Domain

Film related (wait for it) side rant: Eminent domain is a pretty horrible thing, a thing that has displaced many people pushing them out of their homes, lives and communities usually just to build a false sense of progress over their bulldozed histories. Someone recommended a documentary, which I haven't seen but hopefully will  get a chance, called Greetings From Asbury Park that chronicles the realities of eminent domain in a town similar to my own hometown that suffers from this affliction. 

The house that Gravity chronicles, as Brent says in the film, was torn down because it was "the only house on the block that didn't look like every other house on the block." This sense of uniformity in the name of progress is really spooky to me- that people have decided to knock down things that don't quite meet standards(?) of what should(?) be there. Not to say that it is always bad, sometimes things like parks and schools can come out of eminent domain or construction in general, but the idea that something unique or challenging (something other than a chain) is teetering on the brink of extinction is a frightening reality.

In an odd way I hope the rebuilding of Leonard's house in different places, and even the film itself (and even the films production for that matter!) will act as a reminder that not everything can be the same and the value of all things is different to everyone. I realize that someone may see the new house built over Leonard's actual Lousiville home as valuable but this constant tearing down of things we don't understand or necessarily agree with or that don't fit into a particular mold of being is nothing to call progress. Carlin, posted here, is an older short by Brent shot in the house that he grew up in, a house that after a fire fell into decay, and that we hope to make livable one day soon even if the neighbors want to tear it down because they think it is an eyesore bringing down their property values. End rant. (How'd I do? Eh?)