Being bookless while traveling can be a harrowing experience. A real nightmare. Totally.
A walking distance away (which for NF is anything within a one/two mile radius) from his place in Evanston was Barnes and Noble. It is common knowledge among those who know him that Nanga Fakir is drawn to bookstores as pigs are drawn to feces. The analogy extends even further. Both NF and the pigs then like to drown themselves uninhibitedly into the arms of their objects of desire, squeaking with delight and producing the legendary "Oink, Oink" sound.
And so it was that a pig named Nanga Fakir was let loose in a cultured, sophisticated and well mannered reading establishment.
He wanted to treat himself to a good book. It became even more important because he'd forgotten about his own birthday a few days ago. And so he began his search, sifting through the pile of books that lay in a sort of majestic arrogance in front of him.
There were (are) many books on his list. Michael Chabon has been one of the writers on the list for quite some time now (especially his books The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and The Yiddish Policeman's Union). Also on the list has been Thomas Pynchon and his magnum opus Gravity's Rainbow (legend (perhaps apocryphal) has it that Pynchon wrote the first draft of this book on an engineering blueprint after his application for graduate work in Mathematics was rejected by UC Berkeley). Truman Capote, Cormac McCarthy, William Gibson's Spook Country and Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises (which came with very high recommendations from AK) were also given serious consideration.
The list also consisted of other giants whose names NF drops casually in mundane day-to-day conversations (unfortunately) to people with no lit propensities thereby making a fool of himself with appreciable frequency.
The book he finally settled on however, was David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. The writer had come to his notice when the lit establishment was shaken by his suicide last year. Apparently the writer was afflicted with a particularly severe form of unipolar depression for a long time. However, the thing that intrigued NF most was the obvious awe with which lit giants wrote his obituary. Plus the description of Infinite Jest as a massive work on multiple, disparate themes set in the future with an underlying bizarre sense of humor that accompanies the narrative, decided the question. Currently however, Nanga Fakir is struggling with the difficult to read thousand plus page tome at the rate of twenty odd pages an hour.
Difficult books can sometimes end up a lot of fun he thinks (think of difficult children sometimes turning out to be brilliant adults or Kurosawa's boring period pieces turning out to be thought provoking experiences after a never ending couple of hours). The examples of Neuromancer and War and Peace come straight to mind. That is why Nanga Fakir hasn't given up on fat works and intends to complete Gravity's Rainbow and Dhalgren someday.
The sly dog NF also managed to filch the Pulitzer prize winner Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond and India: A Million Mutinies Now by V S Naipaul from his brother's rather modest book collection.
Being so heavily loaded on books, one might think Nanga Fakir decided to call it a day.
"Not really", he says.
...
To be followed by Part Three.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Road (Part One)
He was bored, down and confused. His birthday was coming up and his ass was about to be totally whipped. So Nanga Fakir decided to travel.
It's funny how despite the fact that he is more interested in books than in people, traveling always cheers him up and clears up his mind. It probably makes him think that something is happening. Other things remain the same however. He does the exact same things on the road as he does off of it (reads books and comics, checks email, sleeps for twelve hours, coordinates with governments for world peace etc etc).
In particular, walking around new places aimlessly excites him the most. Does he observe the beauty (or the lack of it) of the new surroundings he's walking through? Not really. He's so self engrossed that all he can pay attention to is the pleasure of thinking the same things over and over again in an area that has a different shade of background noise than his usual haunts'. So is it the destination that holds his interest? No, it's the clichéd journey.
I bet if you deprive him of books, he'll get bored to death even on the sets of The Jerry Springer Show (which by the way, he totally hearts); and so it only made sense to see him pack Inside Mr Enderby and The Road as he decided to visit Chicago for pointless rides in the subway, pleasant and shivery random walks around Evanston and most importantly - free beers (for the sake of which he had to endure the company of an old woman who leaked mustard farts in fifteen minute cycles on the airplane).
