The Continual Condition: Poems
The Continual Condition: Poems by Charles Bukowski
Published: 2009
I’ve come across some Bukowski over the years, but this is the first time I actually picked up one of his collections. The sleeve description says that it contains never-before-collected poems, which I think means they were previously published but never in one of his own collections. I usually try not to start with someone’s latest book, particularly if it’s published post-mortem, but this contains work that stretches right back to the beginning of his career and is a great introduction if you haven’t read much by him.
There’s something about Bukowski’s writing that can occasionally stop you dead in your tracks. It’s very personal, and that fact is amplified by his simple and straight-forward writing. He’s able to say in a sentence what would take others pages to convey, but he can still make it as beautiful or as ugly as he wants. Some of the poems are like listening to your drunken, vulgar uncle rant late at night, and others are like listening to him moan and reflect the morning after.
Here’s Tom Waits reading Bukowski’s poem Nirvana (not a part of this collection). I actually had no idea this was Bukowski when I first heard it, but I guess this was probably my first introduction to him. You can’t ask for a much better pairing than Tom Waits and Charles Bukowski.
there will always be people who say, let’s go on a boat or
let’s go to Argentina or let’s go to a movie or let’s go to a
tennis match or let’s visit my sister
or how about a picnic?
and
I don’t understand any of this
because to me
just walking across the room is like walking through flames
and
the first strange face I see each day
adds a knot to my stomach
and
I don’t have the time because
I haven’t paid the gas bill
or checked the air in my tires
and
one of my teeth is aching (on the left side)
and I’ve received several letters in the mail from crazies
and there’s a notice from the government about a tax matter
and I need an oil change (and my car needs one too).there’s a fellow down the street and he just sits on his porch.
there are people who just sit a lifetime with unblinking eyes.these could be the wise ones.
I am not one of the wise ones.
I even fight dragons in the dungeons of my sleep.so if you want to send me to an early hell
then force me to spend an entire day at Disneyland.
– Charles Bukowski, let’s have some fun
The God Delusion
The God Delusion (audio) by Richard Dawkins
Published: 2006
Narration: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
I remember discussing Dawkins and Hitchens with a friend a few years ago, and he felt that all of these pro-atheism books were a bit silly and pointless, as they were really just preaching to the choir (so to speak). It is preaching to the choir, but that choir is filled with a lot of people who benefit from hearing this side of the discussion. There is quite a bit of hate and distrust towards atheists out there, and anything gaining popularity that might support those who are feeling alone is a good thing. I live in a part of the world where being an atheist really has no effect on your life at all, but there are still many places where being an atheist could mean losing your job, family, and friends.
Thankfully for us and Dawkins, the religious right roared to life when this was published, and nothing will give you free publicity like poking that particular hornet’s nest. For a while there, it felt like everyone on the Internet and their cyber dog had something to say about the so-called pro-atheism movement. During that period I got really into reading articles and watching debates by prominent atheists, which was interesting at first, but there’s only so many times you can listen to them answer the same questions over and over for people who don’t really want to hear the answers.
One of the truly bad effects of religion is that it teaches us that it is a virtue to be satisfied with not understanding.
Since I had spent quite a lot of time reading and listening to Dawkins before getting to The God Delusion, I was already familiar with many of the Big Concepts in the book. I feel like I would have enjoyed this a lot more as a teenager or even just a few years ago. I’m so firmly an atheist at this point in my life that I may as well be reading a 400 page book on why flying pink elephants living above the clouds don’t exist. He focuses quite a bit on convincing the reader and repeating key points, for those who are skeptical but confused, and that can be tiresome if you’re already on board with the ideas. To be fair, though, the reason I was so familiar with some these sections, such as why the bible shouldn’t be given credit for developing man’s morality, was that I’d spent so much time already hearing the points he’s made in this book recited during debates and reading his arguments expanded in articles. There’s no disputing the fact that The God Delusion has been an important voice in this age-old discussion the last few years.
