Newt Gingrich in New York

I was thrilled to be able to see Fmr. Speaker Newt Gingrich and his co-author, William R. Forstchen at the Book Revue in Huntington, NY last Tuesday talking about their new book in the WWII series, Days of Infamy. It was an amazing experience listening to Mr. Forstchen talking about his collaboration with Newt and their methods of research. He told stories in bone-chilling detail about (their research for the previous book, Pearl Harbor) going deep into the hull of a capsized ship from WWII and how the sailors' bones were found years later... and how being a pilot and flying some of the actual WWII planes, and walking the Civil War battlefields, helped him to be the great historian he is today.

It was really interesting to hear both he and Newt describe how they're able to get together and write these series of books, logistically as well as the meeting of minds. Newt's extensive experience working with world leaders, coupled with Mr. Forstchen's expertise in military history makes this a winning match and there are many more books to come - they make us want to learn more about American history!

But the eye-opening part of the evening was hearing Newt Gingrich speaking about a nuclear holocaust and how desperately we need to rebuild our sorely lacking Homeland Security Dept. It was frightening to hear what he had to say about the very real possibility of another strike on America. I asked him, "What do you attribute to the fact that we haven't been hit since 9/11?" to which he replied, candidly, "I don't know," and then went on to explain how unprotected we really are. But he did say, all the mistakes of the G.W. Bush Administration aside, a very different history will be written about this man many years from now, which is something I've always believed.

Newt is about solutions and though I believe he'd make a great president, I think he certainly is effective as a private citizen. He's a real national treasure. Here's a cute YouTube video Newt made.

Speaking of the threat of terrorism on American soil, I'm presently reading an amazing book by my friend, Brigitte Gabriel. Every American needs to read this book! Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America is the true story of how she survived Islamic hatred and attacks growing up in Lebanon and is now on a passionate crusade in her adoptive country, America, to warn us all that the same thing could happen to us if we don't wake up to the reality of the very real threat living amongst us all. More on this later...

Respect Your Elders

On this historic occasion of the Papal visit to New York, I felt inspired to write about an aspect of our culture so often neglected - listening to and learning from our elders. One of the most wonderful things I saw come out of the Pope's wondrous journey was shown on the Catholic Channel, Telecare: a busload of children reflecting on having seen the Pope and how they'd been deeply touched by him. They were enthusiastically expressing how they'd never forget seeing him for the rest of their lives. I hoped they regarded the elders in their own midst with the same respect and awe.

It's been a long time since I felt any sense of Holy presence in New York, but watching the Pope pleading with God to bring "peace to our violent world," I could feel a great sense of spiritual weather emanating from the sky - like a spring rain cleaning the dirty air. He greatly moved the 9/11 victims' families at Ground Zero at what he called the "scene of incredible violence and pain" - and thus began the long overdue healing process for acute sorrow that just won't subside.

"God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world," the Pope prayed. "Turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred."

On TV, at the same time, they were calling him a "Pope of great empathy" who'd known much pain and loss in his own life. The Holy Father is, after all, one of our elders and we all should respect his knowledge and experience and learn from him - no matter what our religion. This is a great Pope whose mission in life is to heal the masses and especially all the pain caused by the criminal priests of his own church. What he's doing is the most important work on Earth - spreading love, healing and peace throughout the world and, this week, thankfully, in America.

The Holy Father is truly an inspiration to all races, creeds, faiths and religions - a real universal symbol of Christ on Earth. He may be the only one who could have brought such hope to the victims' families of 9/11 or of the sexual abuse by degenerate priests; he minced no words, put on no airs - only reflected great sincerity and love, actually apologizing and promising to hold the bishops accountable. He is truly spreading God's light by using his life experience to teach us all about the ways of the world.

If our society valued the advice of our elders and listened to and learned from their wisdom, much in the same way as the Pope's messages are being analyzed and heeded - as well as inspiring - the enrichment of our culture would be immeasurable. But instead, many in America today look up to train-wreck idiots in the media who are pathetic human specimens; they emulate their bad behavior and perpetuate the downward spiral of the condition of our culture.

The older we all get, the more we seem to worship at the altar of youth. The elderly are neglected by those who should love them, bullied and patronized by those who should serve them, and exploited by those who should care for them. Our society has failed to tap the great resource of their wisdom. It doesn't matter how skilled they are or how much knowledge they have to impart; these days if you look old, you're put out to pasture. The average age of the population rises steadily; the older generations have more power at election time, are enjoying better health and are more affluent, yet the worship of youth continues and is reinforced daily by the media's fixation on making us all feel desperate to be younger, thinner and more attractive.