The city welcomed him with open arms in the guise of a black beast-of-a-woman twice his size and thrice his age who promised to show him "a good time" (NF has never been more frightened).
Soon enough, putting the aforementioned traumatic experience behind him, he decided to visit an old schoolfriend who he considers to be among the few select humans in the epsilon neighborhood of his own smartness (Nanga Fakir thinks he's awesome but we know better, don't we?). The promise of free beers and a sailing expedition in Lake Michigan removed remnant hardwired traces of laziness and set his focus straight. He didn't yet know (he'd totally forgotten) that it was his birthday that very day and would be reminded of this late in the night well into his nth beer. Very characteristically, it would come across as a dumb shock as he would realize that he'd wasted one more year having learned nothing from life (or as some would say, the lack of it). Had it not been for the beer and the company, it would've meant one more pointless bout of bitter introspection.
The biggest discovery of the trip however (which has obviously got nothing to do with the trip per se) was Julia Wertz and her Fart Party. Nanga Fakir is always taken by surprise when he finds autobiographical accounts of insignificant humans totally engrossing. It was not for the artwork that he read Julia's comic. She didn't claim to offer any deep insights into the nature of things either. She was her usual, bitchy, whiny self with no pretenses and no illusions about what she was setting out to do. It must take an enormous amount of presumptuousness to post details about your life and expect junta to take an interest in it. It must take an obscene amount of courage also.
Here's NF's favorite post from the Fart Party - a terrific piece about cravings for solitude. Go Julia!
Part Two to follow up shortly.
It's funny how despite the fact that he is more interested in books than in people, traveling always cheers him up and clears up his mind. It probably makes him think that something is happening. Other things remain the same however. He does the exact same things on the road as he does off of it (reads books and comics, checks email, sleeps for twelve hours, coordinates with governments for world peace etc etc).
In particular, walking around new places aimlessly excites him the most. Does he observe the beauty (or the lack of it) of the new surroundings he's walking through? Not really. He's so self engrossed that all he can pay attention to is the pleasure of thinking the same things over and over again in an area that has a different shade of background noise than his usual haunts'. So is it the destination that holds his interest? No, it's the clichéd journey.
I bet if you deprive him of books, he'll get bored to death even on the sets of The Jerry Springer Show (which by the way, he totally hearts); and so it only made sense to see him pack Inside Mr Enderby and The Road as he decided to visit Chicago for pointless rides in the subway, pleasant and shivery random walks around Evanston and most importantly - free beers (for the sake of which he had to endure the company of an old woman who leaked mustard farts in fifteen minute cycles on the airplane).
The city welcomed him with open arms in the guise of a black beast-of-a-woman twice his size and thrice his age who promised to show him "a good time" (NF has never been more frightened).
Soon enough, putting the aforementioned traumatic experience behind him, he decided to visit an old schoolfriend who he considers to be among the few select humans in the epsilon neighborhood of his own smartness (Nanga Fakir thinks he's awesome but we know better, don't we?). The promise of free beers and a sailing expedition in Lake Michigan removed remnant hardwired traces of laziness and set his focus straight. He didn't yet know (he'd totally forgotten) that it was his birthday that very day and would be reminded of this late in the night well into his nth beer. Very characteristically, it would come across as a dumb shock as he would realize that he'd wasted one more year having learned nothing from life (or as some would say, the lack of it). Had it not been for the beer and the company, it would've meant one more pointless bout of bitter introspection.
The biggest discovery of the trip however (which has obviously got nothing to do with the trip per se) was Julia Wertz and her Fart Party. Nanga Fakir is always taken by surprise when he finds autobiographical accounts of insignificant humans totally engrossing. It was not for the artwork that he read Julia's comic. She didn't claim to offer any deep insights into the nature of things either. She was her usual, bitchy, whiny self with no pretenses and no illusions about what she was setting out to do. It must take an enormous amount of presumptuousness to post details about your life and expect junta to take an interest in it. It must take an obscene amount of courage also.
