Note: Over the next week, I will be introducing readers (however few there are) to the new format of The Daily Octane. Each day will be the topic reveal for that calendar day going forward. Additionally, I will provide context for why I feel I have ANY business even writing about the subject.
We all like to be entertained. For many of us, it is enjoyment of movies, books, music, and television that helps us get through every day. Activities like reading a book are solo. We curl up with a cup of coffee on the couch and find solitude from the rigors of the day. Going to the theater, whether it is a live production or the newest Hollywood blockbuster, is something we often do with friends and family. How many times have you looked forward to going to work, so you can discuss the newest show you just saw on Netflix? A good concert can be the ultimate catharsis. There are few things in this world quite as moving as an arena full of people singing Piano Man back to Billy Joel.
Are you not entertained?
We older people fondly recall Maximus demanding an answer to that question from the crowd in the 2000 film, Gladiator. Ridley Scott created an absolute masterpiece. That film will be watched and revered for generations. Hollywood is an odd product of human society. Over the course of what is effectually a short period of time, a collection of artistic minds created an entire industry in the beautiful hills of Southern California.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Charles Dickens penned that line as the opening for his 1859 book, A Tale of Two Cities. He took the reader on a sort of existential journey. English teachers use that book as an introduction to a higher level of writing and students lament its meaning. Regardless, it is another masterpiece. It is also only one of millions of books, poems, and short stories written by authors of all walks of life. If there is a subject you can imagine, someone has written about it.
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.
The Beatles released their Help! album in 1965 and Yesterday became one of a slew of #1 hits for the band. Rock music is relatively new to the scene when you consider music has been around for centuries. It has changed dramatically from its beginnings with Elvis Presley, who many consider to be the pioneer of the sound. It is difficult to even compare The Beatles with U2 or The Foo Fighters, but its all rock n roll. Aside from Rock, there are many other genres of music that fill the airwaves of radio stations around the world.
Winter is coming.
You speak that line and people instantly know you are referring to HBO‘s series, Game of Thrones. Television is a medium that has substantially evolved over the course of its history. It started, very humbly, with just a couple of broadcast companies airing live productions. The producers of these programs generally came from radio backgrounds and framed the scripts as they would for that medium. Over the century since it started, television has transformed into an on-demand spectrum of options. The production value of some shows rivals anything the movie industry creates.
There are so many ways to be entertained.
My passion for all forms of entertainment is more than the sum of its parts. I am not an avid reader anymore, but I have a nearly encyclopedic understanding of the music industry. In general, if a movie is not based on a comic book character, I may skip it. That genre has become so prevalent, it is hard to have a bank account substantial enough for anything else in the theater. As for television, there is always something I am watching. I love dramas, sci-fi, anime, comedies, cartoons, and everything else under the sun.
Like you, I love to be entertained…
Come back each and every Sunday, when I will recount my favorite movies, or list the best television cartoons, or tell a concert story in which I almost died. There are so many things to discuss.
Christopher Hess, LMT
Be sure to come back tomorrow to find out what Monday’s topic will be.
Let’s compare near-death concert stories one day.
(Def Leppard)
There was a time that I loved Def Leppard. Now their music kills me.