Wes Anderson And The Dream Of Living In Hotels
The prologue to The Darjeeling Limited is a short film called Hotel Chavalier. It stars Portman and Schwartzman. It’s quirky and eccentric and there are a lot of things that are left up to the viewer to piece together. When The Darjeeling Limited was released, we found the correct places for a few of those pieces.
So we have this room, and we have Jack Whitman (Schwartzman), we have an ipod playing music about Marlena Dietrich (song by Peter Sarstedt), there are odds and ends and all that. So Portman (billed simply as “Jack’s Girlfriend”) is walking around, checking out his place and picking up his trinkets and whatnot. Which, really, would be weird. If I was living in a hotel and some girlfriend came in and started picking up my belongings, examining them, and placing them back down in a different place? Well I would probably change the music, not give her any chocolate, and certainly not put my weiner inside her. But I’m getting ahead of myself. All these things to set up this scenario that builds to the scene where they are out on the balcony, it appears to be a wonderful view, but we learn it’s not. It’s just a view of the hotel across the way. Not really my point.
This stuff doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is that this guy is LIVING AT A HOTEL. And I’m thinking about how great that would be. Seriously. I’m at one now, and I could stay here forever. I’m in wool slacks, a button-up white collared shirt, and my dress shoes. But I’m sitting in a lawn chair in 80 degree weather. It’s perfect. Except the sinus infection.
In about 7 minutes I’ll be getting back to my novel and I won’t have anything to do for about 3 hours. Simply amazing. Hotel living. My wife will return from rescuing drowning airline passengers, and we’ll go out for crab or something. We’ll watch Juno, most likely, and fall asleep together for the last time for the next few weeks. But still, the hotel thing. If I ever have the means, and I’m sure I will, I’m totally going to do it. Living at a hotel. I’ll even know the maid’s names by heart. And it will be by the beach. And I’ll get to know the manager so well that I’ll have a special place to keep my surfboards. Most likely outside in some shed where he makes his own root beer or something.
Royal Tenenbaum did it, Jack Whitman did it, and the boys from Bottle Rocket did it for a spell. What is it with Wes Anderson and people living in hotels? Whatever it is, I’m buying into it. Hotelology or whatever. I don’t care. We can have spaceships and spirits and electric soul catchers or whatever, I don’t care. I want in the hotel club. Another small point: Wes Anderson was born in 1969. I was born in 1974. This means I have at least 5 years to be his creative equal. Damnit, I just realized he did Royal Tenenbaums at 32 so I’m pretty much always going to be underachieving. I’m glad he’s not my older brother. THEN I’d have issues.
And I’m trying to figure out how much it would cost to do it. I’m figuring this place is $100 a night, 365 nights +/-, so that would be $36,500 to live at the Sheraton Gateway in Atlanta Georgia. I’m sure they’d give me a bulk rate so I’m gonna stick to $35,000.
But then if I had $35,000 to blow for living…ok so some guy just came by and asked my how I liked my Apple. People really shouldn’t do that to me unless they have 15 minutes and 3 large burning a hole in their pocket. MBPro’s rock, go buy one, you can stop buying self help books and start writing them.
So I’m thinking about $35,000 and what that could do for me…say….somewhere in Mexico. I’m sure I could have no problem living fairly large in the Brian sense on $100/day for a year. Just think of the blogging I could get done.
Well I gotta go call my Mom and see if they are running out of diapers.
Oh, and I also took a picture of the pool. I took it seconds ago, tweaked the highlights, shadows, curves, then turned it into an exposure from Kodak’s 3200 ISO B&W film. I like it. I’d post the original, but then it would reveal just how lame the original is, lamer than you may think the final version is. And that just won’t fly. I’m sure there is something to the 5′15″ sign. I’ll figure it out someday.
This post was written with the music of Satyajit Ray, who sounds a lot like Anandji Kalyanji from Thicker Than Water. Check it out.
Click This Link To Watch Hotel Chevalier For Free
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I too have often fantasized about living in a hotel bc *none-of-the-stuff* is yours…and there is just something really attractive about that fact. NO stuff. Just the few things you brought. Freeing really. Nice high ISO pic of the pool, btw.