6:35 PM - I'm pretty sure he and I are not on a first name basis, but sometimes people should do away with formalities as they can often get in the way of showing one's true feelings of affection. Today, July 26, 2006; Stanley Kubrick would have turned 78 years old, and although it is obvious that he is not with us anymore, he has left us all with treasures to remember him. Personally, he is one of the main reasons I plan to go into film; I hope that Insha Allah, one day, my films will be almost as perfect as his are. His films have touched an array of topics, some of which were banned for their controversy, including war, life, before and after death; partnership, and sexuality; all of which have been plagued by his disease of perfectionism. In his films, he does not just tell some story for the simple fact of doing so, he tells his story when and only if his story will be an entertaining piece of art. If we look at his filmography, we see only sixteen films, three of which are shorts. Why did he just settle for so few of films? Was it because he came into film at such a late age? No, that can't be it, he made his first film before he turned twenty-five. Was it because he could not think of any stories? No, that is not the case, as it is widely known that he had many plans to make more films after Eyes Wide Shut. The reason he resorted himself to a small number lies in the realm of his perfectionism. He wrote many films, and adaptations, in his time, but only the ones that were perfection were the ones he decided to make. His wife, Christiane Kubrick, is quoted saying this on the topic, "And a lot of scripts he wrote he never made because he ultimately decided it was a waste of time. It made him very sad -- he wanted to make more films. But he didn't want to launch into a film when he wasn't a hundred percent certain."

Stanley left a stamp of himself on each and every film he made. His creation process of his films were not only limited to directing, he delved into everything about them, writing, producing, lighting, filming, editing; these were his films. He has been widely known for his unique cinematography, with his first person point of view shots, to his overly wide angles. One perfect example of both filming techniques can be easily found in 2001 (which, by the way, is from where the picture to the left was taken, during the filming of 2001, scanned out of "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures"), Kubrick's space film which was made to be like no other film and make people continually ponder the true meaning of its magnificence; in HAL 9000's character. He has always been a lover of art. His first real job was as a photographer when at the age of sixteen, he took a photo of a news vendor in New York after the news of FDR's death; he sold this picture to the popular Look magazine which later hired Stanley as a freelance photographer, still in high school. Due to this early love for art and photography, each one of his films deal with such techniques beautifully. Related to his love of art is his love of classical music. Almost all of his films include a classical piece of music that was previously composed, the most memorable being that from 2001 and Alex de Large's love of Ludwig van in A Clockwork Orange. A noticeable thing that Stanley has been known to do in his films is have them narrated. This may be greatly due in part because nearly all of his films are adaptations of novels; some naysayers may take this fact and flip it by saying that Kubrick was not creative at all, but this is not true, he just strived for perfection, and what can be more perfect that a film based on another story that is already great? That doesn't mean that all of his films greatly mimic other already known forms of writing, in fact, many people have been known to condemn Stanley for butchering great pieces of literature, such as in The Shining. Another instance of Kubrick making the books his own films is with 2001, how it is is based on only a very little portion of Arthur C. Clarke's book; and Dr. Strangelove is based on the same book of Sidney Lumet's Fail-Safe; although both films' stories are obviously the same, they are greatly different in terms of how serious they take themselves. Yet the most obvious and remarkable love of Kubrick to implement into his films is the dehumanization of people. Each and every one of his films focus on characters that represent the utmost negative parts of human existence, from the pedophile Humbert in Lolita to the insane in The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Dr. Strangelove, and the strongest of dehumanization, The Holocaust in The Aryan Papers, which was never completed because at the time of pre-production, Stanley found out that his buddy Steven Spielberg was doing Schindler's List, and Stanley did not want to compete (a prime example of just one of those films that Kubrick left behind). Each and every one of these films are so perfect because of their themes and because of Kubrick's great attention to detail. Stanley Kubrick's films and Stanley Kubrick's messages will always be left with us as long as we continue to watch and cherish them, Insha Allah. So tonight, if you really have nothing to do, or have something to do but love Stanley so much, grab a Kubrick film and watch it; remember the greatest filmmaker with all of us, "One man writes a novel. One man writes a symphony. It is essential that one man make a film" - Stanley Kubrick.

There have been a lot of things going on with this site and me, but I want to reserve this post for Kubrick; all else will be said tomorrow, Insha Allah. Take care everyone. And don't worry, no one is forgetting about you, Sonia - we just decided that Kubrick should come before you on this day, although it is your birthday as well. So say Happy Birthday to Sonia everyone, so she doesn't end up hating Kubrick. And by the way, it's also Pit Stop's birthday. Okay, don't miss 30 Days' premiere tonight on FX at 10PM. Take care again everyone. see u.