Archives for 2009

Quentin Tarantino has gone and made himself a war movie–and it looks like Inglourious Basterds is going to be a hit, judging by the first two weeks’ worth of box-office receipts. So why did the creator of Pulp Fiction choose World War II as his subject? For that matter, why is anybody still making World War II movies sixty-four years after V-J Day? What is it about the Good War that continues to set it apart from all other wars in the eyes of Hollywood? I’ve taken a shot at answering that question in my latest “Sightings” column for tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal.
To be sure, Tarantino swears that Inglourious Basterds is really “a spaghetti western, but using World War II iconography as opposed to cowboy iconography.” Maybe that’s true–and maybe there’s more to that distinctive iconography than meets the eye. To find out what makes World War II so cinematically special, pick up a copy of Saturday’s Journal and see what I have to say.
UPDATE: Read the whole thing here.

“Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil.”
Eric Hoffer, The True Believer

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

Warning: Broadway shows marked with an asterisk were sold out, or nearly so, last week.

BROADWAY:

• Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (comedy, G, suitable for bright children, reviewed here)

• South Pacific * (musical, G/PG-13, some sexual content, brilliantly staged but unsuitable for viewers acutely allergic to preachiness, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

• Our Town (drama, G, suitable for mature children, reviewed here)

IN ASHLAND, OREGON:

• The Music Man (musical, G, very child-friendly, closes Nov. 1, reviewed here)

IN CHICAGO:

• The History Boys (drama, PG-13/R, adult subject matter, too intellectually complex for most adolescents, extended through Oct. 18, reviewed here)

IN STRATFORD, ONTARIO:

• The Importance of Being Earnest (comedy, G, closes Oct. 30, reviewed here)

• Three Sisters (drama, PG-13, closes Oct 3, reviewed here)

IN TOPANGA, CALIF.:

• The Cherry Orchard (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes Sept. 26, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON IN EAST HADDAM, CONN.:

• Camelot (musical, G, closes Sept. 19, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK ON BROADWAY

• Avenue Q * (musical, R, adult subject matter and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, closes Sept. 13, reviewed here)

CLOSING SATURDAY IN LENOX, MASS:

• Twelfth Night (Shakespeare, PG-13, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN GARRISON, N.Y.:

• Pericles and Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare, PG-13, playing in repertory, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY OFF BROADWAY

• Ruined (drama, PG-13/R, sexual content and suggestions of extreme violence, reviewed here)

“I lack what the English call character, by which they mean the power to refrain.”
Alan Bennett, An Englishman Abroad

Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, out December 2, just received a starred pre-publication rave from Kirkus Reviews:

A comprehensive, affectionate biography of arguably the single most important figure in the history of jazz.
The broad outlines of the story are well known to jazz fans….Former professional jazz musician and Wall Street Journal drama critic Teachout (All in the Dances: A Brief Life of George Balanchine, 2004, etc.) fills in the details with a sure hand, drawing on numerous published sources as well as voluminous tape recordings and autobiographical writings left by Armstrong, many not available to earlier writers. The author sheds light on the embouchure problems that temporarily derailed Armstrong’s career, and dictated a change of style, in the early ’30s. He sympathetically re-evaluates Armstrong’s later career, which many critics have dismissed as elevating showmanship above art, demonstrating that the trumpeter was much more than the unschooled natural genius some admirers saw in him. Without overloading the reader with technical details, Teachout shows how Armstrong’s music evolved over the years, while staying true to lessons learned–above all, attention to melody–from his New Orleans mentors such as Oliver. Quotes from Armstrong’s earthy autobiographical writings give the book authentic flavor. Teachout also deals frankly with Armstrong’s lifelong marijuana use, the role of organized crime in his business affairs, his untidy marital life and his forthright statements on racial issues. The author makes an eloquent case for Armstrong’s status as a pioneer, not just in jazz but in the broader context of 20th-century art.
A rewarding jazz biography and a revealing look at a broad swath of American cultural history.

This goes very nicely with the equally enthusiastic starred review of Pops that appeared last month in Publishers Weekly.
We seem to be off to a good start….

