Ponytail Picks #24 - Birth
Andrew and Joel are proud to announce the arrival of their 24th Ponytail Picks, weighing in at a healthy 967 words. Parents are doing well; time will tell on how #24 will do out in the world.
LISTEN
These Songs Were Born to…
Run.
We gotta get out while we’re young
’Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run
Be wild.
Like a true nature’s child
We were born
Born to be wild
Be together.
And then you kissed me and whispered tenderly
“Darling I love you, I love you, I love you,”
And I knew we were born to be together
Love you.
It’s funny but it’s true
Guess I was born to love you
Be blue.
Some folks were meant to live in clover
But they are such a chosen few
And clovers being green
Is something I've never seen
‘Cause I was born to be blue
Fight.
They’re tryin’ to dig into my soul
And take away the spirit of my God
They're tryin’ to take control
And monitor my every thought
I won’t let down my guard
And I was born to fight
I ain’t been knocked down yet
I was born to fight
I’m the surest bet
Kill.
It’s no kind of big deal
No carnegie steal
I don’t feel like no heel
When I’m born
Said I’m born
Yeah I’m born
And I’m born to kill
Lose.
Born to lose, I’ve lived my life in vain
Every dream has only brought me pain
All my life I’ve always been so blue
Born to lose and now I’m losing you
-AK
WATCH
A Few Favourite Film Births
No, I’m not talking about actual births on film (though that would be a good list too—A Quiet Place comes immediately to mind), more like births of a film. In the last edition of Ponytail Picks I talked about my favourite film endings, so I figured I could stretch the meaning of “births” here and go through some of my favourite film openings.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Content warning for sexual imagery.
Master unsettler Stanley Kubrick expertly sets the stage for this deeply disturbing tale of Alex, a modern day pirate whose days are full of raping and pillaging. Here, his sinister eyes stare into your soul as the camera slowly zooms out to reveal some sort of fucked up milk bar before he starts mumbling on in his amiable British accent about his plans for “ultra violence” and who knows what else. Chilling.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
SPOILERS AHEAD:
You need to have watched the previous Harry Potter films (at the very least Half-Blood Prince and Deathy Hallows: Part 1) to fully appreciate the brilliance of this quiet and haunting opening scene, as it picks up right in the middle of a dark and somber time for Hogwarts and the wizarding world as a whole. The always unlikable but “good” (as opposed to evil) Snape had just betrayed us two movies previous by killing the kind and brilliant Dumbledore, and now he has taken his place as Headmaster as boss Voldemort begins his widespread takeover. Here, we see Snape overlooking his new dominion, an unfathomable look on his face. Has he really gone over to the dark side? Or is there some sort of master plan in place?
Runaway Bride (1999)
The sun sets as a bride gallops gracefully but urgently across gorgeous rural landscapes. Who is she? What is she running from? What is she looking for? An intriguing and beautiful opening scene that admittedly gets let down a bit by the film to follow.
The Shining (1980)
Another mesmerizing opening scene from Kubrick as he wrings an incredible amount of tension out of a simple driving scene by combining grand wide-angle camera movement with rapid upward-scrolling credits to create a rather dizzying effect on the viewer, with the foreboding score only adding to the unease.
Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)
Content Warning for self-harm, suicide.
A mundane turned chilling beginning to this dark comedy about an afterlife reserved for those who die by suicide, featuring Tom Waits in only one of his roles in the film.
-JB
READ
A Funny Take on the Birth of the Antichrist
Literature has a lot to say about God, the Devil, and how it’s all organized metaphysically. From the daring journeys to the underworld described by the Greek and Roman epic poets, to Dante’s harrowing hike through Catholic Hell, Purgatory, and Paridise and Milton’s Protestant rebuttal, writers from all ages have taken the subject seriously.
With Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman come at the topic from a decidedly different approach, and the result is the best kind of magic.
Crowley the demon and Aziraphale the angel become an likely duo through their shared goal—to stop the Apocolypse. On the way, the classic hospital baby-swap plot gets a hilarious redux, a hellhound discovers the joy of cats, and a boy with bad genes named Adam comes to realize he’s a natural-born leader. I won’t give away to what “ends” his skills end up being used, but I think you get the picture.
The world is so deathly serious right now. Reading Good Omens will give you a necessary reprieve. No matter where your beliefs lie on this topic, the book will make you laugh and lighten up, two things we all desperately need to do.
-AK
It’s a newsletter! Our labouring is over. Next time, we’ll pull the petals off the theme of
Glad you picked "Born to Run" rather than "Born in the USA" :-)
An outstanding list!