Art Meme
Toast tagged me with this, so I'll give it a shot even though I think my answers will be even less interesting than my answers to previous memes, since I'm not much of an artsy guy. But Toast also tagged my brother, who is so artsy, he might as well be gay, so expect better answers to follow.
1. Name a book that you want to share so much that you keep giving away copies:
I don't even buy books for myself, much less for anyone else, but if there was something I would hand out, it probably would have been Ender's Game until I found out that Orson Scott Card was a lunatic.
2. Name a piece of music that changed the way you listen to music:
I honestly can't think of one. I'm not much of a music listener. Back in high school I had three tapes that I played over, and over, and over again, though. Liscensed to Ill by The Beastie Boys, ...And Justice for All by Metallica, and Eazy Duz It by Eazy-E, so those probably influenced whatever musical tastes I have more than anything else.
3. Name a film you can watch again and again without fatigue:
Oh, there's a bunch of these. Off the top of my head, Sixteen Candles, Real Genius, Lean on Me, and probably a handful more I can come up with if I thought about it for a while.
4. Name a performer for whom you suspend of all disbelief:
Morgan Freeman, I think he's excellent in everything he does that doesn't also have Ashley Judd.
5. Name a work of art you'd like to live with:
Anything I could chaarge substantial admission for people to come see.
6. Name a work of fiction which has penetrated your real life:
I can't think of anything, I don't really ever look at things that way. I just want to be entertained.
7. Name a punch line that always makes you laugh:
"And you want to be my latex salesman."
5 comments:
it probably would have been Ender's Game until I found out that Orson Scott Card was a lunatic.
OK, here's an interesting question, and it kind of goes to Angelos' weird hangups about what I'd call "secondary issues": Do Card's politics really alter your appreciation for his books?
I'd put Ender's Game in the top five Sci-Fi books of all time, easily. I was also mesmerized by Speaker For The Dead. And I have to say, when I found out Card was a Winger? Didn't alter my opinion of his work one iota.
Absolutely not, and I should have made that more clear. It's just amazing to me that someone who seems so intelligent in his writing could actually be such a lunatic, and I like to point it out every chance I get.
I think I may have even liked Speaker for the Dead a little better than Ender's Game. But like every series he's ever written, they get worse from there, until it ends with that piece of crap, Children of the Mind.
I can mostly divorce artists from their politics and/or religious beliefs when it comes to my enjoyment of their works. I don't really care the Card is a nut case. I like his Ender's Game series. He's an awesome writer.
Now about this comment - But Toast also tagged my brother, who is so artsy, he might as well be gay - I can PROMISE he's definitely not gay :)
Orson Scott Card is a Mormon, so it's no surprise that he's a winger. What pissed me off was the afterward to "Magic Street", in which he thanked the 57
million whatever voters who re-elected George Bush and Richard Cheney so that he felt secure enough to finish writing the book because he knew the world was
safe for democracy (yes, I am paraphrasing, but seriously, I almost threw up.)
Interestingly, however, the afterward
was not in the paperback edition. And if you read his new book, "Empire" (the first in a series, unless I miss
my guess), the afterward talks about tolerance and meeting in the middle and an America that takes the moderate path. Kind of like the Chimp-in-Charge's attempts to unite with the Democrats now that they're in charge......
This is the long way of saying, I still read and enjoy his books, even though his politics don't thrill me.
Of course, I generally don't have to pay for them, since I get galleys and
reading copies for free, one of the benefits of working in a bookstore and not making enough money to buy everything I want to read. I don't know if I'd pay for his books.
Card's right-wing rantings also surprised me because I really had the impression of him as a thoughtful, rather moderate person. I remember reading somewhere that in the 80's he was known for promoting religious freedom and the separation of church and state, which is usually a more liberal position.
Usually, an artist's political persuasion or shortcomings don't get to me (I still watch Seinfeld and listen to Wagner, for example), but I find myself caring to read Card less and less these days. And I did really enjoy many of his books.
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