David Quammen, Monster of God

“Great and Terrible flesh-eating beasts have always shared landscape with humans. They were part of the psychological context in which our sense of identity as a species arose. They were part of the spiritual systems that we invented for coping. The teeth of big predators, their claws, their ferocity and their hunger, were grim realties [...]

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Playlist for February 18

A Silver Mt. Zion – ‘American Motor Over Smoldered Field’ from “This is our Punk Rock,” thee Rusted Satellites Gather & Sing (2003) Animal Collective – ‘Fireworks’ from Strawberry Jam (2007) Nash the Slash – ‘Million Year Picnic’ from The Million-Year Picnic (1980′s) Le Tigre – ‘After Dark’ from This Island (2004) The Faint – [...]

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Somnambulant vacuum

“The precariousness of short-term contracts and high staff turnover is now taken for granted everywhere, in supposedly worthwhile careers as well as in the temp bargain bin. There is a constant pressure, from the moment of getting a new job, both to keep hold of it and to start looking for another one, as well [...]

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Happy Valentine’s Day

“All our invention and progress seem to result in endowing material forces with intellectual life, and in stultifying human life into a material force.” – Karl Marx “Kenya is gripped by post-election violence and death, and now its prized export is under attack. Armed escorts are being used to ensure Kenyan roses arrive in time [...]

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‘Dogville’, dir. Lars Van Trier, starring Nicole Kidman

 Dogsville, directed by Lars Van Trier and starring Nicole Kidman and Paul Bettany, is a relentless movie. At first, I thought it reminded me of a house party of bad techno, drumming the same deep bass beat with the mildest of alterations, forever circling, but that comparison does it no justice. Instead, I soon [...]

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Playlist for February 11

Godspeed You Black Emperor – ‘The Dead Flag Blues’ from F#A# infinity (1999) Ellen Allien & Apparat – ‘Edison’ from Orchestra Of Bubbles (2006) Magic Weapon – ‘Capital of Colour’ (2007) Art Bears – ‘The Song of the Dignity of Labour Under Capital’ from The World As It is Today (1981) Telefon Tel Aviv – [...]

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The Anti-Canon of Science Fiction, Part 2.

Why care that the standard Anglo-American Canon of Science Fiction excludes most non-English speakers, with Stanislaw Lem almost always a huge exception, whereas most French, or Japanese, or Russian canons at least try and include English-speaking authors (Philip K. Dick is HUGE in France)? I would argue, from a simplistic and rather vapid position, but [...]

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Yevgeny Zamyatin, ‘We’

  “Yesterday, there was a Tzar and there were slaves. Today, there is no Tzar, but the slaves are still here. Tomorrow there will be only Tzars. We walk forward in the name of the free man of tomorrow, the Tzar of tomorrow. We have gone through the epoch when the masses were oppressed. We [...]

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Playlist for February 4th

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – ‘Sealand’ from Architecture and Morality (1981) Suffer Machine – ‘Heaven’ from Heaven in the Strangest Places (1990) Saint Etienne – ‘Fascination’ from Travel Edition 1990-2005 (2004) New Regime – ‘Seduction’ from 12″ Single (1982) Heaven 17 – ‘Let’s All Make a Bomb’ from Penthouse and Pavement (1981) Section 25 [...]

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The Anti-Canon of Science Fiction, Part 1.

Every form and genre of literature has developed a canon, a list of the best, most representative or critically acclaimed authors, poets or artists, as established by self-appointed guardians of culture, high and low. Of course, most of us bump up against these canons, and are told that Dali is the canonical surrealist, or Hammet [...]

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Playlist for January 28

African Brothers – ‘Self-Reliance’ from Want Some Freedom (1970-1978) Fifth Flight – ‘Sugar Mountain’ from Into Smoke Tree Village (1973) Tragically Hip – ‘Vapour Trails’ from Phantom Power (1998) Lou Reed – ‘Men of Good Fortune’ from Berlin (1973) Miles Davis – ‘Yaphet’ from Bitches Brew (1969) Gustav Holst – ‘Neptune, the Mystic’ from The [...]

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