Review: “Slaughterhouse-Five” (book/movie) Kurt Vonnegut – George Roy Hill (Michael Sacks)

PODCAST:

Listen to the podcast here (click to play/right click and select “save target as” to download):

S2E5 – Slaughterhouse-Five (book/movie)*

 

WRITTEN BOOK REVIEWS:

Ryan: 4 Stars “…Post-traumatic stress, time-twisting alien abductions, mid-life crisis meltdowns, and a meta-story on life…”

Wilk: 5 Stars “…this is a book that everybody should read if you haven’t read it you should read it…”

Rick: 5 Stars “…Kaleidoscopic story of a frail, confused shmoe who after experiencing hell in war and back at home, finds his sanctuary with a playboy bunny in the garden of Eden...”

(Click the links to read full written reviews on Goodreads.com)

 

SUBJECT MATTER:

“Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut

Book: “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut

“Slaughterhouse-Five is one of the world’s great anti-war books. Centering on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim’s odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid to know.” (from Amazon.com)

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“Slaughterhouse-Five” by George Roy Hill (Michael Sacks)

 

Movie: “Slaughterhouse-Five” by George Roy Hill (Michael Sacks)

“Based on the novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., this dazzling and darkly humorous film follows an ordinary World War II soldier who has mysteriously become unstuck in time. ” (from Amazon.com)

 

 

RICK’S SHOW NOTES:

Unfortunately I was damn sick and frail for this , and didn’t make sense half of the time. There were a few open-ended comments made without any attempt on closure. Ryan censored out most of a quintessential Wilk tirade on our beloved American military for better or worse. We included a fourth channel to capture the ambient sounds of Culver, Indiana’s mean streets. I think the police siren that can be heard on the recording came on as soon as Wilk made a few contentious points in his tirade–probably captured in a legal wire tapping effort to identify pinko hipster communiqué. The academy’s church bells rang in unison with the adoring comments made of the Vonnegut legacy. To compliment the cacophony, you will also hear the birds of Lake Maxinkuckee cry, ‘poo-tee-weet?’, and so it goes.

I hope you enjoy the episode; this one required a bit of effort. Check out the accompanying short film, which showcase’s footage of the Vonnegut House and surrounding area with Culver’s own, Jeff Kenney.

-Rick

 

 

FUN FACTOIDS:

Clemens Vonnegut, Jr. House

This episode was recorded (in part) at the Clemens Vonnegut, Jr. cottage located on the beautiful and scenic shores of Lake Maxinkuckee (Culver, Indiana). Our thanks to Old East Shore, LLC for providing our accommodations that weekend. For more information on this historic cottage and booking a stay there for yourself, visit: http://www.thevonneguthouse.com/.

For more information on “The Vonneguts of Lake Maxinkuckee,” check out this article penned by Jeff Kenney for the Culver-Union Township Public Library: http://www.culver.lib.in.us/vonneguts.htm. As part of this episode, we filmed a special video companion piece interviewing Jeff Kenney (Editor of the Culver Citizen) about the local the history of Culver and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr’s relationship to this unique town. The video is available on our YouTube Channel and this webpage: “Culver Indiana and Vonnegut: a documentary.”

On the show we mentioned that Slaughterhouse-Five is a book that has been banned at times. Here is an article by the Atlantic discussing the history of this book’s banning “The Neverending Campaign to Ban Slaughterhouse-Five”: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/08/the-neverending-campaign-to-ban-slaughterhouse-five/243525/

Wilk has more car trouble.

Wilk was supposed to make it out to Culver, Indiana to join Rick and Ryan for the recording of the podcast, but he inevitably had car problems. This picture is not directly tied to that particular incident, but it does relate to Wilk’s car. We present it here as part of the ever growing saga betwixt man and machine.

 

 

 

Last, but certainly not least, let us not forget Kurt Vonnegut’s cameo appearance in Rodney Dangerfield’s excellent comedy “Back to School” collected here on this YouTube clip:

 

 

* DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that the views and opinions of the hosts and guests of NDIOS are completely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of the other hosts and guests or that of NDIOS.

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