So last night I’m working on translating the Letter of Aristeas when I decide I want to listen to some Devo. Now, I take a lot of crap for my taste in movies, and I’ll admit that I deserve almost all of it. I simply do not have a palate for cinema. Movies to me are like pizza – some are definitely better than others, and I can recognize that, but hey, pizza is pizza, and I like all of it. But I stick up for myself with music. I think I can discriminate the sheep from the goats pretty well. So I’m not going to take any flack for liking Devo. They are a great band, and it’s only out of pure ignorance that someone can call them a one-hit-wonder. They are, rather, that rare phenomenon, the “one hit and wonderful.” “Whip it” was the only song the radio cared for, but they have tons of witty, intelligent, and if you actually pay attention, pretty musically sophisticated songs. To name a few: Through Being Cool, Gut Feeling, Good Thing, Freedom of Choice, and Beautiful World, which is also validated by its presence on Rage Against the Machine’s killer cover album, Renegades. Wes Anderson gets it, and has included Devo songs and/or original scores by Mark Mothersbaugh in all of his movies. I myself only have my sister to thank for leaving her copy of Devo’s greatest hits behind when she left for college. Since I had maybe 10 cds at the time, it inevitably made its way into my discman now and then. I can’t say exactly when, but at some point I realized that these guys totally rule. You could make this liberating discovery, too!
Who compares to Devo? Cake is an awesome band, offering similar criticisms of pop culture in it’s seemingly inane yet secretly insightful lyrics. But Cake has had a ton of radio hits. Maybe Guster, but I think they are bound to have some more slick numbers get on the radio.
I think we need to work on your film palate now. Here’s what you do: pick five great directors (no less than three who are non-English speaking) — great being defined by any of the lists available — and watch at least three films by each director. I would recommend the following list: Ingmar Bergman, Kryzysztof Kieslowski, P. T. Anderson, Pedro Almodovar, and Werner Herzog. Others could include Federico Fellini, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, Francis Ford Coppola, and Wim Wenders. It takes some time and dedication, but it pays great dividends. Before you know it, you’ll be a film connoisseur in no time!
It just occurred to me, David, that the first time we ever met was watching Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Do you recall who directed it?
The only directors on that list that I’m familiar with are P.T. Anderson (who is definitely my favorite director so far), and Coppola. Have you seen The Conversation? I thought it was pretty great. How do you feel about Jean Luc Goddard? I recently watched a bunch of his movies in a row and really enjoyed some of them (Breathless, especially), but others just seemed hokey (like Band of Outsiders). And after him Wes Anderson?
I have Bergman’s movie Silence on my que, since Zizek goes nuts over it in the Parallax View.