Top 10+ Music, Movies, and Visual Art of the Week (2023) - Music Diaries

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

EXPLANATION: WHAT IS THIS LOG??? Go here: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...094#571094

For my criteria page, go here: http://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/vi...hp?t=15503

To visit my Main lists, go here:
Greatest Classical Music Works: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...hp?t=15098
Greatest Albums (Rock & Jazz): https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...hp?t=15276
Greatest Films: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...hp?t=15558
Greatest Paintings: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...hp?t=15560
Greatest Works of Art: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...hp?t=16117

Various (in progress) genre lists, listed in order of how recently I've worked on them:
Greatest Literature: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...617#691617
Best Comedy Films and Best Romantic and/or Sx Comedies: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...446#684446
Best Teen and/or Coming of Age Films: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...219#683219
Best Gangster and/or Hood Films: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...513#682513
Best Action/Adventure and (Action/Adventure) Thriller Films: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...108#674108
Best Editing/Structure in Film History: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...443#667443
Best Visuals (Color) / Best Visuals (Black and White): https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...231#666231
Best Horror Films: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...102#656102
Best Hip Hop/R & B/Soul/Funk Albums: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...323#650323
Best Animated Films: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...884#647884
Best Comic Book/Superhero Films: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...189#646189

Bsold = Newly added
Bold + Italics = Was already listed but recently upgraded/downgraded

Top 10+ Music, Movies, and Visual Art of the Week(s): 1-1-2024 - 1-28-2024
Angkor Wat - Started by Suryavarman II; Completed by Jayavarman VII (circa 1122 - 1150; Note: there are various anomalies that may suggest an earlier date of construction -- perhaps even much earlier) [Architecture]
Borobudur - Gunadharma (circa 842?) [Architecture]
Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock (1958) ...I'm not sure that spending a lot of time in San Francisco recently has any real, permanent effect on the rating, but it adds an interesting dimension to watching the film, perhaps even a layer of understanding as to why Hitchcock chose the city -- something I already basically understood before, but somehow feels more relevant now than it had...
Guernica - Pablo Picasso (1937)
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye (1971)
Golden Gate Bridge - Joseph Strauss - San Francisco, California (1937) [Architecture]
Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway - J.M.W. Turner (1844)
St. Peter's Basilica - Principal Architects: Donato Bramante (1503 - 1514); Michelangelo Buonarroti (1546 - 1564); Carlo Maderno (1603 - 1629); Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1629 - 1676) (Building completed and opened 1626; various additions thereafter) [Architecture]

FAMILIAR PAINTINGS/VISUAL ART - RE-RATED:
Angkor Wat - Started by Suryavarman II; Completed by Jayavarman VII (circa 1122 - 1150; Note: there are various anomalies that may suggest an earlier date of construction -- perhaps even much earlier) [Architecture] 8.8/10 to 8.9/10
Borobudur - Gunadharma (circa 842?) [Architecture] Not Rated to 8.5/10
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Last edited by AfterHours on 02/04/2024 08:19; edited 5 times in total

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

theredkrayola wrote:

Belated comments on your list of best Christian recordings: first, Scaruffi notes that The Good Son was made in the aftermath of Cave's "Christian conversion", but i have found no evidence that Cave has ever referred to himself as a Christian (he's said that he believes in God, obviously, and is heavily influenced by the Bible, but seems to always deny being a Christian). However, The Good Son has a powerful "religious" feeling that does seem to suggest that he converted to some form of spiritual belief. Perhaps Scaruffi knows something i don't regarding Cave's beliefs at the time?

Another recording that could be included on the list is Hosianna Mantra. Scaruffi claims that Florian Fricke had converted to both Christianity and Hinduism (again, i don't know where Scaruffi is getting that information from) but if true, it certainly should make your list. The album does sound like a fusion of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions - perhaps it could be considered a "Christian" album regardless of what Fricke's spiritual beliefs were?