Here's NF's favorite post from the Fart Party - a terrific piece about cravings for solitude. Go Julia!
Part Two to follow up shortly.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Another Webcomic
A nice, cute webcomic by Julia Wertz - The Fart Party.
The subject matter centers mostly around little autobiographical details of a short, skinny, often foul-mouthed artist who cribs a lot. You'll sort of like her.
The subject matter centers mostly around little autobiographical details of a short, skinny, often foul-mouthed artist who cribs a lot. You'll sort of like her.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
In which he takes a Resolution
Nanga Fakir is going to drown himself in Mathematics, Philosophy, Films, Reading, Writing and Travel.
He will read like a madman, with the fury and mad intensity of one who is consumed by the burning fever of knowing everything about everything.
And yes, he will write. Oh yes, he will. I will make sure he does so.
He will read like a madman, with the fury and mad intensity of one who is consumed by the burning fever of knowing everything about everything.
And yes, he will write. Oh yes, he will. I will make sure he does so.
"[N]othing is as surprising as life. Except for writing. Except for writing. Yes, of course, except for writing, the only consolation."
Orhan Pamuk (The Black Book)
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Friday, May 08, 2009
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Enforced Nostalghia
What S'kal gave me was the company of some absolutely brilliant people whom I love with all the testosterone that can be packed in a couple of (battle fatigued?) testicles. Some of them will rise up and be successful tomorrow. Some of them will give up and wallow in their laziness. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that whenever I will meet them over a cup of coffee or a mug of beer and listen to what they have to say, I will grin in approval, chuckle in satisfaction, think in earnest, bite with sarcasm, mock with a coldly calculated cynicism, even seethe with anger but never ever, oh thank god, never shrug with indifference or nod with boredom.
PS: To be taken with a pinch of salt (read composed while high).
PS: To be taken with a pinch of salt (read composed while high).
Monday, April 27, 2009
Webcomic 2.0
If the sample below does not compel you to follow The Perry Bible Fellowship, you are a lost cause.
(Click on image for larger size).
Link
(Click on image for larger size).
Link
Thursday, April 23, 2009
DD : Dental Disappointment
Quoted from a recent email (without permission of course). Don't let the typos get in your way!
Sounds like a Cartman gang ambush to me.
dear instructor,
this is your student, XYZ. i had gotten involved with something serious over the weekend, 10 unknown attackers jumped me and knocked out one of my tooth. i was no present for monday's class due to serious dental pain and dental appointment. i was prescribed a high dosage of codein which has rendered me unfit to attend class for this week. please excuse me missing today's quiz as i would like to make up monday's class and the quiz at a later time. i do have a doctor's note for the date of tues as well as the presciption notice. thank you.
Sounds like a Cartman gang ambush to me.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
More Additions (Part 2)
1) 3-Iron (Korean): Kim ki Duk's fixation with minimalism continues with this baap of all romance movies. The director takes a love story, rips it down to its barest essentials, sucks off all dialogue (between the main two leads, there is only one dialogue - the clichéd "I love you" at the very end), adds a touch or two of quiet, meditative humour here and there and manages to produce probably the greatest romance movie I've seen.
You don't know the meaning of 'shock and awe' until you've seen this film.
Since it is such a bloody brilliant film (it merits a place in the "Beyond AA" part of my list), let me post a picture.
2) Stardust Memories (English): A 1980 Woody Allen classic. With many scenes filched (as tribute? as parody?) directly from 8½, the usual staple of failed romances and Woody Allen's role as the famous film director more known for his "earlier, funny movies" (a running joke throughout the film), it is easily my favourite Allen movie beating even the impossible to beat Deconstructing Harry, Annie Hall and September.
Quite a feat!
3) Bad Guy (Korean): Hint 1: Kim ki Duk, Hint 2: Romance.
