Top Seven True Disaster
Stories
The Bounty Trilogy by Charles Nordhoff & James
Norman Hall
This book is a tour-de-force of adventure that
shows humanity at its best and its worst, as people struggle against the
elements and, ultimately, each other. Part one details the wretched
conditions aboard the H.M.S. Bounty and the revolt against Captain
Bligh led by Fletcher Christian. Part two narrates the incredible journey
of Bligh and 18 loyal men across the ocean in a 23-foot launch, covering
3600 miles and lasting 48 days. Part three tells the story of one group of
mutineers who settle on remote Pitcairn Island with a number of Tahitians.
There, the last veneer of civilization is stripped off as the colony
disintegrates into violence, drunkenness and lassitude.
The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
The story of Robert F. Scott's ill-fated 1910
expedition to the South Pole. Beaten by Amundsen, hampered by logistical
problems, poor decision-making and extreme weather, Scott and four others
succumbed to the white continent. A model example of stoicism, or a
cautionary tale of hubris? Perhaps a little of both. In Cherry-Garrard's
narrative, you can feel the hope slipping further away the closer the
group gets to a salvation that remains ultimately out of reach.
Endurance : Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred
Lansing
Shackleton's third Antarctic expedition in 1914
almost ended as badly as Scott's. Caught short of his winter base, his
ship was trapped in the pack ice of Weddell Sea and carried North until it
sank. Living for months on ice floes, dodging killer whales, the crew
finally made a precarious home on Elephant Island, while Shackleton and
five companions took to the sea in search of help. They reached South
Georgia Island after travelling 1200 miles in a 22-foot boat, but the
ordeal didn't end there--they then had to cross the island's rugged
terrain to reach the opposite, inhabited side.
Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer
Guy Sajer, a half-French, half-German teenager
from Alsace, swept up by misguided nationalism, volunteers for service in
the German military machine during WWII. Through the bloodiest, most
ruthless campaigns of the Eastern Front, he embarks on a harrowing odyssey
of death and futility. In the end, the only cause worth fighting for was
the brotherhood of his fellow soldiers. A shattering account of men in
battle.
All the Drowned Sailors by Raymond B. Lech
In July of 1945, the heavy cruiser U.S.S.
Indianapolis journeys unescorted from Tinian to Guam along a route
supposedly safe from enemy activity. But a Japanese sub sinks the ship,
killing hundreds of sailors and plunging the rest into a watery hell.
During the next four days, over 500 men died of shark attacks, exhaustion,
dehydration, drowning and exposure. They were rescued only after being
spotted by a plane during a chance flyby--for the Navy had failed to
realize the ship was missing.
Alive : the Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul
Read
On October 12, 1972, 45 passengers on a plane
chartered by an amateur rugby team disappear while crossing the Andes.
After 8 days, the search was called off. Ten weeks later, a Chilean
peasant saw two bearded and bedraggled men signalling him across a
mountain river. They, and 14 other survivors, were the only ones left.
This is the story of their suffering and what they were driven to do to
make it home alive.
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer
Outside magazine journalist John
Krakauer's gripping account of the deadly 1996 climbing season on Mount
Everest which claimed eight lives. By turns exhilarating, suspenseful,
poignant and tragic. The lessons to be drawn from this disaster are still
being debated today.
Top Seven Sounds of the Asian
Underground on CD
Performed mostly by persons of East Indian
ancestry living in England, the Asian Underground is the coming together
of numerous musical elements in a transcendant fusion of glorious sound.
An exciting admixture of Indian classical music, pop, jazz, hip-hop, dub,
techno, funk, trance and a lot of other styles. This is the soundtrack for
the 21st century.
Cornershop - When I Was Born for the 7th time
(Luaka Bop label)
A pop masterpiece. Highlights include Brimful
of Asha, a tribute to the Indian diva, and a cover of the Beatles' Norwegian
Wood. "Funky days are back again." Yes they are.
Talvin Singh presents : Anokha
(Quango label)
Master producer/club owner/DJ Talvin Singh
showcases a collection of Asian Underground artists. My favorite track is
Singh's composition A Distant God with chanteuse Leone. Simply
dreamy.
