Stories that moved me...
My life as you know by now was influenced by my love of stories, ones that others created and ones that I brought forth. They in a sense were a thought stream that was always in the background that contributed to how I was thinking, how I was feeling and how I acted in the world. Stories function like that for us humans. They let us process the past, shape the present and dream the future. Without our stories that give meaning to everything we experience we would not be able to get out of bed in the morning. They are also a curious human invention
(as far as we know) that fantasizes about alternative life experiences that take us away from the actual reality of our lives,. This can be dangerous if we choose to live in our stories instead of the present moment.
When I am asked who are my favorite songwriters, filmmakers and writers, I have to say I have favorite creations not artists. If we are lucky as artists we may have a creative stream that lasts for a time that gets close to the source of whatever is attempting to download through us. It is the artists curse. To feel, hear or experience something that we try to being forth, but very rarely get all of it in our earthly expression of it. I don’t know how the artists that created the works on this list felt about them, but they moved me more at some deeper level than just the appreciation of their craft. Whether they meant too or not, their creations inspired me in ways that sometimes I wouldn’t discover for a long time.
The Songs 1963-1979 (when I paid attention)
Music was obviously a big influence in my life beginning around age 14 and ending at the close of the 1970’s when I was done with my recording career. It’s not that I stopped listening to the music at the end of the 70’s, but the soundtrack of my coming of age had run its course and music/radio had begun to change. By the time the 80’s began I had moved on to film and storytelling in other mediums. But what a two decades it was.
I have always said the late sixties and seventies were the best time to be in music as rock and roll emerged. All these artists were writing and recording the stories that reflected something of our lives as boomers coming of age. They would eventually inspire me to write songs and record my own records.
Like I said, I prefer to focus on particular songs where the artist achieved something new, novel and enduring in my eyes. They also wrote a lot of forgettable stuff. We all did.
Here you GO...
Songs - 1963-65
Kingston Trio – MTA, One More Town
Peter Paul and Mary – If I had a Hammer, Blowing in the Wind
Sam Cooke – What a Wonderful World, You Send Me
I really started paying attention to records and songs around the beginning of high school. Growing up in Berkeley we had two influences – the public one which was folk music and the more hidden one which was R&B. My friend Mark and I were already playing folks songs at school talent shows and hootenannies while the best of the white artists were on Top 40 radio. But the R&B songs that snuck into my awareness came through 45’s someone would buy at obscure record stores. That’s when I first heard Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Otis Redding and Fats Domino. I had never heard music like they were creating.
The interesting thing about this time was that in England the British bands were listening to these same R&B pioneers and would end up parroting them back to white audiences when they first came to the US. For years, Chuck Berry and Little Richard would complain the “white” boys stole their songs. Something to be said for that. Eventually, they would all be honored for their contributions to the emergence of “rock and roll.” I was lucky enough to have played concerts with Chuck Berry and BB King when it was my turn in the seventies.
The summer of 65 I was working at Berkeley Tuolumne Camp after graduating from high school in June. The crew at the camp were all young musicians, singers, and actors etc. That summer I heard the front edge of what was coming. Mr. Tambourine Man showed up first on the Byrds album and then the original on Dylan's, Bringing it All Back Home. This was folk music “electrified.” I wanted in.
I resonated with the Beatles as they emerged during high school, but the Rolling Stones were something else. They were billed then as the “bad” boys of rock as compared to then Beatles carefully crafted image. That summer we listened to the Stones “Out of Our Heads” album until the grooves wore off. That album contained “Satisfaction” and “The Spider and the Fly” just to name a few. It was dangerous music that would not be contained.
Bob Dylan –Just Like a Woman, Like a Rolling Stone
Beatles – Entire Sgt Pepper Album – I remember the day Sgt Peppers came out. I bought a copy and because I was home visiting, I listened on earphones. What unfolded was such a leap in what I thought could be created it took my breath away about what was possible in music. Interestingly, Sgt. Peppers was not a favorite album of John Lennon, or George Harrison.
The other songs of theirs: I Want to Hold Your Hand – The Long and Winding Road – Yesterday - Ticket to Ride – Help –Drive My Car -Blackbird –Hide Your Love Away – Here Comes the Sun – In My Life – Let it Be – Something.
The songs above were the Beatles music that inspired me to write and make records. And we forget all this happened in a very short 6-7 years. With the exception of “Imagine” the individual Beatles creations never got to me like these songs did. And two of them “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something” were written by George Harrison, begrudging allowed by Lennon and McCartney. Who would have ever thought?
BB King – The Thrill is Gone
Otis Redding – Sitting by the Dock of the Bay
Beach Boys – Surfing - California girls – In My Room – God Only Knows
The Beach Boys were so Southern California. The ocean, the beach, the surf, the woodies, the bikini girls, the innocence. Only one of them actually surfed it turned out. That would have been enough to put them on my list, but Brian Wilson, like the Beatles, heard something more. “In My Room” and “God Only Knows” are the two that grabbed me when he came all the way out of his sandbox.
Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
Rolling Stones –Satisfaction, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Honky Tonk Woman
Byrds- – Turn, Turn, Turn - Eight Miles High
Jefferson Airplane – Somebody to Love, White Rabbit, Coming Back to Me
Doors - Light My Fire – The Crystal Ship – The End – Riders on the Storm. The Doors in a sense were a surprise. They were the house band at the Whiskey A Go Go forever, but no one heard then what eventually emerged from Morrisons poems on their first album. Dark, deep and eventually tragic.
Buffalo Spring Field - For What’s Its Worth – Bluebird
I remember driving at night into LA after I got back from Mount Rushmore. We had seen the Sunset Strip riots on the news, but the first time I heard “For What It’s Worth” on AM radio I knew songs could be more than just entertainment.
Jackson Brown - Take it Easy – Before the Deluge – Running on Empty
Van Morrison - Crazy Love – Into the Mystic
CSN - Suite Judy Blue Eyes - Wooden Ships – Helpless – Love the One Your With. I had been a big fan of Buffalo Springfield, so when the first Crosby, Stills and Nash super group album came out I bought it. From the first harmonies of Suite Judy Blue Eyes it was a revelation of something new.
Neil Young - Old Man – Heart of Gold – Cinnamon Girl
Joni Mitchel –River – Woodstock – A Case of You – Help Me
Joni Mitchel songs always seem to show up when I needed music to pull me through some troubles or tribulations. She wrote about the ups and downs of relationships like no one else.
Carol King - You’ve Got a Friend
In my days as a songwriter at Claridge Music Publishing I heard demos of songs that would come in from two NY songwriters, Carol King and Gerry Goffin. I always thought they had an interesting sound to them that would later emerge when she became a solo artist. Of all her songs, “You’ve Got a Friend” always brings tears to my eyes in recognition of all the close friends I’ve had on this journey.
Creedence Clearwater - Born On The Bayou – Proud Mary – Greatest bar band ever.
Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin
Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
Stevie Wonder - Superstition - Sunshine of My Life
Eagles - Peaceful Easy Feeling - Desperado – Hotel California
The Eagles were the blue print for folk rock when they broke out. First with stories from the Southwest and then evolving to the greatest lovers lament ever written in "Desperado"and the movie that was "Hotel California." What people forget is that they were not an overnight success. They played for 3 years in bars and small halls while being told they didn’t have a unique sound. Needless to say they found it.
Steely Dan - Reelin’ in the Years - My Old School - Rikki Don’t Lose That Number – Steely Dan wrote unusual lyrics and music like no one else. Their smart ass approach to the stories they told was perfect for illuminating their perspective on life’s events and the eclectic nature of some of mine.
Films
The one quality that all these movies share is... I forgot I was watching a movie. They drew me into whatever world they were offering. They ingrained themselves into my psyche that would often unfold later in my dreams. Some of those “seeds” would stay with me for all my life.
I obviously did not see these first films when they were originally released. I saw them later as they played on television.
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1939 - Mr Smith Goes To Washington
1939 - Wizard of Oz
1946 - A Wonderful Life
1954 - Rear Window – This is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock film. It's what inspired me to create our award winning interactive movie “Voyeur.” As I was studying the film I bought a laserdisc of the movie. It allowed me to step through the film frame by frame. That is where I discovered that every time we looked at Jimmy Stuarts POV of the back of the building where the action was taking place, Hitchcock double printed the frames, so that our eyes picked up something disturbing that we couldn’t see when the film was running at 24 frames per second. He was a master of audience manipulation. I actually got to meet him once when I delivered him his mail on the Universal Studio lot. He was as we saw him on television. Gruff, mumbling and distracted.
1954 – Them! This pioneering film was the inspiration for the “It Came From the Desert” series of interactive movies I would create in the late 80’s at Cinemaware. "Them" also established a new genre of atomic radiated “big bug” films.
1956 – Invasion of the Body Snatchers (original) For some reason this movie haunted me. The notion that someone would replace me in my sleep with a “pod” under my bed was terrifying to me as a child. They did a couple of remakes later of this story, but for me they did not touch the creepiness of this original.
1957 – Spirit of St. Louis – This was the first film my parents took me to in a one of the big movie palaces in Berkeley. They are all gone now. It literally took me into the skies with Lindberg, and was catalogued for later as something I might want to look into… making films.
1960 - Magnificent Seven (original) This story has been re-made a bunch of times, but this original with Yule Brenner, Steve McQueen and Eli Wallch based on the Japanese classic “ The Seventh Samuri” is the one that still is the most interesting to me. Steve McQueen emerged from this movie as a star and as the story goes added to the few lines he had in the script by doing something in every scene that pulled the audience’s attention away from the principles. Yul Brenner really hated him for that. They did make up later when McQueen was dying.
1963 – From Russia With Love – This second Bond film for me was the perfect mix of the 007 elements with Sean Connery at his best. Many more Bond films would be made, some actually quite entertaining, but this was the essence of this type of spy film for me.
1967 -Cool Hand Luke – We get to experience a young Paul Newman and George Kennedy in this steamy southern prison story. I could feel the heat as I watched it. It also birthed the classic line from those in charge when challenged by rebels … “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”
The Dirty Dozen – I watched a lot of war films during my youth. There was something about the World War 2 stories that attracted me. Although the Dirty Dozen was a complete fantasy it represented a story of a bunch of misfits assigned to a impossible mission as was the case for many during the actual war.
1968 - 2001: A Space Odyssey – By all accounts 2001 is a “slow” movie not typical of the more active 60’s fast cut style. It lingered on a vision of the future that I found engaging. I loved that Pan American was flying the shuttle that astronauts took to the moon. The nature of this “first contact with an alien culture” would be done many times going forward, but this one left us with the mystery of the monolith that we could fill in for ourselves. I also saw it twice sitting in the front row of the theater totally stoned. Quite an experience of the ground breaking computer visuals that are one of the signatures of this film. The sequel 2010 (not directed by Kubrick) was awful.
Once Upon a time in the West – Westerns were the stock and trade of Hollywood from the beginning of moving pictures. Directors like John Ford and Howard Hawks created a western American film archetype that is still in play today as the fable of the rugged American individualist. That’s why it was so odd that my favorite western was created by an Italian director.. Sergio Leone. The over the top America western archetypes in this film inhabited by Jason Robards, Charles Bronson, Jack Elam and Italian actress Claudia Cardinale were a strange mirroring of American western epics. It even featured Henry Fonda as a very, convincing dark villain. The only time he played a bad guy. You could feel the dirt and sweat in every scene. Leone would also make Clint Eastwood a star in the “Dollars Trilogy” but "Once Upon a Time in the West" for me was the one.
Planet of the Apes – Speaking of novel. This first ape film was initially marketed as a sleezy Hollywood send up, but there was something about the alternative future it depicted that was one of the first to comment on the possible demise of the United States. Charlton Heston was also iconic as the astronaut that battles to survive in the ape culture. I found the insensitivity and bias that the apes exhibited towards the humans in the film as fitting commentary on how we humans treat the other species on this planet.
1969 - Easy Rider – A surprise hit that in some ways signaled the end of the old Hollywood studio system and the dawning of a new age of independent film. Their journey reminded me of many of the road trips I took with my bands where we would wander into some commune and get a taste of how they lived in this seemingly utopian vision of the future. Of course, most of those communities collapsed for many reasons, but my experience of the freedom and joy while engaged there would stay with me, reminding there was something more than the way the world seemed at that point.
Midnight Cowboy – Growing up on the West Coast I didn’t make it to New York until I was 20. I remember not being able to see the sky unless I looked straight up between the tall buildings. But there was a creative energy there I was attracted to. Most of these experiments would fail, but there was always something interesting to consider. I also saw the poor state that many New Yorkers lived in on the low end of the pecking order. It was the first time I witnessed people stepping over an unconscious homeless person on the sidewalk.
Midnight Cowboy captured that world of hustlers, desperadoes and broken dreamers. I would return to New York many times because of my media work, but I would only stay a week at most to sample what was emerging. Never had any desire to live there.
1970s - Patton – A classic war film written by Francis Coppola. Its commercial success kept Francis going as he developed his original work that would include the Godfather, The Conversation and Tucker. Patton was an interesting historical character. Just the kind you wanted leading an army of desperate men against all odds. However, as soon as the danger passed, you had no use for his single focus on winning. Churchill was another of these war time leaders that was dumped by the UK citizens after the war ended that he had saved. These types have their moment and then history moves on as it always does.
Woodstock – In the late sixties, there were quite a few “gatherings of the tribe” at outdoor festivals. Particularly, in the summer months. We played quite a few of them. Although there was a certain kind of rush playing to a sea of faces, for me there was a kind of disconnect with an audience that size.
Woodstock began as just another festival, but in one of those unexplainable moments it became the signature event for our generation. Many thought the community that emerged was the beginning of something new. In actuality it was the end of an era. Not that many months later Altamont happened. The deaths of concert goers at the hands of the Hells Angel “security” personnel announced a dark shift that was in the wind with the end of the sixties innocence.
A Fish Called Wanda –An oddly comedic vehicle for John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Klein and Michael Palin. Monty Python all grown up.
National Lampoon’s Animal House – Another comedic milestone of the seventies. The FRAT life depicted in the film reminded me of the scene at Cal Poly where we played the wild frat parties depicted in the film. If he was not already, it made John Belushi a star.
American Graffiti – I saw this film while on tour with my band in the mid-west. I had no expectations going in, but found it a brilliant homage to the life of the California valley where we played lots of gigs during college. I had no idea who George Lucas was at the time but that would change later on. I always thought that Graffiti was the best of George as a director. We also get to see Harrison Ford early on. And it featured Wolf Man Jack, that crazy pirate radio celeb. (50,000 watts out of Mexico beamed into the United States.) I would
actually meet him later on one of our tours. A very nice, funny man.
