Culture – Page 17 – Scripturient

Lawrence in Arabia

I recall with some vividness seeing David Lean’s masterpiece film, Lawrence of Arabia, when it was first shown in Canadian theatres. I was 12 and utterly astounded by the movie. Not simply the great, sprawling, adventurous tale that meandered through 220 minutes (plus the intermission), but by the incredible scenery. It was a world totally alien from my cultivated, manicured suburbia: wild, dangerous, exotic. And stunningly beautiful. So much of an impression did it make on my young mind that today I can still remember sitting in the Golden Mile theatre with my parents as the curtain rose and the lights ……… click below for more ↓

The Death of Handwriting?

2014-06-26 2017-11-11 Books & Reviews / Culture / My Writing / Politics / Social Order & Disorder / Writing & cursive2 Comments

I almost cried in pleasure when I watched this video; the handwriting is so beautiful. Apparently some viewers have, as Jesus Diaz writes. On Gizmodo he says that it’s: …a video that caused many to discover autonomous sensory meridian response, a perceptual phenomenon that gives a pleasing tingling sensation. Some said they got it watching people writing. Well, put your headphones on, because this is the mother of all calligraphy ASMR videos. Okay, maybe it is for me because I was raised with handwriting and still delight in it. Penmanship was taught in school at least for a few years when ……… click below for more ↓

Fifty Years Ago

2014-06-21 2014-06-21 Culture / Film & Reviews / Personal Reminiscences / Pop CultureOne Comment

In mid-August, 1964, a modest-budget, British black-and-white comedy movie hit the theatres. And instantly exploded to being the most popular film of the year. It was the Richard Lester flick, A Hard Day’s Night, starring the young Beatles in their debut on the silver screen. It was a paradigm changer in so many ways. It was a madcap, faux-autobiographical/mockumentary story – a style of filmmaking not previously seen on the big screen – punctuated by the Beatles’ music, including several new songs not yet released on vinyl. They would soon be, though and the soundtrack album would rise to number ……… click below for more ↓

Our 21st Century Library

2014-06-17 2014-06-17 Collingwood / Culture / Municipal Politics / Provincial Politics2 Comments

In the 20-plus years I’ve been on the Collingwood Library board, I have watched the functions of the library and its role in the community evolve and change to keep pace with the needs and demands of its growing number of users. It’s been a remarkable, exciting journey. Of all our civic institutions, I believe the library has best adapted to the new technologies and the changing community demographics. In sheer numbers, it is our most popular, most well-used community facility. And the library continues to grow in popularity as visits, uses and borrowing expands in leaps and bounds. From the Collingwood ……… click below for more ↓

The Hollow Crown: Henry V

2014-06-12 2016-07-05 Books & Reviews / Culture / England and Britain / Film & ReviewsOne Comment

As I started to watch the last film in the Hollow Crown series, I wasn’t sure whether Tom Hiddleston was up to playing the iconic role in Shakespeare’s most patriotic (and jingoistic) play. I thought Hiddleston’s Prince Hal in Henry IV had just a little too much of Loki – and maybe the bully – in it for me to see him as a majestic king. But I was quickly won over. Whether the movie itself was good Shakespeare is another question. First a note on the lighting and sets: in Richard II, it was all light, bright and colour ……… click below for more ↓

The Hunting of the Snark

2014-06-11 2014-06-11 Books & Reviews / Culture / Humour & Satire / Personal Reminiscences / Poetry & Lyrics / What I'm Reading Now / Writing & Fiction2 Comments

I’ve always wondered why Lewis Carroll’s wonderful poem, The Hunting of the Snark – an Agony in Eight Fits – has never been redone, rewritten in a modern version, with modern references and people. It seems to lend itself to revision, at least to my eyes. Perhaps it’s because this sort of whimsical, satirical poem is not popular these days (it was written between 1874 and 76, a decade after Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and three decades after Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense). Perhaps it’s because it’s a long poem, and reworking it all would be a considerable effort. After all, it’s ……… click below for more ↓