Another warped. twisted, demented love story as can be conceived only by Kim ki Duk. Seasoned, hardened veterans of the twisted/extreme cinema movement are also in for a shock by the climax.
Enough said. Go watch.
4) In the Mood for Love (Cantonese): For some great films, you use words like "brilliant", "powerful", "beautiful" etc. For some others you can use "kickass", "unbelievable" and "stunning". For some great cinema however, you're simply stumped for words. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact emotion that washes over you by the time the movie ends. Perhaps it is awe, perhaps it is an urge to kneel down and wonder what hit you.
Welcome to the cinema of Wang-Kar-wai!
I think his movies merit a separate post by themselves in which I rant, rave, kneel, worship and grovel at the fragmented, labile and madly, madly stylish romances of the Hong Kong auteur. So here I will stick to a short account of the awesomeness that this film is.
But first, a still.
Tony Leung (the Shahrukh Khan of Hong Kong) is brilliant. Maggie Cheung is a dream in a cheongsam. The last time (before In the mood...) I felt so moved after witnessing an overpowering more-than-your-mortal-ass-can-conceive-ness was when as a thirteen year old I read The Idiot and hated Dostoyevsky for the book's climax.
And I'd thought I was jaded! What a pleasant surprise!
And you know what the best part is? It is only a prelude to the final installment of the trilogy - 2046 which is even more brilliant than In the mood...
<*is exhausted after singing so many hosannas*>
2046 and others will be covered in the next installment.
You don't know the meaning of 'shock and awe' until you've seen this film.
Since it is such a bloody brilliant film (it merits a place in the "Beyond AA" part of my list), let me post a picture.
2) Stardust Memories (English): A 1980 Woody Allen classic. With many scenes filched (as tribute? as parody?) directly from 8½, the usual staple of failed romances and Woody Allen's role as the famous film director more known for his "earlier, funny movies" (a running joke throughout the film), it is easily my favourite Allen movie beating even the impossible to beat Deconstructing Harry, Annie Hall and September.
Quite a feat!
3) Bad Guy (Korean): Hint 1: Kim ki Duk, Hint 2: Romance.
Another warped. twisted, demented love story as can be conceived only by Kim ki Duk. Seasoned, hardened veterans of the twisted/extreme cinema movement are also in for a shock by the climax.
Enough said. Go watch.
4) In the Mood for Love (Cantonese): For some great films, you use words like "brilliant", "powerful", "beautiful" etc. For some others you can use "kickass", "unbelievable" and "stunning". For some great cinema however, you're simply stumped for words. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact emotion that washes over you by the time the movie ends. Perhaps it is awe, perhaps it is an urge to kneel down and wonder what hit you.
Welcome to the cinema of Wang-Kar-wai!
I think his movies merit a separate post by themselves in which I rant, rave, kneel, worship and grovel at the fragmented, labile and madly, madly stylish romances of the Hong Kong auteur. So here I will stick to a short account of the awesomeness that this film is.
But first, a still.
Tony Leung (the Shahrukh Khan of Hong Kong) is brilliant. Maggie Cheung is a dream in a cheongsam. The last time (before In the mood...) I felt so moved after witnessing an overpowering more-than-your-mortal-ass-can-conceive-ness was when as a thirteen year old I read The Idiot and hated Dostoyevsky for the book's climax.
And I'd thought I was jaded! What a pleasant surprise!
And you know what the best part is? It is only a prelude to the final installment of the trilogy - 2046 which is even more brilliant than In the mood...
<*is exhausted after singing so many hosannas*>
2046 and others will be covered in the next installment.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Billu'ed
He refused to budge, stuck it out for eleven long months and continued to show The Man his middle finger.
Nanga Fakir's long, dark tresses were mowed down mercilessly last night. He now sports an ex Auschwitz inmate look. He knows it'll be the latest in thing on the Seventh Avenue soon.
