Bonnie and Clyde

I lost approximately 4000 songs when my hard drive crashed. Since then I have devised all types of new back up systems and recognize that when they remind you to back up your system, they mean more than once every seven years. That being said, replenishing is slow-going. I buy some, I borrow some, I check out discs from the library. While perusing the vacuum that is the itunes store I came across the "podcast" category and decided to explore.

In the end I found myself downloading about 900 (I wish that was an exaggeration) podcasts from the various categories within www.HowStuffWorks.com , so far I have listened primarily to "Stuff you missed in history class" and "Stuff you should know". I am hooked. Hundreds of podcasts later, I find myself getting the full benefits of my ipod for the first time- It is now like an appendage. I have virtually turned my back on news and music. I do not know if the new Unemployment bill passed but I do know why Lucretia Borgia is famous and that the island of Manhattan was purchased with Nutmeg.

Today I heard a story (or 40) that is probably familiar to most of you in that "folklore" way, it was the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. There were a million interesting facts about these two but two in particular really stuck with me: First, while on their crime spree they shot many many rolls of film and often ditched the undeveloped rolls with their abandoned getaway cars. Because of this, we have a first hand recording of personal moments, most including a bit of swagger and Bonnie looking stylish as ever. Second, that Bonnie wrote poetry which was recovered and is now easy to find on the web. Through her poetry we see that Bonnie knew there was no hope for escape, and felt that they were being misrepresented to sell newspapers and serve as scapegoats for all crime.

"You've read the story of Jesse James
of how he lived and died.
If you're
still in need;
of something to read,
here's the story of Bonnie and
Clyde. "

-from "The Trail's End" by Bonnie Parker

I love that there was this parallel of crime and recording happening simultaneously. With so much real life footage, movies detailing the events seem superfluous. That being said, I think the Beatty/Dunaway version is one of the most beautiful movies of all time. Now that I have seen the original Bonnie and Clyde images I was also happy by how faithfully the movie represented the original poses. Bravo!

I realize that I am talking about criminals and their "artistic documentation" does not take away the seriousness of the crimes they did commit, however it is difficult to know how much of what was attributed to them was true and I choose to focus on the peripheral story.