Last night on a whim, and after a day of staring at [a] computer screen(s), I went to the last showing of the Science of Sleep at my local indie movie theatre. I half-heartedly tried to find someone to go with me, but sometimes I really like going to see movies by myself, especially when I’m feeling a little bit lonely and want to intensify the feeling. It was a good movie to see alone, and it was a great movie, period.

I think that when Michel Gondry’s last movie came out Ward and I gushed about it in an audio journal (a “podcast” for those of you that don’t remember that such things existed before they had a trendy name). “Spotless Mind” was a fantastic movie, on many accounts: it proved that Jim Carrey is a decent actor, it proved that Gondry could direct something besides amazing music videos, and “Kate Winslet”. I have since seen the movie many times, and still think that it’s fantastic. But I have to say that his new movie, the Science of Sleep, by being a little bit lighter in tone, might even be a better one. I’m not a movie reviewer, but I do love a film that refuses to let you be distracted by any world beyond the one it is creating for you. This film is completely captivating.

I’m currently going through a period where I believe that every movie I see, every book I read, every song I hear has been written for me. I know this isn’t true; I’m just in an over-analytical phase of creative input collecting… but this movie really did strike a chord with me. Some moments were so close to my life I gasped out loud, which could be embarrassing when you’re sitting by yourself in a movie theatre, but again, I was too captivated to care. I think that this is a mark of a good piece of art; it’s one thing to be able to create work that is inventive and beautiful, but another to truly serve as a mirror to life itself. I want to create art like this… I haven’t gotten there, but there’s time yet. Until then I am so happy to be inspired by films like the Science of Sleep.

And while you’re in a creative input gathering mode, Beck’s new album is pretty top notch.