My sister Lara and I were talking about American Idol on the phone the other day, and I mentioned how cool these guys were:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/ilg_lLZebLU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
What did you think, Lara?
I like Chris Sligh and Blake Lewis.
[tags]American Idol, Chris Sligh, Blake Lewis, Rudy Cardenas, Thomas Lowe[/tags]
If you read Jane Smiley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Thousand Acres, I recommend that you read Shakespeare’s King Lear first. Several versions of the play are available, including a subscription in forty parts from DailyLit.com, but I recommend the Folger Shakespeare Library’s edition for portability and explanatory notes. You will enjoy Smiley’s novel all the more if you realize what a loving, painstaking homage it is to one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. You will enjoy it in its own right, but it’s power is diminished, I think, without the side-by-side comparison to King Lear.
Smiley’s version centers around Larry Cook (Lear), a farmer in Zebulon County, Iowa, and his three daughters Ginny (Goneril), Rose (Regan), and Caroline (Cordelia). Larry decides to divide his thousand-acre farm among his three daughters, insisting he is saving them an inheritance tax. The daughters do not want him to do this, but Larry possesses a single-mindedness that will not be crossed. When Caroline objects more firmly, she is cut out of the deal. The family gradually implodes under Larry’s seeming madness, a suit to get back his land, and Ginny and Rose’s competition for the affections of neighbor’s son Jess Clark (Edmund).
Smiley’s story deviates from Shakespeare’s in providing Ginny and Rose with reasons — physical and sexual abuse — to hate their father. I have to admit that they seemed almost saintly in their accommodation of him after what he had done to them. Shakespeare’s Goneril and Regan were simply, as Lear put it, “unnatural hags.” Thus, I felt that Ginny and Rose had depth of character and complicated layers that Goneril and Regan lacked.
As this is told from the viewpoint of Ginny, Larry’s portrayal is never sympathetic, and though he cuts an imposing figure from Ginny’s point of view, he never quite reaches Lear’s stature with the reader. I was impressed, however, by how Smiley was able to take plot elements from the play and seamlessly incorporate them into A Thousand Acres without making the story seem stilted or forced. In the back of my mind, until Part Four or Part Five of the novel, I was sure she wouldn’t find a way to incorporate some part or other of the King Lear story, but she managed to do it every time. The story differs in the end, but not substantially so, and I suppose one could argue the difference is moot — the family is no less destroyed in Smiley’s One Thousand Acres than in Shakespeare’s King Lear, but in either case, you’ll enjoy two well-written works and explore timeless themes of “truth, justice, love, and pride,” ultimately making a universal story “profoundly American.”
I wouldn’t have guessed that.
[tags]Luke Skywalker, quiz, science fiction[/tags]
Tony Steidler-Dennison has posted his 105th Roadhouse Podcast. You can read the show notes or listen at the Roadhouse 105, or you can listen here:
[odeo=http://odeo.com/audio/9075573/view]
[tags]Roadhouse Podcast, blues[/tags]
Thanks to my parents, who watched the kids last night so I could go out for a change, I got to see the Kelly Richey Band live at Darwin’s. Kelly was awesome. If you get a chance to see her, you should. Here is a repost of a clip of Kelly playing Jimi Hendrix’s “Hey Joe”:
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When we saw her at Darwin’s, she played behind her head, just like she does here, and it was so cool.
I have to tell a little story — when we walked in the bar, we sat down in the back. I looked around the room a bit, then noticed Steve was sitting right next to Kelly Richey. She and the band were at the next table. After the show, I got a chance to meet Kelly and talk with her. She was very nice and approachable, and so gracious.
I’m a fan for life, and now I can’t wait to see her again when I get a chance.
[tags]Kelly Richey, blues[/tags]
This one looks fun (via the Classical Bookworm). Here is how it works:
[tags]literature, book, meme[/tags]
Are you a busy mom who has always wanted to read the classics but has limited time? Do you have a full-time job that saps your energy and leaves you unable to read at the end of a long day?
Have I got a site for you! DailyLit (via Anne).
I’m finally tackling Moby Dick, but choosing a book was hard.
Tony Steidler-Dennison has posted the 104th Roadhouse podcast. He hasn’t posted the show notes at his blog yet, but when he does, I’ll link them. Meanwhile, enjoy the podcast, which includes my special requests Kelly Richey and Susan Tedeschi:
[odeo=http://odeo.com/audio/8472413/view]
This week’s podcast marks Tony’s second anniversary. Congratulations, Tony!
Update: Tony posted show notes.
Flipping channels this afternoon, we discovered that 2001: A Space Odyssey was playing on Turner Classic Movies. One of the things that occurred to me when we watched the film was how difficult it really is to determine what the future will be like. The future depicted in the movie was accurate about the following innovations, all available in 2001 (via Wikipedia):
Other aspects of life in 2001 proved harder to predict. By 2001, we really didn’t have the following:
In my opinion, however, the film is still ground-breaking. Not many filmmakers today have the nerve to do some of the things Stanley Kubrick did — the open ending, the use of quiet and sound (who can forget the segments when the only sound is Dave’s breathing).
My dad had the soundtrack to 2001 on vinyl. When I was a teenager, I put in on the stereo and listened. I remember tears streaming down my face as I listened to the Gayane Adagio from Khatchaturian. At the time, I thought it was the saddest music I had ever heard, and I believe it still is.
The scene in which Dave has to shut down HAL is one of the most moving scenes in science fiction cinema. I can’t find a video of the whole scene, but here is the end:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/WliFIfXNTEY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
I wish it had the part when HAL tells Dave he is afraid. It’s chilling.
What do you think this movie means?
[tags]Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2001, HAL 9000, YouTube[/tags]
I don’t listen to the second CD in my Grace Legacy Edition by Jeff Buckley, which is something I guess I need to remedy. I had forgotten there were such gems as the “Stax-inspired” “I Want Someone Badly,” which was written by Nathan Larson of Shudder to Think. This track combines two musical loves — Buckley and the blues. Awesome.
[tags]Jeff Buckley, I Want Someone Badly, Shudder to Think, Nathan Larson, Grace[/tags]
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