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July 2009
The Archives
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07.31.09I want candyThe ramifications of The Pirate Bay go way beyond the music industry. For one, DVD piracy has an even more serious impact on independent filmmakers who aren't protected by the legal clout of the studio system, because they have fewer alternative streams of revenue such as merchandising or live shows (which may be why David Lynch now does nixers as a public speaker and meditation guru). Then there's publishing. Until now, downloadable texts, even pdfs of entire books, were of little threat to the physical incarnation because they were too unwieldy and hard on the eyes. But as e-reader designers strive ...
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07.30.09largeheartedboy’s original soundtracksThe largeheartedboy blog has a very cool series up and running where authors compile a soundtrack for their book. I did the honours for J the R. Check it out: http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2009/07/book_notes_pete_4.html
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07.29.09The Other BookerOne of the coolest ways to find out that your book hasn't made the Booker longlist is to discover that the Guardian bloggers have multiple nominated it as one of the books that should've. Many thanks! For those who reckon J the R deserves a look-in, feel free to vote: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/jul/28/not-the-booker-prize
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07.27.09Blood and the moonKároly Bari on the Holocaust in Gypsy folk poetry. http://www.hungarianquarterly.com/no162/064.html
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07.26.09Bear NecessitiesThe other week your correspondent purchased a copy of the much-acclaimed 2005 Werner Herzog documentary Grizzly Man, the story of Timothy Treadwell, a guy who spent 13 summers in Katmai National Park and Preserve on the Alaskan peninsula studying and filming wild bears before he and his girlfriend were killed by one. The subject was obviously a seriously disturbed individual (and, to be honest, an insufferably irritating one). Treadwell was a recovered alcoholic, failed actor and wannabe TV star who found meaning in his life through communing with these awesome creatures. Except as the years went by, he became more and ...
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07.25.09The Watchmen"Watchfulness is the path of immortality: unwatchfulness is the path of death. Those who are watchful never die: those who do not watch are already as dead." Buddha's Teachings, trans. Juan Mascaro
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07.23.09Intoxicated menQ: 'What would J Edgar Hoover come back as?' A: 'A fart.' Hunter S Thompson interviews Keith Richards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0xi6MbNvKE
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07.23.09Ain’t nothin’ but a HorehoundThe Dead Weather Horehound (Third Man Records) Dunno bout you, but if someone’s gonna almost name their debut after a Cramps classic, they’d better have their chops together. And The Dead Weather most assuredly do. This foursome comes to the party dripping pedigree: Jack White (little intro needed), Alison Mosshart from The Kills, Dean Fertita from QOTSA and Raconteur Jack Lawrence. Horehound may have been recorded in three weeks in Nashville, but we’re not letting the Motor City thing go, for although McKinley Morganfield and Chester Burnett traipsed the songlines from the Delta up the Mississippi to Chicago whereupon they were transformed through the ...
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07.21.09We came so far for beauty…... and found El Cohen at the O2, and were not disappointed. Dance Me to the End of Love, In My Secret Life, A Thousand Kisses Deep, The Partisan, Who By Fire, Take This Waltz, If It Be Your Will... need we go on? Review soonest. Meanwhile, a recent NY Times profile. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/arts/music/25cohe.html
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07.16.09If I die in a combat zone…...box me up and ship me home. The god-like genius of the Screaming Blue Messiahs meets the god-like genius of Tim O'Brien. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R5nxp8Q2KU http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Die_in_a_Combat_Zone,_Box_Me_Up_and_Ship_Me_Home