A Crock of Sh*# Now, or dreams of Martin Sheen.
I've been remiss in keeping up with the many wonderful BLOG sites offered by Blogger and for that, I hang my head in shame. I want to thank Blogger (whoever you folks are ...) for offering this electronic podium for those of us who, for whatever reasons, feel an urge to place some sort of communication on the Internet. Sometimes just putting a few words on my BLOG can stimulate new lines of thought, new concepts and fresh points of view from which I can observe the world at-large.
Sometimes it's purely an ego thing. But more often than not, I am trying to self-analyze my motives for behaviors past and present, or I'm struggling with creative questions, e.g. "How can I kick-start this damn book in my head and stay on track throughout the process?"
That aside, I keep recalling that scene in the film "Apocalypse Now" where Martin Sheen, the amoral assassin sent to snuff out the rogue colonel (whatever Brando's character's rank is ... ) rises out of a mist-coated, brown river for no apparent reason at all. I've struggled with explaining that scene for years, ever since I saw the film upon its release. What the hell was Coppola trying to say with that scene? Help! This is important! What I consider a nearly flawless film was thrown out of sync for me by that single stream of frames. Sheen's character wasn't exactly required to be stealthy when he climbed the hill to waste the colonel (what was his name, dammit?). The voice-over says as much, to wit: "Hell, he wanted me to do it. He just wanted to die like a soldier," etc. And yet, here we have this, I guess, atmospheric setup showing a muddy-faced Sheen slowly rising up out of the filthy water, mist swirling slowly about his head as we see first the top of his head, then his forehead, his eyes and, finally, his full face, dripping water streaming from his nose and ears. Coppola went a little nuts with that scene, I think. But what the hell. It was still a great movie, deserving of the term "classic."