LearnHub

I guess he’d be okay with that, I’m sure he thought of himself the same way :)

It had more to do with the era than the region I suppose. At the time when romantic poetry flourished (18th-19th century), American literature hardly existed at all.

I agree that it’s important to appreciate both kinds. I’m a big fan of romantic poetry. But I do agree with the purists to an extent, in that classical poetry (mostly romantics) came to truly define English poetry as a genre. Eliot’s work sometimes hovers tantalisingly close to the poetry-prose border. In addition, his themes are almost always strictly “un-poetic”. But that does not take away the sheer brilliance of his work. In fact, epic poems historically tend not to be straitjacketed in a rigid structure, and don’t always follow rhyming. Kahlil Gibran, who was a contemporary of Eliot, albeit a much more popular poet, was also not entirely conventional. But he bridged the poetry-prose gap much more effectively, or maybe his themes were simply more poetic. Eliot defied way too many conventions to be popular. I personally like to believe he was too talented to follow any rules set by men before him.

I’ll give the lesson a shot, but it may take a while. My job has been rather cruel to me of late :(

I so looove this poem. I actually read this before “The Wasteland”, and don’t hate me for this, but I like it better! Eliot was not essentially a poet in the traditional sense. But that was part of his appeal I guess, or perhaps his entire appeal. On the one hand he came up with sad, cynical epics like Prufrock and Wasteland, and on the other he also wrote children’s poems about anthropomorphic “practical” cats! He broke from conventional rhyming schemes, intorduced non-romantic, non-landscape imagery into poetry, and oh, how he loved to allude. He was extremely well-read, in English as well as vernacular literature. Prufrock contains countless references to famous literature pieces from all across the world. In fact an entire lesson can be devoted to the allusions in his poetry alone. The same is true for Wasteland. Honestly, sometimes he just appears to be showing off :)

His work was so different from his predecessors (Romantics and Victorians), that some of them refuse to acknowledge it as poetry at all. The themes were much more humane, but the outlook was far more cynical. Some people credit him with attracting a new class of readers to poetry, others criticize him for driving the traditional readers away. I guess It is in the nature of great artists to polarise opinions.

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool

I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas

Alliteration, Tiff :)

Also check out Eliot’s Hollow Men and Four Quartets.

Ledger – definitely an aye from me, in fact I think the movie deserves a shot in the other popular categories too.

I’m the biggest Eastwood fan, and plan to catch Gran Torino soon. Saw “Changeling” recently, also directed by him. Really well-made movie. Angelina Jolie’s hotness usually makes it easy to forget that she’s an Oscar-winning actress. But not this time!

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” starring Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei. Plan to watch that too.

Everyone knows the classics, but here’s some that I believe should’ve been more famous than they are.

“You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it’s me, I’m a little f-d up maybe, but I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to f-n’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?” – Joe Pesci in Goodfellas

“A guy told me one time, don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.” – Robert DeNiro in Heat

“Daydream delusion, limousine eyelash. O baby with your pretty face, drop a tear in my wineglass” – The vagabond poet in Before Sunrise.

“No mistakes in the tango, not like life. If you get all tangled up, just tango on” – Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. Oh also, “When in doubt… f*” :)

“I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.” – Samuel Jackson in Pulp Fiction

“We…thought…you…was…A TOAD!” – Tim Blake Nelson in O Brother, Where art Thou?

“The Dude: It’s like what Lenin said… you look for the person who will benefit, and, uh, uh…
Donny: I am the walrus?” – The Big Lebowski

“That’s right. I’ve killed women and children. I’ve killed just about everything that walks or crawled at one time or another. And I’m here to kill you, Little Bill, for what you did to Ned.” – Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven

More to come

Nope, haven’t heard about it. But I agree that a story based in your city sounds kinda cool. Although I’m pretty sure the Big Apple dwellers must be sick and tired of the concept by now :)

Yup Sandman really is something else, but there’s no doubting that it’s a graphic novel. The market for graphic novels may be relatively limited compared to conventional novels, but the genres run parallel to a great extent. Sandman is kinda like fantasy fiction, although the stunning visuals give it an altogether different feel. Watchmen is genre-bending in a way, but broadly falls in the superhero/crime/pulp genre, with a dash of anthropic principle thrown in :)

Although Watchmen clearly is the most acclaimed of Alan Moore’s works, I find V for Vendetta almost as good, and even better in certain ways. What it lacks in character development compared to Watchmen, it makes up for with the sheer awesomeness of dialogue. The movie adaptation was okay, but nothing compared to the comic. They made unneccesary story changes and totally blew the anarchy theme.

