Stand Up Guys by Al Pacino!

Stand Up Guys is a 2012 American crime comedy film directed by Fisher Stevens and starring Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin. The film was released in North America on February 1, 2013.

Plot

Released from prison after serving 28 years, Val (Al Pacino) reunites with his old friend and partner Doc (Christopher Walken). Doc has been ordered by crime boss Claphands (Mark Margolis) to kill Val as soon as he gets out.

One of the first things Val wants is to visit a local brothel, which is run by Wendy (Lucy Punch). After Val is unable to perform, he and Doc break into a drugstore where Val consumes a larger dose of Viagra than what is prescribed. After a return to the brothel, Val tells Doc that he's ready to party. They go to a club, where Val shares an intimate dance with a younger woman.

After snorting some pills, Val passes out, so Doc contemplates killing him then and there. Instead he takes Val to a hospital where the head nurse is Nina (Julianna Margulies), their old friend Hirsch's (Alan Arkin) daughter. After this, they go to a local diner where Val correctly guesses that Doc is to kill him. Doc says he's been given until 10AM to do the job, or else he will be killed as well.

Val breaks into a black Dodge Challenger SRT8, and they go to get Hirsch, who had once been their getaway driver. Hirsch gets behind the wheel and almost immediately into a highway chase with the police. Asked what he wants to do next, Hirsch chooses the brothel, since he hasn't slept with anyone since his wife.

After they leave, the three men hear sounds coming from the Challenger's trunk. In it, they find a naked Sylvia (Vanessa Ferlito), who was kidnapped by men who abused her, then threw her into the trunk. Sylvia tells them where the kidnappers are. Val and Doc go there, then shoot a couple of them. After tying everyone up, Sylvia comes in with a baseball bat, whereupon Doc and Val leave her to her revenge.

Back at the car, Doc and Val find that Hirsch has died. They break the news to Nina, who helps the two bury her father at the cemetery.

Doc and Val return to a diner, where the young waitress (who waits on them several times) is revealed to be Doc's granddaughter Alex (Addison Timlin), who adores Doc but has no clue who he is. Doc makes a phone call to Claphands, begging him to show Val mercy, since he has only a few years left. Claphands reveals that he knows about Alex, and that he will hurt her if Doc doesn't complete the job.

Doc writes a letter to Alex, puts his home keys inside the envelope, then pins it to the wall of the diner. Walking down the street at sunrise, Val spots a church and he goes inside to give a priest his confession. Next, they break into a tailor shop, where they try on suits. Two thugs working for Claphands interrupt them, pestering Doc to get the job done. Doc and Val shoot them both.

Alex goes to Doc's apartment. The phone rings. It's Doc and he asks what she thinks of his paintings of sunrises. When he was painting, Doc says, he was thinking of her. A shoebox in the closet is filled with cash. The rent has been paid in advance for a year. He tells Alex that he loves her and hangs up.

Strolling down to Claphands' warehouse, Doc and Val draw their pistols and open fire. They gun down the doorman. A firefight commences, during which Doc and Val kill all of Claphands' remaining men. The camera pans above the building as Claphands runs out of ammunition. The sky turns into one of Doc's sunrise paintings.

Ο υπέροχος Gatsby σε αριθμούς...;)

Παραγωγή
 
1.)    Συνολικός αριθμός μελών συνεργείου: 1,160
         Α.) Συνολικός αριθμός ατόμων συνεργείου κατασκευής σκηνικών: 229
         Β.) Συνολικός αριθμός κομπάρσων: 960
         Γ.) Αν κάθε κομπάρσος εμφανιζόταν μόνο μία φορά on camera, συνολικά, θα απαιτούνταν 7,691 άτομα
         Δ.) Μέγιστος αριθμός κομπάρσων ανά ημέρα: 245
         Ε.) Μέγιστος αριθμός κομμώσεων και μακιγιάζ ανά ημέρα, για τις σκηνές των πάρτυ: 76
2.) Συνολικός αριθμός κρυστάλλων Swarovski, χορηγία του Οίκου: 288,000
3.) Ώρες που χρειάστηκαν για να δεθούν με το χέρι οι κρύσταλλοι στον πολυέλαιο: 250
4.) Χρόνος που χρειάστηκε για να κρεμαστούν οι κρύσταλλοι στους προκατασκευασμένους σκελετούς: πάνω από 100 ώρες
 
Κοστούμια
 
1.)    Συνολικός αριθμός μελών  ενδυματολογικής ομάδας: 84
2.)    Συνολικός αριθμός μέτρων υφάσματος από το Solstiss (απλής δαντέλας, κεντητής δαντέλας και υφασμάτων): 1400
      Α.)  Συνολικός αριθμός διαφορετικών τύπων δαντέλας που αγοράστηκαν από το Solstiss: 210

