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Sean Lennon recommended In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson in Music (curated)

In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson

1969 | Experimental, Jazz, Rock

7.7

(7 Ratings)

Album Favorite

"Despite the fact I love all sorts of Crimson records, I think this is still my favourite. Maybe just for nostalgia reasons, I listened to this record when I was very young. Before I was into jazz, before I was into weird music, I always loved this. Obviously I grew up with The Beatles and the Stones and Floyd and stuff, but I remember I was in a car and Jimi Hendrix came on the radio. I said 'what is this?' I was only 12, and a guy I was with looked at me like I was insane. In those days gas stations had lots of cassettes so we pulled over and I bought a cassette that had Are You Experienced on side A and Axis: Bold As Love on side B. I listened to it until it was completely worn through. That was my introduction to the 60s stuff that I hadn't been brought up listening to. King Crimson's early stuff was among that new, exciting 60s music that I hadn't heard. Robert Fripp became my guitar hero, he used to do a League of Crafty Guitarists thing in New York so I saw him play. I became a Fripp head, I saw them play in the 90s with my English teacher. It blew my mind, but they didn't play the old stuff. I'm not musiciany enough to like that stuff, but the early stuff resonates a lot."

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Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated My Octopus Teacher (2020) in Movies

Oct 4, 2020 (Updated Oct 4, 2020)

My Octopus Teacher (2020)

2020 | Documentary

6.0

(2 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Netflix sea-life doc that sets out to be moving and inspiring and just ended up making me shout at my laptop a lot. A bloke going through some sort of mid-life crisis does the usual thing and gets involved with a younger female: the twist is that she's an invertebrate. Never mind 'My Octopus Teacher', based on what he says - 'I was overwhelmed by my feelings for her,' etc - 'My Darling Octopus' might have been a better title. Same old story: Man meets octopus, they swim around together for a bit, octopus loses arm in shark attack, he nurses her back to health, she has several hundred thousand children behind his back, etc.

Quite apart from the weirdness of the subject matter - what did the bloke's wife think of all this? what, for the matter, did the octopus think was going on? - there's something very dodgy about the way the film is presented. The story is presented as something that's already happened, so are we watching reconstructions of the events? Is it all a staged or confected narrative? Has someone told the octopus actually appearing in the film it's basically in the role of Kim Novak at the end of Vertigo? Stunning photography and images of sealife, naturally, but rather than informing the viewer about octopuses - which are fascinating creatures - it just unloads a lot of sentimental, anthropomorphised cobblers on them. Best watched with the sound turned down and appropriate sea-life noises playing.