I haven’t read the entire thing yet, am sort of slowly savoring it. And Mukesh Singh’s art is beautiful (he worked on Devil, among other things I have yet to see). It’s a retelling of India’s Hindu epic Mahabharata. The actual story is better than Morrison’s uber-pop “notes” in the beginning. Not to judge him too harshly: despite whatever other genius he may posses, the guy is essentially a comic book writer. But as he mentions, name dropping from Star Wars and LOTR help give readers a reference in trying to keep up with the multitude of strangely (to western minds) named characters. And ultimately to understand the story, we will have to go beyond the western duality of good guys/bad guys.

If, down the road, this is turned in an animated feature film – or more likely a multi-part franchise – it could kick supreme ass. But for now, let’s be just as please to enjoy it in this form.

Shout out to Michel Houllebecq for winning the 2010 Prix Goncourt with his novel The Map and the Territory, which I have not yet read. I did enjoy Platform though, and frank talk about sex tourism in the 21st century. Creepy perv types still get mad props in France.

Also be sure to check out Golden Shoes (embedding disabled).

But how exactly to spontaneously pitch this?
I guess he wasn’t too impressed, for his response came, and I’ll never forget,
“You have a bookstoaahh?” like a junkie Elmer Fudd doing an impersonation of a New Yorker.

And then quickly some student union handler whisked him away with a promised carrot juice. Surely he was tired after the reading, surely wackballs approached him constantly, and as the sage N. Peart reminds us “one must put up barriers to keep oneself in tact.” I’m not bitter or anything, that’s just my little Jim Carroll story. He came of age in a great city at a unique time in it’s history and wrote some great stuff. I first saw this photo on the inner sleeve of J. Giorno’s compilation “Your a hook”.

J Carroll and P Smith in 1969. photo by Wren D’Antonio

This film has gotten much hype and acclaim, all of it deserved. It stands now as a further memorial to the demolished towers, and a beautiful quixotic event in another bleak economic period. I also think it’s really interesting that there was another toll or cost from the event, in terms of the lost friendships and love, which are honestly discussed. A must see! I’ll probably read Philipe’s pick pocket book at some point as well.

When I was traveling around Northern Italy in the Spring of 2004, I kept seeing a book by this American con. Thus began my introduction to Edward Bunker. I read a few of his books soon after, including The Animal Factory. I knew Steve Buscemi made a film version in 2000, but I only recently got around to seeing it. Why this film, with Willem Dafoe and Edward Furlong, wasn’t better received I can only count to the prison subject matter. But I thought it was really well done, including a soundtrack from the enigmatic John Lurie. One IMDB review I saw complained of the plot being “unbelievable”, but it’s completely true to the novel…I think the real complaint was Furlong was too good looking to not get punked, but whatever.

Here’s one resource page, and goodreads. A heavy hitter of 20th century outre fiction! Two other BBC articles on JGB references in music and as a Seer of the Atomic Age.

Finally found a great Ballardarian animated tribute. I’ll be doing more research on this filmmaker!

She was found dead in her mobile home in California. I’m a fan of the early Cronenberg film Rabid in which she starred. I’ve never actually seen Behind the Green Door…well maybe it was on a middle school VHS comp I briefly had possession of with Debbie Does Dallas and other “hits” of the era, but I don’t remember any of it.

And here’s a VERY 1977 interview.

It’s an eyebrow thing, not so much her figure, though I just realized she was the schoolgirl in ‘Trainspotting’ so I’m not gonna complain about any part her – a fine actress.
Angelica Huston doesn’t really work for me, and I don’t get why she seems so loved by others. Not in the Wes Anderson stuff, can’t think of anything I’ve seen and liked her in. And maybe it was seeing her do such a similar “crazy but lovable mom” role in ‘Darjeeling Limited’ that made that schtick seem especially tired here. It was like they shot all of the childhood flashback scenes in a single day. Overall the film does seem quickly thrown together, the soundtrack is plain sad (the same lame tune is playing on two different days in the strip club, and if you can’t come up with stripper music in this day and age – either as it is or as it should be – you really are lost), but there are some laughs. My review in one word: meh…

He would have been 88 today. Who’s drunk right now?

Some poems:
death

the sex fiends

From “Poems and Insults”, recorded in the City Lights Poets Lights Theatre, SF 9-14-73
Here’s the entire show, if you want it…

I’ve only recently discovered this pop psychedelic creation of Guy Peellaert, and haven’t seen any of the actual comics yet. (great, another expensive hobby no one needs: collecting vintage European comics…) And sadly, I sense none will add up to be as cool as this animated sequence, a slow load but well worth it! I especially love the lampoon of the three major western religions included.

Portland, OR (February 11, 2008) – On a February night in 1956, Allen Ginsberg stood in front of a group of students in a dormitory lounge at Reed College and read from a manuscript that a few months later would be published as Howl and Other Poems. “Howl” is Ginsberg’s most famous and controversial poem, and a seminal work of the Beat Generation. The book sparked censorship debates that are credited with broadening First Amendment protections.

The February 1956 recording at Reed was duly labeled, cataloged, and then overlooked in the college’s library for more than 50 years. Literary scholar John Suiter rediscovered the tape last summer while researching a biography of poet Gary Snyder (Reed Class of 1951, winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry); Snyder and Ginsberg were on a hitch-hiking trip to the Pacific Northwest at the time the tape was made and spent February 13-14 on campus giving poetry readings. Suiter concludes in a forthcoming article in the Reed alumni magazine that this is the earliest-known recording of Ginsberg reading “Howl.” On the recording, Ginsberg reads to the conclusion of Part I, but ends before completing Part II, saying, “I don’t really feel like reading any more. I just sorta’ haven’t got any kind of steam.”

