Alexandersmap

    Tag: Local Hero

    • Of Sharks and Auroras

      Some people are shark people. My bride is one. Shark people follow every shark sighting, have the Sharktivity app on their phones, watch Jaws every time it’s on and are completely locked in on Shark Week. The fact that there’s a week+ of programming dedicated to sharks tells you that there are a lot of shark people out there. I appreciate sharks, but I rarely think about them until the shark people mention them yet again. On Shark Week I sequester myself in the office with a good book.

      Some people are sky people. I’m one of them. I have a ritual of walking the dog after dinner and spend most of the time looking up to see what the sky is doing. And it’s always doing something interesting. I have an Aurora app notifying me at all times of night. My favorite movie is Local Hero (if you know you know). Like any self-respecting sky-gazer, I follow things like meteor showers and eclipses and the occasional comet. And naturally I closely monitor solar activity that offers opportunities to see the aurora borealis.

      We all have something we’re fascinated with. Call it a harmless pursuit of something that is larger than our particular niche. Those shark people are fascinated with the serial killers of the sea—mysterious creatures that emerge from the deep to challenge our belief that we are at the top of the food chain. Meanwhile, we sky people look up to the universe for perspective and enlightenment. Who’s to say which is the better pursuit? Do we draw inspiration from cold-blooded killers* or the heavens above?

      * Of course I’m just kidding. I appreciate sharks too. It’s the shark people I’m poking fun at.

      Aurora Borealis

    • The Wanting-to-Know Type

      “There are two different types of people in the world, those who want to know, and those who want to believe.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

      Belief is the easy route. We suspend our own development and believe the stories other people tell us. Beliefs about other people seemingly different from us. Beliefs in political “leaders” who make promises and amplify those differences, always pointing their finger in another direction so followers don’t look too closely at them. Beliefs about religion or sports or the best movie ever made (don’t even tell me it’s not Local Hero).

      Belief is arrogant, closed, and the end of the story. Stories we’ve arrived at, or stories we’ve never left. Wanting to know is self-effacing, open, and a path to new places. When you want to know you pursue answers. Belief is static, wanting to know is dynamic and fluid. Which of these characters do we want to be in a conversation with at a cocktail party? Who would they want to be having a conversation with?

      This business of becoming is a journey with wanting to know. There’s a place for belief in this world, but the thing is, when you arrive at belief you’ve ended a journey. And who really wants that when there’s so much living still to do?

    • Those Beloved, Perfect-Enough Movies

      There are no perfect movies, despite the Twitter debate going on around it.  Nothing is perfect, but you have to ship it at some point, and hopefully you get close enough to the mark.  Perfect doesn’t always mean commercially successful, but if the stars align and word of mouth lifts a movie’s profile, it sells enough tickets.  Anyway, I’m not Roger Ebert, but I know a great movie when I see one.  Sure, I could pick the big ones that I love, like The Godfather or North By Northwest or Casablanca, but what’s the fun in that?  Let’s go one layer deeper and find some other gems.  Here are five perfect-enough movies – movies that I’d see over and over.  Like a near-perfect song or poem, there’s magic woven into each.  Some may be very familiar to you, some may be completely foreign, but they all have cast a spell on me in their own way.

      The Shawshank Rebellion
      The ending is just about perfect and what everyone remembers in this film.  That scene is set up by the one I linked to, where Andy and Ellis have this conversation:
      Ellis: “I don’t think I can make it on the outside, Andy.  I been in here most of my life.  I’m an institutional man now.  Just like Brooks was.
      Andy: “Well, you underestimate yourself.”
      and later in this scene: “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really.  Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

      Local Hero
      No shock for readers of this blog, as this remains my favorite movie.  Is it perfect? Of course not!  Parts of the soundtrack are charmingly locked in the 1980’s (while most of it is stunningly beautiful and  timeless).  Watch the scene in this link, as the band starts to play Mist Covered Mountains and Gordon walks up to join them, he places his glass of scotch on the snare drum and Rikki the drummer gives him a WTF glance.  Gordon gives his own glance soon after as Mac dances with his romantic partner Stella.  Small examples of the magic woven into this movie.

      Gettysburg
      This one is an outlier on this list, I know.  But this movie about the Battle of Gettysburg stays with me just as the other movies do.  And this scene with Sam Elliot is the highlight of the movie.  I was never a soldier, but I know the value of the high ground in a battle.  As a New Englander I tend to focus on the contributions of Joshua Chamberlain to holding the line, but the reason he had high ground to hold in the first place was because General John Buford held the high ground long enough for the Union forces to arrive.  That ultimately determined who would be victorious at Gettysburg, and this scene captures the moment when he decides to hold off the Rebel army long enough for the infantry to arrive.

