It's great. So far it's been a pretty heavy introduction to comic criticism (in the part I was just reading, he was talking about Kant's Critique of Aesthetic Judgment), and yet it's so enjoyable and conversational that it hardly feels like anything arduous or even very academic. It's like a cunning trick.
So yeah, if you're interested in that sort of thing, buy it, or borrow it off me when I'm done.
I've been reading a lot of comics recently, as a matter of fact, mostly by Grant Morrison; I've read the first volume of Animal Man and the first couple of volumes of The Invisibles in the last couple of days. It's amazing to be able to do something so constructive and enjoyable, but admittedly it is kind of distracting me from my Digital Poetry module, and from doing my journal.
The Invisibles is great as well, now I come to mention it (Animal Man is good too, but The Invisibles is better):
Also bought some new music today, Pavement's Bright the Corners, Yo La Tengo's I'm Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass and a Curtis Mayfield compilation, which was only £2.74 and has Move on Up, We the People Who Are Darker That Blue and Superfly on it.
I've been desperate to repost this ever since I saw it on Aquarium Drunkard. I think it's been long enough since they originally brought it to my attention, so now I'm passing it on to you, a very small but hopefully appreciative extra audience. This is one of the most wonderful snippets of music I've ever come across. It brings tears to my eyes, and very few songs do that:
Anyone who knows me well will tell you how much I love Bob Dylan, how much I love his style, his lyrics and his music, but this is perhaps the most beautiful love song he has ever sung, in one of the loveliest singing voices I've ever heard. I know, right? Why doesn't he just sing like that all the time, instead of nasal-o-jefferies? (as much as I love nasal-o-jefferies). I dunno, you'd have to ask him I guess, the man's an enigma wrapped in a puzzle.
P.S. I found the original Aquarium Drunkard post, while trying to find out whether this song had ever been recorded, and they posted the lyrics as follows (with a couple of amendments):
“Where she leads me I do not know, well she leads me where she goes. I can’t find her nowhere. Well, she needs me how, all aware, I just can’t hear her walk, I just can’t hear her talk, though sometimes you know you will. And when she comes my way, I’ll just be left any night or day, I will hear her say, that I don’t wanna try, I tried, also cried, but I can’t leave her behind.”
It's fun to listen to Adam and Joe podcasts on my iPod, not only for the obvious reason that it's hilarious, but also because I find it quite fun to play a little game with myself, where I try to laugh as little as possible, and also because when I do laugh it's invariably when someone is walking past and it looks like I'm laughing at them. This can be fun when there are so many awful freshers around, and I like to think that their self confidence crumbles under my snickering, although of course it probably doesn't.
Anyways, here's a sort of bizarre clip from the TV show what they did, with Mark E Smith appearing on Vinyl Justice:
He gets pretty violent, as you can probably see. I feel pretty bad for A+J, because even though they seem to cope with it quite well, I think they are the kind of guys who don't respond very well to confrontation, and are probably therefore quite scared and intimidated.
In a side note, when we were doing the pub quiz last week, someone had the team name "Steven!", and so I dutifully shouted out "just coming!" when they got called up to receive some sort of prize.
I remembered that Heather actually posted the show that we did before she left, so I'll post the tracks I've been playing over the past couple of weeks. Did two shows in a row today, which was pretty dull and tiring. Anyway, here you go:
Show 1 (broadcast 14/9/09):
1. Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With the Arab Strap
2. Roy Orbison - In Dreams
3. Yo La Tengo - Sometimes I Don't Get You
4. Bob Dylan - From a Buick 6
5. Health - Death+
6. The Stooges - Search and Destroy
7. A Place to Bury Strangers - In Your Heart
8. The Specials - A Message to You Rudy
9. Tune-Yards - Sunlight
10. Nick Drake - Parasite
11. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
12. Women - Black Rice
13. Sonic Youth - Mary-Christ
14. The Mountain Goats - Psalms 40:2
15. Patrick Kelleher - Coat to Wear
16. Pavement - Heaven is a Truck
17. Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode
18. Tall Firs - Loveless
19. De La Soul - Tread Water
20. - Connan Mockasin - Sneaky Sneaky Dogfriend
Things that were planned but didn't make it:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Satan Said Dance
Boris - LaserBeam
There's the first one anyway, I'll post the others another time.
Got Condemned today, it's pretty scary stuff. Been playing it a little, but I was also watching LOTR on channel 4 for a while, which was strangely both quite engrossing and laughable at the same time. Merry and Pippin are two of the most annoying fucking characters in film history, not only to the audience, but to the other characters as well; you almost start to think that they are agents of Sauron, they do such a good job of fucking things up. Sam isn't much better in terms of dumbness, but is equally irritating, due to his near willingness to actually commit suicide rather than allow Frodo to go off on his own, and his melodramatic, "I'm just a simple lad really" bullshit, like the part where he holds Frodo up in a field to tell him that if he takes one more step, he'll be the furthest away he's ever been. So fucking what? That's not in any way significant.