The album on Scaruffi's list with the highest score among artists who certainly intended their work to be Christian appears to be Sixteen Horsepower, Sackcloth n' Ashes (7.5/10). I would rate it even higher. The album was made by a fanatical Christian, and tracks like "Strong Man" are explicitly religious

Have you read The Sirens of Titan? Both Scaruffi and i find it superior to Slaughterhouse-5. You rated Slaughterhouse and Cat's Cradle quite well, what did you find to be the best (and worst) aspects of those books?

Thanks RK, Hosianna Mantra may qualify -- it certainly should be on there by rating if it does. Sackcloth n' Ashes is at 7.6 on my list and would make a great addition. For the record I wasn't thinking about it all that hard. Obviously the top tier Classical ones like Bach's Mass in B Minor and Verdi's Requiem have very few rivals in explicitly religious music and those were the main ones I was mentioning (really, "in passing", not with a lot of thought...). Perhaps some day I'll put together a list with some more concerted effort.

I haven't read Sirens of Titan, but I don't doubt it could also be up there or even above the others. I haven't read any Vonnegut in 20-25 years, sadly, so my ratings are very much estimates. I don't really have much to say about them except that they're very witty, surreal, satirical, devastatingly black comedies. I definitely would need to read them again or at least revisit someones notes before I could say too much about them. I did a bit of that before rating them, but I would need to review those and I don't have them at hand with where I'm at and what I'm doing. Vonnegut is fantastic though. Sort of a Kusturica-Gilliam (Underground, Brazil, 12 Monkeys...) of literature (or something like that).
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theredkrayola

I find it interesting that a hardcore atheist like Scaruffi would put so many religious albums (A Love Supreme, Karma, The Good Son, Hosianna Mantra) high on his list. He’s said that being religious is a symptom of a “weak” mind, or something to that extent, yet somehow he believes these weak minds can still produce great music. What do you think are the best songs on Sackcloth N’ Ashes?

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

theredkrayola wrote:

I find it interesting that a hardcore atheist like Scaruffi would put so many religious albums (A Love Supreme, Karma, The Good Son, Hosianna Mantra) high on his list. He’s said that being religious is a symptom of a “weak” mind, or something to that extent, yet somehow he believes these weak minds can still produce great music. What do you think are the best songs on Sackcloth N’ Ashes?

Most of the greatest works of art have a strong religious connection to them. It is very hard to find a greater sense of devotion, of conviction, which tends to lead to emotional content that is more overwhelming, consumed, courageous/fearless, ambitious (etc). Regardless of how religious one is (atheist or devout or somewhere in between) it is hard not to find this quite stirring, fascinating, profound (etc) when it is expressed through the most powerful art. Scaruffi is no different and I don't think he cares that something is religious, more so that it is emotional, creative, thematically/conceptually profound, etc.

Even art that is not "religious" or explicitly so (or at all), in the higher ratings, nonetheless can't seem to help but manage a profound impact that becomes "spiritual" or "overwhelming" or "awe-inspiring" -- not explicitly "spiritual" but nevertheless seems to produce the same, or very similar, sensation in one. Examples are numerous, whether it be Rock Bottom, Trout Mask Replica, VU and Nico, The Doors, etc, etc, etc. All become "metaphysical" having strong parallels to "spiritual awe" and are similarly overwhelming as the most powerful overt religious works of Classical yesteryear, despite doing so through very different means and with far less explicit "magniloquence" or "solemnity" (or at least of a different order and far different texts). This brings one to the realization that the fundamental component, religious or not, to bring about the sensation of profundity, awe, sensory overwhelm, amazement (the like) is simply the factors on my criteria page (brought to peak levels, especially), and it isn't so much the "text" or "what" it's about, but much more so "how" and with how much conviction, emotion, creativity, is it being expressed. This alone, is all that is (apparently) necessary to bring said "text" up to the level of the metaphysical, or deeply profound, or up to a highly spiritual experience (even if not explicitly, still causes the same sorts of sensation as though it was "spiritual").

