasts of many genres. Morrow has enjoyed playing shows with artists across the rock spectrum—from Glorytellers to Ladyhawk to Nakatomi Plaza—and will continue to do so. Plans for 2009 include writing new songs and touring the East Coast in June and July.
For correspondence, booking, and a good time:
morrow.info@gmail.com | myspace.com/weatherprophets | excursionsintotheabyss.com/morrow/

the label is 13 years old, and we still haven't cut our teeth.

announcements are on the horizon.
I'll hint at them now due to excitement:

Morrow's full length should arrive hopefully by next week, I think I've been saying this for at least an entire month. when they actually arrive I will be finishing a lot of loose ends; press releases, setting up mailorder, getting review and retail copies out. it will be the first time in 6 years that I will be doing actual label work. the landscape of the music industry has changed greatly, I don't think it really matters all that much.

I have 2 more releases slated for the summer.
one is a split label release for the drowning with our anchors / peter & craig split 7". both these bands should not be unfamiliar to you. members of these bands are dear friends of mine, and more than likely, yours.

the other release is going to be a new record from one of my all time favorite bands. details are forthcoming.

the tribute comp (Dinosaur Jr's You're Living All Over Me) is after the above are taken care of. I still need one band to cover Raisans. I still question the misspellings.

I might be in a new band too.

outside of this, the economic landscape has also changed a great deal. Again, it's hard for me/us not to say I told you so, or even a flat out fuck you. The idealistic, hopeful side of me continues to draw parallels to past predictions (I intentionally not name them). I have hope to witness many of these theories to evolve beyond practice into a reality. Hope is a deficit. A lack. A projection. It is love. It is the me in you.

crossed gaps via bridges that we burnt.

1. what is mine has always been ours, so how do you tell my story (without you).
2. I stated the awkwardness of hearing "come as you are" followed by "pictures of you" (in public), and realized the succinct telling of a story as the idea escaped me.
3. It doesn't take any genuine-ality out of neither the telling, nor the awkwardness.
4. despite me telling my bestfriend these things (via text message (let's talk about alienation, shall we)), it is not solely about that individual, but the whole, the sum of the parts. (me+you+them=totality).
5. I still like lists.
6. this doesn't take any significance away from me expressing these thoughts to the intended individual; these things are larger than either of us. this is why we create the things that we do.
7. we are who we are. and we rebel.
8. non-related: you are an entire book in my story, whereas I am merely a minor footnote in a rather insignificant chapter in your story.

Paul Klee

Paul Klee
Originally uploaded by damianhade

Tentatively, I'm using the above image of a Paul Klee drawing for a record cover, but don't know what it's called, or anything about it for that matter. I'd really appreciate any information, so if you know something about it, let me know.

Paul Klee is one of my favorite artists and it came as no surprise that he was also a favorite artist of Walter Benjamin.

[The image is possibly going to be used for the upcoming Drowning With Our Anchors / Peter & Craig split 7"]

there's a fine line to these things, see. you're an ass's ass.

xxx

don't forget our time(s), even if it's just like this.