It’s an odd book to say the least.

It’s about a film that doesn’t exist, a very strange House, and a narrator whose own story fills the footnotes and appendixes.

You might find House of Leaves in the “Horror” section, but don’t be put off by the “horror” label if that’s not your thing (it’s definitely not mine). It’s largely Lovecraft/Poe “horror” — it’s spooky, it’s psychological, it’s strange. Indeed, so strange, so circuitous, so ambiguous, you might well find yourself hanging out at www.houseofleaves.com/forum/, trying to make sense of it all.

The ambiguity is definitely part of the fun, but I also found it to be a weakness. It’s too ambiguous. It’s insanely ambiguous. But I still thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s fun to read. It’s crazy. The appendices run over 130 pages and are filled with letters, poems, quotations, drawings — some of which are important to the story, some of which are not. There’s a large index that includes words like “and,” “just,” and “in.” There are pages where all of the text is crammed into the corner. There are pages that have almost completely been crossed-out. There are

pages

that

contain

just a

single

wo-
rd.

If you liked The Raw Shark Texts or the movie Memento, I think you might like House of Leaves.

[Y]ou’re almost certainly wrong about pretty much everything. Not a little wrong, but a LOT wrong.JA

If you’re afraid to fall…you fall because you’re afraid…
Everything is choice.Choose Not to Fall, Daniel Ilabaca

I gave myself a check mark if I knew the name and at least one piece of artwork.

1. Pablo Picasso ✓
2. Paul Cezanne ✘ — For some reason I mixed him up with Gauguin and Rousseau
3. Gustav Klimt ✓
4. Claude Monet ✓
5. Marcel Duchamp ✓
6. Henri Matisse ✘ — I mixed him up with Rene Magritte
7. Jackson Pollock ✓
8. Andy Warhol ✓
9. Willem De Kooning ✘ — I mix him up with Francis Bacon
10. Piet Mondrian ✓
11. Paul Gauguin ✘
12. Francis Bacon ✘ — I mix him up with De Kooning
13. Robert Rauschenberg ✘ — I thought he was an abstract artist…I got that much right
14. Georges Braque ✘ — never heard of him
15. Wassily Kandinsky ✓
16. Constantin Brancusi ✘ — never heard of him
17. Kasimir Malevich ✘ — never heard of him
18. Jasper Johns ✓ —took me a minute, but then I remembered his flag painting
19. Frida Kahlo ✓
20. Martin Kippenberger ✘ — never heard of him
21. Paul Klee ✘ — I know the name, but not the work
22. Egon Schiele ✓
23. Donald Judd ✓
24. Bruce Nauman ✘ — never heard of him
25. Alberto Giacometti ✘ — I know the name, but not the work
26. Salvador Dalí ✓
27. Auguste Rodin ✓
28. Mark Rothko ✓
29. Edward Hopper ✓
30. Lucian Freud ✘ — I know the name, but not the work
31. Richard Serra ✘ — the name seems vaguely familiar
32. Rene Magritte ✓
33. David Hockney ✓
34. Philip Guston ✘ — never heard of him
35. Henri Cartier-Bresson ✘ — never heard of him
36. Pierre Bonnard ✘ — never heard of him
37. Jean-Michel Basquiat ✘ — I know the name, but not the work
38. Max Ernst ✘ — I know the name, but not the work
39. Diane Arbus ✘ — the name seems vaguely familiar
40. Georgia O’Keeffe ✓
41. Cy Twombly ✘ — never heard of him
42. Max Beckmann ✘ — never heard of him
43. Barnett Newman ✘ — never heard of him
44. Giorgio De Chirico ✘ — never heard of him
45. Roy Lichtenstein ✓
46. Edvard Munch ✓
47. Pierre Auguste Renoir ✓
48. Man Ray ✘ — I know the name, but not the work
49. Henry Moore ✘ — never heard of him
50. Cindy Sherman ✘ — I know the name, but not the work (I know she’s dating David Byrne)

22 out of 50!?! Fail. I thought I’d do much better than that…

That’s all.

“Art movies and commercial movies are…opposites…it’s like they hate each other.”Hou Hsiao-Hsien

Great commercial (by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal).

All in all, the shoot went pretty well, but there were a few mishaps. The script calls for a sunny day, but it was overcast and snowy last Friday. I thought I might be able to work around it, so my brother and I drove for about an hour before I realized that I didn’t have the (very important) shoe that connects the camera to the tripod. So we turned around and drove back, only to discover that the shoe was actually in the car the whole time. Then we took a break for lunch. My brother ordered a margarita — which turned out to be really strong — and he got so sleepy/woozy that he needed to take a nap. That really wasn’t a big problem, because it was still snowing, but before long the weather began to clear…and that’s when I noticed that I’d left the camera turned on over lunch and the battery was completely drained. So, the first day was pretty much a loss.

The second day, we woke at 5am so I could get catch some early light. On hindsight, we could’ve slept another hour, because it was still pitch black when we arrived on location. Also, I learned A) not to hold the camera in such a way that my hand and/or shoulder gets into the shot and B) to pay close attention to what’s going on in the background of a shot (ex: if the script calls for an isolated expanse, don’t have random strangers wandering through the shot).

But, like I said, I’m actually pretty pleased with the footage. I shot quickly, sometimes using a cheapo tripod, sometimes shooting handheld, and I worried that I might end up with an unusable pile of crap, but it’s not bad — shaky here and there, but acceptable.

I hope to have an edited version ready by the 20th…possibly earlier.

* Twenty days is an awfully long time to wait for a replacement computer, but Dell made good by upgrading the entire system, so in the end, it was worth the wait.

I’ve been thinking about my age recently, and the possibility of starting a new career (in film). Let’s face facts, shall we? I’m middle-aged (I’m not one of those people that refuses to use the term “middle-aged”, as if that somehow negates the difference between 18 and 38). If I live to 75 (avg. lifespan), I’m almost exactly at the halfway point. Hmm…you might say it’s the perfect time to start something new. You might also say:

• You tried to reinvent yourself once before, as a writer/novelist, and failed spectacularly
• You’re a dreamer, who doesn’t always follow up grandiose visions with necessary action
• The film industry is an insular, LA-based industry, and you don’t live or want to live in Los Angeles
• Film-making requires massive amounts of time and energy, and you’re not exactly a workaholic

All good points.

Let me respond (to my own inner critic):

• You tried to reinvent yourself once before, as a writer/novelist, and failed spectacularly
  • True, but that doesn’t mean I should just give up.
• You’re a dreamer, who doesn’t always follow up grandiose visions with necessary action
  • True, but sometimes I do.
• The film industry is an insular, LA-based industry, and you don’t live or want to live in Los Angeles
  • LA is not the end-all-be-all of movie-making. Just take a look at MovieMaker’s 2010 “annual ranking of the country’s best cities in which to be an independent moviemaker.” #1 on the list? Albuquerque, NM
• Film-making requires massive amounts of time and energy, and you’re not exactly a workaholic
  • It’s just possible, having discovered something I’m really excited about, I’ll be having so much fun I just won’t want to stop.

So maybe I’m not “young and hungry,” but I’m not “old and satiated” either. I’m middle-aged and ready for something new. Brace yourself world. I’m coming out swinging.