Ok, it's a day late, get off me. I'm tired. So this Monday's (read: Tuesday) list of books, film, and music you must watch, listen to, and read. Did I get that right? Whatever, I blame the drugs.
Movie: The French Connection
One of the greatest films ever made, it revolves around two cops trying to intercept a shipment of heroin from France. It is perhaps Gene Hackman's best performance to date, and was also the first R-rated movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. As with the movie Bullitt, the movie is famous for one of the best car chase scenes ever filmed, so that alone should make it worth watching. Based on the true story of the real "French Connection", this movie ranks at #2 as my all time top 5, and I highly recommend it.
Music: Teenage Fanclub - Grand prix
The only song you may have heard from these Brit's is "Don't Look Back", but don't let that crime against music fool you. Teenage Fanclub is one of those band's that has never released a bad record, and this is definitely their best. One of those records that you can listen to from start to finish without skipping a track; it's just plain good rock. Not too heavy, not too light, but Goldilocks would have found it just right (If she wasn't, you know, eaten by bears).
Book: Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde's only published novel is perhaps one of the literary world's greatest story of how a man can turn from a loving, caring person to a heartless, soulless shadow of the man he once was. Much like Faust, it is about sacrificing one's soul or sanity in order to quench their thirst for ultimate knowledge, or in Dorian Gray's case, beauty. We see Gray turn from a much adored man of wealth and beauty to a careless soul who feels almost nothing at all. The ending of the novel is one of my favorite endings I have ever read, and I know it may be a little hard to get past Wilde's constant use of descriptive writing of every object in every setting of the book, but trust me, it is worth it. Plus, the book has one of my favorite lines ever: "What manner of human endeavor is not morally ambiguous".
-B
I'm reaching for the life within me
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