Little Thinkers (7 of 16) Ludwig van Beethoven

Greetings to our blog readers in the Czech Republic, The Bahamas and Laos (?!, well, we have gotten at least one hit from there before).

Tonight, we quote the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, whom us Generation X'ers became familiar with in some part because his music is featured prominently in Stanley Kubrick's film version of "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), which was originally a novel by Anthony Burgess.

Those who like to listen to classic music on the radio may want to tune to the American daily public radio series "Performance Today," which airs on WFDD (88.5-FM; Winston-Salem, NC), and other public radio stations.

For those who want to see classical music up close and personal and happy to reside in the Denver-area, The Colorado Symphony is offering a companion concert series this weekend to the Denver Art Museum's "Passport to Paris." Among the pieces that the symphony will perform will be several from Frederick Chopin.

Here is our quote from Ludwig van:

"Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit your own errors."

SIDEBAR: Those of us on the east coast probably didn't get a chance to watch the University of California-Santa Barbara Gauchos (10-5; 1-1 in the Big West) win their home game versus the Long Beach State '49ers (5-12; 1-2 in the Big West)  by a score of  64-51. The Gauchos were lead by Michael Brayson (soph. Sacramento, Calif.) who scored 13 points. His teammate Alan Williams (jr. Phoenix, Ariz.) had a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds. For the visitors, Mike Caffey (jr., Corona, Calif.) scored 21 points. The game aired nationally on ESPN-U.

http://www.wfdd.org

http://www.coloradosymphony.org

http://www.ucsbgauchos.com

http://www.longbeachstate.com

In Honor of Banned Book Week: Passages from Six Books (not all of them were banned)

There is always a thin line between knowing which books or films were outright banned, or if some were just banned in certain parts of the world or country. I am virtually 100-percent that the film version of the Gunter Grass novel "The Tin Drum" was banned in Oklahoma, but perhaps now one can find a copy at the Tulsa Public Library: http://www.tulsalibrary.org/

My friend Tommy Trull, a playwright in Greensboro, NC, made a suggestion on Facebook this week, that everyone should take a book (I suppose it can be either fiction of nonfiction) and go to page 52 of that book and write down the fifth sentence from that book.

Well, here this evening, we are going to do that with 12 books: Six of them will be here, the other six will be on our sister blog: http://www.politcscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

The answers will be at the very end of the entry

1) When we asked him to sum up his impression of the girls' emotional state at that point, he said, "Buffered but not broken."

2) You learn to stay away from fat citizens in python suits, any swelling or protuberance is something to avoid and pregnant women have the streets to themselves.

3) "He knows," Jody said.

4) "W-who did it, Lou?"

5) The container had been packed half full of steel cylinders of some sort, each with a protective wooden box with a lid.

6) 'Well, said Georgie, 'if you must have it, have it then.'




Answers:

1) "The Virgin Suicides" by Jeffrey Eugenides

2) "The Wild Boys" by William S. Burroughs

3) "You Suck: A Love Story" by Christopher Moore (pictured bottom)

4) "The Killer Inside Me" by Jim Thompson (pictured center)

5) "The 100-Year-Old Man who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared" by Jonas Jonasson

6) "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess (pictured top)


 http://www.malaprops.com/ (Bookstore in Asheville, NC)

http://www.boulderbookstore.net/ (Bookstore in Boulder, Colo.)

http://www.politics-prose.com/ (Bookstore in Washington, DC)


http://www.hplct.org/ (Hartford Public Library in Hartford, Conn.)

http://www.slcpl.lib.ut.us/ (Salt Lake City Public Library in Salt Lake City, Utah)

http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

Last Ten Films I've Seen....'Malcolm' in the Middle

Contrary to this image of Malcolm McDowell, Stanley Kubrick's surreal masterpiece "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) is NOT among the last ten films I've seen. But, I did see the three-hour against-the-grain musical comedy/political satire "O Lucky Man!"
(1973, dir-Lindsay Anderson) which McDowell actually consders his favorite film.

Here is the rest of the list:

1. "Suzanne's Career"* (France. 1963. dir-Eric Rohmer)
2. "Zulum/Cruelty" **(Turkey. 1972. w/Turkan Soray. dir-Atif Yilmaz)
3. "O Lucky Man!" (UK. 1973. w/Malcolm McDowell. dir-Lindsay Anderson)
4. "Punishment Park" (1971. dir-Peter Watkins).
5. "Wanda" (1970. dir-Barbara Loden)
6. "A Man for All Seasons" (1966. w/Paul Schroder and Robert Shaw. dir-Fred Zinneman)
7. "Lifespan" (Holland. 1976. w/Klaus Kinski. dir-Sandy Whitelaw)
8. "Prince of Persia" (2010. dir-Mike Newell)
9. "Yazgi/Fate)"** (Turkey. 2001. dir-Zeki Demirkubuz"
10. "The Fugitive Kind" (1959. w/Marlon Brando. dir-Sidney Lumet).

*-Not a full-feature length film
**-Not distributed in the United States

Here are some notes on the other films in the list:

"Suzanne's Career" is the second film in Rohmer's "Moral Tales" series, which includes what many consider to be his best film- "Claire's Knee" (1971).

"Zulum/Cruelty" is a vintage Turkish melodrama with a very young Turkan Soray who is known as the 'Queen of Turkish cinema.' It makes for an excellent guilty pleasure, but needless to say it was not a challenger to Luis Bunuel's French film "The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie" which deservedly won the Best Foreign-Language film Oscar in 1972.

"Punishment Park" is a docudrama based on the 'siege mentality' concept. Along with the documentary "FTA" with Jane Fonda, it is one of several Vietnam War-era films which were effectively banned in America for political reasons. In the film, anti-war protestors choose to go to Punishment Park where they must capture an American flag on top of a mountain as opposed to federal prison. But, they soon find out that with armed law enforcement officers trailing them that they made the wrong choice.

"Lifespan" is vintage kitsch, and Kinski's appearance in the film makes it even more so. The plot is bascially this: "A doctor trying to develop a serum to strengthen his life tries his formula on nursing home residents.' Pardon the cliche, but this is definitely NOT for all tastes. In fact, I'm wondering if the film even offended me!

"Yazgi/Fate" is based on the novel "The Stranger" by the late French writer Albert Camus. The film by Zeki Demirkubuz, one of Turkey's most acclaimed directors, deal with the ramifications of nilihism as the title character is presumed guilty of a crime he did not commit because of his emotional detachment to the victims.

Lastly, "The Fugitive Kind," which is based on the Tennessee Williams play "Orphesus Descending" features four Oscar-winners. In addition, to Brando, the erotic for its time film has Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward and Maureen Stapleton in its cast--all of whom won Oscars during their carreers. Woodward is the only one of the four who is still alive. Magnani, who became famous for her performance in the Italian classic "Open City" reportedly lusted after Brando, but he was not romantically interested in her.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Kid Eating Cereal

Is it just me or does this English kid look like a young Malcolm McDowell?