Books

[Old manny]

It conveys a lot about human morality and social structure but it isn't preachy, political or utopian. No mean feat!

It is a while since I read it, but the thing that stuck in my memory was the complete absence of consolation offered to the reader in Golding's bleak vision of human nature. One could argue that this is not the purpose of fiction and the author brilliantly conveys his own pessimistic reflections on how humans might behave when thrown into a state of nature. This is nature red in tooth and claw and follows Hobbes' precept of the life of men, or in this case boys, being nasty, brutish and short when the benefits of civilisation go out the window. It certainly contradicts Rousseau's unique idea that the original state of nature was a virtual Utopia before civilisation ruined it. Brilliant read, but it left me cold.

[Bluto10]

 

Weegie pish.

 

No mean city, byraway big man.

 

cheap on the Kindle.

 

 

Well why did you buy it then?

Stupid fuckin idiot.

 

;-)

[buchanskii]

 

Weegie pish.

 

No mean city, byraway big man.

 

cheap on the Kindle.

 

 

I'm a few chapters into Joey Bartons Autobiography and I'd class it so far as Scouse pish.

 

Ohh Liverpool was such a tough place to grow up blah blah blah is the jist of it so far

[seann coirthe]

Read American Psycho on holiday last month, Pretty soon after starting it I

realised i had seen the film but the book was well worth the read.

 

One for the Deviants corner for sure...

[Dal Riata Don]

Read American Psycho on holiday last month, Pretty soon after starting it I

realised i had seen the film but the book was well worth the read.

 

One for the Deviants corner for sure...

 

What's your take on it?

 

Is he really doing those things or just imagining them?

[seann coirthe]

 

What's your take on it?

 

Is he really doing those things or just imagining them?

 

Good question, The more I read the less I thought he was actually doing it. At first I had no question but small things like turning

up at the death scene apartment and finding it up for sale and no body parts lying around etc made me think it's probably more

like drug induced psychosis.

[Dal Riata Don]

I've read that it's supposed to be a satire about the quest for greed and individual consumption of the 1980's.

 

The house scene is where the real estate woman has probably cleaned up the stuff herself as it is a good apartment and she only wants to make money from renting it. She doesn't care that someone has been murdered.

 

It's quite similar to the scene where he's pissed off that the Chinese laundry workers can't get the blood out of his sheets - he has no problem exposing himself in this way to them as he's paid them for a service, but when he meets his friend by chance there - he lies to her and says it's cranberry juice or something, presumably as she being a social equal - he has to save face with her.

 

That fits the satire mold but what doesn't fit for me is that as it goes along the titles of the Patty Winter's show get more and more bizarre - is this a satire of 80's culture too, or has he lost his mind?

[Henry]

Reading one of the Bob Servant books.

[Bluto10]

Real book worm you are min, classic literature

[Henry]

Real book worm you are min, classic literature

 

Thanks min.

 

Wouldn't describe it as classic literature though.

 

How you getting on with War and Peace?

[shut up meg]

Delete this at your peril is actually pretty good.

[manboobs109]

Lord of the Flies getting made into a film but it's wee lassies stranded. It'll be shite.

[Dal Riata Don]

Lord of the Flies getting made into a film but it's wee lassies stranded. It'll be shite.

 

Sounds a bit too much like the Hunger Games franchise...

 

Girls can be brutal so if they make it a cert 15 or up it could be worth a watch.

 

I just hope that they don't put a race element into it - don't care if women of different ethnic backgrounds are cast but to make the 'evil' white people is not necessary in my view and it wasn't in the original.

[Quagmire]

 

Reading a cracking book at the minute mainly centred around the rise and downfall of the Strokes but includes all the bands that popped up around the same time (Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, Libertines, White Stripes, Ryan Adams etc). Told from the bands, DJ's, venue/pub owners, journalists etc involved at the time. Bit of an effort having to keep track of all the names but worth a read if you listened to them bands through the 2000s.

[Dal Riata Don]

Big fan of Interpol and Yeah Yeah Yeahs

 

I'll pick this up today.

 

What did you make of their debut l.p.?

 

All and sundry were creaming themselves over it and it did have some good tracks but overall, I thought it was a huge let-down.

 

The Master e.p. and the Pin e.p. that led up to it were much much better as were l.p.s #2 and #3.

 

#4 was complete dross.

 

All opinion - no facts.

[Quagmire]

Big fan of Interpol and Yeah Yeah Yeahs

 

I'll pick this up today.

 

 

 

What did you make of their debut l.p.?

 

All and sundry were creaming themselves over it and it did have some good tracks but overall, I thought it was a huge let-down.

 

The Master e.p. and the Pin e.p. that led up to it were much much better as were l.p.s #2 and #3.

 

#4 was complete dross.

 

All opinion - no facts.

 

I liked the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but wouldn't say i'd ever had any of their albums on repeat.

 

Interpol's TOTBL and Antics and TV on the Radios Return to Cookie Mountain and Dear Science are probably in my top 20 albums.

[Dal Riata Don]

I thought it was decent - Y Control and Date With the Night are magic

 

Its Blitz is my favourite album of theirs.

 

That's how I feel too.

[Dal Riata Don]

 

 

Interpol's TOTBL and Antics

 

Those have got to be two of the weirdest l.p.s by one band back-to-back; what I mean is that the 2nd, Antics is like the beginners guide to Interpol - it's very approachable and catchy but it still covers the same emotional ground as the first - in other words it sounds like a debut l.p. to me.