Network – This Paddy Chayefsky commentary on network television would be something I would experience in the 90’s working for Time Warner. Although, it was very over the top, it wasn’t that far off the mark. The almighty ratings didn’t care what it was as long as the audience watched. That era now is over with streaming becoming the thing, but in those days, the three networks had a profound influence over the culture.
Rocky – There have been lots of boxing movies. Good ones like Raging Bull and Cinderella Man, but Rocky was a surprise for me. Written by an unknown actor at the time it would shamelessly take us into the dark world of boxing that I experienced when we were doing our Caesars World of Boxing game in the 90’s. Of course the punishment that Rocky took in the ring was a fantasy, but the story of the underdog against all odds was compelling. It also got me interested in jogging before there was a running craze.
The Poseidon Adventure – The first of a genre of disaster films directed by British director Ronald Neame. It set the stage for a string of these types of films. Neame had to invent a dynamic rolling sound stage to film the ship turning over. Neame was actually a “small” relationship movie director in the 40’s, but when I took a directing class from him in the 90’s he explained Poseidon was his “fuck you money” film that got him off the merry go round of studio influence. That always stayed with me as desirable.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest –Produced by Saul Zaentz of Fantasy Records fame in Berkeley (Creedance) and a very young Michael Douglas. The film had been in development for 13 years as a vehicle for Michaels father Kirk Douglas to star it but ended up being a star vehicle for Jack Nickelson and Louise Fletcher.
I would experience a version of this “crazy” hospital when I was fighting the draft and was taken to a posh mental facility when I freaked out. I remember the longer I stayed, the more the institution tried to convince me I was crazy. I came close to getting the electro-shock treatment depicted in the film, but thankfully was spared unlike by Grandfather on my Dad’s side.
Star Wars – When I witnessed the opening scene of the Star Destroyer passing over camera POV, I knew this was something new. Little did I know at the time how involved I would get with Lucasfilm with Jane.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – a feel good alien contact film that accurately depicts “the government” trying to suppress the information available the public to no avail.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail – The best of the “boys” films. Classic bits that would be repeated many times at parties.
The Conversation – A small, brilliant film from Francis Coppola that gets right to the heart of government surveillance in our culture. Also an outstanding performance from Gene Hackman and a very young Will Smith. What it depicted seems pale in comparison to what big tech is doing these days.
The Godfather – I never could have imagined that a movie about the mafia would have such an impact on me. When you look into the process of the film actually getting made, you just can’t write all the stuff that happened to the filmmakers.
The Godfather Part II – One of a few sequels that was better than the original. The device of moving backwards and forwards in time was brilliant. There was eventually a third Godfather film that was a mere shadow of the first two.
Duel – TV movie – A early Steven Spielberg made for TV movie that starred Dennis Weaver. This story could have been a TV hack, but Spielberg made something novel out of it. I remember it because it was on television the night before I had my final encounter with the draft system. As I was kept in an “observation” room I could hear the army techs talking about it.
Logans Run – A cheesy look at the future but so 70’s it can’t be ignored. It made use of the story device that you could not trust anyone over thirty.
1980’s -The Terminator – This film was a total surprise to me when I first saw it. I expected a B quality action adventure movie, but got something much more that would herald James Cameron as a director to watch.
Cinema Paradiso – This was one of those lovely small, foreign films about why we love movies.
Sex, Lies and Videotape – Unexpected deep performances from a young Andie McDowell and James Spader. Proof positive it does not take a lavish production budget to elicit powerful emotions. In this case about our obsessions.
1990’s - Galaxy Quest – Still watch this sometimes. It was one of those rare parody films that got it exactly right about Star Trek. Having worked with some of the original Star Trek actors I thought this film nailed the Trekkie zeitgeist. Inspired performances from Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell, Tony Shalhoub, Enrico Colantoni and Missi Pyle.
The Crying Game – One those “small” films depicting an unexpected journey into the life of a transgender individual wrapped up with the IRA. Go figure.
Being John Malkovich – Inspired performances by Malkovich, John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Orson Bean commenting on the nature of celebrity hood.
L.A. Confidential – an oh-mage to the film noir detective films of the 40’s. Story was set in the 1950’s in LA depicting LAPD corruption. Convincing performances from Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce. James Cromwell, David Strathairn, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito
Jurassic Park – A wonder of digital effects as dinosaurs walked among humans on the island. All the signature Spielberg touches.
Good Will Hunting – Robin Williams was outstanding in this dramatic role in this story developed by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. For me it got to the heart of the deep wounding we can’t escape from childhood.
The Matrix – A true original for its time. When I worked for Ken Wilbur I would meet Lana Wachowski while producing Ken’s 2012 tribute. She was very helpful to us shaping the Ken Wilber biography project. The other two Matrix films delivered on the story and allowed Lana to make the more esoteric films she loved.
