The Treacherous, Dark Corners of `Chinatown

@gstevenson508 It's "Wall Street" (films) where greed is good, except this is LaLaLand, so it sort of reminds me of "Chinatown," too.
— sportsPond53 (@sportsPond53) June 22, 2014

I had an unexpected Twitter conversation with a friend recently, and it was so brisk that we could hardly keep up each other's tweets.  It was about Donald Sterling, the disgraced and deposed owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, and his story reminded me of `Chinatown especially.

`Chinatown is one of those films that remind me (us):  Whenever we think we know it and whenever we think we understand, we actually don't.  There are dark corners, hidden nooks and crannies, and secret closets that tuck one skeleton after another.  This scene from the 1974 film, with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, is so powerful as to be shocking:  The mysterious girl Katherine is both her sister and her daughter.  There is more shock and tragedy to face for the guileless private investigator.  

Ungodly Simple Story of the `Cleaner

The full-length of the video is just 1:43, but it may be as complete of a life story as anyone can imagine being told in a short film.  Hers is a simple one, a routinized one.  There is nothing that happens in the hours before she awakens, so we might as well begin at that moment of awakening.  2 AM is an ungodly time for many of us, and immediately the narrative unfolds.  Commuters are brethren, as they lean forward, banking against the wind, looking for their ride.  She is alone, though, on the bus and at work.  We don't see her journey home, because in her fatigue and sleepiness that part of her day does not exist.  Symbolically, the film seems to say, our own lives go on and she herself simply doesn't exist.  Back to bed, she is exquisitely lost to the world.  But we get more glimpses of her life story: a small bedroom, neatly laid out, modestly decorated.  And a photo of a boy, bedside.

Dear 16-year old me

This film was made possible thanks to the generosity of real Canadians and Americans whose lives have been touched by melanoma. These are not actors. We cannot thank this group enough for sharing their stories with us. 

We'd also like to thank Freelance Whales, the New York-based group who've lent their song, Generator ^ First Floor, to our film. They're incredibly talented - we thank them for their support and encourage you to find out more about them. 

Over the past year, we've received messages from all around the world from people whose lives have been touched by this film. Thank you so much for reaching out to us, we're humbled by the support you've shown. We've also been flattered to see a number of other films "inspired by" Dear 16-year-old Me: this is fantastic! We would ask that, in the spirit of mutual support, filmmakers who've taken inspiration from this work acknowledge as much by providing a credit and a link back.

Thank you so much for watching & please pass this along. 

We couldn't have created this video without the efforts of our creative content agency Evidently. Evidently is an incredible agency whose creativity, reliability and effectives was only matched by their passion for this project. They treated us as so much more than a client and became personally invested in the project and all of the people involved.

Many aficionados may not call this a short film, but I say it is.  It's a poignant narrative, with a script that's well-spoken and dramatized sincerely.  It's charming and funny, heartfelt and genuine.  But what is the story behind the script?

My husband was an extraordinary man who touched many lives during his 32 years. It is my hope that sharing his story and carrying out his wishes to help others will make a difference in the fight against melanoma. 

David was first diagnosed with melanoma when he was 29 years old. Following his diagnosis, he underwent a year of treatment which was followed by two years of remission. During this time of remisssion, David lived each day to the fullest. It was almost as though he knew his time here would be shorter than others as he did more living in his short life than many people do in a life-span of 80 years. 

During this time, David became a father – a moment he described as “the time he felt most alive in his entire life” . He achieved incredible career success for his young age and was thrilled to be up for partner at the largest accounting firm in Canada at the age of 31. 

One week after celebrating our son’s first birthday, David went for a routine ct-scan and was given the news that the disease had reappeared, this time in his lungs. David was determined to conquer the beast a second time and spent hours, researching treatment options and conferring with melanoma experts all over the world. Unfortunately the research showed very limited treatment options and very discouraging statistics. 

David decided to travel to the United States to undergo a treatment called Interleukin in which he was hospitalized during week long treatments that left him extremely ill. David battled through with his usual dignity and perseverance, all the while maintaining his sense of humour and charm. I clearly remember the nurses stopping to hang out in his room at night when it was quiet, because anyone who encountered David became immediately drawn in by his warmth and charm. 

David persevered through the treatments working in between weeks at the hospital. I will always remember the day he found out he made partner. He had to take the call in the bathroom of his hospital room. Despite everything, he came out beaming. It was his indomitable spirit that convinced everyone who knew him that despite the odds, David would beat the cancer that was slowly overtaking his body. David had convinced everyone that knew him that he was invincible and this was just another challenge to overcome. Despite all of his efforts, the melanoma continued to spread. David was scheduled for a brain scan on September 21 the day of his thirty second birthday, a day we hoped would bring us luck. Unfortunately, the results of that scan revealed that the melanoma had spread to his brain. 

