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Thursday, May 06, 2010 

Omnibus

Oh god, why can I not find time to write anything anymore?

- Review roundup: I've got a hopefully pretty interesting interview with Sam Amidon up at PopMatters, as well as a review of the Wedding Present in concert.

- I was already pretty sure that The Human Centipede tripped too many of my body horror triggers for me to ever see it (I say that as a guy who doesn't regret seeing Cannibal Holocaust, mind you), and this (safe for work) only confirms my suspicions. And yet, I still feel like Ebert is going a bit overboard here.

- The always-reliable Tom Ewing wrote a really interesting column about the second series of Phonogram; although I think he miscontrues the series slightly (the fact that we never see any techno or rap phonomancers never suggested to me that they don't exist in the world of the books, for example), he's very sharp on why it's both a good and important series.

- I'm just going to go ahead and quote the same bit of this that everyone is: "But this is just a thing, a tickle in my throat that I have when I watch people turn up their nose at paying for things, period, just: paying for things. It’s not so bad to pay for things, if these things are good, and if these things are valuable; even if these things are available to me at no cost up front. For instance, I pay for: collections of stories that are available in other forms, podcasts, radio, service in eating establishments.

I mean here is the hell of it, here is the real fucker of the deal, the thing that in these modern markets I guess is going to separate us from the crayfish or whatever. DO YOU WANT SMART PEOPLE TO CONTINUE TO DO UNUSUAL AND INTERESTING THINGS, OR DO YOU WANT US ALL TO GIVE UP ON THAT? The fricking truth of it is that if you want the former, if you want smart people to do unusual and interesting things, you are maybe going to have to pay for it, so that these people do not lose their minds. No one is forcing you, it turns out."

- Here's a pretty incredible interview from the late 70s with Borges about philosophy and art. Included at the link is the MP3 of the interview. Well worth your 15 minutes.

- And while this review is well worth reading, I'm just going to quote the part that I agree with most strongly: "Struwwelpeter stands or falls on the credo that children can bear to be scared by art and thereby grow.

i want to see the human centipede SO BAD

I honestly don't see the appeal.

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About me

Ian Mathers is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Stylus, the Village Voice, Resident Advisor, PopMatters, and elsewhere. He does stuff and it magically appears here.

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