The pristine recording of “Howl” caught on tape that night at Reed differs in numerous ways from the legendary first public reading of the poem at San Francisco’s Six Gallery in October 1955. It predates by approximately five weeks the previous earliest-known recording of “Howl,” made at the Town Hall Theatre in Berkeley on March 18, 1956.

And the recording. It’s strange to me when these things are discovered after half a century: unknown sketches from great painters, previously unheard demos from famous rock bands etc. hidden and decaying in “archives”. But then I’m someone often with too much time on his hands who would relish access to certain caches.

Wow! What a satisfying film. Great soundtrack; animation with occasional intricate layers, amazing use of negative/positive space constantly, at times simplistic, then lush and detailed at moments that point to a Persian pride. I was unfamiliar with the graphic novel but was completely drawn into the tale: Marjane Satrapi’s story, and a first hand account of the history of Iran over the end of the 20th century. A testimonial of The Individual against varying forces of ideology, repression, unsatisfying relationships, depression, and the rest. No bullshit Hollywood ending either. See a trailer at the main site which is a bit small, or a larger version on IMBD after sitting through an inane commercial – you know, American style… I urge everyone to see this film.

A Mystical Prickle/ Space Talk Lyricism/ Misty Space Call/
Slimy Space Rack/ Kill My Space Racist/ Risky Space Cat/
Space Mail Trick/ Space Liar Cyst Milk/ My Slick Space Trail/
Slim Space Lark City/ Space Ark City Mill/ Icy Space Mall Skirt/
My Salty Space Lick/ Space Ram Kill City/ Space Arm Lily Trick/
Space Ram City Skill/ Space Army Licks It/ Icky Space Tsar/
Space Satyr Licks ‘im/ Slimy Space Rat/ Slick Space Art/
My Space Rack Till/ Track My Space/ My Sick Space Art/
Kill Creamy Spastic/ Slim Pastie Crack/ Kill Pastie Mac/
Typical Mescal Risk/ Lacy Pi Mescal Skirt/ Silk Pity Mescal Arc/
Silky Pit Mescal Car/ Piracy Mescal Talk/ Mescal Pal City/
Sickly Mescal Rap/ Sickly Rat Mescal/ Lily Mist Carp Cake/
Kill A Ecstasy Crimp/ Kill Camera Cyst/ Icy Sarcasm Kill Pet/
Ceramic Spa Kill/ Mass Kill Icecap/ My Icecap Tsar/
Kill My Icecap Rats/ Sitar Spy Kill Mecca/ Mecca Kill Party/
Mecca Kill Rats/ Ram Pity Kill Access/ Acme Kill Satyr/
Acme Crispy Kill/ Kill Racist Mace Spy/ Mace Kill Party/
Kill Spicy Mace Rats/ It’s Spacy Kill Cream!/ Pa City Kill Screams/
Creamy Kill Cat Piss/ Scary Mist Kill Pace/ Mass Recap Kill City/
Yam Carpet Kill/ Mars City Kill/ Icy Kill Aspects/
Mystic Kill Acre Spa/ Kill City Race Spasm/ Spicy Kill Races/
Amp City Kill Caress/ Icy Actress Kill Map/ Kill React Scam/
Car Imp Ecstacy Kill/ Ream Cyst Aspic Kill/ Spastic Ram Kill/
Pastie Kill Cam/ Epic Satyr Kill Cam/ Racy Kill Camp Site/
Airy Sects Kill Camp/ Campy Tsar Kill Ice/ Piracy Kill Scams/
Milk Piracy Castle/ Slick Piracy Metals/ Slack Piracy Melt/
Clam Silk Piracy/ Elks Piracy Cam/ Elk Slit Piracy Scam/
Mall Piracy Sect/ Sick Piracy Alms/ Lick Em Piracy Salts/
Mass Cell Piracy Kit/ Piracy Lick Ass Melt/ Satyr Claim Pickles/
Satyr Lisp Milk/ Satyr Lip Silk Mecca/ Satyr Lace Milk Pics/
Sick Satyr Place/ Slack Satyr Epic/ Slack Satyr Epic/
Satyr Smack Ice Pill/ Calm Satyr Lick Pies/ Silk Satyr Ice Clamp/
Epic Skill Satyr Cam/ Lick Isle Satyr Camp/ Lame Satyr Lick Clip/
Maple Satyr Lick/ Slick Satyr Ice Lamp/ Satyr Lice Map/
Sick Satyr Pie Call/ Mystical Ski Parcel/ Mystical prick Ale/
Slick Mystical Rape/ Mystical Splice Ark/ Mystical Silk Cap/
Milk Cyst Replica/ Sky Clam Replica/ Silt Sky Replica Cam/
A Mecca Kills Stripy/ A Scarce Milky Split/ A Catlike Sly Scrimp/
A Carsick Smelly Pit/ A Classic Perky Milt/ A Metallic Sick Spry/
A Metallic Cry Skips/ A Silk Malice Crypt/ A Campsite Cry Kills/
A Slackers City Limp/ A Caskets Crimp Lily/ A Caskets Lyric Limp/
A Scalpels Icky Trim/ A Callers Sticky Imp/ A Callers Mystic Kip/
A Camel Licks Stripy/ A Camels Tricky Lisp/ A Calmer Sickly Spit/
A Camels Crispy Kilt/ A Mescal Tricky Lisp/ A Calmest Lyric Skip/
A Mac Prick Let Is Sly/ Rack A Spicy Millets/ Track A Slice Simply/
Clip A Smiley Track/ Rack A Systemic Pill/ Stack A Spicy Miller/
Tacky Crime Pills/ Call A Mystic Picker/ A Calm Rye Lipstick/
Clamp A Silkier Cyst/ Sticky Calms Peril/ A Clams Tricky Spiel/
Clap A Tricky Smile/ Scalp A Sickly Timer/ Clasp A Milkier Cyst/
Crystal Lime Pickles/ Trick Plasma Ice/ A Classy Lick Permit/
A Scaly Tickle Prism/ Trick Salsa Mice/ Trick Llama pics/
Trick Llama pics/ Trick Ice Pals/ Trick Salsa Pals/
Trick Malice Spa/ Trick Lace Yams/ Play Mescal Trick/
Slay Trick Places/ Acme Trick Silly Spa/ Mass Trick Pace Lily/
Cape Slay Trick/

A new theory how Bob Pollard gets song titles… Also, possibly a good place to get passwords.

