'Best of Enemies' (2015): Buckley vs. Vidal

Best of Enemies (2015): a documentary film by Morgan Neville & Robert Gordon, centers on the 1968 televised debates between Gore Vidal ("liberal") and William F. Buckley, Jr. ("conservative"). This excellent work takes the participant-spectator to a place where the culture and history of those times as well as these times can be put in clearer perspective, regardless of one's personal or group worldview. This is done largely though the scrim of American network TV, but includes additional angles and mirrors. 

I loved this film on first look and aim to get my hands on a copy upon its November 3, 2015 DVD release, for further consideration.    

Best of Enemies: the news reporters, most gone now, good to see in action again, time regained if just for the duration of the film. And the witty antagonists, leading their factions, obsessed with each other and their zingers and their overall performances. Buckley permanently upset by his loss of control, Vidal having gotten under his skin; Vidal, upset by his ebbing influence in older age. A beautiful, funny and sad arc that leads to the always-unfolding now of continuing ideological conflicts of words, wars and colliding worlds. Wow.  

Today's Rune: Joy. 

Wallace Fowlie and the Art of Letter Writing

Professor Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) of Duke University was in his eighties when we corresponded. I first met him right after a lecture he gave that showed the connections between French poet Arthur Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: we struck up a brief conversation that led to later ones. These chats were supplemented by letters when either of us was traveling or otherwise hunkered down with work.

Wallace's letters, after a first brief introductory note, were almost invariably of an ideal length -- two pages. They were sometimes typed on his Olivetti but usually written with a pen.  What we discussed in epistles --as in person -- ranged from writing, reading, teaching, French literature, music, movies and general matters pertaining to art. I learned much from him. What I provided in return was an enthusiastic listener-reader plus some fresh insight into contemporary music.

Wallace Fowlie is a satisfying example of what can result from actively respecting and engaging worldly people -- particularly ones who happen to be over the age of 65. 

Seek and ye shall find, and listen well when you do, whether you meet once or a hundred times. Cherish, treasure and record for posterity -- my motto.

An example of one of Professor Fowlie's letters from our correspondence can be found here.

In 2015 and beyond, there's nothing to prevent letter-writing, especially when the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan put it. Letter writing is prevented only because of "a need for speed" cultivated by the disputive tendencies of modern communications; that is to say, because of 21st century impatience and the desire for instant, even if only ephemeral, gratification. 

As Gore Vidal used to quip from the Ancients, "life is short, but the art is long."

I'm open to new correspondence. If anyone would like to write, I'll send you my mailing address. Email me, if you wish, at: efrance23@gmail.com
And tally-ho!

Today's Rune: Strength.   

E.L. Doctorow: 'The March' (2005)

RIP, E.L. Doctorow (1931-2015). An earlier version of this post was published in 2009.

The March (Random House, 2005, 2006).

Ingredients: Take Gore Vidal, John Steinbeck, Walt Whitman, and Toni Morrison. Add freedmen and women, common soldiers (some of them deserters and some of them prisoners), a clinical doctor and his assistants, a photographer and his assistant, an English journalist, plantation owners, some colorful generals, and Abe Lincoln. Blend. Pour into a narrative flow.

Follow Sherman's March from Atlanta to the Sea, through Milledgeville to Savannah (November and December 1864), into South Carolina (February 1865), through Aiken and Columbia and on into North Carolina (March and April 1865) , through Monroe's Crossroads and Fayetteville, Averasboro and Bentonville, Goldsboro and Smithfield, and finally to Raleigh and Durham. Absorb and digest.

The March is divided into three parts: Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The swiftness of the campaign, with refueling rests, is remarkable. Confederate resistance in the first two parts is haphazard until North Carolina, when Sherman's columns are challenged by "the regrouped Rebel forces under General Joe Johnston, the one capable general they had." Doctorow's depiction of "Old Joe" Johnston is glowing. I enjoyed that, because he's the main focus of my doctoral dissertation. William Tecumseh Sherman comes off as a man tortured not so much by the war as by life. He spares Savannah, but is not particularly upset when Columbia, South Carolina burns (because South Carolina started the war). He goes out of his way to protect Raleigh, North Carolina, in the wake of Lincoln's assassination. Historically sound assessments and Doctorow deftly emphasizes them. Overall, The March describes tumult well, the madness and also the magnifying lenses of war, specifically the American Civil War, with its enduring social and cultural legacies.