1.)    Συνολικός αριθμός καλσόν/καλτσών/ζαρτιέρων από το Fogal: 1,080
2.)    Συνολικός αριθμός τουαλετών Prada: 40
3.)    Συνολικά επίσημα και καθημερινά κοστούμια για κομπάρσους από τους Brooks Bros: 2,291
      A.) Συνολικός αριθμός φράκων Brooks Brothers: 200
      B.) Συνολικός αριθμός γραβατονιών Brooks Brothers: 260
      C.) Συνολικός αριθμός τιραντών Brooks Brothers: 200
      D.) Συνολικός αριθμός κουμπιών κολάρων Brooks Brothers: 200
      E.) Συνολικός αριθμός μεταξωτών παπιγιόν Brooks Brothers: 200
      F.) Συνολικός αριθμός καθημερινών πουκαμίσων Brooks Brothers: 150
      G.) Συνολικός αριθμός επίσημων πουκαμίσων Brooks Brothers: 200
      H.) Συνολικός αριθμός κοστουμιών με γιλέκο Brooks Brothers: 55
      I.) Συνολικός αριθμός καπέλων boater Brooks Brothers: 100

(από το προσπέκτους του Village Cinemas)

Step Up 2 The Streets

What is your Character's Wish-Song? Jacob Krueger!

http://www.writeyourscreenplay.com

I recently saw a trailer for the upcoming film version of Les Miserables—a series of evocative images from the film, underscored by Fantine’s tear-inducing musical theme:  I Dreamed a Dream.

Yeah, I found myself emotionally moved by a promotional trailer.
 
But more importantly, I found myself thinking about the power of a wish-song to provide an emotional structure for your character’s journey, even if you’re not writing a musical.
 
In musicals, it’s easy to connect with a character’s wish-song, because they tend to sing it right at us:
 
In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy sings of escaping to a better place, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”
 
In Fiddler on The Roof, Tevya sings his dream of an easier life, “If I Were A Rich Man.”
 
In the prologue of Into The Woods the entire cast sings of the things they wish for “more than life… more than anything”.
 
And in the most twisted wish-song of all, Sweeney Todd and the Judge sing their dark longings for love and revenge in Pretty Women.
 
These wish-songs not only become the musical themes for these characters, they also provide a powerful drive to their journeys, and a way for the writer to attack them at their most vulnerable places.

As writers, we discover the wishes to grant our characters, and the wishes to take away, in order to force them to undergo profound changes.
 
In Dorothy’s case, she gets exactly what she wished for, only to discover that “there’s no place like home.
 
Tevya will not only lose the opportunity for an easier life, but also his daughters, his family’s traditions, and the town he calls home.
 
Each character in Into The Woods will gain and lose their one true wish.
 
And Sweeney Todd’s revenge against the Judge will ultimately cost him both his daughter and the one woman he truly loved.
 
In musicals, characters sing their wish songs in music and lyrics.  But in traditional narrative films, characters have wish songs as well.  They sing them through their actions, their interactions with other characters, the ways they pursue what they so desperately want.

Every character has a wish-song.  They just sing them in different ways.

In There Will Be Blood, Daniel Plainview “sings” his desperate wish for financial success in a silent opening sequence in which he mines first for silver and then for oil against impossible odds.
 
In The Godfather, Vito Corleone “sings” his hopes for a different life for his son Michael:  “I always thought that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the strings. Senator Corleone, Governor Corleone, something.”
 
In Black Swan, the main character “sings” her desire for perfection by destroying her white swan veneer in pursuit of the black swan underneath.
 
Even a ridiculous character like Zoolander gets a powerful wish song:  The Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.   
 
When you know your character’s wish song, you know their expectations, their dreams, their hopes, the tangible and intangible things they are pursuing.
 
That means you not only have an opportunity to dramatize their pursuit of these things, but you also have the chance to make it hurt when you take them away.

So take a moment to think about your character’s wish song.

What would they be singing if they could sing it?  And how can they sing it in your movie, through the choices they make in every scene?

By Dreamworks, "Our Culture"

Intro
At the heart of DreamWorks Animation is the desire to tell great stories and inspire audiences. Our company culture not only encourages employees to create but also to innovate and, ultimately, to have fun!

“...We have transformed over the years from hand-drawn animation to computer-generated films to being a leader in 3D entertainment. Our strategy has remained the same: to produce great stories that are creatively driven and technologically state-of-the-art. In pursuit of this goal I’m proud to say that what defines DreamWorks Animation more than anything else is the dedication and the expertise of our people.”
– Jeffrey Katzenberg

Classes
DreamWorks Animation continues to push the boundaries both creatively and technologically. To do this, we’ve created educational programs that help DreamWorkers develop existing skills and learn new ones. Classes and workshops include figure drawing, cinematography, storytelling, sculpture and more  

Dreamtalks
As we continue to strive to be at the forefront of the animation and film industry, we invite top entertainment leaders to share their experiences and thoughts. DreamTalks, a Q&A series hosted by CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, has featured guests such as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, George Lucas, and Pete Docter from Pixar. 