I only recently got my hands on the Hellblazer series, though I’d been hearing about it for a long time, and had even seen Keanu Reeves’ retarded depiction of John Constantine. What a pity they cast the most stonefaced actor of all time to play such an amazingly badass character.

Check this out for a dose of anti-climax: http://karthickgopal.com/2009/01/they-killed-the-batman-in-final-crisis/

Somebody mention Holden ol’ boy? I could sense it :)
Naah I’d better not go down that road again. Although that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few roads I’d love to go down again.

That, for me, is the “moral of the story”, if you please. There’s always a part of your life you’d rather live again, maybe even wanna be stuck in forever. When Fitzgerald wrote the story, he actually set out to prove Twain wrong. The story shows that the best part of your life doesn’t in fact come at the beginning. You’re as helpless and dependent as a child as you’re as an old person. However, there is a certain “golden period” for most of us, that we look forward to as children and then look back upon longingly as senior citizens. Depending on individual experiences, this may vary greatly. But it’s safe to say that it doesn’t come towards either the beginning or the end. In many cases it starts towards late adolescence and lasts till “the hardness of this world slowly grinds your dreams away, and you lose yourself in work to do, work to do and bills to pay”, to quote The Boss.

As a child or a young teenager you’re curious about the world, and even more so about your own abilities. You see people you admire, and you think, “can that be me”? You’re anxious to test yourself, to see what you can achieve, and so you can’t wait to grow up. As a really old man you’re past your prime. You’ve seen your best, and you wish you could be your best again. You’re not looking forward to anything except the end, and that’s only because you don’t have a time machine. If you were an achiever, you’d love to live those moments again. If you screwed up, you’d wish for a second chance.

Of course, for some people, the wonder years may be overrated. Some are too ambitious to achieve everything they can while they can, others enjoy middle-age as much as youth. But even for ambitious people, the game is more fun towards the start and the little achievements that start them out on the path to bigger success matter more. Going back to that old cliche of the journey being more important than the destination, very often people may start running out of destinations as they grow older. Many may find the “real world” just too damn hard, which makes them wanna go back to simpler times. This does not necessarily mean childhood.

I’m reminded of Philip Roth’s “Everyman”, which I just finished reading. It is about a retired man who battles with the various health problems that often accompany old age, and simply can’t get the image of his young and healthy self out of his mind. It is at least partly autobiographical, so the author knew what he was talkin’ about.

Of course, if you were witness to WWII as a young man, you’re likely to end up being as cynical of life as a whole as Kurt Vonnegut or Joseph Heller. Who knows, you may even come unstuck in time a la Billy Pilgrim, and then you’d never miss any moment cos you’d live each of them all the time :)

One of the worst covers I can think of is Scissor Sisters covering Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” – as close to sacrilege for me as anything can be. Surprisingly though, David Gilmour reportedly found it “interesting”. I wish that was a euphemism!

Another cover that I find somewhat blasphemous is Judas Priest’s take on Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust”. Why oh why did a metal band have to cover a melancholy romantic number at all?

Metallica’s version of “Whiskey in the Jar” totally ruins the beautiful classic rock feel that Thin Lizzy’s original has. Robbie Williams’ cover of “We are the Champions” is also irritating. His attempt to imitate the inimitable Freddie Mercury is cringe-worthy for some reason.

I don’t particularly like GNR’s “Knockin’ on heaven’s door” either. It’s ok, but doesn’t hold a candle to the original.

