No, this isn’t a post about the Michael Faber novel, but since I appropriate the title for that of this post, I’ll go ahead and urge you read it.
This is just another macbre post inspired by recent musing on tribe.net concerning things to be done with skin after the mortal coil has been shed. Some solid info comes from an article published through an indie paper of the Harvard Law school about anthropodermic book binding. Also sites Ken Kipperman, subject of a doc I have yet to see - Shadows of Silence, debunking the ‘nazi lampshade’ myth.

So two days ago I finished Cormac McCarthy’s The Road
(my 3 word review=obsidian lyrical mastery), loaned from a friend and left with another. Then good ol Cadalai, who I haven’t heard from in a while, got in touch via email. I asked for info on another mutual friend to discuss the novel with, as I was certain he’d read it by now and I was sort of gushing with the desire to discuss. Then Cadalai called to further add (with sadistic glee): McCarthy would be interviewed later that day on Oprah’s show. *Cue Dave Chappell character voice: “WHAT?”* I was incredulous. The third interview the man has given in 40 years and it’s going to be on Oprah - daytime television mostly geared to a docile female audience. But I was free at 4 and you bet your last bullet I tuned in.

If you’re willing to deal with some password jive, you can see the interview through Oprah’s site. There is also some other interesting analysis of that book award winner available. Another blogger attempted to live journal the interview in real time and did a decent job, to give an impression for the curious. Be sure to scroll to June 5 when searching.



To me, the moments it became most obvious Big O didn’t really have a grasp of her subject were when she tried to throw “3 wives later” in his face, and her clear shock at his non-materialistic, anti-glammor stance - a given for anyone who’s taken the man’s work to heart. Any theories as to what else went on behind the scenes to green light this interview in this forum?
Mr. McCarthy was much as I expected to find him, with the exception of choosing this venue.

I just found this W.T. Vollmann interview in the “Bat Segundo” podcast. I was really excited at first, but after a listen I have to say it’s just OK. The intro to this podcast is completely unlistenable and I advise any interested to skip in a half a minute or so, or turn down the volume during “loading”. Further, if I’m ever caught speaking in such an inane and campy way in my own podcast for such a period of time, I urge anyone who has ever enjoyed, been amused or enlightened by, anything I have ever said, to kill me. This is a completely serious request. I can handle clanking plates in the background, it’s not nearly as annoying…

I don’t know how these people get access to the interviews subjects they do, but there are also T.C. Boyle, Amy Sedaris and David Lynch on the list.

OK, let’s get away from my own adventures here (but there will be some more from the latest Asia trip down the line, in podcast form, if no other), now that I’m back and burned out - all up and in the Red White and Blue Prison, and get back to some good ol blogging. I was recently turned on to this writer through a friend of my South African sugar-mama (long story…it’ll be in the novel). Anyway, Melinda Ferguson took a trip through hell and survived to write about it. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT in link. I haven’t read Smacked the novel yet, but it definitely falls into the sort of thing I seek to read, which you’d know if you ever browse the book review section here. Hardcore.

It’s like this: there’s this chain - on one end a monkey, and on the other end you: one always wants to be sure who’s calling the shots, who’s leading who, the actual length of the chain… Actually there are multiple chains and multiple monkeys, it gets complicated quickly.

So another Dragoncon has come and gone. Once again I went down to get some pics and sneak around, past pesky hotel security, to take pictures without paying for a pass, and if you’d seen the line to get passes, you wouldn’t judge me on this, unless, I guess - you were in that line. Besides, manunderstress and I bought t-shirts from one of the vendors in the main hall. To any who may not understand the appeal of this event, I found the following film (sorry about the music in advance):

You can see some pics through the Flickr badge below (column right), and in the future, a compilation of some of my ‘05/’06 fav shots. One of these years I plan to go down there for the full ride, get a room, party righteously, investigate the ubiquitous rumors of ‘Klingon Orgies’ which seem to circulate yearly. But let us never forget the words of the great ComicBook Guy (M. Lisner?), “Cheeseburgers and loneliness are a dangerous mix.”

(ed. note- sorry that video above was yanked, but the following illustrates the same point 6/8/07)

I’m not exactly sure where my research began, but I’ve got this thing about female Chinese pirates (wha?…I don’t tell you what to think about when you’re “spankin’ the pig”…), the most famous of which may be Cheng I Sao AKA Ching Shih. She was essentially a stone-cold, freak badass: started as a whore, married the pirate Cheng I, went on to eventually command a fleet of 2,000 ships, terrorized the coast of 19th century southern China, and later hooked up with her adopted son (again…wha? call it the ‘reverse Woody Allen‘ if you must). I half assed tried to do some research on her and other ‘ladies of the black flag’ when I was over in Beijing earlier this year, but with little result. First of all I was in the wrong part of the country, had absurd language skills, and we are talking history here. The closest I came was a NatGeo special in english about pirates: I sensed I had tuned in just as they were finishing up ‘history’ to talk about modern day piracy, the facts of which may surprise you.

Anyway, images of the actual Cheng I Sao are obviously hard to come by, if not nil, but I found this artist depiction above on DeviantArt.com thanks to mooncalfe, who was kind enough to let me use it here. Definitely check out his site, buy something if you can - he’s quite an artist, and also wanted me to mention some ‘libertys’ he took in the illustration of she and her son/lover: there is no mention of her being able to paint with her toes, or command a zombie army (see his notes below the enlargement)…

A book, Bold in Her Breeches, is a starting point if you want to continue your research on female pirates in general, though I have yet to read it. In a notebook I have this list of other Chinese female pirates and their alias’, though I am no longer sure where this list came from, and I can find no other info on any of them… But of course if I break new ground, I’ll pass the info on. BTW, there’s a Chinese pirate in the 3rd of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ francise, so I’m ahead of the curve here and don’t be surprised if Chinese Pirates (or CP’s) suddenly get huge. But don’t forget, it’s REALLY about the FCP’s-