Toy Story – A revolution in animation, Toy Story broke all the rules and proved what John Lasiter always insisted on, compute graphic characters could elicit emotional reactions in the audience. Toy Story put Pixar on the map, run by Ed Catmul who was a friend of mine from Lucasfilm days. Pixar would be so successful that it would eventually absorb Disney animation. I think Walt would have approved.
Saving Private Ryan – One of Steven’s best “serious” films. The opening sequence on Omaha beach during D-Day was disturbing for us and all the vets that had survived the carnage.
The Shawshank Redemption – A tour de force for Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in what could have been just another prison movie but was so much more.
Blair Witch Project – A strange little homemade project that was one of the first Internet projects to go viral. For awhile there was speculation that the tapes were real. It set the stage for many more Internet “films.”
5th Element – Just pure fun, great special effects, Bruce Willis being Bruce, Gary being Gary and Milla a breath of fresh air.
2000-2010 - Memento – This film's non-linear narrative was very unique for the time. It is presented as two different sequences of scenes interspersed during the film: a series in black-and-white that is shown chronologically, and a series of color sequences shown in reverse order (simulating for the audience the mental state of the protagonist). The two sequences meet at the end of the film, producing one complete and cohesive narrative. I used some of these same story devices when I designed interactive movies.
Children Of Men - A 2006 dystopian action thriller film of my second genre of future films. Ones that depict a world much like where ours is going but with some interesting twists.
District 9 – A totally original story by unknown writer/director Neill Blomkamp, who was part of Peter Jacksons studio in New Zealand. The film is partially presented in a found footage format by featuring fictional interviews, news footage, and video from surveillance cameras. It is a very unique take on alien visitors and a classic exercise of standing in the others shoes.
Avatar – Fairly typical eco-story, but a major step forward in motion graphics. Finally, they were able to get the eyes of the digital characters to have life in them.
High Fidelity – A total celebration of the vinyl records I grew up with.
2010-2020 - Ex Machina – an interesting take on AI development. Although the villain is fairly heavy handed and predictable, it presents a popular prediction of the seduction by a female AI of a human male. Particularly one who has no social graces or relationship experience.
The Shape of Water – a magical tale of a “monster” amphibian creature that bonds with a mute female custodian in a secret government lab. In some ways it has elements of the odd couple of Ex Machina without the AI. Very original and a promise of things to come from director Guillermo del Toro
2020 - Dune Part 1 – A very dramatic re-telling of Frank Hubert's classic sci-fi epic. It utilizes all the latest in digital film techniques without them getting in the way or calling attention to themselves. It promotes the story of revolution against the ruling class. Part 2 was almost unwatchable. It was like it was made by different filmmakers.
Television Shows
1960’s
The Flintstones – animation for whole family -honeymooners
Leave It to Beaver – the all American fantasy family
77 Sunset Strip – 60’s cool featuring Ed "Kooky" Burns
Route 66 – Road trip inspirations for me.
Rocky and His Friends – Adult animation Jay Ward, Berkeley guy - sold real estate before its success.
Mission: Impossible – The TV series with a the twist – tape will destruct. Far more interesting for me than the hyper action adventure movies starring Tom Cruise.
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In – Late 60's comedy - lots of hidden coding for younger audience
Sesame Street – classic children's television that inspired
Star Trek – original - Where no man has gone before
Monty Python's Flying Circus – The boys at their best
The Twilight Zone – To Serve Man – Nightmare on Elm Street among others
1970’s
All in the Family - The rule breaker - what needed to be said out loud
Sanford and Son - Redd Fox of raunchy party record fame goes mainstream. Very funny.
Saturday Night Live – Original cast consistently funny - Belushi- Steve Martin Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Dan Ackroid etc. Later years... not so much for me.
1980’s
V - Inventive alien invasion story.
Max Headroom - acid trip comes to television.
Married… With Children - Sexual innuendos said out loud
It’s Garry Shandling’s Show - brilliant parody of talk show architype
60 Minutes - the news goes somewhat deeper. Very original in the beginning. Not so much later on.
SCTV - for my money the most brilliant comedy assemble ever - most go on to greatness
Pee-Wee’s Playhouse - the weirdest, most novel children's show for adults
The Day After - Terrifying. The television movie that scared Reagan enough to negotiate with Gorbachev about reducing our insane nuclear arsenals.
At the Movies - Gene Siskel, Roget Ebert - the original and best television film reviewers
Cheers - everyone's fantasy bar - When Sam and Diane eventually got together it lost its sexual tension.
1990’s
Stargate SG-1 - Television series that was better than the movie. The only Sci-FI story that featured reptilian bad guys eating humans based on a logical reason for doing so. Food for thought so to speak.
Beavis and Butt-Head - Giving voice to the things that our low life selves couldn't.
In Living Color - the black version of Laugh-In featuring a very young Jim Carey as the token white guy and brilliant writing from Wayans brothers.
The Simpsons - Brilliant exploration of family and cultural archetypes.
The X-Files - At its best a brilliant exploration of unknown phenomena. Was less good when it became a "monster show."
