???

[mk_rya]

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people.

Nevertheless, powerless

Comments

[molari]

Well, it's not that I didn't enjoy Lolita while I was reading it, I found it well written and quite funny in places. Having finished it though, I realised that I found the whole thing a bit uncomfortable. Not so much for the whole child-abuse aspect, but more that I found Humbert so sordid, and unpleasant, and pathetic, that I couldn't engage or empathise with him on any level. I guess the whole experience made me feel a bit sordid too, which may have been the point of the book, but still left a bit of a sour taste.

Heart of Darkness is by Conrad yes, and Apocalypse Now is based on it. Although the book is set in Colonial Africa, the general plot and overall theme are the same - man goes down river in boat after Kurtz, and everyone goes a bit mad in oppresive primeval jungle. Like the film, the plot takes a bit of a back seat to the atmosphere, but I quite like that as I could read Conrad describing things on the periphery of perception till the cows come home.

Congrats on losing your chav. Funny, I always knew them as pikeys or townies, but I guess 'chav' is practically OED nowadays. This has taken me about 30 minutes to type with my left hand, as I have mangled my right paw on broken glass. Still, I get to miss work for two weeks. Outstanding!

[mk_rya]

I understand the whole sordid aftertaste thing with Nabokov, all his books that I've read tend to skirt with some sexual perverseness. I wonder if he was a perv in real life - must find some biographies to read.

That's got me thinking (Oh no!) Perhaps it is because you are male that you had that particular reaction to it... I did have an essay type answer to back this claim up, but I went away and forgot my train of thought...Basically, shared male guilt or some shit like that. I once read The End of Alice by AM Holmes (atrocious, atrocious) which I believe was an attempt by her to flip the whole lolita concept on its head by having a female paedophile protagonist. Once I got over what an utterly crap piece of writing it was, I think I had a similar reaction to yours to Lolita.

And Conrad's The Secret Agent is on my growing to-do list. Not sure I'll attempt Heart of Darkness, because now all I can think of is Martin Sheen in his underpants.

Pikeys...that takes me back to t'childhood, when I had n'er a care in the world, plucking daisies in the garden of England.

Are you getting paid to be an invalid? Did it happen at work? Maybe I should throw myself on the water-cooler tomorrow and see what they offer me.

[molari]

Could be shared male guilt I suppose - I tend to keep a safe distance from my own subconscious (There be Dragons etc.) so am of the opinion I am maybe better off not knowing. It did make a nice change to read something on the subject with a bit more depth than 'Lynch the paedos' though - Windermere is Daily Mail central, and there is always a copy lying around in the staff room, frightening stuff.

I think any self-respecting pikey would immediately beat the crap out of anyone found doing something effeminate like picking flowers - it's pretty much painting a bullseye on yourself.

I am getting paid to be an invalid yes, although it actually happened while washing up. Blood, hospital, stitches, etc. The worst thing is trying to perform simple everyday tasks - do you have any idea how difficult it is to butter a slice of toast with just your left hand (and a knife obviously)? I'm afaid it was rather a pitiful sight.

[mk_rya]

Today I worked for about two hours out of seven, and the rest of my time I got stuck into Nabokov's 'Pnin'. I insist you read it! From what I've read it seems to be a pervert-free zone, and his prose hit me like a minor spiritual epiphany. Pnin!

I skirted dangerously close during my childhood to being a pikey. A whole cluster of them lived close by, but I think I was saved by grammar school and having more than one bath a week. They were old-school pikeys, second generation gippos (Christ, this is offensive - but true)...memories, memories.

Eat dry toast, and come up with some excuse...you took on a large group of escaped prisoners (one today in Manchester I believe) or fought two untamed rottweilers, and you read Nuts and eat steak - raw.

[molari]

I shall keep a look out for Pnin then, on my next trip to Hay-on-Wye (where I acquire all my books in bi-annual splurges). But the moment Pnin starts gawping at young girls I shall stop reading.

