Big movie weekend the past couple of days, from the silly to the self-absorbed to the seriously odd (Goldmember, The Kid Stays in the Picture, and Full Frontal, respectively). I almost went for a triple-feature today with Notorious C.H.O., but decided I didn't need to spent another 9 bucks on something I'd already seen live for 30. I'll save it for NetFlix. Speaking of which, NetFlix is pretty much a perfect service for someone like me who loves documentaries and director commentaries but who lives in the sticks. Blockbuster just doesn't seem to carry things like Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth for some reason…

I've been gobbling up as much of Campbell's stuff as I can recently, after buying PoM at Costco about a month ago. It was one of those PBS series I always thought I should watch, and I finally got around to reading the book a few years back, but didn't feel much drawn to the material. That has all changed. I don't know if it was my own readiness, or actually seeing Campbell deliver his own words rather than reading them (or both), but the history and structure of myth and the human need for it really struck a chord with me as I watched. I'm currently working my way through Mythos, a video series of his last lecture tour, and the Joseph Campbell Audio Collection, a set of 30 lectures from the 1960s. It's all fascinating stuff, and has added a lot both to my understanding of the human condition and to my artistic life as I dive deeper in. Highly recommended.