A Scanner Darkly / Waking Life

Don't know much about 'A Scanner Darkly' (wiki) yet, but we plan on reading the book before going to see the movie.

We do know something about Richard Linklater - he kicks serious ass. He did Waking Life (wiki) - which, if you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor - now. It's one of the best films ever. E-V-E-R. Imagination unparalleled. Freaky. Funny. Thought-provoking. Compelling. And the music. It's too much. You can watch the trailer and the first eight minutes of the movie and other clips here. And you can read the script here (how cool is that?!). There's one scene that cracked us up in that first seven minutes clip - here's the text (we've labeled the main character 'dude', and the driver 'captain', and the other passenger 'other passenger', even though they're not listed as such in the script transcript). The one line from 'other passenger' is the part that cracked us up:

(Main character walks through the airport and telephones his friend - 322.0031. There's a girl there, and he sees her.)

dude: Hey man, it's me. Um, I just got back into town. I thought maybe I could bum a ride off you or something, but that's cool. I could probably just take a cab, something like that. Um -- Yeah, I guess I'll hang out with you later, something like that.

***

(A boat car drives up in front of the airport)

captain: Ahoy there matey! You in for the long haul? You need a little hitch in your get-along, a little lift on down the line?

dude: Oh, um, yeah, actually, I was waiting for a cab or something, but if you want to ...

captain: All right. Don't miss the boat.

dude: (He gets in.) Hey, thanks.

captain: Not a problem. Anchors aweigh!

So what do you think of my little vessel? She's what we call "see-worthy." S-E-E. See with your eyes. I feel like my transport should be an extension of my personality. Voila. And this? This is like my little window to the world, and every minute it's a different show. Now, I may not understand it. I may not even necessarily agree with it. But I'll tell you what, I accept it and just sort of glide along. You want to keep things on an even keel I guess is what I'm saying. You want to go with the flow. The sea refuses no river. The idea is to remain in a state of constant departure while always arriving. Saves on introductions and good-byes. The ride does not require an explanation. Just occupants. That's where you guys come in. It's like you come onto this planet with a crayon box. Now, you may get the 8-pack, you may get the 16-pack. But it's all in what you do with the crayons, the colors that you're given. And don't worry about drawing within the lines or coloring outside the lines. I say color outside the lines. You know what I mean? Color right off the page. Don't box me in. We're in motion to the ocean. We are not landlocked, I'll tell ya that. So where do you want out?

dude: Uh, who, me? Am I first? Um, I don't know. Really, anywhere is fine.

captain: Well, just -- just give me an address or something, okay?

dude: Uh --

other passenger: (The guy sitting next to him in the back seat speaks up) Tell you what, go up three more streets, take a right, go two more blocks, drop this guy off on the next corner.

dude: Where's that?

captain: Well I don't know either, but it's somewhere, and it's going to determine the course of the rest of your life. All ashore that's going ashore. Ha ha ha ha ha. Toot, toot.

And this dude Speed Levitch (wiki) in the film is totally interesting. And how cool that he just kind of made stuff up as he went along - very much like the Blair Witch Project.

Rotoscoping, man - it's all about rotoscoping.

UPDATE: It seems I also have to see a couple of other Linklater films: Slacker, and Dazed and Confused - about which I think I remember people telling me, "Oh my God, dude! You have to see Dazed and Confused!".