America’s most humongous cinematic auteur has a new album out. Yes, traummeister Lynch records music. The albums he’s released in the past were very underground (who owns the BlueBob album) but this time around he seems to be giving his sonic endeavors more of a marketing push.
Amateurish electronic beats, seriously damp blues guitar, and atonal vocals make this reek of vanity project but the lyrics clear the air a bit. An obvious level of irony pervades the subject matter (trucks, dogs, drunken violence) and this justifies the simplistic musical base if considered as a sardonic pose. Of course you never can tell with Lynch and so really this is just the same old Lynch. On one track though, “Strange and Unproductive Thinking” which feels like the keystone of the record, Lynch (for once) shows his hand. Here Lynch speak-sings a short essay seeped in his beliefs about the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM). Though candid about the validity of TM in interviews, rarely does such subject matter appear so explicitly in his notoriously obtuse creative works.
I can only recommend Crazy Clown Time to hardcore Lynch fans, but I know there are a lot of you out there so go for it. Library owns quite a few of Lynch’s more under the radar projects; e.g., The Short Films of David Lynch, featuring some his early truly experimental work, and Dumblanda previously web-only animated series that the created most quotable soundbite this side of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
If you don’t like to “kill deer” and are looking for a more immersive Lynchian musical experience you can always go back to Angelo Badalamenti’s brilliant Blue Velvet score. It launched Badalamenti’s career. Over twenty-five years since its initial release, it only warms with age.
How can you not read a book with such a great title? I think every introvert who’s read it has said “Amen brother!” – but ya know, quietly and to ourselves.
America is one of, if not the, most extroverted nations in the world. With our rowdy frat boys and GroupThink-favoring business schools, it’s tough to be the quiet kid who just wants to read (or build computers or make movies). And yet, it is these people (Steve Wozniak and Steven Spielberg) who are often the folks most idolized by the general population.
Cain’s book is a beautifully well-reasoned explanation of why introverts are introverts. She explains that group projects like Wikipedia or Linux succeed, not because the contributors are all sitting in giant, open-floor offices (as most b-schools would advocate), but in the solitude of their own apartments and dorm rooms working alone, together.
Just because someone is louder doesn’t mean his (or less likely her) idea is better. I think Wall Street’s proven that time and time again in the recent years.
Cain also argues that it’s not better to be introverted than extroverted. Both personalities have important qualities, but it’s how we relate to each other that’s significant. And I’m sure that all the introverts among us would just like to stop having to force themselves into an extroverted world.
Karen’s review of Vogue the Covers and Madonna’s career semi-retrospective at the Super Bowl created a cultural matrix forcing me to review the recently released Voguing and the Ballroom Scene of New York 1989-92. This is the scene that sparked the voguing dance craze cemented in our cultural memory by Madge’s song. (Though voguing and famous voguers were featured here first.) In Voguing, we find candid photos of the originators of the phenomenon. And they are amazing. The back cover describes it as “a visual riot of fashion, gender, polysexuality and subversive style…” I couldn’t have said it better myself. What I find in these photos is a serious queering of Paris high fashion. These black and Latino gay and transgender men were excluded from something, so they created their own thing. It is in your face and inspiring. Besides the photos, there are interviews with movers and shakers and notable models/dancers. Or at least interviews with those that survived the first wave of the AIDS epidemic. AIDS, Madonna, and fallout from the notorious Paris is Burningdocumentary are all covered. We also get a short history of drag balls in New York. Yes, these go back hundreds of years.
A lot of series fiction has made it to the big screen recently. We discuss popular favorites and hidden gems. Our conclusion: whether romance, crime drama, or dragon lairs – sex sells.
Stuff we talked about:
Chasing Lightby Joseph Schwantner
This includes Nashville Symphony’s Grammy award winning recording of Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra.
Cop Haterby Ed McBain
This is the first of the 87th Precinct series. The series is very long but Bill recommends Ice. Ed McBain is a pseudonym of Evan Hunter. The two have written a novel “together” called Candyland.
V for Vendettaby Alan Moore and others
The Anonymous hacker collective took inspiration from this series to use the Guy Fawkes mask as their symbol.
A Game of Thronesby George R.R. Martin
This is the first of the A Song of Fire and Ice series. This volume lends its name to the popular HBO series. Season Two begins April 1st on HBO.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spyby John Le Carré
One of Le Carré’s many spy novels featuring the character George Smiley. A film version is theaters now. Gary Oldman has received an Oscar nomination for his role as Smiley.
Words cannot describe the beauty of Tiaras a History of Splendour by Geoffrey C. Munn. Munn, a leading jewelry expert in England, has written a magnificent history of the tiara. What makes this book so superb are the over 400 phenomenal illustrations that feature the tiara, the original jeweler’s sketches and often a photograph of the owner and subsequent generations wearing the tiara.
Munn’s book is a pleasure to read and thought provoking, you’ll want to know more about the women that wore these beautiful creations. This book is lush and sumptuous and would be of interest to anyone interested in fashion history or the history of jewels and jewelry.
Be nice. Be on topic.
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Crazy Clown Time
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking
Amanda
Themocracy