Just Done Well
Dec. 3rd, 2003 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acroyearEvery so often, just flippin' channels or in random mp3 selection, I come across something that just floors me at just how well done it was, in creation and execution and, well, everything. Sometimes its a specific TV show, sometimes its a movie, usually its something i've not seen part of for weeks or months, or even years, but the sheer rightness of it just makes me stop and delve into it again, even for just a little bit. And its often not something that our society itself has declared "masterpiece" in any way. Its just really good and that's that.
Today's case in point: the movie Better Off Dead. There simply is not a single 1-minute long section of that movie I would suggest taking out. It is funny and entertaining from the first to the last.
I followed that up with the unbelievably well done record, Steve Hackett's Voyage of the Acolyte, considered by some Genesis fans to be the best album Genesis never made. In it, there's a motif that simply couldn't be adapted into a song by itself, and instead of being discarded, finds itself in several pieces as a running thread linking the entire album together into a whole, rather than a collection of songs.
There are others. The movies Real Genius and The Fisher King. The TV shows Walking with [Prehistoric] Beasts and Jim Henson's Storyteller series. Certain albums like Marillion's Brave, Roine Stolt's The Flower King, and King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King. Sometimes just a specific song like Al Stewart's Roads to Moscow, Genesis's Driving the Last Spike, or Crosby & Nash's Wind on the Water.
None are "works of genius", none ever made "#1" on any popularity list that our society recognizes for importance, few ever won any awards that anybody would remember. Yet all are fine examples of what can be done simply by people who care enough to do the best work they can do, without compromise. All they wanted to do was to make something good. And in that they succeeded.
So what are your "works just done well"? what are the art forms that went largely ignored, and are today certainly forgotten by most, yet are fine examples of craftsmanship and care in a world driven solely by commercial sales and popularity ratings?
Today's case in point: the movie Better Off Dead. There simply is not a single 1-minute long section of that movie I would suggest taking out. It is funny and entertaining from the first to the last.
I followed that up with the unbelievably well done record, Steve Hackett's Voyage of the Acolyte, considered by some Genesis fans to be the best album Genesis never made. In it, there's a motif that simply couldn't be adapted into a song by itself, and instead of being discarded, finds itself in several pieces as a running thread linking the entire album together into a whole, rather than a collection of songs.
There are others. The movies Real Genius and The Fisher King. The TV shows Walking with [Prehistoric] Beasts and Jim Henson's Storyteller series. Certain albums like Marillion's Brave, Roine Stolt's The Flower King, and King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King. Sometimes just a specific song like Al Stewart's Roads to Moscow, Genesis's Driving the Last Spike, or Crosby & Nash's Wind on the Water.
None are "works of genius", none ever made "#1" on any popularity list that our society recognizes for importance, few ever won any awards that anybody would remember. Yet all are fine examples of what can be done simply by people who care enough to do the best work they can do, without compromise. All they wanted to do was to make something good. And in that they succeeded.
So what are your "works just done well"? what are the art forms that went largely ignored, and are today certainly forgotten by most, yet are fine examples of craftsmanship and care in a world driven solely by commercial sales and popularity ratings?
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no subject
Date: 2003-12-03 12:37 pm (UTC)I would add "Big Trouble in Little China". Just plain fun. Also, "Shaolin Soccer". It hasn't been released in the US, but wow, what a cooker! It's the most increadibly stupid idea for a film that just works.
Heather Nova's album, "Oyster." Too moody for the suits. And she really hits all of those notes.
The entire pop-underground, making bad records on awful recording equipment, singing crappy lyrics, with more spirit and energy than anything produced by the so-called professionals.
"Transformers: Beastwars." This is the only animated series that I know of where the WRITERS built up a fan following. The first season kinda sucks but pulls up towards the end, the second season really sings, and the third merely fairly good. A worthy watch for those who like a good story arc.
Wallace and Grommit. Nuff said. (Aww heck, EVERYTHING that guy does.)
Mainframe
Date: 2003-12-03 01:17 pm (UTC)