So, it’s finals week here in Thoronia, so we’ve been busy dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s in hopes of getting good scores on Presidential Fitness Exams. Since most of our creativity has been spent on these projects, I figured I’d point you around internet-town instead, and maybe you’ll see something you like:
Steve Gaynor, in his blog Fullbright, applies some of Roland Barthes’ (read the essay I’m thinking of here) idea’s to video games in his essay “Being There”. Oddly, he doesn’t actually mention Barthes, but it does bring some interesting arguments about authorship to the table. Worth reading if you want to picture new world with new video game design. It also brings up an interesting point in reference to Barthes’ idea’s, namely that his thoughts can be applied to any medium. I’ve heard of Barthes being taught in design classes, English, math, philosophy, history and so forth. “The Death of The Author” is one of the most applicable and easy to manipulate pieces of modern criticism, and Gaynor proves it (even if he doesn’t know it).
While we’re on the topic of video games, Brainy Gamer takes on immersion in regards to Fallout 3. He talks about this a few times in several other parts of his blog, all of them worth reading. I’m still waiting for more about his students’ take on Fallout 3 though, as I’m really curious as to how they’ll take it after playing through 1 and 2 His students played through FO 1 and 2, and their reactions to 3 can be found here (and yeah, you read that all right, as far as I can tell he teaches a Game class at a college level, but I’m still not too sure of the title of the course… either way, awesome, and something that I look forward to doing myself someday).
Oh screw it, here’s another video game story from the Escapist. Les Chappell’s article, “The Vintage Game Preservation Society” talks a bit about abandonware and copyright issues. But, more importantly has links to website’s that show how to get Syndicate and System Shock 2 running on OSX (or Windows XP for that matter).
Miles of tunnels beneath London are currently for sale. In what sounds like the beginning of a James Bond movie, London has set the price for its historic tunnels at $7.4 billion. Now, I realize that whoever purchases this will probably use it for good, what with its historical importance and all, but at the same time can’t help but wondering what type of evil, world-taking over plan might be able to be hatched from these tunnels. That being said, the Republic of Thoronia is currently in negotiations to take hold of the tunnels. If all goes well we will be moving in on the 1st of January.
Wall-E was released this last week on DVD, ha-za!
Black Friday has come and gone with “only” a trampling and a shooting. Pundits are pointing to the economy for blame on this, saying that this might not have ever happened if we weren’t in such rough economic times. I would argue that this might not have ever happened if we weren’t so driven by money, consumerism and “deals.” It doesn’t matter that we have no money, it matters that this thing I’ve never heard of until just now is HALF OFF (MSRP that is, it’s actually only $15 cheaper than the normal Wal-Mart Price, just FYI). The worst part is that many of these “deals” that happened on Black Friday were available on the internet, and many of them weren’t actually deals at all. Truth be told, American’s really want to risk their lives and karmic well-being in order to fight over Xbox’s and HDTV’s, which is amazingly sad. It’s always a bit disheartening this time of year when you get to actually see what drives people. I realize it’s the same old thing, the same thing said a million times before, and the same thing I’ll say next year… but every year I’m just blown away by how ludicrous our holiday ideal’s have become. Besides, everyone knows the best HDTV deals come after Christmas and before the Super Bowl. Duh.
In the history of art there has been much cross breeding, artists mimicking artists mimicking musicians mimicking painters mimicking philosophers mimicking the real the world. Music and literature have shared this connection since music became wildly available and books widely printed. They seem to coexist by creative minds with an affinity between the two, each often acting as a muse to the other. Below is a list of some of the more interesting effects of literature showing up in music, sometimes it merely helps shape a songs’ tone or feel, other times it is the song, sometimes it’s merely an obvious misread or peruse of some novel found on a living room floor.
Syd Barrett “Golden Hair” Madcap Laughs
In reference to and usage of James Joyce’s “Poem V” from the collection, Chamber Music .
This is one of the few direct versions of literature in music, as the song is the poem, with former Pink Floyd vocalist Syd Barrett’s composition only revealing itself in the guitar and melody. Much like Barrett’s other work, the key thing to point out here is the inherent oddness of the piece. Not in the weird, piercing way where you think, “Oh my God, that was (loud),(terrible),(crazy),(etc.)” but in the way that when you listen to it, you have to wonder where on Earth this is coming from, and for a pop song, it’s very strange indeed. But, honestly, what would you expect when you here that Syd Barrett did a song using a poem by James Joyce.
Bob Dylan“All Along the Watchtower” John Wesley Harding
In reference to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
A little bit more of a stretch for this particular song, but Bob Dylan’s usage of the “the wind begins to howl” in conjunction to the song’s chorus, “All along the watchtower, princes kept the view, while all the women came and went, barefoot servants too,” places Dr. Frankenstein in his tower while the monster kills the woman. Dylan’s literary comparisons are bountiful, with nods to Faulkner, Blake, Dante, Coleridge and Conrad amongst others. It still remains a mystery as to whether Dylan had actually read any of the books that he references or if he merely flipped through and found particular passages or section that he decided to use in his songs.
