2007-01-16 - 11:05 a.m. I had to see Stomp the Yard for work, and I'm glad I did. It's good to check in with the zeitgeist every now and then. The story is the tritest sort of streets-to-success melodrama, replete with scowling villains and angelic heroes with nary a nuance in sight, but the stepping, krumping, clowning, and breaking are spectacular. Also, aside from the heavily cleavaged leading lady, the film is 155 minutes of nonstop naked, sweaty, muscular male torso. The girls in the audience would let out audible gasps every time Columbus Short appeared onscreen in just his pants. There is also a sub-theme about the importance of a college education (indeed it feels like a recruitment video, featuring the nicest and most fictional dorm rooms in America), and there were scenes to that effect that got me choked up. I am a sucker for any film that promotes education-as-character-builder. I am reading a book so great that even while I'm trying to read it I get distracted by how excited I am to hold it in my hands. It is a beautiful testament to art and consciousness by one of my favorite artists, and he really gets TM. The timing is interesting, as I just finished reading another personal memoir about TM and Mahesh Yogi (also from Pengiun) and that book has exactly the same tone I would have written it in: reverence and gratitude towards the life-altering aspects of TM, and a heapin' helpin' of bemused dismissiveness (but by no means scathing resentment) towards Mahesh, the person. thoughts? (3 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact