Man. Just a few days ago I finished reading William Burroughs's Naked Lunch (I was compelled to read it after watching Cronenberg's film adaptation, which, despite Peter Weller's great performance, is a fair attempt, but is far from the book [though it reproduces certain few scenes very faithfully]).
Anyways, so now I'm reading Burroughs's notes on the book, and just last weekend, before going to see Fahrenheit 9/11 with Patrick, I ran into my favourite used-bookstore on Granville (What's their name, dammit? They're right after the Granville bridge, downtown, on the right side of the street...) and bought a few Ray Bradbury short story collections, (I still can't find any Robert Sheckley or Harry Harrison short stories, perhaps I should try Alibris), as well as American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
Man, what a book. I just cannot put it down (despite me being supposed to be reading Margeret Atwood's Alias Grace for my Canlit class and hurriedly writing a Poli. Sci. paper on the Green Party in Germany [due Thursday, heh.])
I don't know if this is some sort of twisted coincidence, but reading the tale of drugs, sex, wealth, power and insanity of whiteboy "have-all" Patrick Bateman in 1980s New York after reading the tale of drugs, sex, creativity, power and insanity of Burroughs's writer/reporter/spy alter-ego in late 1950s New York, Tangiers, and wherever the hell else...well, it's pretty damn weird and wonderful. ;)
Oh man.
Martian Chronicles is my all-star all-favorite book. The guy is (was?) a genious. So dark and hopeless and yet eternally optimistic...
Harry Harisson!! Jason (I think), the Deathworld and the Stainless Steel Rat series. I particularly remember asking my grandpa to buy a russian translation of deathworld back in russia. I must've been 8 or 9. In front on the subway. Crazy..
American Psycho blew me away! Christian Bale was awesome. I didn't realize there's a book. Must...acquire.
Holy. Memories...
Man! I see we come from the same traditions. Hell yeah, Bradbury is the man! Remember that story in the Chronicles, "There Will Be Soft Rains," about a house left standing after a nuclear holocaust? I think my dad read that to me when I was about eight. It was beautiful and I cried.
Damn right, Jason rocks. I laughed my head off when I first re-read it in the original: they translated shit wrong all the time: "Jason" became "Язон" and in the second book (Deathworld 2, aka Специалист по этике), "once in Rome [do as the Romans do]" became "однажды в Риме" (but that isn't the most serious of translation errors). Still, I was grateful for that stuff. The part in the frst book when Jason gambles or Kirk still grips me to this day.
I'm not too happy about the Stainless Steel Rat series, it seems more of an acquired taste, and I'm pissed that most of his short stories are unavailable. I'll find them, though, eventually.
Yes, Christian Bale rocks. Have you seen Equilibrium?
Hah, it took me a second to figure out how to transcribe "Yazon" in english. Funny. I haven't read anything of his in years. I haven't read Martian Chronicles in years either, and for some reason all I can remember is the "Silent Towns" (or Quiet Towns?) story - the blind date one. Great book it is.
I did see Equilibrium and it was pretty funky. Sorta Matrix-ish Farenheit 451 :)
HAHA, I remember that story, it's awesome.
Yeah, I think Equilibrium stole from a whole bunch of sources: Matrix, F251, Brave New World, 1984 - that's why despite the plot being decent, the conclusion is so weak - while the other works had a definite agenda or point to make, Equilibrium used a mix of dystopian plots to push forward Preston's character and the crazy-cool gun-kata technique.
While this made for a really awesome action flick, it didn't leave much to think about, i.e. the revolution Preston brings about seems too wide of a pendulum swing, too large and idealistic attempt for its own good.
Besides, as I have come to realize in the last few years, a good, tragic conclusion always fares well better than a "good guys win" scenario. A case in point is Terry Gilliam's Brazil (incidentally, another dystopian work, which I highly recommend).
You elaborate well.
Brazil is an excellent movie. Highly underrated because you're the second person who has ever mentioned it to me.
Also you're a comment posting machine.
Heh, yes. "Bonified, electrified, highly mechanized: THE POSTING MACHINE." Man, they should have me as a WWF character or something. ;)
But seriously, I can't let conversation ends dangle. I'm the same way with e-mail: Outlook is open 24/7. But I gotta say, I gave up on ICQ/MSN and other IM clients. Realtime text messaging somehow doesn't cut it for me anymore.
I used to turn ICQ on and feel harrassed, you know? In the past, I would thrive on instant communication, I would chat all the time, with whoever. Then I started adding my friends to my "visible" list and going into invisible mode all the time, to hide from all the "incidentals." Then, I cleaned off the list people I really had nothing to say to, other than to insincerely wish them "happy b-day," which ICQ reminded me of, (since my memory is like a fucking sieve), or to invite them to my FTP server (back when I actually ran one).
Now, I barely go online at all, maybe just to see who's on, who is still alive and around, to check the latest and the greatest which my multi-client, Trillian, aggregates for me via RSS...
I don't know...perhaps I like the time-delay factor in non-realtime text messaging. Even if I (or others) don't take time to think things through, somehow, it seems somewhat more...genuine. Heh, maybe I'm trying to make up for not writing snailmail to anymore anymore.
Interesting.
IM are beginning to piss the shit (ha) out of me. All the "u" and the "r" and the "2". My english is nowhere near your level but after seeing "how r u" I somehow feel personally insulted. The dumbass
- "wassup"
- "not. you?"
- "same.."
conversation irritate me to no end.
I still hang out in a bunch of IRC chnannels though. Mostly bike related and #russf (guess what that is).
Anyway, I lost my train of though, going to do some homework now..
Hah, good one. ;) Well, I gotta say, it's actually not the third-grade/1337 h4x0r spelling that gets me, it's that people have nothing to say. I still can't believe how fulfilling that kind of conversation was back in grades 11 and 12, though.
I never got into the entire IRC thing. I tried warezing through it, I tried finding cool places to chat with people, but everyone is so fucking cliquey there...I just don't have the fucking time to build up these chat-buddy "relationships" anymore, neither online nor offline (unless under the influence).
The way I fugure it, I have enough friends to last me a lifetime already; I'm not gonna spread myself thin with a million hi-byes, and will instead invest myself in the select few I choose to call my friend and am able to reciprocate with.
Yes. Homework is good. Speaking of which, man, I'm ranting. I think my 300mL of black coffee have finally kicked in. I gotta get back to my Poli. Sci. paper...due tomorrow. ;)