Singularity meme
Oct. 17th, 2004 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peteryoungName a book/CD/DVD you own that no one on your friends list does.
Name a book you own that no one on your friends list does
Bill Porter, Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits, 1993
Porter went travelling around China looking for people who must be the world's most reclusive human beings, mostly solitary Taoist monks who choose not to get out much – in fact, at all. It's a gem of a book, filled with interviews, photographs and a wealth of insights into personal experiences of Taoism in extremis.
Name an album you own that no one on your friends list does
Sainkho Namchylak, Letters
Namchylak is a Siberian vocalist from Tuva. I first heard her on the Andreas Vollenweider CD Book of Roses, and was stunned by what she does with her voice. Letters is based on correspondence between herself and her father back home, as she tries and mostly fails to carve out a singing career in Moscow. The first track 'Letter 1' is brilliant improv with the Moscow avant garde jazz group Kieloor Entartet; the rest of the album is the weirdest shit you ever heard as she pushes the limits of what she can get out of her voice. On the obscure and very uncommercial British label Leo Records, Letters is mostly unlistenable as music but I still dig it out every now and then when I feel my musical boundaries need to be considerably stretched.
Name a movie you own on DVD/VHS/whatever that no-one else on your friends list does
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
Filmed a couple of years ago for just a few thousand dollars in Bronson Canyon, it's a well-scripted, post-modern spoof of skiffy b/w 50s drive-in cinema. The actors are faced with the difficult task of being both a) terrible and b) concisely funny to a 21st century audience, but they mostly pull it off with a sharp script and a Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid style of delivery. One criticism is that they didn't make use of a tediously slow but dramatically scored chase scene across the Canyon (as in Robot Monster or The Astounding She-Monster), devised to give amorous drive-in couples some time for a bit of heavy petting. For me most b-movie homages fall completely flat (like the thoroughly gonzo Galaxy of the Dinosaurs) but this is far above the average, certainly worth more than a single viewing.
Name a book you own that no one on your friends list does
Bill Porter, Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits, 1993
Porter went travelling around China looking for people who must be the world's most reclusive human beings, mostly solitary Taoist monks who choose not to get out much – in fact, at all. It's a gem of a book, filled with interviews, photographs and a wealth of insights into personal experiences of Taoism in extremis.
Name an album you own that no one on your friends list does
Sainkho Namchylak, Letters
Namchylak is a Siberian vocalist from Tuva. I first heard her on the Andreas Vollenweider CD Book of Roses, and was stunned by what she does with her voice. Letters is based on correspondence between herself and her father back home, as she tries and mostly fails to carve out a singing career in Moscow. The first track 'Letter 1' is brilliant improv with the Moscow avant garde jazz group Kieloor Entartet; the rest of the album is the weirdest shit you ever heard as she pushes the limits of what she can get out of her voice. On the obscure and very uncommercial British label Leo Records, Letters is mostly unlistenable as music but I still dig it out every now and then when I feel my musical boundaries need to be considerably stretched.
Name a movie you own on DVD/VHS/whatever that no-one else on your friends list does
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
Filmed a couple of years ago for just a few thousand dollars in Bronson Canyon, it's a well-scripted, post-modern spoof of skiffy b/w 50s drive-in cinema. The actors are faced with the difficult task of being both a) terrible and b) concisely funny to a 21st century audience, but they mostly pull it off with a sharp script and a Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid style of delivery. One criticism is that they didn't make use of a tediously slow but dramatically scored chase scene across the Canyon (as in Robot Monster or The Astounding She-Monster), devised to give amorous drive-in couples some time for a bit of heavy petting. For me most b-movie homages fall completely flat (like the thoroughly gonzo Galaxy of the Dinosaurs) but this is far above the average, certainly worth more than a single viewing.
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Date: 2004-10-18 12:10 pm (UTC)