Stealing beauty.. or something

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Tue, 2001-05-15 20:22

Okay, there's some kind of time machine or something that lets you steal someone's completed idea from the past and claim it as your own. You can nick up to three. So, not necessarily your favourite piece of creativity, but something that you think - oh, I wish I'd done that.

1. Losing my religion, REM. Not my favourite song of all time, but you just have to admire the craft of a song that everyone can sing, that most people have felt moved by and that yet still has an aura of ambiguity and mystery about it.

(While on the topic, at risk of enraging proper music fans on the site, I think Reveal is the best thing REM have done since Side 2 of Automatic for the People - bittersweet rather than funereal half of the album. It feels to me like the last summer you spend with people you've known all your life before they go to university. )

2. Goodfellas. In my view a worthy theft from Scorcese, who has plenty of other good stuff to console him. Gangsters, check. Mad drugs scenes, check. Seventies music, check. Audiences who had never seen Raging Bull being blown away by Joe Pesci - hey look, it's the funny guy out of Lethal Weapon 2 - jesus, look at what he's doing !

3. Lord of the Flies. Is there another novel that deals with such deep themes and yet is so immediate on the story level ? And the language is just gorgeous too, so resonant.

Sat, 2001-05-19 10:32

mark yb

Ivory, are you just being peverse. The master and Margarita I can understand we,ve gone there, I love it, your bonkers, but the Beatles! They wrote some of the best melodies of the past 35 years, amazing songs that have touched people everywhere. Granted the lyric content of Paul Mcartney can be less than even good but what about, `Yesterday`, Hey Jude`, `Let it Be`. or John Lennon's `Across the Universe`, or `in My Life`. or `A Day in the Life` not forgetting a thousand others! I know liking the Beatles can just appear populist, but sometimes things can be greatly loved for just being plain good! Gosh, is that a soap-box I see before me? Out dammed spot!

Sat, 2001-05-19 10:39

IFB

me?????? ...... perverse??????

Sat, 2001-05-19 10:56

soft lad's dad

Now den, Ivy, don't go upsetting little soft lad. Der's nothin so heartwarmin as listenin to der little feller whistlin 'All You Need is Cash' while robbin next door's lekky meter.

Sat, 2001-05-19 13:43

curua

You can't steal Lord of the Rings, Ivy; it's already mine, and I will make all the world read it again and again and again! hahahahahahaha!! >:-)

Sun, 2001-05-20 11:11

myrtle ostrich

i'd nick "the whole woman" by germaine greer Chopin's Nocturnes Apocalypse Now or possibly In the Heat of the Night or It's A Wonderful Life ...

Tue, 2001-05-15 20:37

IFB

withnail & i

Tue, 2001-05-15 21:17

Gabrielle

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No3 Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy. No film (yet)

Tue, 2001-05-15 21:26

curua

1. (at risk of enraging Ivory) Lord of the Rings (except I'd try to stay alive long enough to cash in on the film royalties). 2. The Fisher King 3. 'Three Libras'- A Perfect Circle

Tue, 2001-05-15 22:00

#10

Taj Hayer

My list (in no particular order): 1. Bladerunner - Director's Cut (especially Rutger Hauer's last lines) 2. Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock 3. Debussy- La Mer 4. Joyce's Dubliners 5. Larkin's less grumpy poems (if they exist) 6. Too many others to name (and I've probably stolen most of them anyway)

Tue, 2001-05-15 22:06

#11

IFB

oh! ... i wanted the lovesong of j. alfred prufrock ... i will fight you for it ...

Tue, 2001-05-15 22:09

#12

andrew pack

I prefer the more grumpy Larkin poems myself Taj. And no need to quarrel Ivory - just nick the Prufock thing from Taj after he's nicked it.

Tue, 2001-05-15 22:37

#13

Liana

1. Canon in D - Pachelbel. 2. Everything Brian Patten has ever done. 3. Dogma (yeah l know, so sue me....l loved that film) Oh, and Andrew - "Ive been High" REM - l had to nick 4, sorry. This is the most wonderful song off the new album...

Tue, 2001-05-15 22:48

#14

fey

Everything the Edge plays up to Rattle and Hum. It's thrilling. Van Gogh's landcapes (though not the last ones) Hopkins The Windhover, Pied Beauty, Hurrahing in Harvest. I like Withnail and I too, but it is cruel and though the ending was beautiful and desolate and proud I LIKE HAPPY ENDINGS. There was a film called All for Love with Richard E Grant which was based on a Robert Louis Stevenson short story and it was the FUNNIEST thing I've ever seen, just perfect, though it got crap reviews The Narnia books moulin rouge sounds like it's going to be brilliant

Wed, 2001-05-16 09:34

#15

Taj Hayer

I might be willing to go swapsies on "Prufrock" if somebody comes up with a decent offer. I do warn you though that it's illegal to trade in stolen goods.