From Japanreview:

-Tokyo is a bleak and joyless place in your books. Is Japan doomed? Or is it a condemnation of suburban life in general? Is there such thing as redemption in this day and age?

I don’t this the situation is cause for despair. Rather, the suburbs are interesting in that human desires are transparent and in the forefront. In case of the suburb where Out was set, the small houses all in row are a product of what people desire. It can be seen as quite typically Japanese. I don’t think there is such thing as “society”. There is that much more freedom in that looseness.

In terms of redemption, the question is, redemption from what? I’m not quite sure what you are referring to, but if you return to the former question, the Japanese rarely recognize the sense of redemption because they lack the concept of the “society.” That’s to say, one doesn’t know how to be redeemed, and what you have to do to accept it, and how and who should accept it.

-What influences your work Japanese literature, western literature—or do you read other mystery writers? Are there any books of this genre you feel strongly about? Or are your influenced by other mediums—TV, movies, music, and news events? What current Japanese writers do you like?

When I was a child, I read magazines indiscriminately and I read a lot of foreign juvenile and children’s fiction—mostly books like Adrift in the Pacific, The Three Musketeers, and Little Women. I think that that they may have influenced the way I tell stories.

I don’t really like mysteries so I don’t read many of them of late. I quite like Patricia Highsmith, among others. As for Japanese authors, I would say Ryu Murakami and Fumiko Hayashi. I also read non-fiction. I love movies, especially Scorsese and Lynch. As for music, I am a fan of seventies soul.

From Metro.co.uk bookclub

The sexual violence in the book is very disturbing – did you ever have any qualms about writing those scenes?

It’s very disturbing to write about violence. However, as long as there is such violence in reality (that’s often beyond our imagination) I feel it is my responsibility as a writer to write about them. It’s unfortunate if anyone is disturbed or feels uncomfortable with these scenes (especially the ending), but I actually wrote the book in an effort to eliminate violence from society.

and Booksense.com

-What reaction surprised you the most?

Men were very shocked that a wife could kill her husband. That was really a provocative idea. Japanese men felt so threatened by it. They also never imagined that a woman could write such an aggressive novel. The most shocking part of Out for a lot of people is that it’s written by a married woman who has a family and a child. If the book was written by a man, people wouldn’t be as surprised, and they’d look at it as fiction. But because a woman wrote it and it’s realistic to a certain degree, people were surprised.

-Your novel and many Japanese films from the last few years depict contemporary Japan as an unsettled society whose outward calm masks an underlying current of severe physical and psychological violence. Is this the case?

The old family system is collapsing more and more. Although the division between men and women remains — men still go out and women still stay in — a man now cannot sustain the entire family. We have reached the point where women have to put the children into childcare so that they can work to help support the family, too. Then, the children themselves are under extreme educational pressure. So everybody is making the best effort to sustain him or herself. It is a very confusing time for our society. I have the feeling that people don’t know what to do to get out of their situations.

-Do you think this is creating a culture of violence?

Some of the violence depicted in the media is a metaphor for frustration, but there are more and more cruel crimes happening — and the people who commit these hideous crimes are getting younger and younger. A few years ago, there were a lot of crimes committed by young women. Now it’s kids murdering people. Japanese adults are completely astounded, and don’t know what to do. That’s the reality that we are getting into, and it is getting worse.

Also, thanks to mll3 for turning me on to this novel in the first place.

So I’m sort of caught up in McCarthy fandom and decided I definitely had to read this novel before I saw the film. I have also been a serious fan of Cohen bros. dramas, as opposed to the comedies. Nothing wrong with their comedic quirkyness, but I would argue if you ask the average viewer to name a one of their films, they’ll give you ‘Raising Arizona’ or ‘OBWT’ before ‘Miller’s Crossing’ or ‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’, which I find disappointing. Anyway, from my first learning of this project, I had a strong inclination I was going to love it, and I essentially did.
Reading some sneak peak reviews, I quickly came across a complaint from blog reviewers who hadn’t read the book and are so weened on common suspense arcs that rely on over-the-top sensationalism to outdo one another: Tarrantino style, if you will. But this isn’t about that. Period. There is a very specific reason I have chosen the title of this post from the films tagline and a very specific reason I have chosen this image. Go watch a Tom Cruise, or Vin Diesel vehicle if you cant handle post modern tweaking of the thriller genre. This film comes from a pulp work from a literary mind. Yes, there is a “kick ass” psycho (and after being so compelled by ‘Before Night Falls’, I sensed Bardem was gonna nail this role – I think the fact that he is also the lead in the current Marquez classic speaks volumes about his power as an actor) and there are even over-the-top nifty devices you’ve never seen in a film before – straight from the mind of C McCarthy. So go see it. In a way it’s like getting to see another Peckinpah film, but much of that had to do with the period and location. Here are my two minor and one major beefs…

Because the locations and authenticity are so dead on, even while reading, I have to admit their authenticity stumped my imagination, despite the fact I can recall images of 1980 (OK, not central and west Texas…) I have to get finiky and picky. 1) I don’t remember the girlfriend mentioning she worked in a WalMart. It sort of struck me as a modern jab, and as a nomad, I don’t have my copy of the book here and now to reference, but a search reveals Walmart did hit Texas in ’75, so it is plausible. It may very well come straight from the text, as so much of the dialogue does. 2) Having ridden lots of Greyhound buses, I’m doubting that semi-southwestern style with the bold blue through the other colors that still adorns the apolstry of many of the seats now, did so then. Total nitpicking I know, but the authenticity is dead on in every other way – I think it bears mentioning.

