The TPR Stream - February 2013
18.02.2013
Stirring Words, Moving Images: When Novels Become Movies By Vishwas Gaitonde
TPR begins a week of reflection on an interesting year at the movies (culminating in this Sunday’s 85th Oscar telecast) with author and monthly TPR contributor Vishwas Gaitonde as he delves into the space between novels and the movies born from them. There can be great difficulty in transferring complex, written ideas into wordless images where oftentimes the only spoken word is the dialogue itself. Some filmmakers are able to bridge the gap while others fail miserably. Gaitonde finds that it’s a fascinating process no matter the result.
15.02.2013
Because It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere: Between Two Ferns By The Editors
Next week marks the start of Oscar weeks and the 85th annual Oscars themselves. As a way to celebrate, the TPR Stream will bring you a week of exploration into the celluloid form beginning on Monday. What better way to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually for such a task than to bring you the Oscar buzz edition of Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis. The Hangover star has his own fake chat show replete with Oscar nominees Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway. Also, there are ferns. Two of them. The results are predictably hilarious.
14.02.2013
This Year, Give The Best Valentine’s Present: End The Violence By Anne Brechin
Roses. Chocolates. Rape. One in three of these is something no woman would like to face on Valentine’s Day (or any other day of the year). But, according to a report initiated by the UN Secretary-General, one in three women on this planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. This shocking statistic is the main driver behind One Billion Rising, a global action taking place across the world today. One Billion Rising invites “one billion women and those who love them to walk out, DANCE, RISE UP, AND DEMAND an end to this violence”.
13.02.2013
Jack Kerouac’s 30 Rules To Be A Better Writer And Live a Better Life By The Editors
Great work takes work ethic. Work ethic takes discipline. Discipline takes rules. At least that’s how we think modus ponens works. Each step along that road is more difficult than the last. It’s a road one Jack Kerouac walked, hitchhiked, and generally burned gloriously on. The following are not just rules on how to be a better writer, but on how to live a more purposeful life. At the very least they might inspire you to establish your own personal rules. Who knows what might happen. Rules lead to discipline. Discipline leads to work ethic. Work ethic lead to good work.
12.02.2013
Beautiful Postcards From 1900s Prague By The Editors
Prague, that beautiful dame. What can we say? She wears pearls to the pub and can hold her slivovice. We think she’s the bee’s knees. Many a citizen of humanity has spent a night with her and came away with the same opinion. Don’t think ill of the girl, though. Prague likes to have fun and has for many centuries. Of course the people can’t help but love her for her grace, charm and beauty. That is because a city, like a beautiful woman, belongs to all of humanity to admire. These postcards from the early 1900s show just how admirable she’s always been.
11.02.2013
On A Course Through Haiti By Shaan Joshi
Last month marked the ignominious third anniversary of the earthquake that killed over 200,000 people in Haiti. Editor Shaan Joshi spent time there in the months after the tragedy. One day he set out to cover a transportation strike and subsequent protests in Port-au-Prince. Those protests never happened, but he did find something else more telling of the country and the people itself. These are his recollections.
08.02.2012
Because It's 5 O'clock Somewhere: You Are Made of Stars By The Editors
You are not your body. You are not the thoughts in your head. You are not fear .You are not anxiety. You are not greed, hate, anger, or even compassion. You are not mundane. You are not plain. You are not a brick in a wall. You are not a consumer. You are not a statistic. You are not a dollar sign. Or a pound. Or a crown. You are not the past. You are not the future. You are not momentary. You are eternal. You are a miracle. You are literally made of stars.
07.02.2013
Amazing Photos From The Sony World Photography Awards By The Editors
The Sony World Photo Competition is upon us once again. The 122,000 entries have been shortlisted for final judgment. If you’re in London, stop by the Somerset House where all of the shortlisted candidate’s work will be on display from April 26th to May 12th. They are really beautiful photographs and we urge you to check them all out. In the name of amazing photography, TPR would like to bring you some of our favorite shots amongst the shortlist candidates complete with the appropriate literary caption.
06.02.2013
Let's All Get Gay Married By Anne Brechin
The historic vote in the British Parliament last night in favour of gay marriage (400 MPs v. 175 voted to give the bill concerned a second reading) seems indicative of a wave of support for homosexual knot-tying, which is tsunamiing its way round the globe at the moment. In France four days ago, deputies in the National Assembly voted 249-97 for a key article in the bill on gay marriage which is currently working its way through their legal process (said article allows for the redefinition of marriage as an agreement between two people, instead of just a woman and a man). And of course in the States, Obama not only ‘came out’ in support of broadening the scope of the institution during his election campaign – but also stated in his inaugural address that “our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”
05.02.2013
Painting Lessons By Stephen Mead
There are times when art fails. No. Strike that. There are times when I fail art. I suppose a large part of my apartment is a monument to that fact. As one enters and comes up the stairs, at least twenty paintings on the right hand wall line the path. These are staggered “salon style”, meaning not in alignment. It’s a style of hanging I didn’t even know the name of ‘til I was lucky enough to get a show a few years back, and the curator pointed out to me that’s what I was doing. Live and learn.
