I think we watched it in high school.

I read part 1 of 1984 yesterday. Quick easy read. Good stuff so far.

Finished 1984

Loved it.

Animal Farm was good. That fuckin Napoleon had a lot of balls. Two legs better was a nice moment.


On To Kill A Mockingbird now

All are created equal, some are more equal than others... a quote I use all the time.

_________________

The Reflectin' Pool

by Otho Eskin

https://othoeskin.com/

_________________

To Kill a Mockingbird was good.

Someone told m they think Truman Capote wrote it and he was the Dill character

A Tale of Two Cites one I think.

Good suggestions, Nardi and Hussra. Those were worth reading.

Just re-read NOS4A2 as well. Sagged a little in the middle, but otherwise an uncommonly good book. If The Shining is a 100, NOS4A2 is a 94. (Just my opinion.)

The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824 - Sets the work in its fascinating historical context (a reactionary post-Napoleonic Vienna rife with secret police and censorship) and does a good job explaining what made the music so unusual for its time. Also, lots of laughs for Beethoven as a person - he couldn’t multiply, tried to essentially kidnap his nephew from his sister-in-law after his brother’s death, lost his mom when he was young, father was abusive even by the standards of the day, was reported to have flirted with the two hot singers hired for the premiere by saying he preferred them to kiss his mouth, not his hands, and wrote a patron a detailed letter about shitting on laxatives. I don't know shit about the technical aspects of classical music, or music in general, so I skipped the 30 page section dedicated to the author's technical description of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The rest of the book flew by. A-

Just typed a long-ass message about the book, but I lost my connection and the message.

Anyway, great read, though I feel like someone raked out my insides. Some of the characters were truly unique. I've been hugging my kids a lot the past few days. Seriously! Anyway, thanks for the rec.

I'm not much on slash or sick as fuck porn. I'll pass.

It's a page-turner and very much like the most depressing Stephen King or any Cormac McCarthy. I'd say (because it is such a good read and despite it doing things to your soul) to read it because it provokes some interesting analysis. I've been thinking about it for a few days now.

Now that I think of it, it reminds me a lot of McCarthy's minor novels. Some of the characters here are unique but still seem real. I guess this is what a world without compassion looks like. Or a world in which your options (at least the ones you are aware of) aren't real good.

I just read NOS4A2 and a few of Hussra's other recommendations, and I started re-reading Pet Sematary last night because you mentioned it, but I need to back off. So what I said above about how you should read it--well, I'm a bit of a hypocrite. In any case, I'm impressed with anyone who references Pet Sematary; that's one of King's better books.

TL;DR: Hussra, McCareins_Fan, and Nardi read some intriguing material.

I put Blood Meridian down, never to pick it up again.

Pollock isn't gore for gore's sake like Chuck Palahniuk or a Hostel kind of way. The level of violence is on par with Flannery O'Connor at her most soul-rattling ( A Good Man Is Hard To Find).

I'm squeamish when it comes to clinical-like descriptions of violence and its after-effects; quickly reaching for the skip 30 button when a true crime narrator starts reading autopsy reports or the crime involves children. The description of the guy's house getting blown up in Killers of the Flower Moon had me skipping more than anything in Pollock's book.

I only heard about Pollock's work in the last 6 months when @blacklionking73 included The Devil All The Time on a list of books that most influenced his writing; along with (among others on his list) William Gay's Provinces of Night and Salem's Lot by King (which gave me nightmares for years when I read it as a kid).

I think that's a masterpiece--but I swear that reading it took some months off my life. I remember putting it down at one point, too. Also, having read that book makes it hard to enjoy any Western.


Agree with all of that. Pollock's book has a little gore, but is more about dread of watching what you hope won't unfold unfold.

I'll read that guy's book next, though I generally only read books by Whites or White Allies. (I'll read poetry by White Adjacent folx.) Sorry, but that's just how I feel.

See you all in a few months.

Great article by a crime writer about the real homicid detective behind Michael Connolly and others.

Fascinating stuff


Also how Harry "Bosch" un-retired and came back to LAPD in the Cold Case Unit.

How a Former LAPD Detective Became the ‘Godfather’ to L.A. Crime Writers
https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/ric ... iZ4PF_ZTt0
by MilesCorwin

_________________
"Change has come to Amerika."- TFG

Just finished A Tale of Two Cities

That was not a real quick read, got a little slow in the middle but man really picks up at the end glad I read it good stuff

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_elVGGgW8

Beethoven: The Relentless Revolutionary

Another biography of Beethoven, where the author is less concerned with the musicological side of things and focuses on the political history of his composing career (Napoleonic Europe followed by the Absolutist rule of the Hapsburgs and Bourbons). That is, discussing the connection between the French Revolution and Beethoven’s artistic trajectory. The author posits that Beethoven was inspired mainly by Brutus, Napoleon, Schiller, Handel and Bacchus. One of the Akademies that he had to organize for himself consisted of four hours of new music, including two symphonies. The author also briefly mentions his custody battle for his nephew, which helped hamper his career before his last burst of creative energy.