However, check this shizz:
For all that people (myself included) grumble about CGI, and how silly some of the acting is, and how ridiculously some of the characters are portrayed, I can't help preferring Peter Jackson's version over the animated one, in this scene at least (I haven't seen all of it, although I should, for kicks). Despite being animated, the Balrog still looks like a guy in a suit. How is that even possible? Plus it looks like he's seductively dancing towards Gandalf, rather than actually attacking him. As for Gandalf, he sounds almost nonchalant about the whole affair, even when he says "fly, you fools". Ian McKellen is pretty awesome though I guess, it'd be hard for him to be topped by a cartoon version.
I couldn't really give a flying fuck about fashion, but it's pretty infuriating how badly people have reacted to this:
That is one of the coolest, most original dresses I have ever seen anyone wear on pretty much any award show/event/whatever. And yet people are slagging it off and calling her "Cate Blanket" because it looks like something someone's granny would knit, or some shit like that.
Who cares? I don't think it looks like something an old person would knit, unless they were born in the 60s or something, but even if it did, grannies are cool. I'd wear something my granny knitted me. Better than wearing some over expensive, generic lookin' black or red dress like everyone else. Plus, it's bright and kinda psychedelic, which are obviously good points.
What's so wack about it is the fact that so many of my selfish ex-neighbours are bitching and moaning about the fact that it will effect their sunlight levels and privacy, even saying that less sun during winter afternoons will have a negative effect on their heating bill (from a guy who only visits at weekends. Also, what planet's he living on? What sun during winter? Even if it's present, it sure as hell isn't warm). Even the people next door are complaining, and they've already had their own extension built, to provide themselves with a lovely conservatory, sticking a big wall in the way of the back garden view in the process. Goddamn hypocrites. The keeping up with the Jones's bullshit and rivalry that goes on in that street makes me ill; it was the same sort of situation when one person in the street got a balcony, and suddenly everyone was building one. Except my parents have a genuine need for more room, whereas practically everyone else who lives there is either extremely old and childless, or only visit on weekends, or both.
Anyway, check that link and lend your support if you have a few seconds; I'm pretty proud of the little rant I put there, but all it would take is a little "I support the plans, Ian and Carol are doing a great job and one important to society and need the room" or whatever, and hopefully we can drown out all of the miserable bastards who have a problem with it.
I got hassled by someone outside the union today, advertising something called "Shag Tag". I pointed out to Matthew that it looked stupid, and she advanced on me and forced a leaflet under my friggin' armpit, shouting "TAKE ONE!" like a mad harpie bitch.
Grumble grumble grumble... I hate the union, and I hate my old neighbours, and I miss Heather.
...and one night, one night they decide they don't likeliving in an asylum anymore. They decide they're going to escape!
So, like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight... stretching away to freedom.
Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daredn't make the leap. Y'see he's afraid of falling.
So then, the first guy has an idea. He says "Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!"
But the second guy just shakes his head. He suh-says "Wh-what do you think I am?CRAZY?
You'd turn it off when I was half way across!"
Yeah... Just read The Killing Joke. Pretty disturbing stuff... You sympathise with a psychopath, and it's finally brought home just how bat shit crazy Batman really is.
Had my first class this week, and got another two tomorrow. Studying comics this semester, and I've never been so excited about reading the course material before. I've actually already read a lot of it, including the secondary sources and critical writing stuff, which leaves me in a pretty good position for focusing on reading for Digital Poetry, which looks to be pretty complex and intellectual. A lot of it is free online though, which is cool:
In all, fourth year is looking to be pretty exciting; the lyrics of Bob Dylan and American Modernist Poetry next semester, another personal fandom/difficult and intellectual combo, and both very interesting (to me, anyway).
Been on a big hip hop binge lately; I dunno why, there seems to be this link in my head between comics and hip hop. Especially been listening to a lot of Wu Tang (yes, I am 13 years old), as well as the many solo albums that have been made by the various members, especially Liquid Swords by GZA/Genius. I was gonna post C.R.E.A.M, but this is more amusing, as it kinda gives the impression of a poorly made infomercial aimed at selling the Clan to record labels (which is actually pretty much what it is):
I like the way Ghostface's name is written "Ghost Face Killer" instead of the usual "Killah", as if they sent off the footage to some cheap professional movie editing company, and the guy making it refused to typset it "Killah" because it was a crime against English. Although, ODB has his name with the usual "Ol'" as opposed to "Old".
It's also funny how much they have to censor the swear words, especially during ODB's part. I think he says "bite my style, I'll bite your motherfucking ass" at about 2:31, all of which is bleeped, to comic effect.
I really am going to post more often from now on. Really.
I've had a shitty day. I'm totally sick of everyone at work; the kids, my co-workers, the parents (the ones who are on the committee, who effectively work there, but behind the scenes), they all seem to be busting my chops for no good goddamn reason. I need to find a new job.
Matthew and I watched Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai last night. It was pretty great. My mum gave me it because I accidentally gave it to her for Christmas, and she didn't want it. Here's a clip that pretty much sums up the idea of the movie, without giving too much away:
The music in the film is pretty cool too, kinda lo-fi hip-hop stuff. It's all done by RZA, from the Wu Tang Clan, who makes a slightly unnecessary cameo appearance in the movie. He also appears in one of Jim Jarmusch's other films, Coffee and Cigarettes:
