Desert Island Lists

...discs, books, dvds, and so on.

If I'm going to spend any time thinking about this at all, here's my opportunity I suppose.
I don't often listen to Desert Island Discs, not because it's uninteresting - I believe it's the most enduring radio programme format of all, outside news etc. - but it hasn't been a regular habit.

People deal with this idea according to all sorts of criteria. As I can tell from the programme, when I have heard it, some guests want to impress the listener with their good taste, or the wide range of their interests, and at least one, an opera singer, had such ego that her choices were all of her own recordings. Some try to list what they consider the greatest ever albums/books/movies etc., while others stick to personal favourites. Which is much better, since it is after all an interview show. The BBC radio programme itself maintains certain rules - you get 8 discs if I remember correctly, a book apart from the Bible and Shakespeare (do they still do that? - it seems to presume a lot in our modern diverse society), and a luxury, which mustn't be useful for any escape or rescue attempt.

So here are my lists, to be changed or added to at my whim anytime in the future.
I'm disposed to make allowance for practicality in a couple of respects apart from that rule about usefulness. One, there'll only be ten or a dozen in each list; I'm thinking about that last desperate root around in one's possessions as the water rises in the cabin of one's sinking ship/plane/zeppelin, as we ignore the gurgling cries for help from our loved ones while determining that we won't survive the deprivation of the following months or years without access to the music of Take That or the cinema of Michael Bay; and only being able to carry a few items with us as we splash towards the shallows dodging sundry sharks. We lie exhausted on the beach, gasping, and realise with selfish shame that one of those loved ones was quite a good cook, and also that we've forgotten our toothbrush. Before you ask - by some miracle, we have available a dvd and cd player and a solar powered battery charger, all engineered to be resistant to sand or dust or any malfunction at all.

Secondly, very seriously, I'm not going to pick all of my most admired works of art, because I don't want to get sick of them. I'm picking films and books and albums which I have good reason to think I can bear to watch or read or listen to many, many times before ripping them apart in manic rage and feeding them to one of those sharks.

Here's a few to kick off the lists which I can think of straight away, films first.

  • The 39 Steps   Alfred Hitchcock
  • The Blues Brothers   John Landis
  • A Canterbury Tale   Michael Powell
  • Trust   Hal Hartley
  • My Neighbour Totoro   Hayao Miyazaki 
  • Midnight Run   Martin Brest 
  • The Outlaw Josie Wales   Clint Eastwood
  • Blade Runner 2049    Denis Villeneuve

Now books.

  • The Art of Coarse Acting   Michael Green
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy   Douglas Adams (er, all in one volume?)
  • Just William   Richmal Crompton (likewise, several in a volume please?)
  • The Book of the New Sun   Gene Wolfe
  • Catch-22   Joseph Heller
  • Pride and Prejudice    Jane Austen

Then music, the actual discs - hence, they're albums, not individual songs, because these are what you'd be grabbing from your increasingly moist cabin.

  • Hunky Dory   David Bowie
  • Squeezing Out Sparks    Graham Parker and The Rumour
  • Fragile   Yes
  • Kadonnut puutarha   Indica
  • Witching Hour    Ladytron
  • Manner   Scandinavian Music Group
  • Get Happy!   Elvis Costello & The Attractions
  • Viekää minut baariin!    (Finnish drinking songs)
  • John Barleycorn Must Die    Traffic

As you can see, I've mostly avoided material likely to get my spirits down. Though I think these lists will look a little different after a while. :)



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