One cover that I can’t classify either among the best or the worst is Wyclef Jean’s hip-hop version of Floyd’s “Wish you were here”. It’s kinda interesting, mostly cos you don’t expect a hip-hop artist to cover progressive rock numbers. Also, Jean is pretty damn good on the vocals.

Oh yea, almost forgot, Limp Bizkit covering The Who’s “Behind blue eyes” is an event worth mention in the rock ‘n’ roll hall of shame.

Here’s my list:

Best (needless to say, I love all the originals too)

- Stairway to heaven – Dread Zeppelin covering Led Zeppelin. Unbelievable!
- All along the watchtower – Dave Matthews band covering Dylan. Hendrix’s cover is much acclaimed and obviously I love that too.
- Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley covering Leonard Cohen
- Hush – Kula Shaker covering Deep Purple
- Hurt – Johnny Cash covering NIN. This is so damn awesome that Trent Reznor said “I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn’t mine anymore…”. ‘Nuff said!
- All Beatles covers by Joe Cocker
- Man who sold the world – Nirvana covering Bowie
- Lake of fire – Nirvana covering The Meat Puppets
- Wish you were here – Sparklehorse and Thom Yorke covering Pink Floyd
- Turn the page – Metallica covering Bob Seger
- Stand by me – John Lennon covering Ben King
- Sweet Home Chicago – Buddy Guy covering Robert Johnson

Will list out the worst ones later.

Hmm..yea that’s a good point. Although Hush did feature Catwoman as some sort of an accomplice to the Bat in a much more significant way than earlier stories. Even Harvey Dent redeems himself towards the end by coming to Batman’s aid. Moreover, afer Heath Ledger’s awesome performance, some Joker-centric storylines in which Batman is aided by Dent migh be fun to read.

Boy you’re really on a roll! Great job again. Anyway, here’s my bucketload of balderdash…

Blinding blue blurs my breadth of view
Burgeoning, but barely breaks your breathtaking hue
Bianca :), you buoyant bubble of all things bright
Bewildered by some unseen bête noire, broken brakes in flight
Dive not deep into the dark dungeons of despair
Beware the ruse, breathe out your blues, be not afraid to care

Eyes to eat, tongue to touch
A fix of your tricks gets it all mixed up
I hear a tear when you’re not there
Fiercely forsaken, even by fear

Dusty dream, saw you dressing down
Never nary a notion of nosing around
I try and try but why is it no good
I think I lie, I think I should

Who’s it to you? To me it’s you
They say this thing through warm guns too
They also say, it’s all a play
‘Tis too tough to get through today

Pardon the pathetic poetry under performance pressure.

“Lamhe” is actually really good, even the song and dance isn’t entirely over-the-top, trust me, check out most other movies of that era. Yash Chopra made decent movies with great music and cinematography. But I agree the plot sounds kinda creepy when you put it like that :)
“Chandni” (Moonlight) by the same director is also worth a watch.

The 80s were a very weird time for Indian cinema. On the one hand, some of the most blatantly commercial (and not in a good way) stuff came out during the decade. But there were exceptions too. Check out “Shakti” (Power), which came out in 1982. There’s another movie by that name that really really sucks, so beware!

Also, it was probably the most critical period for what are termed “art movies” or parallel cinema here. Check out “Ardhasatya” (The half-truth) and some of the movies by Sai Paranjpye if you can find those – “Katha” (Story), “Sparsh” (Touch), “Chashme-buddoor” (Begone, evil eye), and “Disha” (Direction) are all really good. These may not be the typical Bollywood stuff you expect, but very well-made movies nonetheless.

BEAUtiful!

Haha, thanks for the suggestion, but that would require an exponential climb in my coolness quotient! With my corporate lookie and pseudo-intellectual rants I’d be “chewed up and spit out and booed off stage”! Maybe I could dress up like my dino avatar, it’s way cooler than I am :)

Speaking of rap, have you seen these: http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbbxA8a_M_s
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=-xEzGIuY7kw

You know what I just realized, rap verse is largely based on assonance!