Nanga Fakir's long, dark tresses were mowed down mercilessly last night. He now sports an ex Auschwitz inmate look. He knows it'll be the latest in thing on the Seventh Avenue soon.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Further Cinematic Adventures
नंगे फ़कीर की अगली दो फिल्मों (बतौर लेखक और निर्देशक) के टाइटल हैं:
1) नाची नाची बहुत नाची, फिबोनाची, फिबोनाची
गणित, नृत्य, संगीत और आइटम नंबरों से भरपूर पारिवारिक मनोरंजन.
एक मेधावी गणितज्ञ का किरदार निभाते हुए शक्ति कपूर और उनकी ममतामयी माँ के रोल में राखी सावंत आपका मन मोह लेंगे.
2) फुर्तीला अजगर
कहानी एक तिरस्कृत, पिटे हुए अजगर की, जो पेड़ की शाखाओं पे सोते सोते अपना जीवन व्यतीत करता है. लेकिन एक दिन देवी माँ की अपरिमित कृपा से वह अपने अन्दर के सोये हुए संगीतकार को जगाता है और शीघ्र ही विश्व का सबसे फुर्तीला पिआनोवादक बन जाता है.
अजगर के किरदार में अदनान सामी अपने पहले रोल में! देवी माँ का रोल एक बार फिर राखी सावंत के ज़िम्मे.
...
आशा है की दर्शकों को पसंद आएगी.
जय राखी माता !!!
1) नाची नाची बहुत नाची, फिबोनाची, फिबोनाची
गणित, नृत्य, संगीत और आइटम नंबरों से भरपूर पारिवारिक मनोरंजन.
एक मेधावी गणितज्ञ का किरदार निभाते हुए शक्ति कपूर और उनकी ममतामयी माँ के रोल में राखी सावंत आपका मन मोह लेंगे.
2) फुर्तीला अजगर
कहानी एक तिरस्कृत, पिटे हुए अजगर की, जो पेड़ की शाखाओं पे सोते सोते अपना जीवन व्यतीत करता है. लेकिन एक दिन देवी माँ की अपरिमित कृपा से वह अपने अन्दर के सोये हुए संगीतकार को जगाता है और शीघ्र ही विश्व का सबसे फुर्तीला पिआनोवादक बन जाता है.
अजगर के किरदार में अदनान सामी अपने पहले रोल में! देवी माँ का रोल एक बार फिर राखी सावंत के ज़िम्मे.
...
आशा है की दर्शकों को पसंद आएगी.
जय राखी माता !!!
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Further Adventures
Discovered two new, totally ass-kicking film Directors - Lee Chang-Dong (Korean) and Takeshi Kitano (Japan) (of Takeshi's Castle fame!).
Oasis is an ultra non standard romance. Brilliant through and through, it features some of the most dazzling acting performances you'll get to see.
Kitano's deadpan humour, casual violence and minimalism (in Hana-bi) are remarkably refreshing.
Also finished The Motion of Light in Water - a brief autobiography by Samuel R Delany.
Currently on the playlist among movies are Dolls and Achilles and the Tortoise by Kitano. Among books, Accelarando (Charles Stross) and Cat's Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut) compete for my attention.
Mood: Quiet contentment!
Oasis is an ultra non standard romance. Brilliant through and through, it features some of the most dazzling acting performances you'll get to see.
Kitano's deadpan humour, casual violence and minimalism (in Hana-bi) are remarkably refreshing.
Also finished The Motion of Light in Water - a brief autobiography by Samuel R Delany.
Currently on the playlist among movies are Dolls and Achilles and the Tortoise by Kitano. Among books, Accelarando (Charles Stross) and Cat's Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut) compete for my attention.
Mood: Quiet contentment!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
The idea is the following. There is a bullet which hurtles down at breakneck speed towards a wall (say). As a cruel joke, the bullet's been provided with butterfly wings. So as not to smash head on to the wall, the bullet tries its best to flap its teeny-weeny pellucid little worthless excuse of a wing to save itself from inevitable destruction. Unfortunately for the bullet, the laws of physics, the eternal party poopers, guide it towards its imminent doom.
