“Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life” declares Vivian to Cyril in Oscar Wilde’s 1889 Socratic dialogue The Decay of Lying:  An Observation.  Why am I bringing this up?  First of all, starting with a quote form Oscar Wilde makes me feel educated but more to the point, my usual litany of lines from The Big Lebowski somehow doesn’t seem quite as apropos.

Oh what the hell, “…near the In-N-Out Burger.”  “Those are good burgers, Walter.”  “Shut the f&@k up, Donny.”  There, that’s better.

In the wee morning hours of a pleasant Sunday afternoon, not a hundred yards from the In-N-Out Burger on Gayley Ave., we finished dressing Matt and Alison’s apartment.  Typically, when hairy, overweight men carry camera equipment into a small room with only one woman present the natural assumption is the product of that day’s filming will end up posted on a website requiring a credit card to access.  Depending on the form of distribution we ascertain, that may still be the case, but anyone logging on for the afore-implied intention will be sorely disappointed (unless one’s particular kink is a well-acted, creatively shot drama and in that case, to each his/her own).

I had always expected this set, more than any, to spark memories of the story’s genesis.  It was but some four years ago that I myself cohabitated a cramped studio apartment in downtown Long Beach.  The oddness of standing in a room created to mirror that time in my life struck me for sure; but not in the way I supposed it would.  As I thought about the last four years I was more reminded of how much things change, how much people grow and how elated I am to be where I am now.  No painful memories.  No nostalgic reveries.  Just gratitude.

The thesis of Vivian’s rant is that Art, through lies, exposes the crass reality of nature and ultimately creates an aesthetic that Life aspires to imitate.  “Grass is hard and lumpy and damp, and full of dreadful black insects. Why, even Morris’s poorest workman could make you a more comfortable seat than the whole of Nature can.”  The true story of Tilting at Windmills is hard and lumpy and damp and full of dreadful black insects but I have the sincere impression that the cast and crew of Brotherhood Pictures is building a more comfortable seat.

- Josh