As an aside, Union Major General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, head of Sherman's cavalry, plays a ready made rogue in the novel, to some comic relief. He also happens to be journalist Anderson Cooper's great-great-grandfather.

Homer & Langley: A Novel (Random House, 2009), Doctorow's revolves around the Collyer brothers, who in "real life" died in 1947 as a direct result of their disposophobic hoarding.

Today's Rune: The Self. 

Jennifer Baichwal's 'Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles' (1998)

"Other people's indifference is the only horror." -- Paul Bowles (1948). 

Paul Bowles (1910-1999) and Jane (Auer) Bowles (1917-1973) led, by mainstream standards, bizarre lives. Jennifer Baichwal's Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles (1998) helps us catch glimpses, hear echoes and, particularly in the DVD extras, hear directly from Paul Bowles through a series of Baichwal's questions and Bowles' answers. The latter reminds me of Gore Vidal (1925-2012) in a way -- maybe it's the wry sense of humor.

Jane Bowles wrote fiction, letters and a play. A good place to start might be My Sister's Hand in Mine: The Collected Works of Jane Bowles, 2005. In Bernardo Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky (1990), she's played memorably by Debra Winger; John Malkovich stands in for Paul Bowles, whose 1949 novel the movie is (more or less) based upon.

Paul Bowles had distinct periods in his life. Just to hit a few: in Paris with Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, where one of his assigned responsibilities was to watch their pets. Still bitter about the pet-watching in his eighties, he quips: "I hate poodles anyway. I think they're revolting animals."

He was, too, a musician and composer, associated with Aaron Copeland and Tennessee Williams.

Then he settled permanently in Morocco, where he wrote several books and also did translation work. 

Jane Bowles was somewhat like Joan (Vollmer) Burroughs, whose second and final husband was William S. Burroughs -- both drank prodigiously and both died young (the latter at 28 years old, the former at 40).  

p.s. Caution: Artists on Board. 

Today's Rune: Separation (Reversed). 

Christopher Hitchens, RIP

Fare-thee-well, Christopher Hitchens, always a joy to see in action, to read, to often disagree with. My favorite recent quip of his that springs to mind: "Cheap booze is a false economy" (Hitch-22, 2010).

Gore Vidal landed the last good shot in their back-and-forth quibbling: "Hitchens identified himself for many years as the heir to me. Unfortunately, for him, I didn't die" (2009). A salute to them both.

Today's Rune: Protection.

Just the Night for a Conquering Tribe

Tonight, the better angel of my nature draws from FDR:

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."  (Second Inaugural Address, January 20, 1937)

My more primal side, infused with Voltaire's wry joie de vivre, draws from Gore Vidal:

"At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation, and prejudice."  (1965)  And:

"It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail."  (1976)

Tonight, I rejoice in the victory of the Blue Tribe. Yes, we did. 

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.

The March

E.L. Doctorow, The March (Random House, 2005, 2006).

Ingredients: Take Gore Vidal, John Steinbeck, Walt Whitman, and Toni Morrison. Add freedmen and women, common soldiers (some of them deserters and some of them prisoners), a clinical doctor and his assistants, a photographer and his assistant, an English journalist, plantation owners, some colorful generals, and Abe Lincoln. Blend. Pour into a narrative flow.

Follow Sherman's March from Atlanta to the Sea, through Milledgeville to Savannah (November and December 1864), into South Carolina (February 1865), through Aiken and Columbia and on into North Carolina (March and April 1865) , through Monroe's Crossroads and Fayetteville, Averasboro and Bentonville, Goldsboro and Smithfield, and finally to Raleigh and Durham. Absorb and digest.

The March is divided into three parts: Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The swiftness of the campaign, with refueling rests, is remarkable. Confederate resistance in the first two parts is haphazard until North Carolina, when Sherman's columns are challenged by "the regrouped Rebel forces under General Joe Johnston, the one capable general they had." Doctorow's depiction of "Old Joe" Johnston is glowing. I enjoyed that, because he's the main focus of my doctoral dissertation. William Tecumseh Sherman comes off as a man tortured not so much by the war as by life. He spares Savannah, but is not particularly upset when Columbia, South Carolina burns (because South Carolina started the war). He goes out of his way to protect Raleigh, North Carolina, in the wake of Lincoln's assassination. Historically sound assessments and Doctorow deftly emphasizes them. Overall, The March describes tumult well, the madness and also the magnifying lenses of war, specifically the American Civil War, with its enduring social and cultural legacies.

