dark days & candy

Yesterday I rode up to Tilden Park and hiked a little, then stopped in Berkeley for a veggie burrito and caught the new documentary Dark Days. It's an interesting movie about "homeless" people in New York who built a city along undergound railway tunnels using products discarded by the topsiders. They had tapped into the power lines for electricity, it was impressive.

Afterwards I went to a freaky play about serial murderesses at Venue 9, then I hit Cafe Prague in hopes of catching some jazz, but there was no band so after a cup of Mocha I wandered around North Beach, finally settling into some yuppie joint with a septugenarian Big Band-ish quintet.

Walking back to my bike I heard someone shout my name out of a car window, turned out it was Uriah who had just left a jazz gig at someplace called Shanghai Something. Said he was playing again tonight, I might go check it out if I can find it.

By the way, that movie I saw last week at the Werepad was the best one I'd seen there. Check it out sometime, it's called Candy and is a free love parody of Candide. Awesome cast: Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau (both younger and hornier than you might know them as).

Note: this post was originally on blogger.com

Comments

[Jimmy]

I read the info description concerning this film on my cable-tv romote. From start to finish, I didn't move until after the interview was over with Marc Singer. This film blew my mind. I felt very connected to the people living in the tunnels, and found such reflection into my own experiences, my own fears. The undeniable truth is that we are all faced with this possibility. It is easier to disregard the homeless population, to hurry home after an 8-hour work day, a few espresso-based coffee drinks, and the local newspaper, than to face the scarey truth/reality that living on the street is, in fact, a very real possibility. The film shows a man in his 30's who had been married, and had a daughter, a home, a job, reduced- to making a home for himself underground. It is stunning, it shakes the core of a comfortable living room "reality". Nothing is secure, change is always possible. It is a remarkable film, one that touched me beyond description. Words fail to describle what magic- pain, shock, anger,frustration and hope await in this film. Sometimes we are given the opportunity to see what life is like for someone else that we would ordinarily be completely seperated from. This film brings worlds together, and the collision echos: We are all connected no matter what house we do or do not have. We all have hope, heartbreak, loss, and tenderness- our qualities that link us defy a house and we find a "home" in one another, ultimately.