Film: The History of Future Folk

The History of Future Folk is truly a hidden gem. All you really should have to know before watching it is that it labels itself as "probably the only alien-folk-duo sci-fi-action-romance-comedy movie ever made," which just about makes it the best of its kind. That speaks volumes as to the fun these filmmakers have in store for you when you watch this movie. It's a raucously delightful indie comedy that keeps you smiling the whole time through.

The film follows General Trius, a legendary military leader from the distant planet Hondo, marooned on Earth for years after being assigned a mission to save his people from an impending comet, and with killer chops on the banjo. He goes by Bill. His mission was to find a planet to take for the people of Hondo, but he discovered something commonplace here on Earth that he had never before experienced: music. He grows to love the human race, which now includes a wife and daughter (the first half-human/half-Hondonian in the universe, I suspect).

Kevin, another Hondonian, is sent to finish General Trius' mission but ends up joining with him and forming a loveably goofy and truly rocking folk-duo. Beautiful insanity ensues as they attempt to escape the law, fight off assassins, and win the heart of the women of their dreams, all while attempting to stop the comet on its way to kill Hondo and save the planet earth from a terrible fate.

This flick's short 85-minute running time is padded with glorious, full-on musical numbers as the duo of Future Folk just can't keep from expressing how much they love music. They sing their hearts out in fantastic form about the perils of living far from Hondo and once they start you'll be begging for more (I especially loved the song "Space Worms"). This was just pure delight from beginning to end. Please go find and watch this movie. And in case you're wondering, this would qualify for an easy PG-rating (nothing more than a few shots of lasers).

Available in Video On Demand everywhere including Amazon & iTunes. Currently streaming for Netflix subscribers.

Book: Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Reading this Kurt Vonnegut book is sort of like when I listened to the entire Beatles White Album for the first time. I thought, "Wow - The Beatles are amazing! This would be wildly innovative and ground breaking music TODAY but it came out 40 YEARS AGO!" It made all other music since seem not so innovative. It was the same way watching Fellinni's oddly autobiographical film about writer's-block, 8 1/2, made me think about the Charlie Kaufman written, Spike Jonze directed film Adaptation. It didn't seems quite so unique afterwards. Except for with Vonnegut I can't quite figure out what the comparison is, besides all modern writing since.

The closest thing I can get at is, in fact, a Kaufman written movie, like Being John Malkevich, the aforementioned Adaptation, or Synechdoche, NY. He uses a meandering plotline - jumping from one point in time to another along the timeline of the character (although this is explained by constant time travel) - to discuss heavy-hitting themes with a whimsical, informal style. He's basically saying, "It's so disgusting and wrong and inexplicable that its funny." The main character Billy Pilgrim's attitude is representative of the philosophy of the whole book, which is a passive acceptance of fate, expressed often after a death is described with the phrase, "so it goes."

The book describes the life of Billy Pilgrim through nonlinear time travel from one point of his life to another. This can happen at any time (and actually includes being abducted by aliens and taken to their home planet, Tralfamadore). The thing about Billy is that nothing really surprises him because he's already travelled all over his life and knows what is coming - and he just seems to accept it. The focus event of the book and of Billy Pilgrim's life is one that Vonnegut actually experienced himself: the fire bombing at Dresden, Germany, during World War II. Tens of thousands of German civilians were killed when the town was obliterated by Allied forces right near the end of the war. Vonnegut compares it to Hiroshima, and hints it might have even been worse than that in some ways. He writes himself into the book as the narrator, although his role and that of his friend O'hare, are mostly fictionalized.

But it really is so fun to read. While Dresden is central to the book, it covers the extent of Billy's whole life as he goes to optometry school, marries the school owner's daughterValencia, is abducted by the Tralfamadorians, wanders and is transported as a POW in Germany, among other things. One quick episode describes a morphine-induced dream Billy has after being injured in the war. He imagines himself in a garden with giraffes: "Billy was a giraffe, too. he ate a pear. It was a hard one. It fought back against his grinding teeth. It snapped in juicy protest." Or the one that goes, "Billy heard Eliot Rosewater come in and lie down. Rosewater's bedsprings talked a lot about that." Or the way he describes warfare as "the incredible artificial weather that Earthlings sometimes create for other Earthlings when they don't want those other Earthlings to inhabit Earth anymore." I find these little passages delightful.

And there is so much more than what I've touched on. Billy Pilgrim is such a pleasant character. As the narrator says, "Everything was pretty much all right with Billy." He sort of lets life flow over him. He finds his own existence an inconvenience, although he's not depressed. He doesn't like being around his mother for knowing what she had to go through to bring him to this life.  The book is often on banned book lists for some profanity and others interpreted it as anti-Christian or immoral or fatalist. I'm not sure about any of that. I might not agree with Vonnegut on everything, but Billy says something near the end of the book that I like. He says, "Everything is all right, and everybody has to do exactly what he does." Does that mean Vonnegut is saying the terrible tragedy of Dresden is ok? (although he does give the US Army its due explanation as to why it was strategically sound). I think he's talking about how relieving it can be to accept the world around you, or rather, accept things as they happen. You should go and enjoy this book before you die. Even though many people probably don't read it before they die. So it goes.

Book: How Music Works - David Byrne

What a great read for anyone interested in the creative process, the music industry, or exploring what art is and how it affects us. A little bit biography, a lot music theory and thinking, this book by the Talking Heads front man David Byrne takes a universal look at music. 

With chapters focusing on different aspects of the medium - creation, recording, business, theory, nature, etc. - he touches on his own experience as well as a roundup of interesting findings and a survey of experts. Byrne takes an anything-goes approach, accepting that there are many different perspectives on every topic. He shares how he has done things and approached them in his own career, but tries to bring in many other points of view as well. The discussion on music in the natural world, for example, compiles some compelling evidence as to why the 12-note and 7-note scales may be biological fact rather than just a cultural development.

The aspiring professional musician might make use of his practical, realistic approach to making a living in the music business as he shares a forward-looking description of the options on how to make it work. A great read all the way through, or you can pick and choose the chapters that seems most intriguing. Give it all a chance, though, and keep a computer nearby so you can look up samples of the many works he mentions throughout.