In The Realms of The Unreal

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Name the last 15,000 page book you read. Hell, name the last 15,000 page book written. Hell, name one 15,000 page book at all. On Wednesday evening, UCLA's James Bridge Theatre will be showing "In The Realms of The Unreal", a documentary about Henry Darger, janitor by day and creator of a 15,000 page graphic novel by night...
Darger's book (which came together over 60 years) tells the story of "The Vivian Girls", a group of naked angelic, hermaphroditic children (apparently Darger, a full-on recluse, didn't quite realize boys and girls had different bits and pieces) who carry on an epic battle against evil, as represented by weird Civil War-esque soldiers.

The amazing thing about the film, and about Darger in general, is the attempted allegorizing of an entire life. Darger lived all by his lonesome in a single apartment and rarely socialized, but he found an outlet in translating his entire life into a gargantuan work of art. Bits from his traumatized childhood come through in characters in the story. His apparent struggle between urges to protect children and urges of a less altruistic nature come through in the basic conflict of his story. And the narrative's highs and lows reflect Darger's own frustrations and elation.

As the art wasn't discovered until a neighbor entered Darger's apartment as the artist himself entered a hospital near the very end of his life, we will never know the man. But we have a fanciful tale which illuminates the elements that made the man. And since no one is really going to pull off reading 15,000 pages (pictures or no), watching Susan West's documentary on Darger is a better way to see the story, especially as it puts the artist's work in the context of his life. And Dakota Fanning narrates!

Shown at 7:30PM Weds, as a part of a double-bill with "The Eyes of Dan Bachardy" at UCLA James Bridge Theatre (Sunset Blvd and Hilgard Ave).
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Trippy stuff. I want to see this.

>>1
Sounds very interesting, I'd like to see it too.

So, we all went running off in the right direction, and then they split up from me. About 15 seconds after they left I found our quarry, and said \"Here he is, come back!\"... No response. \"Guys, COME BACK!\"... still nothing. A few minutes later, my teammates are dead, having continuted to charge off into oblivion, leaving me to try to stick with our migrating target. The warrior keeps asking people to \"raz\" him (later questioning, on subsequent deaths, revealed that what he meant was \"rez\", but it was moot because we didn\'t have anyone remotely capable of doing that anyway).

This whole time, there was a random rogue on our team doing something halfway across the zone (I forget his name, and so I\'ll just refer to him as \"Captain Elusive\". Our idiot warrior kept saying \"We need to go to Captain Elusive\" (despite the fact that Captain Elusive was NO WHERE NEAR the beast we were hunting) and \"Captain Elusive can raz me\" (despite the fact that Captain Elusive was a rogue). This entire time, I\'m desperately attempting to track Brumeran as he flies through dragon-infested forests. I eventually get him in a spot that\'s next to the warrior, and the mage is close enough that he tells me to start fighting and he\'ll be there momentarily. Since Brumeran is about to fly into an area that would be suicide to follow, I attack... The mage never shows up, and, what\'s worse, the warrior NEVER EVEN FUCKING DISMOUNTS! He just stands there as I slowly get killed, begging him for help (during this fight, another named elite mob flies by and aggroes on me as well, utterly sealing my fate).

I really HOPE that these people bought their accounts pre-leveled, because the idea that these inarticulate morons who, when not silently running in circles getting killed, can only manage to babble nonsensically about being \"razzed\" by equally inarticulate and conspicuously absent rogues, can actually make it to the end game, cheapens my accomplishments in doing likewise.

So, we all went running off in the right direction, and then they split up from me. About 15 seconds after they left I found our quarry, and said \"Here he is, come back!\"... No response. \"Guys, COME BACK!\"... still nothing. A few minutes later, my teammates are dead, having continuted to charge off into oblivion, leaving me to try to stick with our migrating target. The warrior keeps asking people to \"raz\" him (later questioning, on subsequent deaths, revealed that what he meant was \"rez\", but it was moot because we didn\'t have anyone remotely capable of doing that anyway).

This whole time, there was a random rogue on our team doing something halfway across the zone (I forget his name, and so I\'ll just refer to him as \"Captain Elusive\". Our idiot warrior kept saying \"We need to go to Captain Elusive\" (despite the fact that Captain Elusive was NO WHERE NEAR the beast we were hunting) and \"Captain Elusive can raz me\" (despite the fact that Captain Elusive was a rogue). This entire time, I\'m desperately attempting to track Brumeran as he flies through dragon-infested forests. I eventually get him in a spot that\'s next to the warrior, and the mage is close enough that he tells me to start fighting and he\'ll be there momentarily. Since Brumeran is about to fly into an area that would be suicide to follow, I attack... The mage never shows up, and, what\'s worse, the warrior NEVER EVEN FUCKING DISMOUNTS! He just stands there as I slowly get killed, begging him for help (during this fight, another named elite mob flies by and aggroes on me as well, utterly sealing my fate).

I really HOPE that these people bought their accounts pre-leveled, because the idea that these inarticulate morons who, when not silently running in circles getting killed, can only manage to babble nonsensically about being \"razzed\" by equally inarticulate and conspicuously absent rogues, can actually make it to the end game, cheapens my accomplishments in doing likewise.

