Tuesday looks like a Seriously Good Movie. I mean - a dying kid and an understandably emotional mother but, but, but… it also has a Shapeshifting Parrot on board and for that alone, I’m going to be first in the queue. Hopefully it will get a wide release instead of one of those dumbass one or two days at 10pm releases in some back-end cinema, but I won’t hold my breath.
And no. Don’t wait for it to be available on a streaming platform. Go see it properly. Which part of Shapeshifting Parrot isn’t hitting the ground for you?
I don’t think I’ve shared a link from another substack column here before but this one is absolutely worth a read. Said post concerns Pearl Jam, or a close representative thereof, asking artists to provide poster artwork for the band, not getting paid for it and instead being ‘allowed’ to have a number of their own finished posters to sell on eBay.
I’m not a huge fan of Pearl Jam (I can’t see further than two great songs they wrote that are on their first album - and that was back in 1991) but they always seemed like decent guys who played the game well but maybe they just talk a good game.
I’ll let you read it for yourself right here but it doesn’t make for nice reading. Not really. Not when it’s 2024 with a supposed ‘new economy’ in the palm of our hands.
While we’re on the subject of bands from that neck of the woods, here’s a man playing a fantastic cover of Alice in Chains’ Down In A Hole on a nylon string guitar. It doesn’t matter if you like Alice in Chains or not - this is top of the tree in anyone’s book.
Let’s talk about poetry. I don’t know anybody who reads poetry. Nobody… and I know why: because the absolute vast majority of poetry is a screaming pile of camel hair in your eye. It’s not good, it doesn’t say anything people want to hear and is mostly appreciated by people who need to attach themselves to such things in order to appear educated, smart and above the masses. I’m pretty certain poetry is supposed to be a way to speak to the people and involve them but it sure as hell isn’t that anymore.
That’s because nobody writes and more importantly perhaps, presents poetry like this:
Because that is worth a watch and listen any day of the week. There are dozens of similar videos kicking about within that account. All these years on, there’s still nobody better than Bukowski.
That’s how you get poetry to the people. Brilliant.
Footnote: I always like to be corrected with my sweeping comments and I’ve just seen that Frank Skinner has a poetry podcast out in the world. Of all the people I would expect to be a secret poetry lover, Frank would be the last person on my list. I’m going to give a few episodes a listen and who knows - maybe there will be somebody or something to love when I get there. I’ll report back later. It’s available on all podcasts platforms but here’s the Apple link just because that’s my ecosystem of choice.
Finally, who doesn't like a good trawl of the internet for art prints. This week, I found this little gem which amused me no end.
You can find it here if you’re in the market, but there’s a warhead ton of goodies on the main site. Such as this letter for example… just in case you thought you were good at writing:
Topically, (if you’re a regular here), here’s some fan mail from Shirley Jackson:
The collected books are a stroke of bookish excellence too.
That’s it. I’m done. More bunches of five some other time.