A savior’s rebirth, the transformation of a fallen world, and anthropomorphic rabbits. No, I’m not talking about Easter. I’m talking about Donnie Darko: The Director’s Cut. Between Alice’s White Rabbit, Elwood’s Harvey, and now Donnie’s Frank, one wonders how many giant lepines are out dispensing convoluted wisdom to lost souls.
The story begins approximately thusly: Just before midnight, a high school boy named Donnie is awakened by a voice which compells him to venture outside. In a somnambulist’s trance, he follows the directive to a golf course where he encounters Frank, a bizarre, six-foot-tall bunny rabbit with a hideous grin. Frank gives Donnie some dire news. “Twenty eight days, six hours, forty two minutes, and twelve seconds… that is when the world will end.”
At the same moment, Donnie’s sister returns home from a date with her boyfriend. As she stands in the foyer, a giant crash shakes the house. Plaster falls from the ceiling, and the sleeping family is jarred awake.
In the morning, Donnie stumbles back to his home to find emergency equipment and squad cars surrounding his house. An enormous crane is seen lifting a jet engine through a hole in the roof. If Donnie had been in bed, the engine that demolished his bedroom would have killed him.
Donnie’s sister tells him an odd bit of news—nobody knows where the jet engine came from.
The film itself is strangely addictive. Since purchasing the DVD less than two weeks ago, I’ve already viewed it six times. The actors are top-notch—Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the troubled Donnie Darko. Also appearing are Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross, Noah Wyle, and Patrick Swayze as a cheezy infomercial guru. The soundtrack contains the very best songs from the eighties—INXS, Tears for Fears, Joy Division, and of course, Echo and the Bunnymen.
I recommend this strange trip through the tangent universe. And if you rent it, give yourself plenty of time. You’ll want to watch it again and again to unlock the bizarre secrets of Donnie Darko: The Directors Cut
I’ll be off visiting my nieces for Easter. I’ve made an Easter bag for each of them. I purchased the bags at a container store, and then painted on them so they resemble a chick and a frog. They’re both filled with lots of fun things.
“I don’t know where I am. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I just know I have to get out.”
For a surreal and creepy time, play The Doors.
Occasionally I pick up a book with the intention of reading it. More recently, however, I’ve been picking up books with the delusion of reading them. I’ve had the time to start many of them. Unfortunately I haven’t the time to finish them. But they do seem to be excellent books. If any of you are interested, below is a list of the books I’m currently (not) reading.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
An arm of Lethe, with a gentle flow
Arising upwards from the rock below,
The palace moats, and o’er the pebbles creeps,
And with soft murmurs calls the coming sleeps.
Around its entry nodding poppies grow,
And all cool simples that sweet rest bestow;
Night from the plants their sleepy virtue drains,
And passing, sheds it on the silent plains:
No door there was th’ unguarded house to keep,
On creaking hinges turn’d, to break his sleep.—Ovid from Metamorphoses, Book XI
Good morning, good morning! I hope everyone is well rested after their long winter’s nap! I, myself, have been doing quite a bit of dreaming recently. Nothing bed-shaking, mind you. But enough to go a long way in recharging the batteries.
While I haven’t been writing those dreams down—and truth be told, I don’t recall that they were much by way of narrative—they have been coloring some waking projects that I’m currently endeavoring to undertake.
But now that the dark winter is seeping to a close, what dreams will color your dawning spring?
I’ve been fine. Really. Usually during the winter months I get a bit reclusive. I have been keeping busy. I’ve been doing a little off-site writing, and been working on that new addition to the Shop I’ve been promising for a while now. And I’ve been doing a ton of reading. I’ll tell you more soon.