Chapter Eight: Not Even Light Escapes Me... "Soon they'll be breeding us like cattle! You've got to warn everyone and tell them! Soylent Green is made of people!" It's almost a haiku, isn't it? That immortal denouement, growled with such conviction by Charlton Heston, was penned by Stanley R. Greenberg who died this past week at the age of 74. There were many great lines in that film, little nuggets to illustrate how dystopian this gruesome future New York was. "Ever seen a cake of soap that big?" "You're one hell of a piece of furniture." "Beef, like you've never seen it before." Speaking of strange food, there is actually someone in Scotland who wants to ban haggis. Haggis? Ya canna ban me haggis! Telepolis has done an interview with Fred Frith. I've missed you, Fred. For any students too lethargic to do schoolwork the new improved version of CheatHouse.com is now up and running. And I found a great site for recovering theists called Detox. Much fun. Didja read that MIT's "Soldier of the Future" design, for which it got a 50 million dollar government grant back in March, was stolen from Image Comics Radix? And it only took six months to discover it. Things are looking up. Personally I think the army should invest in some high-tech manga-looking battlearmored uniforms. They could be completely ineffectual, and probably a hindrance, but a bunch of nomads on horseback might run if they saw a battalion of these coming over the hill. And in other "science fiction gone wrong" news, the old story that Al Qaeda was inspired by Asimov's Foundation books is starting to get pick up steam in the mainstream press. Oh good, another reason for the cultural guardians to censor, ban and tax the genre. ******** ******** I've been breaking in my new shot glasses to celebrate my 40th (a full decade past the limit imposed in Logan's Run). Downed some nice scotch in the "Just Swallow It!" glass Jen found in the Poconos, and used the Lucy the Elephant glass (with pewter bas relief, no less) for the last of the really old cognac I inherited from my grandmother along with the rest of her liquor cabinet. This act led me precariously close to the all-to-common act of thinking about death while drinking, which is second only to thinking about God while stoned as the most common middle-class brush with profundity. The pompous, melancholy strains of ELP's "Aquatarkus" (on vinyl, no less) were sauntering through my speakers, lending a degree of ballast to my very shallow thoughts. I came to the conclusion that I am a black hole. Let me explain... The shot glasses have a hallowed place inside the Bar Globe that Jen saw fit to bestow upon me last Christmas. They share the space with my modest swizzle stick collection. Well, it was modest, until Jen decreed that I was now a swizzle stick collector and purchased a sizable lot of the novelty trinkets (many of which are downright sexist and obscene. Cool.) for my birthday. Anyway, these are among the many things that populate my little domain. Although I do not consider myself a packrat, I seem to have a constant flow of new items entering my personal circle. Aside from the moderately steady trickle of books, CDs and action figures that I accrue, a good portion of the stuff is given to me by others. I am not talking about "special event" gifts here either. Bob Mankus of Bob's Hobbies (with two locations in Northampton and Springfield) is always giving me wonderful promotional posters for new and upcoming comics. Alex Terapane at Sci Fi Channel has sent me several items, including a six-foot tall Farscape poster that once graced a New York subway platform. Mark Vadnais seems to be in a near-constant state of burning CDs for me. People at work bring me stray toys because they know I "collect" them, friends email me links to obscure short stories and oddball books being sold on the web, you get the picture. All of this stuff ends up on the walls and shelves of the studio. The Studio is designed to be a place where creativity is fostered. It is full of interesting visuals and piles of art books and lots of reference material (like the Dictionary of Angels and An Exaltation of Larks). There are toys and gadgets in easy reach. Music is almost always playing. I have tried to keep the studio just shy of overwhelming. At a recent party it became a break-out room, and my friend Bill Clark looked around, eyes wide, and said "God, I love this place." The fact that so much of what adorns the room is acquired from the generosity of outside sources means that I am never completely in control of how the room looks. It is at the mercy of the matter that it is fed. People throw neat things at me because they know I am a sucker for them, and they become part of my environment. As fortunate as I am to be granted end-user status for such glorious gifts, I will occasionally feel uncomfortable for not being able to return the favors. I do not have access to large amounts of pass-through promo goodies, I do not spend nearly enough time