Good documentary on the good doctor.
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Friday, 25 April 2014
Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision
Ralph Steadman is the guy who drew the amazing pictures for Thompson's articles.
Cool documentary. Had seen it before, in CA, but still rings true.
Cool documentary. Had seen it before, in CA, but still rings true.
Eels - "The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett"
New album is so so, but the slow doom-laden "Dead Reckoning" does hit a nerve.
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
A.M. Homes - "This book will save your life"
So-so. The few L.A., Santa Monica and Escondido references were amusing to read. Nothing really good though.
A.M. Homes - "The End of Alice"
Haunting book through its subject, intriguing story telling. Liked it a lot.
Turns out the guy is, in a way, not as evil as he seems / pretends to be: he cannot have done the same thing to other girls: he was captured immediately after Alice.
Turns out the guy is, in a way, not as evil as he seems / pretends to be: he cannot have done the same thing to other girls: he was captured immediately after Alice.
Joseph Conrad - "Victory"
Read soon after Heart of Darkness, and still in Africa, so the idea of reading his Russian story did not appeal. Liked it, though it lacked - for me - the enticing darkness of his masterpiece.
"The islands are very quiet. One sees them lying about, clothed in their dark garments of leaves, in a great hush of silver and azure, where the sea without murmurs meets the sky in a ring of magic stillness. A sort of smiling somnolence broods over them, the very voices of their people are soft and subdued, as if afraid to break some protecting spell."
"But there is an unholy fascination in systematic noise. [...] The Zangiacomo band was not making music; it was simply murdering silence with a vulgar, ferocious energy. One felt as if witnessing a deed of violence; and that impression was so strong that it seemed marvellous to see the people sitting so quietly on their chairs, drinking so calmly out of their glasses, and giving no signs of distress, anger, or fear."
"For the use of reason is to justify the obscure desires that move our conduct, impulses, passons, prejudices, and follies, and also our fears."
"For every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce life early and the human race come to an end."
"Man on this earth is an unforeseen accident which does not stand close investigation."
"He was really a decent fellow, he was quite unfitted for this world, he was a failure, a good man cornered - a sight for the gods, for no decent mortal cares to look at that sort."
"A woman in a problem is an incalculable quantity, even if you have something to go upon in forming your guess."
"The islands are very quiet. One sees them lying about, clothed in their dark garments of leaves, in a great hush of silver and azure, where the sea without murmurs meets the sky in a ring of magic stillness. A sort of smiling somnolence broods over them, the very voices of their people are soft and subdued, as if afraid to break some protecting spell."
"But there is an unholy fascination in systematic noise. [...] The Zangiacomo band was not making music; it was simply murdering silence with a vulgar, ferocious energy. One felt as if witnessing a deed of violence; and that impression was so strong that it seemed marvellous to see the people sitting so quietly on their chairs, drinking so calmly out of their glasses, and giving no signs of distress, anger, or fear."
"For the use of reason is to justify the obscure desires that move our conduct, impulses, passons, prejudices, and follies, and also our fears."
"For every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce life early and the human race come to an end."
"Man on this earth is an unforeseen accident which does not stand close investigation."
"He was really a decent fellow, he was quite unfitted for this world, he was a failure, a good man cornered - a sight for the gods, for no decent mortal cares to look at that sort."
"A woman in a problem is an incalculable quantity, even if you have something to go upon in forming your guess."
Peter Biddlecombe - "French Lessons in Africa"
"The heat is
intense. You're struck by the desolation, the misery and horror of the
place. For this is Ouidah, the once notorious lave capital of the world,
which supplied all the men for the mines and plantations of Brazil,
Haiti and the Southern States. Scratch a Brazilian, they say, and you
will find Ouidah, the Portuguese for help, written on his soul. Ouidah
is an African Auschwitz."
the crazy system of French banks and how they, long after 'releasing' their colonies, still hold a grasp over francophone Africa by means of its currency.
"Everybody in French Africa loves a Peugeot; Peugeots can take the most punishing roads, often at fairly high speeds and - this will come as a surprise to devotees of the Land Rover - with the airconditioning working beautifully. Gone are the days when you saw British cars all oer French Africa. An old Range Rover, abandoned in the centre of Lomé, stayed there for three years before it was finally taken away by the authorities. In all that time, nobody touched it; nobody took the wheels, or anything out of the engine. Nobody wants British cars. They are not built for the roads, not even Land Rovers, never mind Range Rovers. They are as uncomfortable as hell and the air-conditioning never works."
"It was a genuine African conversation, a cross between a union negotiation and a diplomatic two-step. You ask a question or make a proposal. The African disagrees or is uncertain, but doesn't want to offend you so he agrees. But it's a formality, he uses symbol words or codes. Like a diplomat saying yes when he means perhaps and perhaps when he means no. He has observed the rules of courtesy, but has conveyed his true feelings. The problem, of course, is interpreting the signals. But in spite of what many people say, this is not a particularly African approach. Cynical Europeans will always tell you, 'Ask an African if he can arrange for the sun to rise in the south and he will say, No problem. How can you deal with people like that?' Invariably they are the people who say 'We must have lunch some time' and do not mean it, or 'The cheque is in the post'. When the Japanese do it we say they are inscrutable. When the Arabs do it we go into raptures about their courtesy and hospitality. Why should the Africans be criticised so much for saying things they don't mean?"
