Hello Cool Cats. Ciao mad monks and trippy teamsters. It's about time for a media update from this end. As you know I spend a lot of time absorbing culture and art like a sponge from books, movies, music and television and as I go along some of the craft is particularly magical and makes me turn my head twice and scream out "Yass! Keep blowing that crazy horn!" So I like to throw out some suggestions for anyone who is in limbo waiting to discover their next favorite book or can't-stop-playing-it-on-repeat iPod song.
First order of business. I took in two plays of late and can't say a bad thing about either. the first, La Cage Aux Folles, is the theatrical version of a movie called 'the birdcage' with Nathan Lane. I wasn't a big fan of the movie but the dancing in the show was pretty off the wall. Second, and much more resonant in my long-term memory and emotional spectrum, was 'The Lion King'. Now I know you can't toss a lion off of a mountain (ouch, too soon?) without hitting someone who saw and loved the movie but the play has a more enriched story line. There's also the little fact that the costumes are awesome, the large dancing numbers are all showstoppers and the music is poignant. So here's my suggestion for people who can't scrape together the 70 bucks (20 pound student price, in my case): Since you already know the bare bones story from the movie just youtube some of the best songs. I added a link to my favorite but you'll have to supply your own box of tissues.
Yassir - moving on - Zoom! If my mad and manic style has thrown anyone off I apologize but i'm trying to emulate one of my new fave books: On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Now, I have a history with this book and it ain't all pretty. On two other occasions I picked the thing up and tried to get into it and both times were a gargantuan fail. I don't know what was missing for me then that isn't now. I would suggest sitting down to this text if you are traveling or just a travel enthusiast and you will be immersed in the 'hit the road' attittude Kerouac pushes. For me, though, I think the most compelling part of this read was the realization that he wrote his entire first draft in two weeks on a 100-ft scroll he taped into his typewriter. For someone interested in the writing craft this is a deeply compelling idea. Most novels struggle with an author who wakes up every day in a slightly different mood him/herself and the text can reflect that but Kerouac saw this one through, albeit on a hazy benzadrine kick. It also entranced me to think of this book as the closest portal into the lives of the mysterious and short-lived beat poets. These were men who cut their teeth in the streets of New York City at a time when the depression and the first great war had left people at a complete loss and they struggled with those emotions through their prose and poetry. Can you dig it?
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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PS in case anyone was curious George you have to click on the title to take you to the link - sorry next time I'll throw it into the body of the post.
ReplyDeleteThis was my initial reaction to 'On The Road' as soon as I read those last magical, tragical words:
ReplyDeleteYou know how sometimes a book is so serious, so damn relevant to everything and to it all that you up and forget how to smile and forget how to think and all you can do is feel the weight of that book like a thick winter snow that fell heavy on your entire world and you can't see the buildings from the cars, the streets from the sidewalks, just that plain as Jane white snow blending everything into pastiche until you can't tell which parts of life are real or if any of it is.