The Movie: Remember Me

Wow!

One of the best movies I've seen in a long, Long, LONG time.  We get so used to plot based movies that when you come to a character based movie, it is both refreshing and startling. 

For now, my Heart, mind and body are just tired. If you see the movie, watch it early in the evening - with friends and loved ones - and have a box of Kleenex. And no it is not a chick-flick, a romance, an action or a Sci-fi.  It is simply one of the best movies I've seen since "The Soloist" and "Pursuit of Happyness"



A scriptwriter can only pray to make a movie so good, so well crafted and so beautiful.  From the music score, to the script itself.  The Love story was profound, the character story difficult but good and the acting was deep.  And while the middle seemed a little confusing, the end cleared it all up and then some.  The average life in America is simply not the clean cut living that happened in the 50's.  People have honorable moments and flaws, and today's American's are deeply complex people.  And more importantly, they don't get a nice and tidy script to read.  They must find their own path and sometimes they aren't ready for what life brings them, but they try anyway.  And that's the beauty of all the souls I've met in America, they keep trying until they get it right.  They don't give up, but will try to hold onto their moral standards and keep reaching no matter what comes their way.  Some American's have it easy, some have it hard and a ton fall in the middle, and while I love traveling, I rarely have found an entire nation of people I Love More.  And while most might think that's a stretch, I have moved 47 times in 43 years, and known hundreds of thousands of people, I can say, "I Love My People."  I get tired of the garbage, the politicians, etc... but the American People make it worth living here, at this point in time, every day!

Please go see the movie.  It is a gift to yourself. 

However, be prepared for a very unusual and powerful ending.  I was watching it at 1 am and was snuggling on the couch with a blanket.  The ending was so powerful, I took my blanket, laid down and cried on my prayer rug.  Since Sophie died at New Years, Mau is the only other to pray with me.  He came and crawled under the blanket and two Hearts lay beating in prayer...

I'd say more, but any other review would spoil the ending.  Peace and Loving-kindness to ALL...

The Question came up: Should We Ever Look Back?

This is about as silly as asking if we should ever look forward.

And in a Nutshell, we would not have Jazz today if we didn’t have talented people that looked back. We wouldn’t have fabulous music and lyrics by Bob Dylan or Nirvana if they didn’t look back at the past: folk music, gospel and Christian music. The earlier music shaped their music and thus shaped humanity’s consciousness because of their interpretations. Think about Dylan’s “Turn, Turn, Turn” that is a total and complete example of looking at the past (one of King David’s Psalms) and creating the present for future generations.

Looking back is ABSOLUTELY Essential to being in the Present and RIDICULOUSLY Necessary before entering the Future.

Let’s look at this concept in action…

A man was once told that he would have three choices for a wife. Some screw was loose in his brain and he thought that meant he had to pick 1 of 3 females; INSTEAD OF REALIZING THAT HE WAS BLESSED AND COULD HAVE ALL THREE CONSECUTIVELY. The beauty of his life was that he would have an Opportunity to meet ALL of them, and love All of them in the manner He Chose because it was His choice and not theirs. Karma was on his side. Wow, what a concept!!!

Here he thought bad things happened to those he loved and he simply misunderstood that their Karma was simply not to be in his life as long as he was to live. Sort of like a Redwood Tree lives 1000 years, but all the humans that might protected it live less than 100 years, so one tree would need about 10+ humans for a full cycle of protection. Of course, I’m trying to make light of the situation to balance out the strength of my words.

Sorry gentle readers.

Perhaps it wasn’t a screw loose per say, but a sincere misunderstanding of how linear lives present themselves. You can’t move from the Past, to the Future and simply skip the Present. In order to go from one wife to the next wife, you have to at least travel WITH the middle wife, because those chains of events lead you to the next one or better prepare you for the next one.  I think Orson Scott Card captured it best in his books, "Women of Genesis."