And the major thing I didn’t like: the young hitchhiker character is reduced to a poolside beerswiller with only a few lines of dialogue. I think there was a lot of revelation about Lwelyn’s character in those passages with her in the novel, as well as more of McCarthy’s foundation about what overtly changed about (our) culture at that time, which isn’t exactly what I mean to say but – the big picture stuff about society and individual. As the film is a bit long as is, I fully understand why the reduction stood, but I’d argue it also built suspense for the story, even though, as stated, that’s not the point. I further admit, I didn’t picture Lwelyn’s wife to be as attractive as the actress they picked, during my reading. I guess I was strung out then on the sexual suspense as well as violent suspense – i.e. semi-loner guy with a bunch of money has beat the devil once or twice, THEN runs into some hot free ass on the road. What now? And there is no sexual suspense at all in the film.

Other than that, every bit of acting worked or excelled. The Cohen bros. excerted their style without being “cliche Cohen bros”. The bleak beauty of the desert was perfectly captured. The moments of gallows humor blended seemlessly between the styles of novelist and filmakers. Was there even a single bit of music in this film? I can’t even think of a song on a radio right now, much less soundtrack…wait, there is a major instance of music I’m recalling, and it’s comedy. But a sort of “slap in the audience face” comedy: the audience wants to go ‘oh irony, ha, and we could use a laugh’, but as the scene lingers there is sort of a feeling of ‘yeah, this is unusual, but what the fuck is funny about it?’. More defiance of easy expectations-

I caught this great flick on IFC last night, and then was stunned to realize the main actor was the writer and director as well. Thus was my introduction to Larry Fessenden, and now I’m curious to learn more of his work. ‘Habit’, made over a decade ago, had some moments when the supporters acting sort of thinned and the script was a bit pedantic, surely there was more they would have loved to do with a larger effects budget – but overall, I think this is what Indie Film is supposed to be. I really liked the subtle approach to what the film turned out to be, a complexity of issues inferred by the title, and found the entire premise more plausible than some reviewers seemed to, but that might be more of a reflection on my lifestyle… Here’s and IFC interview where he’s discussing another project.

*ed note: 8/08 Iceblog dropped from blogroll until such time that reports might resume from down under. Just trying to keep the blogroll with as fresh of stuff as possible*

Charles Simic has risen to the occasion, which hopefully inspires you to check some of his stuff, if you are not already familiar. I recommend Eyes Fastened with Pins as a starter. Snooping around a bit, it’s not hard to find examples where he himself is reading. Here is also an interview.
The great thing about Poet Laureates as opposed to other national leaders is they don’t have to lie about blowjobs or weapons of mass destruction. Were they to start wars, they would certainly have lower death tolls and be far less expensive-

A few weeks back, I was with a friend in Oxford Comics in ATL and got some small press stuff. I was really taken by Jeffrey Brown’s ‘Feeble Attempts’ and as there are various coincidences in his path and my own I decided to write him. Not only did he write back, but agreed to do an email interview, since the podcast isn’t feasible for now. Here’s the result:

-When you were younger, what were some titles, both hero and indie/small
press that you really loved?

I started off with X-Men and every X-related comic – Wolverine, X-Force,
Excalibur, New Mutants, etc – along with a healthy dose of other Marvel
titles like The Thing, Spider-Man, G.I.Joe…from there I moved on to a lot
of the European comics coming out of Heavy Metal, especially Moebius, and it
wasn’t long after that I got started on my first alternative comics,
Eightball and Dirty Plotte.

-What was your experience like working with McSweeny’s? How were you asked?
How has it gone so far in terms of your ideal expectations?

Chris Ware edited the McSweeney’s comics issue, and so invited me to
participate. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with some
of the people there like Eli Horowitz, Ed Park, Andrew Leland…that issue
of McSweeney’s still manages to introduce people to my work, even though
it’s been a few years, so aside from having been a fan of McSweeney’s for
the past 7 or 8 years, it’s been a good experience that continues to pay
off.

-What was it like working with TAL (This American Life)?

That was another great experience, and my first introduction to really
working with an editor. Jonathan Goldstein was the producer worked with, who
happens to be a pretty good writer himself. We spent a few months working to
translate scenes from ‘Clumsy’ into prose that would read well on the radio.
It was actually a good way to somewhat deconstruct my writing style.

-In “Feeble Attempts” you reference working in a video store for a while.
Any other shlep jobs you’ve had to endure and would care to comment on?

I’ve had three jobs basically: a paper route in high school, working for
Barnes&Noble since I came to Chicago(managing the music department for about
five of those years), and in between I worked for the Wooden Shoe Factory &
Holland Bowl Mill in Holland, Michigan. My job there was to run the gift
shop while spending most of my time decorating Dutch wooden shoes and wooden
salad bowls, woodbruning windmills onto them and painting tulips on the
toes.

-Are you now able to maintain your lifestyle entirely on the fruits of your
own creative labor? If so, I think that’s completely amazing! If not, how
far are you from this?

