The senses are not only invoked, but mingled in such a way that the metaphors combine and grow, illuminating each moment presented in a full body experience. By the end of this book the reader feels drained, enlivened, wiser somehow, as if a full live had been lived between its pages.
Desperate Elegance: Old Black-and-White Films: The Gold Rush, Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day, and The Artist
Some films are like dreams or secrets, complex, delightful, strange, and revealing; and one inclination is simply to savor them in silence and another inclination is to share them with those you feel close to: and, the black-and-white sound film Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day is like that, a dream, a secret, original, gorgeous, and wise.
A review of Poetry Kanto 2010
It seems that traditional Japanese poetic genres such as haiku, tanka, haiga and haibun bear much in common with present-day global modes. Brevity and imagist impressions of nature are universal and don’t date. When I first looked at this book I thought “Why put all these modern western poets in a Japanese collection?” But on reflection I think that good poetry is universal.
A review of a wind has blown the rain away by Ellen Mandel and Todd Almond
Though I imagine it would be easy for Mandel to grandstand or write flashy piano, in every piece, the music is delicate and subservient to the words – it’s all about Cummings and enhancing, and drawing out the meaning of each piece such that they become fresh and new. Lovers of Cummings’ poetry won’t be disappointed with this CD, which is deeply engaged with the original poetry.
A review of Time Will Tell by Donald Greig
Donald Greig, a singer, writer and lecturer in film studies and musicology, associated with the Tallis Scholars and the Orlando Consort, proves with this novel that talent in one artistic form often carries over to other forms. Time Will Tell is darkly humorous and rich with detail.
A review of Wings to Fly: An Asperger Soars by Linda Brooks
There is much wisdom here, but also insight and humour which will help others get through the difficult times. Ultimately, what Wings to Fly shows us is that Aspergers and indeed other positions on the personality spectrum are to be celebrated, even when things are hard and when institutions like schools and workplaces make it harder.
A review of Another Broken Wizard by Colin Dodds
Although Colin Dodds doesn’t glamorize a life of strangers, grunt work, living from party to party, he doesn’t portray that the illegal sale of drugs is so bad, either. He does correctly convey the judgment-impaired state of mind when intoxicated.
A review of ARIA: Left Luggage by Geoff Nelder
The balance between character development and plot progression is managed smoothly, along with the thematics, which take the reader through a series of all-too-believable scenarios, chillingly showing how easy it would be for an advanced group of aliens to undermine the human race and have us destroy one another, without the need for any additional weapons or warfare.
ModPo’s Amaris Cuchanski, Max McKenna & Anna Strong
Three of the Teaching Assistants from the University of Pennsylvania’s Modern and Contemporary American Poetry course (ModPo) drop by to chat about the course, how they got involved, contemporary poetics, the notion of uncreative writing and play in poetry, the…
We Study Everything: Branford Marsalis Quartet, Four MFs Playin’ Tunes
Branford Marsalis Quartet’s music is charming, full of pleasing technique, light and playful, so much so that it can be difficult to distinguish between melody and rhythm. The pace is often quick, with bristling energy, and yet the music is quite pretty. The sound is intimate and the bass notes create something almost meditative; and with sound that light and piercing, it is easy to think that the root is freedom, or joy.