Wed, 2001-05-16 10:30

#16

mark y.b.

I, m sorry Ivory, "The Master and Margarita" it,s too beautifully written. Beethoven's String Quartet in B flat minor, opus 131. I can't believe I'm going to choose this I want to appear so bloody high brow but I loved, "Ground Hog Day"!!!

Wed, 2001-05-16 12:12

#17

muzzy

City of Angels Well the film was a bit well. But one line from the theme song you know the one (In the arms of th Angel) The line that goes...(Memories flow from my veins)

Wed, 2001-05-16 12:40

#18

Liana

Muzzy - I thought the theme from that was the Goo Goo Dolls? Do I have the wrong film? Im a hopeless film watcher.

Wed, 2001-05-16 14:38

#19

muzzy

Liana....it is in the film, they play it at the end. the one with Nic cage and that woman (i've forgot her name) she is a doctor in it.

Wed, 2001-05-16 14:56

#20

Liana

Ah..thanks Muzzy. Good song.

Wed, 2001-05-16 15:14

#21

Tony Cook

Let's Make The Water Turn Black by Frank Zappa Most of Bridget Riley's paintings The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and her Lover by Peter Greenaway Oh... if I could have created any of these I would die happy. I would also love to have been able to: Ski like Franz Klammer Play football (proper football not the American rubbish) like Danny Blanchflower Perform like Mick Jagger Dance like Nijinsky Box like Muhammed Ali Write like Tom Robbins ... now is that too much to ask?

Wed, 2001-05-16 15:46

#22

Emily Dubberley

Muzzy, the song you're referring to is Angel by Sarah Mclachlan - one of the most beautiful songs ever (played it endlessly when a friend of mine died far too young and cried buckets) - there's a live version of it on her album, Mirrorball (and one of her other albumss too but I can't remember which) Goo Goo Dolls also have an ace song in City of Angels though. And the woman in it is Meg Ryan (it's one of my all time favourite films - can you tell!) Re: stealing: 1 Possession by Sarah Mclachlan 2 The Princess Bride (book and film - does that still count as one steal?) 3 Douglas Adams' complete works

Wed, 2001-05-16 15:49

#23

Taj Hayer

I grant your wish. Now go - slalom down to Sheffield (pouting lips all the way) then nutmeg and dance around a hapless Prince Naseem. Then write about your experiences.

Wed, 2001-05-16 16:52

#24

robert

tony, if you're having peter greenaway's film can i have michael nyman's soundtrack to it?

Wed, 2001-05-16 17:24

#25

Simon Thorne

Literature - The Cat In The Hat (Dr Seuss perfectly capturing the tragedy and joy of our imperfect lives) Cinema - Toy Story (the full range of human emotion in a story of alienation, rejection and eventual redemption... and a slinky dog) Theatre - The Sooty Show at Granada Studios (Chaplin-esque in its mastery of slapstick) Song - Three Blind Mice (vicious lyrics, which farmer's wives would do well to remember... mice {like elephants} have long memories) Art - Toss-up between - Tennis Lady's Bum and Chimp On Toilet (both working on a multitude of different levels, both eminently suitable for PhD theses) I'm pretty sure anyone would find it hard to argue against these; I know they've all impacted upon my life in a very positive way.

Wed, 2001-05-16 17:54

#26

dogplop

Gor Blimey hav a gander at moi booty Radio: The Goon Show or Alan Partridge TV: Spaced Film: Jaws Plays: Anything by Rochester Book: A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

Wed, 2001-05-16 23:57

#27

stormy petrel

I thought Nijinsky was a racehorse. ...... (visions of soft focus shot of horse on acid trip dancing on back legs and a graceful pas de deux) 1. Bill Bryson's travel books. Easiest way ever to make a living. 2. 461 Ocean Boulevard or..... actually .... anything by Clapton. 3. Pulp Fiction. 3a. Blazing saddles. (Telegram for Mungo) 3b. Life of Brian 3c. Bill Gates' DOS sorry for bending the rules Andrew... got carried away

Sat, 2001-05-19 09:05

#28

ivoryfishbone

i would steal "restoration" by rose tremain ... after i have stolen prufrock from taj ... i might steal "call and answer" by the barenaked ladies for a tune ... then again i might steal ben harper ... there are some things i might steal in order to put them in a large vault so nobody had to see hear or read them again ... (lord of the rings, the master and margarita, the beatles ...)

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