What’s the Point, Redux, Redux…
Posted on 18 July 2010
Sunday morning at Café Vita, my haunt here in Seattle. It’s overcast. Trash on the street after a Seattle night with so much live music and partying up here on Capitol Hill – a part of the city that likes to live its nightlife — two days off for me (Sunday/Monday). I’ve come to see that shooting the five days we shoot in a row each week is like one long day – twelve to thirteen hours a day of work, some sleep, back into it again, again – five days in a row. Then you get to take a breath on the weekends and then you go back into it again for another week/long day.
Hard work, but fun. And so the website here reflects the overwhelming wash of shooting – so much creativity from so many people (Sean, Lisa, Todd, Christopher etcetera…).
It’s also been really hard, hard work getting the GrassRootsthefilm.com website/Facebook/Twittering etcetera stuff set up, but it’s really going well now (finally) and also involves a lot of creative people hard at work. I’m hoping to draw more and more of the people who’ve been following my weird journey here on this website to participate more as well on GrassRootsthefilm.com/or Facebook – comments, arguments, insights – whatever. Playing and working with us as the movie slides forward – three more weeks of shooting, then editing – editing – editing. I’ll try to keep as open a window on that part of the process as I’ve tried with everything else on this movie.
And then this morning I find myself coming back to “What’s the Point” again. That very first thought I had a year ago when I started this website (GrassRoots just a fantasy, then) with Sophie my cat (see first entry). What’s the point of all this introspection (and outward–spection)?
And all the others on this planet that are doing it now?
The endless twitters, Facebook entries, blogs, vlogs and what ever new terms we come up with.
And that’s when I come back to the concept of GrassRoots – that more and more we are entertaining ourselves. The percentages show themselves in the frowning lines on the faces of all those worried – even terrified – Hollywood executives and music executives. The numbers of people following the Hollywood forms of expression are dropping, and dropping fast. The numbers on the Internet tweeting, blogging, etcetera are rising, and rising fast…)
And somehow I’ve now been involved with the dance of that twittering, Facebooking landscape for a year now, learning from the likes of Tim Griggs, Joel David Moore, Jason Biggs, DC Pearson – experts on the twittering/playing/working/joking stuff (DC’s been at it for a long time, check out his very, very funny stuff on the Web and Joel’s and Jason’s trap). It’s been such a delight learning from them all, playing with them on this movie.
Everything changing, shifting – evolution – messy, ugly, beautiful, fun, troubling – but the most troubling aspect of human beings for me has always been when one human thinks he/she is superior to another him/her . And I guess that’s my last rumination of this morning – thinking that I’d maybe clean up my writing here a bit on this blog. Make it cooler. Be more aware that I’m in the midst of making a (potentially) major movie again and taking myself more carefully– be a little more calculated in my rambling thoughts that drift wherever they do (like everybody else’s thought and feelings drift), but what would be the point of that?
9 responses to What’s the Point, Redux, Redux…
Is not relationship and what is created out of relationship the point? Are not twittering, Facebooking, blogging and vlogging about seeking connection, relationship, and expression of one’s thoughts/ideas; and for some one’s superiority? Is not the point about allowing us to be a part of the, “Everything changing, shifting – evolution – messy, ugly, beautiful, fun, troubling. . .” process of life and making a movie? Human expression born from being open to life and truly experiencing the relationships it brings whether acquaintance, cordial or otherwise – isn’t that the point?
Yes. I agree. Being human. That’s the point. And to be human alone, well, what’s the point? And yet, even then…there is a point. I’ve been trying to sort out — human. Not machine. Not hip. Not cool. But human. This process. Hands, yes. Legs, arms, eyes, etc. But animals have that stuff. Robots have that. This process of consciousness, though. Consciousness — like nothing else. Even consciousness alone…just the experiencing of stuff — experiencing a chair, a car, the moon, an elephant. The experiencing…
Somewhere in there is the point, isn’t it???
Ah you are back to the elephant. We are awaiting more on that elephant dream.
