#you’re not Dylan Thomas and I’m not Patti Smith etc

[vaginawoolf666]

This is exactly what Dylan Thomas said

do not go gentle into that good night

[lifejustgotawkward]

365 Day Movie Challenge (2017) - #110: Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) - dir. Roland Emmerich

Egads, this movie stinks! If it weren’t for the sweet memory that when I was younger I loved Independence Day (the original 1996 film) with a passion that bordered on mania, I wouldn’t have given last year’s poorly-reviewed sequel the time of day.

Twenty years after the first alien attack on Earth, the same extraterrestrials (who, and from where?) return with a vengeance. That’s literally all you need to know. Jeff Goldblum reprises his role as communications expert David Levinson, apparently one of the only men on the planet who can save humanity from imminent danger; Bill Pullman again plays Thomas Whitmore, now an ex-president who is dealing with various vague illnesses; Brent Spiner returns as eccentric scientist Dr. Brakish Okun (I’m delighted to report that he has more of a screen presence in this installment, although not nearly enough time is spent on his same-sex relationship with another science guy); Vivica A. Fox and the late Robert Loggia are granted brief cameos to reprise their respective roles as Jasmine Hiller, the wife of Steven Hiller (Will Smith’s character from the first film), and General Grey. A bunch of bland new characters are also introduced: Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) is our new action hero, an outer-space pilot who leads the brigade of young men and women fighting the aliens; Jake’s main frenemy is Dylan Hiller (Jessie T. Usher), the grown-up son of Steven Hiller, who by this point has died in a military maneuver-related accident; we meet one of David Levinson’s ex-girlfriends, Catherine Marceaux (Charlotte Gainsbourg... why would she take this part?), ostensibly an expert in symbology yet never really required to use her talents; a ragtag group of kids (two of whom are played by Joey King and McKenna Grace) rescue David Levinson’s father, Julius (Judd Hirsch), in the aftermath of an alien attack in Florida and the group drive to Area 51 to rendezvous with David and the rest of the remaining US government.

We also see Patricia Whitmore, President Whitmore’s daughter, grown up and now portrayed by Maika Monroe (The Guest, It Follows, Bokeh). I have no idea why the filmmakers didn’t cast Mae Whitman, who played young Patty in the first film and who continues to have a decent career as an adult (not every child actor can say that!). I liked Monroe in Resurgence, though; she gets to do some cool action stuff, although – of course – in the end she has to be saved by her boyfriend, Jake. That’s mostly what I got out of Independence Day: Resurgence: watch more movies with Maika Monroe and figure out her potential for a future in genre work (sci-fi, horror, etc.) and beyond. Well, that and the fact that Bill Pullman looks great with a beard and not so great once he shaves. (Sorry, Bill. You’re a gem and I still love you either way.)

P.S. Maybe Independence Day: Resurgence is more fun when you realize that it’s a sci-fi film about decoding alien language that preceded the theatrical release of another film on the same subject, Arrival.

[joementa]

Literary References.

I’ve been spending a lot of time reading lately which has really eaten into my music listening time.  I’m by no means done with music but I’ve been enjoying the written word more than music over the past few months.  Of the music I am listening to, it’s a lot of what I call the “poet musicians”.  This includes musicians like Dylan (obviously), Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, etc.  While listening to a lot of these musicians, I’ve been noticing how frequently they include literary references in their songs – things like book titles, authors, literary characters or lines from books.  It makes sense that musicians are well-read, but until recently I don’t think I noticed how much literature is referenced in music.  So I decided to put together a playlist of 20 songs that contain literary references/influences in them.    

This is by no means a complete list.  In fact, I’m fairly certain I’ll have a few volumes of playlists like this.  There’s a lot more out there than you know.  Some musicians have many songs with literary references.  Obviously Dylan does, but so does Patti Smith and Pet Shop Boys (go to the link right here to see all of the literary references in Pet Shop Boys’ music – there are so many!).

