Does Sideshow Bob constitute true artistic excellence?
During Friday's Roundtable, our guest Dessa said that she had seen true artistic excellence only a handful of times. So we asked everyone at the Roundtable for an example of an artistic work that they considered excellent.
Mark Nelson, actor and medical student, picked a movie: "I was studying for a quiz and my family started watching 'Moonrise Kingdom.' Does that count?" he asked. "I love almost everything that Wes Anderson does. I laughed until I cried. That movie is so beautiful. So fantastic."
Guante, hip-hop artist and educator, went back in time: "Honestly, what comes to mind right away — one of the reasons I am such a big critic of everything — is because I remember Seasons 3 through 10 of 'The Simpsons,' which is so well-written and well-constructed and incredible that it is hard to like anything else."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EryhQdXTjP8
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Dessa, hip-hop artist and writer, chose a performance she saw at the Guthrie.
"One of the moments where I was really arrested aesthetically watching Matthew Amendt play Henry in 'Henry V'," she said. "I wrote down his name and I write to him an email every year to see if I can get him to do anything in the arts with me at all. He's really startlingly good.
"And Whitney singing the National Anthem. Google it, man."
No need to Google:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupsPg5H6aE
Guante had to throw in an extra:
"One thing that made me cry is watching Gogol Bordello singing 'Wanderlust King' on David Letterman," he said. "It's not even a sad song. It's a happy song. It's just mind-bogglingly good."