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Joe M

Joe M

has 31 followers and is following 24 people

http://www.vimeo.com/user363504/videos/sort:newest
  • Providence, RI, USA
  • member since April 3, 2008

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Public Notes

  • tapbirds

    tapbirds says

    Joe: Happy New Year and best wishes for 2012!

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Hi Joe,

    I haven't yet got around to picking Book of Disquiet, hopefully it will happen soon, once I manage to procure it.
    Sea of Fertility is good - I started with Spring Snow, and then jumped on to Temple of Dawn because the story looked appealing. I am only into 60 pages yet, but already loving it - Honda has landed in India, and his descriptions of both Thailand and India are evocative.
    I picked up the True Deceiver because it won the Best Translated Book Award this year - I have always enjoyed the shortlists and winners of these awards, which are different from the more popular awards like the Booker. The author used to write children stories earlier, but reading her adult fiction you can hardly believe that. There are some allegorical references from children stories like the big bad wolf, but other than that, the book is very mature. In a way it is themed around writing fantasy versus writing about practical reality, though that is not expressly mentioned. Well-written, short and quite good.
    How are things otherwise? Saw your fb pics on your latest trek - the place is breath-taking. I envy you for living close to such places!

    Best,
    Madhuri

    posted 9 months ago. ( send a note )
  • tapbirds

    tapbirds says

    Hey, I like fatty dishes of love! Just kidding . . . your comparison of excerpts below accentuate the need for accurate translation! This also makes me question how much foreign poetry I have not appreciated due to translation; the poems of Eugene Montale come immediately to mind. Yes, I am also looking forward to seeing you soon in SF!

    posted 12 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Hi Joe,

    Thanks for the detailed introduction of the book, and for the very beautiful passages - I am more interested in this book now than I was - a being divorced from the real world, and giving emphasis on dreams is a man hard to resist :) I will pick this one up.

    Regards,
    Madhuri

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Hey Joe, how are you? Long since we exchanged notes. I saw that you have just read Book of Disquiet, and have really liked it too. I have been wanting to read this one for some time - it would be nice to hear your thoughts on it.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Really? Two Stars for Midnight's Children? Why would you dislike it so much?

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Really? Two Stars for Midnight's Children? Why would you dislike it so much?

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Really? Two Stars for Midnight's Children? Why would you dislike it so much?

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Really? Two Stars for Midnight's Children? Why would you dislike it so much?

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • tapbirds

    tapbirds says

    Great - - can't wait to read it! However I first need to finish Christina Stead's tome for an upcoming bookclub discussion :)

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • tapbirds

    tapbirds says

    Thanks Joe - - I have a Vietnamese work colleague and he graciously gave me this book when he was in California this week! I can't wait to read it - - have you?

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Hi Joe,

    how are things? Are you back from your travels or are there more in store? I have been having a terrible year on travel, consoling myself with local trips on random weekends, but I am yearning to do a longer trip which is somehow not fitting into some other commitments.

    I see that you have finally read The Desert which you mentioned in your last note - and that you didn't like it much? I have sometimes mixed reaction to travel literature, finding it too anecdotal sometimes. There are very few people, like Chatwin, who get inside the country and try to feel it instead of merely breezing through it and commenting on some local cultures.
    Infact, I have somehow found that more than travel writing, it is literature based in a place that makes me more inclined to go to it. For instance Pamuk's description of Istanbul in Snow, or Sartre's Paris in The Age of Innocence are more compelling than a travelogue from a BillBryson.

    I am currently reading Javier Marias' long work Your Face Tomorrow - quite interesting and I am on the third part now, but sometimes I wonder how will get through the next page. He is a verbose, meditative, noir writer. Almost none of the scenes described see daylight - it can get depressive at times, but it has the same element of enigma that a noir movie has, so I am quite enjoying it.

    Regards, Madhuri

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Mr. Simple

    Mr. Simple says

    oh dats kool!!!

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Hi Joe,

    I finished reading The Passport recently, and surprisingly, I eventually liked it. It is very depressive, agreed. And also very carnal. But it has a ghost-like surreal feel to it - with the entire village almost sleep-walking, and obsessed only with the thought to escape. It is an allegory, slightly like Pedro Paramo, though of course Pedro Paramo is a completely different league. There are superstitions and a strange darkness, and sudden scenes from the past - same floating scenes. It was a bit surreal, and I seem to like the surreal :)
    After that, I dug into Chatwin, and he never fails to cheer up - and also makes me feel a little jealous with all his travel. Have you read him? He is brilliant!
    How is your reading? Anything interesting?

    Cheers
    Madhuri

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Hi Joe,

    I finished reading The Passport recently, and surprisingly, I eventually liked it. It is very depressive, agreed. And also very carnal. But it has a ghost-like surreal feel to it - with the entire village almost sleep-walking, and obsessed only with the thought to escape. It is an allegory, slightly like Pedro Paramo, though of course Pedro Paramo is a completely different league. There are superstitions and a strange darkness, and sudden scenes from the past - same floating scenes. It was a bit surreal, and I seem to like the surreal :)
    After that, I dug into Chatwin, and he never fails to cheer up - and also makes me feel a little jealous with all his travel. Have you read him? He is brilliant!
    How is your reading? Anything interesting?

    Cheers
    Madhuri

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Hi Joe,

    I finished reading The Passport recently, and surprisingly, I eventually liked it. It is very depressive, agreed. And also very carnal. But it has a ghost-like surreal feel to it - with the entire village almost sleep-walking, and obsessed only with the thought to escape. It is an allegory, slightly like Pedro Paramo, though of course Pedro Paramo is a completely different league. There are superstitions and a strange darkness, and sudden scenes from the past - same floating scenes. It was a bit surreal, and I seem to like the surreal :)
    After that, I dug into Chatwin, and he never fails to cheer up - and also makes me feel a little jealous with all his travel. Have you read him? He is brilliant!
    How is your reading? Anything interesting?

    Cheers
    Madhuri

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Madhuri

    Madhuri says

    Hi Joe,
    I have recently started reading Passport myself, and couldn't get into it much. However, I liked Land of Green Plums from Muller and therefore am willing to experiment a bit more with her. Nadir's is a collection of small pieces which I keep reading once in a while in the car - it is good, though a bit more warped than I would like it to be.

    Tiger's Nest was indeed amazing - there is a nice 2 hour trek to get there - a steep one, and looking at it from the base point, it seems impossible that you can get there - but the monastery is worth the effort. In fact whatever I saw of Bhutan, it was incredibly beautiful - a place you should definitely visit when you come to the South East Asian region!

    How is life otherwise? Reading? Work has been taking too much of my time lately and I took almost 40 days to finish a Proust!

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Mike L

    Mike L says

    When I'm so close to NYC, and there are good shows, it's hard *not* to go... And if they're within my budget also, that helps... It's all about being selective.

    I think your mom would enjoy Emerson/Lake... ;)

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Mike L

    Mike L says

    I have many concerts coming up, this Thursday, it's Emerson/Lake, next week, Ben Folds, then Peter Gabriel on May 3rd, Mike Keneally May 8th, Conan O'Brien on June 1st, and then Nearfest towards the end of June.

    Any shows in your future? I'll give you a call soon...

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Mike L

    Mike L says

    You obviously have your head in the right place, in regards to subject matter for songs.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )

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