Songs that are simply the musician reciting/singing a poem word-for-word were not eligible for the list. So this meant songs like “Annabell Lee” by Stevie Nicks and “Nirvana” by Tom Waits were intentionally left off of this list.  I don’t think these should count since they are basically like cover songs.  I’m trying to show how musicians and songwriters use literature to create songs.  Songs themselves are like poems.  But maybe this is a good idea for another playlist!  Songs that were first poems.  I think we’ll have to include Dylan’s “Love Is Just A Four Letter Word” in that one!  

Can someone please tell me if Jackson Browne’s “Tender Is The Night” was indeed titled after the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel?!?!  I did some research on this and still haven’t been able to confirm it!  Hopefully someone can let me know when it comes time to work on volume 2 of the playlist, because that song is awesome and would deserve to be on a playlist!

Also, can someone please tell me why “Killing An Arab” by The Cure isn’t available on streaming sites? I realize snowflakes are not very fond of the title, but the song is included on their great comp album Standing On A Beach and it was influenced by the incredible Albert Camus book The Stranger, which I recently read.  I really wanted to include this song on the playlist, so I’m hoping there’s a good reason that it’s not available and that it’s not because it’s banned.  I feel the same way about banning music as I do about banning books.  I am totally against it.  This means that I very much intend on putting Ryan Adams’ “Sylvia Plath”, which just sonically didn’t fit this time, on the next volume of literary-influenced songs.  And this also means I’ve got a good idea for yet another playlist theme – banned music!

I do hope that you enjoy this playlist.  I spent a lot of time making sure all of the songs sounded great in this specific order. So make sure you listen to the playlist in the order that I put the songs in. I also spent a lot of time on the notes for each song.  Make sure you read them!  And make sure you read often this summer, and in every season!  Hopefully you are reading some good stuff and if you have anything that you recommend, feel free to let me know and I will do the same for you. Enjoy!

Link to playlist on Apple music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/literary-references/pl.u-WabZ6DZcWRYe83

Link to playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/joementa/playlist/5cDzeBFpACaDbtV0Qq6x8S?si=UgmRyNLBT4OEoDFr_ou-LQ

Frank Turner – “I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous” (Love Ire & Song)

Bob Dylan – “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” (Blood On The Tracks)

The Hold Steady – “Stuck Between Stations” (Boys And Girls In America)

Better Oblivion Community Center – “Dylan Thomas” (Better Oblivion Community Center)

The Smiths – “Cemetry Gates” (The Queen Is Dead)

Jesse Malin – “Wendy” (The Fine Art Of Self Destruction)

Counting Crows – “Rain King” (August & Everything After)

The Bangles – “Bell Jar” (Everything)

Florence + The Machine – “Patricia” (High As Hope)

Lana Del Rey – “Off To The Races” (Born To Die)

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Red Right Hand” (Let Love In)

The National – “Carin At The Liquor Store” (Sleep Well Beast)

Taylor Swift – “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” (Reputation)

Pet Shop Boys – “Inside A Dream” (Electric)

Katy Perry – “Firework” (Teenage Dream)

Tom Waits – “Shiver Me Timbers” (The Heart Of Saturday Night)

Patti Smith – “Land” (Horses)

The Gaslight Anthem – “Howl” (Handwritten)

Dire Straits – “Romeo and Juliet” (Making Movies)

Bob Dylan – “Desolation Row” (Highway 61 Revisited)

Frank Turner – “I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous” (Love Ire & Song) Reference(s): The title of this song is a reference to T.S. Eliot’s famous poem “The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock” and the theme of the song is very similar to the theme of the poem (and the poem itself has a few literary references, including Shakespeare).  I have read this.

Bob Dylan – “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” (Blood On The Tracks) Reference(s): Dylan specifically mentions Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud in this song.  I’ve read Rimbaud’s A Season In Hell and plan to read more soon. I haven’t read Verlaine.  Yet.

