|
|
|
16 July 2001
[comics] Marvel provide an interview with Grant Morrison on the New X-Men…. What we can expect from his time on X-Men: ‘High-impact comics: big drama, new threats, new ideas, engrossing soap opera, pain, fear, romance, and some startling new insights into mutant life and culture. Stories will last no more than three or four issues, and no subplot will be left hanging for more than a year. There will be no more narrative captions or interior thought monologues. Readers will have to work out characters and motivations by judging their actions, not by seeing into their heads. Basically, the book will be about the same people, but it will feel very different and show those people from angles we may not have seen often before.’ [via Plasticbag]
15 July 2001
[quote] ‘He was, in fact, characteristic of the best type of dominant male in the world at this time. He was fifty-five years old, tough, shrewd, unburdened by the complicated ethical ambiguities which puzzle intellectuals, and had long ago decided that the world was a mean son-of-a-bitch in which only the most cunning and ruthless can survive. He was also as kind as was possible for one holding that ultra-Darwinian philosophy; and he genuinely loved children and dogs, unless they were on the site of something that had to be bombed in the National Interest. He still retained some sense of humor, despite the burdens of his almost godly office, and, although he had been impotent with his wife for nearly ten years now, he generally achieved orgasm in the mouth of a skilled prostitute within 1.5 minutes. He took amphetamine pep pills to keep going on his grueling twenty-hour day, with the result that his vision of the world was somewhat skewed in a paranoid direction, and he took tranquilizers to keep from worrying too much, with the result that his detachment sometimes bordered on the schizophrenic; but most of the time his innate shrewdness gave him a fingernail grip on reality. In short, he was much like the rulers of Russia and China.’
14 July 2001
[comics] Popimage provides a look through comics to be released in Sept 2001… especially looking forward to Atlas by Dylan Horrocks and Campbell and Moore’s Snakes and Ladders… ‘Atlas is a long, sprawling saga of comics, cartography and magic, revisiting two landscapes introduced in Hicksville: the eponymous comics-obsessed town and the mysterious Cornucopia. Along the way, it will explore the nature of comics, the politics of the new millennium, the frailty of love and the secret to mapping the sky…’
[tags: Comics][ permalink][ Comments Off on Popimage on New Comics for Sept 2001]
[media] Neurosis in Print — Polly Toynbee wonders if the Daily Mail is a spent political force… ‘Why has the Mail lost its influence, despite its sales? Because its editor, Paul Dacre, imposes his own neurotic vision of society upon his paper. It is neither coherent nor consistent but a Toytown world of nice white folk inside gated communities, fearful of everything outside (especially the gypsies in the woods), pining for a golden era that never was. It is John Major’s fantasy world of spinsters bicycling to church, Tory squires downing warm beer in the saloon, plebs in the public bar, all deference and homogeneity, caste and class in their place. Above all the holy Oxo family is the Mail’s guiding star – pure, uncomplicated, eternal.’ [via Venusberg]
[tags: Press][ permalink][ Comments Off on Polly Toynbee asks: Is the Daily Mail A Spent Force?]
13 July 2001
[comics] Another first chapter… The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. ‘In Sammy’s closet were stacked dozens of pads of coarse newsprint, filled with horses, Indians, football heroes, sentient apes, Fokkers, nymphs, moon rockets, buckaroos, Saracens, tropic jungles, grizzlies, studies of the folds in women’s clothing, the dents in men’s hats, the lights in human irises, clouds in the western sky. His grasp of perspective was tenuous, his knowledge of human anatomy dubious, his line often sketchy – but he was an enterprising thief. He clipped favorite pages and panels out of newspapers and comic books and pasted them into a fat notebook: a thousand different exemplary poses and styles. He had made extensive use of his bible of clippings in concocting a counterfeit Terry and the Pirates strip called South China Sea, drawn in faithful imitation of the great Caniff. He had knocked off Raymond in something he called Pimpernel of the Planets and Chester Gould in a lockjawed G-man strip called Knuckle Duster Doyle. He had tried swiping from Hogarth and Lee Falk, from George Herriman, Harold Gray, and Elzie Segar.’
[tags: Books, Comics][ permalink][ Comments Off on First Chapter Of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon]
[tv] Louis Theroux and Ann Widdecombe…. TV doesn’t get any better than that! ‘Ms Widdecombe later said it was what she called the “perfectly sensible” interview Theroux conducted with Paul Daniels that persuaded her to take part. “He has a slightly zany approach but I can cope with that,” she said.’
12 July 2001
[tech] Cap’n Crunch’s Homepage… includes the infamous article from Esquire on phone phreaking…. ‘I ask him who this Captain Crunch person is.”Oh. The Captain. He’s probably the most legendary phone phreak. He calls himself Captain Crunch after the notorious Cap’n Crunch 2600 whistle.” (Several years ago, Gilbertson explains, the makers of Cap’n Crunch breakfast cereal offered a toy-whistle prize in every box as a treat for the Cap’n Crunch set. Somehow a phone phreak discovered that the toy whistle just happened to produce a perfect 2600-cycle tone. When the man who calls himself Captain Crunch was transferred overseas to England with his Air Force unit, he would receive scores of calls from his friends and “mute” them — make them free of charge to them — by blowing his Cap’n Crunch whistle into his end.)’ [thanks Phil]
[celebrity] Fame is the Spur — Gyles Brandreth looks back on his obsession with celebrity…. ‘I have been following the trial of Barry George, the simple-minded fantasist and loner found guilty last week of murdering Jill Dando, and I noticed that every one of the star names with whom George was apparently obsessed – Freddie Mercury, Gary Glitter, Jill Dando, Anthea Turner, Diana, Princess of Wales – also features in the roll-call of those that, now and again, I like to boast of having met.’
[stuff] Linkage: - Lots of First Chapters of Books… Trilobite!, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and House of Leaves.
- Lucky Man Lyrics… ‘But how many corners do I have to turn? How many times do I have to learn All the love I have is in my mind? I hope you understand.’
- A very brief distraction — Dancing Dots. ‘Boy, oh boy, is this one completely useless!’
- Weblog at Everything2 Vs. Weblog at Interconnected.
- Random Link from my Favourites: Hessian Love… ‘I’m a metal dude with long hair and tats who loves to party at all hour of the night. i am 6’4” 210# long (to my ass) hair, played in sf bands for 13 years. i have 5 ozzy tats and 2 dio tats. what can i say, i luv sabbath. new in la , saw your add for more info and photo pleez wright back. we need to hook up and get shitfaced. did i mention i’m hung like tommy lee?’
- Yesterday on filepile.org… #1, #2, #3.
11 July 2001
[politics] Think Tory, Think Iain — Matthew Parris on your typical Tory and what it means for the current leadership battle… ‘Take Margaret Thatcher herself. [ … ] Far from being extreme or right wing in her origins, she was a progressive woman of the 1950s — one who actually went to university. She voted for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, a radical idea in the 1960s. She married a divorcé. She went out to work while her children were still young. Her equivalent in the Tory party today would be quite prepared to contemplate relaxing the law on cannabis, and most younger Conservatives are.’ [ Related: electportillo.com, voteids.com]
[politics] Tension mounts, the votes are in and, er … everyone’s a winner — Simon Hoggart on the Tory Leadership election process. ‘The press amused themselves by insulting passing Tories. Someone offered Peter Lilley a spliff. “Only on Sundays,” he said. Nicholas Soames insulted us. “Why isn’t that man wearing a tie?” he demanded of a hack. “I have it in my pocket,” the fellow quavered. “Well, PUT IT ON!”. Ann Widdecombe rolled towards us. “Ancram!” she shouted at the massed questors for truth. “Ancram, Ancram, Ancram!” As she left the room, she barked: “Still Ancram!”‘
[wtf?!] Evil Edna’s Top Ten Heart-Warming Moments “3. An atheist sees God in a burning bush. Dragging him to safety, the atheist is given the greatest gift of all…. faith.”Basil Brush’s Top Twenty-six Ways to Die ’16. Clive Barker’s favourite, having snakes made from a lunatic’s shit animated by an evil magician and invading your every orifice. Let’s hear it for Clive Barker, eh? 17. That magic flesh eating bacteria (nature beats Clive Barker).’ [via Seethru]
[comics] Great interview with Eddie Campbell mainly about the From Hell movie at Ain’t it Cool News… ‘Alan said that, “We all know that serial murderers are not like this. They’re horrible nasty little men with bad hair-cuts!” So with Gull, we’ve created this colossal figure of evil. I hope we haven’t made him attractive. I actually have much admiration for the original Dr. Gull, who was the man who wrote the paper and gave the name to anorexia nervosa. And his name still pops up if you’re reading on thyroid conditions. He wrote the original medical papers on one or two subjects that are still very relevant today.’
