Well on the way to three hundred. Here is an index of 101 to 200:

 

#	Category	Subject	Date
101	Words	Jonathan Carroll	1/4/2017
102	Other	Stephen Chow	1/6/2017
103	Music	Public Enemy	1/9/2017
104	Words	Arthur Miller	1/11/2017
105	Other	Anonymous	1/13/2017
106	Music	Balfa Brothers	1/16/2017
107	Words	Mary Roach	1/18/2017
108	Other	Ben Edlund	1/20/2017
109	Music	The Box Tops	1/23/2017
110	Words	William Makepeace Thackeray	1/25/2017
111	Other	Joel & Ethan Coen	1/27/2017
112	Music	Tim Hardin	1/30/2017
113	Words	Charles Stross	2/1/2017
114	Other	Marc Maron	2/3/2017
115	Music	Randy Newman	2/6/2017
116	Words	Barbara Tuchman	2/8/2017
117	Other	Mill Creek Park	2/10/2017
118	Music	Fats Waller	2/13/2017
119	Words	Alexandre Dumas	2/15/2017
120	Other	Frank Gilroy	2/17/2017
121	Music	King Crimson	2/20/2017
122	Words	John M. Ford	2/22/2017
123	Other	MIDI	2/24/2017
124	Music	Mohammed Rafi	2/27/2017
125	Words	Terry Jones	3/1/2017
126	Other	Anthony Bourdain	3/3/2017
127	Music	Sparks	3/6/2017
128	Words	F. Scott Fitzgerald	3/8/2017
129	Other	Peter Weir	3/10/2017
130	Music	Vladimir Horowitz	3/13/2017
131	Words	William Gibson	3/15/2017
132	Other	James Rado, Gerome Ragni, Galt MacDermot	3/17/2017
133	Music	Huey Lewis & the News	3/20/2017
134	Words	Paul Bowles	3/22/2017
135	Other	Lenny Bruce	3/24/2017
136	Music	Patsy Cline	3/27/2017
137	Words	Cara Black	3/29/2017
138	Other	Utopia (Dreamland)	3/31/2017
139	Music	Blood, Sweat & Tears	4/3/2017
140	Words	E.E. Cummings	4/5/2017
141	Other	Greg Rucka	4/7/2017
142	Music	Jackie Wilson	4/10/2017
143	Words	Elizabeth Hand	4/12/2017
144	Other	John Ford	4/14/2017
145	Music	The Pretenders	4/17/2017
146	Words	Christopher Buckley	4/19/2017
147	Other	Claude Monet	4/21/2017
148	Music	Clifford Brown	4/24/2017
149	Words	William Saroyan	4/26/2017
150	Other	Akira Kurosawa	4/28/2017
151	Music	Meat Loaf	5/1/2017
152	Words	Clifford Simak	5/3/2017
153	Other	Hugo Pratt	5/5/2017
154	Music	Anthony Newley	5/8/2017
155	Words	Joseph Conrad	5/10/2017
156	Other	Steven Moffat	5/12/2017
157	Music	Buddy Holly	5/15/2017
158	Words	Christopher Hitchens	5/17/2017
159	Other	Walter Gibson	5/19/2017
160	Music	Jimi Hendrix	5/22/2017
161	Words	Nancy Farmer	5/24/2017
162	Other	Kill Devil Hills	5/26/2017
163	Music	Low and Sweet Orchestra	5/29/2017
164	Words	Christopher Moore	5/31/2017
165	Other	Jim Henson	6/2/2017
166	Music	Sly & the Family Stone	6/5/2017
167	Words	William Inge	6/7/2017
168	Other	Peter Milligan	6/9/2017
169	Music	Tom Waits	6/12/2017
170	Words	Emily Dickinson	6/14/2017
171	Other	Utagawa Hiroshige	6/16/2017
172	Music	Captain Beefheart	6/19/2017
173	Words	François Rabelais	6/21/2017
174	Other	Rolling Stone Magazine	6/23/2017
175	Music	Desmond Dekker	6/26/2017
176	Words	Douglas Adams	6/28/2017
177	Other	Jean-Pierre Jeunet	6/30/2017
178	Music	Woody Guthrie	7/3/2017
179	Words	Elmore Leonard	7/5/2017
180	Other	Ricky Jay	7/7/2017
181	Music	Gaetano Donizetti	7/10/2017
182	Words	P.G. Wodehouse	7/12/2017
183	Other	David Milch	7/14/2017
184	Music	Etta James	7/17/2017
185	Words	Kage Baker	7/19/2017
186	Other	Alan Moore	7/21/2017
187	Music	Chairmen of the Board	7/24/2017
188	Words	Stephen Jay Gould	7/26/2017
189	Other	Michael Cimino	7/28/2017
190	Music	Miles Davis	7/31/2017
191	Words	Nathaniel Hawthorne	8/2/2017
192	Other	George S. Kaufman	8/4/2017
193	Music	Cornershop	8/7/2017
194	Words	Philip K. Dick	8/9/2017
195	Other	Taryn Simon	8/11/2017
196	Music	Peter Gabriel	8/14/2017
197	Words	David Falkner	8/16/2017
198	Other	Bobcat Goldthwaite	8/18/2017
199	Music	Moxy Früvous	8/21/2017
200	Words	Clifford Odets	8/23/2017

Ran

Film directed by Akira Kurosawa and written by Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Masato Ide and William Shakespeare

Things change. When I started writing You’ve Got to Check This Out, I started building a list of topics. They included songs and movies and books and all those other things that felt appropriate. A few months in, I decided to lead with the name of the person, instead of the work (i.e., William Faulkner instead of The Sound and the Fury). With a few exceptions for places or technology, that has worked out.

