Angela Lansbury All Up In My Childhood

Friday, May 21, 2004

Bedknobs and Broomsticks was a movie that I was well aware of before I knew anything about it. The name was heavily ingrained in my head years before I actually watched it because I heard about it so much. And it's funny how many things we're aware of and/or reference without the actual experience. I do it with bands all the time. For example, I am well aware of the band Guided By Voices. I know of their lengthy career, how they have influenced a slew of other bands, that they were in a Strokes video, and I know that they're going to break up soon. But I couldn't tell you what they sound like. And to some that is blasphemous, but they've slipped through the cracks. Just as there are classic movies I haven't seen (e.g. The Blues Brothers), there are also seminal bands that I am poorly acquainted with. I know far too much about music and yet far too little. Welcome to my paradox.

I wonder what it felt like to read a banned book. To sneak away and immerse yourself in forbidden words. This is an impossible reality in our age of over-saturated and over-hyped graphic media imagery. The idea of pushing boundaries (theoretically intended to find new meaning and greater understanding of the constructs of truth) has degenerated into an aggregate of youthful ignorance and MTV programming convincing us that scratching the surface is the same as shaking the soul.

I have a penchant for subtlety, and I'm always looking for people who appreciate layers, but when it comes to shock value, honest unabashed truth is often the most shocking.