LA: the combination of beach and hilltops, ocean and mountain, excellence and mediocrity, glitz and poverty, aspiration and degeneration, and the short but wonderful history of Hollywood, from the days when David Niven was an extra in the big movies in the late 30s, to the classical glamor of the 40s when the stories of Bogie and Bacall on their sailing boat Santana inspired romance, to the technicolor innovation of the 50s and the cultural eruption of the 60s when the richness of our world permeated the screen, to the rawness of the 70s and the quirkiness of the 80s, when lines like ‘I’ll be back’ were etched in our memories alongside quotes like “It’s a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes,” and the technological orgasm of the 90s onwards, with its ever glitzier extravaganza of all that is great and ridiculous in human nature, pitting thespian against celebrity and man against CGI, I have to say that LA is a damn fine example of the conflicts and dramas, trip-ups and comedies that constitute humanity, which Charles Bukowski so eloquently displayed from a grimy point of view, and which Californication has popularized on cable, and which Hollywood, as a new medium of expression, has captured on the silver screen in its dazzling glory, with films like Crash, Shortcuts, and The Bad and the Beautiful, not to mention countless others, like Casablanca, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, A Beautiful Mind, The French Connection, …And Justice For All, Father of the Bride, The Odd Couple, which are not about LA per se, but which tell incredible stories all the same.
This is Total Literature, a bonanza of expression that combines the written, the recorded, and the acted, both on- and off-screen, in one hell of a show – a show that is ongoing, and which will go down in history as one of the best ever staged…
Here’s the verse edition:
LA: the combination of beach and hilltops,
ocean and mountain, excellence and mediocrity,
glitz and poverty, aspiration and degeneration,
and the short but wonderful history of Hollywood,
from the days when David Niven was an extra
in the big movies in the late 30s, to the classical glamor of the 40s
when the stories of Bogie and Bacall on their sailing boat Santana
inspired romance, to the technicolor innovation of the 50s
and the cultural eruption of the 60s when the richness of our world
permeated the screen, to the rawness of the 70s
and the quirkiness of the 80s, when lines like ‘I’ll be back’ were etched
in our memories alongside quotes like “It’s a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi
sleeps with the fishes,” and the technological orgasm of the 90s onwards,
with its ever glitzier extravaganza of all that is great
and ridiculous in human nature, pitting thespian against celebrity
and man against CGI, Los Angeles is a fine example of the conflicts and dramas,
trip-ups and comedies that constitute humanity, which Charles Bukowski
so eloquently displayed from a grimy point of view, and which Californication has
popularized on cable, and which Hollywood, as a new medium of expression,
captured on the silver screen in dazzling glory, with films like Crash (will the haters stop hating?),
Shortcuts (brilliant!), and The Bad and the Beautiful (Shields!), not to mention countless others –
Casablanca, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, A Beautiful Mind, The French Connection,
The Odd Couple, Father of the Bride, …And Justice For All – none of them
about LA per se, but they tell incredible stories – care of LA.
This is Total Literature, a bonanza of expression that combines the written,
the recorded and the acted, both on- and off-screen, in one hell of a show,
a show that will go down in history as one of the most iconic of all times…