Arts Beat

Various English art types weigh in on music, theater, performers, writers, etc. that they just don't like:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/specials/article6964184.ece

Funny stuff. I agree on jazz. I actually like jazz with a discernible beat or tune but the beatnik, smoke filled lounge stuff favored by beret wearing artistes just gives me a headache. Also, like the take on Romeo and Juliet. I never thought it tragic. Instead, I saw it as two people f____g up a lot who pretty much couldn't pass the Darwin test. Disagree with the interior designer who doesn't like Monty Python or Chaplin or physical comedy. Of course, he is an interior designer and squats to take a leak. Nutcracker, I agree, is awful to sit through. There's a few well known familiar tunes and a whole lot of nothing surrounding them. Shellback and I once took in the play with Mrs. Shellback and Mrs. Bulba and ended up getting scolded by the wives for making disparaging comments regarding the lack of athletic prowess of the male ballet dancers who, nevertheless sported very pronounced and impressive codpieces. Lots of angry glances and hisses to behave. To be fair, we had been drinking. Like the comedian in the article, I too don't get Tom Waits. That must mean I'm not cool. Then there's Matthew Parris who thinks the Beatles are overrated. Uh, I'll have to fess up and agree on that. I know it's sacrilege but I enjoyed the Stones and any number of bands more. I thought that Lennon was an ass and McCartney a little silly--oh, they made some great music but a lot of it was just, you know, poofy. Can't say that about Jagger and that breathing skeleton, Keith Richards. Finally, I've read Dickens and he was a damn gifted writer but those are books that require one to sit in a mahogany study with a brandy or sherry or whatever and brood while working through them. Sometimes, the mood will catch me right and I'll do just that (sans the mahogany) but though Dickens touches on timeless themes, it can be earnest work getting to the end of his stories. I'm about to finish Ambrose's Band of Brothers and what a cracking read. That is, unless you're a fan of Field Marshall Montgomery and the British effort in the European Theater which Ambrose takes to task more than a few times. Highly recommend it.