 

The first record is like the melodic themes of Antics extended out and made more dynamic - a transition that typically occurs on later albums [i.e. a technique that would come back on their 3rd l.p.]

 

Always wondered how that happened - were they rushed for time to record the second album or did they have those songs beforehand but they didn't fit the first albums songwriting style?

[Quagmire]

 

Those have got to be two of the weirdest l.p.s by one band back-to-back; what I mean is that the 2nd, Antics is like the beginners guide to Interpol - it's very approachable and catchy but it still covers the same emotional ground as the first - in other words it sounds like a debut l.p. to me.

 

The first record is like the melodic themes of Antics extended out and made more dynamic - a transition that typically occurs on later albums [i.e. a technique that would come back on their 3rd l.p.]

 

Always wondered how that happened - were they rushed for time to record the second album or did they have those songs beforehand but they didn't fit the first albums songwriting style?

 

That's some deep thinking buddy. Smoking up some good shit yesterday?

 

The Killers and KOL started releasing their first albums after TOTBL so they maybe tried to make Antics (Slow Hands & Evil) similarly radio friendly to bring in the $$$$.

[StandFree1982]

 

Those have got to be two of the weirdest l.p.s by one band back-to-back; what I mean is that the 2nd, Antics is like the beginners guide to Interpol - it's very approachable and catchy but it still covers the same emotional ground as the first - in other words it sounds like a debut l.p. to me.

 

The first record is like the melodic themes of Antics extended out and made more dynamic - a transition that typically occurs on later albums [i.e. a technique that would come back on their 3rd l.p.]

 

Always wondered how that happened - were they rushed for time to record the second album or did they have those songs beforehand but they didn't fit the first albums songwriting style?

 

 

 

That's some deep thinking buddy. Smoking up some good shit yesterday?

 

The Killers and KOL started releasing their first albums after TOTBL so they maybe tried to make Antics (Slow Hands & Evil) similarly radio friendly to bring in the $$$$.

TOTBL is one of my all time favourite albums. Antics was a more pop-ier / radio friendly album.

[Quagmire]

Like both albums but Antics is my favourite, though Obstacle 1 on TOTBL is my favourite tune of theirs.

 

Went to see them and Secret Machines at the Carling Academy when they'd just released Antics. Secret Machines were another class band from that era.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgDLVC2vdTs

[Dal Riata Don]

 

Went to see them and Secret Machines at the Carling Academy when they'd just released Antics. Secret Machines were another class band from that era.

 

 

Yeah, another good shout.

 

One of the members is dead now so I guess they won't be on the reunion tour circuit - shame - I only know their first l.p. but it is very good.

[Quagmire]

Yeah, another good shout.

 

One of the members is dead now so I guess they won't be on the reunion tour circuit - shame - I only know their first l.p. but it is very good.

 

Yeah think they had split up by then. He was in another band called School of Seven Bells with his bird when he died in 2013. She put out an album last year made with his lyrics. Worth checking out.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hemIjEd9CYk

[Quagmire]

My heads completely pickled with gigs. I seen them another time and they weren't as good but canna mind if that was at Moshullu. Always thought the Forum was a better venue for that size. Just checked when i seen The Cooper Temple Clause there and it was 2003 as well supported by The Rain Band. Used to drag my ex bird to all these gigs cause none of my mates were into the same music. She fuckin hated it. Youtube's taking a blasting today with all these old classics.

 

Remember the name but don't think I ever listened to them, will give them a spin.

[Dal Riata Don]

@@Dal Riata Don

 

What you have here is a very powerful tool for finding real peace within yourself. A place that exists that we have all forgotten about in our human evolution. I am actually on my second read of the book now. There are others after it. I listen to Eckharts lectures daily now.

 

It's the very simple realisation that there is an I and a self. The self that we identify with which Eckhart calls the egoic mind (the asshole that drives us crazy). The inner self which is unconscious and 'behind' our thoughts. In the book he describes very well how to train yourself to live in the moment. Everything is happening right now. Time is a construct invented by man. So you will sit still and learn to be a 'watcher' of your own thoughts, and in there you will find a realisation that you've been living a very dysfunctional life, and you will smile to yourself as you suddenly realise this. He will talk you through everything in the book. For me, as an utter madman, whose mind never shuts up, this is what I have been looking for. I've been doing transcendental meditation for 2 years, which I have stopped now, to practice 'presence'. It's very powerful stuff and should change your life.

 

I have it on PDF if you want me to send you it.

 

Thank you for the detailed reply.

 

I have watched many videos by Alan Watts on similar themes - are you familiar with him and, if so are their views along the same lines?

 

Thank you for your offer to send me a pdf but I would like to decline - if I don't read something in book form then I find it quite difficult to 'take things in' via a screen.

[manboobs109]

^ bent

[BWG]

Anyone read this "Stand by your Reds" book by Bryan Cooney? I was going to buy a copy to take on holiday with me for some easy poolside reading.

[V for Vendetta]

Just finished the last book in the Game of Thrones series.

 

Good reads IMO, but not everyone's cup of tea I guess.

[Dal Riata Don]

Not long finished this

 

 

Had me LOLing on many occasions.

You seem to read a lot.

Are you in jail?

[Bluto10]

 

 

aye that's a good book that.

I made up the soundtrack on my iPod