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Inside: Cultural Sausage. ~ Ludic Lists. ~ Skullbucket. Outside: The Ludic Log is on vacation for five days. While I'm gone, please enjoy this delighful guest entry by the cryptic and cogitative Mr. Matt Rossi. "desk intercom" "round cooling tower" "teeth plaque conspiracy Metallica" "skintight bodysuit Cheetah" "Alexei Luthor" "Jesus cheese" "Satanist orgy" "tattooed hearts" |
08.09.2004
"Hey, brah, wanna watch a movie?" Rock hurled his bulk over the couch and crashed down next to Josh. Now, I love my brother, but even I have to admit that Josh nailed his personality when he named him Rock, because he's about as subtle as being hit by one, but at the same time he's as dependable as the stuff. You can trust him to have your back, that one time nonwithstanding. Josh, as usual, looked cross at Rock for a couple of seconds before giving in. "All right. Not that musical again?" "What's wrong with the musical?" "We've watched it like eighty-seven thousand times, man, that's what's wrong with it!" I yelled across the room. "And it's not like we don't know the story already." "Andy, shut up, nobody asked you. You'd probably want to go fishing again anyway." "What's wrong with going fishing?" I knew I had a smug look on my face without seeing it. "You used to like going fishing. Heck, I do believe Josh here done gone and made us the most famous fishermen in the world." "Slightly different kind of fishing." Josh smiled, and let me tell you, there's something about when Josh smiles that can just kill any animosity in a room right quick. Humor and pathos just mixed together... sometimes I wonder why he bothers to still hang out with us at all. You'd think he would have taken over the family business by now, or even headed back and settled some old scores, but he's in no hurry. "So what's the movie this time? I kind of liked the Willem DaFoe one..." "Really? You didn't think it was disrespectful?" I snorted into my hand. "Look, don't remind me, okay? I was embarrased enough at the time." He cracked a grin, leaned back on the padding. "I really should have written a book, huh? No offense to Matt or the other guys, but leaving it all unwritten just messed things up." "It would have gotten messed up anyway." Rock slid the disc into the player. "You know people. That Saul guy... meant well, but he had seventeen kinds of issues. What were you thinking with that, anyway?" "He was so pissed off. At us, at himself... I figured if I invited him in, gave him a new perspective, he'd cool down a bit." Josh shook his head sadly. "I suppose I can't complain... anyway, you didn't say what movie." "New one, by the guy that did 'Braveheart' and those Mad Max movies you like." "What's it called?" Josh looked sideways at Rock, knowing when there was BS being thrown his way. You couldn't lie, or even omit, very well around Josh, especially now that we're all here and all. "The Passion of the Christ." "Aw, man! You rented another one? How many of these do I have to watch?" Josh actually stood up. "Look, Rock, I love you but I'm not sitting through another one of..." "Hey, would I have rented it if I didn't think you should see it?" Rock's voice dropped, got as hard and flinty as his nickname. "I love you, man, but you're not paying enough attention lately. You need to see this. So sit down, watch it, and then if it sucks you can be mad at me later." As usual, the two of them stared at each other for a while and then looked over at me for a tie breaker. I wished Matt or even Angry Si had come over, so I could just sit back and let them chime in. "Well, Josh is right that you do rent a lot of these things..." Rock furrowed his forehead in the same way that he did when he was six and I hid his sandals on him, while Josh nodded sharply. "But, Josh, man, seriously, you need to pay more attention to this kind of thing. You... you tend to want to pretend it's not happening, that they're not saying or doing things you don't like. I think we should probably watch this one." "Fhhhh." Josh sat down, looking down at the floor for a few seconds, and then at the two of us. "I should have left you guys on that boat." "Yeah, and you should have probably married Mags and had a bunch of kids, too." Rock nudged him with his elbow. "Heck, didn't you?" "Yeah, and then we moved to France." Josh laughed a little at that one. "And my grandkids married a fish." Rock grinned back, and even I smiled... something about Josh, his moods are contagious... and we settled in to endure the latest movie. Endure's a really good word for it, too. Now, Rock and I are good jewish boys by upbringing, even though we're obviously Christians now. Still, there's something about seeing jews, especially 'evil' movie jews, depicted as stereotypes while the 'good' jews are your typical white bread hollywood types that really gets to me. That was bad enough, but it was a minor thing. Even the scene in Gethsemane based on a crazy old nun's delusions (Anne Emmerich and I have never met, so I suppose I shouldn't get too harsh on her) wasn't that bad... Josh's mouth tightened a bit, but nothing more. Even the strange way the film seemed to think Pontius Pilate and hi wife were super-nice (he was a Roman governor, folks, nice had no place there) was tolerable. I'm sure we all wish he had been that way. Then came the gore. You have to understand, while we do watch a lot of movies, and we've seen a lot of the ones based on this, we've never seen one that took such glee in showing blood and flesh and bits of meat flying in the air... the whole thing was rather surprising. We watched as the film glossed over the whole reason for the crucifixion, ignored the message that had been the reason for the trip to Jerusalem in the first place, and got on to the business of lovingly lingering over every scourge blow, every bloody step, every second of pain. Boy, we couldn't wait for that to be over. When it was done, we all sat there stunned, looking around the room at each other. "So..." Rock looked ashen. "That..." Josh sighed, stood up and took the disc out of the player, looked at it for a long time before putting it back in the case. "Yeah." He handed it back to Rock. "You were right. I needed to see it. Makes me wonder what would happen to me if I were wandering around saying the same stuff now. How many people would come out to watch me this time?" "Brah, I'm sorry..." "No." Josh laid his hand on Rock's head. "Simon, don't be sorry. I did need to see it. The art they make about it... the images they present, the aspects they choose to remember, these are important. The fact that a few of the same people who'd sit and watch that movie awestruck and affected are the same kinds of people who like, no, live to tell other people what to think and worship and believe... I need to keep track. You were right." I didn't have much to say, really. I kept thinking about the crowds screaming "Give us Barrabbas"... I've never forgotten that, not in two thousand years. I doubt I ever will. No wonder Josh didn't want to go back. "Okay." Josh walked over to the fridge, got himself some water. "New rule. No movies about me for a while, okay?" |
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| TODAY'S DRIFTWOOD: "You've got to get obsesses and stay obsessed." (John Irving) |