wise up

saw magnolia. for the first 2 hours i thought it was going to be one of the best films i had ever seen. then it went on for another hour. the stories had already climaxed and we were ready to go to bed. instead i had to wait for more random peaks in the story that i no long gave a crap about. everyone was great in it, especially tom cruise and william h macy.

saw mulholland drive. 2 nice, very ample scenes. no i bando.

saw requiem for a dream. ellen burstyn is a marvel. watching her is like watching butter melt in a hot pan. the dvd also had an interview with hubert selby jr. he talks like a wired crazy old man.

read write away by elizabeth george. it's about writing a novel. the best bit in it is a direct quote of richard II: the beginning soliloquy.

read wind in the willows by kenneth grahame. had to read certain parts again because i couldn't imagine certain parts of it. i need an illustrated dictionary to british wildlife.


the man with the wooden hands

"there's a man i used to know, a big man with wooden hands and arms. he was already old when i met him. he already lived most of his life, and had stories to tell about every aspect of it. he was always joking and laughing; telling blue jokes regardless of who was listening and sometime to no one at all. i would hear him in the garden laughing at his own joke, with no-one but the trees.

this man is the type of man everyone looked up to. they asked him for advice, and he gave it. they asked of his blessing for they knew it would bring good luck. the man with the wooden hands would be generous with his time and blessing. and he continued to laugh, and make jokes for now. his wooden hands were used for growing fruit and vegetables. used for digging, planting and picking. his wooden hands would get muddy and i would have to wash them for him. the brown water would run as he told another joke. at that time i was too young to really understand them.

as i grew up, the man with the wooden hands remained the same. i ate the fruit and vegetables he nurtured and harvested and grew tall. soon i was tall enough to leave home. he said that i should leave home and become a man. he gave me his blessing and i left home to the sounds of his jokes.

as i wandered the highways, the laugher followed me. it was in the trees. it was in the food i ate. i told his jokes to others and they laughed. i never told them where i got it from. as i became a man i met other people. they started to talk and the laugher began to drown out. i could hear it if i stretched. it became a murmur in the leaves. as the years passed the laughter decreased, as i became more and more of a man. i forgot about his jokes, except in moments of extreme joy or sadness. i would always worry that i would someday forget him. everything about the man with the wooden hands would vanish to dust. but i had to be a man, so i kept on moving on, until the trees didn't look like any i had ever seen before. i stopped growing the day i left home, but i never stopped moving.

then i got a letter the other day. the man with the wooden hands is dying. he has stopped joking and laughing. everyone gathers around him as he lays in bed. i can't see him from where i am. i want to see him, but i don't know if i can. the trees are in pain as it eats them up from the inside. it's an unstoppable force that lives in everyone. the man with the wooden hands."