Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 16 of 16

Thread: Walden Woods

  1. #11
    Stuck on the Border zeldabjr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Buffalo NY
    Posts
    5,654

    Default Re: Walden Woods

    Don Henley is a fine man!!!!

  2. #12
    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Where Faulkner collides with Elvis
    Posts
    33,663

    Default Re: Walden Woods

    I recently bought a DVD called Walden: Ballad of Thoreau thinking I might be able to use it as a teaching tool. It is a two-act play where Thoreau has a conversation with Emerson about why he is living in a cabin in the woods, isolated.

    While the playwright is earnest, the play was a disappointment. The writing is amateurish and anachronistic (much is said about "hugging trees"), the relation of Thoreau's ideas is diluted to a great degree by largely unsuccessful attempts at humor (way too much time is spent talking about how lonely he was and how he needed a girlfriend - it got laughs each time it was repeated but it was not very edifying), and the representation of Emerson as a foil who doesn't understand Thoreau's wish to preserve nature - the Emerson character even argues here that nature's destruction is "progress" - is completely inaccurate. Emerson was a founder of the Transcendentalist movement and served as a mentor to Thoreau! The land belonged to Emerson, he was the one who encouraged Thoreau to write, yet here in this play he mocks Thoreau's philosophy and efforts?! Things like that really piss me off, so I won't be using it.

    The reason I bring it up here is that there are a couple lines where the Thoreau character tells Emerson that he has a vision of the woods being in danger "many years from now" but they would be "suddenly saved by the song of a great Eagle!" Emerson repeats in astonishment "saved at the hand of a singing Eagle?!" LOL! Not exactly a subtle integration of Henley into the play, but I guess it's the thought that counts.

    (Just in case any viewers might not get it, though, the narrator helpfully tells us in the introduction that "you'll hear a reference made to musician Don Henley of the rock group 'The Eagles.' He helped Tom Blanding and others save Walden Woods from developers in the 1990s").

    Always in our hearts, Never forgotten

  3. #13
    Stuck on the Border Houston Baby's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Houston TX
    Posts
    3,105

    Default Re: Walden Woods

    LOL - Wonder if Don has seen that Soda?

    I do like the basic plot of the play, too bad it is not good. And it does sound like the playwright does not understand the characters or their beliefs.

  4. #14
    Border Rebel Houston Debutante's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Houston, TX
    Posts
    789

    Default Re: Walden Woods

    If Don did see it sounds like he'd probably be embarrassed by it.
    ~Sara


  5. #15
    Stuck on the Border MaryCalifornia's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Los Angeles, CA
    Posts
    2,025

    Default Re: Walden Woods

    Eagles are playing a benefit concert for Walden Woods Project on Sept. 16 in Boston. I put this in the Boston Sept. 15 concert pre-anticipation thread, but I guess it needs it's own thread over there.

    This would be mighty cool!!! $5K for a table for 10 people - cheaper than a VIP seat, but farther from the stage. $50K table for 10 gets you right up front! Anyone's employer need to make a charitable donation for tax purposes????

    http://www.walden.org/About_Us/Benefit_Concert

  6. #16
    Border Rebel Houston Debutante's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Houston, TX
    Posts
    789

    Default Re: Walden Woods

    If only ~
    ~Sara


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •