Some Changes…
As you may have noticed, I rebranded my personal film website from Transcendent Cinema to No Gods Left: Toward A Millennium of Cinema. That’s because I have something else in store for that project and that URL, which will be evolving into a team effort with a globally and philosophically diverse cast of film writers. But more on that on a later date…
In the meantime, and going forward, this will be the permanent home of all my writings on the art of film. Things will more or less look the same as they have in the past, though it’s possible a stray link or two will be in need of redirection. So, in the meantime, I ask for your patience.
Obviously, things would be both cheaper and simpler for myself, and less confusing to my readers, if I kept the transcendent URL on this site and instead added new contributors and alterations as the site’s mission expands. That would have been easier, I won’t lie. But, it’s recently come to my attention that there’s a real chance I can turn my work into a more consistent part-time, or even full-time, job. And with that in mind, I need a site for myself—a repository for my reviews and essays, a place to send potential editors, etc… No Gods Left will be that—and more, with original reviews, essays, and even interviews (stay tuned!)
Who are the gods and where did they go?
The new title of this website comes from a Pliny the Younger quote featured as the title card in Paul WS Anderson's Pompeii (2014).
In the darkness you could hear the crying of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men. Some prayed for help. Others wished for death. But still more imagined that there were no Gods left, and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness.
— Pliny the Younger, A.D. 79.
The new title will come as no surprise to any of my editors, who are likely familiar with (and perhaps even tired of) my frequent use of philosophical concepts and tools in my efforts to make sense of moving pictures. There are three main reasons I chose No Gods Left: Toward A Millennium of Cinema.
- To reflect and comment on the lack of providence in the state of North American cinema, one of the least inspired of all global cinemas.
Is this the end of the world? Why would the gods let this happen?
— Casia, Pompeii
- In reverence to the kinds of films I tend to write about with optimism: Paul WS Anderson, digital cinema (toward/future), and Chinese language films (Millennium Mambo). More generally, I want to celebrate the artists, like Timur Bekmambetov and Anderson, who are or have pushed the boundaries of the medium.
Now who's the poor bastard who has to die for my freedom?
Atticus, Pompeii
- And to tease the lenses I often use to make sense of film, pulling from my higher education training in religious studies/theology/philosophy.
And what is that worth? Senator Quintas Attius Corvus? You killed my family, you slaughtered my people, and make no mistake, my gods are coming for you.
Milo, Pompeii
