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Sep. 25th, 2023 06:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. For fans of David Byrne and the Talking Heads...
Talking Heads Reunion on CBS This Morning
60 Minutes for David Byrn and the Talking Heads
I had a lot of Talking Heads music in the 1980s - my brother was a huge fan, and so were my friends in college.
Cool fact - Byrne was an art school drop out from RISD, which my sisinlaw left, my brother couldn't get into but taught at later with my sisinlaw, and my sisinlaw's parents met at. Sigh. RISD.
I have to admit - of the musicians thrown at me by my brother and college friends - David Byrne, Brian Eno, and Pink Floyd were by far my favorites.
Also Kate Bush - my brother introduced me to Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel.
My brother had great taste in music. Still does for the most part. Most of the best music I was introduced to - was via my brother. List of some of the musicians my brother introduced me to:
Lush
Mazzy Star
David Byrn
Talking Heads
Brian Eno
Kate Bush
Pink Floyd
Peter Gabriel
Genesis
The Police
Sting
Van Helan
Led Zepplin
The Who
2. Foundation S1
So, finished watching Foundation S1 today. (Home sick on a rainy day with shingles, it's a thing. Also apologies for irritability - shingles.)
Each episode is about an hour and twenty minutes. Jane Espenson is one of the writers, and it is show-run by female writer and director, with David Goyer producing. This may explain the heavy feminist focus - and the lead characters or protagonists are women.
I don't know what Issac Asimov's books focus was - but I seriously doubt it was feminist or minority, with two black women (mother/daughter) as the lead protagonists. Doesn't chime with Asimov or the 1960s sci-fi novels of the time. I could be underestimating Asimov. You tell me.
The series gets better as it goes. Just have to get through the info dump episodes that focus on Hari Seldon. There are sizable time jumps in the series - the first one is thirty-four years between episode three and episode four, the second is 138 years from the middle of episode ten to the end of it. The through thread or narrator is Gaal Dacht who is the lead protagonist, and Salvor Hardin. The other through threads are Hari Seldon and Empire (Cleon) portrayed by Lee Pace (who is excellent in the role - he manages to get across vulnerability pathos, and cool detachment - making it hard to despise him even though he does horrific things).
The story is very cerebral - or metaphor heavy. But it does develop some interesting characters in there. I'd say it is more world building/character centric than plot-centric. And the plot is often hard to follow due to all the time jumps, and the cerebral nature of the storyline.
The difficulty with science fiction and fantasy writing - is that you either err on the side of too little or no plot, or the side of too much plot or convoluted plot. Star Wars had a simple plot structure - which is why it worked, Star Trek was fine when it stuck to simplicity, even time it got convoluted - it became a mess.
The reason is that you are juggling multiple balls when it comes to these genres. They aren't simple genres like the straight literary genre which is basically people talking about their day to day mundane existence, or mystery which is well just a whodunnit or whydunnit or both, or a twisty thriller - which again is about solving a puzzle. Those just need to develop either character or plot or both. But sci-fi and fantasy? They got do a lot more heavy lifting. You have to create a believable world, a mythos, a religion, characters, plot, and somehow make it a commentary on what is happening now - thematically speaking.
That is hard to pull off. Usually you drop one of the balls. And it is more often than not either plot or character. That's not to say the other genres don't have their flaws. Literary? Often becomes style over substance. (Yes, yes, the writing is pretty and poetic, but I have idea what they were saying. Or, this feels kind of empty?) Mystery (I don't care about the characters), Romance (I don't care about the plot).
Commercial writing more often than not sacrifices something.
So, Foundation? I think what it loses in plot, it does make up for in some interesting characters and world-building. Also the plot while convoluted is still interesting.
By the fifth episode, I was hooked.
Talking Heads Reunion on CBS This Morning
60 Minutes for David Byrn and the Talking Heads
I had a lot of Talking Heads music in the 1980s - my brother was a huge fan, and so were my friends in college.
Cool fact - Byrne was an art school drop out from RISD, which my sisinlaw left, my brother couldn't get into but taught at later with my sisinlaw, and my sisinlaw's parents met at. Sigh. RISD.
I have to admit - of the musicians thrown at me by my brother and college friends - David Byrne, Brian Eno, and Pink Floyd were by far my favorites.
Also Kate Bush - my brother introduced me to Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel.
