The Dude Who Abides

    The Big Lebowski, labeled a cult classic, is a comedy crime film written and directed by the Coen Brothers team.

    The film centers around a character known as The Dude. The Dude doesn't do much. When police ask him what he does for a living he responds that he's currently unemployed. He mostly lays in the bath tub and gets high. And he goes bowling.

 Jeff Bridges' character, who gets confused with a businessman also named Lebowski, is given a desire. He wants to fix his rug. It's one little want. It's one little need. The Dude is mostly propelled through the movie by the plans and schemes from business men to nihilist. But the promise of the rug, the one that pulled the room together, that keeps The Dude moving. It's relatable. Viewers are lazy. We don't want to do things.

    I added The Big Lebowski to my lookbook for a few different reasons. Firstly I love Roger Deakins and think he creates beautiful images out of simple character placements. Secondly, The Dude doesn't do a whole lot. Rather, like Andrew, things are mostly done to him. And for whatever reason this tires him out. Even though he's along for the ride he hates the journey. 

     Plus the Dude learns from his surroundings. He repeats the things other characters say. And he the solution to his problems come in a drug laced dreamed sequence. Which is an effective form of visual storytelling.

The Big Lebowski is a cult classic because each time you watch it there's a new joke. The high stakes create a lot of tension and juxtaposition of the calmness that often follows. The Coen Brothers show us a dramatic money hand off that failed. They ostensibly cut from John Goodman jumping out of a moving car to Steve Buscemi bowling. The Dude's enemies include nihilists and Jesus the bowler. The movie sets up and deceives are expectations, the hallmark of comedy.

    The Big Lebowski is about a man just trying to get vengeance for his rug. He's The Dude.

Firefly

Generally when you hear somethings been verified by the acquaintance of a friend you're not exactly willing to believe that the information is true. In this case I was told that John Whedon's TV series "Firefly", was something worth taking a look at. I'm happy to say that once curiosity gnawed at me long enough and I finally watched an episode or two,  I found "Firefly" to actually be pretty interesting.

Basically it seems to be a space western series in the far future. The main plot revolves around the crew of the Firefly Class ship Serenity, their lives as smugglers on the edge of known space and how they interact with each other. There's also this odd mix of Eastern and Western Culture (using chop sticks, knives, and forks to eat, mixing of the English and Chinese languages, ect) that can be  really fascinating to anyone who likes to people watch.

 So far this series seems to be really interesting, but it did have some problems in the beginning. The opening scene to this series seems to be a battle, which doesn't really go anywhere. Another  downside is that it seems that this show was never really finished. "Firefly" first aired in September 2002 and was canceled in December of the same year after airing only eleven episodes out of fourteen.

Despite how short this series seems to be, I look forward to watching more of it.