So, we all went running off in the right direction, and then they split up from me. About 15 seconds after they left I found our quarry, and said \"Here he is, come back!\"... No response. \"Guys, COME BACK!\"... still nothing. A few minutes later, my teammates are dead, having continuted to charge off into oblivion, leaving me to try to stick with our migrating target. The warrior keeps asking people to \"raz\" him (later questioning, on subsequent deaths, revealed that what he meant was \"rez\", but it was moot because we didn\'t have anyone remotely capable of doing that anyway).

This whole time, there was a random rogue on our team doing something halfway across the zone (I forget his name, and so I\'ll just refer to him as \"Captain Elusive\". Our idiot warrior kept saying \"We need to go to Captain Elusive\" (despite the fact that Captain Elusive was NO WHERE NEAR the beast we were hunting) and \"Captain Elusive can raz me\" (despite the fact that Captain Elusive was a rogue). This entire time, I\'m desperately attempting to track Brumeran as he flies through dragon-infested forests. I eventually get him in a spot that\'s next to the warrior, and the mage is close enough that he tells me to start fighting and he\'ll be there momentarily. Since Brumeran is about to fly into an area that would be suicide to follow, I attack... The mage never shows up, and, what\'s worse, the warrior NEVER EVEN FUCKING DISMOUNTS! He just stands there as I slowly get killed, begging him for help (during this fight, another named elite mob flies by and aggroes on me as well, utterly sealing my fate).

I really HOPE that these people bought their accounts pre-leveled, because the idea that these inarticulate morons who, when not silently running in circles getting killed, can only manage to babble nonsensically about being \"razzed\" by equally inarticulate and conspicuously absent rogues, can actually make it to the end game, cheapens my accomplishments in doing likewise.

So, we all went running off in the right direction, and then they split up from me. About 15 seconds after they left I found our quarry, and said \"Here he is, come back!\"... No response. \"Guys, COME BACK!\"... still nothing. A few minutes later, my teammates are dead, having continuted to charge off into oblivion, leaving me to try to stick with our migrating target. The warrior keeps asking people to \"raz\" him (later questioning, on subsequent deaths, revealed that what he meant was \"rez\", but it was moot because we didn\'t have anyone remotely capable of doing that anyway).

This whole time, there was a random rogue on our team doing something halfway across the zone (I forget his name, and so I\'ll just refer to him as \"Captain Elusive\". Our idiot warrior kept saying \"We need to go to Captain Elusive\" (despite the fact that Captain Elusive was NO WHERE NEAR the beast we were hunting) and \"Captain Elusive can raz me\" (despite the fact that Captain Elusive was a rogue). This entire time, I\'m desperately attempting to track Brumeran as he flies through dragon-infested forests. I eventually get him in a spot that\'s next to the warrior, and the mage is close enough that he tells me to start fighting and he\'ll be there momentarily. Since Brumeran is about to fly into an area that would be suicide to follow, I attack... The mage never shows up, and, what\'s worse, the warrior NEVER EVEN FUCKING DISMOUNTS! He just stands there as I slowly get killed, begging him for help (during this fight, another named elite mob flies by and aggroes on me as well, utterly sealing my fate).

I really HOPE that these people bought their accounts pre-leveled, because the idea that these inarticulate morons who, when not silently running in circles getting killed, can only manage to babble nonsensically about being \"razzed\" by equally inarticulate and conspicuously absent rogues, can actually make it to the end game, cheapens my accomplishments in doing likewise.

So, we all went running off in the right direction, and then they split up from me. About 15 seconds after they left I found our quarry, and said \"Here he is, come back!\"... No response. \"Guys, COME BACK!\"... still nothing. A few minutes later, my teammates are dead, having continuted to charge off into oblivion, leaving me to try to stick with our migrating target. The warrior keeps asking people to \"raz\" him (later questioning, on subsequent deaths, revealed that what he meant was \"rez\", but it was moot because we didn\'t have anyone remotely capable of doing that anyway).

This whole time, there was a random rogue on our team doing something halfway across the zone (I forget his name, and so I\'ll just refer to him as \"Captain Elusive\". Our idiot warrior kept saying \"We need to go to Captain Elusive\" (despite the fact that Captain Elusive was NO WHERE NEAR the beast we were hunting) and \"Captain Elusive can raz me\" (despite the fact that Captain Elusive was a rogue). This entire time, I\'m desperately attempting to track Brumeran as he flies through dragon-infested forests. I eventually get him in a spot that\'s next to the warrior, and the mage is close enough that he tells me to start fighting and he\'ll be there momentarily. Since Brumeran is about to fly into an area that would be suicide to follow, I attack... The mage never shows up, and, what\'s worse, the warrior NEVER EVEN FUCKING DISMOUNTS! He just stands there as I slowly get killed, begging him for help (during this fight, another named elite mob flies by and aggroes on me as well, utterly sealing my fate).

I really HOPE that these people bought their accounts pre-leveled, because the idea that these inarticulate morons who, when not silently running in circles getting killed, can only manage to babble nonsensically about being \"razzed\" by equally inarticulate and conspicuously absent rogues, can actually make it to the end game, cheapens my accomplishments in doing likewise.