BOOK

Incidents of Travel in YucatÁn
John Lloyd Stephens
Harper and Brothers, 1843

You feel claustrophobic at the thought of perpetual city life. Power suits, gym workouts and strategic socializing are, for you, a circle of the damned. You dream of unscaled peaks, of unsailed seas, of untraipsed jungle ...

Allow me to introduce to you a kindred spirit: John Lloyd Stephens, who was not only an extreme adventurer but also a prolific literary wit. Born in 1805 in New York, Mr Stephens' life as an explorer began when he got a strep throat infection and his physician suggested he travel abroad. He was the original American archeologist and made several excursions. He wrote extensively on his discoveries, bringing home engaging accounts of the world beyond New York.

In Incidents of Travel in Yucatán he introduced the ancient Mayan civilization to the modern Western world — no easy feat considering the Mayan remnants had been all but digested by the jungle. Often relying on local rumours of prehistoric cities, many of the sites of ancient Mayan culture were only uncovered by Mr Stephens and his party after arduous machete-wielding trekking. As reader you barely have to spend a joule of energy to imagine his experiences, thanks not only to Mr Stephens' brilliant prose but also the breathtaking pen-and-ink masterpieces of Frederick Catherwood's illustrations.

And lest you think there be no medical education among these pages, check out the section describing Mr Stephens' assistance to a doctor treating strabismus among the indigenous people of Mérida.

— Dr Kathy Mandigo

FILM

Blue Velvet
Dir: David Lynch
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, 1986
DVD release MGM/UA Video 2004

Blue Velvet, David Lynch's fourth major release and a commercial success solidified his reputation as an influential American filmmaker. It takes you on a surrealistic trip through what appears to be the perfect US small town.

The film stars Kyle McLachlan (often considered Mr Lynch's cinematic alter ego) as college boy Jeff Beaumont who returns to his hometown of Lumberton after bizarre circumstances put his father in hospital — the brilliant opening scene of the film shows you what happened to the old man. On his way home from a disturbing visit with his pop, Jeff finds a severed ear in a field and immediately brings it to police. Their relative disinterest in the ear piques Jeff's curiosity. He practically harasses his neighbour/local detective and eventually teams up with the detective's daughter Sandy (played by another Lynch regular, Laura Dern) to get to the heart of the mystery.

What the two intrepid spies discover is a tangled web of sadomasochistic sex, drug addiction and despair that centres around lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) and the cast of particularly seedy characters that are a part of her life, including ether-addict Frank Booth (played by Dennis Hopper who almost steals the show). The plot itself is about a murder mystery but the film focuses more on the murky underground of what seems like an idyllic American town and the emotions that drive its occupants to lurid extremes.

This mesmerizing film is dark, disconcerting and trippy — in short, very Lynchian.

— Carla Sparks

POP

Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Pink Floyd
EMI, 1967

No other year in the rock 'n roll era evokes sound and image like 1967 — the year psychedelia reached its acme. It was a year of many, many great albums (eg Forever Changes by Love reviewed by Dr Benjamin Bordoff in Vol 1 No 9) but none capture the year's spirit of experimentation and whimsy quite like Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the first Pink Floyd record. Some, like David Bowie, consider it the only true Pink Floyd album. Nearly all the songs were written and sung by Syd Barrett, who also came up with the band's name. Because of Barrett's rapidly deteriorating mental state — often attributed, with some controversy, to his copious diet of psychedelic drugs like methaqualone and LSD — this would be his only full album with the Pink Floyd (the 'the' would be officially dropped from the name in 1968).

But what about the songs? "Astronomy Domine", the first track, sets the mood with its hypnotic melody, echoic rhythms and Mr Barrett's swaggering deliver of "flicker, flicker, blam, pow!" "Lucifer Sam" with its spy guitar line worthy of a John Barry score and the sprightly "Gnome" are also standouts. In fact, the only weak cut here is the jarring, unmelodious "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" written by bassist Roger Waters.

The Waters-dominated post-Syd Barrett Pink Floyd was highly profitable, but a completely different band. A group armed with grand concepts, abundant trippy sound effect gizmos, memorable album covers and precious few of the sort of catchy tunes Barrett crammed into the grooves of Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

— Abe Konigsberg

Calling all doctors! Do you have a classic film, CD or book that you love? Would you be interested in sharing it with your colleagues? If so, why not submit your review to the National Review of Medicine. Send your article to [email protected] and we'll send you a gift if we publish it.