"Ain't Burned All The Bright"

Twenty Twenty was not an easy year to love…but it was pivotal. A year marred with the threat, shut-downs and reality of Covid-19, the particular murder of one George Floyd and the storming of the US Capitol in an attempted Coup d'état to name a few dilemmas.  Anxiety was hallmark and in many way no real end in sight of the near future.  A newly released young adult fiction  “Ain’t Burned All The Bright” attempts to give it a different texture, tone and perspective. It is the seminal words of Jason Reynolds and groundbreaking pictures of Jason Griffin that succeeds in unusual and excellent form.  It is much, much more than good. It thrives and refreshes in a grand fashion.

The book is in many ways an attempt at understanding events that we try to come to terms and understanding of within ourselves and through the media. Their obsessive fascination with the horrors of contemporary life along with our own as viewed within our households and with our families.  The words and images of “Ain’t Burned All The Bright” flow in a clarity much like the drum beat of a Jack DeJohnette solo using just snare and a single cymbal. Steady, rhythmic and consistent with the occasional perfectly placed accent.  This flow while steady and paced is one of focused interest and a delight in it’s unfolding narration.

                                                                                                  

And I'm sitting here wondering why my mother wont chance the channel

       and why the news won't change the story and why the story won't change into something new

                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                      

or the way we treat the world

 

 

or the way we treat each other

“Ain’t Burned All The Bright” is from the collective efforts of two of today’s brightest young stars. They have individually and collectively received much praise, commissions, accolades and successes including; New York Times Best Sellers, NAACP Image Awards, residencies and world-wide exhibitions. 

                                                                                                       

 The two Jason’s met and bonded while in college and since have become brothers in creativity and spirit. They have collaborated once before on another young adult novel. It has been very well received effort; “My Name Is Jason Mine Too.”  

We can; at this point, hope to see more collaborations and successes between and for the remarkable two Jasons. 

                                        Jason Reynolds          &          Jason Griffin 

                                   jasonwritesbooks.com                jasondouglasgriffin.com

Ridley Scott's Original "BLADE RUNNER"

Elegant within it’s cyber punk, dystopian madness “Blade Runner” stands momentously as a cinematic mild stone, a classic that continues to delight, bewilder, beguile and intrigue. You’re right; I am a fan. Former art director Ridley Scott set out to create something marvelous. He achieved just that as he eclipsed his himself and his magnificent crew’s original daring visions. Together they discovered (created) that rare wonder; a masterpiece of cinema and in that including of all of art and creativity.

The film as a whole is purely a visual splendor. Every performance to note from Harrison Ford to Sean Young to Rutger Hauer to Edward James Olmos to Daryl Hannah and M. Emmet Walsh is pitch perfect, nuanced and individually unique. The score is rich, enchanting, futuristic and reflective of an earlier form; the film noir. This atmospheric, dark, foggy acid rain refracting look is hypnotic and equally contributing to the film’s narrative. Former Police Officer/Blade Runner Rick Deckard must hunt down and “retire a group of super sophisticated, self-aware renegade androids (Replicants) and “retire” them.

The inspiration and basis of the film is the Phillip K. Dick Sci-Fi novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” It is a well-executed and provocative work that bears almost no resemblance to Scott’s film. I am guessing that it was Scott’s intention to do so.   

The film was not originally a huge hit. It was far too radical, distinctive and for all general purposes dark for that. How many times does the general public adapt and gravitate to the new and daring? It is an even rarer thing and in many ways a compliment to go unnoticed and unheralded at first encounter. I saw it at least four times in 1982 the summer of it’s release. Imagine too; that the lead, Harrison Ford was not a star in his own right at the time. He had appeared in “Star Wars” in 1977 a few years before but it was “Blade Runner” that established his remarkable and unique super stardom along with years of long and continuing acting successes.  

The iconic Poster (Left) features Deckard and Rachel above the aerial view of the fabled acid rain drenched city of the then future (2019) Los Angelos. Original versions of the poster retail for as much as $2,000.

Much of the visuals and themes of “Blade Runner” are influenced by the look of Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis.” It is a fitting homage of sorts to Lang’s film. It is also truly in the same vein of the H.G. Wells book “The Shape of Things to Come.” 

The film has gone through a number of rereleases and subsequent director’s cuts. It is the original 1982 release with the matter of fact and often nuanced voice over by Deckard (Harrison Ford) that was the most striking and entertaining incarnation that I most completely enjoyed. The eloquent and somewhat world weary voice added the right touch with the “film noir” over tones and feel of the production.

 As of date the seminal “Blade Runner” is without equal or legitimate successor. The film does create many questions in plot and purpose. One major question concerns who and what Deccard himself might actually be. The original cut of the movie alluded to in several instances and tone to the possibility of the Deckard character being himself a replicant. The final director’s cut of the film (2007) attempts to clear up the discrepancies. A dream sequence featuring a startled and running unicorn is held by Deckard in his sleep. The dream along with a strategically placed origami unicorn by the Gaff character late in the film serves as an explanation of sorts. The inference is that Gaff is privy to Deckard’s programmed and implanted dreams. This can be interpreted as a true explanation or the subject for more confusion; the debate continues.The mostly unsuccessful and lackluster sequel “Blade Runner 2049” attempts to expand, to enhance and explain other elements of the original film; the attempt was futile. In my imagination there was no need for a sequel or expansion and it falls far short of the original. Many, many films need no sequel and the attempt to extend their narratives are hackneyed, lackluster attempts at best but well the subjects for further debate. 

VIDEO

 Animation Depicting Events Between Original Film and "Blade Runner 2049"

Another superb outing for director Scott was the “1984” titled commercial for the Apple PC that aired during the 1984 Super bowl. The commercial is a response to the George Orwell novel. It is considered by many aficionados and experts to be one of the greatest commercials of stated history.  See it here as originally and nationally viewed in January of said year.  