Moonshine
DreamWorks Animation celebrates the remarkable talent of our artists. We’ve recently released our first personal art publication, Moonshine. Conceived as an opportunity to highlight the breath of artistic talent at the studio, this one-of-a-kind publication showcases personal artwork from 50 visual development artists.

Campus
To match our creative culture, the DreamWorks Animation campus provides a comfortable and inspirational working environment. Water fountains, flowing streams and fishponds filled with koi decorate the studio. DreamWorkers can play pool in the game room, have a ping pong match outside, and visit the campus doctor or nutritionist located on-site. 

Perks
To strengthen company morale, our studio finds new ways to celebrate and acknowledge our employees. Every day DreamWorkers enjoy a free breakfast and lunch at the campus commissaries. We also provide weekly movie screenings, daily fitness classes on campus, guest lectures, art galleries and more.   

Annual Events
Every year, DreamWorkers look forward to participating in special events such as the Annual Poker Tournament, Ping Pong Tournament, our home-grown Art Festival, DreamCon, Halloween Costume Contest and Holiday Bazaar. In addition, Departmental Milestone parties, special food trucks, and mid-day ice cream breaks call special attention to our hard-working employees.  

Film Days
To celebrate our films and company milestones, DreamWorks Animation screens of each of our films for all employees and their families. CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg commemorates each film’s release with a toast, and employees enjoy themed lunches, prizes and activities for the whole day. 

Groups
At its core, DreamWorks Animation celebrates the unique personalities of our employees. We support a diverse group of employee interests on campus including the DreamWorks Triathlon Team, sports teams, volunteer groups, film club and more. 

The fairy said to us, MoonAngel is he, who collects the lost loves and keeps them to the full moon so that they come back to the lonely hearts when they look at it. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could transform our creative patterns, therefore our financial booming with state of the art, one on one pick ups and put the boot, once and for all, deep into the art and technology of filmmaking worlwide? Stay tuned for our discovery!

By Dreamworks, The Production Process!

http://www.dreamworksanimation.com

Meet Toothless, from How to Train Your Dragon.
He, and his world, were created by a team of artists using a delicate marriage between creativity and technology. Every detail, every leaf, tree, blade of grass, rock and cloud; every shadow and shaft of light; every thread of clothing and lock of hair (or fur), was imagined and brought to life by our creative teams over the four years or so that it takes to complete an animated film. So, how did we do it?

Script
Great films begin with great concepts. Some of our ideas are completely original, while some are inspired by a wide variety of sources, including children's books and comic strips. Once we've settled on an idea, the first step is to write a script. The page you see here is from an iconic scene in Kung Fu Panda 2. 

Storyboards
 Once a script page is ready, we give it to our storyboard artists. Imagining how the words will translate into actions and pictures, they make a series of sketches, a kind of comic book, to tell the story and bring it to life. Once the directors and producer approve, the drawings are digitally photographed and strung together to create what we call a story reel (imagine a flip book that lets you see how the drawings flow together). We combine that with temporary music, sound effects and dialogue, and work with the movie in this form for about 18 months.

Visual Development
 Once the story reel is underway, our visual development department begins to plan the look of the film, developing the style, tone, color and overall artistic approach to each and every sequence. Everything has to be designed, from the major characters to the smallest of props. Thousands of drawings, paintings, blueprints, sculptures and models later, our development artists have designed a fantasy world and characters to tell the story.

Stereo 3D 1
Starting with the release of Monsters versus Aliens in 2009, all feature films at DWA are produced in stereoscopic 3D. The groundbreaking experience this new visual format provides has been compared to the advent of color and then sound in cinema history. With these advanced technologies came the possibility to elevate our movie-making journey into the future and beyond. 

Stereo 3D 2
The stereoscopic filmmaking process requires changes to the traditional methods of CGI film-making, introducing exiting new technical and creative opportunities. Integrated into all aspects of the DWA pipeline from the development of story and visual style to layout to the final render, the stereoscopic process translates the creative vision of the director into an immersive visual environment. The stereoscopic process at DWA enables artists to tell stories in creative new ways through the interaction of the camera with our characters and the space around them, further engaging the audience. The studio continues to push the boundaries of stereoscopic filmmaking through the development of new technologies and techniques. 

Casting
Our storyboards are drawn, our characters and sets are designed, so now we need to find voices for our characters and start recording their lines. Casting in animation is unlike casting for live action movies. Since we create the physical characters on the computer first, we're much more concerned with what an actor sounds like than how he or she looks. In other words, we cast with our ears, not our eyes. We record the actors before we start animating. We usually videotape the actors performing their roles to help provide reference for the next phases of production. 

Modeling & Rigging
Using production designs culled down from hundreds of drawings, modelers will construct a digital model, sort of a clay model inside the computer. The modelers start with this wire frame sculpture that we call an armature, that breaks down our design into workable geometry and allows us to rig the figure, which will give the animator the ability to move our 3-D figure in whatever way is necessary to get the articulation we want. Once we've set up the armature, we can begin to add basic surfaces. It is this simplified "puppet in a box" or digital marionette that we use in our next step. 