With or without the wings - butterfly or otherwise.
And then comes the chorus:
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
...
Heh, I love big, fat, rich rock bands making infinite money off their own suffering, getting richer and doing it all over again.
With or without the wings - butterfly or otherwise.
And then comes the chorus:
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
...
Heh, I love big, fat, rich rock bands making infinite money off their own suffering, getting richer and doing it all over again.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Insanely Funny
A white, American gay guy looking at Indian men (aka Briyanshu's Bollywood Butt Blog)
Has to be seen to be believed. One of the genuine laugh-out-loud-till-you-rip-your-guts-apart moments you will have. Promise!
Link
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Reading List (part two)
9) The Brothers Karamzov: Fifth (?) re-read. Plenty more to follow.
10) The Insulted and the Humiliated: This was my second Dostoyevsky book overall. I think I read it first in 10th/11th standard. AK once mentioned (I think in final year) that this book in particular brought him close to tears before he pulled himself together. I'd like to imagine him shedding a couple of tears but the image doesn't quite gel up. How sad!
11) The Difference Engine: The two biggest stalwarts of Science Fiction - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling come together to invent a new sub-genre of Science Fiction - Steampunk. Imagine an alternative past in which Charles Babbage has managed to make his Difference Engine and Ada Lovelace has managed to program the machine. Throw in conspiracies and political intrigue and set up the great London smog of '52 in Victorian times, Lord Byron as the Prime Minister and what follows is a riveting experiment in alternative history telling by two of the most brilliant thinkers of our times.
12) Snow: Orhan Pamuk is a fashionable writer to follow. Especially if you move around in lit circles. So it's not without reason that I came to read him filled with a lot of prejudices. However, having read two of his books - The Black Book and Snow, I must concede that he's won me over. In particular, I think that The Black Book is a stunning read. Snow is awesome too. Very, very highbrow stuff. Recommended to lit junta.
13) Joker: I had blogged about the much anticipated book by Brian Azzarello before also. The book however, is a big let down. A very ordinary story with some stunning artwork in patches. Disappointing overall.
14) Notes from Underground: The most intense hundred page book I keep coming back to. Dostoyevsky kicks ass. Totally.
15) Still Life with Woodpecker: Tom Robbins is currently my favourite writer. This is a terrific book, an enchantingly bizarre love story full of obscure little details with a sardonic, witty, earth shattering explosion of an author. I'll quote the blurb
Another excerpt that I just have to post.
Terrific, heady stuff. I gave this book to AK to carry away to Stanford. I want it back!
Part three of the reading list to follow. Let's see when that happens.
10) The Insulted and the Humiliated: This was my second Dostoyevsky book overall. I think I read it first in 10th/11th standard. AK once mentioned (I think in final year) that this book in particular brought him close to tears before he pulled himself together. I'd like to imagine him shedding a couple of tears but the image doesn't quite gel up. How sad!
11) The Difference Engine: The two biggest stalwarts of Science Fiction - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling come together to invent a new sub-genre of Science Fiction - Steampunk. Imagine an alternative past in which Charles Babbage has managed to make his Difference Engine and Ada Lovelace has managed to program the machine. Throw in conspiracies and political intrigue and set up the great London smog of '52 in Victorian times, Lord Byron as the Prime Minister and what follows is a riveting experiment in alternative history telling by two of the most brilliant thinkers of our times.
12) Snow: Orhan Pamuk is a fashionable writer to follow. Especially if you move around in lit circles. So it's not without reason that I came to read him filled with a lot of prejudices. However, having read two of his books - The Black Book and Snow, I must concede that he's won me over. In particular, I think that The Black Book is a stunning read. Snow is awesome too. Very, very highbrow stuff. Recommended to lit junta.