[politics] Another long, interesting political profile of Michael Portillo. ‘Moving the political battle on to cultural grounds exposes another division among Conservatives, between authoritarians and liberals. The people who encouraged John Major to go “back to basics” and William Hague to portray Conservatives as “the party of the family” are genuinely shocked that Portillo can suggest it is an area where neither the party nor the state has a role. “None of my colleagues understand the real game,” he complained to friends recently. Intellectual, arrogant, a man who holidays in Bayreuth for the Wagner and Morocco for the ruins, a man viewed with suspicion by most of his political colleagues, his only hold on the party is their desperation to win.’ [ Related: Official Portillo Site]
[comics] Girls And Comics – Oil And Water — a for real Comic Book Guy?! ‘I am a keen observer of human behavior and the attitude of a girl in a comic shop is like that of a Vulcan amongst Ferengi. They think they are so much better than comics. Those girls don’t think I’m watching them from my stool behind the counter as I bag and board comics. But I am. I see them in their little belly-shirts acting like they are so above comics. The reality is that girls lack the imagination of boys and cannot comprehend the bold archetypes portrayed in our (boys?) sequential art-form.’ [via Comic Geek]
9 July 2001
[books] Stranger than fiction — interview from the Telegraph with Chuck Palahniuk. ‘”In the US we really don’t have a rite of passage from adolescence into adulthood,” he says, “except through acquiring accoutrements – your home, your car, your washer-dryer. That’s how you become an adult in America. There’s a quote in the book: ‘I’ve seen the strongest, smartest generation in all of human history, and they’re working in the service industry.’ And I just felt enormously disappointed in myself and most of my peers; despite all of the things we’d been raised with – good nutrition, good health, the best education – what had our lives amounted to? Pumping gas? Filing? Watching a computer screen? All of humanity has come to this point, and this is the best we can do with it? I just felt this enormous frustration around that.”‘
[politics] ThatcherWeb — Thatcher fan site. Check out the messianic Flash intro… ‘Let me give you my vision: A man’s right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state as servant and not as master – these are the British inheritance. They are the essence of a free economy… and on that freedom all our other freedoms depend.’ [via Haddock]
[books] The Face by Garry Bushell — a Digested Read… ‘Witless, plotless gangster pulp-fiction that manages to insult almost everyone, especially the readers.’
[tags: Books][ permalink][ Comments Off on The Face by Garry Bushell – Digested]
8 July 2001
[celebrity] Boomtown’s tycoon — profile of Bob Geldof…. ‘Geldof likes to say of his various ventures — be they pop music, television production, internet travel or his latest media and events company — that they arose only out of his anger at the inadequacy of what was on offer to him as a consumer. “I start things because what I see is crap and it makes me angry,” he once said, with his usual memorable turn of phrase. “I started the Rats because all the records I heard were crap. I did Live Aid because what was happening was crap. I started Planet 24 (which produced Channel 4’s money-spinning Big Breakfast tabloid television programme) because everything on TV was crap. And I’m starting the internet company because I am angry at all the crap on the Net”.’