Asian Dub Foundation - Rafi's Revenge
(Slash label)
British Asian hip-hop with a political edge. The
top track is Free Saptal Ram, an ode to a young man imprisoned
after defending himself against a racist attack. Fresh and furious.
Various Artists - Untouchable Outcaste Beats vol.1
(Outcaste label)
Cyber-sitar interpretations from the 1960s to
the present, with a healthy dose of drum-n-bass added to the mix. The Dave
Pike Set kicks it off with an eerily prescient number from 1969, then we
move into contemporary territory with the likes of Ananda Shankar, Nitin
Sawhney, and Badmarsh & Shri.
Joi - We Are Three
(Real World label)
The groundbreaking Shamsher brothers, recorded
just before Haroon's untimely death. The lush Bengali futurists aren't
afraid to roll out the guitars every once in awhile. "This is not the
sound of the Asian Underground, this is music." Indeed.
Various Artists - Asian Travels : A Six Degrees
Collection
(Six Degrees label)
Includes early trailblazers like Shankar
(creator of the electric double violin) and Qawwali master Nusrat Fateh
Ali Khan, and links them to current rising stars like dj cheb I sabbah,
State of Bengal, Banco de Gaia and Transglobal Underground. An accesible
introduction to the genre.
Bombay the Hard Way : Guns, Cars & Sitars
(Motel Records label)
In the early 70s, the Indian film industry of
Bollywood released dozens of action-packed reels modelled on James Bond
and Blaxploitation pictures. This is a collection of remixes of soundtrack
excerpts from those fast and funky films. A rock-and-roll martial arts
stew that's like nothing else you've ever heard.
Top Six Movies of the Teenage
Wasteland
The potent issues of teen alienation and violence were being explored
seriously by filmmakers long before phrases like "school
shooting" entered our national vocabulary. Here are some of my
favorites.
If… (1968)
A surrealist tale of nonconformist students at a
British boarding school who plot a violent revolt against their humorless,
rigid environment. Mixes color and black and white to good effect. The
students' rebellion of style and youth energy against the drab stodginess
of the adult world makes their protest as much aesthetic as ideological,
with dramatic results.
Taps (1981)
When an exclusive military school is slated to
be torn down for real estate development, the angered students plot to
take over their alma mater and use their military know-how to hold out
against the invaders. Starring George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton and Tom
Cruise, with Sean Penn in his debut role.
Over the Edge (1979)
Alienated youth in a suburban planned community
mirror the wasteland surrounding them by destroying themselves with
alcohol, drugs and violence. Skateboarding and solidarity against adults
and law enforcement provide the only sparks of action beyond their
downward spiral. With songs by the Ramones, and featuring Matt Dillon's
first film appearance, as a very young-looking juvenile delinquent.
Suburbia (1983)
Not the recent Linklater/Bogosian
twentysomething vehicle, but Penelope Spheeris's (Wayne's World, Decline
and Fall of Western Civilization pts.1-3) early-80s punk classic. A
group of abandoned punkers branded (literally) The Rejected squat a
crumbling L.A. housing development, support themselves by stealing from
the affluent society around them, and form a family of sorts. Parents and
neighboring vigilantes try to bring them down, but they will not go
easily. With an excellent hardcore soundtrack.
River's Edge (1986)
Loyalty and ethics collide when one member of a
disaffected clique of teenagers murders his girlfriend. His ethereal,
strung-out friends mostly don't know how to react, except for one who
wants to save him and one who eventually decides to turn him in. Dennis
Hopper, as a crazed drug dealer, improbably is the one to rise above
amorality. With Keanu Reeves and Crispin Glover.
The Breakfast Club (1985)
John Hughes's highly-acclaimed drama about five
students serving weekend detention : the princess, the jock, the criminal,
the brain, and the basket case. Archetypes of the school caste system who
start out with nothing in common, as the day passes their stereotypical
views about one another are broken down during intense conversations
resembling nothing so much as a group encounter session. Bonds are formed
as together they realize a common contempt for adult society. Starring
Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, and
Ally Sheedy.
Top Five Web Sites