downloading fun stuff to share with others, and I can't remember the last time I spread the word on anything neat found while trolling the web. All of this stuff comes into my environment, but none of it ever leaves. I am a singularity of fringe culture. Yes, there's a twinge of guilt in that sentence. So I have decided to try and reverse that flow, to get this black hole rotating at a high velocity so it gives off cascades of x-rays when particles collide with it. I will cry out from the rooftops when things come my way. I will distribute the yummy coolness of things to those around me. I do not know precisely how I will accomplish this, but it's a start. It's a new and properly ambiguous goal to set for the second forty years of my life. In an attempt to do away with some of the clutter in my life I have decided to discontinue the Radius page of this site. It was silly and dull. I am a rank amateur at managing a site, dependant on technical crutches and the boons of webmasters far more evolved than I. Nobody should want to read about my feeble exploits. Plus, I want to update this page more often, even weekly if possible. So salient updates concerning the site, as well as any notable misadventures running it, will be posted here. First news: The counter on the front page of the site hit 1000. Yay! A glance at my Homestead stats shows me that many folks go straight to the Links page or the Holiday Card Archive, thus bypassing the counter, so calculating a real visitor count would be more work than I care to embark on. I am certain that there is a simple and easily attainable fix for this. I am simply unaware of it. Last week I sent an email off to Bruce Sterling telling him about the Links Page and how it might be of some small assistance in his search of material for his Schism Matrix blog, and he sent me a short but complementary note back. My friend Lee Stranahan was visiting me this weekend and informed me that a gallery of his erotica was listed on the Lords of Acid links page. Curious (and who wouldn't be?), I went looking and discovered that the third link in the "B" section is called "Bad Day." The link is dead, and the arcane URL that comes up is certainly not mine. Many of the sites on that Links page are of an erotic nature, and I did leave flyers at a few goth shows as well as fetish fairs, so who knows? I also want to thank Scott Francis of Collapse Into Reason for putting me on the band's link page. They have shows coming up in preparation for the release of their new CD. Go see them. Check out their pretty new website. Speaking of Link pages, mine continues to grow. I've added many webzines and comic sites. There are more scream queens on the "My Favorite Women" section. I also added new categories, such as "Minatures," "What's in My Virtual Pocket?" and my favorite "Moral Codes" (Jen was responsible for most of the entries on that one). People continue to send me links and I am posting them as fast as I can. As it stands the page is added to almost daily. I have also included a list of links to other really big link pages from other sites that I have found. Finally, the oft-promised new content is shaping up nicely. Most of it fits into the formula of words-'n'-pretty-pictures, and most of it will be short-form. There is something refreshing and liberating about being able to tool the medium to the content as opposed to the other way around. It frees the brain up to tackle the more fleeting aspects of the material. I am using this hit-the-ground-running work ethic to try and write as much as I can, so I'm dividing my time between working on the goof-off stuff I post here and what I like to call "my real writing." Don't ask me what that means, it makes my head hurt. Ciao for now. JP |
Eager Anticipations: The Moebius online series Arzak Rhapsody. (Has anyone heard any more news on this?) The Leonid Meteors Egyptian Exhibit at Boston Science Warren Ellis' Global Frequency The Out of Time exhibit comes to Springfield. A new Nancy Kress novel Tadao Ando Exhibit at Clark Art A new Jonathan Carroll novel. New Discs and/or Tours by The Terrastock Music Festival The Super Mega Fests in Newark and Boston Alan Moore's Magic Words A new Walter Jon Williams novel. Another Line of Todd McFarlane/Clive Barker Tortured Souls figures. The SFX Expo in Boston DaVinci Drawings at The MET Apollo 13 in IMAX 3D Kerouac Days in Lowell Conventions 2003: The 2004 World Science Fiction Convention returns to Boston. Currently in My Various Stereos: Comsat Angels Chasing Shadows Front 242 Tyranny for You Propaganda A Secret Wish Masters of Reality Sunrise on the Sufferbus Cranes Future Songs Bill Nelson Atom Shop The Ocean Blue Davy Jone's Locker Catherine Wheel Happy Days Coliseum II Electric Savage Peter Murphy Dust And Also The Trees Virus Meadow Reeves Gabrels Ulysses Fire Merchants Landlords of Atlantis Paul Haslinger Future Primitive No-Man Dry Cleaning Ray Rasputina Cabin Fever Nik Turner Sphynx Bad Religion The Process of Belief |