We used to venerate old age and experience. Winston Churchill didn't pack it in as Prime Minister until he was in his 80s. You will recollect that President Reagan took over as President - aged almost 70 - and stayed in office for two terms. He was popular and robust, even surviving an assassination attempt.

As vital members of our community, our elders deserve respect and honor, not neglect or humiliation. They possess life experience (both positive and negative) that can help others. "How far you go in life," taught George Washington Carver, "depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong - because someday in life, you will have been all of these."

Making fun of aging has always been a source of entertainment in comedy. Bob Hope, born in 1903 and still a star in the '80s, said, "I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until noon, and then it's time for my nap."

"I was always taught to respect my elders and I've now reached the age when I don't have anybody to respect," said comedian George Burns a few days short of his 100th birthday.

But what of the rest of us? Who do we have to respect? Respect is the idea that a person or idea deserves to be treated well. For example, treating one's elders with respect - as envisioned by the Ten Commandments - involves honoring those with more experience and wisdom. Respecting elders is a component of the teachings of almost every culture through the ages. And elder wisdom was the thread that held everyone together.

Today it's seen as a joke ... yet it's an untapped resource we should all consume in abundance.

The Golden Age of Comedy

I've always loved comedy. I remember when I was a kid laughing myself silly to the wonderful skits on The Carol Burnett Show - with Harvey Korman and Tim Conway - especially when Harvey could not contain himself and inevitably always burst into laughter watching his wonderful costar, Tim Conway playing the old man, the dentist and many other hilarious characters. I always loved him as the boss opposite Carol Burnett's dim-witted secretary who could never stop filing her nails long enough (pun! ha!) to figure out the intercom system from office to office. Or Carol's nagging Zelda with her husband George... how many times my brother and I put on skits imitating them to entertain our parents!

Tim Conway recently did an interview for a show on Telecare - the Catholic Channel - where he described his feelings about the Golden Age of Comedy versus today's comedy, which, as we know, is like day and night. He expressed the anxiety he experiences watching TV today with his grandkids and how embarrassing it is for him because of all the profanity, sexuality, etc. He said he just doesn't watch TV most of the time because you never know how far they'll go.

My favourite type of comedy has always been slapstick. One of the great masters of slapstick comedy is Dick Van Dyke. His wonderful show with Mary Tyler Moore came before my time, but I really enjoyed watching it in reruns when I was a kid and loved the clever, creative humour of that show. He was obviously inspired by the great grandfather of comedy, Charlie Chaplin, whose films are still so fresh and fun to watch today. I never tire of Modern Times (1936), The Gold Rush (1925) or The Kid (1921). I've always loved silent films and especially the silent clowns; they've always been a passion of mine and I studied them for years - from Buster Keaton to the talented Laurel and Hardy.

As a youth, I was passionate about vaudeville and studied the entire history of theatre and the lives of the vaudevillians from the turn of the 20th century through silent pictures to talkies. And, of course, there was the incomparable Mae West - one of the greatest comediennes of the 20th century who wrote all her own material for movies and stage!

I was also a huge Jerry Lewis fan as a kid and watched all of his movies over and over, laughing so hard; I thought I'd die. And, wow! Is laughter good for my soul! One of my favourite movies, other than the original The Nutty Professor (1963) was The Patsy (1964) - an all but forgotten but truly hilarious movie. I stayed up with Jerry all night for years watching his telethon... until it became so obnoxiously commercial that it wasn't fun anymore.

Jack Lemmon was my favourite actor all the time I was growing up. I remember reading his biography when I was a teenager and being so in love with him. He was a truly versatile actor - skilled at both comedy and drama. But I loved How to Murder Your Wife (1965) the most and wanted to grow up to be the character (Stanley Ford and his cartoon character Bash Brannigan!) in that movie played by Jack Lemmon and I loved the butler played by Terry-Thomas. What a character!

My Dad's generation influenced me to appreciate and admire the sweet clown, Red Skelton, Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners, the marathons of which I still watch during the holidays. What pros they were and the slapstick was side-splitting. Like Peter Sellers who was so comical in The Pink Panther (1963) and A Shot in the Dark (1964); I still get tickled to death at his pratfalls as though I'm watching them for the first time every time.