Westerners have such weird beliefs about what a wife Is and how she is Found. I’m always simply amazed at this lack of understanding. Each person, place and event in our lives SHAPE US for the next person, place and event in our lives. And just because you meet your next Karmic wife, doesn’t mean you have to actually marry her. How many men actually legally marry their wives? But you do have to actually know her well enough to at least consider the idea with an honest appraisal. But missing the step, misses the opportunity for growth and thus being prepared for the third wife; as well as sometimes meeting her.

Easterners have this down easy as pie. Either they have their wives at the same time, or they have them consecutively.  Heck, with the Tibetans, their wife have several husbands, so you know it goes both ways and isn't gender specific.

To “refrain from looking backwards” is to miss the point. We can either fight the Present and miss the Future or we can go with the flow and everything will happen naturally.  Believe it or not, there really is a reason for everything under the sun.
Not to mention, if you were to study the many surveys of men that have 3 wives consecutively, you would find that all of them needed that middle step for some very important reasons: She either carried two keys and not one…or he had to work on some issue before he was ready to commit to one person for the rest of his life. Very simply put, a braid involves three pieces of hair, all leading to one complete piece.

This isn’t Western brain surgery, its fundamental 101 in the Eastern world.

Make life easy on everyone and go with the flow: examine the Past, to come terms with It in hands of the Present, so you can be whole and ready for the Future.

Another Question: Betwix and Between?

What happens when you ask a painful question?


The one that's close to your Heart?  And the answer is neither here nor there, but somewhere between and betwixt?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes

Between as:

Taking together the combined effect of

Betwixt as:

In a midway position : neither one thing nor the other

And this is a difficult place to be.  When learning to write my first movie script I did several things in tandem:

1) I learned a software program based on tabs instead of returns - It's harder than it sounds
2) I read books about how NOT to write a movie script - always the best way
3) I watched movies in order to understand and see WHAT the books were telling me
4) and I wrote the script itself while verifying the historical points

None of this was easy, but it was all worthwhile.

So recently, I asked if I could learn a specific language.  And the teacher's answer was,  "Before you learn that language you have to learn this one."  Sigh. 

This is not my favorite response.  Now understand I love yes/no answers.  Do you like ice cream? Yes, but really I LOVE sherbet.  You see my point?  However, there is a certain kind of inherent wisdom in this deeper answer.  If, for example, you want to learn Italian, you can do it and do it well.  It won't be the same as if you were in the country learning it.  Nor will you ever be fluent in it because you have no one to converse with.  However, if you learn Latin and Italian in tandem with having someone to talk to, pen pal with, or watch Italian movies and listen to the music, then you will probably learn the language with some degree of accuracy and fluency.  Many a linguist has told me the secret to absorbing a language lays in hearing the music and singing the songs.  Music is based on mathematics and thus a universal language - just like Bob Marley said.

For example: When I learned Vietnamese, I did not learn to speak it.  I literally sat in prayer and read it as everyone else spoke it.  Many were surprised that I could read it so well.  But the knowledge of what I was reading wasn't there.  Given another 6 months, I'm certain I would have easily understood the meanings behind the words.  And that is why being immersed in your endeavor is so important.  Troi Ong is a word that means August Heaven.  This phrase is SO important to the understanding of all of their culture.  It is at once an ideal, as it is a creation story, as it is a love story, as it is a belief system, as it is a future hope.  It is what separates them from the Chinese forever.  It is what brings all Vietnamese together no matter where they are on the planet and what generation they are born into; even to the point of bringing the Catholic and the Zen together.

When you are immersed in writing a movie script, you are creating scenes that exist like a waterfall, dripping down a mountain side.  Many tributaries meet and join and others separate and are absorbed into the rock and still others evaporate into the atmosphere.  While it is based in culture, language, art and expression, it is created specifically for visualization and auditory acceptance.  See your scenes visually and they will be easier to write.  One of the benefits of "seeing" them is simply that you will automatically know when they are out of order.  Rarely does a French Kiss happen before the lean in.  If you are visualizing it, then you will automatically get them in the right order.  Of course, the upsidedown kiss in "Spiderman" was a lovely way to break the rules - but trust me, someone visualized that before they wrote it!  When you are immersed, then that creative spark of inspiration will naturally flow out of your fingers and onto the page.

