What media are you enjoying?

[Barry]

Colour me curious.
Which book, or which (non FZ!) recording or which movie/DVD are you guys 'n gals currently enjoying? And why?

You want me to go first of course, I understand. Currently on my night table:

- David Walley's "Teenage Nervous Breakdown" - a fascinating look at rock and how it's become a marketing instrument - if it wasn't just that from the very beginning
- "Groucho And Me" - The life of Groucho Marx as inimitably told by the man himself; I only just started reading this one.
- "Greendale" Neil Young's concept CD/DVD - great music, and proof that NY should keep from making movies...
- Beatles - "Yellow Submarine" video. "I've got a hole in me pocket". heheh.

How's bout you?

[Studio Tan]

Book: Shakey, Neil Youngs Biography. Good book about one of the most eccentric artists still alive. Well written

Recording: Neil Diamond   (You know that he wrote 'I'm A Believer' and 'Red Red Wine' not the Monkees or UB40)

Movie: Just downloaded Farenheit 411.

[Dunk]

Book: I do not read much (never fiction) but I liked the look of the free BlueJ software (http://www.bluej.org) so I got the book Objects First With Java - Barnes and Kolling to go with it.  
I am particularly interested in alternative forms of education (my children have never been to school and have not been taught anything much - unlike FZ!! Anyone know why he sent his kids to those schools that do not teach?) and this is a refreshingly alternative view of how Java should be learnt.  I tried it out on my son who observed, after an hour or so of shifting things around the screen, changing their shape and colour etc., that this programming malarkey was " a piece of piss".

DVD: The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci) because it is set in an interesting time (Paris 1968) but mostly because the box assured me that it contained Strong Sex (whatever that may be). Alas the girl's lack of hair in her armpits was far too distracting/irritating to allow me to fully enjoy the film and I shall have to return to it to check out all the references etc. We only have a small portable TV but if we treat ourselves to a new one for Christmas it will have to be able to playback NTSC stuff so I can get the US Marx Bros box set which includes Room Service which is missing from the UK issue

CD: Oh dear! Top of the pile is Stockhausen's Kontakte but right underneath that is The Best Of Arlo Guthrie which was going cheap and includes Alice's Restaurant which I had not heard for many years. Underneath that is Agata's Spike (http://www.onefinalnote.com/reviews/a/agata/spike.asp) just to show I do not live entirely in the 1960's

[guacamole]

Reading: Ian Carr's "Miles Davis - The Definitive Biography."

Listening: Robert Wyatt's "Cuckooland."

Watching: Just released DVD of Mel Brook's "The Producers."

[Wannabeard]

What I am currently reading: "The first circle" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (has been going on for a while now)

I am not listening to any particular cd right now but I'm exploring a bit of 80's metal a bit ,and liostening to teh Hitchhiker's guide (the BBC radio show).

As far as my DVD player goes I just watched Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa (again).

[black zappath]

Barry, "Groucho and Me" has got to be the funniest book I have ever read in 47 years of existence (well, 40 years of reading?...)!! I found it a truly solid killer, and I think I have re-read it three times!!
These days, I read this Rolling Stones bio "Old Gods Almost Dead", and I also indulge very often in H.P. Lovecraft's stories (yesterday night was "The Thing on the Doorstep"... talk about crazy, scary stuff!!).
AFA music goes, I am unfortunately a retro guy (because of? in spite of? Zappa) that keeps rebuying old stuff (Rolling Stones, Gentle Giant, Santana, Steely Dan, Black Sabbath [!], old John McLaughlin, etc.). And in recent years this tendency has been getting even worst since I have rediscovered vinyl record addiction and thrift shop LP hunting! But now at least this 3-penny habit gets me to actually discover artists from the past that I would not have spent big collector shop dollars on in the first place. And that includes classical or répertoire music, which opens up whole new avenues of listening experiences AFAIAC.
It's actually that old "Zappa CD vs. vinyl" page - that I believe sadly hasn't been maintained in years - that opened up my ears at how special FZ original vinyl LPs were, musically and sonically, as compared to the CD versions, and turned me into that modern-media-unhip geek I am now, that probably has FZ himself turning in his grave!
There you have almost the story of my life... But you ASKED for it!!

[Noolie]

Book - Who Will Cry When You Die - Sharma  Nice little tricks for living decently.

DVD - Shrek 2 - hey I have a 5 year old.

CD- FZ Mystery Disc - Still haven't figured it out yet, maybe repetetive playback will help.

[Bobo]

Book: Martin Gardner - The Colossal Book of Mathematics: Classic Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Problems. I've always been fascinated by math puzzles and M. Gardner is just on of the best authors on this subject. He also tries to revive some of Sam Loyd's works, a mastermind on math puzzles and inventor of the classic 15 puzzel: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/barry.r.clarke/zsamloyd.htm

DVD: Rammstein - Lichtspielhaus. Just some calm and relaxing stuff right before going to sleep

CD: something by Zita Swoon, Belgian group with one of the best male singer-songwriter-performer I ever came across (in Belgium of course)

[Bálint]

I’m reading a book of Glenn Gould at the moment: "Let's Ban Applause". It’s a book of collected writings, writings for papers, for album-sleeves and so on.

He’s a fun person, so its a pleasure reading it, and I always enjoy a situation when someone’s talking about music. And it seems that he’s really in it, his knowledge is huge, and he HAS his own opinion. There are articles on Webern, Strauss, Schönberg, Streisand (yes: Barbra!), and so on. It even contains a criticism of a biography on Gould – HE wrote that! Real strange!

Its a pity that these sleeve notes are not included in the CD’s I have (I have some Sony Classic editions), and it makes those look like a normal, dull „serious music” CD – these writings could have brought the listener closer to the music itself, and anyway, it belonged to it, I really dont know why isnt it here. Pity.

But it will take a long time to get through it because I can only read before I fall asleep, i dont have too much time nowadays – that’s the reason I cant answer to the letters of vrnzr lately…

:-)

[Marqueson's Chicken]

Book - The Little Red Book by Chairman Mao (Just finished - Its very thought provoking and interesting)

CD - (As I write this) FZ's Them Or Us

DVD - Jimi Hendrix: Live at the Isle of Wight

[bertanya]

Music... conscious reggae for now...

Luciano - Serious times
Lee Perry - Panic in babylon
Delroy Wilson - Better must come
Linval Thomson - Don't cut off your dreadlocks
The Gladiators - Sold out live tour 97-99

Reading... when time permits...

Artificial Intelligence - Jack Copeland
La Mythologie Chinoise - Claude Helft