Vanum Populatum
Had a weird dream yesterday.
I've got a bad cold, and weird dreams come to me when I'm loopy from a cold.
I was visiting somewhere ancient I guess.. it almost seemed out of body. Hazy images, smoky. And I heard the words "Vanum populatum."
So when I woke up I wrote it down. Maybe I've been watching too much of the "Rome" miniseries. But then I looked up the words at a Latin translation site;
vanum means "empty, vain, false, untrustworthy.'
populatum means "ravage, devastate, lay waste; plunder, despoil, strip."
It took me awhile to decipher it;
"Strip away that which is vain." or "Lay waste to that which is false or untrustworthy."
What the f am I doing talking to myself in Latin? I don't speak Latin. So who the heck was talking to me in Latin? I'd like to know. And why so philosophical?
It sounds Buddhist to me - but coming from a Latin.. hey wait a second. Nah, Jesus spoke in aramaic, not Latin. So maybe it was a priest - I had an uncle who was a priest - but is that the kind of casual thing a Priest might say? Even to his old nephew?
I was a little shocked to say the least. But it's a cool motto:
"Devastate that which is empty, vain, false or untrustworthy."
sounds like time for a new election.
Last shot of the day on a film set, also the last name of the author of this blog. Martin - Latin singular, those soldiers who work for Mars, God of War. A smith. In this lifetime of words, music and film. AKA "The Afterlife Expert" (Coast to Coast AM) If you want to reach me, I can be found on FB, LinkedIn, or Gmail under MartiniProds (my youtube channel)
Buddhism and the Flipside
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Miscellaneous
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Tuesday
Always Connect
Always Connect
some years ago i was sitting at a table in cannes with all these high falootin' folks. i mean, there was a prince, a queen, some other royalty at the table, and yours truly. not that i belonged there. i'm always somewhere that i don't belong. but that's another story. "what are you doing here?" is the most frequent question i get at unusual out of the way places. I think to myself "if you knew me well, you'd say 'hey, of course you would be here.'"
but i digress. I was sitting opposite from the great film producer ishmael merchant. this had to be ten years ago. and i made some comment like 'well this is an unsual table of folks.' and he said 'always connect.' Which he explained as things get put in your path for a reason, he believed, and that one should always try and connect with other people. which is kind of what myspace is all about.
now, it's a little peeving (is that a word?) that this place is filled with PR bots, as I call them. PR people who've created a website for their client - you see 'em around.. selling something.. sell sell sell, everything you live for" that's a line from a song in "O Lucky Man" one of my favorite films. if you haven't seen it, it's worth renting. and then the multiple persona pages - if i see someone on here that i've met or said hi to, or admire, i'll click on their pic and see if they'll add me - and then send 'em a note to see if they remember me from 'that time that we met at so and so's.' and of course, inevitably it's a fan putting up a web page.. which is kind of weird in a way - and kind of indicative of the times we live in. we live through other folks vicariously.. on the net, on t.v., on the silver screen. (are there any silver screens left?)
and yet here you are, reading this blog - which is composed of O's and 1's.. with pix attached. and we try to ascribe meaning to the O's and 1's - or the X's and O's - all with the same inherent meaning. what i've observed about myspace is that since everyone gets only a small box that you can have your pic in - or long box in the case of some folks who need to have bigger pix - everyone's the same. like going into blockbuster and seeing "Lawrence of Arabia" next to "Larry the Cable Guy" movies. (I'm not knocking Larry. I added his comedy page, he's hilarious) My point is, everything becomes relative when it's reduced in size, and scope. Blockbuster titles are all just boxes in a row. They don't reflect the hours and blood sweat and tears that have gone into these films, these works or art, or works of non art.. they're just dvd boxes in a row.
like the pix on your myspace page. just a bunch of pixels - and when you see them, you get an emotion attached to them - 'oh, i love that guy's work' or 'isn't she unsual?' or 'i didn't know he was on myspace.' of course they probably aren't, but their PRbot may print out a missive or two and pass 'em along..
which isn't to say that i haven't had some interesting conversations here.. i have. about all kinds of things.. i guess what i'm trying to say is that what it all boils down to is.. 'always connect.' it may be that we're connecting with people from our past, or connecting with people from our future.. or past lives, or future lives, or what have you. There's a law in phsyics that shows that the atoms and ions and gluons that bounce around each other have a tendency to find out other atoms and ions that they've bounced around with before.. attracted to places and other atoms they've already been.. so maybe that's also true of myspace. we're just bouncing atoms finding each other again in the ephemera of webspace.
my two cents.
some years ago i was sitting at a table in cannes with all these high falootin' folks. i mean, there was a prince, a queen, some other royalty at the table, and yours truly. not that i belonged there. i'm always somewhere that i don't belong. but that's another story. "what are you doing here?" is the most frequent question i get at unusual out of the way places. I think to myself "if you knew me well, you'd say 'hey, of course you would be here.'"