As I matured, I grew to love Woody Allen and his films. He taught me just how beautiful life can really be. When I was a youth, I just wanted to be a character in one of his movies - go to New York and marry him. My dream was to go to Elaine's and sit in that corner table, just like in the movie, Manhattan (1979). The first time I saw the uproarious film, Sleeper (1973) was a real experience for me - I thought I'd never laughed so hard... and I grew to love all of Woody Allen's great movies throughout the years; however, I still laugh out loud at his early comedies, such as Bananas (1971, Play It Again, Sam (1972), Love and Death (1975) and, in the '80s, Broadway Danny Rose (1984).

I'm sure my favourite comedian of recent years, Jim Carrey, learned a thing or two from these greats. Another very versatile actor who truly captured the idea of tragic-comedy and whose slapstick eclipsed just about every comedian who ever walked the earth, Jim Carrey's movies, such as Liar Liar (1997), and the characters he made famous on In Living Color were a sight to behold. That show was almost as great as the first Saturday Night Live with the original cast (never to be equaled) - John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, et al.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm no prude. But, as a rule, I'm not too crazy about bathroom humor or off-coloured jokes, but I love AbFab, (Absolutely Fabulous) and watched every episode! I recently saw Doug Stanhope's cable special, which was filled with a lot of political humour, and thought he was very talented and entertaining. And it's a shame about Mitch Hedberg, who died too young. He was such a wonderful talent!

I don't care for loudmouth comedians who are so egotistical and full of themselves, such as Jack Black, Howard Stern, Will Ferrell, Chris Farley, Kathy Griffin, Andy Kaufman, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, and others who are crass, rude and arrogant.

They could all learn a thing or two from the great Jackie Mason who's currently finishing up his latest run on Broadway, hosts his own radio show and YouTube site, and stays current with the times politically and has never grown stale. He's a friend and a mentor and one of the best in the business! Like him, radio talk show host, actor and comedian, Dennis Miller's political and social commentary remains witty, smart and entertaining.

In this day and age, we all need to stop and enjoy some good clean humor - it's healthy and invigorating. It makes you feel good and there's nothing like a good laugh.

Mystic-Art Miscellany

Featured Artist:
Bec Stupak - A fun artist to watch - colourful, lively and full of energy! Meet the girl behind the coolest hair you've ever seen. Bec is the epitome of the amazing life that waits for you if you follow your heart. She left a boring corporate job to be an artist full time. Today she leads a very colorful life traveling all over the world and having lots of fun. She says she defines herself as someone who is brave, creative, fierce, and passionate enough to follow her dreams... See her installation Radical Earth Magic Flower and her YouTube video. More...

Recommended Site:
NewYorkCool.com on the Arts

Recommended DVD:
Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye (2003) - If you want to study photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson is a good place to start. This documentary is a wonderful, evocative biography of the man considered to be the greatest photographer of the last century. Cartier-Bresson’s life reads like a history of the century – World War II, China, Egypt, Mexico, India, Sartre, Matisse, Gandhi (minutes before he was assassinated) and Cuba all became subjects of his famous "decisive moment" style. Interviews with Cartier-Bresson, Isabelle Huppert, Arthur Miller and other luminaries are woven into this indelible portrait of an icon of both photography and the world.

Recommended TV:
HBO's Miniseries - John Adams Starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney - Giamatti and Linney are sublime! It'll inspire you to learn more about the U.S. and our founding mothers and fathers.
HBO's Series: In Treatment - As they say, addicting! This is an intense show to watch, very emotional and moving. Almost anyone will be able to relate to the doctor and his patients.

Avoid Like the Plague:
TMZ.com - pathetic in its depiction of the daily lives of celebrities. This guy, Harvey Levin, pays paparazzo to follow so-called celebrities and then they all sit around ridiculing them on this show. "Who did more damage to entertainment reporting in 2007 than Harvey Levin?... he and his gutter operation… almost singlehandedly transformed Hollywood entertainment reporting into a gutter-level street battle fueled by self-hatred, jealousy and anger, with no concern for what once determined greatness, excellence or fame…"

CNN Headline News' Showbiz Tonight - The anchors are so self-righteous and holier-than-thou and pretend to be experts on anything and everything in their nightly analysis of the lives of people whom they do not know. Their wild speculation and airing of gossip and rumors are ruining our society and though a lot of the people they talk about bring this kind of thing upon themselves, it's not fair that these talking heads make a living sitting around chit-chatting about personal lives as though they know what's going on and especially the way they act like they're above it all.

