Up early in a dreamlike state

Five o'clock in the morning, and I find myself awake. My brain seems to have decided that six hours of sleep was enough for itself and my body. My body seems to feel otherwise. It moves about with rebellious lethargy and resents that its decisions are made by the gray matter up top in tyrannical fashion rather than by a consensus of limbs. It's rule by fiat. Like workers about to strike, the eyes blink and the joints move with more resistance than they ought. But does my brain care? Not a whit. It's already taken off for the day, weighing decisions that it need not make for hours. For goodness' sake, it's five in the morning! The limbs whisper dissent, talking about a nap they're going to force the system to take later in the morning. It's a bad sitch.

Last night I saw the pompous mind-fricasseeing movie Fountain starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz on DVD. It's made by Darren Aronofsky whose short but impressive list of films include Pi and Requiem for a Dream. He's written and directed all three, impressive for someone under forty. The Fountain skips through time (1500, 2000, and 2500 CE), taking the audience with Jackman and Weisz's characters from Spanish conquistadors through modern day medical science to some weird, spaced-out future. It plays a little fast and loose with the basics -- the characters don't speak Spanish, medical research is done in clearly sub-ethical ways, and we're never sure if these characters are the same through time or just connected -- but for all its imperfections, it seems to have stuck in my head. Weird dreams the sleep after.

Well, it's cresting seven now, and the revolt seems to be in full swing....