Grindhouse
Watched at the AMC Cantera 30 in Warrenville IL on 4-14-07
I count myself very lucky. Coming of age when I did, I encountered much discussion on storytelling. It was the vogue of the time. I did not listen to artists discussing if a particular story was good. No, I heard artists discussing the art of storytelling. The making. The working. Each artist had their own take on the matter but it all boiled down to same thing. The true artist explores his own personal mythology. You find the hidden archetypes within the stories you love. For in those things you respond to, good or bad, are indicative of elements in your own psyche. Storytelling is not about writing the coolest dialogue or the most balls to the walls fist fight. You need those archetypes. They are the power behind a story. You pare the stories you love to the archetypical elements. The seeds of the story. You plant the seeds in the soil made from the detritus of your life. To do otherwise is failure.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Monday, April 30, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
The Rabbit: Chapter 1, Page 3 by Jason Arcand
I just finished the latest page of the Rabbit. Having summonned a guide to the Flying Broom, Biff and Rockey prepare for their next move.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Handcream For A New Generation by Cornershop
Handcream For A New Generation by Cornershop
There is no past. There is no future. There is only the present. What happened yesterday is occuring at the same time as what is happening now as what will happen tommorrow. Time is not a direction but a blanket upon which the world is spread. An idea I encountered more than once in my travels through esoterica, philosophy, and scientific theory. Truth be told, it was a tough nut to swallow.
The biggest problem for me when it comes to new ideas is how to visulize them. New ideas need to be rendered into a pattern I can work with. So how do you cognize that past and present are merely an illusion. If I am seeing time wrong how do I see it right? Maybe it is all like an album. Fourty to sixty minutes of music exist in one solid state CD. When we open the CD case we exist outside the album's timeline. We are hyperdimensional onlookers as far as the music is concerned. Do the songs know they are on a CD. No, they only know to play from start to finish. They are bound to a timeline. When we play the album we leave our vantage point and enter the CD's timeline. We are now bound by the constraints of the songs: start, middle, finish. As songs play a past develops. As long as more songs are left to play a future exists.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
There is no past. There is no future. There is only the present. What happened yesterday is occuring at the same time as what is happening now as what will happen tommorrow. Time is not a direction but a blanket upon which the world is spread. An idea I encountered more than once in my travels through esoterica, philosophy, and scientific theory. Truth be told, it was a tough nut to swallow.
The biggest problem for me when it comes to new ideas is how to visulize them. New ideas need to be rendered into a pattern I can work with. So how do you cognize that past and present are merely an illusion. If I am seeing time wrong how do I see it right? Maybe it is all like an album. Fourty to sixty minutes of music exist in one solid state CD. When we open the CD case we exist outside the album's timeline. We are hyperdimensional onlookers as far as the music is concerned. Do the songs know they are on a CD. No, they only know to play from start to finish. They are bound to a timeline. When we play the album we leave our vantage point and enter the CD's timeline. We are now bound by the constraints of the songs: start, middle, finish. As songs play a past develops. As long as more songs are left to play a future exists.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Mandala-pattern 16 by Jason Arcand
Here is my latest Mandala-pattern painting. It feels to me like a card from the god's poker game. What do you see?-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Number 23
Number 23
Watched at the Silver Savers in Joliet, IL on 4-10-07
Distracted by the bright light from the teenage girl checking her text messages in front of me, I began to wonder. Does she even realize what she is doing. How is it senses which allow us to see and hear to the horizon one minute are so shortsighted the next. Is awareness of self the sixth sense? I don't know. All I know is that cell phone had the brightest screen I have ever seen.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Watched at the Silver Savers in Joliet, IL on 4-10-07
Distracted by the bright light from the teenage girl checking her text messages in front of me, I began to wonder. Does she even realize what she is doing. How is it senses which allow us to see and hear to the horizon one minute are so shortsighted the next. Is awareness of self the sixth sense? I don't know. All I know is that cell phone had the brightest screen I have ever seen.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Monday, April 23, 2007
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys by Chris Fuhrman
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys by Chris Fuhrman
I reached the end of the book and cried. Tears flowed in response to the tragedy at the story's resolution. I cared for those little rapscallions. Tears flowed because the author is dead. Chris Fuhrman was only able to gift the world with one book before passing.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
I reached the end of the book and cried. Tears flowed in response to the tragedy at the story's resolution. I cared for those little rapscallions. Tears flowed because the author is dead. Chris Fuhrman was only able to gift the world with one book before passing.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Friday, April 20, 2007
The Rabbit: Chapter 1, Page 2
Here is the latest page of the Rabbit. Hope you enjoy.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Fables: Wolves by Mark Williamham, Mark Buckingham, Shawn McManus...