David never returned to the office where he had achieved so much professional success. He was told he was not allowed to drive and was put on medication to reduce the risk of seizures. Even without the things that were so important to him, David refused to give up. He strongly felt that surgery to remove the biggest tumor would give him the best chance of survival and convinced his doctors to perform this brain surgery, even when they felt he was fighting a losing battle. He awoke from his brain surgery and joked with the nurses within minutes of gaining consciousness and was determined to walk so he could recover at home. He underwent radiation treatments to treat the remaining brain tumors and started to lose his hair. I remember shaving his head and joking that at least his would grow back unlike many of his friends who were plagued with receding hairlines. 

David recovered from the neurosurgery and was then admitted to the hospital once again with stomach problems. 

The melanoma had spread again and he underwent surgery one more time. One morning, getting out of bed in the hospital, David fell. Soon after he was unable to feel his legs. Another ct-scan revealed another tumor in his spinal column and further progression of the melanoma to his brain and other organs. David never walked again. The doctors told us there was nothing more they could do for him. 

We decided to bring him home where he could be surrounded by his family and friends. He continued to fight, not wanting to leave us because he knew how sad we would be without him. During that time, I was fortunate to be able to talk with my husband and understand his hopes and dreams for a future that he now knew he would not be physically part of. He felt at peace with his life and the way that he lived it. He told me that he would not have changed a thing. During those last few weeks, we discussed the reason and meaning for us being affected by this terrible disease and David believed it was our duty to use his story to help others. 

On December 18th, 2005, my husband looked at me with the beautiful blue eyes that had greeted me every morning for the past 5 years and filled me with warmth and love every single day and told me quietly that he had to go. Surrounded by the family that he was the core of, David took his last breaths and finally gave up his long fight. But David’s story does not end here. His smile, his ambition, his strength, integrity and desire to help others continues to live on in those who knew and loved him. His name and his story will help make a difference in the fight against melanoma. His legacy will live on.

Reference: David's Story.

My daughter showed us this YouTube video over dinner one evening, on her iPhone, and it was moving.  I stumbled on it again recently, and wanted to write about it.  I actually saw this video on Meghan Rothschild's channel.  She was on the video, I believe, the one who lifted her top up to reveal a gruesome oval scar below her right breast.  This is her story of Surviving Skin Cancer.

`Moving On, by James and Ainslie Henderson

Please don't get me started
Looking backwards to move on.
Strong yet open-hearted,
Accept leaving when leaving's come. 

God didn't see it coming,
Never said I love you, hope you knew.
Now my bags are packed and my sails are tacked
And my course is marked by stars.

I'm on my way,
Soon be moving on my way,
Leave a little light on,
Leave a little light on. 

I'm on my way,
Soon be moving on my way,
Leave a little light on,
Leave a little light on.  

Time always unwinding,
All these dead lines in my mind.
Seeds and dreams we planted
Took for granted, didn't prove. 

Walking down this road
When my pulse beats slow,
Hope to have you close at hand.
When this cycle ends,
Will it start again?
Will we recognize old friends? 

I'm on my way,
Soon be moving on my way,
Leave a little light on,
Leave a little light on. 

I'm on my way,
On my way, on my way, on my way,
Leave a light on,
Leave a little light on. 

I'm on my way,
Soon be moving on my way,
Leave a little light on,
Leave a little light on. 

I'm on my way,
On my way, on my way, on my way.
Leave a light on,
Leave a little light on,
Leave a little light on.

This is a music video by the British rock band James, its short film directed by BAFTA award-winning Ainslie Henderson.  Oh, how well different arts converge into a lovely, poignant piece of work.  The video metaphors resonate perfectly with those that the song lyrics speak to, and add exquisite complexity in the process.

For instance, the yarn extends from heaven, which suggests Christian themes, that is, that God holds the strings of our life in His hands.  At the same time that dangling yarn can also be the chain that turns on-and-off a ceiling light.  For another, "Time always unwinding" as the unraveling of yarn is, of course, how we age.  But when we slip into "All these deadlines in my mind," we're upon brilliant visual arts interpretations of the lyrics.  Dead lines, in other words, are not just the tedious pressures we have to live with regularly, but also the ultimate end that brings us all together.