Seinfeld - At its best when the characters parodied our weird wonderful human foibles. Was less good when it gave into mean and cynical behavior. The artificial laugh track was one of the worst ever. A very bad final episode. So bad, Seinfeld is still talking about it.
Twin Peaks – David Lynch - a dark, small town murder mystery worthy of our attention. The sequel was terrible.
Southpark - Still some of the best irreverent writing on television. Not afraid to take on any sacred cows. I originally saw the little Christmas card film that Trey and Matt sent to their friends - The Spirit of Christmas in 1995. It featured Santa Claus and Jesus in a fight to the death that the series humor was based on. One of the funniest things I have ever experienced. I never thought they would get it on television.
2000-2010
The Office - Classic remake of the British hit. As long as Michael was the lead we cared about this show. When he left and Andy became the lead it just got mean.
Band of Brothers - Right up there with Patton for me as a powerful story about the personal cost of going to war. Only this one was on the ground and in the trenches with the 101st Airborne. Their efforts to survive (many of them didn't) and finding a way to cope with the horror of their experience was something I have watched more than once. I have also enjoyed watching the interviews with the real soldiers the book was based on. It reminds me that if you are ever thinking about going to war ask someone who has been through ground combat first . They will say only as a last resort.
2010-2020
Veep - the only Seifeld alum that ever did anything worth something afterwords. Julia Dreyfus's comedic timing is spot on and its hard to imagine if even Seinfeld would have been half as successful without her.
Halt and Catch Fire - a really interesting dramatization of how the personal computer business began with Texas companies making computer kits for hobbyists. Also a good case study of what success means with all its gifts and challenges.
Game of Thrones - took a while for me to get into this but ultimately it delivered. I liked that they killed heroes.
The Americans - A fascinating case study of how culture can change your deeply held beliefs overtime.
Blacklist - an interesting twist on good guys/bad guys is not black and white but infinite shades of grey as it is in the real world.
2020-2024
For All Mankind - a stimulating alternative history IF the Russians had beat us to the moon. Makes the case that we will more than likely export some of our worst human qualities as we head out into space.
Homeland - an intimate look at the dirty world of spy craft and the cost of shifting loyalties.
Man in the High Castle - a terrifying look at an alternative history IF Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan had won World War II. It reminds us of how close we came to a different outcome. And could again.
Billions - an interesting journey into the world of high finance, greed, power and the forces of justice. As in most things, the good and the bad are not black and white, but so many shades of grey its hard to tell who is winning.
Three Body Problem Series - the latest in alien invasion tomes from a very interesting Chinese sci-fi writer Cixin Liu. Based on the first book of the series it does an interesting job visualizing the book, resetting most of the action in the western world as opposed to China. It asks... what would you do if aliens were showing up in 400 years to kill you.
Books
These books played some part in expanding and stretching my view of the world beyond what I already thought I knew. Each contained a novel concept at the time when I first read them. The concepts that stuck became part of my larger explanation of myself and Kosmos. They expanded my sense of how the universe fits together and the history of humans on this planet.
1869 - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne
I first read Jules Verne classic “Twenty Thousand Leagues” as a kid. Later Verne made my list of interesting “future” predictor characters. How could he have seen so much of the future if he had not lived it was the question I explored.
1933 – Shape of the Things To Come - HG Wells
My introduction to what the world might have been like if scientists ran it. It turns out… not such a good thing. Their leadership required having superior technology to keep the masses in line. Historically that ultimately turns into fascism.
1960’s
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
A fictionalized account of the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden written by an American POW who lived through it. It was part of my education about these allied air raids during WWII that killed many more civilians than when we dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima.
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
Novel concept of a Tesseract. – An individual capable of folding of time and space. This would foreshadow future knowledge that came to me about how the universe works. This book was a glimpse into the war between light and darkness, and good and evil, as the young characters wrestle with questions of spirituality and purpose, as they are often thrown into conflicts of love, divinity, and goodness.
(The movie they made of the book was awful)
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold - John le Carré.
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold portrays Western espionage methods as morally inconsistent with Western democracy and values. Following WWII we gauged our involvement in other nations based on if it was in our best interest no matter the politics of our partner. Maybe that is why we have not advanced much in our pursuit of freedom and justice. Its hard to hold the high ground if your lurking in the dark.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley
He turned out NOT to be who white culture claimed he was – he had exhausted his violent rhetoric and was circling back at time of his death to Martin Luther King after his life changing pilgrimage to Mecca. He is one of the four US politicians and activists assassinated in the 60"s.
Silent Spring – Rachel Carlson
My introduction to the impact we modern humans were having on the natural world. Carson's scientific perspective and rigor created a work of substantial depth and credibility that sparked widespread debate within the scientific community and the broader public about the effect of pesticides on the natural world.
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
I love alternative histories of what could have been. Man in the High Castle was one of the best for me in that it portrayed a world where Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan won the second world war. Absolutely frightening and a reminder about how close we came to loosing. The television series made from the book was riveting.
