Art & idea sucker
I've fallen into a vortex, assisted by iTunes, Amazon, and Google.
This one was set off (again) by searches for the basic texts on flanerie or flaneurs. It's who I am (when I can get my sorry old body to cooperate). It's who Drake becomes, although he wouldn't sit in his room just reading about it... not any more.
In the course of my surfing, I discovered two things that have me all a-quiver.
One is the minimalist electronica artist Scanner or Robin Rimbaud. I'm pretty damn sure there's no one else on my f-list who would regard this stuff as fit for listening, but it delights me. I'm currently downloading the album Messe, which I gather is not one of Rimbaud's more "accessible" attempts. But what is not to like? In this album, apparently he abandons his earlier sampling of cell phone sounds & conversations to sample the likes of Durufle as a springboard to his brilliant minimalist rambles. (FYI, the flaneur connection, besides the fact that the artist calls himself Rimbaud, is that by taking off from cultural sampling, he acts as a musical flaneur.) Tasty!
Two is the book / notebook / compilation of stuff called The Arcades Project by Walter Benjamin. In 1,080 pages, Benjamin collected the yield of his own flanerie. Almost exactly 100 years ago, he stalked the urban malls of Paris, malls that thrived under distinctive metal arches -- arcades -- throughout the city. I haven't read the thing yet, of course, but apparently he put the products and commercial behavior of Parisians under his microscope. He didn't write an analysis, but collected his observations. I can't wait until the book arrives!
I suspect I will also end up ordering the illustrated newer translation by Edward Kaplan of Baudelaire's Paris Spleen which is named The Parisian Prowler. It would seem to be the sutra of flanerie. (Although if you wanna know a secret, I usually find Baudelaire and Rimbaud and that whole set of self-referential stoners rather tiresome.)
Oh, and don't ask me how, but in the course of all this I also stumbled across a brand new book, slated for release November 1. It's about the fellow who consensually killed, butchered, and ate a guy he hooked up with online. Judging by prepublication description, I am hopeful that the author goes for analysis with some understanding of consensual power exchange (of which this is, of course, the far extreme) instead of sensationalism. In any case, you gotta love the title: Interview with a Cannibal. Yes, apparently the author did spend extensive time with the cannibal -- hours and hours of candid interviews.
This should keep me busy and strange for the next month or so.
This one was set off (again) by searches for the basic texts on flanerie or flaneurs. It's who I am (when I can get my sorry old body to cooperate). It's who Drake becomes, although he wouldn't sit in his room just reading about it... not any more.
In the course of my surfing, I discovered two things that have me all a-quiver.
One is the minimalist electronica artist Scanner or Robin Rimbaud. I'm pretty damn sure there's no one else on my f-list who would regard this stuff as fit for listening, but it delights me. I'm currently downloading the album Messe, which I gather is not one of Rimbaud's more "accessible" attempts. But what is not to like? In this album, apparently he abandons his earlier sampling of cell phone sounds & conversations to sample the likes of Durufle as a springboard to his brilliant minimalist rambles. (FYI, the flaneur connection, besides the fact that the artist calls himself Rimbaud, is that by taking off from cultural sampling, he acts as a musical flaneur.) Tasty!
Two is the book / notebook / compilation of stuff called The Arcades Project by Walter Benjamin. In 1,080 pages, Benjamin collected the yield of his own flanerie. Almost exactly 100 years ago, he stalked the urban malls of Paris, malls that thrived under distinctive metal arches -- arcades -- throughout the city. I haven't read the thing yet, of course, but apparently he put the products and commercial behavior of Parisians under his microscope. He didn't write an analysis, but collected his observations. I can't wait until the book arrives!
I suspect I will also end up ordering the illustrated newer translation by Edward Kaplan of Baudelaire's Paris Spleen which is named The Parisian Prowler. It would seem to be the sutra of flanerie. (Although if you wanna know a secret, I usually find Baudelaire and Rimbaud and that whole set of self-referential stoners rather tiresome.)
Oh, and don't ask me how, but in the course of all this I also stumbled across a brand new book, slated for release November 1. It's about the fellow who consensually killed, butchered, and ate a guy he hooked up with online. Judging by prepublication description, I am hopeful that the author goes for analysis with some understanding of consensual power exchange (of which this is, of course, the far extreme) instead of sensationalism. In any case, you gotta love the title: Interview with a Cannibal. Yes, apparently the author did spend extensive time with the cannibal -- hours and hours of candid interviews.
This should keep me busy and strange for the next month or so.