And as you begin that creative endeavor you must find your immersion point.  What is the point where all things converge?  What is the Point Horizon?  What is the Point Perspective?  This larger theme is at once where everything begins and where everything disappears.  This theme is your larger picture and yet, well crafted, it is so intrinsic that it can be unseen.  Think again of water.  Water is clear and can not truly be seen.  It is at once a liquid and a gas.  It is at once hexagonal and bent.  Air literally lifts it's bent atoms.  Yet, as clear as it is, it reflects EVERY color on the planet and the cosmos.  It even reflects starlight and the appropriate color spectrum of the planets.  Your immersion point is truly amazing.

This is why Every GREAT movie begins with a question.  A question from the Heart.  Think of the Green Mile - actually a collection of short stories.  But the movie focuses in on the Question from the Heart of the scriptwriter.

Now, I don't know if this concept applies to horror film writers.  "Invasion of the Giant Tomatoes" (sorry, I couldn't find the actual title), "The Blob" and many others I think come from Fear, "What if", and "How much can we Freak the audience out" and not from the Heart at all, but that is just a guess.  :-}

But when The Bard and other scriptwriters chose/choose the place Betwixt and Between; when they go for the place where everything converges and disappears all at once, then something magical happens.

I think a prime example of this is the gorgeous movie with Anthony Quinn, "The Message".  You never see the main character.  And it is this Betwixt and Between state that creates the enjoyment of the movie.  Now from a scriptwriters point of view, this probably took a lot of focus and attention to detail.

But it is when we, as scriptwriters, take a second look at the deeper answer that we say, "Wow, here is an opportunity to be creative beyond our own ability."  It may not be our favorite place to be, but it is the one that stretches us the most and lifts our work out of the gutter and into the ethereal.

Joy is found in the creative endeavor, when it is embraced, immersed in, and joyfully focused on!

And yes, breaking the rules is fun too!!!!

Another Side Question: Is Life about a Pretty Picture?

This is an interesting point. 

People often look at us through microscopes, telescopes, cameras, webcams and cyberspace.  They do almost everything to avoid a real contact and instead create a pretty picture in their head about us.  And thus, most people are only interested in their pretty picture and not really interested in the true person behind the picture.

It's known as objectification.

Once, at my job, I was stared at for an hour and 45 minutes by someone as they created all these pictures in their head, then asked me out.  It was very unpleasant.  I've had my crazy moments, we all have, so I could have compassion for the person, but we all have to learn not to do that, to try to grow up and speak to each other as adults.

Real adults have a real conversation and don't approach people at work.  A real conversation goes something like, "Hi, I'd like to get to know you better, but you are at work.  Is there a way I can reach you outside of work?"  It's a hard thing to be straightforward, but it's best.

Real people have flaws.  Some flaws are gross, but funny.  And if all you see is the picture and not know the person, then you can't appreciate the truth of the situation at all; much less the depth of the person.  For an joke-able, but real example, let's look at nose picking:   :-}

Sufis will pick their nose, if it needs to be cleaned and there is no water nearby.  Muslims will to.  However, most do it five times a day and thus don't need to do it outside of prayer time.  Cleaning the nose is actually prescribed in the Qur'an, and most people (religious or otherwise) will do it unconsciously.  This is actually a cute point because a study once showed that most Christian kids, who pick their nose, do it at church during the first 15 minutes, then settle down and don't do it for the rest of the day. 

This point is an attempted look at the thin line joining humor, truth and perspective.  :-}  If you only look from the outside in, then you see an ugly picture of someone picking their nose and balk at it.  If you look from the inside out, then you see someone highly conscious (to the point of being unconscious) of keeping their body clean, yet not having the right means in which to do it.  Every "Ear, Nose and Throat" doctor will tell you that the best way to avoid infections (colds and flu) is to flush the nose with salt water or fresh water, but to avoid chlorinated water.  Keeping the nose clean reduces locations for viruses and bacteria to breed.

