Music!

Randy Newman is a national treasure. The President should name him poet laureate sometime, and eventually, one of his pianos should be preserved in the Smithsonian. Listen to this while you read the rest.

You can read about the Great Mississippi flood of 1927 at the wiki, but really that should be your starting point. There are lots of lessons packed into that episode of our history.

The reason I think he should be the poet laureate and have his piano preserved in the Smithsonian is that he writes about stuff that matters, but he doesn’t let the fact that he’s being serious get in the way of making you laugh or cry, as appropriate. In my mind, that’s exactly what artists are supposed to do.

I’m working on something for tomorrow, but I feel like I haven’t been posting enough lately, and I’ve been wanting to share this one for awhile. Enjoy!

Who Saves The Doctor?

by William Hohmeister

Doctor Who uses many myths to support both individual episodes and entire seasons. “Dalek”, the reappearance of the Dalek race in the new series, draws upon the myth of the Dalek Empire. Formerly a reality in earlier episodes, when we first meet them they are a myth of the universe the Doctor inhabits. The Doctor’s reaction to even one Dalek tells the audience all we need about the strength of that myth, and drives the action of the episode. Similarly, another myth supports not just an episode or season, but the entire first four seasons of Doctor Who and the character of the Doctor.

The devil is the myth that drives and supports the Doctor’s character over four seasons.