Unsolicited Recommendations 7
You might've imagined I've grown tired of cramming my opinions into blog posts but allow me to assure you I haven't. I've been busy with a couple of things both announced and unannounced that will be crammed into your eyeballs and earholes in the next month or two. That and the ever increasing crime rate in New York that means I have to dodge bullets in increasingly innovative ways says I have to treat each one of these as the last. No pressure.
One movie and one book-
Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing
I think there comes a point in any reasonable person's life where they wonder about the psychology behind an atrocity. What is it that such and such persons felt was sufficient cause to do such horrific things?
One of the closer, and truthfully more harrowing, analyses I've ever seen to try and answer that question is Joshua Oppenheimer's 2014 masterpiece, The Act of Killing. The documentary centers around the Indonesian Massacres of 65'-66' and the life of Anwar Congo. Anwar was a small time gangster in the city of Medan in north-west Indonesia. Small time gangster amounting to the selling of counterfeit movie tickets. Coincidence and circumstance conspired to place him at the head of one of the most ruthless and terrible death squads of that particular conflict.
I'm not going to delve further to not ruin the impact, but a more shocking example of the banality of evil you would be hard pressed to find. Anwar, being a part of the political group to come out on top in that particular conflict, was lauded and lionized for the many, many atrocities he committed, and he accepted that role. That's where the journey starts.
It's not a happy or sanitary story, but much like Hannah Arendt's The Banality of Evil, it answers often unaddressed questions that make you grow as a person.
Umberto Eco - Baudolino
Umberto Eco's Baudolino is a book I've recently fallen in love with which doesn't get nearly the attention it merits. I imagine this is because it has to compete with its older brothers-The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum. Both of which require patience to get the best results (especially if you're looking to understand the underlying mysteries Eco references.) Baudolino, standing at a hefty 528 unabridged pages, is also not a quick read.
However, it is a book that actually merits that overused word "epic." Why? Because, and I promised myself not to make a dick joke, it does a lot of things with that length. It's both one of the funniest and most profound books I've ever read. It does require you know a little bit more about both semiotics and medieval politics than is reasonable, but with same basing and googling, it is not hard to traverse.
The main character, Baudolino, comes across not as an archetype or someone you're meant to project upon but a flawed and lovable protagonist. Over the course of a journey to find the mythical Prestor John, we see Baudolino evolve and change. However it is never written in a boring clear cut "this is the character arc" kind of way. He's an honest liar, a cowardly brave man and a pacifist who's constantly getting caught in wars. He's funny and profound, jovial and scarred, and one of the best main characters I've had the chance to acquaint myself with. The cast he's surrounded with, both historical and fictional, are equally as charming and convincingly villainous.
So yes it's 528 pages, but you'll leave it both smiling and thinking.
Unsolicited Recommendations 6
Recently I've been too busy with other work-related activities and the national American sport of dodging bullets to consume a ton of culture from outside my little world. But what I tend to do in those time is reread and rehear stuff I already enjoy, so you know these two books have an unsolicited stamp of approval that has stood the test of time-
Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front" and Ernst Jünger's "Storm of Steel"
You might've noticed a certain uptick in movies and TV being made about the First World War. My gamble is that it's less difficult to create a relatable struggle when there's no unambiguous evil. Barring the Ottomans, who were trying their damndest to get in on it early.
That being said, knowing the events is half the struggle and getting a grip on the feeling on each side is a very different game. The American and British novelists have quite a few famous ones (like T.E Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" or Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" to name two) but the German ones are known mainly by name rather than by people having actually read them.
This is a shame, as these books show the other side of this world changing conflict. "Storm of Steel" in particular has a lot of insights into the different divisions in the German forces (Lower Saxons and Prussians for eg.) It's hard to imagine but both Germany and Italy were united countries for about 50-60 years at the time The Great War broke out. It was all duchies, kingdoms, palatinates and presumably Palpatine-nates before that.
Meanwhile " All Quiet on the Western Front" is one of the greatest anti-war novels of the modern age. Unlike Jünger's book, it is a less complex and less flowery book, but the way it talks about the feelings and trauma of Paul Bäumer and company is both fascinating and hits home very hard. I believe many of the characters in the book are archetypes of people we see around us, and Remarque's insight can teach us a lot. We all know an armchair Kantorek, a dry and witty Westhus, or an overcompensatory Himmelstoß.
The books serve as interesting counter pieces to each other. Jünger was a more philosophical, more decorated soldier while Remarque was more sensitive and more clearly scarred by what he endured. Reading both, while not providing a complete education, definitely gives a better center to understanding this conflict.
P.S
Remarque's followup, "The Way Back" is also an excellent read. The Netflix movie for All Quiet is also pretty damn good.
Unsolicited Recommendations 5
(Insert a charming opening paragraph with some vague and bland best wishes, followed up with some joke here. Then say the division today is into an album and a series of books. )
Batzorig Vaanchig’s The Great Chinggis Khan
As anyone who know me can attest, I have had a strong and long standing fascination with Mongolian culture. I have a tattoo of "khan" in Mongolian Bichig (Тод Бициг) script an my hand, and I've occasionally used both Mongol terms and Bichig script in my own art. But let's take a step back, do you know that meme with the Mongolian musician playing the horse head fiddle (морин хуур) on a mountainside? Wearing a traditional, green Mongolian robe ( дззл)?
That man is Batzorig Vaanchig. With the rise of popularity and interest in Mongolian Folk and traditional music, Batzorig Vaanchig cannot and will not go unmentioned. He is, beyond the meme, perhaps the greatest and most famous modern musician in the genre.
If you roll on back to the prehistoric year known to scholars as 2015, before The Hu exploded in popularity (much love to them too,) there were a select few places you could go for full albums of real Mongolian steppe music. In the west, the list for many years basically began and ended in Steppenwolf. But joke references to Hard Rock aside, the list basically began and was headed by Khusgutun and Batzorig Vaanchig.
While the two Khusugtun albums (a self titled debut and Jengar) are my personal favorites in the genre, I believe the accessibility of his new solo record makes for an ideal starting point. Honestly you can't go wrong with any of the three, but if you're new, start here. Savor it, because his voice is one of a kind.
Stephen Fry's Mythos, Heroes and Troy
Being a huge Greek Mythology fan and philhellene myself, I like to dig into every aspect of the old books. There isn't a great many of them, and while they're almost infinitely re-readable, there's a point where you start humming along. But many people tell me they can't pick up an unabridged copy of Theogony, the Iliad, or the Odyssey without getting lost. Between references, customs in Ancient Greece and blurry lines between what is history and what is myth, it can get massively overwhelming.
I broke my head against the wall until I got it. However if you'd rather not be a nerd and spend your days hitting on ladies and making money rather than pondering the ineffable will of Zeus, Stephen Fry has you covered. From cultural significances to fun tidbits and references, Stephen Fry retells and explains the stories in a charming and compelling way.
Id like to stress that it is not and is not intended to be a substitute to reading the originals. Whether we're talking about the Iliad, the Argonautica or Theogony, there's a great deal that is conveyed beyond the storyline. However, Stephen Fry is an excellent Vergil to your Dante as you make your way through.