For a Laugh: Silliness

The Creative Mind Behind "Possibilities"

March 12, 2008--The Grammy's did an unexpected thing this year. They awarded Album of the Year to a deserving talent. Herbie Hancock won for River: The Joni Letters, a tribute album - homage to Joni Mitchell. He was up against a hard rock record, a country guy, a rapper and a druggie... Thank heavens someone at the Grammy's came to their senses! His 47th album was released on September 25, 2007 by Verve Records; guest vocalists include Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Tina Turner, Norah Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae and Luciana Souza.

But Herbie has created such magic all throughout his career. In 2005, an intimate documentary was filmed about POSSIBILITIES - Herbie Hancock and his in-studio collaborations with a dozen formidable pop recording artists, collaborations that explore the unexpected, like jazz improvisations. The film is also about how Herbie’s unique worldview shapes a creative environment that encourages artists to step outside their comfort zones - into a world of creative exploration heretofore unknown.

The documentary opens with Herbie jotting notes on staff paper - the intuitive talent miraculously channeled from paper to fingers to instrument. He states emphatically that to be "pigeon-holed" is the death of creativity. His solution: exploring by collaboration.

POSSIBILITIES follows Herbie Hancock over a year and a half collaborating with musical icons Carlos Santana, Sting, Angelique Kidjo, Annie Lennox and Paul Simon, Christina Aguilera, John Mayer, Trey Anastasio and Jonny Lang as well as Joss Stone, Raul Midon, Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan.

The film also includes rarely seen archival footage of Herbie with the Miles Davis Quintet in 1962; Herbie’s classic video for “Rockit”; and never-before-seen duets of Herbie playing for peace in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2005 on the 60th anniversary of the atomic explosions. Hancock said then that he tried to use his music to spread a message of peace and help humanity, and that he intended to continue his efforts at the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans.

His ability to marvel at the talent of those he chose to do this documentary with is amazing. "Each artist brings what they want to the table" - he from jazz. Their youth, their connection to the era in which they were born will bring new light, a new sound. "I feel that many of our systems that worked to encourage creativity are being challenged and there's more of an encouragement to stay where you are - don't make a wave. I think the word that captures the spirit of what I believe in and what I'm really about and what I hope to achieve is POSSIBILITIES."

"As children, we have that sense that anything is possible and we have that kind of openness; we're not jaded. The older we get, the more closed in we get, the more frightened we get, the more set in our ways we get because we're afraid of the unknown; whereas as a child, everything is unknown! What a beautiful place to reside in - in your own being - where you still have the wonder of a child."

In The Mystic Artist I wrote: "...artists, more sensitive than the average person, feel or intuit their way into other dimensions - magnetic fields that remain shut to the 'normal' individual. Artists realized the validity of the acausal factor long before physicists began..."

An artist's natural impulse that does not involve logical reasoning, reacting somewhere beneath the conscious level, allows the truest art to blossom from the seeds of the soul. Such quick and ready insight that is child-like, original and without preconceived notions, prejudice or artifice brings forth the most meaningful creations. Federico Fellini couldn't have said it better: "An artist is a child always and sees things with childlike wonder. That is what makes him an artist." The singer interprets a song effortlessly; the painter designs his canvas without mechanical caginess.

Living child-like by instinct and intuition alone is perhaps the most difficult thing to relearn once the harshness of life robs us of our innocence. But awakened intuition is a powerful force; though the fragile bonds of memory must run its natural course. We must search the silence of who we are; and the inward journey through the World of Chance can't be imagined because all at once, part of us is living in the afterlife... especially during childhood.

Recapturing innocence is the only way to truly understand what lies beneath the prisons of who we are, what we've turned out to be. We may relearn such innocence - lost aspects of ourselves - through children who are the only people truly able to live freely by instinct and intuition. "Dreams, imagination, courage and self-confidence - these are what really nourish us," states Robert Fulghum, a teacher and best-selling author. As we pass into adulthood, we lose our most valuable gift - instinct.

"To draw is to look.
To look is to see.
To see is to have vision.
To have vision is to understand.
To understand is to know.
To know is to become.
To become is to live."

We must, each day of our lives, try to LIVE - the way we did as children, the way we lived before we were not yet old enough to know we CANNOT. We are all unique individuals; yet we limit ourselves more and more as time goes by. We've got to go back to the Kindergarten of our lives to re-enable ourselves to channel through intuition, instinct and emotion.