I haphazardly rushed that explanation (as usual) but hopefully you get the idea...

Not sure about best tracks for Sackcloth as I haven't really paid a lot of attention to the titles and haven't noted them down. It's a very consistent album where (recalling offhand) they all seemed to be very closley in the same general qualitative range with no "dips" or weak links. Maybe I will shortly, its a great great album that just thinking about makes me want to hear it again! It also might be a fun little project to rate its tracks and add them to my list where applicable.
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AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

@ RK

Perhaps "transcendence" is the more ideal or applicable term, overall, in most or all cases (of a higher rated work).

By which I mean, to what degree the work "transcends" regular limitations emotionally, conceptually/thematically, creatively (and then further, in terms of its consistency and peaks of such).

This will, pretty much regardless of content/text (whether religious or not), give it a 'transcendent' quality that is very similar to something spiritual/metaphysical, something beyond regular experience into something more inexplicable, profound, singular, and so on.
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DommeDamian
Imperfect, sensitive Aspie with a melody addiction

Gender: Male
Age: 23
Location: where the flowers grow.

Where do you get/watch the movies? I have made a Watchlist with 200+ movies, straight from the high rates of Scaruffi, and most of them are unavailable everywhere. I have most streaming services but even there it can be difficult. E.g. Werckmeister Harmonies plus several other Bela Tarr is nowhere to be found.
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AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

DommeDamian wrote:

Where do you get/watch the movies? I have made a Watchlist with 200+ movies, straight from the high rates of Scaruffi, and most of them are unavailable everywhere. I have most streaming services but even there it can be difficult. E.g. Werckmeister Harmonies plus several other Bela Tarr is nowhere to be found.

Most of them can be found with a combination of criterion channel, YouTube, internet archive, various specialty foreign services, searching for a full movie in google and being persistent enough to track a movie down, Amazon prime…

Last I checked a 4K Werckmeister can be found on YouTube. Pretty sure the thumbnail is Hungarian so it may be easily missed. And then you just need to adjust the video to include English subs which aren’t perfect for it but are mostly fine (plus there isn’t a ton of dialogue). Satantango was recently on criterion in full, for example…
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TiggaTrigga

I saw you put What's Going On on your art of the week list...what do you think are some of its best songs and why? Flyin High in the Friendly Sky and Save the Children are my favorite but I wouldn't say they're the best. The former to me definitely feels almost like you're suspended in flight or something like that - probably due to the bass melody and guitar echoes.

Also the album may qualify for a religious work - especially due to the song God Is Love.

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

TiggaTrigga wrote:

I saw you put What's Going On on your art of the week list...what do you think are some of its best songs and why? Flyin High in the Friendly Sky and Save the Children are my favorite but I wouldn't say they're the best. The former to me definitely feels almost like you're suspended in flight or something like that - probably due to the bass melody and guitar echoes.

Also the album may qualify for a religious work - especially due to the song God Is Love.

Good point on it being a religious work — I would probably agree

The title track, Wholly holy … certainly the suite of side A if you count that as “one” … most immediately come to mind.

Semi-miscellaneous, wandering thoughts on why… It’s mainly just the unforced passion, the honesty and sincerity of the work (both vocals and instrumentation) the refreshing lack of “spectacle” or embellishment for a work of its genre and elevated nature, while also elevating it to a sublime work of art of real substance and depth of feeling … balance between these is sublime, and again with such “real” feeling both overflowing, passionate but yet still reserved, articulate, never forced, even patient (not “showy”, using the genre/medium for truly artistic aims while still managing to stay within it).
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TiggaTrigga

I don't believe you're focusing on movies right now, but if it's easy to answer this question at the moment, would you be up for it? I have a question about Terminator vs Terminator 2.

I don't understand why Terminator 1 is thought of more highly by you and Scaruffi than Terminator 2. Long story short, Terminator 2 felt more "deep" to me.