Row, Row, Row Your Boat....

I've always been fascinated by rain, especially a nice, comfortable patter of rain. So when it rained today (it's still raining as I write this), I went out to the patio and watched the garden.

I looked down at some flower pots and it reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is one of my all-time favorite films. There's a scene in the movie where Joel (Jim Carrey) is trying to recall his childhood and then it flashes to a kid taking shelter under a roof as it rains. And the gentle melody of 'row row row your boat....' lulls the audience to reminisce.

FANTASTIC film! And it does what all great movies do - they speak to you. I had gone through a painful breakup a year earlier. It wasn't a bad relationship or anything like that. It's just the separation of someone you're close to can be quite painful. I thought about writing a novel that deals with two former lovers, set in the future, who had their memories erased and somehow find each other again. Would they remember each other? Would the attraction still be the same?

Then I saw the trailer for a strange movie that was about to come out called "Eternal Sunshine". And the trailer blew my mind. Immediately I thought: I HAVE TO SEE THIS FILM.

So I went opening day and proceeded to have one of the greatest cinema experiences of my life. At the end of the film, no one moved. Credits rolled and we all sat there in amazement. It's only when the credits were about to end then some people got up and walked out.

Things that inspire me: Eternal Sunshine is definitely one of them. I knew it was an instant classic the moment I saw it.

And the score is simply brilliant. ESSENTIAL listening, even to this day. I still use it to write.

So I leave you with this great video by Marcel Ramos:

Jon Brion - Phone Call (video)

and my favorite song in the entire soundtrack.

Jon Brion - Elephant Parade

P.S. It humors me when people act like Jay Electronica was so revolutionary for rhyming over an Eternal Sunshine loop. This is not to discredit the man's craft. I told friends of mine (especially the musically inclined) FOR YEARS to sample the soundtrack and do a nice little rhyme on it. But nobody listened. Then Electronica did it and people were amazed. So is life.