"Lord of the Rings", "Beauty and the Beast" and Igor Stravinsky

When TheOneRing.net posted the above image to their facebook page, it really really inspired me.

I followed the link to the page from whence the stunning image came, Geek Art Gallery, and I really fell down the rabbit hole. I love the style of the image and the way that it has that kind of Mary Blair-like whimsicality and the specific stained-glass style that reminds me of "Beauty and the Beast". 

I also got a bug about searching down specific filming locations that I love. I've always had this dream vacation in mind where I go across the country just visiting my favorite filming locations from movies that I love. I think it would make a smashing documentary, providing that the characters along for the ride had a good secondary storyline going on. 

So I Googled some of the locations from "Return to Me" (a movie I ADORE) and found the following blog that I also spent a couple of hours on. It's called "It's Filmed There" and it's packed with good stuff. I particularly enjoyed the Chicago section. 

"My freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles. Whatever diminishes constraint diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees oneself of the chains that shackle the spirit."

                                                                                             Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music

Tobolowsky Talks!

I love character actors. Any time I get the chance, I fill my projects with them. All the way up to the brim.

You love character actors too, by the way. Even if you don't know it. You love the guys and gals who pop up in small cameos and tiny colorful roles in all of your favorite movies.

The lady behind the car rental counter in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (Edie McClurg), Fred Astaire's constantly baffled straight man (Edward Everett Horton), and of course, everyone's FAVORITE, Ned the head, Needlenose Ned, Ned Ryerson from "Groundhog Day". The insanely prolific and versatile Stephen Tobolowsky.

WHO, as it turns out, podcasts.

AND writes with clear prose and warm memories from his decades as a working actor. (And he's still quite young, might I add.)

Fundamental Life Truth brought to you by David Bowie in Jim Henson's "Labyrinth"

The illusion that anyone in this life has any kind of negative power or control over you is just that, an illusion. The second you decide to break that and say, "You cannot tell me what to do, how to feel, what to think or how to proceed with my life." everything will change for you.

Especially when you are willing to accept the consequences of your independence, even if those consequences are that you now have to think for yourself and work harder to accomplish your OWN goals.

That's it, one simple decision for yourself, to go against any guilt or fear people may try to instill in you and tell them, "You have no power over me."

(Except don't actually TELL them. Or you'll sound like a crazy person. More like, just tell yourself and then start making healthier decisions.)

Cheesy, but true. Be brave, do your OWN THING! I know Jim Henson meant this movie to be primarily for children, but the lessons he was trying to teach them with allegory still seem apply to me...