When we make people objects by making them a pretty picture, then we miss the depth of who they are and are often mystified as to why they are doing something.
 
So the Question today is:  When will You Reach Out and Talk to Those You Love? 
 
Take the mystery out of your relationships by asking the questions to things you don't understand. It can be fun and enjoyable if you approach it the right way.  After all, everyone has picked their nose and scratched their pattootie at least once in their life!  Lol!

Remembering the Past...

n,

Don't worry, I'll get back to the Four Questions soon.  But this is important too.  As we walk through the Four Questions, other questions may pop up.

----

One of the most common experiences we all have is pain.  It comes in many forms: a finger cut, an ankle sprain, a broken nose, etc...

I've broken my nose 15 times; Murphy's Law seems to like my nose.  (Wry Smile)  However, I've only broken my back once.  Perhaps it wasn't a true break, perhaps it was a nick in the spinal cord.  But once done, you never forget it...

I fell in P.E. on my chest and jaw without putting my wrists down.  Later the doctor said I would have snapped my wrist off, but they probably would have healed faster - it was a toss since that would have been four bones instead of one spinal cord injury.

Most people know what it's like to have their foot go to sleep and then live through the excruciating pain for several minutes while they stamp the blood and oxygen back into the limb. 

I was paralysed from the sternum down.  I could not move and could not feel and the school office personnel thought I was not telling the truth and simply ignored the silent tears running down my face.  I sat there for four and a half hours.  Eventually, I gained the urge to go to the bathroom.  Two women helped me "walk" there.  I clung to their shoulders and managed to move my limp legs in agony.  I screamed and cried from the pain once I got there.  It was a pain never to be forgotten.

Eventually, I got more lower body use and "walked" home.  A 15 minute walk took well over an hour.  I sat down several times and simply focused on the goal - getting there.  The pain made it hard to keep the world from going sideways.  When I made it through the door, I crashed on the family couch and did not wake up for more than 12 hours.

What's my point?

Pain means nothing.  No matter how terrifyingly real and awful it is.  No matter whether it is in our body, our mind or in our heart.  It can be survived.  It is not the end.  It is the beginning.

Bruce Lee's wife sat and helped him write his first book when his back was broken.   She wouldn't let him give up on his dreams or on living his life.  And he did survive.  It wasn't the end, it was the beginning.

Even when really stupid, immature people hurt us and we choose to hide our Heart behind a sea green veil, love doesn't die, it finds a new beginning that says, "When you grow up..."

And when those stupid, immature, people grow up, we try to find it in our hearts to forgive them.  Not because they deserve it.  Nope, but because it was the beginning we wanted in the first place.  And because they asked...

Who have you not forgiven???

Have they grown up???

Will you forgive???

These are not easy questions, but they are the right questions and they are important questions.  All life changes and all people grow up.  This fact alone gives hope...

A Different Kind of Question; Go Home?

Why do we tell those we Love to go home?

Fascinating to see how a dog acts when told to go home. Casey was a beautiful Orange Chow mix. A brute of a dog designed to fend off Golden Monkeys in China. Yet brought up here in American he was a kind, gentle soul - plagued by loneliness and panic attacks. I once told him to go home - believing that he would easily go to his Best Friend's house (His master by our standards). I forgot the true meaning of the word Home. Casey didn't. He looked at me with a question, looked across the valley floor, saw his Home and began walking. Little did I know that he took my dog Sophie with him. Eventually, my son's Godfather told us that he got a call from his old Landlord. Casey and Sophie had gone to the one location Casey felt at peace - his Home - the River...

Now I did it because I was busy with human stupidity and felt that Casey was simply lonely and needed to be with his Best Friend. I forgot that I too was friend and Casey had come to visit us; his extended family. I value animals as true, beautiful life forms, but on occasion I've been human enough to forget the bonds I make and keep them well Loved. Casey taught me something important that day. So did Sophie, friends don't let lonely friends walk alone...