His continuous phonetic writing of somebody's German accent in the Cameroon section is irritating, as well as the never ceasing literal french translations.
"Baoule, like all the tribes along the Coast, are hooked on gold. But as far as I can gather they are the only ones who value gold dust more than nuggets, ingots or whatever. They even developed their own elaborate system of weighing the dust with special scales they balanced on their fingers and different weights for different transactions. Female weights were used for uying or lending money; Male weights, which were a little heavier, for sellin or repaying a loan. The difference between the two weights was, of course, the profit or interest on a loan. Then they had 'royal wights' which were heavier still. Here the difference was, in effect, a tax levied by the chief on the tribe.
The weights were based on animals or fish and each had a different meaning depending on who was using it. A weight shaped like a cock meant 'He might look proud, but he has still started life as an egg.' This was generally used by moneylenders as a reminder to clients that they still owed them money which might well have some connection which the Mafia's habit of stuffing their victims' mouths with baby chicks. An elephant weight meant, 'Follow in the footsteps of the elephant and you won't get soaked by the dew.' In other words, I suppose, stick with the boss and he will look after you. A crocodile weight meant, 'If you're in the middle of a river you don't insult the crocodile.' Two crocodiles, however, meant, 'Every man can swallow but we only have one stomach,' which sounds like a nice way of sayin don't rock the boat or you're going to get eaten."
the crazy system of French banks and how they, long after 'releasing' their colonies, still hold a grasp over francophone Africa by means of its currency.
"Everybody in French Africa loves a Peugeot; Peugeots can take the most punishing roads, often at fairly high speeds and - this will come as a surprise to devotees of the Land Rover - with the airconditioning working beautifully. Gone are the days when you saw British cars all oer French Africa. An old Range Rover, abandoned in the centre of Lomé, stayed there for three years before it was finally taken away by the authorities. In all that time, nobody touched it; nobody took the wheels, or anything out of the engine. Nobody wants British cars. They are not built for the roads, not even Land Rovers, never mind Range Rovers. They are as uncomfortable as hell and the air-conditioning never works."
"It was a genuine African conversation, a cross between a union negotiation and a diplomatic two-step. You ask a question or make a proposal. The African disagrees or is uncertain, but doesn't want to offend you so he agrees. But it's a formality, he uses symbol words or codes. Like a diplomat saying yes when he means perhaps and perhaps when he means no. He has observed the rules of courtesy, but has conveyed his true feelings. The problem, of course, is interpreting the signals. But in spite of what many people say, this is not a particularly African approach. Cynical Europeans will always tell you, 'Ask an African if he can arrange for the sun to rise in the south and he will say, No problem. How can you deal with people like that?' Invariably they are the people who say 'We must have lunch some time' and do not mean it, or 'The cheque is in the post'. When the Japanese do it we say they are inscrutable. When the Arabs do it we go into raptures about their courtesy and hospitality. Why should the Africans be criticised so much for saying things they don't mean?"
His continuous phonetic writing of somebody's German accent in the Cameroon section is irritating, as well as the never ceasing literal french translations.
"Baoule, like all the tribes along the Coast, are hooked on gold. But as far as I can gather they are the only ones who value gold dust more than nuggets, ingots or whatever. They even developed their own elaborate system of weighing the dust with special scales they balanced on their fingers and different weights for different transactions. Female weights were used for uying or lending money; Male weights, which were a little heavier, for sellin or repaying a loan. The difference between the two weights was, of course, the profit or interest on a loan. Then they had 'royal wights' which were heavier still. Here the difference was, in effect, a tax levied by the chief on the tribe.
The weights were based on animals or fish and each had a different meaning depending on who was using it. A weight shaped like a cock meant 'He might look proud, but he has still started life as an egg.' This was generally used by moneylenders as a reminder to clients that they still owed them money which might well have some connection which the Mafia's habit of stuffing their victims' mouths with baby chicks. An elephant weight meant, 'Follow in the footsteps of the elephant and you won't get soaked by the dew.' In other words, I suppose, stick with the boss and he will look after you. A crocodile weight meant, 'If you're in the middle of a river you don't insult the crocodile.' Two crocodiles, however, meant, 'Every man can swallow but we only have one stomach,' which sounds like a nice way of sayin don't rock the boat or you're going to get eaten."
Monday, 21 April 2014
Rutger Kopland - "Voorjaarsgedicht"
Voorjaarsgedicht
Deze lente gaat het toch weer
over jou hoewel ik er langzaamaan
wel moe van ben
moe van regen, wind, flarden
bedrieglijk blauw in de lucht,
vage beloften van het einde
van de kou.
Ik weet wel dat ik toch weer
van je hou, maar moeizaam soms,
met dat doelloze
van vogels die er van lijken
te houden in regen en wind
te blijven rondhangen
boven het land.
uit: Het orgeltje van yesterday (1968)
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