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Last night I saw that Aguirre, the Wrath of God was playing at the Silver, so I dropped all my plans and went to check it out. I'd only watched it on the small screen before and I didn't want to miss it. It did not disappoint, and I'm very glad I didn't get my hands on any drugs before seeing it. For those who haven't heard of it, Aguirre is a masterpiece of one of my favorite genres, "White Folks Get Down in the Tropics" (think Out of Africa, The Year of Living Dangerously, and Apocalypse Now). It was made in 1972, and it has to have been inspired at least in part by Heart of Darkness, and in turn it must have inspired Apocalypse Now (the "A spear!" scene from AN is almost identical in AtWoG). There is also a dollop of anti-imperialist, anti-clerical dogma that looks a little heavy-handed now, but not enough to ruin the fun (and it is big fun). Klaus Kinski as the ruthless, power-mad Don Lope de Aguirre in a fight against anything and everything that might stop him, whether it's his fellow explorers, the Spanish crown, or all of nature itself, is something to see. Just the sheer accomplishment of filming the thing with hundreds of extras in the Peruvian Amazon is worth the price of admission.So today at lunch I went to Michaels in search of the materials to make this bracelet. I've hardly ever been inside that store, and walking in today reminded me why: the selection of stuff I like, real raw craft materials like needles and yarn, is pathetically thin on the ground. Instead they've got acres of premade foo-foo crap like fake flowers (easily enough fake flowers to cover a football field), nasty little baskets and fake-Shaker boxes for tole painting, day-glo doll-size nylon feather boas, and polyester resin cherub planters for the garden (who am I kidding? they're for the fake flowers). It's enough to induce dry heaves. It's like walking into a supermarket that sells nothing but Lunchables, Dole Fruit-n-Gel, E-Z Cheeze, and potted meat.
I started to wonder, What Would Aguirre Do? I'm pretty sure that if Don Lope de Aguirre as played by Klaus Kinski walked into a Michaels, with all the benefits of modern technology, he wouldn't hesitate to take a flamethrower to the place. He's just that kind of a carefree character, unencumbered by hobgoblins of conventional morality. It kind of made me sorry that armaments are so expensive and inconvenient to come by, because a smoking hole in the ground is better than any Michaels.
