Random
Games
I love chess. It’s a beautiful game of war. The pieces move with order, so much so that computers can beat humans.
Even more than chess though, I love Go. I started playing Go in college. My friend Michael introduced me to the game. We used to play chess for hours, drinking coffee manically, smoking cigarettes manically (or at least I did), Michael would eat bean and chess tacos. Michael read books about chess, and was in general a much stronger player. He won most of the games. Then, one day, he brought in a Go board. The rules are simple, much simpler than chess: a gridded board, black and white stones, it’s a game of domination. But the point, unlike chess, is to gather territory. It’s a different way of conceptualizing the board. It’s less about taking pieces and gaining points (if you’re a point-counter in chess, which I am, always counting, though I’ll gladly sacrifice a 10-point piece for a pawn. This is probably why I lose so often. Also, my end game is a wreck.) and more about visualizing territory.
Writing is a game to me, my books are games. The books I enjoy most are games, which is why I read so much OuLiPo stuff. I have no point to make. I just like games, that’s all.
i like Go and Kawabata’s book, The Master of Go, is a fine novel about the game.
I am too stupid and impatient for chess, but I also tend to think of books, films etc as games.
Go is a heavenly game. I’ve played for several years, and it gets better the more I play and study.
I highly recommend the book ‘Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go’ by Toshiro Kageyama. It is essential.
I played a game of Go with my upstairs neighbors for three months once until the dog knocked the board over with his tail. BAD DOG!
lily, i like games too. both go and chess are pure strategy based i believe.
i play a lot of skill/’luck combo games such as poker. i can gamble with several different cultures.
have you ever played mexican poker? or tien len?
Chess is the best, although I hate how someone can beat you just by memorizing a million opening moves. Makes the barrier for play kind of high.
Go is great too, but it seems impossible to actually play a game on a full board because it would take one million years to complete.
A friend got me addicted to Go. I love it. But yeah, it does take three hundred years to play.
In general, I love strategy games but I’m also a horrible, horrible loser when it’s not just chance, but intellect involved. When my husband and I get our friends together to play Risk, it’s a terrifying thing, because my husband can’t stand to lose, either. We had best NEVER play strategy games with our children, when we have them, or they will be scarred for life.
“pictionary fisticuffs”
chess is about territory, i think; pretty much every chess opening is based around trying to control the center
i want to play go
nice post, thanks
i like Go and Kawabata’s book, The Master of Go, is a fine novel about the game.
Go is strategy. Chess is tactics.
LOL.
Man. I want to watch Pi now.
I am too stupid and impatient for chess, but I also tend to think of books, films etc as games.
i don’t like to lose either amber.
:)
I am crazy for Monopoly which reminds me of writing in many ways, how you’re always going around and around doing the same thing over and over, hoping you get paid.
I have played Tien Len. Good game. Also, before chess & Go, a lifetime ago, there was Domino. Two quick stories:
1. Back when I was locked up with the “crazies” (how they referred to themselves), I played a lot of Domino. It’s a really bad idea to play Domino with people who hear voices, esp if those voices say that I’m a cheater. I don’t cheat at Domino, no need to.
2. I’m allergic to alcohol, but before I knew this, I drank a lot one night, I’m sure over some stupid guy, and took refuge with some Asian friends. We played Domino, I passed out and when I woke up, there was Korean guy chasing me around with a knife.
So the moral is: Don’t play Domino with schizophrenic people or drunk Koreans with knives.
Love this. Thank you, Roxane!
Go is a heavenly game. I’ve played for several years, and it gets better the more I play and study.
I highly recommend the book ‘Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go’ by Toshiro Kageyama. It is essential.
I played a game of Go with my upstairs neighbors for three months once until the dog knocked the board over with his tail. BAD DOG!
Isn’t Life: A User’s Manual based on a Go board?
Nope. Chess. The chapters move like a knight.
domino is a rad game. i know how to play several versions of it. i even have an ivory set that used to belong to my great grandmother.
mexican poker is fun. really easy to learn and fast paced. the game was taught to me by a group of illegal day workers that hung outside the cigar shop i frequented in orange county.
i miss those guys.
(btw, when isn’t a korean drunk? lol)
i used to play chess a lot. i dont anymore. why not? i just stopped is all. i should go see if i can still play that thing
also ive been reading oulipo stuff lately too. what are some good recommendations? im currently reading perec’s species of spaces collection. are there any good novel length stuff besides life a users manual and a void?
There is a Go reference in “Life: A User’s Manual” tho. p. 103 in the Vintage Perec edition. Referring to Tale of Genji. I haven’t made it much further than this (ok, to be honest, I just read this passage and thought I’d share the reference), and I’m not really sure I see how it moves like a knight. Enlighten me (please).
lily, i like games too. both go and chess are pure strategy based i believe.
i play a lot of skill/’luck combo games such as poker. i can gamble with several different cultures.
have you ever played mexican poker? or tien len?
Chess is the best, although I hate how someone can beat you just by memorizing a million opening moves. Makes the barrier for play kind of high.
Go is great too, but it seems impossible to actually play a game on a full board because it would take one million years to complete.