Fables: Wolves by Mark Williamham, Mark Buckingham, Shawn McManus, Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy, Lee Loughridge, Daniel Vozzo, Todd Klein, and James Jean.
Published by Vertigo.
I had the funniest idea as a child. I would read a lot of books on mythology. Most of them were giant omnibuses containing myths from around the world. One section of the ancient Greek myths, another on the Roman, another yet on the Chinese...etc. As I would read each book an idea would float through the back of my mind. All these myths are in printed in the same book. Printed on pages that touch each other. I kept imagining that since all the myths were bound onto pages in a book, they could interact. If Apollo flew far enough across the sky in his chariot he would encounter Thor thunderin across the skies in his chariot. Odesseus sailed past Tir Na Og on his voyages. There were extra invisible pages to a book where the differnt characters interact. A hidden dimension we never see. We can catch a glimpse with our imaginations. Maybe a view if we are lucky.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Published by Vertigo.
I had the funniest idea as a child. I would read a lot of books on mythology. Most of them were giant omnibuses containing myths from around the world. One section of the ancient Greek myths, another on the Roman, another yet on the Chinese...etc. As I would read each book an idea would float through the back of my mind. All these myths are in printed in the same book. Printed on pages that touch each other. I kept imagining that since all the myths were bound onto pages in a book, they could interact. If Apollo flew far enough across the sky in his chariot he would encounter Thor thunderin across the skies in his chariot. Odesseus sailed past Tir Na Og on his voyages. There were extra invisible pages to a book where the differnt characters interact. A hidden dimension we never see. We can catch a glimpse with our imaginations. Maybe a view if we are lucky.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Mandalla-patter 15 by Jason Arcand
Here is my latest Mandala-patter painting. Take a look and tell me what you see.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Pyongyang by Guy Delisle
Pyongyang by Guy Delisle. Published by Drawn and Quarterly
Publish
How much plot does a story need. Obviously, a story does not need any plot to exist. A writer or artist could just type some words onto a page and claim it is some kind of da-da experiment. It is a story, albeit an unreadable story. So how much plot does a story need to thrive. Pyongyang reqired only the simplest of plots. An animator goes to North Korea to supervise some animation. Book opens with the animator flying into North Korea. It ends with him leaving. Yet most of the book is not even concerned with the animation. Guy Delisle fills the book with details about North Korea. Plot acts as the skeleton for the true flesh of the story. The details form muscle, skin, and the sexy curves of the story. I began to read and soon find myself dancing with the story. I was slow dancing before I even realized it.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Publish
How much plot does a story need. Obviously, a story does not need any plot to exist. A writer or artist could just type some words onto a page and claim it is some kind of da-da experiment. It is a story, albeit an unreadable story. So how much plot does a story need to thrive. Pyongyang reqired only the simplest of plots. An animator goes to North Korea to supervise some animation. Book opens with the animator flying into North Korea. It ends with him leaving. Yet most of the book is not even concerned with the animation. Guy Delisle fills the book with details about North Korea. Plot acts as the skeleton for the true flesh of the story. The details form muscle, skin, and the sexy curves of the story. I began to read and soon find myself dancing with the story. I was slow dancing before I even realized it.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Monday, April 16, 2007
Doctor Illuminatus by Martin Booth
Doctor Illuminatus by Martin Booth
I found the book too easy to read but I read it anyway. I read it for the part of me that still is a fifth-grader. Sometimes you have to read for who you want to be. Othertimes you have to read for who you used to be.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
I found the book too easy to read but I read it anyway. I read it for the part of me that still is a fifth-grader. Sometimes you have to read for who you want to be. Othertimes you have to read for who you used to be.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com
Friday, April 13, 2007
The Peacefull Warrior
The Peacefull Warrior.