Some more funny quotes from Beethoven - responding to criticism from Carl Maria von Weber “What I shit is better than anything you’ve ever thought”; calling Napoleon a shithead; telling Rossini that Italians should stick to comedic operas and away from orchestral works; calling Vienna a sewer (shithole) repeatedly. Also, being locked up the local police when he wandered off from his summer home and forgot where he was. The police saw him looking into shop windows with his messed up hair and frayed clothes and thought he was a beggar.

No mention if he had any Moorish ancestry.

Joyland by Stephen King was pretty good and a nice change of pace from Dickens


Thinking about starting Crime and Punishment, good?

If you have a Kindle or any Tablet and install the Kindle reader and you have prime. Prime reading is great tons of books. 10 at a time you can download tons of classics.

_________________
When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

Lemme know if you read that, bitch. I'll read it with ya. Took a whole class on Dostoevsky. Probably the best lit class I ever took.

Weirdo.

3 chapters in

I'm almost done with Chris Connelly's rock and roll tell (almost) all, Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible & Fried: My Life as a Revolting Cock. It's pretty good as such books go. But maybe because I know a lot of the idiots in the book and I'm familiar with the locations. He isn't the greatest writer. A lot of run on sentences. And he likes hitting the same jokes over and over like Steve Rosenbloom or Jay Mariotti. Yeah dude, it was funny the first time. Kind of. But he comes across as a likable guy in a scene loaded with assholes. Though I guess, why wouldn't he? It's his book. He really hates Terry Bones and Joe Kelly.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

I read that one years ago. I think Chris's solo stuff is alright. But him calling my boys in Killing Joke a bunch of buffoons? They sounded like no one else at the time. Like, Chris, you rode Al(ien) Jourgensen's coattails for a little bit of fame and to get out of dreary Glasgow. I wish I could access the old Electrical Audio message board and repost Albini's takedown of Al's chameleon, bunco artist schtick. Despite all that, Martin Atkins is still the biggest industrial rock douchebag in Chicago.

It's kind of strange, isn't it? Connelly has a truly beautiful voice when he chooses to utilize it in a particular and natural way but that's not at all what he's famous for. Anyone on this message board could have spit out some nonsense for Ministry or the Cocks and had Popa or Auerbach process and effect the shit out of it and no one would know the difference.

That industrial shit was never my thing. As affected as the hardcore scene became those guys were worse. And to me, industrial lacks a human factor. Sure you can use machines to play faster than Disrobe. But it would be like saying your favorite team was a bunch of Boston Dynamics robots who could beat the '85 Bears. I'll say this though, Bill Rieflin was probably the best all around musician in Chicago in my time.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

dudes in bands can be catty lil patriots:



no matter how kumbaya they appear to be, talk to them away from the rest of the band and it's not long before the bass player's laying into the asshole lead singer.

better book by yet another degenerate gambler:

Here's my best Terry Bones story. When he first came to Chicago Terry or "Tezz" (all these limeys have ridiculous nicknames) was planning to put together a version of Broken Bones and take it on the road. I don't know why he was planning a reconstituted Bones. It's not like it was really even his band. His twin brother who I believe is actually named Tony is "Bones". Maybe he figured his twin wasn't going to sue him over the name the way "Oddy" or "Soddy" or "Rainy" or whoever might have had he called this thing Discharge.

At the time Hazardous Youth was really hitting a stride, playing a lot and just super fucking tight. But somehow Tezz got ahold of our bass player at the time, Chris Splatter- or maybe it was Splatter that got ahold of Tezz- anyway, Splatter was going to be the bass player in the new Broken Bones. Jimmy Kangles from Lost Cause was going to be taking Bones's spot on lead guitar. And a guy named Pete Murray would be on drums. It ended up working out okay for us as we picked up Casey to play bass.

So before the tour began the new Broken Bones was going to play a kickoff gig at Medusa's. All the little punk rock kids that hung out at The Alley and in the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot on the weekends were hyped up about this show. The legendary Broken Bones right here in Chicago! Medusa's really hyped the hell out of the show and on the night of the gig the place was packed. The latter day Life Sentence with Jeff and Gus opened the show. They were going out on the road with these guys too.

It was pretty late and everyone in the place is waiting for Broken Bones to take the stage. The place is jammed to the rafters with suburban punks kids. Finally the boys walk out on stage and Splatter starts plucking that galloping bass line of "Seeing Through My Eyes" and suddenly this 16 or 17 year old kid yells loud enough to be heard over the bass, "HEY! THAT'S NOT BONES! THAT'S JIMMY KANGLES! I WANT MY FUCKIN' MONEY BACK!!!!!!"

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!