Student's Choice: The Holy Mountain

I need your help. 

The Guardian newspaper in London has had a number of series in which their writers or members of the public write an entry with titles like "My Favourite Film " or the more limiting "My Favourite Hitchcock Film ."  On Studio 360, there's a feature called "AHA Moments ," in which writers or artists talk about one particular work of art (a book, a movie, an album, a photograph, whatever) that had a major impact on their lives.  Then there's KCRW's Guest DJ Project, in which well-known people in the arts get to choose five pieces of music to share and discuss.

I'm looking for similar entries from YOU, my present and past students, about one particular cultural work that matters to you.  Try to sell the rest of us on it.  Email me something, and I'll begin posting the best entries in my sporadic fashion.  There's just one catch: it has to be 200 words or less.

I'm waiting.

To kick things off, we start with a post from former student Zachary Rex about Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 avant garde Spanish-language film La Montana Sagrada (The Holy Mountain).  This film is not for the easily offended, so sensitive viewers might want to avoid clicking on the video clip below.  You have been warned.  Now here's Zachary's entry:

The Holy Mountain (1973)

Dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky

 

By Zachary Rex

I used to have no interest in “art films.” I held the same picture of them that many have: pretentious, weird for the sake of weird, really nothing more than a novelty.

Then I found The Holy Mountain.

Championed by John Lennon, adored by Marilyn Manson, The Holy Mountain has drawn quite a diverse group of admirers (and detractors).

It is an onslaught of disturbing, surreal imagery. Words cannot really do it justice. Take a look at the trailer and see for yourself:

The film follows a loose narrative of a Christ-like spiritual seeker, which is told through use of a plethora of symbols drawn from mysticism and the occult.

Jodorowsky plays with many different emotional tones here, from the dark and disturbing to the spiritually uplifting. There is even a stroke of absurd humor.

It is, if nothing else, two hours of eye-porn. It really shows what is possible visually through the medium of film. Even if “surrealism” isn’t your cup of tea, no visual artist can see The Holy Mountain without leaving inspired.

If you want to see a movie that is at once trippy, funny, terrifying, and enlightening, go and see this film.

 

Marjane Satrapi and a DJ/rupture Remix Challenge on Studio 360

For years, one of my favorite podcasts has been the one for Studio 360, the weekly, NYC-based public radio show about "pop culture and the arts" hosted by novelist Kurt Andersen.  (Download it for free from iTunes.)  Here are a few people who have been guests:

 

Last week's show was a good one, featuring graphic novelist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi, writer and co-director of Persepolis.

Her latest film, Chicken with Plums, is live-action rather than animation, and she discusses the challenges of collaboration for a normally solitary graphic artist.  (You can listen to the interview HERE .)

One of the other interviews last week was with ethnomusicologist and DJ (and former Harvard English major) Jace Clayton, better known as DJ/rupture.

There's a nice interview with him, along with a video of his turntable skills, HERE .  And, if you're up for a challenge, you can download tracks, create your own remix, and submit the results to be judged by DJ/rupture himself.  HERE's all the info.  But hurry!  The deadline is midnight on Sept. 2.

At the beginning of each week's podcast, a woman's voice always reminds us that they "have a great website too."  And they do.  They're at http://www.studio360.org/

The Moth: "True Stories, told Live and Without Notes"

For some time, I've been listening to the free weekly podcast of "The Moth" (available on iTunes).

What is "The Moth"?  Here's what Wikipedia says: "The Moth is a non-profit group based in New York City dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. It was founded in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, when moths were attracted to the light on the porch where he and his friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales. George and his original group of storytellers called themselves "The Moths", and George took the name with him to New York. The organization now runs a number of different storytelling events in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, and other American cities, often featuring prominent literary and cultural personalities."

Back in March, I attended a sold-out evening of "Moth" storytelling at UCLA's Royce Hall that featured amazing true stories, hilarious and sad, told by a wide range of people--from writers to a professional poker player to a hand surgeon (and the surgeon told the best story of the evening).  There are nearly 100 videos of "Moth" stories on You Tube HERE .

"The Moth" also holds StorySLAMs, open mic storytelling competitions where anyone can show up to tell a five-minute-long story that relates to the evening's chosen theme.  The storytellers put their names in a hat, and ten are chosen.  Judges score the stories, and the evening's winner moves on to compete at the semi-annual GrandSLAM.  There are plenty of StorySLAMs coming up for you to attend (see "The Moth"'s WEBSITE for more information).  Generally, tickets are $8 (and if you go to one of the shows at Busby's East, near LACMA on Wilshire, you can get half-priced food and drinks before the show--it's Happy Hour).

A couple weeks ago, I went to the GrandSLAM at a very packed Echoplex near Echo Park.  That night's winner was Jessica Lee Williams.  Here's a video of a story she told at a previous competition, when the night's theme was "Fight or Flight":

And here's a video of a previous GrandSLAM-winning story from Caltech neuroscientist (and regular L.A. slammer) Moran Cerf, about his bank robbing days back in Israel:

There are about three StorySLAMs each month in the L.A. area.  There's one tonight, but the next one is at my favorite "Moth" venue, Busby's East, on August 14. HERE is that website again.