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Course notes, 10/28/10
Scene I: Computer Troubles.
We couldn't get the computer to work. It was straight-up G (that's a pun, because the "g" key was stuck down and we couldn't get a letter in edgewise). In light of this, J asked for reactions to Tarnation.
J: It's scary and shocking.

Notes 10-28-10
Responses to Tarnation
· I enjoyed the film but thought it was kind of freaky.
· And what was wrong with Jonathan’s mother, that she had to receive shock therapy?
o There was some difference of perception, whether Rene’s parents had consulted the Doctors, or really known what they were doing, if Rene was mentally disturbed before the accident or only as a result of the accident.

Watching Tarnation
I had a very uncertain reaction toward the documentary Tarnation by Johnathan Caouette when I started watching it. I was not sure what to look for and what to focus on in the light of our class discussion about truth and reality. However, as I continued watching the film, it became clear to me what was happening in his life and the struggle he was going through dealing with his mother's illness. The artistic techniques used in the movie were interesting at some points, but also very creepy at other points. I have also watched some parts of the documentary again but with Johnathan explaining certain aspects of the documentary.

Tarnation, Round Two
This is my second time watching Tarnation (2003) by Jonathan Caouette, and I have to say that I was just as disturbed and just as impressed as the first time I watched it.

Food for thought:
"The failure of language (as 'we know it') to accurately create an understandable roadmap to 'realization' or 'enlightenment' has been taken by some, as evidence that there is no 'realization' or 'enlightenment'; "what cannot be described, cannot be real" is an actual axiom of certain philosophies.
Indeed, there seems to be a very generous allowance given to the assumption that a description, if accurate, somehow conveys the thing itself; if I accurately describe 'water', the reader would then be wet. Similarly, it is assumed that a person who has had an experience, should be able to describe the experience, in such a way as to convey the actual experience itself, to the reader.





