It's been a while since I went to Anderson's in Naperville, so I thought I'd go down there today to get something. I snagged a copy of the book you see above because I think Werner Herzog is a fascinating man. A lot of people think he's very dry and intimidating and feel the need to take the piss out of him with memes like this:
And this:
To be fair, when you look at films of his like Nosferatu, The Vampyre, I can see why people would think that. Although when I look at something like Grizzy Man, I can't help but think that only someone with a massive sense of humor could make that one. And my theory bears out. Because, well, remember the time he showed up on The Mandalorian?
I'm not a big Simpsons guy, so I won't go too much into that, but yes, he was a voice on the Simpsons, too. If you watch him in interviews you'll see that he's actually a pretty funny guy. In fact, I encourage you to watch this interview by Seth Meyers, which is where I got the title of tonight's GF. Yes, that image on the cover of his book is of him standing on the ledge of not only an active volcano, but a volcano that was in the process of erupting. I don't know much about the hypnotizing thing, but I do know for a fact that he was shot during a live BBC interview. Granted, not by a bullet, but getting shot with an air rifle is still no picnic. And yes, apparently he wears paisley boxers.
But the reason I bring him up is because he managed to do something that I never thought possible. For one brief moment he made capitalism seem beautiful. When he mentions the "last poetry of capitalism," he's talking about auctioneers. I've been told I speak pretty swiftly, but these guys are otherworldly with their ability to speak that fast. Remember the Micro Machines guy?
And what do they use this remarkable skill for? Selling shit. Not just selling shit, but getting people to buy shit for top dollar. Which is decidedly not beautiful, but at the same time Herzog made me feel this odd thrill about something I couldn't give two shits about ordinarily.
That's the power of a truly creative person. And to have it spoken in English by someone whose birth tongue is German? Herzog never ceases to amaze me and inspire me.
Perhaps I should finally read the other book I picked up by him, The Twilight World. I've always been interested in the Japanese soldiers who continued fighting WWII well into the 'Seventies, and here is Herzog's book about one of them. It is one of the few books I didn't pack up.
I'm reading too many right now. We'll see.
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