Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
12 Sep 2021, 6:53pm
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He do
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Is ten times worse than prison


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Re: Whatcha reading?

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45) More Than Likely - Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement. Kindle. 2018. The writers of Porridge & Auf Wiedersehn, Pet write a conversational, FAQ based, readable but ultimately unsatisfying shared memoir. They are pleasant guys but there's no real insight apart from how fun it is to share loads of red wine with Michael Caine. There's a tonne of good anecdotes though. Billy Connolly's birthday in the 90s, someone beings up the size of the house owned by the former welder. Billy: Come the revolution, everyone will be living in a fucking castle!
Prince Charles, in attendance, sadly: I won't...
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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46) Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams. 1992. Audiobook read by Martin Freeman. A book with a reputation based entirely on its massive downer of an ending. Prior to that desperate throwing of the chessboard out the window, it's an imaginative and subtle Hitchhiker's book with a lot more to it than appeared, with real human emotions appearing as well as the typical, winning tech jokes. I liked it on balance.
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Wolter »

Silent Majority wrote:
14 Sep 2021, 7:22am
46) Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams. 1992. Audiobook read by Martin Freeman. A book with a reputation based entirely on its massive downer of an ending. Prior to that desperate throwing of the chessboard out the window, it's an imaginative and subtle Hitchhiker's book with a lot more to it than appeared, with real human emotions appearing as well as the typical, winning tech jokes. I liked it on balance.
I’d argue its massive casual undoing of the previous book’s whole deal also didn’t help. Flashes of the previous books’ brilliance, but it’s obvious Adam’s wasn’t in the best place in his life emotionally when he wrote it. It’s…fine.
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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47) Did Ye Hear That Mammy Died? - Seamus O'Reilly. Kindle. 2021. A funny memoir of grief and childhood in a large Northern Irish family in the 1990s. A nice feel good book, nothing relevatory.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Typing up my notes for the book on EC Comics, so comments about that will be, hopefully, tomorrow.

Meanwhile, audio book:
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Barney Hoskyns, Small Town Talk. About the music scene of Woodstock, NY. I'm about halfway thru and it's fine enough popular narrative history. Probably nothing here that will surprise Dylan fans. I'm actually more interested in the post-60s stuff, which is much less part of popular lore.

Tub book:
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Officially gave up on Bill Martin's book on prog, probably around the same spot where I gave up before. It's weird that there are long stretches where his writing is so engaging and thought-provoking, and then he collapses into tedious navel-gazing. Anyway, I'm re-reading an old crime novel by Richard Prather, who, back in the 50s and 60s, wrote light-hearted detective books. I've read this before but remember zilcho about it. But Prather is reliable empty calories.

Also going to start searching for articles on queercore for my punk seminar once I'm done with my notes for Whitted's EC Comics book.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Okay, yeah, Whitted's book on EC and race. It's quite good and takes seriously the idea that "lowbrow" entertainment could make a meaningful contribution to major social justice issues—in this case, civil rights in America. EC set aside a few stories in their books to engage in socially meaningful dialogue on significant issues like bigotry and mob vigilantism—what Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein self-deprecatingly called "preachies." These were different from their poetic justice shock and awe entertainment where, say, an asshole butcher ends up being chopped up or a glutton is eaten by an alien or something. Instead, preachies had faith that the readers knew the difference between cheap thrills and efforts to illustrate how bigotry runs against democratic values and that it's vital for young people to strive to be better. There were certainly limitations to all this that reflected white normativity, such as black characters usually portrayed as mute victims before white actions, with other whites illustrating the moral crime. Or of colonial tropes being employed unironically to illustrate how segregation is wrong. These writers were still white liberals operating from an unconscious belief that Euro-American culture, properly freed of bigotry, should be fully emulated. It was the 50s and finding commercial interests willing to tackle this stuff, even with their own cultural blindspots, was pretty damned amazing, risking their livelihood when comics were being attacked for corrupting young minds.

