EXACTLY! You nailed it, Harry! I like it very much, too, and its sense of fun is its main appeal, I agree. I've always liked the song and was familiar with it a long while before I looked for the music video (it's the official music video for the song).
And if you watch again -- I like the setting where they're dancing - obviously they seem to have just showed up and just started to dance their rehearsed dance. But watching it just now, I noticed for the first time in the background a younger guy in a white T-shirt in the background crowd -- the camera stays on him for a bit -- his facial expressions and body language are priceless to me. As if he's trying to get somewhere beyond the dancers but isn't quite sure how. :)
I saw that! I thought he looked surprised but was thinking about joining in. LOL! It looks like a Flash Mob dance to me at a movie theatre. The geeky white guy with the rat tail really cracks me up. An expression comes to mind when watching him flailing about: Joyous Movement. :-)
Harry, I thought of the same expression...long ago, people would say, "If you can't sing, make a joyful noise." Well this is definitely joyous movement, it's wonderful.
Welby Quentin, you know some really interesting things, so glad you are here on aMug! I am eagerly awaiting my book of Carver stories from the library now...
That's a very kind thing to say, VirginiaL! Thank you! I'm humbled! :)
And Carver ~ his style seems to possess a gritty realism. "Real" - - that's the word. He would be one author whom I have difficulty describing but I've adored pretty much everything I've read by him. Unfortunately, with my favorite story by him -- "A Small Good Thing" - - this story appears in various forms, depending on which collection one reads. If the library book you're waiting for is called "Where I"m Calling From" it's a collection with the version I like best. It's the longest version -- other versions stop in various places of the story. I assume Carver had varying ideas of where to end the story?
Oh - - and after reading several collections of his works, I had a small sense of deja vu and I didn't know why. Then, when I mentioned Carver, a friend mentioned the movie "Short Cuts." He said it was a film based upon several Carver stories. And indeed, that was it! Years before reading Raymond Carver, I had seen that movie. It all didn't "click" until he mentioned the movie. (A very good movie -- but given a choice ,I'd prefer to read the stories first, then watch the movie afterwards. OR - - like I did, watch the movie and wait for years and years to forget the movie and then read the stories, ha!)
Hi Welby Quentin, I just went in to the library website, checking on which Carver book I had requested; it was What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, so at least for starters I switched over to the title you mention. I just loved what I read about Carver's stories; the common folk, gritty realism as you call it, sounded almost existential in nature.
For not reading his stories yet, you've described his works well! And I just checked in the other room -- I own the "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." It's a great collection - - there's another favorite of mine in that collection but I'll not tell you which it is, ha! Only because the story is most effective when read in order and within the context of the book's order of stories. I don't think it would be so effective if one would read it first. Oh, and the "A Small Good Thing" is not in the "Talk About Love" collection.
I'm rather glad Carver has come up in our conversations. He's always exciting to me and in some days that have been difficult for me (I'm truly OK - - it's just sometimes I need to be more consciously grateful for all in my life), Carver could probably catch my moods and actions much better than I can here. And Carver's style is just so real. And Steinbeck just came to mind. Steinbeck, in the works I've read of his, he created real people, too. Carver's language can be quite raw at times but it's never (to me, at least) done for shock value -- its just an extension of the characters.
And I may be wrong on this -- but I think Carver died at a relatively young age - - I believe he had challenges with alcohol abuse and addiction.
The man has bettered my life. And for that, I'll be grateful to him forever.
(And he's not even my favorite author! Ha! Shirley Jackson gets that honor from me.)
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at April 17, 2017 7:38 PM MDT
Cool! I could go on and on about Jackson, too. She holds the honor in my life of creating stories and a few novels which I've read more than three times. Well, it was a couple of novels she wrote that I read more than three times -- "The Sundial" and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle." Wait -- I'm wrong. I read "Castle" twice and "The Sundial" three times. I think it's the only book in my life so far that I've read three times. :) Her most famous work is probably the short story "The Lottery." It remains one of my favorite short stories.
UPDATE: As far as "The Lottery" -- if you haven't read it, it's a very short story. And I think it's easily found in its entirety on the web probably. But why I write this -- I recommend reading the story before reading anything ABOUT the story. There are too many plot spoilers included when people write about the story. And knowing the spoilers beforehand might spoil the story itself.
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at April 18, 2017 9:26 AM MDT
I almost missed this post, I think maybe sometimes our notifications do not always show up? Anyway, ima check the web, see if I can find THE LOTTERY now! ty :)
I never thought of the mob dance possibility. You're probably right!
And I never noticed that front guy's rat tail! You have a good eye! :)
I like his exuberance, too. And the other dancers, too -- the variety of types of people and they're all moving the same moves but with their own style -- I truly adore this video. and even the movie in the dance- - they're moves all of us could do. I love dances like that. The video often brings tears of joy to my eyes. Indeed, Joyous Movement!
And that White T-shirt guy I just noticed last night -- he's great.
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at April 17, 2017 4:17 PM MDT
Harry 