The Hold Steady – “Stuck Between Stations” (Boys And Girls In America) Reference(s): The first line in this song specifically mentions Sal Paradise, the narrator of Kerouac’s On The Road.  The first line of the second verse specifically mentions the poet John Berryman. Believe it or not, I haven’t read On The Road, but I will be changing that later this summer.  I’ve read Berryman’s The Dream Songs and loved it.  Not only did I love it, but Nick Cave did too.  It’s pretty dark, but pretty amazing.  I highly recommend it!

Better Oblivion Community Center – “Dylan Thomas” (Better Oblivion Community Center) Reference(s): The title of this song is named after the great poet of the same name.  There is also a slight reference in the song to the poet’s death.  I’ve read Dylan Thomas (and so did someone who used to go by the name Robert Zimmerman).  Some of my favorite poems of his are “Do not go gentle into that good night”, “Should lanterns shine”, “My hero bares his nerves” and “Fern hill”. I’ve also read a few of his short stories.  I always read “A Child’s Christmas In Wales” at Christmastime each year.

The Smiths – “Cemetry Gates” (The Queen Is Dead) Reference(s): Moz specifically references Keats, Yeats and Oscar Wilde multiple times in this song.  He also references a line from Shakespeare’s Richard III. I’ve read a little bit of Keats (“La Belle Dame sans Merci” is definitely my favorite), none of Yeats, and plenty of Wilde.  I’m guessing Keats and Yeats are on your side.  But you lose.  Because weird lover Wilde is on mine!  (Get it?)

Jesse Malin – “Wendy” (The Fine Art Of Self Destruction) Reference(s):  He specifically mentions Kerouac at the start of the second verse. He also mentions Tom Waits and “the poet’s hat”.  I’m not sure if that means Tom Waits’ hat (I would consider him a poet) or just a general poet’s hat, but that should still count.  I’ve read Kerouac.  Just haven’t read On The Road (I know….)  

Counting Crows – “Rain King” (August & Everything After) Reference(s): The title is a reference to Henderson The Rain King by Saul Bellow.  The song isn’t really about the book, but it did influence Adam Duritz. Here’s what he had to say about it (it’s worth the read!): “I read this book in college when I was at Berkeley called “Henderson, the Rain King.” And the main character in the book was kind of this big, open-wound of a person, Eugene Henderson, he just sort of bled all over everyone around him. For better or for worse, full of joy, full of sorrow, he just made a mess of everything. And when I wrote the song years later, it didn’t really have anything to do with the book except the book had kind of become a totem for how I felt about creativity and writing–that it was just this thing where you just took everything inside of you and just sort of [funny noise] sprayed it all over everything, and not to worry too much about it. You try and craft it but not to be self-conscious about it, in any case. And, it’s sort of a song about everything that goes into writing, all the feelings, everything that makes you want to write, makes you want to maybe pick up a guitar and do it, and express yourself because it’s full of all the doubts and the fears about how I felt about my life at that time. And also the feeling that I really deserved something better than what I had accomplished up to that point. I think it *is* sort of a religious song about the sort of undefinable thing inside you or out there somewhere that makes you write, makes you create, makes you do any kind of art form, you know? And makes me the rain king, sort of."  I haven’t read this book.

The Bangles – “Bell Jar” (Everything) Reference(s): The title is a reference to The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.  The song is about a girl that is pretty similar to the character in the book. What is that like?  Read for yourself to find out.  I’ve read this book and I love it.

Florence + The Machine – “Patricia” (High As Hope) Reference(s): ‘Patricia’ is Patti Smith. Are you saying to yourself ‘but, she’s a musician and not an author’?  I suggest you run, don’t walk, to your nearest book store and purchase Just Kids.  The only book of Patti Smith’s that I read was Just Kids, which is an incredible book.  I will definitely be reading more of hers soon.  

