Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider.By Hap ErsteinI was in college when I first came under the influence of Dennis Hopper, going with my roommate and fellow counterculture rebel wannabe to see a movie called Easy Rider, which Hopper wrote, directed and appeared in.It was a call to all of us closet revolutionaries to leave our humdrum lives behind and hit the open road, … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2010
Appreciation: Dennis Hopper, counterculture icon
I was in college when I first came under the influence of Dennis Hopper, going with my roommate and fellow counterculture rebel wannabe to see a movie called Easy Rider, which Hopper wrote, directed and appeared in. It was a call to all of us closet revolutionaries to leave our humdrum lives behind and hit the open road, preferably on a souped-up motorcycle. It was an … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 28-June 2
Lee Byung-Hun in The Good, the Bad, the Weird.Film: Even art houses have to compete with the action movies that major studios churn out in the summertime, so that probably explains the arrival of The Good, the Bad, the Weird, a rock-’em, sock-’em Korean western from director Ji-woon Kim, a master of camerawork and production excess. Set in … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 28-June 2
Film: Even art houses have to compete with the action movies that major studios churn out in the summertime, so that probably explains the arrival of The Good, the Bad, the Weird, a rock-’em, sock-’em Korean western from director Ji-woon Kim, a master of camerawork and production excess. Set in Japanese-occupied Manchuria in the 1930s, the movie concerns a treasure that is … [Read more...]
The View From Home 7: New releases on DVD
By John ThomasonStagecoach (Criterion)Release date: May 25Standard list price: $30.99As the legend goes, John Ford’s Stagecoach established the Western as an A picture, reviving it from its creatively moribund inception as disposable, one-dimensional nickelodeon fare and elevating it to the lofty standards of Whitmanesque poetry and pre-Wellesian compositional … [Read more...]
The View From Home 7: New releases on DVD
Stagecoach (Criterion) Release date: May 25 Standard list price: $30.99 As the legend goes, John Ford’s Stagecoach established the Western as an A picture, reviving it from its creatively moribund inception as disposable, one-dimensional nickelodeon fare and elevating it to the lofty standards of Whitmanesque poetry and pre-Wellesian compositional virtuosity that all of our … [Read more...]
Books feature: Renowned translator of Japanese literature moves to China’s ‘source of sources’
William Scott Wilson.By Chauncey Mabe After the Bible, the Tao Te Ching is the second most translated text in the world, and certainly it is the most famous and influential book of ancient Chinese wisdom in the West. Why, then, with dozens of versions already available, would we need a new one – especially by a translator who made his name in classical … [Read more...]
Eminent translator of Japanese turns to China’s ‘source of sources’
After the Bible, the Tao Te Ching is the second most translated text in the world, and certainly it is the most famous and influential book of ancient Chinese wisdom in the West. Why, then, with dozens of versions already available, would we need a new one – especially by a translator who made his name in classical Japanese samurai literature? “My friends all ask that same … [Read more...]
Theater review: Caldwell’s ‘Into the Woods’ concert comes off splendidly
By Hap Erstein “I wish …”They are the first two and last two words of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods, an audacious and whimsical shuffle of lesson-laden Grimm’s fairy tales.It has long been my wish that a South Florida theater company would take up the challenge of presenting some of Sondheim’s innovative musicals, even though they require large … [Read more...]
Caldwell’s ‘Into the Woods’ concert comes off splendidly
“I wish …” They are the first two and last two words of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods, an audacious and whimsical shuffle of lesson-laden Grimm’s fairy tales. It has long been my wish that a South Florida theater company would take up the challenge of presenting some of Sondheim’s innovative musicals, even though they require large casts of vocally … [Read more...]