I defiantly believe the point is somewhere in consciousness. I can only speak from my experiences from fighting an illness that temporally took away my ability to walk without pain, to eat, to digest food when I was able to eat, and to lie down without pain; and permanently took away my ability to feel I have a guaranteed long and productive future. When I needed to retreat from the world and my body to fight the disease all I had were my conscious moments. Picturing the pleasant, unpleasant, and joyful moments in my life helped me see, human, is my experiences and living a conscious life that allows me the full range of human emotion.
To under think the point is to live an unconscious life and we see the results of that on the news every evening. To over think the point is to drive you to depression, because this is a very cruel world. Just, experience each moment, so you have a rich life review in the end that might lead to an answer. I do not think we are meant to know the answer until the end of life. So now, just enjoy the fullness of being alive and how your conscious moments could possibly create positive change in this world. I doubt I am the first person to come to this realization.
The last bit is something I’ve thought a lot about as I’ve watched your project come together. I’ve wondered if there is a point in time when the weight of what you are trying to accomplish and the potential scope of it’s appeal hits you hard. And how does that change things from that point onward? Does it change the movie? Does it change your interaction with the actors and crew?
As I’ve said before, it’s great fun to follow along on this journey with you.
Being a part of the Grassroots project is so amazing…this is my first experience as a background actor. I am learning so much from everybody, especially you (Sophie is soooo cute!), Jim, Sebastian, etc.
This journey is so beautiful…and I get to share this right here in Seattle
there is no point,I suppose.but a continuing curve.or a ball, changing its shape as you touch and turn it,as you change your shape while touching and turning it.sometimes excited,then scared,then frustrated,then satisfied andsoon..the point seems to be,that we’re all trying to make sense to and out of our senses,trying to live with ‘a point’.having a point,because everything’s changing so fast that we need to hold on to sth.,focusing on sth.,be passionate for sth.;or someone.personally,if I couldn’t believe that there would be a point in some of the things I do,I would probably start wasting myself away..(to ‘Hollywood’,fast-food-chains and lifestyle magazins).and maybe the point of your film will be in the making-of?der Weg ist das Ziel?
so enjoy it and seize your days!
And yes…somewhere in what you’re saying, I agree, too. But I think there may be a point whether we see it or not. Things change in front of us, sure. But then there is the moon, right? And beyond that, stars. And how far does it go? And what’s the point of all that? And what’s the point of molecules and then even smaller than that. I mean, what the hell is going on here? What’s really going on? We don’t remotely get it, yet, I think. Certainly, I don’t. But there is something really fucking big (and little, tiny, massive) going on all around us. It seems to have some humongous, minuscule, brilliant order to it, even as I find there is something going on in my bloodstream, my lungs, my dreams, my thoughts that has some astonishing order to it too…
I’m not sure that it really matters if we/I figure it out now or not, but the shadow of a dancing point in all of this may be cool enough….
The point may be tiny or massive, and yes, ever elusive — or it may be a very obvious grain of sand that we fail to see because it is right here, deposited safely in our hand. When I look around, people seem to be driven by that illusory image they create in the eyes and minds of others: prestige, success, recognition, approval, awards and, of course, the dollar value others attach to it. We measure ourselves by the envy our achievements elicit in others (sad but true, in the City of Angels perhaps more than anywhere else). And yet, if you had to choose between millions watching your movie or reading your poetry and getting just the obvious out of it (its entertainment/gossip/novelty value for their buck) versus only one person, one person in the entire universe, seeing it and getting its exact essence, all the way to the bottom, everything you poured into it — every bit of your heart and your hopes and fears and dreams that went into it — which one would you choose? Isn’t this the point: to find yourself, every last dark beautiful corner of yourself, in someone else? Some call it love. Not sure that such an overused word necessarily captures it — the messy, ugly, beautiful, fun, troubling beauty of it. But I catch myself thinking, more and more, that this is the point, that all the moons and stars and universes can be distilled into that one feeling which unblocks the lungs for air and makes everything we do in this life — even the daily burden of work — absolutely, mindblowingly easy, as easy as breathing. Outside that feeling (and without it), the world seems to be just an illusion…