i know i’m about eight years late on this one, but last night i watched donnie darko for the very first time. i get scared by freaky movies, but my roommates convinced me that i should check out this particular cult classic. i can’t say that the image of frank the metal-faced bunny helped lull me to sleep at 6 am, but at least i didn’t have nightmares about grandma death AKA i stuck all my fingers in a socket AKA the fifth member of poison. seriously, i don’t know if i’ve EVER seen an old lady with such incredibly teased tresses.

the highlight of the movie was when i spotted a young version of that girl from high school musical (her name turns out to be ashley tisdale, although i keep wanting to call her ashley TINsdale for unknown reasons). she plays one of the kids at a school assembly. my roommates thought i was wrong but then i verified my identification on imdb. note to the world: I AM GOOD AT RECOGNIZING ACTORS BEFORE THEY GROW UP, DYE THEIR HAIR BLONDE, AND UNSUCCESSFULLY ATTEMPT TO BECOME POP STARS.

aaanyhow, after a brief perusal of donnie darko internet resources, i found some interesting meditations on the nature of the manipulated dead, tangent universes, and living receivers. BUT, i gotta say that i think the movie was really just about a crazy dude. crazy people create elaborate worlds that seemingly explain their crazy behavior. you guys ever see a beautiful mind? homeboy draws a million different connections between unrelated documents, newspaper clippings, photos, etc. and believes with every ounce of his being that those connections actually mean something. a beautiful mind is different from donnie darko, however, in that the viewer is situated OUTSIDE of the dude’s schizophrenia.

it seems to me that donnie darko is a movie engineered to make viewers feel what it’s like to be schizophrenic themselves.

BAM.

on that note, below is a link to ‘CRAZYtown,’ one of the cuts from my mixtape, MASHed Potatoes. right click to download.

CRAZYtown