My brother had great taste in music. Still does for the most part. Most of the best music I was introduced to - was via my brother. List of some of the musicians my brother introduced me to:
Lush
Mazzy Star
David Byrn
Talking Heads
Brian Eno
Kate Bush
Pink Floyd
Peter Gabriel
Genesis
The Police
Sting
Van Helan
Led Zepplin
The Who
2. Foundation S1
So, finished watching Foundation S1 today. (Home sick on a rainy day with shingles, it's a thing. Also apologies for irritability - shingles.)
Each episode is about an hour and twenty minutes. Jane Espenson is one of the writers, and it is show-run by female writer and director, with David Goyer producing. This may explain the heavy feminist focus - and the lead characters or protagonists are women.
I don't know what Issac Asimov's books focus was - but I seriously doubt it was feminist or minority, with two black women (mother/daughter) as the lead protagonists. Doesn't chime with Asimov or the 1960s sci-fi novels of the time. I could be underestimating Asimov. You tell me.
The series gets better as it goes. Just have to get through the info dump episodes that focus on Hari Seldon. There are sizable time jumps in the series - the first one is thirty-four years between episode three and episode four, the second is 138 years from the middle of episode ten to the end of it. The through thread or narrator is Gaal Dacht who is the lead protagonist, and Salvor Hardin. The other through threads are Hari Seldon and Empire (Cleon) portrayed by Lee Pace (who is excellent in the role - he manages to get across vulnerability pathos, and cool detachment - making it hard to despise him even though he does horrific things).
The story is very cerebral - or metaphor heavy. But it does develop some interesting characters in there. I'd say it is more world building/character centric than plot-centric. And the plot is often hard to follow due to all the time jumps, and the cerebral nature of the storyline.
The difficulty with science fiction and fantasy writing - is that you either err on the side of too little or no plot, or the side of too much plot or convoluted plot. Star Wars had a simple plot structure - which is why it worked, Star Trek was fine when it stuck to simplicity, even time it got convoluted - it became a mess.
The reason is that you are juggling multiple balls when it comes to these genres. They aren't simple genres like the straight literary genre which is basically people talking about their day to day mundane existence, or mystery which is well just a whodunnit or whydunnit or both, or a twisty thriller - which again is about solving a puzzle. Those just need to develop either character or plot or both. But sci-fi and fantasy? They got do a lot more heavy lifting. You have to create a believable world, a mythos, a religion, characters, plot, and somehow make it a commentary on what is happening now - thematically speaking.
That is hard to pull off. Usually you drop one of the balls. And it is more often than not either plot or character. That's not to say the other genres don't have their flaws. Literary? Often becomes style over substance. (Yes, yes, the writing is pretty and poetic, but I have idea what they were saying. Or, this feels kind of empty?) Mystery (I don't care about the characters), Romance (I don't care about the plot).
Commercial writing more often than not sacrifices something.
So, Foundation? I think what it loses in plot, it does make up for in some interesting characters and world-building. Also the plot while convoluted is still interesting.
By the fifth episode, I was hooked.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-25 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-25 11:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-26 01:25 am (UTC)The production level is astounding. I honestly think The Expanse and Foundation took things up a notch in regards to sci-fi. Although BSG was pretty good in that respect as well.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-26 01:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-26 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-27 12:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-28 02:54 am (UTC)I'm terribly late to the Kate Bush party, but I snagged a re-release of "Hounds of Love" on vinyl this summer, and she's wonderful.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-28 11:27 pm (UTC)Bush - I actually got to see sing live at Wembley Stadium with Peter Gabriel in the 1980s.
Lucky you, with the vinyl re-release. I downloaded all of her music to my phone (I've Apple Music) over the summer. Hmm, I should download Brian Eno as well...thanks for reminding me.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-28 11:39 pm (UTC)But I burned stacks upon stacks of mixed CD's in the early 2000's. It was like an extension of my poetry, I poured heart & soul into some of those discs.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-29 02:43 pm (UTC)My brother used to make me mixed cassette tapes - with little collages on the front of the tape as a kind of home-made album cover. I wish I'd kept those. They had compilations of Brian Eno, Pink Floyd (Wish you Were Here and Albatross), Kate Bush, and Peter Gabriel. I'm sure there were others, but those are the ones I remember the most. But alas, cassette tapes don't last.