Viewed at the Kerasotes Theatres in New Lenox, IL on 3-31-07.
My ill-prepared honey mustard chicken mushroom sandwich lunch started to rebell. I rushed to the bathrooms. After taking my choice of urine covered toilets, my bowels emptied. I had to wipe off my toilet seat twice to remove all the urine. I was in the bathroom over half an hour. I missed a good chunk of the movie. Normally I would be in a bad mood. Yet, I was not. It is amazing how a movie can effect your thinking for the better. I felt relaxed. I sat in the bathroom and enjoyed the experience. I was not thinking about what I was missing, but what was going on around me. I listened to the happy patrons talking as the walked past. I heard the movie previews in a new way. I felt at peace. Well, as much as one can in that situation.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com
Viewed at the Kerasotes Theatres in New Lenox, IL on 3-31-07.
My ill-prepared honey mustard chicken mushroom sandwich lunch started to rebell. I rushed to the bathrooms. After taking my choice of urine covered toilets, my bowels emptied. I had to wipe off my toilet seat twice to remove all the urine. I was in the bathroom over half an hour. I missed a good chunk of the movie. Normally I would be in a bad mood. Yet, I was not. It is amazing how a movie can effect your thinking for the better. I felt relaxed. I sat in the bathroom and enjoyed the experience. I was not thinking about what I was missing, but what was going on around me. I listened to the happy patrons talking as the walked past. I heard the movie previews in a new way. I felt at peace. Well, as much as one can in that situation.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Blades of Glory
Blades of Glory, viewed 3-30-07 at Paramount Theatre in Kankakee, IL
Why was I alone in not laughing during this movie. One line from Will Farrell made me smile but I could not remember it when talking to my wife afterwards.
"Must not of been that funny," she responds.
I have to agree. It really bothered me to be the only frowning person in this movie. Did I not enjoy it because I was in a bad mood? No. I was going on three hours of sleep and one giant shouting match with my boss when I saw Princess Mononoke. I loved that movie. I felt healed. Maybe I didn't enjoy the movie because it was in my hometown. I do hate my hometown. But I saw Blade, Nightmare Before Christmas, Y Tu Mama Tambien and countless other movies I loved at the very same theatre. It is even one of those cool renovated art-deco theaters. No the movie was just not funny.
I once read an article by a noted film critic discussing Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. He explained the movie was funny and great because it followed the basic premise of an already good movie. Young Frankenstein explores all the same issues as Frankenstein. It just used humor instead of horror. There was a love of the source material. Unfortunately I found no love in Blades of Glory. The movie was mean spirited. I can not respect that. How is having a man skate as a peacock a loving nod to figure skating. The dance music was horrible. Freaking hair metal. Almost as bad as the GreatfullDead. I am going to stop here because I seek not to spew anymore venom. Suffice to say, after seeing Will Farrell in Stranger than Fiction I will not tolerate any thing less.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com
Why was I alone in not laughing during this movie. One line from Will Farrell made me smile but I could not remember it when talking to my wife afterwards.
"Must not of been that funny," she responds.
I have to agree. It really bothered me to be the only frowning person in this movie. Did I not enjoy it because I was in a bad mood? No. I was going on three hours of sleep and one giant shouting match with my boss when I saw Princess Mononoke. I loved that movie. I felt healed. Maybe I didn't enjoy the movie because it was in my hometown. I do hate my hometown. But I saw Blade, Nightmare Before Christmas, Y Tu Mama Tambien and countless other movies I loved at the very same theatre. It is even one of those cool renovated art-deco theaters. No the movie was just not funny.
I once read an article by a noted film critic discussing Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. He explained the movie was funny and great because it followed the basic premise of an already good movie. Young Frankenstein explores all the same issues as Frankenstein. It just used humor instead of horror. There was a love of the source material. Unfortunately I found no love in Blades of Glory. The movie was mean spirited. I can not respect that. How is having a man skate as a peacock a loving nod to figure skating. The dance music was horrible. Freaking hair metal. Almost as bad as the GreatfullDead. I am going to stop here because I seek not to spew anymore venom. Suffice to say, after seeing Will Farrell in Stranger than Fiction I will not tolerate any thing less.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com
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