The Hollow Crown

2014-06-10 2014-06-11 Books & Reviews / Culture / Film & Reviews2 Comments

I’ve watched three of the four productions in the 2012 TV series, The Hollow Crown, this past week, and am greatly impressed by the productions and the acting. Wonderful, rich stuff. The series consists of the second Shakespeare tetralogy, the Henriad: Richard II; Henry IV parts 1 and 2, and Henry V, each roughly two hours long. I expect to see the last remaining one this week. (N.B. A new production of the first tetralogy, The Hollow Crown II, is in the works this year). There’s a bit of an irony in the tetralogy’s name: Henriad, because Henry doesn’t appear at all ……… click below for more ↓

WWHWWWH

2014-05-27 2014-05-27 Culture / Music & Reviews / Musical InstrumentsLeave a comment

WWHWWWH is one of two formulae I need to keep in mind when working through my scales on the ukulele and guitar. The other is 2122122. I see the musicians among you already recognize what these mean. I still need to have these written on a sticky note so I will remember when I practice. WWHWWWH means: Whole step – whole step – half step – whole step – whole step – whole step – half step. It’s how you calculate notes in any major scale, (or diatonic scale as it is also known, and just to confuse things, it ……… click below for more ↓

The Three Stooges

2014-05-24 2014-05-27 Culture / Film & Reviews / Personal Reminiscences / Pop Culture4 Comments

I bought a DVD set called The Ultimate Three Stooges this weekend.* I was rather surprised that even 20 DVDs could not contain all of the film work the trio (more on that, below) put together in their long career. But it does contain the core – and the very best – of their work, including several rare and forgotten early pieces. I’m delighted to have it – before this set I only had a scattered collection of pieces, but nothing this comprehensive. I grew up in the 1950s watching the Three Stooges in B&W on a TV that showed ……… click below for more ↓

Song arrangements for CPLUG

2014-05-18 2014-05-21 Culture / Musical Instruments / Ukulele: instruments & musicLeave a comment

I have arranged several songs for our local ukulele group (CPLUG – the Collingwood Public Library Ukulele Group) over the recent months, and put them online for our members and for any other ukulele aficionados. The most recent was prepared for our May 21 get-together. Links are below. Some of these are my own arrangements based mostly on my reading of the original song sheets or the music itself, others are based on those of other modern groups or players (albeit generally changed or updated by me). I search online for variations of songs – other arrangements – so I ……… click below for more ↓

Practice makes perfect

2014-05-13 2014-05-13 Music & Reviews / Musical Instruments / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

Whenever I’m asked for advice from new ukulele players on how to get better, or what secret they need to know to play better, I tell them it’s simple: Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. ……… click below for more ↓

How many chords?

2014-05-08 2014-05-08 Culture / Music & Reviews / Musical Instruments / Personal ReminiscencesOne Comment

How many chords does a musician need to know? How many does an amateur musician who plays mostly popular, folk and blues music, need to know? My first answer has always been, “all of them” because you never know when you need them. But that’s not realistic. After all, there are thousands of chords you can play on a guitar or piano and you simply can’t memorize every one. Well, at least I can’t. I know a lot of the basic forms: majors, sevenths, minors and so on – but I sometimes have to take a moment and think out something ……… click below for more ↓

Reading music and music theory

2014-05-04 2014-05-06 Culture / Education & Learning / Music & Reviews / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

I write about reading a lot, because I read a lot of books. There are other kinds of reading – other languages, too – that I don’t write much about. Reading music is one of them. It’s a different language; a symbolic language with its own grammar, punctuation and rules. As far as reading music goes, I’m semi-illiterate. I’ve been playing music – guitar mostly – since the Beatles had Ticket To Ride on the hit parade, back in the days of AM radio and 45 RPM singles. But I’m self-taught: no classes or schooling, just a lot of practice ……… click below for more ↓

Just Six Songs?

2014-04-26 2014-04-26 Culture / Music & Reviews / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Author, musician and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin says all music can be classified into a mere six types of song. That’s part of the premise in his 2009 book, The World in Six Songs. I recently started reading it and it has opened some interesting areas of thought for me.* A mere six fundamental themes in song, Levitin writes: friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge and love. And he provides a chapter for each in what is a literary combination of sciences, music, social commentary, cultural anthropology and personal reminiscence. And he offers a lot of conjecture that, while not necessarily provable, ……… click below for more ↓