Included Below: Body of Work / Forest of Speculation / The Broken Earth / Awful Sound / Post. Click HERE for further information about this newsletter. To those from before and those who are new-
I. WELCOME
A body of work.
Caveat: this opening is a full-on film nerd-out. Lots of great stuff happening, but frankly, I am tired. I need to wrap my brain around a few things before even attempting to write about them. So, for this month, you get Film Talk with Paul.
For me, there are very few artists working that when something new is coming out, it’s an event. Paul Thomas Anderson is one of those artists. There is an evolutionary aspect to his films that I find inspiring and exciting. When someone is so in control of their art, I can’t wait to be guided with their steady hand back into the land of their imagination. Because, I live in the imagination of my mind a lot of the time, constructing stories and characters that populate new lands. I feel as though there is a shared language we recognize with art that connects us.
If you look at Anderson’s work, you see an evolution of maturity, exploration, and boldness. As opposed to - and I’ll get heat over this but I don’t care - Quentin Tarantino, who started around the same time as Anderson. To me, Tarantino has never really figured out what his movies are actually about and why he wants to tell these stories. To this end, for me (and this is merely one person’s opinion, so relax) his body of work has a flatness to it. It’s bloated and indulgent. While Anderson’s films have seemed to expand and contract, and moving towards either experimentation or something even more unique. I think when someone like Anderson is confident in the projection of their ideas, they become sparse, the focus is clear, and it unlocks something much more interesting.
Anderson’s films (so far) can be divided into distinct eras. His first movies Hard Eight (Sydney), Boogie Nights, and Magnolia are the works of a ridiculously talented artist showing off how much he knows about the tools of filmmaking. They are dazzling and entertaining. Punch-Drunk Love was transitioning into stripping away the bells and whistles, using them move deftly, and with precision.
And then we have There Will Be Blood - which is kind of an era all to its self and one of the most impactful cinematic experiences I’ve ever had in a movie theatre. I could tell you where I saw it (Varsity Theatre) and where I was seated (left of screen). There is a sequence in the movie that is so powerful and utilizes all the elements of filmmaking - cinematography, editing, music, acting, etc. - to such an unprecedented level that I very nearly had an out of body experience. This led into an experimental phase with The Master, Inherent Vice, and Phantom Thread.
I really love consuming the body of work of a great artist. Every piece might not be great, but there’s thought behind it, a beating heart in the work that allows us to follow along in the fantasy of their creative journey. I was thinking about Anderson and am writing about him because there is an event coming soon. I’ll be there, left of screen:
Q - What artists do you get excited over when they have new work coming out?
II. TALES FROM THE DREAM ROOM
Each month welcomes an exclusive story from a parallel world.
The Dream Room is a place that where everything is interconnected. The sights and sounds and people that inhabit this world feel familiar. The tales pulled from the Dream Room are sometimes true and sometimes fiction, they may scare you or make you laugh. The Dream Room is a place not to be taken lightly and if you’re ready to enter, read the excerpt below and click on the link for the full story.
THE FOREST OF SPECULATION: You know those whacky theories about multiverses and alternative timelines and all that stuff? Yeah, it’s not a theory. If a person learns multiverses are real, they get unplugged. Not physically, it’s not like there’s a plug in the back of your neck or anything. It’s just that the ground beneath you opens up and you get transported through the slipstream.
Basically, what happens is you’re living your life, minding your own business, when everything all of a sudden turns from three dimensions to five (that’s right, there are five dimensions - height, width, depth, horizontal density, and finite invictus). Everything stops and now you’re screwed because you can’t unsee what you’re seeing. The world is frozen at that moment, but you understand on a finitus invictus level that this moment and every other moment breaks off into multiple timelines, which snap off into millions of fractoids and so on and so forth.
It’s the job of The Watchers to keep an eye on things and if anyone - like me, for example - got caught in The Inbetween, they hit a button (I think it’s an actual button, and I believe it’s red) to open up the Earth under you, sucking you into the slipstream.
Read the whole story at this link.
Q - Have you ever felt like you were living inside a dream?
III. PAUL’S PICKS.
A recommendation of something watched, read, or listened to.
I gotta be honest with you: I’m not a fantasy kind of guy. I started with Lord of the Rings and pretty much stopped with Lord of the Rings. A friend of mine, Stefan, suggested The Broken Earth Series by N. K. Jemisin. I shrugged it off, but he was adamant: “No, it’s about much more than just magic and stuff.” Fifty pages into the first book and I went ahead and ordered the other two in the series from my local bookstore, A Good Read - I was locked in.
