I've been watching a lot of westerns recently. Last week I saw The Good, the bad and the Ugly. I had never seen early Clint Eastwood and I loved this movie. The silent dialog. The long sweeping panoramas. Character development. Journey adventure. It reminded me of Sargasso Manuscript, where one story leads into another. Double crossing, impeccability.
Last night I saw Unforgiven. More sweeping views of the plains. Blood sunsets, dusty towns. It made me miss the midwest. Fields and forests, rivers and mountains. I dream of my farm, my ranch in the sierras. I ran into Mike Jones from Userplane at Twiistup and we were talking about consulting. One of my goals of consulting is to make enough to buy my ranch and have goats. Three hours from LA, on a plateau overlooking the mojave I will sit on my porch and watch the mountains, the clouds and desert. I will disappear into the mountains to explore and discover. My workspace will be filled with shop tools, a kiln, plasma cutter, welder and materials.
At that point, perhaps I will be ripe enough to produce art. The stories with have inspired me with expression.
Ahh, westerns. Get the trilogy - A Fist Full of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (a boxed set - can be found on eBay). The vistas, the music, the "eyes" - all very special. 3:19 to Yuma is a good one, too, as is Pale Rider.
Also, as long as you're in a Western mood, take a trip to the Autrey... it's a cool place to get a feel for it. Also, Paramount Ranch around Calabasas makes you feel like you're in the middle of them - it is, after all, the set.
Finally, on Sunset, there's a Starbucks and CVS in the old Cartwright downtown. Get Advil and Bonanza in one fell swoop!
Posted by: Hellyweed | January 22, 2008 at 08:28 AM