Lana Del Rey – “Off To The Races” (Born To Die) Reference(s): This song has a few references to Nabokov’s Lolita, including “light of my life, fire of my loins” and definitely has some similarities thematically.  I don’t care what Pitchfork says.  I love this song.  I read the book earlier this year.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Red Right Hand” (Let Love In) Reference(s): The title references a line from the poem “Paradise Lost” by John Milton.  The liner notes to the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album Murder Ballads confirms this, and the opening song on that album, “Song Of Joy”, includes lines that say that ‘red right hand’ is included in “Paradise Lost”.  References within a reference.  I like that! I haven’t read “Paradise Lost” yet but I plan to soon.

The National – “Carin At The Liquor Store” (Sleep Well Beast) Reference(s): John Cheever is specifically mentioned in a couple lines in this song.  I haven’t read any John Cheever stories but I recently purchased a collection of his short stories at New Dominion Bookshop book store in Charlottesville, Virginia.  I can’t wait to read it.  And I can’t wait to go back to that beautiful book store – they even have a rose garden outside in the back of the store.  Books and roses.  You can’t go wrong with that combo!

Taylor Swift – “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” (Reputation) Reference(s): The great Taytay specifically mentions Gatsby by name in the first verse to this basically perfect song. Gatsby of course is the main character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby.  I of course have read this, multiple times.

Pet Shop Boys – “Inside A Dream” (Electric) Reference(s): This song has lyrics that are directly from William Blake’s poem “The Land Of Dreams”.  I’ve read William Blake before.  He influenced many, many musicians.  He is worth reading.

Katy Perry – “Firework” (Teenage Dream) Reference(s): This fantastic song was influenced by Kerouac’s On The Road.  I think we are seeing a recurring theme here.  Musicians have been heavily influenced by Kerouac.  And rightfully so.  I think I’ll need to put together a playlist of songs influenced by/referencing Kerouac!

Tom Waits – “Shiver Me Timbers” (The Heart Of Saturday Night) Reference(s): Tom Waits mentions Captain Ahab, from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, in this beautiful, beautiful song.  I haven’t read this book, but it’s obviously a classic and I obviously need to read it.  A lot of musicians were influenced by this book.  Dylan mentions just 3 books in his speech accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature.  Moby-Dick was one of them.

Patti Smith – “Land” (Horses) Reference(s):  The character Johnny in this song is based on the character Johnny from William S. Burroughs’ novel The Wild Boys.  Later on the song she specifically mentions Rimbaud by name. Multiple times.  I’ve read William S. Burroughs but haven’t read The Wilds Boys.  I’ve read Rimbaud and definitely want to read more.  Also, here’s a cool article with more info on the song: https://www.google.com/amp/s/consequenceofsound.net/2008/11/rock-history-101-patti_smith_land/amp/.  ALSO! How perfect is the segue of “Land” into “Howl”?!?!  I know, I know.  I am pretty good at getting these segues perfect.

The Gaslight Anthem – “Howl” (Handwritten) Reference(s): The title of this song references the poem “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg.  I have read this one many times and will continue to do so.  I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness….

Dire Straits – “Romeo and Juliet” (Making Movies) Reference(s): This one is obvious.  I went to public school in America so of course I’ve read this.

Bob Dylan – “Desolation Row” (Highway 61 Revisited) Reference(s): The title refers to Kerouac’s book Desolation Angels, which I haven’t read.  Two lines at least are from the book: “her sin is her lifelessness” (“they sin by lifelessness” in the book) and “perfect image of a priest”. Dylan even said that Desolation Row is somewhere in Mexico, which is where parts of Desolation Angels takes place. Dylan also references the Hunchback of Notre Dame (which is a novel by Victor Hugo).  And then at the end of the song, he specifically mentions Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot by name.  I haven’t read Desolation Angels or The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, but I’m definitely going to read both.  Of course I’ve read both Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, and I recommend you do the same.