In the past year or so I’ve made the transition to making my living from the
books. I guess it helps that I’ve got so many out…

-What was it like to come to Portland and do a reading for Powell’s? Other
impressions of Portland?

I actually did the reading for the Powell’s location here in Chicago, which
was a fun time actually, since I ended up improvising that after my original
plan to read something else got sidetracked by equipment problems. I did
sign at a store called Counter Media in Portland, and that was the last time
I’ve done a poetry reading. I had a good time in Portland, very laid back
and lots of nice people.

-Who do you think are some of the hottest indie comic makers today?

Anders Nilsen, Paul Hornschemeier, Gabrielle Bell, Kevin Huizenga are the
four that come to mind immediately, although there’s plenty more who maybe
aren’t as well known who are poised to make the move to the list, like Dan
Zettwoch, Dash Shaw, John Pham…

-Other than “Star Wars”, what are some films that turned you on?

David Lynch’s ‘Dune,’ everything from Terry Gilliam, ‘Evil Dead’, ‘Bottle
Rocket’…lately Michel Gondry’s films are among my favorites.

-What music are you currently loving? What is some music you’ve loved for a
long time, and maybe some stuff from your past that has fallen by the side?

Currently the new albums from Metric, Andrew Bird, Lavender Diamond,
Polyphonic Spree…old favorites would be Microphones(now called Mount
Eerie) and Neutral Milk Hotel. Fallen by the wayside would have to be
Fugazi, the one band from the distant past that made it on to my ipod if not
into heavy rotation.

-How did you get hooked up with Top Shelf, and what has been your experience
there?

Top Shelf initially passed on publishing ‘Clumsy’ but offered to distribute
for me. The book started selling too well and I didn’t have enough copies
left to meet demand, so Top Shelf took over publishing my books altogether
at that point. I’ve been pretty happy with Top Shelf…there’s been a couple
of times I’ve gotten a little upset with this or that, but in the end
they’ve really supported me and helped push my books a ton, leading back to
the ‘maintaining my lifestyle on the fruits of my labor’ issue…

Here’s a link to some other Jeffrey info and the Top Shelf site.

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.

Another great writer dies. I saw him speak on the UGA campus in the early 90′s. He seemed hilarious and possibly drunk.

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.

I really was in no hurry at all, no more than they were. I’d pretty well come to the point, the age, you might say, when a man knows he’s losing with every hour that passes. But he hasn’t yet built up the wisdom to pull up sharp on the road of time, and anyway, even if you did stop, you wouldn’t know what to do without the frenzy for going forward that has possesed you and won your admiration ever since you were young. Even now you’re not as pleased with your youth as you used to be, but you don’t yet dare admit in public that youth may be nothing more than a hurry to grow old.
In the whole of your absurd past you discover so much that’s absurd, so much deceit and credulity, that it might be a good idea to stop being young this minute, to wait for youth to break away from you and pass you by, to watch it going away, receding in the distance, to see all it’s vanity, run your hand through the empty space it has left behind, take a last look at it, and then start moving, make sure your youth has really gone, and then calmly, all by yourself, cross to the other side of Time to see what people and things really look like.

-Celine, Journey to the End of Night

1. Music One of the things I miss the most when I’m away, and even if you have your own tuneage on a trip, there’s nothing quite like catching some Great American Song when you are elsewhere to bring up a misty-eyed feeling of home. Appalachain old time and bluegrass, JAZZ!, blues, classic country, rock and roll (to a large extent), soul, funk, metal, punk rock (to some extent), DIY hardcore, post punk, indie rock, neo-metal, electronica, minimalist neo-classical (not to dis great straight classical composers like Arron Copeland, very American), and anything else not covered by the categories mentioned. Several of these genres have ‘ethnic appropriation issues’, but for better or worse, it’s American Music now. Unfortunately, ask a random member of another nation these days to name an American musician, and they are likely to name some pop star who knows more about make up and dance steps than the key of D minor, but this marketing by which they have been effected can’t erase a few centuries worth of innovative music – what I see as one of our cultural gifts to the earth.

2. Geography I’ve canoed through swamps, wandered around sand dunes, walked entirely around and over different types of mountains – some so old they are worn, some relatively new and dynamic, rode over praries that seem to never end, relaxed near and been exhilirated by two distinct oceans, myriad clean and dirty rivers, roamed very different types of forest, seen mineral deposits that paint rock formations in a most bizarre and beautiful fashion, been energized by big sky and horizon, gotten lost and been terrorized by intense weather of various extremes, and know for a fact if you go a little further, stray a bit more from the trail, there is still terra incognito in which the hermit can practice his solitude and learn. And this all in America. I’ve been to all 50 states and wish more of my countrymen could make the same claim. I wouldn’t mind if Guthrie’s “This land is your Land”, replaced the National Anthem, but that won’t happen. At least make sure the kids keep hearing the song, deleted civil disobedient versus too. I don’t mind the actual National Anthem, but have never heard a more beautiful or more accurate version than that played by James Marshall Hendrix in August of 1969 in Woodstock, NY at a music festival, within a few weeks of when the first terran, an Adventerous American, stepped foot on the moon.

