A Search For A Topic

The ole ipod is pumping out the soundtrack scores this week. Michael Andrews's Manipulated Living makes three out four, and also proves to be the trickiest to write about. I'm not really sure what I want to focus on here. While I think Donnie Darko is a brilliant film I'm not sure if that's what I want to talk about. I could go on about the score to the film but it's really not the greatest. I ordered the double CD version of the Donnie Darko soundtrack  off of Amazon (couldn't find it anywhere else) because the first disc had Inxs, Tears for Fears, Echo and the Bunnymen, and The Church. These were the songs that stood out for me, not the score. While I like what Michael Andrews does with it, it's not something I put on to listen to on a regular basis, actually I hardly ever listen to it. I have used some of it for my zombie apocalypse playlist (World War Z) but outside of that it really doesn't get much play time. Most of the tracks are a minute and half and don't really carry a whole lot of substance. It's very moody and some of it makes you think of the scenes from the movie but not enough for me to love the score. It's not going to get the type of play that the Braveheart soundtrack is going to get. So what to talk about today? Maybe I should ask Frank the Bunny? Frank what do you think?

 

Time travel? Hmmmm. I don't know Frank that could lead to long winded rants that result in bloody noses, loss of memory, the altering of time, or insert your favorite time travel problem here. I guess it's relevant because Donnie Darko is a movie about time travel and choice. When the main character has knowledge of how the future is going to pan out and has the choice to go back in time to fix that or to let things stay as they are is the bread and butter of a good time travel yarn. For example would I go back in time to the point where I put Manipulated Living on my ipod and stop myself because I know that one day I'll have to try and write something about it? Is this really what I would use my time traveling abilities for? God I hope not.

Frank I suppose I can discuss awesome things that involve time travel for my fellow Shufflers. Like how the Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger is an incredible novel as well as one of my all time favorites. It's filled with amazing character development, a believable relationship that sits at the core of the story, easy flowing pros, and a story that just grabs a hold of you from the get go. I'm not ashamed to admit that it moved me and I even shed some tears. There is something beautiful about this love story, and I look forward to reading it again. I did avoid the movie like the plague though. Didn't agree with the casting and thought they'd ruin the plot and make it something cheap. I figured the whole meaning would get lost in translation, which I'm sure it did seeing that their Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/ for all your movie needs) rating was a 38% (sigh).

Or I could dig in my own back yard and talk about Long Island's own Montauk Project. What's that you ask? Well it's this supposed military base out in Montauk (hence the name) where the military is believed to have conducted time travel experiments. Through the use of water and boats the military tried countless times to try and travel back in time before being "shut down". The base which is supposed to be abandoned still has a military presence and arrests are made for people who trespass. It's a fascinating story and some believe that experiments are still being conducted (why else would there still be military presence?). I've always wanted to try and get to the base and walk around to see with my own two eyes what the deal is. I've actually used the Montauk Project as the basis for a zombie story. Maybe I'll share that with you sometime. For more info check out the Wikipedia page here, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Project), because if it's on Wikipedia it has to be true.

Lost and most recently Fringe have all delved into time travel helping to expand their stories. Although I find that time travel scares a large number of viewers away because it can become very confusing. I on the other hand I really enjoy it. I think it's a good tool to use to further expand the universe of your story or the mythology. For example Event X takes place with Character A and Character B but Character C travels back in time to witness Event X and Characters A and B have no idea. Character C is better off for experiencing Event X and his/her character goes through some sort of growth. Stuff like that gives me the chills. But I hate it when writers use time travel as a band-aid to correct some lingering story issue. Don't use time travel to go back in time and resurrect a character that you never should have killed any way or to push the story in a different direction disregarding all the other story plots and loose ends. That's lame and I boo you for it. Again though I'm not really sure if this is where I want to focus my energy today.

Frank I'm running out of ideas. Any other suggestions for me?

Rabbits? I don't know Frank, rabbits are freakin' scary. Didn't you see Watership Down? Those cracked out bunnies are nowhere near adorable. Red eyes, murder, the accents it's actually  enough to turn someone off to bunnies in general.

Oh well. I suppose I have to hope that our next song has a little more substance to it. Now that I think of it though if I was going to time travel for the sake of music I'd go see The Beatles rooftop concert, save John Lennon's life, go to a  Bob Marley show in Jamaica, and see Johnny Cash play Folsom Prison. I think that would be some very good use of my time traveling abilities.