On Death and Dying – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Introduced me to the five psychological/emotional stages leading up to death. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. This began a long journey for me into the question... what happens when we die.
1970’s
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
An irreverent way to be in the world and the adventure it offers that was so attractive to me.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M Pirsig
A penetrating examination of how we live and how to live better through the lens of a seminal road trip.
The Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe
What it would take when we decided to go to space.
Another Roadside Attraction - Tom Robbins
Amanda Ziller was the architype for the 60's love child woman. It was fun as long as it lasted. Such a relief for my women friends. Also features the classic new age spirituality dialogue between Jesus and Tarzan. A must read if you want perspective on the what the Christian church has done to the memory of Jesus.
Seven Arrows - Hyemeyohsts Storm
My introduction to the medicine wheel and the medicine cards that became part of my practice in the southwest and offered me a map to express my connection to the natural world.
1980s
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
How our lives with all there seeming complexities are impacted when a systemic crisis arises that changes everything. Feels very relevant to what is happening in America now. (2024)
The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer
My introduction to the Arthurian legends told from the perspective of the female characters. The book follows the trajectory of Morgaine (Morgan le Fay), a priestess fighting to save her Celtic religion in a country where Christianity threatens to destroy the pagan way of life. The epic is focused on the lives of Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), Viviane, Morgause, Igraine and other women of the Arthurian legend. The Mists of Avalon is in stark contrast to most other patriarchal re-tellings of the Arthurian tales, which consistently cast Morgan le Fay as a distant, one-dimensional evil sorceress, with little or no explanation given for her antagonism to the Round Table. This story would later lead me into the alternative world of Jesus and Mary Magdalen stories that are quite different from traditional church tales.
The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M. Auel
A five-year-old girl, Ayla, whom readers come to understand is Cro-Magnon, is orphaned and left homeless by an earthquake that destroys her family's camp. She wanders naked and unable to feed herself, for several days. She is attacked and nearly killed by a cave lion, and, suffering from starvation, exhaustion, and infection of her wounds, she collapses, on the verge of death. The narrative switches to a group of people who call themselves "Clan" and whom the reader comes to understand are Neanderthal. This was my first introduction to Neanderthals being much more capable than our traditional science lets on.
Fried Green Tomatoes - Fannie Flagg
This book for me explored themes of family, aging, lesbianism, and the dehumanizing effects of racism on both black and white people.
Contact - Carl Sagan
An interesting exploration of what happens when alien contact seems to be happening. The powers that be always attempt to exploit and control access. It is something to remember as we get closer to admitting we have been in contact with aliens for quite a while. The benefits mostly going to the military and defense contractors. Robert Zemeckis made a clumsy send up of a film of this book that focused that promoted a false argument between religion and science.
A Brief History of Time - Stephen William Hawking
The first explanation of our discoveries concerning physics and the way the universe is put together that I could understand.
The Tracker: The True Story of Tom Brown Jr. – Tom Brown
The book that got me interested in Native American tracking techniques. One of these was "standing in the dead space." I ended up going to one of his summer schools. He was a miserable person, but the methods he taught impacted me just as much as any other spiritual practice.
1990’s
The Green Mile – Stephen King
A deeply spiritual movie made all the more unusual in that it takes place on death row. It reminds me that miracles can occur even in the dark corners.
Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings - Charles H. Hapgood
This book introduced to facts about the history of the world and humans that were not taught to us in school. It began my inquiry into ancient history and why our modern accounts are written for reasons that are often political or cultural. For years, the official line was that the America's were inhabited by natives crossing the Bering straight when the sea level was lower. Although that is partly true it does not account for the myriad of native sites of others that came by sea from the South Pacific. These "alternative" stories promote the idea that the continent was full of people and advanced cultures before the whites arrived.
Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact - Vine Deloria Jr. This book laid out the true history of how the America's were settled and by whom. It explores why we white folks continue to tell the tale of the America's being settled by natives from Siberia that came over the Bering Strait when the sea level was lower. When I was working with the Navajo Nation in the early 2000's they told me that out of the 138 clans that make up Navajo Nation, only 3 had stories that matched those of natives in Siberia.
Red Mars - Green Mars - Blue Mars – Classic trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
My introduction to this science based writers projections of potential futures. This classical trilogy made the assumption that when humans go into space we took all our best and worst behavior and continued our war like manner as we have on Earth.
2000’s
The Help - Kathryn Stockett - A reminder of the hidden and not so hidden persecution black service people suffered in the south. Anyone who thinks the Civil War ended slavery in America should read this book. Growing up we shared a cleaning person with our grandparents named Charity. She was an extremely kind soul that looked after us kids in ways or parents couldn't. Some of the characters in this book remind me of my memory of her.
The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
Dan Brown popularized the Mary Magdalene/Jesus bloodline story that runs counter to the gospel promoted by the Christian church. The book was a great summer read. The film directed by Ron Howard and staring Tom Hanks was not one of his best.