As for people, that seems to be a different story. When humans tell Loved ones to go home, it's because they are afraid. Not for themselves, but for the other. They simply don't want the other person to get hurt. They think they are being noble and honorable in sending away those they love. They often miss the entire first point.

Other times they are simply afraid for both Hearts. If I let this person in, then I might get hurt again. I might not be strong enough to handle it. But my Love certainly is not strong enough. Again, they miss the second point.

Sometimes they send Loved ones away because they have a unique belief system that says, [everyone that comes into contact with me dies, or gets hurt, or becomes unlucky, or falls from grace]. The sending home is a way of protecting others and full-filling the self-created prophesy. Yet again, they miss the third point.

Each Adult is capable of making their own decisions. We don't make decisions for others.
THE FIRST POINT:
Respecting fellow adults means that we respect the choice they make to come into our lives.

As Casey made a choice to come visit us. He then made a choice to go home. He was 14, approximately 98 in human years. Who was I to think that he wasn't old enough to make his own decision?
THE SECOND POINT:
An Adult is an Adult. Don't make them into children. Don't make their bed, wipe their nose, or decide where they should be.  Let them choose, because its there choice.

If part of your Karma is to learn how to deal with grief, then consider this your lucky kick in the pants! Go get books on grief and learn to deal with it. Self-help or Intuitive books are amazing on this topic. However, most holy books mention quite clearly reincarnation (the Bible, the Qur'an, etc...). They will live again. I personally have chosen not to reincarnate, perhaps I will change my mind. I can not see how anyone can live without hope of touching those they Love again.
THE THIRD POINT:
Stop all self-full-filling prophesies.

And that's the ENTIRE POINT. Touching each other physically and sliding our Souls and our Hearts along each others Chi is the reason for being here on this plane. Every time we send others away, we are only hurting ourselves and creating the problem in the first place.

Just now, my Pharaoh's Hound Cooper asked me to come play. I sent him away so I could write this blog, but pretty soon we will go play. We will walk, and commiserate on the heat, then I will shake him down to loosen his fur, I will gently tug on his huge ears and make a little fun of them, and last I will pull his tail and he will try to go for the crown jewels (thankfully I'm a girl), patootie and wrists and all in all we will have a wonderful experience called (Love, Friendship and Affection) and he will know that I am here for him. And he is here for me.

How could I do any less for the Humans I Love...

So, do not send me Home, but instead, Come and Join me...

Question Two of Four

,

How did you use your body?

This is a very interesting one. While a typical American does many things with their body every day, we don't always think of "how" it is used. We think of how we dress it. What we put in it when we eat. What we put on it. But not what we did with it.

However, if you think of the human body as a Temple, then this question takes on new meaning, new dimensions and new expressions...

Did you use your body to:

Shield another?
Share another's pain?
Give strength to another?
Lift another?

Did you use your Chi to:

Heal another?
Feed another?
Kiss another?

Did you use your Spirit to:

Encourage another?
Caress another?
Inspire another?
Shelter another?

3/7ths

AS there are seven layers of Atmosphere to the earth, there are seven Heavens and seven dimensions, there are surely seven layers to the body. And while I can only think of three layers: Physical, Chi and Spirit, I am certain that is simply a failing on my part and more time is needed to discover the others. Perhaps prayer and sexuality are others?

And when one considers the beauty of such a question: "What did you do with your body," then one can't forget the miracles of human added developments on top of Divine.

Did you Skydive?
Did you Run with shoes?
Did you go Surfing?
Did you go Bungee Jumping?
Read a book?
Play Frisbee with your children?

While at first glance these may seem unimportant to Heaven, they too are important - even the Angels fly. And flying is a form of liberation of the spirit.

Even Sufi's spin and spinning is a form of meditation...
Even police run and running is a form of protection...
Even military go bungee jumping and this is a form of peacekeeping...
Even book reading can be a form of prayer as when one reads the Psalms...
Even Frisbee playing can be a form of laughter which lightens the Heart and Shares the Soul...