Eager Anticipations: The Moebius online series Arzak Rhapsody. (Has anyone heard any more news on this?) The Leonid Meteors Egyptian Exhibit at Boston Science Warren Ellis' Global Frequency The Out of Time exhibit comes to Springfield. A new Nancy Kress novel Tadao Ando Exhibit at Clark Art A new Jonathan Carroll novel. New Discs and/or Tours by The Terrastock Music Festival The Super Mega Fests in Newark and Boston Alan Moore's Magic Words A new Walter Jon Williams novel. Another Line of Todd McFarlane/Clive Barker Tortured Souls figures. The SFX Expo in Boston DaVinci Drawings at The MET Apollo 13 in IMAX 3D Kerouac Days in Lowell Conventions 2003: The 2004 World Science Fiction Convention returns to Boston. Currently in My Various Stereos: Comsat Angels Chasing Shadows Front 242 Tyranny for You Propaganda A Secret Wish Masters of Reality Sunrise on the Sufferbus Cranes Future Songs Bill Nelson Atom Shop The Ocean Blue Davy Jone's Locker Catherine Wheel Happy Days Coliseum II Electric Savage Peter Murphy Dust And Also The Trees Virus Meadow Reeves Gabrels Ulysses Fire Merchants Landlords of Atlantis Paul Haslinger Future Primitive No-Man Dry Cleaning Ray Rasputina Cabin Fever Nik Turner Sphynx Bad Religion The Process of Belief |
Chapter Eight: Not Even Light Escapes Me... "Soon they'll be breeding us like cattle! You've got to warn everyone and tell them! Soylent Green is made of people!" It's almost a haiku, isn't it? That immortal denouement, growled with such conviction by Charlton Heston, was penned by Stanley R. Greenberg who died this past week at the age of 74. There were many great lines in that film, little nuggets to illustrate how dystopian this gruesome future New York was. "Ever seen a cake of soap that big?" "You're one hell of a piece of furniture." "Beef, like you've never seen it before." Speaking of strange food, there is actually someone in Scotland who wants to ban haggis. Haggis? Ya canna ban me haggis! Telepolis has done an interview with Fred Frith. I've missed you, Fred. For any students too lethargic to do schoolwork the new improved version of CheatHouse.com is now up and running. And I found a great site for recovering theists called Detox. Much fun. Didja read that MIT's "Soldier of the Future" design, for which it got a 50 million dollar government grant back in March, was stolen from Image Comics Radix? And it only took six months to discover it. Things are looking up. Personally I think the army should invest in some high-tech manga-looking battlearmored uniforms. They could be completely ineffectual, and probably a hindrance, but a bunch of nomads on horseback might run if they saw a battalion of these coming over the hill. And in other "science fiction gone wrong" news, the old story that Al Qaeda was inspired by Asimov's Foundation books is starting to get pick up steam in the mainstream press. Oh good, another reason for the cultural guardians to censor, ban and tax the genre. ******** ******** I've been breaking in my new shot glasses to celebrate my 40th (a full decade past the limit imposed in Logan's Run). Downed some nice scotch in the "Just Swallow It!" glass Jen found in the Poconos, and used the Lucy the Elephant glass (with pewter bas relief, no less) for the last of the really old cognac I inherited from my grandmother along with the rest of her liquor cabinet. This act led me precariously close to the all-to-common act of thinking about death while drinking, which is second only to thinking about God while stoned as the most common middle-class brush with profundity. The pompous, melancholy strains of ELP's "Aquatarkus" (on vinyl, no less) were sauntering through my speakers, lending a degree of ballast to my very shallow thoughts. I came to the conclusion that I am a black hole. Let me explain... The shot glasses have a hallowed place inside the Bar Globe that Jen saw fit to bestow upon me last Christmas. They share the space with my modest swizzle stick collection. Well, it was modest, until Jen decreed that I was now a swizzle stick collector and purchased a sizable lot of the novelty trinkets (many of which are downright sexist and obscene. Cool.) for my birthday. Anyway, these are among the many things that populate my little domain. Although I do not consider myself a packrat, I seem to have a constant flow of new items entering my personal circle. Aside from the moderately steady trickle of books, CDs and action figures that I accrue, a good portion of the stuff is given to me by others. I am not talking about "special event" gifts here either. Bob Mankus of Bob's Hobbies (with two locations in Northampton and Springfield) is always giving me wonderful promotional posters for new and upcoming comics. Alex Terapane at Sci Fi Channel has sent me several items, including a six-foot tall Farscape poster that once graced a New York subway platform. Mark Vadnais seems to be in a near-constant state of burning CDs for me. People at work bring me stray toys because they know I "collect" them, friends email me links to obscure short stories and oddball books being sold on the web, you get the picture. All of this stuff ends up on the walls and shelves of the studio. The Studio is designed to be a place where creativity is fostered. It is full of interesting visuals and piles of art books and lots of reference material (like the Dictionary of Angels and An Exaltation of Larks). There are toys and gadgets in easy reach. Music is almost always playing. I have tried to keep the studio just shy of overwhelming. At a recent party it became a break-out room, and my friend Bill Clark looked around, eyes wide, and said "God, I love this place." The fact that so much of what adorns the room is acquired from the generosity of outside sources means that I am never completely in control of how the room looks. It is at the mercy of the matter that it is fed. People throw neat things at me because they know I am a sucker for them, and they become part of my environment. As fortunate as I am to be granted end-user status for such glorious gifts, I will occasionally feel uncomfortable for not being able to return the favors. I do not have access to large amounts of pass-through promo goodies, I do not spend nearly enough time downloading fun stuff to share with others, and I can't remember the last time I spread the word on anything neat found while trolling the web. All of this stuff comes into my environment, but none of it ever leaves. I am a singularity of fringe culture. Yes, there's a twinge of guilt in that sentence. So I have decided to try and reverse that flow, to get this black hole rotating at a high velocity so it gives off cascades of x-rays when particles collide with it. I will cry out from the rooftops when things come my way. I will distribute the yummy coolness of things to those around me. I do not know precisely how I will accomplish this, but it's a start. It's a new and properly ambiguous goal to set for the second forty years of my life. In an attempt to do away with some of the clutter in my life I have decided to discontinue the Radius page of this site. It was silly and dull. I am a rank amateur at managing a site, dependant on technical crutches and the boons of webmasters far more evolved than I. Nobody should want to read about my feeble exploits. Plus, I want to update this page more often, even weekly if possible. So salient updates concerning the site, as well as any notable misadventures running it, will be posted here. First news: The counter on the front page of the site hit 1000. Yay! A glance at my Homestead stats shows me that many folks go straight to the Links page or the Holiday Card Archive, thus bypassing the counter, so calculating a real visitor count would be more work than I care to embark on. I am certain that there is a simple and easily attainable fix for this. I am simply unaware of it. Last week I sent an email off to Bruce Sterling telling him about the Links Page and how it might be of some small assistance in his search of material for his Schism Matrix blog, and he sent me a short but complementary note back. My friend Lee Stranahan was visiting me this weekend and informed me that a gallery of his erotica was listed on the Lords of Acid links page. Curious (and who wouldn't be?), I went looking and discovered that the third link in the "B" section is called "Bad Day." The link is dead, and the arcane URL that comes up is certainly not mine. Many of the sites on that Links page are of an erotic nature, and I did leave flyers at a few goth shows as well as fetish fairs, so who knows? I also want to thank Scott Francis of Collapse Into Reason for putting me on the band's link page. They have shows coming up in preparation for the release of their new CD. Go see them. Check out their pretty new website. Speaking of Link pages, mine continues to grow. I've added many webzines and comic sites. There are more scream queens on the "My Favorite Women" section. I also added new categories, such as "Minatures," "What's in My Virtual Pocket?" and my favorite "Moral Codes" (Jen was responsible for most of the entries on that one). People continue to send me links and I am posting them as fast as I can. As it stands the page is added to almost daily. I have also included a list of links to other really big link pages from other sites that I have found. Finally, the oft-promised new content is shaping up nicely. Most of it fits into the formula of words-'n'-pretty-pictures, and most of it will be short-form. There is something refreshing and liberating about being able to tool the medium to the content as opposed to the other way around. It frees the brain up to tackle the more fleeting aspects of the material. I am using this hit-the-ground-running work ethic to try and write as much as I can, so I'm dividing my time between working on the goof-off stuff I post here and what I like to call "my real writing." Don't ask me what that means, it makes my head hurt. Ciao for now. JP |