7 July 2001
[celebrity] Stars in their Eyes [ Part One | Part Two] — Jon Ronson looks at what happened to the original Big Brother contestants one year on… ‘Andy and I entered the offices of Courier Systems. “This is wicked,” said Andy. “I’ve always wanted to be a cycle courier.” “When can you start?” said Paul, the manager. “Tomorrow,” said Andy. “Bright and early.” Paul laughed. He said he’d seen people like Andy before. They come in full of excitement and fanciful ideals about the life of the cycle courier, but reality hits them on the first day and they quit within a week. “Well, that’s not me,” said Andy. “I promise you that.” “Will I see you at Sada’s book launch party?” I asked. “No,” he said. “I’m not going.” “Why not?” I asked. “It would be deceitful,” he said. “I fucking hate Sada.” Andy’s career as a cycle courier lasted for three days. “God it was hard,” he told me at Sada’s book launch party. “And the money was shit.”‘
[quote] ‘In London, where Southampton Row passes Russell Square, across from the British Museum in Bloomsbury, Leo Szilard waited irritably one gray Depression morning for the stoplight to change. A trace of rain had fallen during the night; Tuesday, September 12, 1933, dawned cool, humid and dull. Drizzling rain would begin in early afternoon. When Szilard told the story later he never mentioned his destination that morning. He may have had none; he often walked to think. In any case another destination intervened. The stoplight changed to green. Szilard stepped off the curb. As he crossed the street time cracked open before him and he saw a way to the future, death into the world and all our woe, the shape of things to come.’
6 July 2001
[books] Summer Reading Recommendations from…. Seething Hatred, Steps and Wherever You Are. Vaughan: ‘Therefore, that whole reading list may have been a pointless exercise, and a complete waste of time. Bloody hell, isn’t personal web publishing marvellous?’
[stuff] More Random Linkage:
5 July 2001
[tv] Big Mac — why am I linking to interviews with John McCririck?! ‘McCririck says he would be lost without the Booby [his wife]. He can’t drive so she ferries him to race meetings. Nor can he cook, mend a fuse, or do anything else practical, so she has to attend to the business of living. He does a review of the papers on Channel 4’s Morning Line at 9am each Saturday, and you can guess who is down at King’s Cross station at midnight buying the papers. They have no children; or perhaps they have one extremely large child.’
[quote] ‘You come back to the hotel after a gig. You’re knackered. The sex is there on a plate. It doesn’t really appeal to me. I need to feel engaged and stimulated. I need to feel intimacy. To me there’s nothing sexier than having someone knowing you, speaking to you, understanding you, and still wanting to fuck you.’ — Luke Goss.
[science] The Prophet of Reason — The Independent profiles Richard Dawkins…. ‘What about, “why are humans so credulous?” I ask. So happy to pay through the nose for an aura massage or crystal healing. Mustn’t gullibility have an evolutionary explanation too? “I would put it back to childhood and say that there’s a Darwinian survival value in children believing what their elders tell them, because the world is too dangerous a place and it takes too long to learn what you need to learn to survive,” Dawkins replies. “You’ve got to have a rule of thumb that’s built into the nervous system that says ‘Believe what you’re told’. And once you’ve got a rule of thumb like that, it’s like having a computer, which is vulnerable to viruses.’
4 July 2001
[movies] The Guardian interviews Timothy Spall… ‘Timothy Spall’s 20-year study of the British soul began with a small role in the 1979 youth culture classic Quadrophenia. “I was the fat projectionist,” he remembers. “A whole generation of actors were in that film: Phil Daniels, Ray Winstone, Phil Davis. All being these sharp mods or cool rockers, and I was the fat projectionist.”‘ [ Related: Spall at IMDB]
[stuff] Random Linkage: - Anthony Soprano: ‘Mother of Christ! Is this a woman thing? You ask me how I’m feeling. I TELL you how I’m feeling. And now you’re going to torture me with it.’ [from Sopranos Sounds]
- haddock.org…. on Blogs. ‘It’s only a matter of hours before all weblogs disappear up their collective meta-arse.’
