Sic Semper Tyrannis

Your Life for All to See

Sometimes I like to imagine myself as a famous person. In my daydreams, there is this documentary film that comes out, and it’s all about me. The assumption is that I have done something spectacular like created a masterpiece of some sort, or arranged world peace. I imagine that this film would have to include footage of me just doing my day-to-day things to serve as a contrast to the rest of my life, which is so noteworthy that it deserved a documentary in the first place.

My model for this is the scene in the great movie about Wilco called I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, in which Jeff Tweedy is shown in black and white, with major stubble, looking like hell and driving his piece of crap little car in silence around his home of Chicago. I was fascinated by the mundane Sponge Bob hanging from his rearview mirror, a reminder to me that “this is a very creative, artistic, respected guy, yet millions and billions of people do this same thing-drive from point A to point B. Yet when he does it up there on that screen, it somehow has more meaning.”

Something about projecting his boring moments up on a screen gives them significance.

…Which gets me back to my daydream in which I imagine the boring and routine moments during my day being filmed and edited into a feature-length documentary. And of course I also ruminate on the music that would underscore the images.

The one I came up with was one time here at work at my desk, quietly writing in this journal as the light was streaming through the mini-blinds onto my desk. The camera would be up above and slightly behind my shoulder and the music would need to be something kind of muted, yet rhythmic and minimalist. (I’m imagining the kind of music that plays behind Hiro whenever he, with furrowed brow, tries to figure something out on the show Heroes.)

So I charge you, dear readers, with the task of creating the end of this entry. What would be the moments, (either significant or not) that with sufficient musical scoring, would be in your autodocumentary?

posted by Mike @ 9:17 PM