I wrote an article - From Kama to Lana Sutra, by Erik Ravelo - which came to mind from this music video/short film.  It must be painstaking art to create models, then wrap them in yarn.  But the expression is fabulous.  Ravelo didn't animate those particular pieces for the United Colors of Benetton, but Henderson draws on stop-motion to animate this piece.  He has behind-the-scenes photos, plus personal notes on his blog:

With every new production I embark on I promise myself I’m going to keep a diary as I go, I’ll blog, save photos, capture each day and chart progress. It’s a fine idea. Inevitably, as I’m immersed in the stress and obsession of it I forget everything. I forget my friends, my girlfriend, sunlight, spring, conversation, alcohol, bike rides and eating well. keeping a blog falls to the bottom of a very long list of things I am neglecting. Here are a few production stills taken along the way. They are a meagre representation of the last couple of months, which has been a formidable undertaking for me. A joy and a terror. What I do love about the unfolding of a stop motion project is going from the beginning- where all you can see is a forest of impossible, unquantifiable problems that you have to whittle away at, clinging to the little faith you can muster that it will work. Until, gradually, you find your self at this stage, nearing the end, where all that remains is a last few problems, manageable ones that you feel pretty sure you can solve. Making a molehill out of a mountain.

Reference: when I grow up I'm going to be an animator.

Josh Groban Brings Her `Home to Stay

I know you're gone
I watched you leave
I always thought
That it was me 

You made it clear
With that last kiss
You couldn't live a life
With maybes and what-ifs

When every boat
Has sailed away
And every path
Is marked and paved 

When every road
Has had its say
Then I'll be bringing you back
Home to stay

I have the cards you sent to me
You wrote of trains and Paris galleries
This spring you'll draw
Canals and frescoed walls
Look how far your dreaming's gone

When every town looks just the same
When every choice gets hard to make
When every road
Has had its say
Then I'll be bringing you back
Home to stay

And now I know why you had to go alone
Isn't there a place between

When every boat
Has sailed away
And every path
Is marked and paved

When every road
Has had its say
Then I'll be bringing you back
Home to stay

Reach out to me
Call out my name
And I would bring you back again
Today

Home to Stay, by Josh Groban

Sting's `The Last Ship and Michael Bay's `The Last Ship make me remember this bittersweet, poignant love song.  I had the CD, and, for a stretch of time while I was living in Dubai, I would listen to it repeatedly.  That line - Look how far your dreaming's gone - is full of pathos and irony: The dreaming is an artist's journey and destination at the same time, and she has come a long way in that regard, in the very process of going away from him.

Michael Bay Alarms `The Last Ship

Their mission is simple: Find a cure. Stop the virus. Save the world. When a global pandemic wipes out eighty percent of the planet's population, the crew of a lone naval destroyer must find a way to pull humanity from the brink of extinction. 

Executive Producer Michael Bay presents The Last Ship, a post-apocalyptic action drama series, starring Eric Dane, Rhona Mitra and Adam Baldwin.

My stumbling on Sting's `The Last Ship album and play led to this stumbling on a TV show.  The trailer above was posted in May 2013, and the following clip was posted just last month:

A year of advance billing, and of waiting for scores of Michael Bay fans, my happenstance discovery is more than perfect timing, it's yet another in a veritable wave of synchronicity for me in recent weeks.  `The Last Ship will premier this month - June 22nd, Sunday at 8 PM (CT), on TNT, to be exact - and I must have a look.

Having just discovered a new virus that could drive man to extinction, a young doctor begins a video journal to track her progress in preventing a global pandemic.

Dr. Scott outlines her theory on how global warming might have exposed the modern world to an ancient virus to which we have no natural immunity.

From the classic 1955 science-fiction novel The Body Snatchers, to its most recent film iteration The Invasion (2007) and its variation on a theme Contagion (2011), `The Last Ship has a storied, frightening lineage.  I am in the midst of writing several blogs on the theme of virulent disease vs vulnerable humankind, as part of a complicated Algorithm for Disease that I'm conceptualizing.  Let's see how Bay's work can advance my thinking.

Sting Reminisces on `The Last Ship

Sting and his band perform songs from his new album, The Last Ship, at The Public Theatre, New York. The songs, inspired by the shipbuilding community of Wallsend where Sting was born and raised, will form part of his forthcoming Broadway play.  He and the band are joined onstage by the actor and singer Jimmy Nail. Of course Jo Lawry is singing along! :-)

Jimmy Nail 

Jo Lawry

Wilson Family

The songs (rf. lyrics)

1. The Last Ship (folksy) 0:00
2. Shipyard (rousing) 4:56
3. Coming Home's Not Easy (wondering) 14:53
4. And Yet (jazzy) 16:22
5. August Winds (reminiscent) 20:21 
6. What Have We Got? (stirring) 23:15
7. Practical Arrangements (conversational) 28:09
8. What Say You Meg? (earnest) 34:04
9. Dead Man's Boots (practical) 39:13
10. Big Steamers (choral) 43:18 
11. Sky Hooks and Tartan Paint (jaunty) 46:35 
12. Jock the Singing Welder (rocking) 51:11
13. So to Speak (mournful) 55:50
14. Show Some Respect (rallying) 1:00:27
15. Underground River (rf. Language of Birds) (balladic) 1:05:31
16. The Last Ship (Reprise) (ennobling) 1:10:53

I don't think anything you do can get away from who you are.  Why would it, and why would you want it to?  I'm proud of my story.  I think it's a good story.  It's not finished yet.  But I'm proud of who I am, I'm proud of where I come from.  That's a simple, abiding emotion in the end is gratitude.  I'm grateful.