There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else (parents in the case of children, God in the case of adults) has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point.
Dawkins does put a little punch into his arguments, and he doesn’t feel we should have to tiptoe around religion, which is maybe why some people find him to be aggressive. These days it’s sometimes seen as a threat just to announce that you’re an atheist. Maybe if we have more discussion, and more prominent outspoken atheists, even if they’re just preaching to their own choirs, that attitude will change.
Religion … has certain ideas at the heart of it which we call sacred or holy or whatever. What it means is, ‘Here is an idea or a notion that you’re not allowed to say anything bad about; you’re just not. Why not? – because you’re not!’ If somebody votes for a party that you don’t agree with, you’re free to argue about it as much as you like; everybody will have an argument but nobody feels aggrieved by it. If somebody thinks taxes should go up or down you are free to have an argument about it. But on the other hand if somebody says ‘I mustn’t move a light switch on a Saturday’, you say, ‘I respect that’.
Why should it be that it’s perfectly legitimate to support the Labour party or the Conservative party, Republicans or Democrats, this model of economics versus that, Macintosh instead of Windows – but to have an opinion about how the Universe began, about who created the Universe … no, that’s holy? … We are used to not challenging religious ideas but it’s very interesting how much of a furore Richard creates when he does it! Everybody gets absolutely frantic about it because you’re not allowed to say these things. Yet when you look at it rationally there is no reason why those ideas shouldn’t be as open to debate as any other, except that we have agreed somehow between us that they shouldn’t be.
– Douglas Adams
This may look disgusting from my crummy iPhone 3GS photo, but it was actually delicious. View the original recipe at The Kitchn for better photos. Followed exactly, there was enough left after dinner for five lunches.
for chicken stew
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, in puree
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
Pepper, to taste
1 rotisserie chicken, cut into bite sized pieces, skin removed
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juicefor cinnamon couscous
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (10-ounce) box plain, quick-cooking couscous
1/3 cup raisins
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons orange juiceHeat olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5-8 minutes. Add garlic and oregano, cook for one minute while stirring. Pour in crushed tomatoes, chickpeas, chicken broth, bay leaves, and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes. Add chicken, lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
For couscous, heat chicken broth, oil, and salt until boiling. Add couscous and raisins, stir, remove from heat and cover. Let rest until all liquid has been absorbed, about 5 minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork, add cinnamon and orange juice. Use fork to mix until combined. Set aside.
Remove stew from heat. Add olives and lemon juice. Serve hot over couscous.
Happy Idiot
I watch the jocks come out in the
post parade. one will win the race. the others will
lose. but each jock must win sometime in some race
on some day, and he must do it often enough. or he is
done as a jockey.
it’s like the girls on the street trying to score for
their pimp
or each of us sitting over a typewriter tonight or tomorrow
or next week or next month
and doing it well enough
once in a while
or he is done as a writer,
he’s a whore who can’t score.I think I would like a little more kindness
in the structure
but the nature of things has a way of not
listening.when I was a boy I used to dream of becoming
the village idiot.
I used to lie in bed and imagine myself the
happy idiot
able to get food easily
and easy sympathy,
a planned confusion of not too much love
or effort.some would claim that I have succeeded.
– Charles Bukowski, my art form
If you follow any weblog that covers film news, you’ve probably seen this, but if not I thought I’d post it here. Hosted by J.J. Abrams and James Cameron, it’s just under two hours of discussion with Steven Speilberg on how some of your (or at least my) favourite stories came to be. At the very least it’s an interesting look into one man’s approach to storytelling.