About the same time, I discovered that I had listed more than enough topics to fill out my intended 300 blogs. So, I did what I do and organized matters. Except I kept the original listings- sometimes a name and sometimes a thing. As I sit down today, I look ahead and see that I have listed multiple movies by Akira Kurosawa: High and Low also appears, but I could have included Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Rashomon, Throne of Blood,… Of course, there are also the movies that his films inspired: Star Wars (The Hidden Fortress) and The Magnificent Seven (Seven Samurai).

This is my favorite film.

Saying you like Akira Kurosawa is like saying you like Alfred Hitchcock, Leonardo Da Vinci, or The Beatles. These are all monumental cultural presences who produced voluminous work at times when their chosen art form had wide distribution. (All right, Da Vinci is a slight exception, but his work, like the rest, was created in a format that has lasted.) You have to close yourself off in order to find nothing to like in all of their work. They may not be a favorite, but somewhere in their catalogs is a creation that works for you.

Because Hollywood does not really do samurai films, Kurosawa is primarily associated with that genre in the U.S. Film festivals and repertory cinemas show the samurai movies. So, High and Low feels like more of a revelation than it is within Kurosawa’s body of work.

As a suspense mystery, it is unusual in structure. Like all the best art, the story is brilliant and also a commentary on the world. Each shot serves multiple purposes, as we expect from Kurosawa. Perhaps because it feels like he is working on a context we know (film noir), the skill truly shines through. Americans watch a lot of cop shows, so we know what we’re dealing with here. We are more bound to lose ourselves in a samurai film before we can fully appreciate the artistry.

Introducing The Hidden Fortress on DVD, George Lucas talks about having to go to a special showing back in the day. I somehow doubt Kurosawa envisioned an American audience while making most of his films. The wonder of his art is the universality that he captured. Like the best westerns and noir, Kurosawa’s messages speak to everyone.

What’s it all about?

You’ve Got to Check This Out is a blog series about music, words, and all sorts of artistic matters. It started with an explanation. 150 more to go.

New additions to You’ve Got to Check This Out release regularly. Also, free humor, short works, and poetry post irregularly. Receive notifications on Facebook by friending or following Craig.

Images may be subject to copyright.

The Time of Your Life

Play written by William Saroyan

As near as I can recall, this is the first play that I ever read. I remember the struggle with its format, which is probably why it seems like the first. For middle school, I attended the tiny Kennedy School in downtown Youngstown. We were housed in a, well, big house. The fifth through eighth graders were in two rooms downstairs- maybe ten or twelve of us. For a few months, I sat beside the bookcases that lined one wall. During down times (or maybe also boring classes), I pulled something from the shelves and started reading. The section of books on archaeology and anthropology was within easy reach, so I devoured those. Next came poetry and theater.

Re-reading The Time of Your Life, I am shocked by how much it formed my basic philosophy of life. Kindness and friendship matter above all else. Both sides in disputes, no matter how apparently virulent, ought to be able to sit down for a drink afterwards. It’s more than fine to go see how other people live, but you do it with respect and an openness to the unexpected. No matter how someone looks or what their past might entail, they deserve to be treated with respect. Sometimes, people are just mysterious and you’re not going to understand their motivations. Appreciate what people bring to the table- they’re not trying any less than you or anyone else.

This begs the question of how much the art influenced my early thinking. The more reasonable argument might be that it gave structure to protean thoughts in need of clearer definition. I was no different from anyone else that age- caught on a bad day, I might think some awfully unkind thoughts. But the things I saw and read kept moving me toward my better self. Saroyan offers no solutions to “big” questions. He doesn’t solve the national debt or find a way to defeat the Nazis. His stage is small and interpersonal, but that is where we all start.

The public library

had to go deep into the sub-basement to drag out the copy I used for this blog. It includes the play as well as a set of essays Saroyan wrote later. He writes about crafting the play in a short time while locked up in his hotel room. After all, he promised it to an interested producer before having actually beginning to write it. (Now, there’s a whole ‘nother blog about artistic chutzpah.)

The essays illustrate an artist raising his head out of his bunker and looking at the world. For him, that world remains the struggle of the artist to maintain his integrity. But this demonstrates the difficulty we all face.

I’ve been naive before and I will be again, but I find most people around me have been invested with those qualities I describe above. In small, personal interactions, we want to be that person who can be kind. We want to be able to sit at a table with strangers of any stripe and chat about whatever- basically be people of good will. We have been imprinted with the messages of decent behavior.

But we stop there. We are bad at carrying that behavior forward to those who are out of sight. Art fails us. We struggle to find a language for universal peace and happiness. Our actors and paintings and songs allow us to embody handshakes and picking up the tab for coffee. Our art doesn’t help when confronted with corporate malfeasance and foreign dictators, let alone molecular biology and ecological engineering. Those require progressive acquisition of knowledge.

William Saroyan was a start, a good start.

What’s it all about?

You’ve Got to Check This Out is a blog series about music, words, and all sorts of artistic matters. It started with an explanation. 151 more to go.

New additions to You’ve Got to Check This Out release regularly. Also, free humor, short works, and poetry post irregularly. Receive notifications on Facebook by friending or following Craig.

Images may be subject to copyright.