What an enthalling performance, a masterful piece of work, an ennobling story.  In the modern world of social media and mobile devices, I am thankful most for what we have at our disposal.  I woke up in the middle of night, and decided to listen to this new music and new story from Sting & Co.

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Sometime around 2004, Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, better known as Sting, a rock star with 16 Grammys and more than 100 million records sold, found himself with a severe case of writer's block. It wasn't that he stopped touring (he didn't), making money (he still made plenty) or even recording (there were albums of other people's songs and a new symphonic treatment of his past material), but he found, to his chagrin, he could not write any new songs. 

This went on for some eight years. He was, in the words of writer John Logan, "at an impasse." The title of Sting's intensely personal, strikingly reflective 2003 autobiography, "Broken Music," had proven prophetic. 

"I just found myself thinking, 'What's the point?'" a scrunched-up Sting says, softly, matter-of-factly, occupying as little space as possible at the back of a 42nd Street rehearsal studio here one recent afternoon. "I just didn't have the desire or the passion. I was treading water as a writer."

Reference: Sting on 'The Last Ship' in Chicago — and the cargo he's been carrying.

It was between 1988 and 2008 that I didn't, and couldn't, write any poetry.  While I weathered this long dry spell without any qualms whatsoever, Sting must've felt an enormous sense of pressure.  He is a recording star, after all, and an artist at that who feels that compulsion to create.  My friends and I saw him in concert in Dubai, in early 2010, and it was a thrill.  We reveled in all of his familiar music, but I noticed there wasn't any new stuff.  In fact, I hadn't heard of any new stuff from him in ages.  I thought I was just out of touch, and had simply lost track of Sting, in a heavily-traveled decade of my life.  But he was in the midst of that disconcerting and protracted writer's block.

Every word, in the lengthy (reference) article by Chicago Tribune writer Chris Jones, is worth reading.

`The Room (3) Working Images

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These are just working images that I have in mind for `The Room, especially as they relate to the violence behind housemaid abuse and its physical and psychological effect.  The acting, the layout, the lighting, the soundtrack will all converge to hit the audience viscerally and make everyone squirm in his or her seat.  

`The Room (2) Cross Art, Multimedia Projects

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`The Room is a cross art, multimedia project focused on housemaid abuse and domestic violence in general.  Besides its staging, I want to create a film that parallels the play, but because it is a different art medium, it will expand on the play and portray the theme differently.  But before embarking on that film, I want to create a set of short films, including animation, that can reach a wider, world-wide audience.  I want to tell the stories of these victims as well as their perpetrators, if at all possible, via photography and poetry.  So such an exhibit, perhaps set up on stage, will be part of it.  Finally, I plan on an advocacy initiative.  What if we can eliminate housemaid abuse and domestic violence? is what I ask myself and others.

So, in summary, `The Room consists of five projects:

1. A five-act play
2. A feature-length film
3. Short films, including animation
4. Photography-poetry exhibit
5. Advocacy initiative

I've already sketched out the play, but over the next few weeks, I plan to resume my research and to draft the script in earnest.  If you're interested in knowing more or getting involved, please e-mail me at Ron.Villejo@drronart.com. 

`The Room (1) Introduction Notes

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The scenes of this family look ostensibly real. Normal. But as in an Anton Chekhov play, there is also surrealism about all of this. We never see members of the family together. They interact separately through the Housemaid.

I want to the play to take on an air of timelessness and placelessness. The actors will be of different nationalities, so as to remove any semblance that this is a logical or even a unified set of relationships and events.

In this play, I want to sacrifice reality for art – for drama. I want to challenge notions of time and space. I want to compress distance. I want to bring different planes of reality together on stage.

Abuse in this will be brutal. But we will do so without a single show of violence – no hitting, no kicking – and no bruises, no blood, nothing. We will convey abuse through expression, silence and lighting.

I wrote these notes five years ago, when I crystallized an idea for a play.

I had visited an official locale in Dubai for Overseas Filipino Workers, and it was a huge, two-story villa.  Now picture this: 60+ women crowding its two bedrooms, second floor landing, and first floor space, for their accommodation.  They were runaway housemaids, who were neglected, abused, and otherwise mistreated by their employers.  It was heartbreaking to see them all there.  A year or two later, I heard that those numbers ballooned to over 100 women seeking shelter.

`The Room will tell their story.