As an aside, Union Major General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, head of Sherman's cavalry, plays a ready made rogue in the novel, to some comic relief. He also happens to be journalist Anderson Cooper's great-great-grandfather.

Homer & Langley: A Novel (Random House, 2009), Doctorow's latest, just came out recently. It revolves around the Collyer brothers, who in "real life" died in 1947 as a direct result of their disposophobic hoarding.

Gore Vidal: An American Voltaire

Did you happen to catch Gore Vidal on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, following Ron Howard? Mr. Maher asked questions and engaged Mr. Vidal more in the spirit of Tavis Smiley and Charlie Rose than as comedian, resulting in a pithy, interesting exchange.

Always glad to see such things, a certain long range continuity in a sea of change, like a great ship heading straight through rough waters. A salute to Bill Maher (and HBO) for the interview, and to Gore Vidal, an American Voltaire, for doing his thing.

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.

This is the Modern World!

Well, folks, this has been another interesting day. We've got John McCain predicting that the Iraq War and Occupation can be "won" by 2013. We've got G.W. Bush cheering on Israel and comparing active diplomacy with appeasement. We've got the right of gay marriage upheld in California. And we've got Democrats in Congress actually standing tall against the crybaby bully boys. Folks, in the words of The Jam, this is the modern world!

Between Neanderthals and progressives, between the past and the future, between fantasy and reality: our choice.

With John Edwards, I choose Barack Obama.

If we go with McCain (or McSame, as some wags call him), we'd be committed to extending the war through his entire first (and probably only) term in office. The American Revolution only lasted eight years, the American Civil War, four. Which Americans in their right minds would accept that the Iraq War is less than half over? Which Americans would want to keep sending their own soldiers into the longest war in American history, and to what end?

As for Bush, he has no comprehension of history or, apparently, much of anything else. Gore Vidal once suggested it's as if the man is living in a dream. His dream -- nearly everyone else's nightmare. And only 249 days to go . . . . .


As for lifting the ban on gay marriages in California, it's a victory for civil rights that clearly draws a distinction between civil and religious ceremonies.

On May 7, 2006, I wrote this and still stand by it:

I love how some conservative Christian groups think they're the only real party of God. One of their prime missions seems to be to undercut civil and human rights, particularly for gay citizens. Why these organizations are so obsessed with people's sexual orientation makes no sense to me, but to them, I suppose it has to do with reproduction. I don't really care, because gay, lesbian, and trans-gendered people must have the same legal and cultural rights and protection as heterosexuals. End of story. Abortion rights must also be protected. As a friend of mine recently put it, if a woman's right to her own body is taken away, we might as well be living under the Taliban. Yeah, the Christian Taliban.

Today's Rune: Growth. Much better day today. It's pay day and I'm stocked up on good coffee again. Oorah!

On the Road in Vietnam and Iraq

It's Jack Kerouac's birthday, which I've posted on before (see specifically, March 12, 2006 post).

Today this country as a whole is on the road in Iraq, just as forty odd years ago we were on the road in Vietnam. Only then, because of the Draft, more people protested more vocally. Today we seem to say, shucks, then shrug our shoulders and hustle up some money to pay for gas as we drive away from the problem.

To some extent at least, Gore Vidal was right when he called the USA "The United States of Amnesia."

Take the Bush-Cheney mantra since mid-2006: "If we don't fight them there [Iraq], we'll have to fight them here ['The Homeland"].

Hardly original. This "logic" goes back at least as far as the Great War / First World War. And more recently, to Vietnam. Consider U.S. Vietnam veteran Donald Duncan, writing in 1966:

[W]henever anybody questioned our being in Vietnam -- in light of the facts -- the old rationale was always presented: "We have to stop the spread of communism somewhere . . . if we don't fight the commies here, we'll have to fight them at home . . . if we pull out, the rest of Asia will go Red . . . these are uneducated people who have been duped [i.e. the Vietnamese, not the occupying Americans]; they don't understand the difference between democracy and communism . . ."

(Source: Donald Duncan, "The Whole Thing Was a Lie!" February 1966, in Peter B. Levy, ed., America in the Sixties -- Left, Right and Center: A Documentary History (Praeger, 1998), p. 146).


Today's Rune: Harvest.

