Thursday, July 22, 2010

Two issues of Entitled Opinions

One of the best podcasts around, Entitled Opinions, is off to summer hiatus and in addition to recommending to you the latest issue (about The Doors) I would like to encourage you to dive into the long history of the show and try an old issue. (feed)

First about The Doors. This is a great show in the Entitled Opinions tradition of shows about classic heroes in pop music which have already seen outstanding shows about Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd. The Doors is mostly about Jim Morrison, about his road to artistry and hence, more show about the creative process as a personal journey rather than the musical genre, culture and era of The Doors. And something to point out to you: this show defines for you what is 'cool'.

An old show I picked up thanks to the tip from a reader of the blog was a show from November 2005 in which Robert Harrison has Joshua Landy on the show and the two discuss Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu. Accompanied by single-malt whiskey we are treated with a grand overview of this long work and the meaning of human memory. Where Proust seems to be telling us that our memories are false and what we think we remember is eternally lost, the real verdict turns out to be much much more subtle.

More Entitled Opinions:
Heidegger,
Pink Floyd,
Alexander the Great,
Athanasius Kircher (Giordano Bruno),
King Lear.