04.02.2013
The Spiritual Rejuvenation of Snoop Dogg By Shaan Joshi
We all know him and love him. If he isn’t the godfather of modern rap, he is the uncle who bought you your first six-pack and rolled you your first “cigarette”. In a certain way, Snoop Dogg’s persona has grown bigger than his catalog of music. While nothing will diminish those early albums or the steady hits since then, there were times during the past decade Snoop just seemed bored. He looked more interested in the youth pee wee football team he founded in Chino or in the many different strands of marijuana that occupy his day rather than in pressing albums. That was until Snoop went to Jamaica and not only found a sound, but a new purpose. That’s when Snoop Dogg evolved. That’s when he was reincarnated. That’s when Snoop Dogg became Snoop Lion.
01.02.2013
Because It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere: Bill Murray Is Hunter Thompson At The Super Bowl By The Editors
As evidenced in yesterday’s post, the Super Bowl used to be a glorious occasion of drinking, partying, women, and the occasional football game. There was nobody who epitomized this more than one Hunter Stockton Thompson. It was so much associated with his personality that a large chunk of the 1980 film Where the Buffalo Roam, based on Hunter Thompson and starring Bill Murray as the good doctor, takes place during a sunny, Super Bowl weekend in Miami. That’s right Murray killed the role of Thompson before Johnny Depp had even smoked his first cigarette.
28.02.2013
Has Maker's Missed the Mark? By Max Munson
With Maker's Mark embroiled in multiple controversies, Prague restaurateur and TPR Fiction Editor Max Munson re-evaluates his relationship with the brand. Munson put Maker's to the ultimate test in an international tasting panel to ask one question: Has Maker's Missed the Mark? Caution: There is whiskey ahead.
27.02.2013
It Came from Public Domain: Emerson's Classic Essay on Love By Ralph Waldo Emerson
While certain members of some literary estates may scorn Public Domain, we think that anytime brilliant works of art become accessible to the general masses it’s a worthy thing. That’s why TPR is thankful that the entirety of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writings are available to the good people of Earth. Not just because it’s free. True wisdom is never without cost. These are transcendental realizations wrapped in bitter, hard truths. Essays that are incomparably beautiful because they strike the same chords as our unconscious minds, putting the reader in harmony with his or her own thoughts. It’s what writers strive after, but there are few who are actually capable of this kind of honest excavation. In many ways, Emerson’s essays are the reason writing and reading exists. Do yourself a favor. Learn something about yourself. Read Emerson’s classic essay on love. Now get out there and love somebody, the right way.
26.02.2012
And Now a Letter from Banksy By The Editors
There was a time when Banksy pieces didn’t sell for £50,000 a pop at Sotheby’s. There was a time when his work wasn’t removed in a kind of biopsy from the side of a building in London and put up for auction in Florida. It was expected to go for between $500,000 and $700,000 before public outcry forced the item off the auction block. It’s an outcome few could have guessed when much of London saw Banksy as a graffiti-speckling pest rather than heir to the throne of the art world. Leave it to human beings to turn street art into a commodity.
25.02.2013
The Twilight of Sarah: A Story of Political Collapse By Ship Brighten with Jeanne Devon
Let go of by Fox and with her influence at an all-time low since breaking out onto the scene, it’s hard to imagine that Sarah Palin was once the bright hope of a party. It’s harder to imagine that she was once potentially in position to be a few short heartbeats from the highest office in the free world. As Palin heads to speak (and make a comeback of sorts) at the annual CPAC convention next month, Ship Bright and Jeanne Devos explore how exactly a once promising politician self-destructs.
22.02.2013
Because It's 5 O'clock Somewhere: Chaplin's Great Message to Humanity By The Editors
The times were again a-changing. The pioneers who had settled and cultivated the land had become the old stalwarts. A new generation waited eagerly to uproot their carefully built foundations. The oncoming wave threatened everybody in the old guard. Yes, the times were changing and there’s nothing that could be done about it. Not even by him. It had come to this. Charlie Chaplin would make a talkie. Even the king of the silent age couldn’t fight the progress of time.
21.02.2013
As Pure as the Driven Snow? By Anne Brechin
What happens when a young starlet and a director have an affair? The answer may surprise you. Anne Brechin breaks down the biggest scandal in movies this year.
20.02.2013
When You're Thinking About Other Women By Shaan Joshi
Los Angeles. A movie premiere. Tequila. Exposed thighs. This is what happens when you’re thinking about other women. TPR Oscar week continues like only we can...
19.02.2013
The Odd Humanity of Django Unchained By Shaan Joshi
TPR’s Oscar week continues with a look at Django Unchained. The film sparked a conservative backlash that saw Tarantino accused of race-baiting. Editor Shaan Joshi delves into the controversy to show that the critics are missing the larger point. Django Unchained isn’t about race. It’s about power.
11.02.2013
On A Course Through Haiti By Shaan Joshi
Last month marked the ignominious third anniversary of the earthquake that killed over 200,000 people in Haiti. Editor Shaan Joshi spent time there in the months after the tragedy. One day he set out to cover a transportation strike and subsequent protests in Port-au-Prince. Those protests never happened, but he did find something else more telling of the country and the people itself. These are his recollections.
