As I pointed out in my last entry, I've been listening to a lot of Philip Glass's music lately. I can't seem to get enough of it, to tell the truth, and in the last 2 weeks I've also been able to view his film collaboration with Godfrey Reggio, The Qatsi Trilogy in it's entirety.
The Trilogy consists of three full-length motion pictures scored entirely by Glass, starting with Koyannisqatsi, proceeding on to Powaqqatsi and concluding with Naqoyqatsi. Each film is a cinematographic smorgasborg of diverse images that deal with the extent that technology has come to be such an accepted and integral part of modern society. There is no dialogue whatsoever in any of the films, and no story line per se. What might normally (in a more traditional movie) be considered "background" is pulled up to the forefront and the music is given the prominence usually reserved for plot and character development.
I'd seen Koyaanisqatsi several times before now, and have long considered it one of the best, most original films of all time.
But this was my first go-round with Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi. Though the second installment is brilliant, it didn't impact me as powerfully as Koyaanisqatsi did. It's probably because the music is so relatively different than what I've come to expect from Glass. But Naqoyqatsi, on the other hand, I found to be absolutely incredible. It may well be my favourite of all three, with it's trippy, psychedelic visual style and Yo-Yo Ma's impeccable cello playing weaving it's way through the film's 90 minutes running time.
I really want to get all three of these on DVD (I checked these out from the library, so alas, I cannot keep them), and I enthusiastically reccomend the whole Trilogy to anyone with a taste for the unusual, the thought-provoking and the awe-inspiring.
They are, no doubt, unlike anything else you've ever seen before...
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I don't think I've mentioned this, but I work with developmentally disabled adults in their home in a position referred to as "Habilitation Training Specialist" (HTS). Sounds pretty high-falutin' but trust me, it's not (it sho nuff doesn't PAY "high falutin'").
Anyway, one of the guys I see every week has generally only listened to hip-hop all his life...Nothing wrong with that, mind you, although at 42 I have to confess that the vast majority of hip-hop/rap does absolutely nothing for me (even if I do find Willie D's Goin' Out Like A Soldier to be a gut-busting hilarious CD).
Anyway, driving this guy around Tulsa I generally listen to the classic rock station and believe it or not I have actually helped broaden this guy's musical taste by doing so. He still doesn't like a lot of rock music, but there are a few songs that he enjoys enough to have asked me to burn a CD of them for him. This I plan to do tomorrow so I can get it to him on Friday (I don't even want to think about the consequences that could arise if I don't follow through with this...this guy, after all, has been diagnosed and is on medication for Intermittent Explosive Disorder).
Here's a list of the songs he insisted I get on the CD and the rest is left up to my judgement:
"The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band
"Fly Like An Eagle" by the Steve Miller Band
"In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins
"Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin
"School's Out" by Alice Cooper
"Smokin" by Boston
"Foreplay/Long Time" by Boston
"Life's Been Good" by Joe Walsh
"Cheap Sunglasses" by ZZ Top
...and that song by Supertramp from Breakfast In America that goes "Don't you look at my girlfriend/She's the only one I've got..."
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