Sunday, July 31, 2005
The end of Jacko?
Michael Jackson, perhaps the oddest man on the planet, has had more bad news. His new album, a collection of his greatest hits has bombed in spectacular fashion, selling only 8,000 copies in the US in it's first week.
The public were obviously very put off by the court case, but i didn't think this much. Jackson's problem now is that youngsters won't be familair with his older work, and since his latter music is largely poor, it's going to be hard to gain new fans. They have their own R & B icons such as Usher, Mario etc, and lot's of other less talented oiks.
At least he has Off the Wall and Thriller to his name, and Bad.
The public were obviously very put off by the court case, but i didn't think this much. Jackson's problem now is that youngsters won't be familair with his older work, and since his latter music is largely poor, it's going to be hard to gain new fans. They have their own R & B icons such as Usher, Mario etc, and lot's of other less talented oiks.
At least he has Off the Wall and Thriller to his name, and Bad.
Lot Cosonants
The highlight of the Granuairds Saturday magazine is Graham Rawle's Lost Consonants series of well, urghh, cartoons? Pictures? Whatever. They are well brill.
Visit Graham Rawle's Website for more of the same, if you don't want to buy the Guardian.
Visit Graham Rawle's Website for more of the same, if you don't want to buy the Guardian.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
The humour of a clever fella
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I tend to find that most enjoyment from clever folk, comes not from their intellectual reasoning, their grand ideas and beliefs, but in their humour. The way they write, the language they use. There is something humorous about the antiquated.
Reading through Alain De Bottons “The Consolation of Philosophy”, an exploration of six prominent old sages philosophies and how they can console us through our various difficulties, what struck me most was the humour of Nietzsche’s personal life, his embarrassment at his presumed greatness, his views on the English. I derived pleasure laughing at the man. He would in turn laugh at me reading a self-help book disguised as a philosophical study. Not to say De Bottons books isn’t good, at least he makes philosophy more accessible for those of us lacking acumen upstairs.
"I am the Walrus goo goo g'joob"
Nietzsche on:
Modesty
"It is my fate to have to be the first decent human being"
"I have a terrible fear that i shall one day be pronounced holy"
"It seems to me that to take a book of mine into his hands is one of the rarest distinctions that anyone can confer upon himself. I even assume that he removes his shoes when he does so - not to speak of his boots"
Well wishing towards friends
"To those human beings who are of any concern to me i wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities- i wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished"
Displeasing Mother
Verbatim from "The Consolations of Philosophy":
When he next wrote home to his widowed mother and his nineteen year old sister in Naumburg, Nietzsche replaced the usual reports on his diet and the progress of his studies with a summary of his new philosophy of renunciation and resignation:
"We know that life consists of suffering, that the harder we try to enjoy it, the more enslaved we are by it, and so we should discard the goods of life and practise abstinence"
It sounded strange to his mother, who wrote back explaining that she didn't like 'that kind of display or that kind of opinion so much as a proper letter, full of news', and advised her son to entrust his heart to God and to make sure he was eating properly"
On his Sister
"That vengeful anti Semitic goose"
On his acquired Swiss nationality
"I am distressed to be Swiss!"
On the English
"European vulgarity, the plebianism of modern ideas is the work and invention of England"
"Man does not strive for happiness; only the English do"
Asking for an opinion on his attempt at music
"the most extreme fantastical extravagance, the most irritating and anti musical set of notes on manuscript paper i have seen for a long time. "You designated your music as frightful- it truly is"
Saturday, July 23, 2005
London bombings fail
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Sign your life away
Maybe my job is just that boring that i entertain ideas such as this.
I'm always being asked to sign stuff at work, "can i have a signature please?". I never ask what it's for, i just sign. Maybe i'm signing over all the costs of building work and other things to me, my new personal debt. Like John Self in Martin Amis's Money. Where he unwittingly underwrites the cost of the production of his film. In my imagined scenerio though, i am underwriting something less glamarous, building services and installations. I really need a new job, even my fantasy work existence is dull.
Friday, July 15, 2005
What my keyboard could look like, Smoking bans
Smoking is bad for keyboards as well.
If anyone is interested, here is a blog that supports the rights of us smokers, to smoke where we please, when we please. Smokers Liberation Front
Regarding a ban in pubs and such other places, i'm no longer sure it's a bad idea. Having been in smoke free bars in New Zealand i tended to think a ban was a good idea. Mainly because you didn't come out of bars saturated in smoke with your eyes stinging. It's all right smoking on your own or with a few others, but when there are dozens of people in a confined space, it isn't pleasant, even for smokers.
A ban on smoking in bars is seen as an infringement on smoker’s rights, and further evidence of a “nannyism” that must protect us from everything. I agree with this in part, (the banning of smoking in all public places though, wait a minute!) but the idea of leaving a bar or club with my clothes smelling only of sweat and alcohol sounds like a good idea.
