I have been on a movie watching kick lately. I haven't watched this many movies since I was living by myself (when I watched around 12 a week - nothing else to do, I'd already read all my books).
Recently I've watched: Forbidden Kingdom (twice), Iron Man, Speed Racer, The Darjeeling Lmtd, There Will be Blood, No Country for Old Men, An American Crime, The Proposition and The Curse of the Golden Flower (also, many parts of various retarded movies along the same line as Rush Hour 2). I have also read/am reading Fury (Rushdie), Robinson Crusoe, two Agatha Christie's, Mathilda, as well as a few other smaller books whose titles escape me. I have also been listening to/studying some great new music by Haydn, Beethoven, Lizst, and some Renaissance composer (I forget again) (coming soon in this category The Art of the Fugue, of which I recently read a fascinating article whose location on the internet has also deserted my memory - unfortunately).
In spite of the title I am not going to review any of these things (at least, not in any formal way). Others have done so and they have done a far better job describing the works respective faults and strengths. I also tend to like/dislike things for odd or even unknown reasons. For instance, Speed Racer was not a great movie, or even, really, a good movie. It was, however, interesting enough that it has provided humor and headaches since I watched it (they throw beehives and snakes at each other and they have dueling car wheels, also more colors in one 30 second scene than Willy Wonka had in the whole movie).
I would however like to discuss appeal to people - as I have grown older I find that I am appreciating things for different reasons. I find that I appreciate passion for one's craft almost as much as I appreciate talent at one's craft (although execution of a craft is still the most important). In some ways I believe this is a product of the environment that I find myself in, a place where the talent pool is lower but the desire is still present. But back to appeal, it is interesting to me to find out why people like things - even if its very banal: "It makes me happy" "It appeals to my simple side" "It makes me think of cheese" and if I can find out and partially understand the appeal that it has to someone it has become increasingly difficult for me to find fault with the work. So what do you think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Check out this link. It is two people who are very good at what they do sharing the stage at the Met. Josh Ritter, a folk-rocker who is similar in some ways to Bob Dylan, shares the stage with Hilary Hahn. This is not crossover, but rather musical collaboration. Josh mainly sings/plays on his own and Hilary mainly plays on her own. They combine on a few numbers. It is quite impressive. Here's the link.
Post a Comment