Modeling
Modelers create the "physical" objects in the virtual world of our movies. Modeling artists digitally sculpt the characters and environments in our films by collaborating with the Art department to realize design concepts as tangible 3D forms. The modelers start with this wire frame sculpture that we call an armature, that breaks down our design into workable geometry and allows us to rig the figure, which will give the animator the ability to move our 3-D figure in whatever way is necessary to get the articulation we want. 

Rigging
After modeling and before animation comes the rigging process. Character TDs, also known as "riggers", evaluate the CG "statue" coming from the modeling department and determine how this character must move, where the bones, muscle and fat would be under their skin and how realistic or "cartoony" their actions must be in the film. Joints and various mathematical operations are then employed throughout the body, face, hair and clothing of the character to make it bend and deform like a living creature. Finally, rigging works with animation to design and build an extensive set of controls for the character so animation can pose every part of this digital puppet and bring it to life. 

Layout
Layout has two distinct parts: Rough Layout and Final Layout. In Rough Layout, artists interpret and recreate the hand drawn 2D storyboard panels in a 3D CG environment. In doing so, these artists determine the initial 3D camera placement and motion along with the first pass of character blocking and staging. Working with rough versions of the characters lighting, effects, and environments, Rough Layout creates the cinematography for the film. Once the Rough Layout has been approved by the Director, the Final Layout artists take the shots and replace the rough characters and environments with the final approved assets and provide the set dressing. This allows the Character Animators to add final performances to the shots and all remaining production processes to start. Once the shots have been animated, Final Layout applies any additional camera polishing and tweaks to account for the new performances added by the Character Animators. 

Character Animation
Once the sequence is working well in layout, the animators start bringing the characters to life in the computer. They articulate the thousands of controls that were created during the character-rigging phase to bring each character to life and to synchronize them to the voice performances. Now the characters really look like themselves, but not quite. Remember, this is just the animation; the scene isn't quite finished yet. 

Surfacing
 Coming out of modeling, characters, props and environments are flat and grey. The surfacing artists add the colors and textures to these elements, making surfaces look smooth and shiny like glass, bumpy and gritty like dirt, fuzzy and soft like wool, etc. Sometimes characters need to be customized for a specific shot, such as being made to look dripping wet or covered in mud. The surfacing department may also be called to groom hairstyles into place, grow fields of grass, or paint footprints into a snowbank. After each environment is setdressed, surfacing artists work closely with lighting to develop the final look of assets in the film.

Effects
After the camera moves have been set and the characters have been animated, the next step is effects. In a live-action film, it's easy to photograph things like leaves blowing in the wind, waves at the beach or even footprints in the sand. In computer animation, these simple things are all designed and animated by the effects artists. In other words, if it's not acting, but it moves, it's an effect. 

Lighting
Lighting artists utilize the computer to "paint" with light, bringing the final color, look, and illumination to the film. Lighting is the first time we get to see animation, surfaces, grass, trees, water, crowds and effects all working together. Lighting does this by creating illumination for the scene. It creates the mood and atmosphere to support the story. Lighting leads the viewers' eye to the critical elements of the frame so that the audience is looking exactly when and where the storyteller wants them to look. 

Sound FX 1
SOUND DESIGN
Sound designers create and record sound effects, ambience and foley to create the textures and layers of sound that enrich the story. Foley artists create sound effects that are specific to each movie, such as footsteps, clothes rustling, doors opening/closing, glass breaking, etc. 

Sound FX 2
MUSIC SCORING
The composer writes the music that heightens and enhances the story beats of the movie. The music helps the audience follow the action and emotional moments within the story.

Final Mix
ECHO
The dialogue, music and sound effects are assembled on the sound mixing stage. Audio levels, equalization, perspective and treatments (echo, TV or radio sound, public access delay) are added as tracks and mixed into the final version of the movie.  

As you can imagine, there are plenty of creative elements absorbed in their website, even though narration foreshadows lots of surprises for our stuff. Enjoy!

Is The Audience Listening to your Dialogue?

THE SOCIAL NETWORK: Is The Audience Listening To Your Dialogue?
By, Jacob Krueger 

Remember the first scene of The Social Network? Aaron Sorkin’s spitfire banter ricocheting at high velocity between Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend Erica.

The scene is so brilliantly written, you probably barely noticed that you didn’t understand half of what these characters were saying to each other!

With characters talking faster than the ear can hear or the mind can process, there’s no way an audience can keep up with Sorkin’s dialogue. Heck, even Erica keeps losing the thread of Mark’s obsessively tortuous conversation, and she’s a smart cookie.

Like Erika, you probably found yourself breathlessly “dating a stairmaster” as you tried to keep up with even half of Mark’s relentless onslaught of words.

