Jamie's Cultural Icons
(in no particular order)
J. R. R. Tolkien
The great English fantasy author.
The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion,
Farmer Giles of Ham.
Joseph Conrad
The Polish-English author of suspenseful novels suffused with a
melancholy cynicism.
The N-- of the Narcissus, The Secret Agent,
Nostromo.
Vladimir Nabokov
The Russian emigre creator of superficially self-satisfied, but
tortured characters. Lolita, Pale Fire, Glory.
The Police
Anglo-American reggae-rock band active 1977-1984; drummer
Stewart Copeland, bassist/singer Sting (Gordon Sumner),
guitarist Andy Summers. Albums Regatta de Blanc,
Ghost in the Machine. Singles "Walking on the Moon",
"Message in a Bottle", "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic".
The Stranglers
Birmingham band active since 1975 and still active but
diminished by the departure of main songwriter/singer/guitarist
Hugh Cornwell. Albums Feline, Dreamtime; singles
"Golden Brown", "Mayan Skies".
Kate Bush
English singer/songwriter/keyboardist/producer.
Albums The Dreaming, Hounds of Love.
Singles "Sat in your Lap", "Cloudbusting".
Maurice Ravel
French "impressionist" composer.
Piano suite Le Tombeau de Couperin,
piano compositions "Pavane pour une infante defunte",
"Alborada del Gracioso".
Blade Runner
Visually and thematically compelling 1982 movie, directed by
Ridley Scott, from a screenplay originally written by Hampton
Fancher and adapted by David Peoples, ultimately based loosely
on a Philip K. Dick novel.
My Top Movies
The movies I consider the best are (in order of release):
- The Third Man (1949; dir. Carol Reed; stars Joseph Cotten,
Alida Valli and Orson Welles)
- Seven Samurai (1954; "Shichinin no Samurai"; dir. Akira
Kurosawa; stars Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune)
- King of Hearts (1966; "Roi de coeur"; stars Alan Bates)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968; dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- Jesus Christ Superstar (1973; dir. Norman Jewison)
- Annie Hall (1977; dir. Woody Allen; stars Woody Allen and
Diane Keaton)
- Blade Runner (1982; dir. Ridley Scott; stars Harrison Ford
and Rutger Hauer)
- Blue Velvet (1986; dir. David Lynch; stars Kyle MacLachlan,
Isabella Rosselini and Dennis Hopper)
- Wings of Desire (1987; "Der Himmel über Berlin"; dir. Wim Wenders; stars Bruno Ganz)
- Do the Right Thing (1989; dir. and stars Spike Lee)
- Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989; dir. Steven Soderbergh;
stars James Spader and Andie MacDowell)
- Groundhog Day (1993; dir. Harold Ramis; stars Bill Murray
and Andie MacDowell)
- A Taste of Cherry (1997; "Ta'm e guilass"; dir. Abbas Kiarostami)