176. Magic
Initially, this post was supposed to have been titled Broken and it would have been written as a mournful ode to all things crappy with the world and life in general, and how things seem only to be getting worse without ever getting any better. Not even an escalation of things, but just a gradual, layering of shit that keeps coming and coming, slowly...but surely...making us not really aware to the fact...numb perhaps...desensitised by the media hyperbole and the superficiality of society in general...now that was a mouthful...
Thankfully, I never got down to finishing it up...mainly because it won't be anything that you haven't heard before, just another voice adding to the neverending drivel of meaningless words that drift in and out of cyberspace....disembodied and puerile. There's that, but a more telling reason is that I just couldn't bring myself to do it, 'cos all of a sudden, the venom's disappeared, and replaced with that irritatingly funky feeling that comes to us now and then. That magic mojo has been kindled again...you betcha...
It started with that flick Slumdog Millionaire, bloody hell...just when I was getting in a depressive funk of smouldering brooding and mysterious stares into nothingness, that feel-good crap puts a smile on my voice, and gets me to actually want to break out in exuberant song and dance. Then, there's that thing with the books Stardust and World War Z that I somehow managed to read while on a working holiday to Bangkok. Fucking hell, I actually finished reading them for once. Both of them. In one night. That pretty much doubles my tally for the last year or so. What's happenin' man? Something just stirred, that kind of magic that opens a window to the favourite things close to our hearts. It's been so long since there's been any of that. From Gaiman's beautiful Tolkien-esque prose describing the wonderful and melancholic world of Faerie that lay beyond Wall in Stardust to the sheer raw terror of Brooks' World War Z...the best ever feeling a good yarn could evoke was, well, evoked...getting you lost in the landscape of your imagination, and enjoying ever damn second of it...
Then there was Watchmen, a film nobody I knew could stomach. How can you not love the Watchmen? I mean, how could you not??? It has everything in it, from a naked blue man with a swinging penis to a superhero who couldn't get it up. Surely that's the kind of shit you'd want to see on the big screen. Ah well, go figure. I thought it was great. Not perfect, but great nonetheless. Just seeing everyone else shaking their heads trying to figure out what the fuck was going on was worth the entire five trips I made to the cinema to watch it. And what do you know, even watching that rom-com flick Definitely, Maybe made me grin like the glue-sniffing friend I used to know back then. How could any sane male enjoy a show like that?
Needless to say, the entire transformation from a hater to a groover was completed upon seeing the trailer to Where The Wild Things Are and checking out The Arcade Fire play their majestic anthem Wake Up live at numerous gigs (even one with Mr Labyrinth himself, David Bowie!). Both I've touched on already in my previous post, but just needed to mention them again 'cos I'm a freaking geek that way. That trailer just makes you wanna weep in joy, and it's nothing like I've ever seen before, capturing the very essence of our childhood, at least mine anyway (as I remember it)...the wonder, the fear, the reckless abandonment...and the sheer gritty dirtiness of it all! Holy flying shit on a paper airplane Batman! I swear to you, in those very few seconds, I was transported back to the time when catching mama blackjacks and jumping off roofs was the norm...and that song, freaking hell, it was like hearing Where The Streets Have No Name again for the very first time, nothing could ever beat that amazing first time when you hear something you just know is special...hell yeah, there's so much life there, and it literally spills out both the music and lyrics, literally grabbing you and driving you awash with an exhiliration that's too infectious to ignore, that buzzing hope that makes you wanna change the world and run out and hug everyone...
Who knows if the film will be any good, the trailer has already done it's magic...and just like the opening credits of Watchmen, that sticks no matter when comes next.
Do yourself a favour and check out the trailer and song. You can thank me later. Love you all! I'm still buzzing at this hour, can't freaking sleep!
