_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
ejp626
-
Posts
5,922 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Donations
0.00 USD
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Posts posted by ejp626
-
-
Exploring some of the bonus features in the Monty Python Blu-ray set. On the Season 4 disc, there are some commercials that the Pythons did including a 25 minute industrial film for Birds Eye Peas! This was shot during Season 3 so it has John in it. It really is not that far different from a full-length show but with a very narrow focus on making peas "younger." As far as I know, no one has interviewed anyone from Birds Eye Peas to see if they got what they thought they were getting.
Other random thoughts - the Most Awful Family in Britain sketch from "Party Political Broadcast" seems very much the template for The Young Ones. Maybe the next time through watching The Young Ones I will feel that it is somewhat derivative.
Also watching The Oscar Wilde skit from Season 3 I misremembered that as being from Black Adder.
-
Hemingway's The Torrents of Spring.
What an odd book. It is deliberately written as a parody of the style of some of Hemingway's fellow writers in Paris. Sherwood Anderson is name checked in the introduction, and my understanding is that Hemingway was also poking at Ford Madox Ford as well.
Does it really stand on its own (like a Flann O'Brien comic novel)? No, not particularly. Would I read this a second time? Certainly not. Once is enough.
Still reading lots of poetry for a project. Mostly starting with the New York School (Frank O'Hara, Ted Berrigan, Alice Notley, Kenneth Koch, etc.) but also Kenneth Rexroth and David Ignatow. Then working backwards and forwards.
Will probably be getting back to Don Quixote after a long layoff later this week.
-
Actually unissued (not a reissue) live tracks from 1964, but still seems to fit better here. Ian Carr/Don Rendell Blue Beginnings is available as a pre-release on Bandcamp: https://jazzinbritain1.bandcamp.com/album/blue-beginnings
with full release expected April 21.
-
3 hours ago, Dan Gould said:
Nice, and congratulations, Mark. The on-demand option is a good idea and I think I will take advantage.
Agreed. It is quite odd but still interesting to plug in to concerts (jazz or classical) that are far from "home." Live concerts are still strictly forbidden in Toronto.
I am finding myself tuning in to Vancouver Symphony Orchestra livestreams (where I have at least some connection to that orchestra). Obviously there is a limit on how much one can listen to, but I will consider this marathon, as well as a DSO-sponsored concert by Regina Carter and Xavier Davis on Feb. 12.
-
1 hour ago, Captain Howdy said:
>getting offended on behalf of Martians
SJWs. SMH.
Given how many times he works in the N word (and indeed has someone say the Martians are genetically related to Africans!) I think it is safe to say quite a few people would be offended, not just people who care about the ethical treatment of Martians.
Twain's Huck Finn and maybe Conrad's novel may or may not survive in today's cancel culture, but this much slighter effort might not.
-
PKD's Martian Time-Slip
This cover is hilarious. Makes it look like a Heinlein juvenile...
There was quite a lot I didn't care for, particularly when Dick kept conflating autism and schizophrenia, which I didn't appreciate (to say nothing of how crudely the Martian natives were discussed by the settlers), but he did stick the landing.
-
-
Exciting news. I believe this Friday is another Bandcamp Friday, so this looks like it will be added to the list...
-
Just now, sidewinder said:
Well, my opinion so far is that the music in this set is actually superior to any of the commercial Paraphernalia LP releases that I have. Audio quality is very good, as typical of the BBC FM broadcasts of the era. Really digging this BBC box and it makes a great accompaniment to enjoying Barbara’s very down to earth bio.
I am tempted, and I'll probably eventually order it. But I am not quite read to pull the trigger. Thanks for the review though.
-
On 12/21/2020 at 11:21 AM, sidewinder said:
An exceptional month for Barbara Thompson fans. Not only does she have her autobiography published but there’s also a box set 14CD issue of her BBC recordings.
https://barbara-thompson.co.uk/product/barbara-thompson-live-at-the-bbc/
I'm holding off on this (for now), but I did order The Last Fandango from her store on Amazon.co.uk. Somehow they sent me 2 sealed copies! I'll see what they want to do but pretty much anything is going to be a bit of a hassle or perhaps costly.
-
I stumbled across Big Miller and a whole album of songs by Langston Hughes. Was pretty interesting: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112757312
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-5330523-1462544030-6912.jpeg.jpg)
-
1 hour ago, Rooster_Ties said:
Children, and buildings too...
Different loophole used as late as 1988 to mail bricks to Alaska - https://apnews.com/article/281d3e682569b2cc5edd890bf600d17e
I actually remembered hearing of this one at the time.
-
Saw Night of the Iguana for the first time.
