.:. Maya Deren .:.

Yesterday I went over to Missy's house. Missy is a friend that I've only recently really gotten to know. She is easy to carry a conversation with and very polite in manner. She used to date my good friend Ben Norskov and then something happened. There is always a point in a relationship where you either break up or get married and I guess their relationship didn't weather it. Missy likes darker more distinguished colors and always has had a fashion flare. Over a cup of warm Matte at Yellow Deli she revealed to me her secret dream of working in fashion and fashion designing. Of course, with my love of impossible dreams and the attempting of them, I encouraged her to team up with local fashion gurus and start collaborating and do what she wants. Currently she works at Bananna Republic, which, while fashion related is more sale oriented. Although, she does get a great discount, if anyone wants the hook ups. She lives diagonally from my old house on Sandy Trl. Her house is pretty much the mirror image of our old house's layout, opening onto a living room, kitchen spread and then continuing down a short hallway to two bedrooms and a bathroom. She lives with he bubbly sister Kelly, who is always laughing.

It was a big get together to feast on curry and catch up with everyone's lives. A good portion of all my old friends, that I hardly get to see any more where all crowded around laughing, talking. 

This was a great contrast to when I went home. Our home was quiet and empty, save my housemate, Jodi. When I got there my excitement threw me around the house. Putting some tater tots in the oven and popping my netflix, Short Experimental Films by Maya Deren, in the DVD player. Jodi tried her best but soon went to bed. I sat on the couch transfixed by the images. I suddenly realize that, again, I was all alone. No one wanted to watch Maya Deren with me, but for some reason that thrilled me and filled my soul instead of leaving me empty. I sat like a stone satisfied in this glorious moment, when I was doing what made me happy and I was exploring something new. Most of the films were silent. The images danced across the screen but the air became thick and tense. 

Maya Deren, is great with images, but some of her ideas confuse me. The plot lines of her films seem to be leading you somewhere but then end unsatisfactorily, in a way that you can't quite grasp. The imagery is really good though. The use of the camera to fool your eye, to clue you into her reality, is fascinating. She also plays heavily on juxtaposition, and making her thought evident by how she composes two images next to each other. One wonders how the other players in her films felt. This material was not common place in the middle 1940's and her actors probably had to trust a lot in her vision and the meaning she found behind them. Inspiration and ideas for my filmmaking endeavors.