RAKUSU

Yin and yang. Washing, drying, and ironing fabrics for my upcoming sewing project.

THE ODYSSEY

The Odyssey (2026) directed by Christopher Nolan. I really wanted to like this, but I found it corny and preachy. Plus, Nolan's wish to make a "more realistic" Odyssey (whatever that means) waters down the mythological and magical elements of much of the story. We also spend too much time in texts other than The Odyssey—Homer's Iliad, Virgil's Aeneid, the plays of the Oresteia (choose your playwright).

Scenes on the various islands on Odysseus's journey back home are fragmentary and neutered of much of their power. The various monsters lack any real monstrousness, and barely appear on screen. Then we get long and boring stretches in the palace with Penelope and the suitors.

And don't get me started on the fight scenes, which feel overly chaotic and strangely shot. Plus the sound design of them was overly loud, filled with reverb and feedback. No thanks.

Polyphemus the Cyclops has some interesting facial design, but then he posed in imitation of Goya's (circa 1823) "black painting" Saturn Devouring His Children while eating one of the men traveling with Odysseus, which I found pretentious.

I also don't know what was going on with the character of Agamemnon. He doesn't really speak. He's just a giant suit of glossy black armor with gold vertebrae on the back of the helmet. Is he supposed to be another monster? A symbol of death?

All in all, this film feels unbalanced to me. It's 2½ hour running time weighed upon me, and toward the end I wished it would just conclude.

Meh.

Watched on the big screen at Regal Cinemas.

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I seriously hope that someone will make a version of The Odyssey filmed in the animated style of Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018) and live into the gods and monsters of Homer's epic poem.

ROBE of LIBERATION

"Robe of Liberation," book binding twine, permanent marker, and Montana BLACK spray paint on cardboard. 

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A record of my rakusu journey.

I purchased the fabric to start making and sewing my rakusu. This is going to be a months-long project, but the first "baby" steps have been taken.

HAMNET

Hamnet (2025) directed by Chloé Zhao. We move through the seasons of a family's life—from the vibrancy of spring and romantic love through the summer of a house filled with children into an autumn of plague, pestilence, and death and into the muted colors of winter of grieving. Emotions mirror the cinematic colors that adorn the screen. A punch of red drains into dull browns. The climax of the film takes place at the initial showing of Hamlet in the Globe Theatre, and is imbued with the gravity of life and death—the landscape of one family writ large and universal. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal carry us along through their lives with a bittersweetness that reads as true, before visiting (a new) spring again. Highly recommended.

Streamed on Netflix.

LINEAGE

"Lineage," art marker and signature stamp on Montana BLACK spray paint on found cardboard.

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As part of my Buddhist journey toward possibly receiving the bodhisattva precepts, I'm capturing it in art. (I'm required to capture it in writing.)

This is an abstract representation of the lineage chart of buddhas and ancestors, with me at the bottom. My Troy chop mark peeks out of the spray paint haze, indistinct, which I really like.

I think my Mom's Feast Day, and reflecting on my personal lineage, helped solidify concepts that were bouncing around in my head for some time.

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lineage— 

winding blood dragon 

Buddha moon

SANDY FEST 9

Today is the ninth anniversary of my Mother's death, her Feast Day. Or, as I like to call it, Sandy Fest.

For number 9, I didn't originally have any art planned, but then an Instagram post that appeared in my feed provided inspiration. Modeling clay meets headstone. Modeling clay meets stamp pad. Modeling clay meets notecard. Modeling clay gets squished back to how it started. Repeat.

"Swim Free 2026" uses a tulip from a grave marker to serve as an octopus.

Mom, may you continue to rest in peace, as well as in God's embrace.

LONGLEGS

Longlegs (2024) directed by Osgood Perkins. I'm not quite sure what to think about this psychological horror film. It's a little bit Twin Peaks, a little bit Silence of the Lambs, a little bit 7even. It borrows some Annabelle and some Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In the midst of this are two stellar performances—"flat of all affect" (but we learn why) FBI agent Lee Barker, played by Maika Monroe; and the all-out "off his rocker" eponymous Longlegs, played by Nicholas Cage. The film takes place in 1990s semirural Oregon, and is beautifully captured on film in blues and ambers.

Kids, don't talk to strangers!

Streaming on Hulu.

THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION

The Freeze-Frame Revolution (2018) by Peter Watts. This novella is told from the perspective of Sunday, a young woman who has been genetically-engineered to serve on an asteroid-ship as it circles the galaxy building wormhole gates for the rest of humanity to use as they navigate the universe. Most of the builds are completed by the mission's artificial intelligence, Chimp. Humans are necessary on certain builds, though, so various mission members are thawed out for a few days or few weeks, complete their tasks, and then head back to cryogenic slumber. They've been functioning this way for about 65 million years, when a revolution takes place amongst the human crew, hoping to release themselves from the bonds of serving Chimp. I found the story strange and compelling. I don't think I completely understand the "hard" science fiction, but I don't need to entirely comprehend the (quantum) mechanics to enjoy the narrative. Recommended.

There are also (currently) seven related short stories on Watts's website. They comprise his Sunflower cycle of stories.

Checked out from the Puyallup Public Library.

GLOSS

I am studying the sixteen bodhisattva precepts.

In the program in which I'm enrolled, we have to write glosses on each of the precepts. "[P]ut your reflections into a gloss, usually a paragraph on each precept, though it can become a creative project, as well." So I created "dharma gates" to represent each of the precepts. 

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The Three Treasures are in blue. The Three Tenets (Pure Precepts) are in red. The Ten Mindfulness Practices are in yellow.

Marks-A-Lot permanent marker on Montana Black spray paint on cardboard. Japanese kanji on labels.

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Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to master them.

Dharmas are boundless; I vow to comprehend them.

Reality is boundless; I vow to perceive it.

 
The third of the four Bodhisattva/All-Embracing Vows, in three translations/expressions: (1) Sonoma Mountain Zen Center; (2) Kazuaki Tanahashi; (3) Upaya Zen Center.

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I don't regard my life
as insufficient.
Inside the brushwood gate
there is a moon;
there are flowers.
 
—the poet Ryōkan, translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi

LOVING VINCENT

Loving Vincent (2017) directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. Imagine the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh meet Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly (2006). The film was shot with live actors against a green screen, then the resulting film was projected onto canvases and painted in oil paints, in the style of Van Gogh, by more than 100 artists. Then the paintings were filmed again (maybe?) and rotoscoped and whatnot. Anyway, it's a visually stunning and wild animated film that took six years to make. It wrestles with the notion of identity and the truth (or truths) surrounding Van Gogh's attempted suicide by gunshot (or was it murder?) that was indeed fatal two days later. Is the story accurate and strictly biographical? No and no, but the speculation and competing truths is what lends the film some of its gravitas. Recommended.

Streaming on Netflix.