But here’s what you probably remember:
•    Mark is mind numbingly obsessed with getting into a final club.
•    Erica desperately wants to talk about ANYTHING else.
•    These characters are both REALLY smart, but even Erika can’t keep up with Mark’s overactive mind.
•    Mark pushes things too far and Erica breaks up with him.
•    Erica furiously puts Mark in his place with this zinger: “You’re going to go through life thinking girls don’t like you because you’re a tech geek. And I want you to know…that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole”

As writers, we all love words. And nobody loves words more than Aaron Sorkin. But for all the subtle nuances of his language, Sorkin knows a secret that most young writers forget.

The Audience Isn’t Listening To Your Dialogue
 
It’s nice to think of your enraptured audience, hanging on your every word, lingering on your thematic motifs, and preparing treatises on the finer points of your arguments.

But the truth of the matter is that movie dialogue, just like real life conversation, usually happens way too quickly for that.

Audiences hear dialogue… but they pay attention to action. And that doesn’t just mean car chases and exploding buildings.

It means the things characters are doing with their dialogue: the powerful needs and dramatic conflicts between them that force them to say what they say in the way that only they could say it.

Get these underlying desires right, and you can get away with just about anything in your dialogue.

Why The Social Network Works
 
Let’s face it, if you heard a someone was planning to start a movie with an eight page conversation full of information about Harvard University final clubs, SAT scores and IQ percentages in China, you probably expected the most boring script in history.

Yet, despite the fact that the rather unlikeable main character spends the whole scene talking about stuff that most people (including his girlfriend) don’t have a shred of interest in, Sorkin’s scene is unmistakably compelling.

It’s Mark’s desperate desire to be appreciated and accepted for his superior intellect that fuels every word he utters. And ironically, it’s that same need that drives Erica away over the course of the scene. That is the drama that we are watching over these eight pages. Not the dialogue itself, but the pressure that dialogue creates between two characters who can’t get what they need from each other.

This allows the audience to connect to the story of the scene, and while we may lose some of the specific words within Sorkin’s complex verbal gymnastics, no one can escape the power of the scene, or the meaning that those words contain.

We learn that meaning not through the words themselves. But through the way those words are spoken, and the powerful needs that drive the characters to say them.

What The Heck is Dialogue Anyway?
 
Many young writers are terrified of dialogue, thinking of the character’s words as something they add to a script after they’ve figured out the story, and worrying about “getting it right” and making it sound “realistic”.

Others think of dialogue as a way of explaining things to the audience, and spend their time trying to “sneak in” exposition, without ever thinking about what their character wants, or why they are saying it in the first place.

Still, others love writing dialogue, but nevertheless find their scripts filled with “talking heads” scenes of characters sitting in a room, exchanging brilliant ideas without ever getting their stories started.

That’s why it’s so important to understand what dialogue actually is and what it does within a screenplay.

Just Another Way of Getting What You Want
 
If you want to write great dialogue, the first step is letting go of the conception that dialogue is something characters SAY to one another.

Instead, I want to encourage you to think of dialogue as something characters DO to one another.

Whether your characters are talking about a glass of milk (Quentin Tarantino’s first scene of Inglorious Basterds), or the very nature of dreams and reality (Christopher Nolan’s Inception), whether your dialogue is naturalistic as David Mamet’s (American Buffalo) or as heightened as David Milch’s (Deadwood), if the motivations underneath your dialogue are powerful enough, your audience will connect to them, and to the story of your scene.