13) Joker: I had blogged about the much anticipated book by Brian Azzarello before also. The book however, is a big let down. A very ordinary story with some stunning artwork in patches. Disappointing overall.
14) Notes from Underground: The most intense hundred page book I keep coming back to. Dostoyevsky kicks ass. Totally.
15) Still Life with Woodpecker: Tom Robbins is currently my favourite writer. This is a terrific book, an enchantingly bizarre love story full of obscure little details with a sardonic, witty, earth shattering explosion of an author. I'll quote the blurb
Still Life with Woodpecker is sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that include powerful Arabs, exiled royalty and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem of redheads.
Another excerpt that I just have to post.
Albert Camus wrote that the only serious question is whether to kill yourself or not.
Tom Robbins wrote that the only serious question is whether time has a beginning and an end.
Camus clearly got up on the wrong side of bed, and Robbins must have forgotten to set the alarm.
There is only one serious question. And that is:
Who knows how to make love stay?
Answer me that and I will tell you whether or not to kill yourself.
Answer me that and I will ease your mind about the beginning and the end of time.
Answer me that and I will reveal to you the purpose of the moon.
Terrific, heady stuff. I gave this book to AK to carry away to Stanford. I want it back!
Part three of the reading list to follow. Let's see when that happens.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
To all Friend-Whores
Down with Facebook!
One of the best articles I've read in a really, really, really long time.
For god's fucking sake, please read it.
One of the best articles I've read in a really, really, really long time.
For god's fucking sake, please read it.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Reading List (part one)
It's been quite a while since I shared my reading list here. Truth be told, I haven't been reading much at all. So here's a list of the books I've been reading for the past six-seven months.
1) The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul: This Batman comic is written by Grant Morrison. It's a bad read however, full of magic, supernaturalness and otherworldness.
<*Gets prepared for being whacked by Grant Morrison's die hard fans*>
<*Whack, whack, whack*>
<*Emerges with a bloody nose*>
2) War Games Act One (Batman): Nothing great about it either.
<*Yawn*>
3) The Idiot: A fourth (or is it fifth?) re-read of the Dostoyevsky masterpiece. I can do this over and over again and yet not stop being awestruck each and every time I read this book.
4), 5), 6) The Bridge Trilogy (William Gibson): William Gibson has been the noir prophet of cyberpunk and has never failed to amaze me with his minimal, gritty, compact prose about societies of the near future and their interaction with technology. Here is a writer who operates more as a sociologist, argues that culture is shaped by technological shifts and writes about human/societal behaviour in the way no other person can write about (cf: "The street finds its own uses for things"). He was writing about science fictional extrapolations of underground subcultures way before they became big enough to be noticeable (he writes about Otakus and their subculture in near future settings in 1996!).
So it's easily understandable that this trilogy totally kicks ass. The three books of the trilogy: Virtual Light, Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties continue on the Gibsonian theme of the merger of technology and humans and the proliferation of AIs and their effects on society in a dystopic setting, although this time the future is much nearer than that of the earlier Sprawl Trilogy.
Virtual Light, however, is probably the weakest William Gibson book I've read. As a standalone book, I didn't think it was as awesome as his earlier works. Idoru is brilliant. All Tomorrow's Parties (the name is a tribute to the eponymous Velvet Underground song) is the perfect consummation of all the themes explored in the trilogy. The ending is fantastic and reminded me of the awe inspiring, shatteringly earth shaking ending of Neuromancer (relax, I am not going to rave all over again about how great the book is).
Highly recommended!
7) Pattern Recognition (William Gibson): This book is set in the present and features a mysterious series of film footages found on the internet and the hunt for its maker. A thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking read.
The story started in the book continues over in the second installment, Spook Country - a book I have not yet read (actually the only Gibson book I haven't read till now).