Remember the image we once had of ourselves before we became aware of and conditioned by our own limitations. We must learn from great creative geniuses like Albert Einstein who made incredible breakthroughs in science simply because he did not accept what he had learned as being the absolute and final truth. In fact, he didn't get along in school too well and mostly refused to be taught. He was obliged to go back to the simple, original basics and reformulate from there. In many ways, he was just returning to "the conceptual world of childhood." It was his powerful intuitive wisdom that nudged him to close in on the new solutions the world was waiting for.

* * *

Herbie Hancock expressed it with such purity: "The strongest thing that any human being has going is their own integrity and their own heart. As soon as you start veering away from that, the solidity that you need in order to be able to stand up for what you believe in and deliver what's really inside, it's just not going to be there. So that's one thing. The other thing is to - and this is the advice I try to give to anyone - is forget about trying to copy someone else. Forget about trying to compete with someone else. Create your own pathway. Create your own new vision. There's an infinite number of ways to look at things, so find one that hasn't been done. Or find a way that something hasn't been done. I made a collaborative record. A lot of collaborative records have been done before, but I don't think they've been done like this."

Foreign Films: An Adventure for the American Movie Lover

March 4, 2008--I'm certainly no expert on foreign films, but I've loved them for a long time and I thought I'd share some of my favourites here with you on my blog. I always consider it to be an adventure to watch a foreign film - a way to exercise my brain, think more, expand my mind. It's like traveling to a foreign country and experiencing a new way of doing things, a new way of life. I've loved many foreign films as much as my favourite American movies and watch them over and over for inspiration.

But for most of us, it's difficult to stray from our 'comfort zone' and we tend to do and watch and eat the same things over and over. So we limit our lives and tend not to experience new things often enough to absorb all that life has to offer. Whenever I watch a foreign film, I feel like I've tasted a new flavor, heard a new song, discovered a new colour, tried a new dish...

The following are my top 20 foreign films... I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Au revoir les enfants (1987) - always moving!

Avventura, L' (1960) - haunting film noir.

Babettes gæstebud (Babette's Feast) (1987) - The great film from Denmark that is all about the sensual versus the spiritual sides of human nature. It is the story of an exiled French cook/housekeeper, Babette, who serves a pair of devoutly religious, elderly Danish sisters. When she wins a lottery, she asks the sisters if she could spend the money to prepare a Gaelic feast for them and their friends (in honour of their deceased father, the great minister and prophet). She wanted to show her appreciation for them having taken her in after she'd lost her husband and child. All their lives, the two women had worked as humble servants of the Lord, living simple lives, eating simple foods of the earth. On the night the ingredients for the elaborate French dinner arrived, the two humble women had nightmares about overindulgence in food - haunting visions of cows, turtles and wine. They considered the temptation of gluttony to be dangerous, even evil; for they'd been taught that food and drink were only to be taken for nourishment and sustenance.

"The tongue... the tongue, this strange little muscle... has accomplished great and glorious deeds for man... but it is also the source of unleashed evil and deadly poison."

But after the sumptuous meal had been eaten and the two women realized that Babette had spent all her winnings on the feast for them, and was thus doomed to live a life of service in poverty forever, they knew that whatever they had sacrificed in the way of earthly pleasures had been returned to them. Babette tells them, "An artist is never poor." She had, indeed...

"...transformed a dinner into a kind of love affair - a love affair that made no distinction between bodily appetite and spiritual appetite."

Dreams (Akira Kurosawa) (1990) - a rare bird and I love Scorcese as van Gogh!

Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001) - enchanting! This is one movie that is so much fun to watch, you just can't get enough of Amelie! And she teaches you to really love life.

Fauteuils d'orchestre (2006) - also known as Avenue Montaigne, I saw this film the other night and truly enjoyed it. Very arty, fun and exhilarating.

Fellini - Satyricon (1969) ...and all the great Fellini films (too numerous to list here) - incredible, colourful adventures. His films of neo-realism (a movement in filmmaking characterized by the simple, direct depiction of lower-class life) are like wonderful dream sequences. Prior to the making of Juliet of the Spirits, he is said to have attended a séance in which he claims to have seen and spoken to the ghost of his dead father. He used his intuition in order to create; he felt ideas were less important than the feelings. "The world of my imagination is always closer to the truth than is the truth."

Federico Fellini's films are perfect examples of an artist creating scenes that work like dreams "in which some random comment made during the day can set off a resonant and haunting episode while one sleeps." He never dismissed dreams as mere fantasies; instead he allowed the dreamscapes he created to cut to our very souls. Sleepwalking headlong into dream-scenes, landscapes of the mind, our visionary hallucinations may show us a new reality. We become magical realists, surrealists "encouraging our imaginations to romp among the absurd allowing colorful, extravagant, inappropriate elements to invade the flatness of ordinary life."

