New Pop Culture Paper Ephemera for Perusal and Purchase

 Click here: Pop Culture Paper Ephemera (nenoworld.com)

Pin It

Tweet

Recently Read: Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece, by Michael Benson

Author Michael Benson saw 2001: a Space Odyssey, in its initial 1968 Cinemascope release, at around the same age I did, age 7. Viewers who saw the film at this age seem to have a special affinity for and wonderment of it. Youngsters, I believe, didn't approach the film with the same set of expectations older people did, expectations of plot logicity, character development, a requisite love interest subplot, etc. Instead, the young could concentrate on and most acutely appreciate what was on the screen: a mostly non-verbal, poetic and visionary presentation of philosophical ideas unprecedented in not only the genre of science fiction but in the entire history of cinema.

There have been many (and many good) books written on the amazing four years plus production of the film, but for an overview both insightful and intimate, Benson's book can't be beat. With access to archives and new and unpublished interviews with the creative staff, Benson unearths and reveals a deluge of details, anecdotes and background context which doesn't fail to fascinate from the first page to the last. You'll discover many entertaining stories about the production director Stanley Kubrick himself didn't and couldn't have known about. You'll also be amazed in new ways about the monumental scope of the project and the difficulties it overcame to reach its fruition.

Pin It

Tweet

Recently Read: Room to Dream by Kristine McKenna and David Lynch

Journalist Kristine McKenna and director David Lynch's 2018 biography-memoir Room to Dream utilized a novel approach: each of McKenna's well-researched, fact-based chronological chapters are paired with Lynch's memories, observations and anecdotes. I approached this book with a slight trepidation, believing that the work of great artists (and, by extension, the greatest artists) is best served by no explanations or commentary by the creators. After having finished the book, I still think the same. Simply put, art not stripped of its mysteries and origins is more magical. As Stanley Kubrick asked, wouldn't we enjoy the Mona Lisa less if Da Vinci had explained why she's smiling?

Having said that, I couldn't put Room to Dream down. Lynch's working process and his idiosyncratic (and often hilarious) ruminations are highly entertaining. For those who want more details about Eraserhead, Lynch's painting exhibitions,Twin Peaks, aborted projects and music collaborations I didn't know existed - it's all here. Dichotomies of human nature exemplified in his work are also here: in one paragraph Lynch will describe the peace inherent in Transcendental Meditation and in the next offer an offhand reference to another love interest (or wife) he left for someone new, not seeming to discern a contradiction in the two. 

Room to Dream is liberally supplemented with unusual photographs and a complete, chronological appendix of works.

Pin It

Tweet

On the Set of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Pin It

Tweet