If one observes the way Gibson has been writing, one sees that the timelines of worlds that he's been writing about have become more and more close to the current world timeline. He started off with Burning Chrome, (the anthology) and then went on to write the Sprawl Trilogy (set in a far future) and the Bridge Trilogy (set in a nearer future). Now come Pattern Recognition and Spook Country set in the present world. Juxtapose this with his now famous statement - "The future is already here - it's just not evenly distributed" and you begin to appreciate the remarkable insights that the writer has to offer.
8) Burning Chrome (Anthology) (William Gibson): The groundbreaking anthology that set Cyberpunk on the highbrow science fiction manifesto. The stories are trademark Gibson - taut, spare, tense stories about lonely anti heroes in SF settings suffused with heavy doses of film noir. Terrific stuff.
The rest thirteen books will be covered in part two. Don't hold your breaths though.
1) The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul: This Batman comic is written by Grant Morrison. It's a bad read however, full of magic, supernaturalness and otherworldness.
<*Gets prepared for being whacked by Grant Morrison's die hard fans*>
<*Whack, whack, whack*>
<*Emerges with a bloody nose*>
2) War Games Act One (Batman): Nothing great about it either.
<*Yawn*>
3) The Idiot: A fourth (or is it fifth?) re-read of the Dostoyevsky masterpiece. I can do this over and over again and yet not stop being awestruck each and every time I read this book.
4), 5), 6) The Bridge Trilogy (William Gibson): William Gibson has been the noir prophet of cyberpunk and has never failed to amaze me with his minimal, gritty, compact prose about societies of the near future and their interaction with technology. Here is a writer who operates more as a sociologist, argues that culture is shaped by technological shifts and writes about human/societal behaviour in the way no other person can write about (cf: "The street finds its own uses for things"). He was writing about science fictional extrapolations of underground subcultures way before they became big enough to be noticeable (he writes about Otakus and their subculture in near future settings in 1996!).
So it's easily understandable that this trilogy totally kicks ass. The three books of the trilogy: Virtual Light, Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties continue on the Gibsonian theme of the merger of technology and humans and the proliferation of AIs and their effects on society in a dystopic setting, although this time the future is much nearer than that of the earlier Sprawl Trilogy.
Virtual Light, however, is probably the weakest William Gibson book I've read. As a standalone book, I didn't think it was as awesome as his earlier works. Idoru is brilliant. All Tomorrow's Parties (the name is a tribute to the eponymous Velvet Underground song) is the perfect consummation of all the themes explored in the trilogy. The ending is fantastic and reminded me of the awe inspiring, shatteringly earth shaking ending of Neuromancer (relax, I am not going to rave all over again about how great the book is).
Highly recommended!
7) Pattern Recognition (William Gibson): This book is set in the present and features a mysterious series of film footages found on the internet and the hunt for its maker. A thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking read.
The story started in the book continues over in the second installment, Spook Country - a book I have not yet read (actually the only Gibson book I haven't read till now).
If one observes the way Gibson has been writing, one sees that the timelines of worlds that he's been writing about have become more and more close to the current world timeline. He started off with Burning Chrome, (the anthology) and then went on to write the Sprawl Trilogy (set in a far future) and the Bridge Trilogy (set in a nearer future). Now come Pattern Recognition and Spook Country set in the present world. Juxtapose this with his now famous statement - "The future is already here - it's just not evenly distributed" and you begin to appreciate the remarkable insights that the writer has to offer.
8) Burning Chrome (Anthology) (William Gibson): The groundbreaking anthology that set Cyberpunk on the highbrow science fiction manifesto. The stories are trademark Gibson - taut, spare, tense stories about lonely anti heroes in SF settings suffused with heavy doses of film noir. Terrific stuff.
The rest thirteen books will be covered in part two. Don't hold your breaths though.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
I Like My Juice Pulpy
Surendra Mohan Pathak, the prolific Hindi pulp fiction writer is being translated into English!
Link
Do read this if you have even the slightest interest in Pulp Fiction.
Link
Do read this if you have even the slightest interest in Pulp Fiction.
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