Laberinto del fauno, El (Pan's Labyrinth) (2006) - I found this film to be so imaginative and creative; I was in awe throughout. It's about the forces of good and evil and life's choices. It was, however, very graphic and violent. A lot of bloodshed, gore, and slime... but really quite beautiful with its balancing contrasts. Hope, faith, trust and the search for truth bring lasting memories. It reminded me of my love for my mother, which was particularly touching. Contrasting beauty: the darkest darks and the lightest lights.

Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief) (1948) - great classic!

Moskva slezam ne verit (Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears) (1980)

Nóz w wodzie (Knife in the Water) (1962) - one of the masterful film noir works.

Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) - one of the greatest vampire movies - filming on location in Germany, Herzog uses dreamlike camera angles, mixing them with a rich color palette and masterful lighting.

Postino, Il (1994) - positively poetic!

The Tango Lesson (1997) - Sally Potter's wonderfully romantic dance film.

Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World) (1991) - every musician must see this one!

Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto (1974) - the ORIGINAL 'Swept Away' - funny, wild, relentless...

Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972) - Brando's unforgettable 'Last Tango in Paris.'

Un homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman) (1966) - darkly romantic.

Vita è bella, La (1997) - the great award-winning 'Life is Beautiful.'

Volver took me back to a time long ago... to the days of Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren, but with much deeper more genuine acting by the multidimensional Penelope Cruz. At times I was 'lost in translation,' however, it was easy to catch on via the wonderful acting skills of the cast and I was captivated every minute. What a gorgeous film! I haven't enjoyed a movie this much since Frida.

These are some of my favourite films set in foreign countries:

Artemisia (1997)
Chocolat (2000)
Frida (2002)
Lost In Translation (2003)
Moulin Rouge (1952)
Mystery of Picasso, The (1956)
Red Violin, The (1998)
Sophie's Choice (1982)
Stealing Beauty (1996)
Unbearable Lightness of Being, The (1988)

For lots of great movies, check out: My Recommended Films, IFC, and Sundance Channel.

At Oscar Time, Let Us Remember What Started It All

Feb. 21, 2008--Art is about externalizing internal patterns such as a stored memorization of times we once knew. To make the dream come true and show it as great as it appeared in the artist's mind, with all its charm, exciting vagueness and mystery is a feat in itself. "...with what real feeling, and anxiety, and suffering do we experience joy, and sorrow and alarm in our dreams!"

Few understood this and lived a life of preserving memories better than D.W. Griffith, the Father of Film.

"What a grand invention it would be if someone could make a magic box in which we could store the precious moments of our lives and keep them with us, and later on, in dark hours, could open this box and receive for at least a few moments, a breath of its stored memory."

...They did, of course, and the "magic box" allowed him to make his dream come true. We all have such a magic box where every element that makes us dream is stored. For the mystic artist, it is a treasure trove of discoveries from which to create.

When I first came to New York City in 1991, I read a story about D.W. Griffith (the Father of Film). It was about the time when he first came to New York City in 1906 as a starving actor. Just newly wed, he worked odd jobs (to eat) like scraping rust from the iron supports in the new subway for $2.25 per day! When I first got here, myself, it was much the same for me. I was full of creative energy, always writing something new - always new projects on the burner.

That particular story led me to walk through Manhattan, retracing the footsteps of Griffith in order to understand my own destiny. That particular story - with D.W.'s words, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford and the somewhat removed Chaplin - I sensed a familiar connection. It was no coincidence that upon my arrival in New York, I found myself wandering about between Fifth Avenue and Union Square quite often - Eleven East (a brownstone between 5th Avenue and Union Square) was where the "American Mutoscope and Biography Company" had been. That's the place where it all began.

Then I proceeded on to the big library where the paintings of the Astors are hung, only to discover later that had been the next place D.W. Griffith went when he began researching The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance - his two greatest films. He and his wife studied the history of America and even copied soldiers' diaries and letters. So, all his life to that point was preparing him to become a great storyteller in film - one of the first. And every morning, he awoke feeling that he was a "failure." In his early thirties, he was poor and married. "The writer in him clung to his craft, but the mature man knew that other action was necessary." I thought it must have been an exciting illumination to D.W. when he finally realized he was destined to be a pioneer and was doing things that had not ever been done before.