![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Midnight Media Cafe - Benson, Arizona
Saturday, February 7th, 2009 11:08 pm.
Benson, Arizona - John Yager
From the science fiction film, Dark Star
Way back in the Stone Age (the 1970's to you yung'uns), USC film student John Carpenter made a little masterpiece called Dark Star. A crazy sci-fi comedy based on a very real idea (that space travel is FUCKING BORING), the film has just about the production values that you'd expect from a student film. Despite that, it really is a brilliant movie, engaging a number of concepts and scenarios that are actually quite complex. The aforementioned tedium is one (2001, to which DS is an homage, is the only other film I can think of that deals with it), potential relations between humans and alien life, the problems of living in close quarters for so very long, and most fascinating (and hilarious) of all, the unexpected ramifications of artificial intelligence.
The theme song to the film is the sweet and haunting Benson, Arizona. I fell in love with this song from the moment I first heard it. It is wistful and sad, and yet wonderful to sing. The contrast between the lyrics (which deal with space travel and relativity) and the style (country-western) creates something very poignant and moving.
So here's a vid of the tune, from the DVD version of this wonderful film.
( Lyrics here )
I wonder if Carl ever heard this song. He would have loved it, I think.
Benson, Arizona - John Yager
From the science fiction film, Dark Star
Way back in the Stone Age (the 1970's to you yung'uns), USC film student John Carpenter made a little masterpiece called Dark Star. A crazy sci-fi comedy based on a very real idea (that space travel is FUCKING BORING), the film has just about the production values that you'd expect from a student film. Despite that, it really is a brilliant movie, engaging a number of concepts and scenarios that are actually quite complex. The aforementioned tedium is one (2001, to which DS is an homage, is the only other film I can think of that deals with it), potential relations between humans and alien life, the problems of living in close quarters for so very long, and most fascinating (and hilarious) of all, the unexpected ramifications of artificial intelligence.
The theme song to the film is the sweet and haunting Benson, Arizona. I fell in love with this song from the moment I first heard it. It is wistful and sad, and yet wonderful to sing. The contrast between the lyrics (which deal with space travel and relativity) and the style (country-western) creates something very poignant and moving.
So here's a vid of the tune, from the DVD version of this wonderful film.
( Lyrics here )
I wonder if Carl ever heard this song. He would have loved it, I think.