As we sow, so shall we reap.

Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, 1968

Before the 1968 presidential election.

The Fascist Twist

Just as Nobel Peace Prize winner Carl von Ossietzky warned Germany and the rest of the world of the rise of fascism in his "homeland," so writers Gore Vidal and now Naomi Wolf warn us of internal dangers facing the USA.

I mentioned Naomi Wolf's The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (Chelsea Green, 2007) not too long ago. Since then, I've read it through once.

In this concise, easily digested 155-page paperback, Wolf lays out how nations can be taken over by an internal group bent on authoritarian control. She raises serious red flags about a "fascist shift" occurring in the USA since 9/11/2001.

Here's the outline of her analysis of the descent into fascism -- in ten easy steps:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens.
4. Set up an internal surveillance system.
5. Harass citizens' groups.
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
7. Target key individuals.
8. Control the press.
9. Declare all dissent to be treason.
10. Suspend the rule of law.

More on this soon, I suspect.

Naomi Wolf is probably better known as a Third Wave feminist; The Beauty Myth (1991) is one of my favorites. In it, she simply argues that women should be able to dress the way they want (fashionably or slovenly), on their own terms rather than because of external/internalized pressures. I find that argument absolutely convincing -- with personal freedom to choose as its core value. Freedom is her main concern in The End of America, as well.


Gwen Stafani chooses her own fashion statements. You bet your sweet bippy!

Today's Rune: Fertility.

Birthdays: Carl von Ossietzky, Gore Vidal, Alvin Toffler, Eddie Cohran, Chubby Checker, Keb Mo, Al Sharpton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jack Wagner, Clive Owen, Gwen Stefani, Neve Campbell, Alanna Ubach. And happy birthday to Gloria Garza!

What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding?

The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006) saw widespread release in September 2006. Entertainment industry veterans David Leaf and John Scheinfeld follow the "peacenik" arc of John Lennon (10/9/1940-12/8/1980) and Yoko Ono (b.2/18/1933) from the late 1960s through the first part of the 1970s, and end with his death. It's a worthwhile film with excellent footage and interviews of people ranging from Gore Vidal (getting in as many pithy digs at Nixon and G.W. Bush as he can) to G. Gordon Liddy. The latter is most instructive in his unrepentently psychopathic responses to anti-war protest. He's a perfect villain, in fact.

Overall, we see John and Yoko during Vietnam join the anti-war movement, espousing peace, love and understanding a la the later Elvis Costello song. Elements of the U.S. government, in short, begin deportation procedures while tapping phone lines and adding to his FBI files. The two pop heroes make a stand and decide to remain in New York City, their elected home, while fighting deportation.

The governmental deportation, imprisonment, or harrassment of "undesirable elements" has a long and sorry history in the USA, starting in earnest with the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Charlie Chaplin's visa was revoked through the machinations of J. Edgar Hoover in 1952, for instance; W.E.B. DuBois and Paul Robeson, among many others, were banned from travelling because of excercising free speech.



In The U.S. vs. John Lennon, both Lennon and Ono are seen in an entirely positive, often playful light. Though this is intentional to keep the focus on bigger issues, I was still surprised how well Yoko comes off mostly through her own charm.

The entire film is a bit too long for one sitting (it could have been cut by twenty minutes to good effect), but I enjoyed it. Aside from the exciting glimpses into the Vietnam era, it spotlights several big issues of timeless importance -- war, peace, free speech, music/art, media, government, power.

Today's Rune: Breakthrough.

Imagine . . . . .

The Hotel Chelsea

Along with Leonard Cohen, first we’ll take Manhattan. Set up headquarters at The Hotel Chelsea, otherwise known as The Chelsea Hotel.

For anyone who really loves the arts and wants easy access to a large culturally-packed chunk of the city at a reasonable price, it’s worth checking out their website. This is not a luxury hotel, but it is a working one, with long-term residents and reasonable amenities (like a refrigerator and coffee maker). I love it for its low-key ambience, excellent location and intense history, among other things.