Αρχαίο Ελληνικό Μυστηριακό Θέατρο, Εσωθέατρο

Ο συμβατικός χώρος που αποκαλείται αρχαίο ελληνικό θέατρο και η ορχήστρα του, δεν είναι τόπος προσποίησης μιας πραγματικότητας, μιας παραποιημένης αντιγραφής ζωής, αλλά ο τόπος όπου η ίδια η ζωή βρίσκει πρόσφορο έδαφος και ενσαρκώνει την «εσωτερική» αλήθεια της, θεατρική αδεία, πέρα από περιορισμούς χώρου και χρόνου. Το θέατρο μπορεί να είναι δημιουργία ανθρώπινη που πραγματεύεται πρόσωπα και τη συμβατική τους δράση στο χωρογίγνεσθαι, όμως το πνεύμα του είναι απόλυτα μεταφυσικό γιατί ξεφεύγει από τα ανθρώπινα στενά μέτρα, θεάται τους ανώτερους κόσμους και επιστρέφει πίσω στη ζωή για να δώσει με εμπιστευτικό τρόπο, τις ιδέες του Δικαίου, του Ωραίου και του Αληθινού. Αυτή είναι η φύση του θεάτρου, εκείνου που αποκαλούμε μυστηριακό, του θεάτρου εκείνου που αναδύεται από τα μυστήρια που ετελούντο στην ιερή πόλη της Ελευσίνας.
Ακολουθώντας τη φυσική διάρθρωση του Σύμπαντος, που είναι ταυτόχρονα ένα και τριπλό, το αρχαίο δράμα χωρίστηκε σε τραγωδία, σατυρικό δράμα και κωμωδία.
Στη τραγωδία, οι Θεοί και η μοίρα κατευθύνουν τους ανθρώπους και με τη σειρά τους πάλι αυτοί, καθυποτάσσονται στη Δίκη, κάτω απ’ το νόμο της οποίας κάθε δράση προκαλεί αντίδραση, σύμφωνα με τους αναπόφευκτους συμπαντικούς νόμους. Η ανεξέλεγκτη χρήση της ελευθερίας και η άλογη δράση οδηγούν στην αμαρτία της υπερβολής, στην ύβρη. Μόλις συμβεί η ύβρις, ακολουθεί η Νέμεσις. Έτσι, από τη πλοκή –που εμπλέκει όχι μόνο τους ήρωες αλλά και τους γύρω τους, ακόμα και ολόκληρη την πόλη- οδηγούμαστε στην κορύφωση, στην οριακή δηλαδή εκείνη κατάσταση όπου τα τραγικά γεγονότα έρχονται μοιραία, όμως μετά επέρχεται η λύση, η κάθαρση, η τελική λύτρωση.
Κατά τον Αριστοτέλη το τραγικό αποδίδεται σ’ αυτό το στοιχείο, που μέσα από το φόβο και το έλεος, εξαγνίζει τις ψυχές των παθόντων. Ο τραγικός φόβος, δεν είναι το αίσθημα που νιώθουμε μπροστά στη παρουσία ενός συνήθους κινδύνου αλλά η υποψία πως τα ανθρώπινα πάθη ενδέχεται να διαταράξουν την κοσμική τάξη και να διασαλέψουν την Αρμονία, με ότι αυτό συνεπάγεται.
 Η κωμωδία απ’ την άλλη, ως αντίθετος πόλος της τραγικής κατάστασης, παρουσιάζει την εξωτερική όψη της ζωής, η οποία βρίσκεται πέρα απ’ τα βάσανα που προκαλεί η ενασχόληση με την αυτογνωσία και την πνευματική άσκηση. Οι ήρωές της, ζουν στη φύση, ζυμώνονται με το χώμα της γης κι αυτή τους ανταμείβει με λογής λογής καλούδια, όπως σκόρδα,  ψωμί, κρασί και λάδι. Έτσι, ευγνώμονες γεμάτοι ευτυχία γλεντούν, μεθούν και χορεύουν ενώ οι Θεοί πάντα παρόντες, παρακολουθούν με συγκατάβαση και ανάλαφρη διάθεση.
Το μυστηριακό θέατρο μέσα απ’ τις μορφές του, προβάλλει την θέα όχι μόνο του χονδροειδούς φυσικού κόσμου αλλά και των πιο λεπτοφυών και ως εκ τούτου, έχει παιδαγωγικό χαρακτήρα. Ειδικά, η τραγωδία έχει σκοπό να παρασύρει τον θεατή μέσα στη δράση, ενσωματώνοντας τον στο έργο, σα να είναι ένας ακόμα ηθοποιός ή τουλάχιστον κάποιος που συμμετέχει ενεργά, παρακινούμενος απ’ τα ίδια τα γεγονότα. Το ιδανικό αυτού του είδους θεάτρου είναι να βγει ο θεατής διαφορετικός απ’ ότι μπήκε. Πρόκειται κατά κάποιο τρόπο για «αλχημικό» θέατρο, αφού κατ’ ουσίαν αυτό που επιχειρείται είναι μια  μετάλλαξη, μετουσίωση των θεατών.
Η τραγωδία που το όνομά της προέρχεται από τις λέξεις τράγος και ωδή, το άσμα του τράγου, δηλαδή του Πανός, πηγάζει με άμεσο τρόπο από αφηγήσεις που σχετίζονται με τον Διόνυσο-Βάκχο. Το τραγικό έργο λοιπόν είναι βαθύτατα θρησκευτικό. Άλλωστε η τραγωδία δεν εμφανίζεται ξαφνικά αλλά ως εξέλιξη τελετουργικών δρώμενων, που ήδη υπήρχαν από παλιά, ίσως και προ τεσσάρων χιλιετών, σε όλο τον Ελλαδικό χώρο.
Βέβαια καθώς η σωζόμενη αρχαία ελληνική γραμματεία δεν αποτελεί παρά μικρό μέρος, σπάραγμα του συνόλου, αγνοούμε πολλά πράγματα σχετικά με την απαρχή της τραγωδίας και τη σχέση της με τα μυστήρια. Έτσι, δεν γνωρίζουμε ούτε πότε ούτε πως κάποια τελετουργικά μυστικής προέλευσης έγιναν προσιτά με τη μορφή παράστασης σε μη μυημένους.  Φαίνεται πάντως ότι το αρχικό σκηνικό ήταν τα δάση, τα βουνά, τα σπήλαια και οι βράχοι που προσέφεραν φυσικές πέτρινες κερκίδες στους θεατές-κοινωνούς των ιεροτελεστιών. Αυτοί οι φυσικοί χώροι αξιοποιήθηκαν για να ενισχύσουν το πνευματικό αποτέλεσμα του λόγου, του χορού και του τραγουδιού, των υποκριτών-σατύρων.
Ο Θέσπις είναι αυτός που εισάγει τη δράση στα μέχρι τότε δρώμενα, καθιερώνοντας ένα διάλογο μεταξύ ενός υποκριτή και του χορού, ο οποίος χορεύοντας τελετουργικά, τραγουδούσε μπροστά στο βωμό, μπροστά στο ξόανο του Θεού. Στη συνέχεια, η δράση έγινε πιο σύνθετη. Αυξήθηκε ο αριθμός των υποκριτών και υιοθετήθηκαν προσωπεία μέσα από τα οποία αποκτούσε αλλόκοσμη χροιά και δυνάμωνε ο ήχος της ανθρώπινης φωνής. Αργότερα χρησιμοποιήθηκαν ειδικά κοστούμια, διάφορα μηχανικά σκηνικά, κόθορνοι και ξυλοπόδαρα που έδιναν στο σύνολο την εικόνα μιας μεγαλειώδους παράστασης, ικανής να ενθουσιάσει και να διδάξει το κοινό που παρακολουθούσε.
Το αρχαίο λοιπόν ελληνικό θέατρο, με προεξάρχουσα την τραγωδία, αγγίζει τον πυρήνα της ύπαρξης μας και έχει όχι μόνο φόρμα τελετουργική και ύφος και δομή μυστηριακή αλλά τόσο αφετηρία όσο και σκοπό μυστηριακό και εσωτερικό.

