Results for “"my favorite things"”

133 found

My list will not be so informed as one of Tyler’s but I was pleasantly surprised to find that with a little thought I could come up with some credible items.

Literature: Mario Vargas Llosa – an easy pick.  The War of the End of the World is his masterpiece – an epic in the style of Hugo and Tolstoy, filled with religion, fanaticism, obsession and violence.  If Vargas Llosa were a leftist he would have won the Nobel by now but he is a classical liberal.  For lighter reading try Aunt Julia and the ScriptWriter or his tale of running for the Peruvian presidency, A Fish in the Water.

Movie: Motorcycle Diaries has some great shots of Machu Picchu and is not without interest but even if it didn’t romanticize an authoritarian it is too slow and unsophisticated to be a great film.  Thus, I am going to cheat a little and go with Touching the Void which takes place in the Peruvian Andes.  As I wrote earlier it is "a harrowing, awe-inspiring, true-story of two climbers made into a great movie/documentary. Aside from the sheer entertainment value, very sheer in this case, the move has a lot to say about the diversity of preferences, the will to survive and believe it or not, how to achieve goals."

Music: Susana Baca, the best of black Peruvian music.  Once nearly lost, this music is now popular in Peru and is earnings worldwide recognition, in part due to the promotional efforts of David Byrne and his LuAka Bop label.

Art: I confess to liking the amazing sex pots (nsfw) of the Moche.  Produced some 1500 years ago by the Moche civilization these erotic ceramics depict all manner of sexual act including oral sex, anal sex, threesomes, homosexuality and more – a real sextravaganza.  Many were destroyed when the Spanish inquisition came to Peru.  Others were hidden away in the basement of museums as objects not fit to be shown or even acknowledged. 

Alfred Kinsey introduced the sex pots to the West in 1954 writing that the Moche artifacts were "the most frank and detailed document of sexual customs ever left by an ancient people.”  Hilariously, quite a few archaeologists at the time argued that the pots were symbolic warnings about what not to do!

Aside from prurient interest, I think the pottery is a fascinating demonstration of how variable are society’s sexual conventions yet how immutable is human nature – tell me, for example, that this guy ain’t proud!

Music: How about Blind Willie Johnson, a pinnacle of the blues tradition?  Buy it here.  Can I overlook Scott Joplin and his "Euphonic Sounds"?  Lightnin’ Hopkins?  Woody Guthrie (if only he had read Economics in One Lesson…)?  Leadbelly?  Janis Joplin?  Roy Orbison?  Jimmie Rodgers?  Charlie Christian?  Ornette Coleman?  Buddy Holly?  Here is a longer list.

Painting: Robert Rauschenberg?  Look at this one with the goat, I believe it is in Stockholm.  I bet you, like I, say naaaah, but the field is thin.  I’ll opt for his "Bed" as an important work, however.

Literature: Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian is the obvious choice, or try Katherine Anne Porter.

Food: Texas barbecue has a strong influence (sausage!) from German migrants.  That is also why Tejano music has so much accordion, with a hat tip to Poland as well.

Comedian: Steve Martin.  All of Me and Planes, Trains and Automobiles both make me laugh.

The bottom line: I love Texas, but I am surprised that the weight of achievement is so unbalanced toward music and food.  By the way, I’m in El Paso, doing research for my next book.

Addendum: Several readers write to tell me Guthrie is not a Texan…

The state that is, not the country.

Music: I’ll go with Otis Redding, who was born in Georgia and played in Macon early in his career.  Favorite song: Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song).  Here is the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.   Most underrated might be the acoustic bluesman Pink Anderson.  And I still have guilty sympathies for pop musician Tommy Roe ("Dizzy," "Sweet Pea," "Sheila").

Literature: Here is a list, I will go with Flannery O’Connor or the poetry of James Dickey.

Cinema: Speaking of James Dickey, this one is a no-brainer, I can’t believe my parents let me see this when I was eleven or so, but I thank them.

Artist: No, Georgia O’Keefe doesn’t count.  Most of the ouevre of Outsider Artist Howard Finster is churned-out junk, but his early work was excellent.  This painting isn’t bad either, or try here.  It was, however, a mistake when he finished 67 paintings in one weekend while visiting Wake Forest University.

Architecture: I am very fond of this kind of Savannah house, if only because it reminds me of Haiti.  For my modernist readers, this is from Atlanta.

Addendum: Hey, did I forget James Brown?  The hotel TV in the background notes he is from Augusta…

I am in Palm Beach for a few days, so here goes:

Film: The classic is Key Largo; Bogie’s speech about Edward G. ("more, you want more…") is a (the?) classic statement of behavioral economics.  An honorable mention goes to Wild Things, a hot and underrated work of teen film noir.  Of course Body Heat was set in Florida as well.  As for comedy, Jim Carrey’s debut feature Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, set in Miami and environs, was made before his brilliant comic talents ossified. 

Literature: I’ll pick Zora Neale Hurston, with my favorite work as her memoir Their Eyes Were Watching God.  She is also quite a libertarian thinker in many ways.

Music: The Allman Brothers, Ray Charles, and Tom Petty are the only competitors I can think of.  They are all overrated, but I will opt for Charles’s "What’d I Say?"  Tampa Red was pretty good, but often he is attributed to Georgia.

Art: Many notable Americans painted Florida, but how about an artist who is truly of Florida?  I’ll opt for the Haitian Edouard Duval-Carrie, here are a few good paintings by him.  And here is Kevin Grier’s favorite Duval-Carrie, scroll down to the bottom.

The bottom line: I love Miami Art Deco and roadside architecture, but doesn’t Florida feel just a wee bit underrepresented on the lists of artistic greats?

Addendum: A number of readers argue persuasively that the Allman Brothers should belong to Georgia, not Florida. 

I do one of these every time I go somewhere.  I’ve held off on France out of fear of excess choice, but here goes:

French opera: Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande is ravishing, try to find the old version conducted by Roger Desormiere.  Messiaen’s St. Francis wins an honorable mention; my favorite piece of French music might be Messiaen’s Vingt Regards.

French restaurant: I’ve yet to get into Pierre Gagnaire, considered the world’s greatest restaurant by many.  For quick notice, I’ve done well at the Michelin two-stars Savoy and Hotel Bristol, the latter is even open for Sunday lunch, a Parisian miracle.

French novel: Proust is the only writer who makes me laugh out loud.

French pianist: Yves Nat has done my favorite set of Beethoven sonatas.  These recordings are brutally frank and direct, and deep like Schnabel, albeit with fewer wrong notes.  Few aficionadoes know this box, but it stands as one of my desert island discs.  Note that French pianists are underrated in general.

French artist: I find much by the Impressionists sickly sweet and overexposed.  I’ll opt for Poussin (this one too), Seurat’s black and whites, and Cezanne watercolors.  Right now I would rather look at Chavannes and Bouguereau than Renoir or Monet.  As for the most underrated French artist, how about Delacroix?  A few years ago some of his small canvases were selling for as little as $60,000.

French popular music: Serge Gainsbourg is often called the "French Bob Dylan," but he is more like "the French Beck."  Buy this set for a truly eclectic mix of styles.

French movies: If you don’t usually like French movies, you still should watch Robert Bresson’s A Man Escaped, Jean Pierre Melville’s Bob Le Flambeur (a big influence on John Woo, also try Le Samourai), and Theodor Dreyer’s Joan of Arc.