Genesis“The Cinema Show” Selling English by the Pound
In reference and usage of T.S. Eliot’s “ The Wasteland”
The lyrics to “Cinema Show” follow closely the section of T.S. Eliot’s “Wasteland,” “III The Fire Storm.” The exception, of course, being the substitution of “Romeo” and “Juliet” where Eliot had simply, “young clerk.” The song itself peruses and jumps and beats and changes much like Eliot’s overall work, leaving a feeling not only have disorientation but of solidarity as well. An impressive task to even undertake, the band does a surprisingly good job of handling Eliot’s material.
Woody Guthrie “Tom Joad” Dust Bowl Ballads
In reference to John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath
Woody Guthrie wrote this song after watching the movie, while he was staying with Pete Seeger. The rumor is that Seeger asked him if he’d read the book to which Guthrie’s only reply was, “Why? I just saw the movie.” The song, as can be expected from Woody Guthrie essentially narrates the story (or movie) into song. The book itself is very well summed up in Guthrie’s song and if you play it in combination with Bruce Springsteen’s “Ghost of Tom Joad” you can skip the book next time you’re in a tight spot for a classroom assignment.
Led Zeppelin“Ramble On” II
In reference to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings
Why people don’t make fun of Led Zeppelin more often is a mystery to me. They have several songs that reference Lord of the Ringsalone, and tons of others that reference faeries and monsters and dragons and other such ridiculous creatures. “Ramble On” however, uses the story of the One Ring traveling to “the darkest depths of Mordor,” when “Gollum and the evil one” attempt to take it. For whatever reason, the ring in the song is represented by a lady, perhaps the band was attempting to find a love song in LOTR, or perhaps they where keen enough to pick up on Frodo’s love for the ring. Who knows what was going through their heads, but in the end I’m sure it thrust the literary leaning of Tolkien upon thousands of mistrusting hippies looking for a magical tale.
Rush“2112” 2112
In reference to several Ayn Rand novels
Put together Rush and Ayn Rand and what you have is a recipe for disaster, but somehow, the A side, which topples over at over 20 minutes long remains one of the bands greatest achievements. Why only half of a concept album? Who knows, maybe they’d only read half of Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead or Anthem. “2112” goes through (in several parts) the triumph of mankind over the mediocrity of a high tech and impersonalized society, which, for anyone who’s read Ayn Rand, is a major point in all of her works from this era. So everyone shout out to Rush for using technology against itself and spreading the word of individualism through mass communication and pop music.
Tom Waits “Alice” Alice
In reference to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland
Tom Waits being the master songwriter that he is, “Alice” only loosely resembles Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, which has been alluded to by hundreds of musicians in far less interesting ways. Waits does it in a way that feels almost as he wrote the song while he himself was in Wonderland, gruffing along with lyrics like, “Arithmatic Arithmatock, Tun the hands back on the clock.” The song, and the record in general discovers and reinterprets the ideas of Through the Looking Glass, it’s almost as if Waits is weighing the listener down with his own perception of the story, as if he himself could have been the first to tell it.
Weakerthans“Our Retired Explorer (Dines with Michel Foucault in Paris, 1961)” Reconstruction Site
In reference to Michel Foucault, Ernest Shackleton
Canadian based pop-country-punk band the Weakerthans have been known for name dropping literature, philosophy and science from time to time, but not with any real impact on what the song was supposed to mean. “Our Retired Explorer” names more than a couple and leaves itself open as a narrative song much like that of Bob Dylan or Woody Guthrie’s songs. Okay, so Foucault was best known for being a philosopher, but was also known for being, at times, a literary critic close with Roland Barthes. So, that’s literature and that counts and this song is one of the Weakerthans best. Both easy to understand and follow, and interesting in it’s usage of allusions, the song details, well, a conversation with an explorer and Foucault. The song also references the father of “deconstruction” and brainchild of post-structuralism, Jacques Derrida. Two literary critics plus the Antarctic’s greatest explorer equals one hell of a song. An interesting note about the Weakerthans, the band typically brings with them a book mobile on tour to pass out literature to any and all interested. Man, those Canadians sure do know how to party.
Yes“Close to the Edge” Close to the Edge
In reference to Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha
Yes has done a lot of songs with literary references, but their biggest and most elaborate is “Close to the Edge,” which takes up the entire first side of the LP. The song begins with the sound of a river and the main chorus, “Close to the edge, down by the river, seasons will pass you, but I get up, I get down,” closely resembles the story and philosophy behind Hesse’s Siddhartha character. The water being a pivotal and key role in the story, and the commune of the character with the river in the novel’s closing chapters shapes and rounds the story out and plays a key role in Yes’s rendition of the song.
Yo La Tengo“Crying of Lot G” And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
In reference to Thomas Pynchon’s Crying of Lot 49
The song itself has nothing to do with Thomas Pynchon’s Crying of Lot 49, but the fact that the band bothered to name a song after the book seems noteworthy. It’s difficult to say what connection Pynchon and Yo La Tengo may hold, mostly because Yo La Tengo is well known to place pop culture references throughout their works with no particular meaning. The song, unfortunately doesn’t mention post offices, mail carriers or a muted horn.
