Had quite the weekend… took till today to fully recover, absorb everything, and write about it.

At some point in the last few months I decided that it was time to find something new and challenging to devote my time and energy to. I’ve spent the last year getting myself into good physical condition, I might as well use it. This decision has recently materialized in my interest in Adventure Racing. Adventure Racing is a multi-sport team challenge that generally involves Mountain Biking, Orienteering (map/compass), Trekking, Canoeing, and ropes (rappelling, tyrolean traverse..). Race durations can be anywhere from 4hrs to 36hrs to several-to-many days.

The first race I’m able to do (really busy summer this year) is this July – one of the Subaru Adventure Racing Series by ARC. There’s a 6-8hr race, and a 24-36hr race. I’m hoping to do the 24-36hr Outback race on July 6-7 – pending approval by potential teammates.

This past weekend, I took part in a weekend-long clinic by the gang at Synergy. What a fantastic time! We spent the first day-and-a-half learning and practicing all the skills required for AR, and the afternoon of the second day was spent putting it all together in a 5hr race. It was very physically demanding, as you can imagine – an entire weekend of physical activity – hiking, biking, rappelling, climbing, canoeing… I realized shortly before our technical bike instruction that I hadn’t been on my Bike in about 2 years – and it felt like it. My legs have finally recovered today. Ankles are still a little sore from hiking through the bush up and down hills on and off trails… I learned a lot about my physical limits and where I have to place my focus in my training over the next few months…

I think the thing that is attracting me most to AR is the element of self-discovery. It’s easy in life to fall into a certain complacency – living life on autopilot, for the sake of security. We like to feel warm, safe, and comfortable – rarely pushing our limits or taking risks. The road to self-discovery lies beyond this security blanket that we build for ourselves – our daily routines and our daily comforts and our fears. To really feel alive is to push beyond these perceived limitations.

The only way to defeat fear is to face it head-on. The only way to truly feel life is to take it head-on.

Adventure Racing can be gruelling. Ever seen Eco-Challenge? Granted, those races are on a massive scale, but imagine doing any amount of physical activity and sustaining it for many hours or even days on end. Then add the unpredictable nature of AR – dealing with poor weather, physical and mental exhaustion, equipment malfunction, team dynamics… Mix it all up and you’ve got yourself one helluva journey.

Mike Figgis is well on his way to being considered one of the most important filmmakers of our time. Unfortunately, most people will probably never see his recent and arguably most important experimental works.

Never one to shy away from challenging his audience, in 1995 Figgis brought us a gritty, harrowing tale of love and alcoholism in Leaving Las Vegas. The movie, shot on Super 16 film on a budget of just $4 million, was dark and visceral and through his intimate shooting style, Figgis managed to engage his actors and, in turn, his audience in a very intense emotional way.

A few years later, Timecode (2000), a 93-minute experimental film shot on Digital Video in real time on four cameras, all of which are seen on screen at one time (the screen is divided into four quadrants), pushed the boundaries of filmmaking and began Figgis’s love affair with the digital video medium.

His latest work, Hotel, is Figgis’s second forray into Digital Video and a mostly-improvised script (Timecode was improvised around a basic story and timeline). Based on a stripped down version of “the sexiest, bloodiest, foulest piece of clasical theatre writing,” The Duchess of Malfi, Hotel is a play within a play – a feature crew being observed by a documentary crew and one director wanting the other one killed. While shooting, Figgis encouraged experimentation with the cameras’ settings, giving it a trippy, shape-shifting feel. Yet to receive a release date, this film is unlikely to reach a large audience because this type of unconventional film generally strikes fear in the hearts of studio execs, and never make it to wide release.

Jessica Aldred at Shift.com puts it best: “Figgis demands our utmost commitment as active viewers, and in so doing, asks us to concentrate in an environment — the movie theatre — where we are largely accustomed to being passive, butter-fingered lommoxes.” In a time where Hollywood films keep getting Dumber and Dumber, with titles reflecting the average movie-goer’s attention span (Gone in 60 Seconds), Mike Figgis’s films will mostly, unfortunately, be relegated to small releases and repertory theatres. In the spirit of Leaving Las Vegas’s lead character’s musing, “I don’t know if my wife left me because of my drinking or I started drinking ’cause my wife left me,” Ms. Aldred over at Shift.com also wonders, “if mainstream movies started dumbing it down because we as viewers didn’t want to be challenged, or if we started dumbing down our expectations as viewers because movies ceased to challenge us.”

Indeed, the old Chicken/Egg debate… whatever the answer, I damn well hope people like Mike Figgis continue to push the envelope and create challenging films, because as long as he and others like him are making them, I will seek them out. Sick of the Hollywood machine? Then you should too.