- An abiding image for 2001? ‘Judge: Mr Milosevic, this is not the time for speeches. As I have said you will have a full opportunity in due course to defend yourself and to make your defence before the tribunal. This is not the moment to do so. This matter is now adjourned.’ [BBC News Transcript]
- Dr. William Minor at everything2.com. Dr. Minor would have been a blogger if he’d been born 140 years later…
- The Washington Post revisits Watergate…. 25 years later (in 1997). Ben Bradlee on Deep Throat: ‘I think he had a strange, passionate devotion to the truth and a horror at what he saw going on. ‘
3 July 2001
[celebrity] Ginger Snaps — interesting analysis into why Chris Evans left Virgin Radio last week… ‘”The real story with Chris is his friends,” one of his former friends explained. “I think he has a fairly serious personality disorder which begins with him thinking, ‘I am a funny, charismatic bloke, and I want to surround myself with my court’. He’s always done this, ever since he was a teenager. Like every bully, he’s always got a circle of acolytes, a little clique. He bullies people so that he can show off in front of that clique. That’s how he’s sustained himself. But then what happens is always the same. He has fallen out with everybody, even the people who have stuck with him through the worst kind of excesses.”‘ [ Related: Sunday Times Profile, Net Notes on Evans]
[tags: People][ permalink][ Comments Off on Why Chris Evans Left Virgin Radio]
[tv] Adam and Joe’s list of very Bad Things. ‘3. Making toast or tea in the ad break only to find, as the show starts again, you hadn’t plugged in the toaster/kettle.’
2 July 2001
[WTF?] Deeply weird… sexual situation involving chains and a Volkswagon…. ‘Case studies include “The Love Bug,” the weird tale of an airline pilot who sought gratification by running around in the nude while chained to the back of a Volkswagen rigged to drive in slow circles. Called to the scene when a fisherman stumbled upon the grisly tableau, stunned policemen found the pilot’s naked body smashed against the car’s left rear fender. Cops theorized the victim had been trying to turn off the ignition when the chain began wrapping around the axle, crushing him to death.’ [via Venusberg]
[books] Five books I’ve bought in charity shops recently… - Airport by Arthur Hailey. The novel which made George Kennedy’s career… and the template for every jet disaster movie ever… Classic back cover blurb: ‘AIRPORT. From traffic control to Customs hall, from airport manager’s office to the lay-over apartments in “Stewardesses Row”, the rooms are peopled with men and women whose private pressures and passions match the fury of the blizzard which sweeps the airfield… For seven suspense-filled hours, a blocked runway … suicide … pickets … an aerial stowaway … pregnancy … smuggling … mass demonstrations … and a psychotic with a home-made bomb, build to nail-biting climax…’
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Joins the tiny number of books I’ve never managed to get past the first page on… I read the opening sentence… “Who is John Galt?”, my brain reboots and I go and do something more interesting instead… like sit in a corner and stare at the wall. Purchased for a pound in Shepherds Bush.
- Monte Cassino by Sven Hassel. The all-true (according to this FAQ, anyway) adventures of a German Penal Panzer Division (WTF?!) at Monte Cassino. Hassel’s books — like Richard Allen’s Skinhead series — are 70’s pulp classics well worth picking up if you can find them…. I suspect these have become collectable so you’ll be lucky to find them in charity shops. Another lucky purchase from a charity shop in Kilburn.
- Raise the Titanic! by Clive Cussler. Faced with a difficult decision I often ask myself “What would Dirk Pitt do in this situation?” …the answer is always shoot a Russian between the eyes and seduce the nearest beautiful woman. The book was made into another crap film but it’s entertaining if you can pick it up for a pound.
- The Detective by Roderick Thorpe. I’ve not managed to read this one yet…. but I recommend it mainly because of front-cover blurb…. ‘A Big-City Cop whose public life amid rape, robbery, perversion and murder becomes entangled with the problems of his wife and mistress.’ How can you resist that?
Next Week: Another book list I haven’t though of yet…. although I’m planning on doing a list of the worst books I’ve ever read at some point… Shaun Hutson novels will feature strongly.
[tags: Books, LMG][ permalink][ Comments Off on Five Books I’ve Bought In Charity Shops Recently…]
1 July 2001
[books] I should take a look at the Digested Read’s in the Guardian more often… One For My Baby: ‘”I’m planning a surprise birthday party for your father,” said my mum. “Surprise, surprise,” she shouted as the lights went on. And there was dad with his trousers round his ankles while Lena, the au pair, bobbed in front of him. Funny. I thought it was me she fancied. “I really love Lena,” muttered my dad as I helped him move his stuff out of the house. How do you live with loss? ‘
Nigella Bites: ‘I know that many of you may not have time for the table-laden breakfast, but even the sluttiest person can whip up muffins for 12. Just make the nanny get up at 5.30am to whip up some lumpy batter, spoon it into paper cases and cook for 20 minutes. You can hop out of the bath a couple of hours later and devour them with lashings of buerre de Normandie. By the way, get that nice little barman I once met in Hong Kong to make you a few Bloody Marys to wash it all down.’
[tags: Books][ permalink][ Comments Off on The Digested Read – One For My Baby and Nigella Bites]
[distraction] Bod and Star Wars collide…. Here Comes Darth. [via Bugpowder]
30 June 2001
[life] A Lease On Life — the Guardian looks at human longevity… ‘In theory, evolution could have come up with a different design, a human who reached sexual maturity decades later, or who went on having children for longer. But then the sabre-tooth factor kicks in. In mankind’s hunter-gatherer days, the chances were that something would kill you before you reached your mid-30s. It might have been famine, or murder, or a predator, or a nasty bacterium. There would have been no evolutionary point in having a man or woman who was in their physical prime at 70, if they had only a million-to-one chance of surviving violence and illness for that long. We’re a bit like cars. Maybe you could design and build a car that would last 1,000 years. But why would you, if the cars cost a billion pounds each, and were 99% likely to be destroyed in an accident in half that time?’
[tags: Science][ permalink][ Comments Off on The Guardian looks at Human Longevity]
[comics] Tom interviews Grant Morrison [ Part One | Part Two]. Morrison on Animal Man: ‘The Animal Man project began as a four issue miniseries in what he describes with a laugh as the “Alan Moore style – lots of poetic captions and interesting scene transitions”, but it soon spiralled away from this concept. “Half-way through the first four issues I decided that I just couldn’t continue with it. They had asked me to do it as an ongoing series, but it just wasn’t the kind of thing that I wanted to do. Suddenly the idea of the ‘Coyote Gospel’ came to me and that basically set the template for everything that I’ve done since.”‘
[comics] Popimage has 20 questions with Joe Quesada. Old Marvel vs. New Marvel: ‘…communications between the upper levels of the company and our talent was really disastrous. We also had some very poor hiring methods. For starters we kept hiring editors and assistant editors to write our top books while the competition was recruiting new talent that was really breaking ground. We had no recruitment techniques at all! When we did hire top talent we wouldn’t let them do what they wanted to do, we had a very heavy-handed editorial approach and would make sure that the books were more editorially driven than talent driven. I think that there was also the ego factor, you know “Eff you we’re Marvel and if you don’t like it go work for the smaller companies” and ultimately we were afraid of change. I can’t tell you the fear, concern and jealousy that was felt across Marvel when Marvel Knights was introduced into the system. I could feel it walking down the halls on a daily basis. That first year I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I walked by certain offices.’
28 June 2001
[politics] There’s only one person that knows me – and that’s me — long, intriguing, “fills-in-the-blanks” profile of Michael Portillo in the Telegraph… ‘…He still has his detractors. One of Hague’s team says: “William was being shot at from the inside on a daily basis. Michael often didn’t return emails or pick up the phone. He’s impossible to get close to, he’s such a big secret. He has a grandeur and aloofness that William lacks.” Another says: “It was like living with Princess Diana.”‘
[distractions] Another really addictive game… BLiX. ‘Is BLiX just a pixel in someone else’s game?’
[comics] I was a lot younger when I read this the first time… (WTF! 1990?!) Endless Summer by Philip Bond. ‘…a little sappy for you? never mind, there’ll be something much more moronic next week.’
27 June 2001
[politics] Kenneth Clarke joins the battle for Tory Leader… Steve Bell’s view and Simon Hoggart’s… ‘Ken Clarke rolled up, literally. Everything about him is round. His face, his body, his belly, his eyes, even the movements described by his torso as he circles a room, are all spherical. If Lucian Freud had been there he’d have ripped Ken’s clothes off, shouting: “I want a crack at that!”‘
[tags: Politics][ permalink][ Comments Off on Steve Bell and Simon Hoggart on Ken Clarke]
[comics] Interview with Alex Robinson — the artist / writer behind Box Office Poison… On having Will Eisner as a teacher at art school: ‘The sad part was that out of maybe 25 people in the class, only five or six paid attention to him. The rest of the students didn’t care who he was and were only interested in being the next Jim Lee or whoever. Some of the kids in the cartooning department had never even heard of Robert Crumb (it was before the movie, of course)!’
