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My sister Anna was kind enough to take these pictures on our second day of shooting...

There's a great new service called Finetune that allows you to create your own playlists and embed them on your blog or Myspace. Check out my current playlist in the sidebar (yes, it's pretty eclectic).

Production began a couple weeks ago on a short I am directing called "Relapse". Here are some pics:

For those of you who were enraptured, as I was, by Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth", it was a special day on Tuesday, because the film was released on DVD in a two-disc set. Del Toro always provides engaging (and often academic) features on his DVDs (the Director's Cut of "Hellboy" comes to mind) and this set is no exception.

After watching the film the other night with some friends, a debate immediately broke out concerning the fantasy world of the film. My friends seemed adamant that the fantasy world is simply a figment of the young heroine's imagination - a way to escape the horrors of the real world. This, of course, must be the only explanation. That is, unless the world of fauns, labyrinths, and fairies is just as real as the world of Spain in 1944. It is a depressing reality that in this day in age we have become so skeptical that we question fantasy itself. We are obsessed with explanations and have lost the ability to believe in the undefinable and the unexplained.

There is a key moment late in "Pan's Labyrinth" when the villain, Captain Vidal, corners Ofelia, who is talking with the faun. To Vidal, it looks as if Ofelia is speaking into thin air. I suppose this is the moment on which the skepticists base their argument, but I would argue another point: Vidal cannot see the faun because he is blinded by his worldview. Ofelia, in her innocence, cannot help but see it.

If the world of fantasy is not real, if Ofelia is not the Princess Moanna, if she is not resurrected in the underworld, then the film is just another tragic look at the horrors of war. I do not believe this was Del Toro's intention.

Remember, to enter the kingdom of heaven, we have to become like children. It takes the simple faith of a child to unlock true reality, just as Ofelia's innocence gives her the eyes to see that which is hidden from those around her. Just as the spiritual realm is more real than the "real" world, the world of the Labyrinth and the underworld is more real than the world of Captain Vidal and the Spanish Civil War.













And yet the faun's world is not without its horrors. Consider a scene where Ofelia encounters the Pale Man, a gangly creature with eyes on his hands who feasts upon infants. The alternate universe, like the spiritual realm of angels and demons, is no less trecherous than our own, but it is more rich, more diverse, and more real.

If you haven't experienced "Pan's Labyrinth" yet, I highly recommend it. Though not for the faint of heart (see below), it is an engaging and rewarding journey. Just be prepared to believe...

NOTE: As for the violence in the film, which is cruel and unforgiving, there is purpose. Fairy tales are, at their essence, a contrast of the darkest of the dark and the lightest of the light. "Pan's Labyrinth" is no exception.

"Although few will listen to or credit this, I think we are in a lost age, in which holiness and charity have been traded for the victory and penetration of knowledge, though all the knowledge in the world has not brought us any further than where we can go without it even in the outermost halls of grace. I believe that more is to be known and apprehended from the beauty of a face than in delving, no matter how deep, simply into how things work, no matter how marvelous that may be. The greatest substance of the world is immaterial, the province of the heart, and its study cannot be forced or reasoned. Merely to touch upon the edge of things in parsing their mechanics is to forswear their fullness, for the entry to this fullness lies not in science but in art. I cannot prove this, for it cannot be proven, but I claim, assert, and have seen it." -THE PACIFIC & OTHER STORIES

"When I first came to the capital, I worked at building houses and discovered something sad and true. I learned that houses are delicate frames that hold people only tenuously, that walls and floors are made of weak pieces weakly stitched together, that they are broken apart by rain and snow, by gravity, and the movement of the earth. I learned that they go quickly in fire, and that windows shatter in a storm and doors are broken by enemies and those who are angry. I learned that there is no safety and no shelter in anything we build or do, that the safest and most sheltering place is in the open, in what we call forever." -THE VEIL OF SNOWS

This update of "Rear Window" is the most fun I've had at the movies in a long time. It's funny, it's creepy, it hits all the right notes. And Shia LaBeouf makes you believe it every step of the way. The kid's a star, people. Go see the movie.

If you haven't caught "The Black Donnellys" on NBC yet, make sure to do so. Created by Paul Haggis (of "Million Dollar Baby" and "Crash" fame), this gritty New York drama is one of the best shows on TV. Unfortunately, the ratings aren't looking so good. So do yourself (and the Donnellys) a favor and tune in next Monday. In the meantime, check out the pilot on iTunes (it's a free download).