I think I may have had pikey tendencies when younger also, but then if you grow up in a big city it can go with the territory unfortunately. In my defence my school was a comprehensive (socialist parents = no grammar school for me), and hanging around with the tough kids was a good strategy to avoid getting beaten up. We would smoke Lambert and Butlers, listen to Wu-Tang Clan, and lie to each other about all the sex we were having. Happy days.

My new icon is the shit btw.

[mk_rya]

Your new icon is indeed the shit. I'm only up to ep 6 on LoGh I'm afraid. Do you know who wins at the end? - I've only got sixty max years left in me.

Your socialist parents sent you to a comprehensive, which does make my pro-grammar/public schools self tut, but at least they weren't socialist hypocrites like Blair et al, who preach state schools while bundling their own kids to private institutions. Kudos for the Wu-tang though, back in the day, before they sold themselves out as backing dancers for white, silicone-titted bints. I was on the Beastie Boys trip myself, before they became socially conscious buddhists and therefore, very dull.

[molari]

I know how things stand on LOGH circa ep. 86, which is where the uploaders/translators have currently got to. So I'm not entirely sure how things will end, although I think I could take a pretty good guess. Do you really want me to spoil it for you, though? I will say that there have been a couple of prominent deaths, which was good, as I hate series/books/films where main characters are borderline immortal, and so any attempt to place them in jeopardy has the stink of inauthenticity (is that a word?). Things are building to a lovely tragic climax in LOGH though, which is what I crave.

I can't really complain about my socialist parents too much as I inherited most of their opinions!

Ahhh, Beastie Boys, Wu-Tang, it was a simpler age in many ways. I remember when Kid n Play were considered somewhat risque, dancing to House of Pain at the local disco, jumpers for goalposts etc.

[mk_rya]

Now I'm not so sure I want to know what happens in LoGh. I wasn't that bothered until you said 'lovely tragic climax.' While I am detached and remote in real life, I love being knocked over by some fiction. But Christ, how many eps are there in total? And I'm not sure I can stomach listening to that opening song x number of times.

I wished they'd bring it out on DVD. I'm not fond of watching things on my computer screen.

It was a simpler time back then (sigh). I suppose in some ways having socialist parents would be better than having a Thatcherite/communist-in-denial (oxymoronic or a paradox Doctor?) parent. No wonder I'm so fucked up.

[molari]

There are 110 episodes, plus I think 3 movies, plus another 50 episode series set 5 years previously. So yeah, pretty time consuming, but then it's such a lovely great big ball of angst and Dvorak that it's worth the commitment. What can I say, I'm a sucker for tragedy. BTW, if the theme song annoys you, bit-torrents are the answer, plus you get a better quality image than youtube.

Also, what the deuce? Thatcherite/communist-in-denial paradox doctors? Gah?

[mk_rya]

I was trying to figure out if a parent equal parts Thatcherite and Communist was an oxymoron or a paradox. Personally I think it's a paradox, though their meanings are so similar.

Your listing of the eps and movies of LoGh wears me out. From the point you're up to, has Kercheis, Reinhard, Siegfried, Annerose, or Jessica died. No wait! I change my mind. I will watch them all....Ok so tell me if any of them die, but don't tell me which one.

[molari]

Well . . . not everyone you listed is still alive by episode 86, I'll say that much. I'm intrigued as to how a Thatcherite/Communist outlook works, unless it's a whole Gollumesque split personality thing, 'We will close down the unions, my prrrrreciousss'

[mk_rya]

It is rather schizophrenic, the whole Thatcherite/Communist political personality, but interesting to be around, if sometimes trying.

I've just refreshed my memory by watching episodes 5 and 6. I forgot how funny the translation is. And for some reason I am dying to see Reinhard and Kercheis get together. That homoerotic tension is dynamite!

[molari]

Man, you aint seen nothing as far as homoerotic tension goes. At one point Kercheis and Reinhard spontaneosly transform into fairies and fly off together, or then there's the time Kercheis visits the Free Planets Alliance and essentially shuts it down because all the men keep gushing about how handsome he is. The whole show's gay as a tin of peaches really.