[BIG questions] Time wonders How The Universe Will End… ‘…Adams predicts that all this dead matter will eventually collapse into black holes. By the time the universe is 1 trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years old, the black holes themselves will disintegrate into stray particles, which will bind loosely to form individual “atoms” larger than the size of today’s universe. Eventually, even these will decay, leaving a featureless, infinitely large void. And that will be that?unless, of course, whatever inconceivable event that launched the original Big Bang should recur, and the ultimate free lunch is served once more.’ [via Ghost in the Machine]
26 June 2001
[comics] Long, interesting interview with Daniel Clowes from Indy Magazine… ‘Sometimes I think that since I’ve gotten all this minor exposure, I should really go on a crusade to get people to read comics. But I think once you do that, you’re dividing your energy, and you’re much better off doing the best comics you can do. That will ultimately help the cause of comics a lot more.’ [via Metafilter]
[books] LMG’s Summer Reading List… I’ve managed to ignore my vast collection of philosophy and come up with five books I’ve enjoyed reading and re-read all the time… - My Dark Places by James Ellroy. Ellroy writes about his life, his mother and her murder. Brilliant. [extract]
- Different Seasons by Stephen King. One novel — four great stories. Contains one of the most disturbing stories I read as a teenager — Apt Pupil. Don’t turn your nose up at King… He’s a natural born storyteller and this book showcases his talent.
- High Concept by Charles Fleming. This book attempts to answer the question of how low one man can go when provided with unlimited access to money, drugs, designer suits, fast cars and prostitutes… the answer is pretty fucking low. Poor reviews on Amazon but I’ve always found Simpson and his films fascinating…
- Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. The first Hannibal Lecter novel and probably the best. You’ll be seeing copies of the Lecter novels in charity shops for decades to come… which is what any author should aspire to. I expect I’ll see dog-eared copies of Bridget Jones as I shuffle around Oxfam in 2040.
- Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe. Crap title, crap film, great book… The downfall of Sherman McCoy, self-styled “Master of the Universe” and a vivid description of New York in the ’80s. [extract]
Next Week: Five (good?) books you can find in charity shops in London in 2001.
25 June 2001
[books] Jez comes up with a Summer Reading List… and Mat points out why the novel is dead. ‘…the novel has become little more than an exclusionary and divisive instrument of repression, falsely condemning the non-fiction reading classes to submit to the belief that they will never and can never achieve the same level of spiritual, emotional or intellectual understanding as those who feed their emptiness by feasting on the fabricated lives of non-existent characters.’
[tags: Books][ permalink][ Comments Off on Why the Novel is Dead and Another Reading List]
[tabloid] For Garry, England and St George — an interview with Garry Bushell… ‘Garry once met Frankie Howerd. “Because I was a lone voice saying let’s have Frankie on telly before he dies, he invited me to see him and then took me and the wife for a meal afterwards. It was like, wow, I can’t believe I’m sitting here with Frankie Howerd, but then… ” What? “… he started touching me up under the table!” I think this may have upset Garry a bit, which is a shame. They’d have made a super couple.’
[tv] The Second Noel — entertaining interview with Noel Edmonds…. ‘I sneeze a couple of times. “I don’t know that this carpet can absorb that amount of moisture,” Edmonds says in that famous squeaky voice. “Can you do me a passport photo?” he asks the photographer, who nods. “That was a joke,” Edmonds says, disappointed.’
24 June 2001
[comics] The Barbelith Underground discusses The Island Of Forgotton Comics… ‘And I do wish that John Byrne would tell the world what happened next to the Next Men, although I think I’m the only one who gives a damn.’
[tags: Comics][ permalink][ Comments Off on Barbelith Discusses The Island Of Forgotton Comics]
[books] Annoying, too clever by half summer reading lists… from Douglas Rushkoff and Zadie Smith. This made me think… what should the readers of LinkMachineGo be reading this summer? Let me know and I’ll post any suggestions and comments…
|
