Where are the blogs?

Enjoying my coffee, looking to read some blogs!!!! Yet, there is only one new one. :(

Apocalypto and the World View of Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson ably helms Apocalytpto, it looks like a Hollywood action movie, albeit an unlikely one-- the cast is composed entirely of Mesoamericans who speak an ancient South American Indian tongue. The production design is beautiful, outrageous even, to think that hundreds of extras were costumed and made up each and every day in complex arrays of clothing, tattoos, scarification, elaborate hairdos and prosthetics for extended pierced earlobes, et al.

The story is serviceable if somewhat undeveloped--after his village is attacked and it's residents hauled away for slavery or sacrifice, Jaguar Paw must break his bounds to return to his beloved pregnant wife and child who he stashed away in a deep pit to avoid the assailants. Without him to pull them from the depths, they are bound for starvation.

The story has exciting moments and wondrous set pieces, but the whole time as I watched I couldn't help but think about the onscreen quote from historian Will Durant which opened the film: "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within." It seems as though writer/director Gibson had a political message-- the sins of Mayan civilization brought about it's own end, the conquering by Europeans was a mere afterthought. In a sequence when Jaguar Paw and his fellow townsfolk are brought through the city, they are bewildered by the sights that lay before them--pyramids, royalty, riches beyond compare. These forest dwellers and hunters have no meaning to the expanding and gluttonous society before them, they serve only as sacrificial fodder for the gods. Their sacrificial blood may well as be a jug of water spilled to the royalty before them.

Knowing director Gibson's leanings, one must wonder if he believed the sins of the Mayan people were so serious that they deserved extinction at the hands of the invading Europeans. We can never know without him offering the information, but surely a complex figure like Gibson will add meaning "between the lines" even if he doesn't intend to. Whether he likes it or not Mel Gibson's personal life comes into play once that camera starts rolling, even if he happens to be sitting behind it.

Hey everyone, here is a link to my real blog.

They just have me listed as "Mark."

http://www.acefest.com/blog/2010/be-careful-what-you-wish-for-you-just-might-get-it-part-1/

And another--

http://www.acefest.com/blog/2010/save-some-of-your-budget-for-post/

Apocalypse Now

"Apocalypse Now." Best movie ever? I like it more and more every time I watch it.