Here’s a sampling of people who’ve stayed (and created) in The Chelsea time-space intersection:

Sarah Bernhardt; Mark Twain; Edgar Lee Masters; Hart Crane; Henri Chopin; Thomas Wolfe; Édith Piaf; Frida Kahlo; Diego Rivera; Dylan Thomas (until the end); Nelson Algren; Henri Cartier-Bresson; Julius Robert Oppenheimer; Charles Jackson (The Lost Weekend); Jean-Paul Sartre; Simone de Beauvoir; Willem de Kooning; Jasper Johns; Vladimir Nabokov; Arthur C. Clark (drafting 2001: A Space Odyssey); Stanley Kubrick; Shirley Clarke; Arthur Miller (After the Fall); Rebecca Miller; Tennessee Williams; Gore Vidal; Brenda Behan; Brion Gysin; William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch); Jack Kerouac (On the Road); Bob Dylan (Blonde on Blonde); Bob Neuwirth; Edie Sedgwick; Mary Woronov; Brigid Berlin; Nico; Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix; Grace Slick and The Jefferson Airplane; Leonard Cohen; Joni Mitchell (“Chelsea Morning”); Kris Kristofferson; Jane Fonda; Donald Sutherland; Dennis Hopper; John Cale; Sam Shepard; Patti Smith; Robert Mapplethorpe; Iggy and the Stooges (“We Will Fall” – Room 121); Sid Vicious; Nancy Spungen; Dee Dee Ramone; Grace Jones; Miloš Forman; Uma Thurman; Ethan Hawke (Chelsea Walls); Gaby Hoffman.

Though no comprehensive history of the place and its guests has yet been published, there's Chelsea Horror Hotel (2001) by Dee Dee Ramone and the upcoming Chelsea Hotel Manhattan by Joe Ambrose, to be made available on February 1, 2007 (cover pictured above).

Don’t confuse this Hotel Chelsea with the London version or with Elvis Costello’s bitingly great song, “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea.”

I most certainly do want to go back to The Chelsea.

Hotel Chelsea
222 W 23rd St
New York NY 10011
Telephone: (212) 243-3700
Fax: (212) 675-5531

Today's Rune: Growth.

Bon voyage!

Truman Capote: Every Word Is True

Infamous, a new Truman Capote biopic (held back so as not to interfere with last year's Capote), will be released in NYC and LA on October 13, 2006. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival on August 31, 2006.

Infamous is based on George Plimpton's Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career (1997), a 500-plus page literary/celebrity adventure even more entertaining than the Plimpton-edited, Jean Stein-authored Edie: American Girl (1982) oral bio of Edie Sedgwick. (Factory Girl should be out soon, too).

Douglas McGrath (b.1958), the screen writer and director, previously co-wrote Bullets Over Broadway (1994) with Woody Allen and directed Emma (1996), Company Man (2000), and Nicholas Nickleby (2002). This ought to be an interesting and entertaining film, to say the least.

Toby Jones stars as Capote, Sandra Bullock plays Harper Lee (though I'm not a big fan, she might do well with this part). Mr. James Bond 007 himself, Daniel Craig, here plays none other than Perry Smith, the infamous In Cold Blood killer, along with Dick Hickock (Lee Pace in this version). There are other stellar supporting actors, including Peter Bogdanovich (as Bennett Cerf), Jeff Daniels (as Alvin Dewey), Sigourney Weaver (as Babe Paley), Michael Panes (as Gore Vidal!), Hope Davis (as Slim Keith),Gwyneth Paltrow (as Peggy Lee!), Isabella Rossellini (as Marella Agnelli) and Juliet Stevenson (as Diana Vreeland). It's going to be quite the Black and White Ball. Have you heard? Nearly everyone is invited!

I love these kinds of films. Though some things are obviously better than others, anything about writers and artists of all kinds is worth a shot -- it's all good. The more the merrier.

Today's Rune: Movement.

Ciao, darlings!

The U.S. vs. John Lennon

The U.S. vs. John Lennon (David Leaf, John Scheinfeld; release dates October 6 and 20, 2006) looks like a provocative documentary with a fitting soundtrack. The question is, what does it take to amp up the alternative voices in the USA and everywhere else in the early 2000s? Good old Gore Vidal weighs in with his memorable quips, of course, but why is there so much apathy in civil society? In a clip from the movie, we hear Richard M. Nixon announce that the U.S. can extract itself from Vietnam as soon as the South Vietnamese can take over responsibility for their own governance. 2006 and Deja Vu all over again: now it's the Middle East that's a shambles. Why is it that only extremists are willing to act decisively, thereby imposing their will on everyone else?