but i digress. I was sitting opposite from the great film producer ishmael merchant. this had to be ten years ago. and i made some comment like 'well this is an unsual table of folks.' and he said 'always connect.' Which he explained as things get put in your path for a reason, he believed, and that one should always try and connect with other people. which is kind of what myspace is all about.
now, it's a little peeving (is that a word?) that this place is filled with PR bots, as I call them. PR people who've created a website for their client - you see 'em around.. selling something.. sell sell sell, everything you live for" that's a line from a song in "O Lucky Man" one of my favorite films. if you haven't seen it, it's worth renting. and then the multiple persona pages - if i see someone on here that i've met or said hi to, or admire, i'll click on their pic and see if they'll add me - and then send 'em a note to see if they remember me from 'that time that we met at so and so's.' and of course, inevitably it's a fan putting up a web page.. which is kind of weird in a way - and kind of indicative of the times we live in. we live through other folks vicariously.. on the net, on t.v., on the silver screen. (are there any silver screens left?)
and yet here you are, reading this blog - which is composed of O's and 1's.. with pix attached. and we try to ascribe meaning to the O's and 1's - or the X's and O's - all with the same inherent meaning. what i've observed about myspace is that since everyone gets only a small box that you can have your pic in - or long box in the case of some folks who need to have bigger pix - everyone's the same. like going into blockbuster and seeing "Lawrence of Arabia" next to "Larry the Cable Guy" movies. (I'm not knocking Larry. I added his comedy page, he's hilarious) My point is, everything becomes relative when it's reduced in size, and scope. Blockbuster titles are all just boxes in a row. They don't reflect the hours and blood sweat and tears that have gone into these films, these works or art, or works of non art.. they're just dvd boxes in a row.
like the pix on your myspace page. just a bunch of pixels - and when you see them, you get an emotion attached to them - 'oh, i love that guy's work' or 'isn't she unsual?' or 'i didn't know he was on myspace.' of course they probably aren't, but their PRbot may print out a missive or two and pass 'em along..
which isn't to say that i haven't had some interesting conversations here.. i have. about all kinds of things.. i guess what i'm trying to say is that what it all boils down to is.. 'always connect.' it may be that we're connecting with people from our past, or connecting with people from our future.. or past lives, or future lives, or what have you. There's a law in phsyics that shows that the atoms and ions and gluons that bounce around each other have a tendency to find out other atoms and ions that they've bounced around with before.. attracted to places and other atoms they've already been.. so maybe that's also true of myspace. we're just bouncing atoms finding each other again in the ephemera of webspace.
my two cents.
My Flix on google and youtube
The Flix on my myspace page
I've just posted a bunch of my flix, or clips from my flix, or short films, or what not on this myspace page. I finally got around to uploading them, so get out the popcorn, pull up a chair and enjoy a sampling of my life. Soon I'm putting up "The Big Bang" the first film I ever did in high school, then there's my short "Video Valentino" that became my first feature "You Can't Hurry Love." There's a bunch of clips from my film "Camera - dogme ..15" because - well they're funny. And I made the flick for nothing. So the actors should be seen, because they're great in it. So, we'll see if anyone pays any attention to this stuff.. I just like having my stuff out in the planet, because it's just sitting on my shelf otherwise. The internet is not only the new yellow pages, it's the new garage sale, and the new closet where you put all your stuff - it just so happens other folks can get a gander.
And a word about Luana Ander's work - she's listed in my top 8 - she passed away 10 years ago - but I put up two flix we did - "Clones at Greaser's Palace" where she plays all the parts - it's a student film I did while at USC - Luana was in over 300 t.v. shows and 30 feature films - she's no longer on the planet, but you can visit her memorial page at www.luanaanders.com - anyways, I think there might be another one on there, I forget. But she's the real deal. Enjoy.
RM
I've just posted a bunch of my flix, or clips from my flix, or short films, or what not on this myspace page. I finally got around to uploading them, so get out the popcorn, pull up a chair and enjoy a sampling of my life. Soon I'm putting up "The Big Bang" the first film I ever did in high school, then there's my short "Video Valentino" that became my first feature "You Can't Hurry Love." There's a bunch of clips from my film "Camera - dogme ..15" because - well they're funny. And I made the flick for nothing. So the actors should be seen, because they're great in it. So, we'll see if anyone pays any attention to this stuff.. I just like having my stuff out in the planet, because it's just sitting on my shelf otherwise. The internet is not only the new yellow pages, it's the new garage sale, and the new closet where you put all your stuff - it just so happens other folks can get a gander.
And a word about Luana Ander's work - she's listed in my top 8 - she passed away 10 years ago - but I put up two flix we did - "Clones at Greaser's Palace" where she plays all the parts - it's a student film I did while at USC - Luana was in over 300 t.v. shows and 30 feature films - she's no longer on the planet, but you can visit her memorial page at www.luanaanders.com - anyways, I think there might be another one on there, I forget. But she's the real deal. Enjoy.
RM