Old Man Logan
Old Man Logan by Mark Millar
Illustrated By: Steve McNiven
Format: Trade Paperback Comic
Published: 2008
Publisher: Marvel
The second Mark Miller comic I mooched during my time in Vancouver was Old Man Logan. It’s a ‘what if’ story, set fifty years in the future in a world where the supervillains won. They teamed up for once and managed to kill most of the superheroes in America. Wolverine, who now only goes by Logan, is one of the few left alive, and he’s just trying to live life with his small family on a farm. He hasn’t drawn his claws, or hurt anyone, for fifty years, not since he went through a traumatic experience in the X-Mansion during the attack.
His farm is in an area conquered and ruled by The Hulk and a few generations of his children, green hillbilly thugs that are products of an incestuous relationship. Logan’s late on his rent, and the Hulk kids don’t take kindly to missed payments. Luckily for him, and the plot, Hawkeye picks this opportune moment to come to him with a job. It’s a delivery, so they travel across part of America in what’s essentially a post-apocalyptic travelogue.
One thing that bugged me about this comic, and I know it doesn’t matter at all, was that Miller doesn’t try to explain why Logan is suddenly aging the same as everyone else. I know that any reason he could come up with would be silly, but it just bugs me that it wasn’t addressed. Old Wolverine is pretty great, but huge elephant in the room people! I need some answers!
I really liked this comic. There was certainly fan service, but it was a fun story with some genuinely suprising scenes and some pretty badass moments.
Civil War
Civil War by Mark Millar
Illustrated By: Steve McNiven
Format: Trade Paperback Comic
Published: 2006
Publisher: Marvel
About eight years ago I decided it would be fun to get back into reading comics. I hadn’t read any since I was a kid, so I wandered into the comic book shop and picked up the first thing that caught my eye – the trade for Ultimate X-Men Vol. 1 by Mark Miller. The Ultimate line was a non-canonical reboot of some of Marvel’s most popular books. It was a great idea, as it meant new readers could jump in without needing to know everything that had been happening for the last forty years. The books were big hits, and Ultimate Spider-Man is even still running today (now Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man).
Unfortunately, Ultimate X-Men was an atrocity, a convoluted mess. Instead of invigorating my interest in comics again, it put me off them for a few years. I wouldn’t say I’ve been avoiding his work since, but I certainly haven’t been seeking it out.
A few weekends ago I was visiting some friends in Vancouver, partly to hang out and partly to finally see their cute wee new(ish)born (but mainly to read their comics for free! Mwahaha!). While there I read Civil War and Old Man Logan, both by Miller, and I was somewhat surprised with both.
Civil War was the big Marvel summer event of 2006. At the beginning of the book there’s a reality show following the New Warriors, a group of superheroes in search of villains. They find a group lying low in a house and, under pressure from the reality show’s producers, attack them. During the fight, the villain Nitro lets loose an explosion that levels a couple of city blocks, taking with it an elementary school. There were over six hundred casualties, among them a large group of children. The tragedy prompts a bill to be passed that calls for all superheroes to be registered and their identities revealed as part of a Superhuman Registration Act. The Avengers are of two minds when it comes to this, and it splits the team apart – Tony Stark taking the side of pro-registration and Captain America taking the anti-registration side. Other superheroes choose their sides as well, and a war between the two start.
The Superhuman Registration Act alludes to the way the American government pushed freedom-crushing bills through after 9/11, and the pro-registration side of the team seem to be shown as the baddies. The comparison falls short in my mind, though, as we’re dealing with crime-fighting vigilantes. I’d be calling for them all to be registered if they wanted to fight crime. I wouldn’t want some super-powered dude running around my town attacking people he felt were criminals, not having to be accountable for any mistakes he makes. We already have cops doing that here.
I did like this overall, and it’s made me come around a little on Miller’s writing. The ending wasn’t great, though, and I’m curious if anything in the Marvel universe really changed from this. Spider-Man reveals his identity to the world in this book, which I thought was a pretty cool twist, as that’s something I remember being a big deal with him. I looked up what happened after this event, to him and his family, and he apparently found someone to use magic to erase his identity from the minds of everyone on earth. So…..yeah, that’s a little lame.
