Whole Life Times: Reviews

June 2007 | Art & Soul

Reviews

BOOKS

Tea: The Drink That Changed the World
By Laura C. Martin
(Tuttle)

Any true tea lover possesses a near-obsessive fascination with her favored brew’s every intricacy, from the delicate texture of the dried leaves to the golden hue of a partially steeped pot. A delicious way to stir up such obsessions, absorbing the two-thousand-year history recounted in Laura C. Martin’s Tea: The Drink That Changed the World should greatly deepen your appreciation for a fine cuppa.

Beginning in ancient China, the tale reveals tea’s origins as a bitter beverage used chiefly for medicinal purposes. To the delight of mythology buffs, Martin weaves in several tea legends, including the story of the Buddhist prince who ate tea leaves in order to stay awake for nine years while meditating in a cave at the Shaolin Temple. As Tea moves on to Japan, we learn how tea’s surge in popularity owes much to the influence of the samurai, who “literally put down their swords” and “enjoyed the cultural and peaceful of experience of sharing tea” upon entering a teahouse.

Tea’s history became more complicated after the British experienced their first sip of the divine drink, eventually using Indian-grown opium to trade with the Chinese (a maneuver that ultimately caused the number of opium addicts to grow “astronomically” in early 18th century China). Once brought to England, tea was so expensive that “it was not uncommon for maids in wealthy homes to take the used tea leaves left over from a meal and to dry and resell them,” as Martin tells it. It’s this unveiling of both the sordid and sublime elements of tea’s evolution that make the book such a fantastically riveting read — one served best with a bottomless cup of your most beloved blend.— Elizabeth Barker

For info, visit tuttlepublishing.com

Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole
By Benjamin R. Barber
(W.W. Norton)

Benjamin Barber is the kind of writer — in the vein of Howard Zinn or Noam Chomsky — whose thoughtful, intelligent commentary reveals the tiny, mean-spirited truths hiding behind the facades of seemingly untouchable institutions. In his 1996 book Jihad Vs. McWorld, Barber presciently outlined the post-Communist battle that would be fought all over the world: factionalism versus capitalism. If more world leaders had paid attention to his forewarning, the world today would be a very different (read better) place.

Consumed, Barber’s follow-up, is a red alert to the sorry state of capitalism in the 21st century. Barber argues that consumerism has gone awry (or perhaps that it works too well), leaving adults with the emotional and reasoning capacity of children. The evidence — a number of advertisers say outright that children (who from a marketing standpoint are pure id with nothing but disposable income), are the ideal consumers — is damning.

Barber cuts a swath of logic through modern Western society, taking lessons from, and improving on, the works of sharp cultural critics like James Gleick (Faster) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation). It’s almost guaranteed that at least one of your preconceived notions — from the beloved Hollywood summer blockbuster to the importance of choice in the marketplace — will be exploded by the truths in this book, but Barber is never satisfied by laying waste to cultural mores: he always plants newer, stronger ideas in their wake. — Paul Constant

For info, visit benjaminrbarber.com

MUSIC

Bassnectar
Underground Communication
(OM Records)

Helmed by producer/deejay Lorin Ashton and joined by a revolving cast of collaborators, San Francisco’s Bassnectar inspires almost freakish devotion from fans. It’s not hard to hear why. Bassnectar’s sound may have originated in breakbeat’s stuttering 140 BPM territory, but Ashton’s voracious musical appetite throws off all constraints, consuming everything from hip-hop, grindcore and drum’n’bass to jazz and bluegrass. Ashton calls the sound “omni-tempo maximalism,” and he’s not far off.

Bassnectar takes a soft left turn on its third album, Underground Communication, diving deep into left-coast underground hip-hop with a stellar cast of emcees that includes little-known names like Persia, Seasunz and Nibu. This results in shorter, (relatively) slower tracks that tread the line between dance and listening music while giving politically conscious rappers a chance to shine. The bass is still wicked, the effects at times deliciously grimy, but listeners will find more structure than usual to hang their hats on.

Perhaps more important, Underground Communication captures some of the vertiginous, gut-dropping feeling of a live Bassnectar show. Known in recent years for explosive, transcendent sets at the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada, Ashton is beloved for his ability to inject an organic groove into the sometimes cold world of electronica. And few deejays mine the electronica of the past decade with such gleeful disregard for genre while managing to remain so accessible. The result can be dizzying, and always danceable.— Sarah Bardeen

For info, visit bassnectar.net

FILM/DVD

Illusion
Written, directed by Michael A. Goorjian

Entitled Entertainment Productions’ long-awaited Illusion (2004) makes its overdue appearance, sans theatrical release, on DVD this month. Shot in the San Francisco Bay Area and screened at the 2005 Sarasota Film Festival, Illusion features Hollywood film industry legend Kirk Douglas — who, at 87 when filming, has thus far accurately predicted the film would be his last. (He also earned the honorable distinction in the cinematic annals as one of the oldest leading actors in film.)

Illusion applies a suspend-your-disbeliefs mechanism that allows an aging film director, Donald Baines (Douglas), the chance to review his life and undo those storylines he regrets. How, you ask? Stan (Ron Marasco), a former trusted film editor who died in a tragic accident, reemerges with three film reels, each representing a different Akashic lesson — the theosophical term that refers to a universal filing system that records every occurring thought, word and action. Donald recognizes how his abandonment of his unwanted son, Christopher, has caused undue suffering, but has his spiritual shift come too late?

Directed, produced, and co-starring Michael A. Goorjian, Illusion has been compared with Frank Capra’s 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life: both criticized as a smoke-and-mirrors ripoff and honored as a time-standing homage. However, Goorjian’s creation, despite any stated or implied credit, upholds an even greater resemblance to 17th-century playwright Pierre Corneille’s L’Illusion Comique, the play upon which Pulitzer-winning American playwright Tony Kushner based his 1988 production, The Illusion. — Jim Norrena

View the trailer at illusionthemovie.com

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