This is a simple thread. Recommend to the dope in general ONE (only one) book/movie/TV show/play/poem/album/band whatever. There are two rules:
(1) It has to be something that is rarely mentioned on the dope one way or the other (so while I think The Wire is the best TV show ever, it already gets plenty of discussion, so people who might be tempted by it presumably are)
(2) You must give a verbose explanation as to what makes it so good.
My recommendation: Broadway musical Spring Awakening, and its original cast recording.
Wikipedia Summary:
Spring Awakening is a Tony Award-winning rock musical adaptation of the controversial 1891 German play of the same title by Frank Wedekind. It features music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater. Set in late-nineteenth century Germany, it concerns teenagers who are discovering the inner and outer tumult of sexuality. The original play was banned in Germany due to its portrayal of masturbation, abortion, rape, bondage, child abuse and suicide. In the musical, alternative rock is employed as part of the folk-infused rock score.
Why I’m recommending it:
While there are definite characters and a clear storyline (unlike something like Cats), what the show is really about (imho) is a mood. The show is about teenage adolescence and rebellion, and everything about the staging, choreography, acting and music is designed to evoke those feelings. The show is about rage and anger and lust and longing and frustration and hating school and not trusting your parents; and it lays the characters emotions out rawly in a way that I’ve never seen in another musical. Plus, the music is absolutely fantastic. It mixes the energy and passion of rock music with beautiful harmonic arrangements performed by talented and energetic singers. (Fans of Glee will recognize Lea Michelle on the original cast recording.)
Overall, it’s a musical experience unlike any other… it takes the young energy and sensibility of a show like Rent but makes it about a stage of life rather than about a particular time or place or issue.
Charlotte Bronte’s Villette
Jane Eyre gets all the love, but Villette is where it’s at. What does this book offer?
First, a quickie summary: English girl travels across the Channel to teach ungrateful French brats and is a fish out of water. She struggles, she flounders, she remains resolved to survive, Frenchies be damned.
This book surprised me because the first few chapters are dull as toast. Then the narrator, Lucy, goes to Villette where she starts to go a little crazy. She pines for a hot doctor, see a ghostly nun, and rails against Catholics. Sometimes she’s frustrating because she holds secrets from the readers and lies to herself. But she’s an awesome psychological profile of an outsider determined to remain independent and retain her dignity.
And the ending is so subtle and tricky, you may miss what happened. I did – it wasn’t until my second read I picked up on it.
Jane Eyre is for the masses, but it takes a special appreciation to love Villette.
The Devil’s Rejects
The film is about a family of psychopathic killers from a previous film now on the run.
I hate horror movies,but this is one of my favorite movies in any genre.
I’m recommending the artist Paul Laffoley(some of his artwork can be seen here)
Wikipedia:
As a painter, his work is usually classified as visionary art or outsider art. Most of Laffoley’s pieces are painted on large canvases and combine words and imagery to depict a spiritual architecture of explanation, tackling concepts like dimensionality, time travel through hacking relativity, connecting conceptual threads shared by philosophers through the millennia, and theories about the cosmic origins of mankind.
Why I’m recommending it:
If the description “spiritual graph porn” excites you, you’ll probably like it. A blend of sci-fi, metaphysics, and diagrams, can almost make you believe he’s an alien,angel, or time traveller doling out the secrets of the universe for those who dare try to understand them…
Honorable mention:
My friend Ahmond, amazing singer songwriter from NYC. He has stuff on iTunes now, but if you like him try and find a copy of his demo which is extra special.
South African artist William Kentridge. Best known for his charcoals and the animated films derived from them (done by a palimpsest technique that leaves ghostly afterimages - yes, those are actual charcoal drawings in the films), but also great at mixed media, stage design and his collaborative efforts with Handspring Puppet Theatre (which, also check out). His apartheid works are the best art pieces on the subject I’ve come across.