The Baby is Lost in Peaceful Dreams!

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The Da Vinci Code

In Paris, Jacques Sauniere is pursued through the Louvre's Grand Gallery by albino monk Silas (Paul Bettany), demanding the Priory's clef de voute or "keystone." Sauniere confesses the keystone is kept in the sacristy of Church of Saint-Sulpice "beneath the Rose" before Silas shoots him. At the American University of Paris, Robert Langdon, a symbologist who is a guest lecturer on symbols and the sacred feminine, is summoned to the Louvre to view the crime scene. He discovers the dying Sauniere has created an intricate display using black light ink and his own body and blood. Captain Bezu Fache (Jean Reno) asks him for his interpretation of the puzzling scene.
Silas calls a mysterious man known as "The Teacher", revealing that he has killed all four protectors of the keystone and that all confirmed the same location. He dons a metal cilice on his thigh and proceeds to flagellate himself with a whip for the sins of murder. Facilitated by Bishop Manuel Aringarosa, Silas then travels to Saint-Sulpice and is admitted by an elderly nun; left alone, he excavates beneath the floor of the church to find a stone saying only JOB 38:11. He confronts the nun, who quotes the passage: "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further." Realizing that he has been deceived, Silas is enraged and kills the nun.
Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist with the French police, enters the Louvre as well and slips Langdon a message which leads him to the bathroom. There, Sophie meets him and tells him that he is being tracked, a GPS tracking dot has been (unknown by him) slipped into his jacket and that he is a primary suspect in the murder case because of a line of text found by the corpse ("P.S. find Robert Langdon"). Sophie however, believes that Sauniere, who is revealed to be her grandfather, wanted to pass a hidden message on to her (Princesse Sophie, P.S., was the nickname he used for her), and that he had wanted to bring Langdon into the equation so that he could help her crack the code.
Buying some time by throwing the tracking device into the back of a truck, the pair begin exploring the Louvre, finding more anagram messages that Sauniere had left behind. Many of these relate to Leonardo da Vinci's art, and the pair find a key with a Fleur-de-lis behind Madonna of the Rocks. Langdon deduces from this that Sauniere was a member of the Priory of Sion, a secret society associated with the Knights Templar.
Pursued by the French police and cut off from the United States Embassy, the pair escape to the Bois de Boulogne where Langdon closely inspects the key. He notices an inscription on the side - an address. The address directs them to the Depository Bank of Zurich where the key is used for a safety deposit box.
In the bank, they find Sauniere's deposit box and open it using the 10 digit Fibonacci numbers in order (1123581321). Inside the box, they find a rosewood container, which contains a cryptex: a cylindrical container with five alphabetical dials which must be arranged in the correct sequence to spell out a 5-letter code word, in order to open and access the papyrus message inside. Using force to open the cryptex would break a vial of vinegar inside, which would dissolve the papyrus and destroy the message.
Unfortunately, the police are called by a security guard and they are forced to leave. The bank manager, Andre Vernet, assists them in escaping by taking them as passengers in an armoured van to escape the routine checks of the police. In the back of the truck Langdon and Neveu have a lengthy discussion about the cryptex and Neveu says that her grandfather often played games with her involving cryptexes. Langdon says that the cryptex might hold valuable information or another clue about what they are trying to discover. Eventually, they come to a sudden stop and Vernet forces them at gunpoint to give him the cryptex. Langdon tricks Vernet and disarms him and he and Sophie escape with the cryptex in their hands.
Langdon suggests that they visit his friend, Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen), for assistance to opening the cryptex. Leigh Teabing turns out to be an enthusiastic seeker of the Holy Grail, which he believes is not actually a cup but instead Mary Magdalene. Mary was pregnant at the time of Christ's crucifixion, and Teabing tells Sophie that the Priory of Sion was formed to protect the descendants of Jesus. Jacques Sauniere was believed to be a part of this society and Teabing suspects that he was training Sophie to join it also. Silas, meanwhile, breaks into Teabing's mansion and attempts to steal the cryptex. Teabing uses his cane to knock Silas out and they escape again, taking the butler, Remy Jean, and Silas with them. The group escapes in Teabing's plane, following the next clue to London. Fache learns of their destination, and alerts the London Metropolitan Police to apprehend them at the airport. But Teabing manages to slip the party past the police with a trick of misdirection.
The small pyramid beneath the Inverse Glass Pyramid removed from underneath, revealing that there is no chamber as shown in the film's closing scene.
Teabing leads Langdon and Neveu to the Temple Church in London, which is shown to be a red herring. Silas is freed by Remy Jean, who is revealed to be a follower of The Teacher as well. The two take Teabing hostage, and Silas, believing Remy to be The Teacher, holes up in an Opus Dei safehouse. Remy is killed by the mysterious man after deceiving Silas. Silas accidentally shoots Aringaros and commits suicide. Aringarosa is taken to the hospital and apprehended by Fache.
Langdon is betrayed by Teabing, who is revealed to be the true Teacher. He escapes with the Cryptex, and attempts to find the next clue at Isaac Newton's tomb in Westminster Abbey, as Newton was another member of the Priory. Langdon and Neveau catch up with him, and chase him into the nearby chapter house. Teabing explained that he wanted to find Mary Magdalene's remains to prove he was correct about the Holy Grail and threatens to shoot Sophie if Langdon does not open the cryptex. Langdon throws the cryptex into the air, and Teabing fumbles and destroys it.
Distraught at not receiving the code, Teabing is arrested, but Langdon had cracked the code ('Apple', a reference to Newton) and removed the clue from the cryptex before destroying it. Using the clue, they travel to Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland where Magdalene's remains had previously been hidden. The remains had since been moved, but they meet other members of the secret organization that protected her. Sophie is actually Magdalene's descendant and therefore is the current living descendant of Jesus Christ. They vow to keep her safe before going their separate ways. In Paris, Langdon accidentally cuts himself while shaving and the line of blood on the sink reminds him of the Rose Line. He follows the Rose Line and finds the location of the Holy Grail, buried under the pyramid in the Louvre. Langdon then kneels above Mary Magdalene's tomb as the Knights Templar did before him.
(from Wikipedia)

