A Few of My Favorite Things--Annotated
Below are my annotations to my list. If there is something I should have described further and did not, please leave a note in the comment box and I'll be happy to amplify.
Basho,
Li Po and Tu Fu and the fact that I still use Wade-Giles rather than the cumbersome and no more accurate Pinyin
Robert Herrick and the entire metaphysical crew
Christina Rossetti
Claude Debussy
Ralph Vaughn-Williams
Les Sept (Les Six--the most famous of whom were Arthur Honneger, Darius Milhaud, and Francoise Poulenc, plus Ravel)
Scarlatti
Couperin
Rene Magritte and Yves Tanguy ( I assume all know Magritte, a Belgian surrealiste whose work has been often enough ripped off [a while back Ceci n'est pas un pipe became the inspiration for ads on St. Blog's] that it is familiar. Yves Tanguy is a french counterpart with a wierd kind of infinite plane, biosculptural surrealism that was popular on the covers of science fiction books in the 1970's. My copy of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle has a Tanguyesque cover, as do many works published at the same time. [The cover is not in any way indicative of what is in the book.] See here, for the very few images available online.)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Unrivaled German Expressionist film filmed in 1919. Check here for stills and history. The only thing that comes close is the eerie and indicipherable "Un Chien Andalou" by Luis Bunuel and Salvidor Dali.
tropical temperatures, sights, and foods
salsa, rhumba, conga, meringue, and cubano-latino jazz
Bachianas Brasilieras (particularly # 5, which, with its wonderful vocalise I always think of as Rima's theme)(Composition by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Number 5 is among the most famous of the pieces, particularly with it's Aria, originally arranged for soprano and guitar--the vocalise is among the most lovely ever composed. To find out more about Villa Lobos, look here. A midi file of the piece may be found here.
Yma Sumac (The Incan Princess, vocalist with a four octave range, exotic, mysterious, and beautiful, look here for more.
(Since I mentioned these two I should add Green Mansions)( A novel by W. H. Hudson, among his more famous works. Notably features Rima, the Bird Lady).
Lounge Music--Most particularly Les Baxter (a.k.a. Space Age Bachelor Pad music--a quirky kind of jazz pop fusion that has various other "genres" (Tiki music, etc.) Revived in popularity in the 90's giving rise to the retro Brian Setzer phenomenon as well as the inimitable Combustible Edison. Click here to hear some Bob Thompson--try "Starfire." Click here to go Amazon and pick up a 30 second play of Les Baxter. Hard to believe that these guys gave way to the 101 strings and Montovani. )
The Stray Cats and sucessors
Thorne Smith (especially Night Life of the Gods and I Married a Witch
P.G. Wodehouse
All of H. Rider Haggard (this should be a guilty pleasure, but I can't muster up much in the way of feeling bad about it--unlike my sneaking enjoyment of much of Ken Russell's oeuvre--apropos of nothing)
Okay, already, I can see that it is an example of TMI.