      Hugo
      When Martin Scorsese created this movie he said in an interview that he wanted to make a movie his grandchildren could watch with him.  I use the word magic too frequently (indeed), but this movie about an orphaned Hugo Cabret living secretly in a train station in 1930’s Paris is truly magical.  This scene, where Hugo and Isabelle talk about their purpose is a lovely moment in the film, and set up a scheme to help Isabelle’s godfather re-find his own purpose.  I’ve watched Hugo with my daughter many times, it inspires her to create her own magic in this world.  And it just might do that for her father too.

      The Princess Bride
      Another Mark Knopfler soundtrack that I can’t stop listening to.  And another movie that casts a spell on you.  The characters of Inigo Montoya and Fezzik are the MVP’s of this film, with dialog sprinkled in fairy dust.  As a parent, I can think of no better movie to watch with your children.  As an adult, The Princess Bride is a welcome step into a world of wonder.  I wish it were longer, but there’s a lesson in it’s brevity too.  Nothing nearly perfect lasts forever, so enjoy every moment of it while you have it.  Want to watch it again?  As you wish.

       

       

    • A Walk on Camusdarach Beach

      Few places in film have captured my imagination like the beach in the movie Local Hero. The red telephone box does too, but it was built as a prop for that spot in Pennan. The beach, conceding that beaches change constantly, looks the same. And I made the pilgrimage on a rainy, quiet day when very few people were thinking of a walk on the beach.

      Having seen the movie more than I should have, I recognized places immediately and thought of some iconic moments from the movie. But even if you aren’t into this particular movie, the beach is well worth a visit. Long and flat, with pristine sand running from the surf to the dunes. Surprisingly warm water (not Bahamas mind you, but warm for where you’re standing thanks to the Gulf Stream).

      I checked a box yesterday. A box I’ve wanted to check since the 1980’s when I first saw this beach. It’s not the Eiffel Tower I know, but we all have our dream destinations, don’t we? Waiting for someday is a fool’s bet. Go as soon as circumstances allow.

    • Scol!

      There’s a several scenes from my favorite movie Local Hero that I replay in my head.  This scene is on the beach, while Mac and the locals wait for Ben and Happer to finish their long meeting in the beach hut.  They all pour brandy into styrofoam cups and Mac offers a toast:

      Mac: “Well, sláinte, everybody.”
      Locals: “Eh? What?”  
      Mac: “Sláinte?”
      Russian: “skål!”
      Local Scot:  “Skol!”
      All:  “Cheers!”

      I’m familiar with sláinte.  And in fact I just wrote about it on St. Patrick’s Day.  But Scol was something I wondered about…  So I had to look it up of course.  According to the online Dictionary of Scots Language:

      Scol(l, Skoll, n. Also: scole, skole, scoall, scoill, skoill.
      [Only Sc. till the 19th c. Norw., Dan. skall, ON skál, whence also Scale n.1
      Perhaps, OED conjectures, ‘introduced through the visit of James VI to Denmark in 1589’.]

      A drink taken as evidence of the drinker’s good wishes for the welfare of another person or other persons; (a person’s) ‘health’; a toast; also, the cup or glass from which the health is drunk. Also, scoll of drink.

      As an American saying sláinte! in St. Patrick’s Day toasts it’s easy to feel a bit like you’re hijacking a phrase that doesn’t belong to you.  And maybe that’s why Mac’s toast and the local’s confused reaction resonates for me.  We’re all just posers borrowing clever phrases.  But since we’re all just raising a glass to the good health of those we’re with, I don’t think they’d mind all that much.

      A darker origin of the toast may come from the Vikings, who would drink from the skull of the tribal leader they just killed after battle.  This was a tribute to those who fought well but lost, and helped ensure that they would enter Valhalla.  They apparently would chant skol!  Skol!  Skol! as they went into battle, and then enjoy a toast to the fruits of their labor in the skull of the vanquished leader.  I think I’d prefer the styrofoam cup, thank you.

    • New Year’s Day

      2019 has begun in earnest and there’s no time to waste.  Things to do, places to see, books to read, people to meet, friends and family to reconnect with, work to accomplish.  The flipping of the calendar signifies many things but it does mark change, if only in a number.
      “I will begin again” – U2, New Year’s Day
      The morning after the celebration, for those who didn’t celebrate too much, is chock full of promise.  New habits or the banishment of old habits, goals to accomplish, changes to make in the way you live your life.  Really, every morning offers this opportunity.  Every day you wake up is a clean slate, and offers the promise of the coming day.
      “When you see the Southern Cross for the first time
      You understand now why you came this way
      ‘Cause the truth you might be runnin’ from is so small
      But it’s as big as the promise, the promise of a comin’ day”
                                          – Crosby, Stills & Nash, Southern Cross
      Those lyrics remain burned in me like cattle prod, and poke at me now and then to get out in the world.  Just as the movie Local Hero does.  They serve as a catalyst and travel and some form of adventure must follow soon after each taps me between the ears.  I need to pay penance first with work to do at home, in Pocasset and in my job, but sure as the calendar changes on January 1 I’ll be off somewhere again, finding adventure where I may.