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Hi all

First off, a big thank you to everyone who left me a message in my last journal entry. I'm sorry I didn't reply to each one of them personally, so I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all in one go right here; you're a lovely bunch of people, and your words were - and are still - very much appreciated. I'm still in a bit of a creative funk, but I'm slowly managing to squeeze a few pieces out here and there.

As for for personal matters, well, they're getting there.....


Spent the last few weeks just generally immersing myself into music and films, two things which help me to find equilibrium when I feel things are a little off-kilter. I've discovered some really great music recently, and got myself reaquianted with some of my favourite films (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Thin Red Line, in particular). It's amazing how films and music can stir the power to all manner of emotions, and I've found the spirit of hope within these films to be healing (sorry if I'm coming off as a hippy .

I've also been watching the superb sitcom Spaced. I'm ashamed to say that I missed it when it was on the TV, but a friend has recently loaned me the DVD boxset - very funny stuff, and for a film geek like me, the film references are genius!

To other matters, and I thought I'd share some sound bites here.

First up, is a small section of a song from a group called Psapp. I've had one of their albums for a while now, The Only Thing I Ever Wanted, but I've never had a the time to sit and listen to it properly. Anyhoo, decided to do so, and I can't believe it's been sitting there unloved; a fantastic album. This is a small sample from the album, a track called Needle & Thread:

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Secondly, I'd like to post up a few of the monologues that appear in The Thin Red Line. I always hope that people enjoy watching this film when they see it for the first time as it's a masterpiece in film making, IMO. Terrence Malick is a force in the film world like no other, his films are almost like moving poems and you can feel his background in philosophy shining through in much of his material. Indeed, he has a reverence for nature, in all of its facets, that is stunningly beautiful to behold.

Perhaps I digress a little.

These audio sound bites are some monologues that appear throughout the film. They are beautiful little musings on life, and whilst you have to see the film to perhaps truly appreciate them in their context, they're beautiful passages of prose (and I use the word prose because like I said, the film is like a poem) that I frequently find myself turning back to listen to, as they're quite moving.

I may have included one of these in a previous journal entry, I really can't remember, but I guess that's not what's important; I hope you get something from them when listening to them, and if you've not seen the film, hopefully they pique your interest:

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Hope you've enjoyed the thumbs and the sounds.

Peace, Love & Happiness,
Michael.

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