Definitely using this book in my class next year as Whitted adds so, so much more to my limited lecture on comics in the 40s and 50s.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Almost done the Hoskyns Woodstock book, which ended up being a snooze for me. Partly the post-60s/Dylan material wasn't that interesting. I really don't give a fuck about Todd Rundgren, Orleans, or the egos and drunken tragedy of The Band (side note: I hate The Band's "The Weight," amplified by its reverence from "serious" rock people). Fundamentally, pretty much all the principal characters come off as egotistical assholes in contradictory fights over money and status versus their romantic self-conception as true artists of the folk. The shit that happens in this book is why punk had to happen (and then so many punk bands acted out their own version of this dumb shit).

Up next is, I think, some book about E=MC2 (Einstein, not BAD).
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Oct 2021, 11:20am
Almost done the Hoskyns Woodstock book, which ended up being a snooze for me. Partly the post-60s/Dylan material wasn't that interesting. I really don't give a fuck about Todd Rundgren, Orleans, or the egos and drunken tragedy of The Band (side note: I hate The Band's "The Weight," amplified by its reverence from "serious" rock people). Fundamentally, pretty much all the principal characters come off as egotistical assholes in contradictory fights over money and status versus their romantic self-conception as true artists of the folk. The shit that happens in this book is why punk had to happen (and then so many punk bands acted out their own version of this dumb shit).

Up next is, I think, some book about E=MC2 (Einstein, not BAD).
That guy was quite clever and his "Meets the Human Beatbox" 12" mix ain't too BAD either.
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Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Marky Dread wrote:
05 Oct 2021, 12:26pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Oct 2021, 11:20am
Almost done the Hoskyns Woodstock book, which ended up being a snooze for me. Partly the post-60s/Dylan material wasn't that interesting. I really don't give a fuck about Todd Rundgren, Orleans, or the egos and drunken tragedy of The Band (side note: I hate The Band's "The Weight," amplified by its reverence from "serious" rock people). Fundamentally, pretty much all the principal characters come off as egotistical assholes in contradictory fights over money and status versus their romantic self-conception as true artists of the folk. The shit that happens in this book is why punk had to happen (and then so many punk bands acted out their own version of this dumb shit).

Up next is, I think, some book about E=MC2 (Einstein, not BAD).
That guy was quite clever and his "Meets the Human Beatbox" 12" mix ain't too BAD either.
How many hits did he have compared to Shakin' Stevens? /heston
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Marky Dread
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Marky Dread »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Oct 2021, 12:31pm
Marky Dread wrote:
05 Oct 2021, 12:26pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Oct 2021, 11:20am
Almost done the Hoskyns Woodstock book, which ended up being a snooze for me. Partly the post-60s/Dylan material wasn't that interesting. I really don't give a fuck about Todd Rundgren, Orleans, or the egos and drunken tragedy of The Band (side note: I hate The Band's "The Weight," amplified by its reverence from "serious" rock people). Fundamentally, pretty much all the principal characters come off as egotistical assholes in contradictory fights over money and status versus their romantic self-conception as true artists of the folk. The shit that happens in this book is why punk had to happen (and then so many punk bands acted out their own version of this dumb shit).

Up next is, I think, some book about E=MC2 (Einstein, not BAD).
That guy was quite clever and his "Meets the Human Beatbox" 12" mix ain't too BAD either.
How many hits did he have compared to Shakin' Stevens? /heston
It's all relative. ;)
Image

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.

"Without the common people you're nothing"

Nos Sumus Una Familia

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Spiff »

Hongoltz-Hetling, Matthew (2020). A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears).

I'm sure revbob is familiar with the events on which the book is based.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Spiff wrote:
06 Oct 2021, 1:17pm
Hongoltz-Hetling, Matthew (2020). A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears).

I'm sure revbob is familiar with the events on which the book is based.
I listened to that earlier this year. It goes on longer than it needs to, but it's an often amusing case study of what happens when these Gadsden flag yahoos actually try to live together.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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