3. Porn OK, so maybe we didn’t invent it, but we took it to astounding new levels, despite the purtanical influence that still pulls like undertow in the American tides. You see estimates in the billions, but who knows how much revenue has been generated in this place by still and moving images of the naked human form in carnal digressions, especially as organized crime (which doesn’t exactly share their ‘bookkeeping’) has been involved from so early on. I direct any who are disgusted by this fact of American living to this case study of pornography in Japan. We clearly have some issues to work out with this ‘good cop/bad cop’ thing we have going with sexuality and the documentation thereof, but under this umbrella I want to ‘shout out’ to all the strippers in the states that allow them to dance (though let’s be clear – this is ‘fantasy’, not ‘sex’…guess by now you know I’m no rich cokehead), and though I have never legally (directly) paid a woman to copulate with me in this nation, shout out to you too Nevada – like your style.
I would further like to thank former Vice-President Al Gore for inventing the internet, and thus my continued exploration of Id and every fetish I never knew I had. I am the infidel you seek to destroy Bin Laden (you too, you blue blood, WASP, ‘god says this’, square-ass motherfuckers), come and try to get me… Meanwhile, this infidel Jacks It for Freedom! (wow, sort of the ‘patriotic jack off’ I promised you wouldn’t get here- oh, well)

4. Indie Spirit I felt this especially pronounced after a trip to China about a year ago, but you even see traces of it in European culture. There is something to be said for the American willingness to defy tradition, family, common sense, and plain good judgement to ‘think outside the box’ when it comes to finding new ways to ‘get things done’, and generally ‘step out of line’. If you’ve got a better way to do things than your boss here, and assuming you have some capitol, you quit and become the competition. Now, clearly, this ‘bold steppin’ and ‘rule breakin’ gets us into hot water too, but that’s not the focus right now. I want to take a moment for every kid who moves out of his parent’s nest before they can truely afford to do so and works drudgery to pay the rent and hold on to some crackerbox they can call their own. Are rents so much lower here than in these countries where the youth stay at home until marriage, and then some? Not really, but we make it happen anyway, it’s just part of the indie spirit (well…there are also economic realities, and relative stability that make this plausible…not to undermine my own argument, but I’m being real – no famine, roaming gangs of raping soldiers, not many children orphaned by carpet bombing in the States these days). Mother of invention, ‘know how’, gumption, ‘coming up with a new way’ (for better or worse), THAT’S how we roll. You don’t like it? Figure out some new way to roll, yo!

5. World Hotties No offense to any hetero turned on by corn fed, small town, blondes, but that’s not who I’m into. I love the diversity of different types of beautiful women you can find here, especially in the cities, but it’s slowly getting better everywhere. It goes back to one of my favorite metaphors for America – ‘the melting pot’. Some choice fucking going on here folks, DNA combinations creating some beautiful women. Even though I do a lot of bitching about ‘the modern American female mentality’, I realize this construct is actually a myth, or something too diverse to be defined. My complaint once again is with puritanism and the forced socialization of the genitals. I truely believe, and this is just Darwinism 101, that the best hope for humanity is when we have created the ‘uber-mut’ (the group with the largest genetic diversity has the best options to attain adaptibility and survival) and salute inter-racial breeding, though not so much breeding in general. If you feel you must procreate, I urge you to do so with a beautiful partner who’s genetic background differs from your own substantially. This again is misleading, as we share 99% of our genetic make up with a freaking fruit fly, but perhaps you see what I’m getting at – no more ‘straight up white’ Ms. America’s! And double points if she’s got some slutty skeleton in her closet. ‘Slut’ is a myth; read the old testiment, if Baal or Ashera had won out over Yaweh, I’m telling you, ladies, you’d definitely be a ‘star’ down at the temple when it came time to worship… And in terms of copulation for non-reproductive purposes, this ties into point 3 as well, obviously.

6.Writers including poets. From The Transcendentalists to the Post-Modernists, this country has produced some great writers who represent a certain individuality. Jack London to Jack Kerouac. Walt Witman to W.T. Vollmann. And never to exclude those who leave their own nations, bring something new to the mix from their old, and help to redefine yet again: American (I’m thinking specificly of Haruki Murakami here). Melville to DeLillo. And a special ‘Poe award’ to all who have trod the nether-realms and burned the candle at both ends. And not just novelists and poets, screenwriting is a very American thing (I suppose very Indian as well, as Bollywood is the film capital of earth). So thank you too, playwrights -David Mamet and Sam Sheppard. I exclude all who ‘write’ for the purposes of adversitizing specific products- ya’ll vampires suck.

7. The Road Trip This ties into points 2 and 4, but I think deserves it’s own distinguishment. From the days of ‘you kids get in the wagon, we’re gonna try somewhere else’, to ‘wonder where that train goes?’, to ‘fuck it, what’s over the next hill?’ there is a rich history of movement in vast America. I’m intentionally avoiding potentially negative topics like ‘oil’ and ‘Detroit vs. the rail system’, and even though it can be oppulent and wasteful (though not as bad as NASCAR) there’s something to be said for the American wandering(rolling) spirit, and exploration of unknown tarmac. The best way to see this country is still by automobile, which sadly surpassed the horse – which I assume used to be old ‘best way’. Homogenous convience islands have cropped up at many interstate exits, but the old two lane highways are still there, the forgotten little ‘one traffic light’ towns, the real America, under-represented by sitcom television. It’s amazing the amount of cultural influence NYC and LA project onto the rest of the country, and then the world, but there are many shades in between not represented on the TV and in film (which is slightly better about capturing lesser known locales). I’m not saying it’s all good, and you might need to put on your ‘David Lynch filter’ to appreciate some of it, but never forget about the small towns and the state parks, the one of a kind mom and pops that are still holding on, either through altruism or stubborn laziness. Maybe some day this country will just be one giant strip mall, but that day isn’t upon us yet. Get out there, if you have a little time and money, and see it! Cross country, maybe just something new in the next county over, what’s really stopping you? The rolling mental institution commonly know as ‘Greyhound’ is often another cheap option, depending on where you want to go; if you, like I currently do, find yourself carless.

