Last night Kimberly and I had a discussion about appreciating an artist's work if the artist is a total slime or is rude or smiles too much. Although the question's not a given, the thing's not too difficult, because if you're a turp, a perp, or a perv, it's hard to keep out of your work. An artist's personality and personal morals are not the ultimate criteria when judging the beauty and/or utility of a work, but it should weigh heavily in the equation.
Por exemplo, I did not like Catch-22. I never read anything else of Vonnegut's after Catch-22, because the guy was so smug. And this morning I found a link to this madness of Vonnegut's at Little Green Footballs. Sometimes jerks are funny for a while...think Hunter S. Thompson; but their jerkiness (what a too-soft word) always comes out in the end, and alienates them from everyone except the snot-nosed kids who are really desperate to be cool...think Hunter S. Thompson.
It's nothing new, but it's less charming than dad was.
Update: disinterested (un-?) parties have pointed out that Joffre is dumb. Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22. Be nice to Joffre and don't ignore everything he says. Except for his art. Ignore his tainted art.
*****
If you visit this site, you'll find three songs by Jacksonville band The Lightfoot Brigade. Give their version of Nature Boy a listen (Nature Boy is the tune that opens the film Moulin Rouge). It's better than Nat King Cole's or David Bowie's versions. I'd even say it's as good as Caetano Veloso's version on the album Totalmente Demais (the link given is not to the version I'm thinking of, but it's still pretty good). The second song on The Lightfoot Brigade's site sounds very Jeff Buckley, which is the right kind of Jacksonville.
Por exemplo, I did not like Catch-22. I never read anything else of Vonnegut's after Catch-22, because the guy was so smug. And this morning I found a link to this madness of Vonnegut's at Little Green Footballs. Sometimes jerks are funny for a while...think Hunter S. Thompson; but their jerkiness (what a too-soft word) always comes out in the end, and alienates them from everyone except the snot-nosed kids who are really desperate to be cool...think Hunter S. Thompson.
It's nothing new, but it's less charming than dad was.
Update: disinterested (un-?) parties have pointed out that Joffre is dumb. Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22. Be nice to Joffre and don't ignore everything he says. Except for his art. Ignore his tainted art.
*****
If you visit this site, you'll find three songs by Jacksonville band The Lightfoot Brigade. Give their version of Nature Boy a listen (Nature Boy is the tune that opens the film Moulin Rouge). It's better than Nat King Cole's or David Bowie's versions. I'd even say it's as good as Caetano Veloso's version on the album Totalmente Demais (the link given is not to the version I'm thinking of, but it's still pretty good). The second song on The Lightfoot Brigade's site sounds very Jeff Buckley, which is the right kind of Jacksonville.
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