comic con

pretty excited about THIS
amazing line up of comic book artists, should be amazing.

Fury and Tropic of Cancer

Tour continues and I've been reading Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. Famed both for being one of the great literary achievements of the 20th century and for the pornography trial that followed its publication in the US in 1964. I've been really enjoying the baffling mix of philosophical thinking and base sexual themes that run through the book, twisting and flipping from the high to the low with unnerving rapidity. I'd recommend it. Here are some of my favourite quotes so far...


For there is only one great adventure and that is inward toward the self, and for that, time nor space nor even deeds matter.

They were painfully clean. But inwardly they stank. Never once had they opened the door which leads to the soul; never once did they dream of taking a blind leap into the dark.

Also been reading Fury by Salman Rushdie:

This is what we are, what we civilize ourselves to disguise—the terrifying human animal in us, the exalted, transcendent, self-destructive, untrammelled lord of creation. We raise each other to the heights of joy. We tear each other limb from fucking limb.

Definitions and Yeats

I lost my voice on tour so I've been shut up at home doing a lot of reading. Found some interesting words:

ne·pen·thes  n. 1 (also ne·pen·the) POETIC/LITERARY a drug described in Homer's Odyssey as banishing grief or trouble from a person's mind.  any drug or potion bringing welcome forgetfulness. via Latin from Greek 'dispelling pain', from 'not' + penthos 'grief'.

phe·nom·e·nol·o·gy  n. [PHILOSOPHY] the science of phenomena as distinct from that of the nature of being.  an approach that concentrates on the study of consciousness and the objects of direct experience.   phe·nom·e·no·log·i·cal adj. phe·nom·e·no·log·i·cal·ly adv. phe·nom·e·nol·o·gist n.

Lo·gos  n. [THEOLOGY] the Word of God, or principle of divine reason and creative order, identified in the Gospel of John with the second person of the Trinity incarnate in Jesus Christ.  (in Jungian psychology) the principle of reason and judgment, associated with the animus. Often contrasted with EROS.  Greek, 'word, reason'.

sub·li·mate  v. 1 [trans.] (esp. in psychoanalytic theory) divert or modify (an instinctual impulse) into a culturally higher or socially more acceptable activity: people who will sublimate sexuality into activities which help to build up and preserve civilization; | he sublimates his hurt and anger into humor. 2 [CHEMISTRY] [intrans.] another term for SUBLIME.  n. [CHEMISTRY] a solid deposit of a substance that has sublimed.  
sub·li·ma·tion n.  late Middle English (in the sense 'raise to a higher status'): from Latin sublimat- 'raised up', from the verb sublimare.

au·tom·a·tism  n. the performance of actions without conscious thought or intention.    [ART] the avoidance of conscious intention in producing works of art, esp. by using mechanical techniques or subconscious associations.  an action performed unconsciously or involuntarily.  mid 19th cent.: from French automatisme, from automate 'automaton', from Greek automatos 'acting of itself' (see AUTOMATON).

o·nei·ric  adj. FORMAL of or relating to dreams or dreaming.  mid 19th cent.: from Greek oneiros 'dream' + -IC. Linked entries: -IC oneiro-  comb. form relating to dreams or dreaming: oneiromancy.  from Greek oneiros 'dream'. o·nei·ro·man·cy  n. the interpretation of dreams in order to foretell the future.

on·to·gen·e·sis  n. [BIOLOGY] the development of an individual organism or anatomical or behavioral feature from the earliest stage to maturity.   on·to·ge·net·ic adj. on·to·ge·net·i·cal·ly adv.  late 19th cent.: from Greek , ont- 'being' + genesis 'birth'.

I think that last one ontogenesis is my favourite. I like that as apposed to phylogenesis which is the study of a group of species or organisms through its evolution, ontogenesis "pertains to the developmental history of an organism within its own lifetime" which makes it feel more intimate. I'm not sure if you could apply it to the study of an individual person's development but with the album being called yolk I feel like its a fitting word to be fixated on for a while. The picture at the bottom of this post is a diagram of human embryogenesis, I might try and draw one for the songs.

Automatism is also interesting because it makes me think of writing techniques like automatic writing, a technique which the poet Yeats famously used. Its the idea of "the performance of actions without conscious thought" which I find interesting. It also ties into the idea of the occult and the writer as a messenger of the spirits/gods which is a whole other fascinating topic. If you're interested in it there's a brief run down of what its about HERE have a look at Kipling's quote especially. I like the idea of a "Daemon" writing The Jungle Book.

Yeats produced a whole volume of work derived from automatic writing which he undertook with the help of his wife. There is a lot of discussion as to what was actually happening in these writing sessions and Yeats himself was always ambiguous when talking about his position on its origin- as Virginia Moore wrote "Invariably students of A Vision ask, Was it really spirit-controlled discourse? Or was it, on Mrs. Yeats’ part, either a garnering of her subconscious, or a telepathic reading of her husband’s mind, neither of which requires extranatural help? Or was it a fabrication on the part of Yeats and/or his wife? or something else?"
Read more HERE

Patti Smith

The first time I heard Patti Smith's album Horses was a formative experience for me, I remember feeling amazed at the power of it, the urgency of her writing, the primal intensity of her delivery. I remember feeling as if my eyes had been opened to the possibilities of self expression, and even now that my musical tastes have shifted toward the heavier stuff, that album always manages to bring me back to that place of inspiration and a sense of everything being possible. It is with that backdrop that I wanted to post up yesterdays interview with her from the Guardian and an excerpt form her book Just Kids, I haven't read it yet but its just come out in paperback so I'm going to get it asap.


GUARDIAN INTERVIEW


EXCERPT FROM JUST KIDS

BUY JUST KIDS

EAUX D'ARTIFICE

I went to see some Kenneth Anger films last night, he was an experimental film maker who explored themes of sexuality and the occult. This film was made in 1953 when Anger was in his mid twenties and there's something very beautiful about the simplicity of the piece combined with Vivaldi's Winter Movement from the Four seasons which I find very moving.
Really its just a lady walking through a garden so I'll understand if everyone doesn't enjoy it but at the very least its aesthetically pleasing, so be pleased...

PART ONE

PART TWO

OLIVER PIETSCH at the Nettie Horn gallery

For anyone living in London this film by Oliver Pietsch is really worth seeing. An exploration on death in cinema told through filmic montage its free and on till the 30th of January.

NETTIE HORN GALLERY

The Brain: A Secret History

This new bbc documentary series looks at the darkest moments of psychology and how they have led to advances in the modern understanding of how the human brain works. Its a very interesting program which raises a lot of ethical questions about the means justifying the ends and whether it is morally acceptable to put people/animals through pain in order to further illuminate our understanding of human psychology. I've always been fascinated by the fragility of sanity and the danger of western medicine in its approach to medicated cures for mental illness so this series is pretty illuminating for me. Enjoy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xhgkd/The_Brain_A_Secret_History_Mind_Control/