8. A History of Violence This one’s a little sketchy, but for better or worse this has long been a land full of violence. I’m not justifing it, just stating truth. And like it or not, there is something in me that responds to this violence. Though we have abstracted it through media and superficial projections of ourselves, we have a high threshold for violence. I have no problem with the second amendment and truely see the problem in our mentality, the gun itself is just a tool. Watch Brits, or Aussies fistfight, somehow this art as been lost here, which is a dis to human pugilism. Any little bitch can hide behind some misplaced potshots, there is nothing manly about it. Despite the tension and victor, assuming there is one, fistfighters will walk away with more respect for one another when the bout is over.
Another spin an older, biker friend put on this out in Oregon: if you must hide behind a gun, LEARN TO SHOOT. What’s with the ratio or ‘shots fired’ to ‘hits’? How can so much ammunition be discharged without more entry wounds?
Something has been lost in the testing of American mettle. Our willingness to create violence seems in tact, but somehow the testoserone and raw balls need to be reproven. How can the pungy sticks and IUD’s of willful opponents add up to satelite imagry, all the bombs you can buy, and unmanned drones? Despite these insurgent issues, we seem to have taken violence to some abstracted place away from real human interaction.
And all you bitches hung up on respect, and shooters who feel they must turn High School into the ultimate proving ground: be patient, grow up and run away to join the circus like everyone else did. The ‘bullies’ will prove themselves sad enough in time, and you’ll need to save your energy for far more crafty and wealthy bullies.

9. Pure Escapism When the bar has been set so high, I’m surprised by how many settle for the same ol’ dreams of a nice car, plasma TV and trophy wife. In this sense, Howard Hughes, Phil Spector and Michael Jackson are sort of heros for allowing their neurotic fantasies take them to new heights, at their own expense, mentally if in no other way. Rich and poor, we are a nation of dreamers. A War on Certain Drugs, while they want to be sure nearly everyone is on something they must score from the establishment. An entertaiment industry to match the incarceration industry. A free press controlled by a corporate oligarchy. Everyone talking about freedom, most on their way to or returning from doing something they most likely would choose not to be doing, for money. We identify ourselves through our jobs, our cars, our network of spouses and peers, and let’s get real now, by our penchant for dreaming. But let’s up the ante, gang, sky’s the limit. Ah, sweet luxury and that which it affords. Now immortality seems some unspoken American goal, or at least it would seem from the continuing legislation. Are we out of touch with our relevance on the little rock human’s call home? It bums me out and I buy into it at the same time-

I don’t have a 10. Fuck nice round numbers-

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.

Lothlorien and I flirted a bit but both knew it wasn’t really in the cards. Said goodbye at the station, bedding down in Khorat which is very much just a Thai city without farang, but a nice place to break up the train ride. Hilarious tuk tuk driver ‘Cookie’ had good english and wanted to take me on a boom boom adventure, but also pay for his ho, as he hadn’t had any in three months. Read my lips Cookie: “I am laughing at your ‘pain’” Ate entire rotissery chicken which was worrisome, but stayed down. Got back into the writing.

Seems my camera has shit the bed, and I seem to remember some moment of whiskey spillage that may relate to this, but perhaps I can extract the SD card to use it in a borrowed one or buy one here in town. Think I’ll rest up a bit and catch up on the writing before ‘the crossing’. Nang Khai isn’t as cheap as I’d like it to be, but comfortable and I’m learning many tricks to keep the budget down.
The guy who built the wacked out Buddha garden on the other side of the river also did one here, but now I have to figure out some way to photograph it, as I’m heading to see it tomorrow. Apparently there is no website to link to….

I’ve been writing! Nothing stellar yet but bit by bit each day.

Trying to get an interview for the podcast with Gaa the lesbian pimp, whom I first met here 2 years ago, but she’s often off hiding with her new lovely or one or both of us are too drunk when we run into one another.

Got fooled by my first katoey (ladyboy) but it was nothing like what ‘Mick the Crazy Irishman’ had to go through in Trainspotting: the morning I met Oh, she had been up all night at this one bar on soi Rambuttri, and I was still in a period of only being able to sleep 4 hours at a time – which between the jetlag and apnia still sort of continues. There were all of these wasted french around, including this one complete psycho dude, who hit some x-boyfriend in the head with a bottle, so we quickly split to flirt and shoot pool at another place. With us came her fat friend Pai. A few hours later, when we were all buzzed and it was decided she’d move me into her hotel and Pai got up from her lounging on the sofa and was bitterly storming off because we were getting along so well, Oh gave chase and brought Pai back, who quickly hit me up for 100 baht cabfare. Later when I asked about seeing Pai again to get the money (though this is less than $3 and I essentially had kissed it off as I handed it over) Oh made the following confession.
“Pai owes me 200 baht also”

“Well that ain’t right darlin’. She said she ran a stall and she’d get me back. I will be leaving town eventually…”

“Whenever I ask her for this, she say she don’t have. What I can do?”

“Well we can be in her face until the money comes”

“This is usually way with ladyboy, they just drinking and eating ask for money money all the time”

“WTF! Pai is a ladyboy!”

“Yes, you not know this?”

“Your telling me that ugly fat chick is actually an ugly fat dude?”

Oh was laughing at me. “Yes you not could tell? You not know this?”

Rumor has it Vang Vieng is already past it’s prime, the bamboo bridge gone, the swell bamboo bungaloo’s gone and concrete highrises going up, the entire town overrun with Israeli’s. (Go ahead and think me an anti-semite by making this statement, then YOU come on over and deal with these people. I assure a very high percentage are obnoxious.) But I’m going anyway. I have to do a visa run, as my trip is 35 days and visa only good for 30. I get a fresh 30 upon return to Thailand (but you can only do this three times in a row, then must wait 6 months and pay more money).

