The Manrilla Blog | Life. Art. Religion. Culture.

Michelle stopped in town today. Kinda unexpected. I thought she was coming next week. Julia and I met her at the Weary Traveler in the early afternoon. I was glad that Julia had a chance to come along. I know I’ve spoken and written so much about Michelle to her and many of my other friends who never met her. She had a chance to see her in person - get her own impression of her. As usual, I brought the camera along. I took a few of her and a few of some other stuff that just caught my eye. It’s neat. I’m just shooting again for fun. Letting my eye wander; tell me what’s hot and what’s not. I look forward to shooting Leah again soon. I really dig her freckles and her eyes. I am really drawn to the human face as a photographer. It’s what really fascinates me the most. Oh, yeah, I know I’ve said it but go see Crash. That movie’s been on my mind all day. Julia went to go see it tonight. I can’t wait for her reaction to it. Well, I think Pete and I are about to go get some grub. Grub. That’s what Wisconsin’s all about.

In a word, Crash is intense. It’s a really intense movie. I highly recommend this film. I really liked this film because someone in Hollywood finally had the balls to try and examine and show what race is really like in this wack-ass country. It shows what it’s like to be black. That no matter how much money you make the Institution will still just see you as a monkey in a suit. It shows how many white people honestly think of people of color. What it’s like to be an immigrant here, not speaking the language. Or, what’s it’s like to be a Chicano, an American, but still treated like a foreigner. It’s a great collection of vignettes that come together wonderfully as the film progresses. Thanks to Leah for going to see this flick with me. If you haven’t seen Crash yet I say you should run off to the theatre as soon as you can and experience it on the big screen.

On some other related topics, I hung with Leah at the park today and busted out the 4×5. I shot some polaroids of her as well as Clara, who happened to just drop in. Fun stuff.