You Can Make it Anywhere

As I said, I saw The Great Gatsby two nights ago.

It has been ten years since I read the book.

I had either forgotten how great it was, or was too much a novice to understand it.

I remember liking it, to be certain; but certainly not this much.

Perhaps it's because Leonardo DiCaprio captured Gatsby's character better than Fitzgerald's flawless prose ever could.

Perhaps it's because Luhrman reconceptualized the story, so it wasn't a time capsule as much as a capsule for all times.  The universality of the plot shines through, without really losing the glory.

I loved most that Luhrman post-modernized what very well may be the pinnacle of (readable) modern fiction.  (disclaimer: the true pinnacle is Finnegan's Wake, if not, then Ulysses.  But they won't be required reading in any high school, anywhere, ever).  When I say modern, I skip right over the misunderstanding that it means contemporary.  When I say modern, think modern art: forms, lines, ridges: a celebration of expression at its highest point, best understood through the highest familiarity with the entirety of all art, ever.  That's modernism: the idea that we can achieve perfection.  Fitzgerald was an arch modernist.  Luhrman is Joel and Ethan Coen's little, more accessible brother: that is to say, an absolute post-modern artist.  At every turn, Luhrman destroys whatever center of understanding you think you might have: Mercutio is a cross-dresser, 19th century france is best understood through 1970's pop-music, and Jay-Z epitomizes the jazz age.

But Luhrman is not without his overarching themes: indeed, he's a one trick pony with one hell of a schtick: love is tragic, catharsis is absolute, and everything is beautiful, if you find the right point of view.

For the most part, Luhrman uses other people's stories to tell the same story, over and over again.

I think, at least right now, it works best in Gatsby.  I haven't seen Australia for awhile, though I remember enjoying it.  I don't remember it well though, because it lacks the tragedy.  I understand it's Luhrman's swan song to his country, but its not him, the way Gatsby is.

Perhaps that means Luhrman lacks the range of truly great directors.  I don't doubt that: even with the brilliance of New York 1922 as his canvas, Luhrman's settings feel like theatre backdrops for his strong characters and predictable yet always perfect story.  That may be intentional (Gatsby is, after all, the first time he really took on a non-theatric piece, apart from Australia).  Either way, even knowing how it is going to end, Luhrman paints a brilliant picture that is always a joy to watch.

Much has been said of the soundtrack.  It's apparently been too long since Romeo + Juliet.  It's exactly what it needed to be.  A post-modern Gatsby can't use Jazz for aesthetic reasons, and let's face it- pre-beat big-band music just isn't rebellious sounding anymore.  Jay-Z did a great job putting together a perfect score, with some excellent stand-alone tracks.  I've listened to the soundtrack pretty incessantly since seeing the movie- it's wonderful, and even features the three or four best lines from the whole film.  Jay-Z is a master at what he does, which is a little bit of everything, a little bit better, than everyone else.

Go see the Great Gatsby if you can.  It carries my highest recommendation of any film yet this year.  It's not perfect as films go.  It's not perfect as adaptations go.  But it does what it intends to do as good as anything you'll ever see.

-Zack

"Just give me the green light"
-Florence + the Machine

A week out

It's  been a week since I passed through the gates of summer, 1 years down at the old law school.

It's been a good week.  I've contra-danced in Oberlin.  I'd never contra-danced at Oberlin, but Contra-dancing and Oberlin go together well.  It was free, because there are enough Oberlin music students to make it happen, and quirky enough people to make it worth it.  In a way, I think Wooster was more progressive than Oberlin, but Oberlin is more liberal.  If that makes sense...

I've really done next to nothing for 7 days, and it's been remarkable.  I've watched movies, I've watched Breaking Bad, I've played video games, I've read books that aren't law text books (and I've even finished two of them) I've worked out, I've walked the dog.

I've just lived.


Tonight, we're going to see the Great Gatsby.  I have no idea if I'll actually like it, but Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet are two old favorites of mine- I don't think Baz Luhrman can make a bad movie, per se.  It might not be his best, but I should withhold judgment before actually seeing it.

It's actually been a fast week, though I've enjoyed it.  I hope the rest of summer isn't this fast, but I imagine that's actually a little bit too much to ask.

Before I know it, I'll be back at school, hurtling, once more, toward exams within the competitive world in which we're forced to live, 4 months at a time.

That's not bad either though.  If this summer is just a chance to catch my breath, I'll take it.  But if it's much more than that, I'll start feeling like I'm not getting anywhere all over again, and that's frustrating.

So I hope this summer is appropriately paced; not too slow, too fast, or needlessly begrudged.

I've semi-rediscovered an excellent song from Kanye's "College Dropout"  It's called "Two Words" and I think it would be the most popular song on the album if it came out today.  It's amazing how prophetically ahead of his time he's always been.  In ten years, precisely structured communal albums like "Cruel Summer" will either be the norm or we'll look back on this decade like we look back on the 60s for rock and roll.  Anyway, a week into summer, and this is my current song of the summer.  Maybe I'll check in weekly with a new track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n_qp5vJ23k


There's a pretty good music video too, but all of the youtube versions are edited, and I don't play like that.

-Zack

"From the bottom so the top's the only place to go now"
-Kanye West

Back to Life (pt. 1)

And so with that, I have completed my first year of law school.

It's hard to believe that, this time last year, I wasn't even sure I had what it took to be a successful starbucks barista.  Three months later, I was terrified of Torts.  Two months ago, I was sure I was about to fail property.

But now, it's just over, on pause, if you will, for a much needed summer off.  It's not that there's actually anything "off" about my summer- but it's not school, and that's positive.

I've got an unexpected week off next week.  Trying to figure out how to use it well and relax well, but not, in the end, feel like it was wasted.

Lost in the tussle of all of this, the finally ending, after the unending feeling of finals and papers and reading, are a whole lot of people, from every angle.

I've been unfortunately withdrawn, from the non-immediate people in my life, for the past nine months. I've often been withdrawn from the immediate too, as far as all of that goes.  I've never been so consumed by a singular goal, as I was, because of law school.

And I'm only 1/3rd of the way done.  Apparently it's the hardest third, as evidenced by the not-coming-back-portion of classmates I'll inevitably have in a month or two.

In many ways, I've probably changed and hopefully grown over the last 9 months.  At the very least, I'm sure I don't see things, everyday little things even, in the same way.  I've always been great at knowing things- it's been, perhaps, my most persistent quality since I was 2 years old.  In one way or another though, lawschool has helped me to understand things.  It's like I finally have some kind of context through which the world filters.  It's not a worldview as much as a skeleton upon which society hangs.

It's been less than 24 hours since my last final and I'm still working on putting on my non-school-life mindset.

I'm not sure I know how to do that.  I've got a degree of lawschool Stockholm syndrome at the moment.

I'll get over it though.

For now, I'm back, I'm free, and I'm learning what that means again.  I have more freetime over the next week than I have had since the summer before my senior year at Wooster.  That was five years ago.

I'll find a way to enjoy it.

-Zack

"Yeah I questioned if I could go the distance
That's just the work, regardless of who's listening"-Macklemore