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas takes place in multiple life times as the characters in each of the other time periods cross paths over and over again. The book was a mesmerizing read for me as it attempted to play out the concept that we live multiple lives over time like was depicted in the classic book "Oversoul 7." The movie by the Wachowskis sisters (Matrix) was decent, but I found myself distracted that they picked major Hollywood stars in heavy makeup to play the multiple roles.
The Shack - William P. Young - I stumbled on this book when I was exploring the future of Christianity. The odd thing about it was that it began simply as a printed paper that was passed around in the Christian community. The archetypes it presents as God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit were interesting takes for me. It showed me that when a story wants to get out, it will against all odds. The movie they made of the book was OK.
The Singularity Is Near - Ray Kurzweil - This is the book that introduced me to the concept that we are currently creating a new type of intelligence that will surpass us in abilities. This unique developmental happening is referred to by Kurzweil as "the singularity." He speculates on what it might mean, but there are so many variables it is always hard to predict the future. The best way to do it is to invent it.
Up From Eden – Ken Wilber - Out of all the Wilber books I read when I worked for him for ten years "Up From Eden" contained what was for me the key novel concept that made the rest of his Integral map relevant. He had started this book early in his writing career with the intention of commenting on the Eden myths that existed in most cultures around the world. Instead he had a profound revelation that the point of human lives was NOT to get back to some ideal Eden from which we had fallen in sin, but rather make a contribution to intelligence moving forward not back. This was the core idea that got me to start cataloguing everything on this website.
Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening – Father Thomas Keating - I began my exploration of the Future of Christianity with Father Thomas Keating and Ken Wilber. Centering prayer was at the core of Father Keatings attempts to remind us that Christianity had always had a contemplative movement in it that the "church" saw no use for. Although Centering Prayer is a very basic practice my reading this book set in motion a discovery process of how Jesus resonated in me and made sense of some of the second person visitations I was having.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed – Jared Diamond - In my efforts to explain why so many of our movies were dystopian in their storylines, this book helped me understand why major cultures fail even when they have been successful for a long time. Part of the explanation is that no matter how novel the original inspiration was that a new culture developed, it has a time period where it is relevant and then a time when it is not. Diamond postulated, based on his research, that major cultures fail because they loose the will to manage the crisis in front of them that made them great in the first place. I am still not sure whether America is at the beginning of the end of its experiment in democracy.
2010s
Proof of Heaven - Eben Alexander - As part of my coming into relationship with my death, I read a great deal of near death experience accounts that were happening to people all over the world. "Proof of Heaven" stood out because Eben was not a new age devotee, but a science based, rational surgeon. What he experienced while he was in a coma was the most convincing story I found in my exploration and one that my mother found comfort in as she approached her death. She liked the notion that we see a lot of the people we loved who died before us as we cross over.
The Lost City of the Monkey God - Douglas Preston. As our technology improves for looking back in time, we uncover human civilizations that by all account should not have existed. The scientists in this book used LIDAR to search for archaeological sites in the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve that were hidden by jungle growth. Stumbling on to one such find, the book chronicles a race against time to record the impacts of this lost civilization before the jungle forests were overrun by humans clearing the land. The site was always difficult to work at. Many of the main players later got sick with diseases they picked up there. Perhaps one of the reasons the city collapsed.
River of Darkness: Francisco Orellana's Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon - Buddy Levy - This was the companion book to the Monkey God tale for me. It is the first hand account of a western white person floating from the headwaters of the Amazon river to the sea. In spite of all the hardships and death the party encountered it is still the only account that chronicles thousands of civilized tribes that lived on the Amazon river before whites showed up. By the time the next white people entered the area, the native populations had been decimated by their contact with white diseases from this party for which they had no immunity. This die off for years promoted the lie that there were very few native cultures located along the Amazon.
Life 3.0 - Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence- Max Tegmark
How will artificial intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology for better or worse or both.
Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security - Sarah Chayes
This book chronicles Chayes time in Afghanistan where she worked with all players (govenment, military, war lords etc) to establish schools. Her experience there informed her mapping of what an "oligarghy" is and how it operates. This book is intended to be a wake up call that America is sliding in this direction.
2021-2024
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity - David Graeber David Wengrow
Another re-writing of what we have said for years about how humans developed and evolved culturally. A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution―from the development of agriculture and cities to the origins of the state, democracy, and inequality―and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
Ministry of the Future – Kim Stanley Robinson
Finally a book that lays out the potential impacts of a severe climate change crisis and how we humans might respond.
3 Body Problem Trilogy - Cixin Liu
A very novel, original trilogy from outstanding Chinese sci-fi writer Cixin Liu about how alien contact might impact human development. Liu introduces some novel concepts of what might take place, as unbelievable as some of them seem. This story begins with one women's invitation to aliens to come to earth because she believes we are not be capable of saving ourselves. Yet, the reality of what aliens might do if they come is not necessarily a world we humans would want to live in. It also offers two or three new twists on what humans can become in the future. The most interesting to me was the concept of the feminisation of the violent part of the male archetype as humanities only hope for us homo-sapiens evolving beyond our mad apes.