Books I bought simply because the title amused me, no. 43: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Alchemy.
Related: If you have any lead pencils or jars of old pennies lying around, I’d be ever so grateful if you could send them along.

People sure wish George R.R. Martin would finish his new book! This new one is to be called A Dance With Dragons, and it’s the fifth in his Song of Ice and Fire series, which despite its embarrassing, “a cologne by Oksana Baiul” name is, in fact, an excellent and very addictive fantasy series. I had reservations about the fourth book in the series (short version: too many family histories, too many nipples) but I’m still a fan — and the fourth book ended with several cliffhangers that I’m eager to see get sorted out. This latest installment was originally due out a few years back. 2006? 2007? I don’t remember the specific date; only that I counted down to it, then presented myself in a froth at the bookstore that week to pick up my copy. It was nowhere to be found. Later I checked Amazon and saw a new pub date, this one about six months or so in the future, had been fixed. Disappointing — but what are you going to do? Then, a few months later, the revised publication date was replaced by this, more ominous message: “Currently unavailable. We don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock.” I checked Martin’s website. An update there said something like, “Yep, I’m still writing.”
Now, if you’ve ever been engaged in a writing project that’s lasted a period of years you’ll be familiar with how, after a while, no one seems to ask how the book is anymore. Instead they ask you when it will be done. And while people often mean it well, at some point you realize that the real question they’re asking isn’t “Are you done yet?” so much as “Why aren’t you done?” It’s an awkward question to field from family and friends. Worse, I imagine, would be to hear it from an agent or editor. But now I’ve discovered the most terrible thing of all: To have it be the subject of an open debate in the reviews section of Amazon.
Yesterday I happened to think about Martin’s series and decided to check Dance With Dragons‘ Amazon page to see if it had a release date. No, but somehow the book had accrued 49 reviews and a two-and-a-half star rating. Had I missed the book’s coming out? Was there some foreign edition that people had gotten a hold of? No. The majority of the “reviews” are fans expressing their disappointment with the delay in publication and asking variations of the question: “Why isn’t it done yet?”
One reviewer writes:

I am thrilled to see that others share my growing concern. I, too, followed Robert Jordan through 11 main Novels and a prequel waiting for him to finish his series.
Then he died, leaving his series unfinished.
A lesson George RR Martin should learn from! [Ed. note: !!]
I’m a regular at GRRM’s website and “Not a Blog” and have to say that I just can’t put into words the disappointment I feel. Mr. Martin has caught the bug. He’s decided that he is going to stretch out his “A Song of Fire and Ice” series as far and for as long as possible.
He has time to blog about football.
He has time to blog about politics.
He has time to blog about toy miniatures.
He has time to travel around the world.
But…
He has no time to work on his LONG overdue 5th book.”

I’m torn here — I’m a fan too, and I confess, I’ve sometimes seen pictures of Martin at sci-fi and fantasy conventions, smiling and looking like a lovely gent, and thought, “Get back to work, George!” But reading these comments I feel sympathy for him too. Because that above comment is how I’ve always imagined the ticker tape in people’s heads runs when they ask me about the book: “She has time to take walks. She has time to watch Buffy reruns. She has time to drink wine. She has time to know a startling amount of celebrity gossip and random stories from the Internet.”
Here’s a snippet from another review:

Too much time has passed; I can’t remember all the characters and the subtle nuances of the story have escaped me. It’s been something like nine years since we read about some of our favorite characters in A Storm Of Swords. I just don’t have the heart to drag myself through the series again to rekindle the affair, only to be left hanging yet another time at the conclusion.
I’ve moved on – and maybe you should too.

Poor George. Well, at least there’s no section on Wikipedia specifically devoted to cataloging how long it’s taking him to write the thing. Oh no, wait.
UPDATE: Thanks to Levi Stahl for directing me to Neil Gaiman sounding off on the same subject: “George R.R. Martin is not working for you.” (Third item.)

Vladimir Nabokov and Lionel Trilling talk about Nabokov’s Lolita:

(This is the latest in a weekly series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Wednesday.)