Comments on: The Soundtrack to Ecstacy

By: John Cramer

John Cramer — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 04:19:00 +0000

Yeah, rich and happy.

By: Clinton Heider

Clinton Heider — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:48:00 +0000

I think of the whole Whopper thing every time I see the losers in the Sonic drive-thru commercial. We totally could have pitched our concept to BK back then and made millions as pitchmen, replacing that creepy King guy. A cross country road trip in which we eat only Whoppers, and at the end grant an award to the very best whopper of them all. Sure, we would have died of heart disease at 30, but we would have been rich!

By: John Cramer

John Cramer — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 05:58:00 +0000

Can’t really argue with that logic, Clinton. It’s funny how I remember all of that experience in a similar way. There was also the wildcat that was spotted on whatever trail we seemed to try and hike on, the winery in Del Rio, Fort Stockton, Marathon, getting lost in San antonio’s fucking nightmare of a traffic system, and the countless hours of discussion around one of our favorite topics at that time: Burger King’s Whoppers.

Hell yeah. I live for improvised road trips.

By: Son of Ravyn

Son of Ravyn — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 04:31:00 +0000

Carlos, it is true that my exposure to, and knowledge of, Herzog is limited, so I may be missing something my wife would dig. I tried to get her to watch Aguirre with me, but she didn’t seem to keen on watching an already crazy German float downriver on a raft, with very little “happening”, culminating in the monkey flinging scene Clinton mentions. That scene, alone, is worth the movie, in my book. I’ll have to give her a try on some of the friendlier stuff.

John, I would love some Popol Vuh burnination.

All – on a slightly related note, I came across Faust’s fifth (never released) record, in mp3 form, on WFMU’s Beware of the Blog a few weeks ago. The quality is rough, but it is certainly an interesting document. Just Google Faust and WFMU, and it should turn up.

By: Clinton Heider

Clinton Heider — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 04:20:00 +0000

Man, I remember that Big Bend trip like it was yesterday. It’s funny how some incidents in my life cut through the drug and alcohol induced amnesia of the last two decades…this is one of them. Specifically, sleeping in a car in Del Rio because we couldn’t afford, or find, a hotel room. Trying to eat prickly pears. Leaving the house with not much more than a paper sack with a few cans of beans and a jar of peanut butter in it. Fishing at Amistad, catching absolutely nothing at all even as fish the size of pontoon boats floated by, laughing at us, wondering what roasted lizard tasted like, and, of course, the defining moment when we both simultaneously realized that the longer we stayed in Big Bend, the higher were the odds of one or both of us sleeping with the gnarly trailer-trash chicks at the adjacent campsite (the sight of them shaving their legs out in the open, while glancing suggestively in our direction, is a horror that will never be erased from my mind) – and of course, the nightmarish hell-ride in the dead of night on I-10, back to San Antonio – truckers on speed, surfing on a red sea of roadkill complete with ghastly ribs reaching up toward the sky, falling asleep at the wheel only to be awakened by the thump of an exceptionally large chunk of deer carcass, watching my hallucinations in disbelief as trees grew out of the road, the road itself closing in a curve around me.

Naturally, I was (like John) in a particularly receptive frame of mind when we returned to Houston, popped in the video tape, and Aguirre reared his fearsome visage. I have seen this film only once, but I’ll never forget Kinski standing alone, flinging one of the dozens of monkeys that had overrun his barge aside with an epic grunt of disdain for himself, his god, and his whole existence. Certainly one of the greatest, if not the greatest, moment I’ve experienced in cinema.

One reason I don’t watch a lot of movies any more is because I doubt I’ll ever see anything that good again…so what’s the point?

By: John Cramer

John Cramer — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 14:02:00 +0000

I think a Vuh-cast will be in order. If, young Raven, you wish, I can burn the stuff I have for you and just hand it over when I see you next. Your call. Douche.

I'll say this one thing about podcasting. I have dial-up. It's all I can afford. So my up/download capabilities are severely limited at best. In other words, I can and do want to contribute to a podcast, but a really regular commitment might be a bit of a stretch. I guess we'll just see how it goes.

One other all purpose question. Does anyone in here know of a decent, affordable phono preamp I could buy for my turntable I just bought from Sound Exchange? I mistakenly thought my receiver has phono outs. I needed one anyway because I want to use it for burning my vinyl to disc through Ol' Bessie Lou, my PC, for obvious reasons. So that functionality is part of it too. Let me know.

By: Carlos Anaconda

Carlos Anaconda — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:51:00 +0000

Yeah, John, I wouldnt mind some more Popol Vuh either. You got my vote for a popol-podcast.

And SoR, don’t deny your wife the opportunity to enjoy Herzog, though Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo are pretty visceral a lot of his other stuff, especially the docs can be great for the whole family. Maybe start with the Wheel on Time doc about the Buddhist sand mandalas. By far the best thing i’ve seen on Buddhist monks.

By: Son of Ravyn

Son of Ravyn — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 07:08:00 +0000

The only Popol Vuh stuff I've heard is the Aguirre soundtrack. First at bookstop, thanks to one John Cramer, then on the film itself. I watched it during one of my twice-monthly work mandated 5:30 am bedtimes.

When I work night shift, I have to stay up the night before, so that I can get my circadian rhythm good and confused. I decided a while back that I could use these nights to catch up on films I should have seen. Aguirre was the first of these. Sheer brilliance. I was riveted, and terrified, the entire time. I kept waiting for Kinski's hand to reach through the set and hurl me from my couch. This is one of those movies (and directors, I'm affraid) that I will only ever watch on such nights, as I don't think my wife would appreciate the horror and beauty Herzog has to offer.

I currently have a good number of Herzog films waiting in my netflix cue, but have been holding on to season two of The Office (BBC), and The Office Special. Alas, this foundering is the fate of many netflix subscribers, from what I understand. This post has convinced me, though, that I must get through Ricky Gervais, and onto Fitzcarraldo, Heart of Glass, and Kaspar Hauser.

John: was your kind offer of Popol Vuh for the masses genuine? If so, I would very much like to take you up on it.

By: John Cramer

John Cramer — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:41:00 +0000

I find Strosek devastating, personally.And Kaspar Hauser is also fantastic to me.

Hey Charlie, basically anything early is a sure bet. All the soundtrack stuff is good. Hosiannah Mantra, and Die Affenstunde are supposed to be highlights (I’ve only only heard parts). I have Hohelied Salomos, and it is a beautiful Krautrock/pop album.

By: dd

dd — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 21:44:00 +0000

my Herzog essentials: AGUIRRE, FITZCARRALDO, LESSONS OF DARKNESS, LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY, THE GREAT ECSTACY OF THE WOODCARVER STEINER, LA SOUFRIERE, GRIZZLY MAN, THE WILD BLUE YONDER, LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS, NOSFERATU, MY BEST FIEND, STROSZEK, THE WHITE DIAMOND, FATA MORGANA, HEART OF GLASS.

There’s nothing I’ve seen that didn’t have some quality of interest, but those are my favorites. If I had to pick just a few, I’d probably say AGUIRRE, LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS, and LITTLE DIETER are three great ones to start with. But LESSONS OF DARKNESS … and WILD BLUE YONDER … ah, hell, just see ‘em all. (Though I would agree that WOYZECK didn’t do much for me. Neither did KASPAR HAUSER, but I’m thinking I really missed the boat on that one, keen to give it another watch.)

There’s a 6-DVD set of documentaries and shorts out in Australia. Dying to pick that up.