The road to AZ

The Power of the Mind or what "The Men Who Stare at Goats" (Jon Ronson), and "Eat, Pray, Love" (Elizabeth Gilbert), "Bright-sided" (Barbara Ehrenreich) all have in common.

I think it’s okay write a book review on three books, one of which I have read in its entirety, the other I am currently reading, and the last of which I will probably never read.  Mostly I’m just interested in the intersections of these three books which have happened to thrust themselves upon me this week.  While I have been slogging my way through Eat, Pray, Love for a while now, neglecting it when something more interesting comes along, I flew though the 270ish page Jon Ronson expose of paranormal American intelligence techniques the past two days.  A few days ago I heard Barbara Ehrenreich discussing her new book critiquing “positive thinking” in American culture, blaming on it everything from the recent financial crisis to hypnotizing the American workforce into submission.  What struck me is that all of these books seem to have to do with the power of the mind in one way or another.

Currently in my reading of Elizabeth Gilbert, she is recounting her encounters with the divine through meditation and she describes a feeling of the divine inside of her.  In The Men Who Stare at Goats, Ronson’s contact Guy Savelli describes the same experience when he stares at hamsters and goats.  The evidence presented by Guy to Jon of his ability to fell goats and hamsters with his mind seemed pretty slim.  Jon was clearly not convinced of Guy’s ability and neither am I.  However, Guy was experiencing a feeling described by Elizabeth, which according to her is described by many people meditating, praying, or having a “divine” experience.  It seems like the mind is capable of transforming something, and if not the body it inhabits, what else?

This is where Bright-sided comes in.  As painful as it may be I really may have to read Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, so I can fully comment on it, but her critique of the use of “positive thinking” for healing purposes rubbed me the wrong way.  Her negativity and bitterness is so pervasive in all her work that I already really dislike her and anything she has to say, so I'm already prejudiced against her.  Granted, she is a cancer survivor, so maybe she has safely lodged herself in the impregnable fortress of self-righteousness on this one, but there is lots of evidence that positive thinking can affect the body.  I'm not saying it can cure cancer, but nothing she says will ever persuade me that it's as dangerous as she would have us believe.

Anyway, back to the rambling point.  Can the mind affect the outside world or the body?  Thoughts...?

P.S. Here's Barbara's rant so you can judge for yourself: 'Bright-Sided': When Happiness Doesn't Help

Film Review: Where the Wild Things Are

After so many people I’ve talked to have panned Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are,” I feel the need to voice my own opinion.  Take it for what you will, but I thought Jonze made all the right choices.  The film follows the imagination of young Max (Max Records), a boy wrestling with feelings of anger, loneliness, sadness, and fear as he deals with his parents’ divorce and the fragmentation of his nuclear family.  After a fight with his mother, he runs away, and sails to an island inhabited by Wild Things.  Here his emotions and his family relationships are played out in the society of the Wild Things. 

Overall the film is beautiful and stunning, and the even smallest details have been artfully thought out, from the unfinished “fort” the Wild Things begin to construct and the amazing world constructed by Carrol to the chocolate cake peace offering in the final reunion with Max’s worried mother (Catherine Keener).  There are two major complaints that I’d like to address.  The first is that the film is not meant for children. The film’s narrative simplicity coupled with it’s emotional depth might make it a bit difficult to understand for today’s children, which is a pity.  While some parents may find it too scary for their young children, I should hope that parents are never afraid to allow their children to contemplate strong emotions which can be scary and confusing in the real world as well as on screen.  I think the film is an excellent learning and talking point for parents and their kids, without being condescending or diminishing of the feelings that Max has so much difficulty expressing.

The second complaint I’ve encountered from mostly young adults is that the film had no plot and was boring.  Here is where I would like to most strenuously disagree.  While I would agree that there is not a conventional plot, and that little is really resolved at the end of the film, it so plausibly follows the path of a child’s imagination that it is delightfully entertaining and emotionally satisfying to watch.  I found myself laughing out loud one minute at absurdities and crying over them the next. 

My main fear about this film is that people will find it too complicated or too difficult to engage in because they have to think to understand it.

Here goes...

Can I really do this?

So many people write so much stuff all the time.  Who is going to care what I have to say?

I’m not really sure.  I guess I’ll just start posting stuff and see what happens....