Posts tagged University
“Kill Your Darlings” Is Full of Oddities
Dec 22nd
“Full of Oddities”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Kill Your Darlings is an odd little movie starring Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg that tells a story about him and other writers of the Beat Generation in 1943 in New York City.
For those of you in the audience who are too young to know and those of you who are old enough but might have forgotten, Ginsberg was an American poet best known for writing “Howl,” a 1956 long poem attacking American values who later in life was associated with Naropa University in Boulder.
The title refers to advice sometimes given to writers to eliminate the parts of their work they are most in love with, because those parts are probably the most self-indulgent, but in the movie it can also refer to an actual murder.
The movie begins when Ginsberg is 19 years old, and he is accepted to Columbia University, where he will meet other writers with whom he will get in and out of trouble, such as William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, and others who didn’t become as famous.
We also see some of Ginsberg’s home life with his father, who was also a poet, and his mother, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, who was a very troubled woman.
Ginsberg becomes friends with Lucien Carr, and through him he meets David at a weird party at David’s apartment, where David says about Ginsberg, “Under the right circumstances, even he might change the world.”
Remember, this was 70 years ago at a time when writers were serious, and they believed that their writing could change the world, which they hoped would be for the better.
If it also made them successful and famous, then that was better, too.
Ginsberg and his fellow writers also have a saying, “First thought, best thought,” which they believe to be performed and useful in their writing, but if you know anything about serious writing, such an idea would probably fall into that category of darlings which should be killed.
The movie is full of disjointed scenes, and the audience might have trouble keeping the story line straight and also keeping track of who all the characters are.
Of course, homosexuality plays a big role in the story, and this was at a time when homosexuality was illegal in numerous places.
Kill Your Darlings is full of many oddities.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Kill Your Darlings – Movie Trailer
Dec 8th
Daniel Radcliffe stars as Beat Generation icon Allen Ginsberg in this biopic set during the famed poet’s early years at Columbia University, and centering on a murder investigation involving Ginsberg, his handsome classmate Lucien Carr, and fellow Beat author William Burroughs. The year is 1944. Ginsberg (Radcliffe) is a young student at Columbia University when he falls hopelessly under the spell of charismatic classmate Carr (Dane DeHaan). Alongside Carr, Ginsberg manages to strike up friendships with aspiring writers William Burroughs (Ben Foster) and Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) that would cast conformity to the wind, and serve as the foundation of the Beat movement. Meanwhile, an older outsider named David Krammerer falls deeply and madly in love with the impossibly cool Carr. Later, when Krammerer dies under mysterious circumstances, police arrest Kerouac, Burroughs, and Carr as potential suspects, paving the way for an investigation that would have a major impact on the lives of the three emerging artists.
The Fall 2013 Flagler College Community Lecture Series begins on Sept. 17
Aug 28th
Flagler College Art Professor Catherine McFarland will discuss the Aesthetic Movement of the 19th century, placing the National Historic Landmark in the historical context of the movement.
The Aesthetic Movement is an art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than social-political themes.
“John Ruskin, the art historian, critic and philosopher, was the inspiration for this hugely important movement,” said McFarland. “We teach Ruskin at Flagler College, partly because of his influence on the aesthetics of the old hotel.”
McFarland’s lecture, “The Aesthetic Movement in America,” will feature approximately 60 images, including some pre-Raphaelite paintings, and will include anecdotes about the artists and writers.
Professor McFarland earned an M.A. in Art History from Emory University and a B.A. in Art History from Smith College. She received studio instruction in painting, sculpture, printmaking, design and photography from Atlanta College of Art and has completed post-graduate work at Emory University.
In honor of the 125th anniversary of the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, the 2013 Community Lecture Series is focused on “The Hotel Ponce de Leon Deconstructed: Building the Future for Modern America.”
The series features a lineup of historians and scholars discussing Henry Flagler’s vision for St. Augustine, social classes and American politics during the late 19th century, and the influence of art, music and literature during the Gilded Age.
Tickets to the lecture are $5 per person. Active military personnel may attend at no charge. Lectures begin at 10 a.m. in the Flagler Room at Flagler College, 74 King St. The lecture will last approximately one hour and will be followed by a coffee and pastry reception.
This year, thanks to VISIT FLORIDA’s Cultural Heritage and Nature Tourism Grant Program, Flagler College is offering complimentary admission to the fall 2013 Flagler College Community Lecture Series for any St. Johns County tourism employee. Tourism employees interested in attending the lecture will need to present their employee name tag or ID at the lecture series registration table.
Reservations for the lecture series are required due to limited space. Call (904) 819-6282 for reservations or more information. To watch a live stream of these lectures, visit ustream.tv/channel/community-lecture-series.
Source: Flagler College