Until and if ever eclipsed Scott remains the pre-eminent and unchallenged champion of the cyber punk, the fantastic world of film experimentation and it’s successful execution!

Who's Watching???

A young child sits in a darkened movie theater enthralled; viewing a black and white silent film. This; as a young woman plays the music score on piano, apparently agonized and anguished for some as yet unknown reason. The film is of a masked heroic figure pursuing an apparent villain, both on horseback, in some epic of the American Old West. The scene is reminiscent of the sepia toned opening of the classic “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.” Both woman and child are African-American. The scenario is about to drastically change as gunfire, aerial bombs and shouts of horror, pain and insults engulf innocents on the streets outside of a once peaceful, almost idyllic town.  This jarring opening is based on the real life “Black Wall St. Massacre” in Tulsa Oklahoma’s Greenwood District in 1921. 

We fast forward to modern times and almost everybody is masked. Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Who and what was the cause of the aforementioned carnage? Why is shrimp/sushi raining from the sky? These are the overriding questions of the premier episode of “Watchmen?” Questions that essentially remain unanswered well into viewing subsequent episodes of the new HBO television series and sequel to the brilliant graphic novel “Watchmen.” 

Originally published in standard monthly comic book installments “Watchmen” was later collected in its entirety and released for readers in the nineteen eighties. It was created by artist Dave Gibbons and writer Alan Moore. It has been much lauded and revered over the years; even chosen by Time Magazine for the top 100 novels released within the years of the magazines conception. “Watchmen” exists in an alternative universe and like every good comic book world there are visions of the fantastic, the futuristic and humor along with ample doses of hysteria and dystopia. 

This satisfying T.V. series by design is complete as a story unit and by decision of creator Damon Lindelof feels like there is no necessity for any further episodes; although someone in the future might have ideas for additional stories. Damon Lindelof has done a brilliant job of production, narrative, and received phenomenal performances from a cast of extremely gifted actors of passionate professional skills and inspiration. Regina King, Don Johnson, Lou Gossett Jr., Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Jeremy Irons, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Hong Chau all starring and feature in illuminating ways.   

“Watchmen” is provocative, disturbing, eye-popping and triumphant television. Watch the compelling first of nine episodes and you will quite likely be committed to seeing it through to a conclusion both jarring and elusive.       

Bill Sienkiewicz "REVOLUTION"

 The arrival of Bill Sienkiewicz’s “Revolution” has been cause for much personal celebration and many declarations. I am a committed and constant follower and admirer of his art. I remember him from his early “Neal Adams Clone Days” and still seeing something of a potential and particular originality in what he was doing. Many comic book artists of the period were doing Adams; he was the standard of the times, so Sienkiewicz was hardly alone in following the Adams example.  At the outset Bill Sienkiewicz had the distinction of being the best of the Adams’ influenced. Even in that he stood out. He captured the broad strokes and the nuances along with the imagination and innovation that made Neal Adams famous. Bill Sienkiewicz would ultimately come into his on with a vengeance when; as he describes in “Revolution” stops attempting to emulate someone else and becomes himself. He always wanted to experiment, explore and in his own way influence the world. He has done that in many ways and in the process influenced many others as he entertains and inspires while daring to express himself in what many considered a limited medium.

                                                                                     

I more or less initially looked at this treasure of a book in two extended sessions. The opening ten pages spoke more than many enclypedic collections of other art and artists. Then I followed with the reading of the heart felt, precisely intriguing, witty and decisively cunning introduction by Neil Gaiman. The two; Gaiman and Sienkiewicz have collaborated successfully together in the past. They are equally noted for their experimental risks, daring natures and contributions as talents. That in turn was enough for me to absorb on one late evening after my copy arrived.

Returning to and then reading the informative and insightful Ben Davis essay and the compelling interview by Churl R. Kim I felt even more enamored of what could be described as the modest and uniquely American Mystique of Sienkiewicz’s persona.  Both essay and interview were further illuminated with yet more beautifully executed fine art influenced illustrations. I was in something of an intellectual and artistic bliss.

Finally I decided to take in the nearly one hundred fifty color and black & white plates of the expressive works; water-colors, acrylic, collage, mixed-medium and pen & ink works of pure genius. Here; I took a cue from Neil Gaiman. He detailed in the introduction that when working with Sienkiewicz he had taken the drawings sent to him for a Sandman story and played with them. Gaiman deviated from the sequence of his original narrative and essentially reversed and mixed the story sequence images and events. This established the need for an almost complete re-write for the material Gaiman had previously plotted. This option took him into uncharted and magnificent new places in his own uniquely personal imaginative spaces.   

I decided on following Gaiman’s lead in viewing  the remainder of the book starting from the last plate and reviewing them in reverse.  The material consisted of Jimi Hendrix, The New Mutants, Stray Toasters, Dare Devil and Elektra; along with pages from his sketch book and fine art renderings all generously offered. This came together into something thrilling, challenging, provocative and entertaining. I found myself touched and as well moved. Ultimately there was a sense of certainty and complexity; in the best way, a personal restoration of significant satisfaction. 

Bill Sienkiewicz Quotes

“I made a decision to love and respect comics as a medium. I believed it was a medium that could do anything.”

“I pursue the emotional truth of something as opposed to simply the visual truth.”

“We are all an evolving combination of all the things we experience. We are an end result of our influences, subconscious or otherwise.”

“If my work influences or touches other people scares them, makes them uncomfortable or brings them joy, it’s a method of communication.”

“At one point everything is brand new, but with time the new wave becomes the old guard.”

“Art is an ongoing and never ending process…you’re not done. You’re never done.”