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Σαίξπηρ

Τα φαύλα ήθη των ανθρώπων χαράζονται στον μπρούντζο,
οι αρετές τους γράφονται στο νερό
Ερρίκος ο Η', IV. 2

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Ελλειπτικός, μεταφορικός, ποιητικός λόγος

Ένα παιδί που έλεγε πάντα σαγαπώ
μέσα στις σκέψεις του έδινε χρώμα και ομορφιά
δεν είχε σημασία αν ήταν πηγάδι ή άνθρωπος
μία μελωδία χορού ή αστερόσκονη
σημασία είχανε οι στιγμές, το αύριο
Έξαφνα μία νεράιδα συνάντησε το παιδί
θέλησε να του μάθει τη σημασία του καλού Αγώνα
αλήθειες που λέγονται αλλά και αποσιωπούνται
Το παιδί σταμάτησε να λέει πάντα σαγαπώ
έβαλε ένα περιστέρι στη θέση των λέξεων
Ένα περιστέρι λευκό, όμορφο και με μεγάλα φτερά
τι να σήμαινε τώρα το σαγαπώ?
Η νεράιδα έδωσε στο παιδί το περιστέρι
ένα πνεύμα συντροφικό και ευγενικό
το παιδί σταμάτησε να λέει πάντα σαγαπώ
Έξαφνα φοβήθηκε, αναστατώθηκε
πλησίασε τη νεράιδα αλλά δεν του μίλησε
κάτι του έκρυβε, μία μακρινή υπόσχεση
τι να σήμαινε τώρα το σαγαπώ?
Ένα πουλί, ένας αγγελιοφόρος
Το παιδί σταμάτησε να λέει σαγαπώ
και η αστερόσκονη γέμισε το χώρο
Η νεράιδα πέταξε ψηλά, μία μαγική ουρά
οι στίχοι ζωντάνεψαν, το δάσος ζωντάνεψε
η ιστορία ενός μεγάλου παραμυθά
Να υποσχεθείς ότι δεν θα πας ποτέ εκεί
τι να σήμαινε τώρα το σαγαπώ?

Η μαγεία των ηρώων της Ντίσνεϋ

Η ηθοποιός Σάντρα Μπούλοκ