I threw out the idea to Oh of going back to her home in Surin with me, as I’ve never been there, but she’s waiting around town to get her old job back at a guesthouse. So this most likely won’t happen.

Sunday night happened to be New Year and traditionally evey good buddhist buys these little flower boats and put’s them on the river with a candle inside and sends them off. The big river by the park was completely swamped with farang and Thai’s, but we found a quiet back canal where a family she knew ran a stall and put our flower boats in there. The tradition is to put finger nail clippings and bits of hair in the boat, as you are symbolicly letting go of last years bad karma. Everyone got a kick out of me trimming my goatee a bit and putting it in my flower boat. There were a bunch of adorable kids running around, excited about operating the hoist that put the boats in the foul smelling canal. The host guy kept switching out cassettes of this awesome scratchy Thai music. Oh and I prayed together and sent our ‘old bad’ away down the river.

My new favorite breakfast is a glass of cold black thai tea and an authentic bannana shake, which together come to about 80 cents US. I have yet to experience any intestinal discomfort, aside from some rumbling on the plane, but I have a bit of a sore throat this morning. It’s hilarious how Oh is always complaining about this being the cold season and she’s always in goose bumps, while I naturally haven’t stopped sweating since I got off the plane.

Click the Flickr badge on the right for a few photos.

A sex worker is a truth worker, if only Washington had the values of most hookers

I am promoting lookism, extending the power of wonderful sexual images and other photographs from around the world that I have shot-

I photograph the sex workers, prisioners, poverty, war and difficult marginal sitautions.
I will now merge these forgotten people with the headlines of the news, usually only shown with pictures of the powerful, or blonde news presenters!!!

The world is a chaotic flux of images upon which we impose a meaning. My photography aims to crush through the imposed meanings to get to the image itself.

From the image I find an infinate number of unconventional meanings-this is particularly why I like strippers and drag queens because I try and remove them from a sexual context and place them in a freespace where all kinds of meanings can arise for the viewers.

I studied photojournalism at The School of The Art Instiute of Chicago and than received a Masters there as well. I was a stringer for AP when I was twenty-four years old. I worked for the mayors office in Chicago and a press photographer for the Immigration Office in Chicago, and Telemundo channel 44 and for the Hilary Rodham Clinton foundation for children. I also won the Patagonia travel award but I didn’t go at the time. I have received several grants but they were never large enough to pay for my photography. I was invited to join Gamma and I received a post in South Asia. I could not take it as we had spent all of our money coming to live in Europe. I continued to shoot everything even though I was not linked to an agency and than Corbis/Sygma picked me up and I ended up leaving.

I love my early photos from my days in Central America in 1982 when I went and photographed prisons in Guatemala. I have travelled around the world capturing everything from sex workers to Russian prisons and riots in Serbia.

(I did a little typo editing in the text, might have missed some-ed.)

Here’s a link to a few photo-essays. Note: click where it says ‘photos’ to begin the text for the various countries represented.

Here are the links to her Flickr (warning:lots of boobs) and MySpace pages. Apparently she has a podcast as well, but I haven’t gotten that far yet…

Also thanx to the Doc for turning me on to Gail’s work!

I sort of thought Scanner would have been a bigger film, but don’t mind that it wasn’t. Spielberg and Cruise doing an adaptation of one of Dick’s stories was a bit too close for comfort. I don’t necessarily want to see one of my favorite SF writers become Hollywood fodder, and he has dozens and dozens of brilliant short stories, surely more films adaptations are to come. May they all be done as tastefully as Blade Runner. The biggest I’d say still to look for, and I could handle an animated version, is The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

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 really fine, healthy in good shape and so happy to be free,” Mr. Centanni told Fox News. He said the two had been forced at gunpoint to say that they were converting to Islam and had taken Muslim names. “I have the highest respect for Islam,” he said. “But it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns, and we didn’t know what the hell was going on.”

OK: so all you have to do is make some statements that are untrue and pose for the camera reading from this book with a gun to your head and then you are free to go. I think many American’s would jump at this option, nevermind that it is deeply sacreligious – I think the general American and Fox News attitude would be ‘dooped those sand niggers, now on with my spending’. If the Islamic theology is truth, and I don’t think it is, you boys can expect a flaming sword straight up the bunghole as your introduction to the next realm.
And if you’re Christians, as far as your remaining time in this realm goes (and if that theology turns out to be true: in relation to the next realm), the confession clause can certainly be activated and you’ll most likely get a pass on the switch hitting.
But take it to another level, with other captors (and these guys certainly weren’t true Al Qaeda – this video would have been released and then some headless corpses found somewhere down the road), and it begs the ethical question: would you do anything to be released? Anything? Now this applies to other sick and deviant minds that enslave people for whatever psychotic reason. At a certain point there’s something to be said for the victims’ “death with integrity”.

Then I started thinking about why despots of the past may have employed certain tactics. For example in the inquisition: OK, so you’ve claimed Christ as the true messiah after these hours/days/weeks/months of torture – which is great for your soul, because we’ve decided to free it from the mortal coil anyway.
Or in the case of the Japanese rightwing manina that went on in the first half of the 20th century, which went straight back to the bushido code, when prisoners were treated as worse than dogshit, because they didn’t even accept the notion of ‘prisoner’ – it was understood a true warrior would end his own life before they allowed themselves to be captured.
Obviously, these same strict warrior ethics shouldn’t be applied to journalists. I’m just exploring what it is about this article that bugs me….

‘Grantchester Meadow’s’ above isn’t from either album, it’s from Ummagumma, around that general era. I believe these are alternate lyrics and a slightly different arrangement to what ended up on the album version.

Also, go out and read some more Bukowski!