I don’t really want to get into all the things going on in these books, but there is a lot. From climate change to oppression to gender issues - Jemisin seems to seamlessly weave in so many themes. It’s written in a specific style that I couldn’t pin down, but wow does it work. All I can say is that you have to read it to believe it. Then you’ll understand why each of the books in this series won the Hugo Award for three consecutive years. I was literally crying through the final pages - partly because of how the story came together and partly because this epic read was coming to a close.
If you’re interested at all in how a writer like Jemisin builds the worlds in her books, my friend also recommended to me this podcast with Ezra Klein. Jemisin gives listeners a class in world-building and it’s fascinating stuff.
In the opening, I talked about the joy of moving through the body of work of an artist. After reading this trilogy, I’ve already started an another series by Jemisin. She’s definitely going on the short list of artists that I can get excited over when they have new work coming out.
This… hurts, unexpectedly. You realize why at once: because it’s been so long since anyone said anything like this to you. Alabaster… this has always been his way. The surprise gesture, the backhanded compliment that you could choose to take for teasing or an insult. You’ve hardened so much without this. Without him. You seem strong, healthy, but inside you feel like he looks: nothing but brittle stone and scars, prone to cracking if you bend too much. — Essun, from The Obelisk Gate (book 2 of The Broken Earth series) by N. K. Jemisin.
Q - Any good fantasy book recommendations?
IV. FROM THE ARCHIVES.
An old story brought to you in a new way.
Since this newsletter is just really fawning over artists, I figured I should include this blog post from a few years ago. Actually, I wrote two blogs posts about this same song. I guess it’s important to me. I still listen to Arcade Fire all the time, Everything Now was basically my bike ride soundtrack for the entire last year.
AWFUL SOUND (APRIL 2019): What is it about certain songs? You know which ones I mean. The songs that stick with you, trigger certain feelings when combined with specific experiences. They get lodged in our brains, stored away to be released at exactly the right time.
I don’t know why, but the song Awful Sound by Arcade Fire gets me every time. I have listened to it probably a million times, but every once in a while, it knocks me right over.
The song actually fades in, gets in your head gradually. I walked along the stadium, past all the crowds. Off to the side was this man, now he might’ve been high on something, I don’t know. What I did know was that he danced. Like I mean danced like no one was watching. That kind of dancing. He was giving it all he had. And the weird thing was that it looked like he was dancing to Awful Sound. I slowed down and just took in this performance that seemed to be just for me.
The song played out and the illusion was broken. I took my earphones off after that, and walked much further than I had anticipated. I listened to the sounds of the city as it woke from a long winter. The birds, citizens taking over the streets again, seeing frustrated drivers and weird people and the sun.
Read the whole story at this link. Read the whole FIRST story at this link.
I was so disappointed
You didn’t want me
Oh, how could it be,
I was standing beside you
By a frozen sea
Will you ever get free?
Just take all your pain
Just put it on me
So that you can breathe
When you fly away
Will you hit the ground?
It’s an awful sound
Q - What’s a song that never seems to stop inspiring you?
V. WATCH, LISTEN, READ, OR DO.
Something to take with you.
Something I really enjoy is to receive a letter or card in the mail. I’m not talking about a birthday card or something specific like that. I mean a random card or letter from someone I know that is just for the sake of doing it. To say hi or just to write something funny or to let me know they are thinking of me.
What I like even better than receiving a card is sending them. I like to find weird or strange cards that for one reason or another reminds me of that person. Sending things through the mail is like capturing a moment in time. Because of the delay, it’s almost like a document of who you were and what was important for you to say to the other person at a specific moment. There’s no immediate response or reaction - you just have to wait and see if the person writes back. When the recipient gets the card or letter, they are getting a historical document of who you were a few days or a week ago.
So, if you wanted, I will send you a card. If you’re comfortable enough to send me your mailing address - wherever it is in the world - you’ll receive a card from me at some point in the future. Just reply to this email or write to me at the address below.
Q - What was the last fun thing you received in the mail that wasn’t from Amazon?
You’ve probably noticed that I’ve included a question at the end of each section. No, this isn’t required homework. However, if you are compelled to write to me with your thoughts, I would love to hear from you. Who knows, I might even share some of the answers in future newsletters (anonymously, of course). Email me here: jpd@pauldore.com.
October 2021 Edition: Patient Virtues / Stillness and Action / Radio Rental / Waiting / Storytime.