And as much as we all think of our vices and what we do wrong, the question really is asking for the positive:

What did you do with your body?

Did you give your wife a child?
Did you give your Heart with thought-filled Love?
Did you provide an example?
Did you speak with kindness and compassion?

What did You do with your body?

ONE of FOUR questions:

Today I was asked:

How did you live your life? and was not certain how I would answer. This perplexed me and even though I enjoyed the day, I thought about the question. Then I went to watch the movie "Letter to Juliet" and found my answer to the question.

I lived to find Love. I crossed the ocean to find Love. Love was not there for me.

And yet I still believe it exists.

And in all things, I encourage my son to believe in it. Whether it is the Love of his father being returned to him, or the Love of a future woman, or the Love of the Divine. I encourage him to have faith in it's existence and believe. It is not a fairytale, it is a truth, a passion that people put walls around and bars around and limit anyway they can. But it's existence is undeniable.

Love is not based on actions...
It has no time limit...
And it does not fail because someone was afraid...

Think of the rose...
The branch exists with or without the bloom...
And yet, the bloom enhances the living...
Once the bud exists, it may die at any point...
And yet, it can not stop it's own existence...

It's existence is not a myth...
It blooms...
It seeds...
It brings forth Life...

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY

The failure of one rose, does not mean the failure of another rose...
The failure at one time, does not mean the failure at another time...
The failure of Lovers, does not mean the failure of Friends...
The failure of Friends, does not mean the failure of Lovers..

Right or wrong, one must go to the ends of the earth for Love.

And even when it is revealed that it was the wrong choice, the child-like choice, the fact that the choice was made and followed through reveals the maturity and depth of the Human's nature - herself.

To have Faith ALWAYS,
To Leap ALWAYS,
To be HONEST despite the breaking of the Heart
and to except the responsibility of the choice in the first place.

There is Honor in that...
It Honors the very nature of the Universe...

No one person,
No one experience,
No one material item,
No one thing

Is more important than the Divine,
Yet the Divine put us here to be
A mirror of steadfastness
and Divine emanation...
The Divine put us here to find Love
To give Love
To be Love

You are important
You are meaningful
And you will only find your other half by living...
by breathing in...
by going outside...
and by interacting with others...

Cyberspace is but a dream
And Realspace the only Reality...

Finished the Movie Script

I turned in the script to the Final Draft Contest. It was a wonderful experience and I am grateful for the software. While it was difficult to learn it WHILE writing a script, it was easy once I understood it. Thank you Finaldraft.com!

Now, for the second hardest part - waiting. Waiting is like turning in a Final College Exam, but not finding out how you did for two or more months. I simply hope I learn sooner than later.

The third hardest part is finding my next focus. I have incomplete college classes that need to be done, but I am chomping at the bit to get back to being creative and write the next script.

It's interesting to note that Paramount asked me to be a part of a panel board. In the middle of their survey they asked, what part would you like to have in a movie (i.e. the Lead, the best friend, the hero, etc..) I chose the "extra" because I remember the gentleman who wrote and directed the "Mary Tyler Moore" series always tried to be an "extra" in the scenes. I always thought that was a nice way to be a part of something you love, but have the good sense to know you can't act and that's why you let great actors get the good parts! Lol!!!

I've outlined my next 6 movie scripts of which 3 are adaptation - another learning process - and 3 are originals. It's hard not to want to just jump on the Originals and embrace them to my heart. I'd love to do them yesterday, but they involve a TON of research and knowledge I don't have so those scripts will take time to court. And courting an original script is like Exhilaration, Passion and Curiosity all slammed into a Glorious Adventure! I wish I could be paid to write full-time!!!

I truly love it!

The 3 adaptations are all a series within a series. The first one is a 5 part harmony of SciFi: Religion vs. Science. The second is a 3 part harmony: a wonderful young adult docu-fiction series by an old friend. The third is...okay, it is not a series...it was just a fabulous read filled with laughter and hoots!

So I will be responsible and focus on school, but oh the agony...why couldn't someone pay me to write full-time!!! :-}