As for the Vietnamese, it's always been my contention that most Vietnamese were and are nationalists first, and the U.S. Government made them an unnecesary enemy by forcing them into the Cold War way of seeing. They have always (for at least 1000 years, anyway) wanted to retain independence from outside interference, whether it be Japanese, French, American, Russian, or Chinese. And they are slowly getting there, no thanks to anyone but themselves and their trading partners and not because of their own last traces of Cold War ideology. I was glad to see that a candle holder I recently purchased at IKEA was "Made in Vietnam." Peaceful trade and their astonishing tenacity and resilience will make them truly free, eventually.

For more on John Lennon and Yoko Ono, there's an incisive piece ("Yoko Ono") written by Francine Prose in her The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired (2002; pp. 327-367). Part of her conclusion (p. 367): "In an era that functioned like a petri dish for narcissism of all sorts, the gods gave us yet another muse created in our own image. Once again, a society had selected and nurtured a living avatar of the divine on whom to project its most profound hopes and fears, its deepest instincts and most abstract ideas about men and women. . ."

Finally, I'm keeping an eye out for Michigan showings of The War Tapes (2006), the grassroots documentary shot by American soldiers in Iraq showing the situation on the ground from their perspectives.

I enjoy reading and considering a plurality of voices. Much more interesting than hearing only one or two sides to things.


Today's Rune: Wholeness.

Ciao!

Gore Vidal: Palimpsest

Gore Vidal, Palimpsest: A Memoir (Random House, 1995; Penguin Books, 1996)





Vive la France!
World Cup bound!
Ciao!

Seven Souls

William S. Burroughs' gravelly voice overlays the opening sequence of the final Sopranos season (which thankfully is not really supposed to end until after its 2007 reprise). Gore Vidal is quoted ("No good deed goes unpunished"), and Debbie Harry and Blondie suggest poor Gene's moment of realization via their song "Dreaming." The poor guy just wants to move to Florida with his wife and kids, but alas -- this is a business. Meticulous details like these provide beautiful flourishes to the fundamentals of excellent writing, directing, acting and everything else that makes this series so exciting and interesting. On the first viewing, there's the shock of the new to deal with; but on the second, it's pure pleasure.

The Burroughs piece comes from The Western Lands (1987), or more specifically, from a Material album blending their music with Burroughs' spoken word in Seven Souls (1989); there's a remixed version, too -- Road to the Western Lands. The opening catch-up montage is constructed to fit perfectly with Burroughs' incantations. Here's the full text:

The ancient Egyptians postulated seven souls. Top soul, and the first to leave at the moment of death, is Ren, the Secret Name. This corresponds to my Director. He directs the film of your life from conception to death. The Secret Name is the title of your film. When you die, that's where Ren came in.

Second soul, and second one off the sinking ship, is Sekem: Energy, Power, Light. The Director gives the orders, Sekem presses the right buttons.

Number three is Khu, the Guardian Angel. He, she, or it is third man out, depicted as flying away across a full moon, a bird with luminous wings and head of light. Sort of thing you might see on a screen in an Indian restaurant in Panama. The Khu is responsible for the subject and can be injured in his defense -- but not permanently, since the first three souls are eternal. They go back to Heaven for another vessel.
The four remaining souls must take their chances with the subject in the Land of the Dead.

Number four is Ba, the heart, often treacherous. This is a hawk's body with your face on it, shrunk down to the size of a fist. Many a hero has been brought down, like Samson, by a perfidious Ba.

Number five is Ka, the Double, most closely associated with the subject. The Ka, which usually reaches adolescence at the time of bodily death, is the only reliable guide through the Land of the Dead to the western lands.

Number six is Khaibit, the Shadow, Memory, your whole past conditioning from this and other lives.

Number seven is Sekhu, the Remains.

Another nice touch: Uncle Junior, mad as a hatter, watching Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957 -- same year as On the Road) as Dax, the Kirk Douglas character, is being berated for having too much of a heart for his own good: just as Tony, arriving at Junior's house, puts too much stock in placing family loyalty above self-preservation -- especially in the case of his perfidious uncle. (Some nice blood imagery, too). But who can blame them? No good deed goes unpunished.

I need to absorb more of Big Love before writing about it -- but it was a catchy opener, certainly.

Tony Soprano: "If you want to get something done, you got to do it yourself. . . . ." He's got that right! Although sometimes, it's better to delegate to someone reliable like Silvio. And, just like Tony, don't we all know it.

Ciao for now!