In this story about Micro$oft educational liscencing agreements, you’ll find this paragraph: “In the interests of cheap humour we’re also going to point out that in the first par of the School Agreement 3.0 calculator page it currently says: “For exact pricing, contact an Authorized Educaiton Reseller (AER).” Educaiton? We’ve heard of it…” Let’s hear it for cheap humour!

Smells on the air

See there it’s crushing the final impression

The stains on the paper

Where words fell like water

Unearth all the changes that never did matter

I think it’s beginning to freeze here

Caught in the rage and the fire of things

All the brightness that burns me

I’m fumbling through like a child in the dark

When the nakedness comes

I am shocked by the colour the glorious weight of your skin

Comes alive

And I never thought we’d make it back so soon

Might be nice

But I knew you’d be your own destroyer

Comes a time

And I always thought I’d make it up to you

Here please forgive me

Could we escape all the bitterness piled upon bitterness

Held in the face of the things that I don’t understand

Intellectualize over and over

This helplessness suits us

Funny how quiet has slipped to our corners

Worn all our edges away

You are watching breathing and baiting

Wanting and warming and cautiously waiting

For some simple signal to creep cross your conscience

Uncover redemption and oh did I mention

I carried you down to the St. Lawrence River

The banks running dirty the water’s beginning to freeze here

Solid by morning

And I’ll freeze here

Winter by morning

Comes a lie

And I never thought you’d get me back so soon

Might be nice

But it’s only if my own destroyer

Comes alive

And I always knew I’d make it up to you

I saw on your face such a curious grin

As I let go your hand

I was desperate to hold you again

But you’re sinking so deep in the water

Outsmarted myself and so easily gave up what I wanted

Solid by morning

What I wanted

Winter by morning

Comes alive

And I never thought you’d make it up so soon

Might be nice

But I always knew you’re my destroyer

Comes a time

And I always thought I’d make it up to you

Solid by morning

And I’ll freeze here

Winter by morning

For those who know about this type of thing, up till now I’ve been using Blogger as my publishing engine for this site. Blogger is a great free product which has had no small part in fuelling the the massive blogging phenomenon of the last year or so. I’ve been a big fan of the product and the people who built it for a very long time, and have decided it’s time to give something back. As of 20 minutes ago, I’ve upgraded to Blogger Pro, a subscription version of Blogger with all the usual features and some extras. Thanks to everyone over at Blogger for putting together such a great product – keep up the good work!

What time is it on your VCR?

Blogging the Future

Douglas Rushkoff, one of my favourite writers of our time, has launched a redesign of his site (okay, it was a while ago, but I haven’t been blogging in a while), along with his very own weblog. I’ve always admired Rushkoff’s work, and his books are some of my favourites of all time. I’ve subscribed to his media-squatters mailing list for a number of years, and have always enjoyed the lively discussions his articles and musings have sparked. This new weblog is now among my list of daily haunts, promising some really interesting discourse on all things media and culture. Welcome, Douglas, to the world of weblogging – the community is better for having you in it.

Drunken Roommate Chronicles

“I have to work in the morning… what the fuh? what time do I worrrrk tomorrow? fucn I’m gonna kill youss” (begins wrestling with shoes)

“You work at 9:30 tomorrow. That’s what you told me”

“Okayyyyy… I have to set mmy alarm fer… fuckn I’m gonna fucn… okay what time do I work?”

“You work at 9:30… I set your alarm for 8:00”

“yeah, fuck I’m gonna kill you guys… fuck I’m so drunk fuckn I have to work fuck fuckn drunkf …what time do I have to get up?”

“I set your alarm for 8:00… you have to work at 9:30”

“I’m taking my shoes off fuckn… I’m so drunk fuck you guys are so dead fuckfuck what time do I – I have to work in the morning… nin-eight-nineteen-nine-thir-nine-“

“nine thirty… I’ve set your alarm.. do you want some water?”

“no… I got my shoes off!”

Half an our later, upon discovering the bathroom door locked, lights off, no sound from inside:

“Mike, what are you doing in there?”

“Huh?”

“Mike, are you going to sleep in the bathroom?”

“NO!”

“Mike, do you want me to turn on the light?”

“no…”

“Mike, are you ok?”

“no.”

Okay, yeah… it’s been a while

It was a nice break, but now I think it’s time to get back to it. I’ve been feeling a little more inspired lately. I’m going to try to keep postings fairly regular, and I’ll be sticking with the same kinda format as before: odd links, bit o’ commentary. Gonna try to mix in a little more personal stuff, and other writings… Got lots of ideas (there’s never a shortage of those), and hopefully enough time (always a shortage) to implement them. Let’s see how it goes.

MenWhoLookLikeKennyRogers.com