Definitely interesting. I had seen the play many years ago. I hope to again some day, though it is not staged all that often. At any rate, I went through the script to see what Huston had changed or more typically rearranged. Williams' play is more direct about several things that are left a bit ambiguous in the movie, and the play also contains a couple of Germans who are Nazi supporters (!) (wisely left out of the film). Huston also seems to have moved the setting up to the early 1960s whereas the play is set in the 40s. I thought the rearranging of the very final scene worked pretty well, though there are certainly those who feel the stage version ends better.
The special features were pretty nice, especially the color shots of the set (and apparently Huston pulled a Herzog, long before Herzog, building a set in a completely remote area where everything had to be hauled up a small mountain). And some clips of Elizabeth Taylor hanging out with the cast -- her presence was particularly scandalous as she was still married to Eddie Fisher...
-
On 2021-01-30 at 10:12 AM, RogerF said:
I see that the Canadian company Return To Analog has reissued on vinyl the very rare Lansdowne recording Afro-Jazz by Guy Warren which features the Rendell Carr Quintet plus Amancio D'Silva on guitar. Return To Analog
I briefly considered ordering this, as it is a Canadian outfit, but even shipping within Canada ranges from $13-16, and I assume it is considerably higher to send outside Canada. Hoping that it is released more widely in another format and/or digitally...
Actually, I see that Sonic Boom here has a few of their LPs in stock and may be doing curbside pickup. I may weaken...
-
On 2021-01-30 at 10:01 AM, ejp626 said:
I've extended the library loan on Emberton a couple of times, but am going to finish it this weekend.
This starts off well with strong shades of Kafka's The Trial & The Castle as the protagonist goes off to work at eerie Emberton Tower where the Emberton Dictionary is published but midway through it turns into a weird (and not very good) metaphysical fantasy where the essence of language is distilled into a liquid that can make dyslexic people read but at a cost of sucking words out of the world outside the tower. I probably should just drop it at this point, but there isn't much left and I do want to get it back to the library.
-
I've mostly been reading poetry for a project I've been working on. A lot of old favorites, but also exploring poets I'm aware of but not that up on their work - Richard Wilbur is a good example. I also stumbled across Michael Heller during this process.
I've extended the library loan on Emberton a couple of times, but am going to finish it this weekend.
I really should get back to Don Quixote after that. You'd think I'd find the time, since I really don't get to leave the house, but I still find it hard to focus.
-
3 hours ago, Dan Gould said:
I was actually thinking about that kind of abode and how I know how much cooler they are as I was typing my post. But I ain't building one and I don't think they are easy to find in this state either.
I think your water table is too high, at least in the more humid parts of the state...
-
1 hour ago, sonnymax said:
My favorite bit of dumb-assery from the article is the celebrity who won't catch Covid because they sleep with the temperature up to 90...
Cases starting to come down pretty steeply in Ontario. Hope this trend continues even with the UK-variant breaching our defenses.
-
Saw A Shot in the Dark over weekend. I actually like it better than The Pink Panther which drags in quite a few spots.
-
I caught both nights of Eric Harland with Chris Potter, Joel Ross and Austin White. In one case, with only about 30 minutes to spare...
I liked the vibes/sax combo. It worked well.
-
12 minutes ago, sidewinder said:
You can also buy direct from Barbara’s Temple Music site - they might be able to do something better on the shipping. Barbara’s excellent bio can also be bought from there.
Thanks for the tip, though unfortunately they are about £5 higher than the BBC site...
-
The Barbara Thompson box wasn't on my radar, but it does seem tempting, esp. some of the big band broadcasts on the first few CDs. I'll give it some more thought and also see what the shipping costs are as everything shakes out. I mentioned elsewhere that Amazon.co.uk rates to North America are sheer piracy now, but sometimes there are better rates going direct with other vendors.
Going through the BBC site shipping charges are roughly £15 to Canada and £19 to the US. I guess that is the Commonwealth-bonus?
Certainly steeper than I like and I may hold off for a while and/or see if a North American distributor turns up.
-
Was poking around listening to Brett Dean compositions (some I like a lot, some do not do as much for me...), when I stumbled across Dean conducting Ross Harris's Symphony 4.
Decided to investigate further, as Harris is a contemporary composer not afraid to use melody (largely abandoned by so many contemporary composers).
His Symphony #1 does not appear to be on a CD release, but is available here: https://sounz.org.nz/resources/17385?locale=en
Symphonies 2-6 are available on Naxos, and I'll probably go through the rest of them today.
-
So glad to hear from you and that you are well, all things considered. I read about finding the power chair as a Go Fund Me update. Awesome.
New Sam Rivers and others on No Business
in New Releases
Posted
I believe it is because those Bastards are so skilled at separating you from your money, but maybe someone has a different etymology.