Malibu morning picture of the day - Friday, December 5, 2014

Dear Family, Friends, and Gentle Readers,

Friday has come. This is the view on the coast.

A little muted this morning--nothing like the breezy, crisp, coldness that we kind of got with yesterday's photo. It's supposed to get warmer this weekend and on into the week. It's not really cold by Southern California standards.

There is no good 2nd shot today. They all look just like the one above. To the right is the moonrise going home last night. The sky was much darker, but my smartphone camera does not like dark blue, twilight skies and always wants to turn them power blue like that. If I want to do sunsets, I guess I need to get a REAL camera.





I went to go see the English dub of the Princess Kaguya film; just needed to get another look at its beauty before it leaves the big screens entirely. There is much to say about this film and its narrative choices, and I'd like to write up a full critical analysis, but I'll have to save that for when I do my master's degree ... however I'll take a minute to make one comment. This is a SPOILER ALERT, however to say what happens to Kaguya if you are of East Asian descent and even mildly culturally literate in Asian folklore is like saying Cinderella puts on the glass slipper and it fits.

I think modern storytellers in the Asian tradition have the same problem as Western storytellers in conceptualizing that the next plane of higher and better existence (heaven, nirvana, the moon) is a place we even want to be. In the last scene, the emissaries of the City of the Moon come to pick up Kaguya from the "unclean" and "impure" Earth. I was looking for a still pic (not finding one), but they come down on a cloud like a Rose Parade float. The head guy standing in the middle is a golden man rather like an avatar of the Buddha (it seems men are in charge on the Moon too...).

The "Moon City" float upper right, everybody hop on ...

The last words Kaguya says before undergoes a memory wipe of the whole life you just saw her lead are basically a defense of the human life on Earth and that there are good things the be experienced here. I think this is plot hole. If she was sent to Earth to learn a lesson, what's the point if they hit the DELETE ALL? Y. procedure anyway (this is achieved by putting on a celestial robe).

Fair enough. That's the feel-good message delivered, "It's not so bad down here." The little piece of the Moon City that we get to see is golden bright, no hard edges, emotionless, and clean. The people on board the float look as serene and as clueless as cud-chewing cows. A band of musicians has been sent along for the ride and they play a happy-ass, repetitive, insipid tune, over and over--a cunning choice by the director and score composer. By contrast, the folk tune that the children and Kaguya sang earlier was sad, plaintive, and rich in emotion. Going to the higher existence does not look pleasant, or rather too pleasant.

A place where you don't want for anything because you don't want anything is an idea that is hard to get your head around.Depicting it accurately is probably impossible; meditation gurus have been trying for centuries. Director Takahata has not convinced me to get on the Moon Wagon, but I don't think he was trying to. However, there are bad days when going to "neutral" forever looks mighty appealing.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Love,
Pops