|
New film plays to prime instinct of the number 23 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Rachel Leibrock, MCT
|
|
Tuesday, 27 February 2007 |
|
|
|
|
It's just a number. Or is it?
You can take your unlucky 13 and your heavenly seven. For some, 23 is the magic number, and for centuries, the digit's die-hards have explored its importance in everything from religion, mysticism and science to pop culture.
Now, a new movie "The Number 23" — out, yes, you guessed it, today, the 23rd — explores one man's fascination with the number.
In the Joel Schumacher-directed film, Jim Carrey is Walter Sparrow, a seemingly ordinary man embroiled in a 15-year-old murder mystery after being given an obscure book called "The Number 23" for his birthday.
The actor, like the character, is fixated on the number. Not only did Carrey name his production company JC23, but the actor once admitted to People magazine that "I've been (obsessed) with the number 23 for years. It's everywhere. Each parent passes on 23 chromosomes; Earth's axis is at a 23-degree angle. Psalm 23 is my mantra ..."
Carrey's not the only one chanting "23." Indeed, there's a name for the obsessed: 23rdians.
Those who call themselves such prescribe to the 23 Enigma, a belief that all events and happenings center on the number or some version of it.
As such, 23rdians find the number everywhere.
It's in the Bible, science and literature, reported 23rdian William S. Burroughs, who gave the figure prominence in his books. Any Chicago Bulls fan can tell you 23 is important for being Michael Jordan's jersey number, and "Lost" addicts know 23 is integral to the story — in fact, the show's producers claim it's the most important of the island-mystery show's famous recurring-number sequence.
What's the significance? Turns out that's a subject ripe for endless debate.
If there's an unofficial patron saint of the 23 set, it's novelist Robert Anton Wilson, whose 1977 book "Cosmic Trigger" explored the number in Burroughs' works as an attempt to connect the digits to the universe on a larger scale.
It was Wilson, who died in January, who inspired screenwriter Fernley Phillips to pen "The Number 23" script.
"I'd always been interested in numbers and math, and how they work together," Phillips says on the phone from L.A. "We all know about (the significance) of seven and 13 — but we don't know about 23 and how it blends the weird with the scientific."
That's when 23 started popping up all over Phillips' world.
"I'd see it in newspaper headlines, clocks, license plates and street addresses," he says.
The mystery of the 23 seemed tailor-made for the big screen.
"I knew it'd be great to get this into a movie," Phillips says.
The resulting film, he says, raises an important 23rdian question: Is the number a blessing or a curse?
"That's part of the interest — for some it's a good thing, but for others, it's not."
For local singer-songwriter Anton Barbeau, the number is a creative inspiration.
Barbeau, now touring England, started thinking about the digits after a 1993 conversation with another local musician in a band called, naturally, 23.
"After a long, detailed explanation about the significance of this number, it made strange and perfect sense to me," Barbeau says. "Once he got me started, I couldn't stop seeing the number everywhere I went."
It was author Tom Robbins, whose use of the number in the 1984 book "Jitterbug Perfume," in particular, who pointed Barbeau to Robert Anton Wilson.
"(Wilson) connects the number to the Beatles and then uses it (to) connect the Beatles to Carl Jung — how is that not intriguing?"
These days, 23 figures prominently in Barbeau's work — sometimes unintentionally.
The pop singer's latest album, "In the Village of the Apple Sun," is "filled with digital 23s," including one track named after the number. Another song, "Six Hours Later," features numbers in every verse that, of course, add up to 23.
"That wasn't intentional," Barbeau says. "I'm not that clever or motivated ... (but) there have been so many times when 23 seemed to jump back into my field of vision — it's just a pretty fun and bizarre thing to get hung up on."
Aron Price sees 23 as a fascinating glimpse into how we attach meaning to seemingly unimportant concepts.
Price, a cognitive sciences student at Ohio State, also found himself drawn to the number via Wilson's works. Turned off by the "cult" atmosphere of other 23-related sites, Price started Frequency23.net for fun. The site features forums, articles and chats on all things 23.
"Frequency23 is something of an artistic experiment," he says on the phone from his Columbus, Ohio, home. "I'm interested in how the mind works and how people interact with each other."
Does Price actually believe there's something special about 23? He hesitates a moment, and then: "My interest is both personal and observational."
But while it sometimes feels like 23 turns up everywhere, Price adds, "if you think about any number a lot, then you'll see it anywhere."
And, just because it's there doesn't mean it's important.
At least not according to San Francisco-based numerologist Sally Faubion.
Faubion, author of "Motivational Numerology" (Seven Locks Press, $14.95, 204 pages), calls 23 a "good fortune" number that fosters communication, creativity and imagination. But, she adds, its significance is nowhere near the importance of, say, a 13 or seven.
If anything, Faubion says, the 23 mystery has just turned into something of a mind game.
"When people think about any number they can become obsessed with it and see it all day," she says. "The human mind is powerful."
Maybe it's more about personal philosophy.
"Is there a special significance to 23? I don't know," says Phillips, "The Number 23" screenwriter. "I think that's a question like `do you believe in God or aliens.' "
In other words, if you believe, then it all adds up.
___
• It's just a number. Or is it? You can take your unlucky 13 and your heavenly seven. For some, 23 is the magic number, and for centuries, the digit's die-hards have explored its importance in everything from religion, mysticism and science to pop culture. | Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
|
|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
|  | Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc. | |
|  | Here at Nextnc we have some characters. Get a sneak peak behind the curtain and find out what amusing antics our staffers get themselves into on a weekly basis. | |
|  | What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
| |
|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
|  | over and out | |
| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
|
|