Calvino, obviously, and I love Harry Mathews a lot, esp Cigarettes. I’ve been happy with most OuLiPo I’ve read. I also really dig Gilbert Sorrentino, though I’m not sure if he was officially a member, I don’t think he was. Also, Roubaud (Great Fire of London) & Queneau, obvious good choices!
ah. ive got cigarettes on my list. think ill go press that buy button. thanks!
The building is a 3d chess board, the chapters move over two up one or up two over one or down two over one or up two over one. You get my point. The brilliance of this book is that you don’t need to know the constraint to appreciate it. The book is fabulous. Knowing his constraint in movement just adds a layer. This is not unlike Calvino’s Invisible Cities (the chapters move in a sin wave). Cool stuff, no?
invisible cities moves in a sin wave? i didnt know that.
is that really chess though. maybe it sounds more like tetris.
A friend got me addicted to Go. I love it. But yeah, it does take three hundred years to play.
In general, I love strategy games but I’m also a horrible, horrible loser when it’s not just chance, but intellect involved. When my husband and I get our friends together to play Risk, it’s a terrifying thing, because my husband can’t stand to lose, either. We had best NEVER play strategy games with our children, when we have them, or they will be scarred for life.
“upwords”
really cool! thanks! did Calvino use such constraints often? I just picked up a copy of Marcovaldo (someone dumped off all their Calvino at my favorite English bookstore here and I plan to pick it all up, slowly) and the only obvious constraint seems to be the seasons. I like the whole picaresque aspect of it -though some of it’s a little weak (read for: early).
do you use such constraints in your writing?
and i wonder, what levels do these add in terms of interpretation? probably something for a grad level paper and not a htmlgiant comment, but i still wonder.
do you know the composer Xenakis? he openly used math/statistical based constraints to compose but almost never said what they were -i.e., if i’m not mistaken, he often hemmed and hawed when asked what the constraints were. there’s something there that i find (more) appealing. like, he uses the constraints to find ideas but then presents the ideas and not all the work behind it.
i guess it’s the same with oulipo only that they make their ideas more readily available. question mark?
“pictionary fisticuffs”
That chess structure was “anticipatorily plagiarised” by Lewis Carroll.
There aren’t any more reply button so I’ll answer Shane down here: Calvino was a member of the OuLiPo, so presumably, yes, he did use constraints often, though I don’t know to what extent. I read about the sin wave in the OuLiPo Compendium, I think (but I’d figured it out before, I like games).
Yes, I use constraints in my writing. Some are very obvious. Some aren’t. I prefer the non-obvious constraints, like LIFE or Invisible Cities. They play with potentiality more, in my opinion. I did an independent study on the OuLiPo in grad school. Interpretation of constraint is fun, but the texts ought to stand for themselves. Furthermore, the whole idea of constraint is in its potentiality, which is the text itself, you know? So should we bother interpreting the constraint? idk, I think I’m confusing myself right now.
I haven’t heard of Xenakis, but I know of quite a few OuMuPo (the music version of OuLiPo) people who use math and constraints during the composition process. There’s also a comics version of OuLiPo.
chess is about territory, i think; pretty much every chess opening is based around trying to control the center
i want to play go
nice post, thanks
Go is strategy. Chess is tactics.
LOL.
Man. I want to watch Pi now.
i don’t like to lose either amber.
:)
I am crazy for Monopoly which reminds me of writing in many ways, how you’re always going around and around doing the same thing over and over, hoping you get paid.
I have played Tien Len. Good game. Also, before chess & Go, a lifetime ago, there was Domino. Two quick stories:
1. Back when I was locked up with the “crazies” (how they referred to themselves), I played a lot of Domino. It’s a really bad idea to play Domino with people who hear voices, esp if those voices say that I’m a cheater. I don’t cheat at Domino, no need to.
2. I’m allergic to alcohol, but before I knew this, I drank a lot one night, I’m sure over some stupid guy, and took refuge with some Asian friends. We played Domino, I passed out and when I woke up, there was Korean guy chasing me around with a knife.
So the moral is: Don’t play Domino with schizophrenic people or drunk Koreans with knives.
Love this. Thank you, Roxane!
You are so Deleuzian, Lily.
Perhaps playing Go for the first time will prove how Deleuzian I am.
Maybe I should never play Go.
I’m scared the infinite multiplicity might prove as banal as Badiou wants me to think it is.
Nice post, by the way.
I am now looking up “comics Oulipo.” Thank you.
The workshop for potential comics! I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about this.
Go games do not have to take a long time. Just set an informal time limit on moves.
I regularly finish Go games in an hour or less.
Isn’t Life: A User’s Manual based on a Go board?
Nope. Chess. The chapters move like a knight.
domino is a rad game. i know how to play several versions of it. i even have an ivory set that used to belong to my great grandmother.
mexican poker is fun. really easy to learn and fast paced. the game was taught to me by a group of illegal day workers that hung outside the cigar shop i frequented in orange county.
i miss those guys.
(btw, when isn’t a korean drunk? lol)
i used to play chess a lot. i dont anymore. why not? i just stopped is all. i should go see if i can still play that thing
also ive been reading oulipo stuff lately too. what are some good recommendations? im currently reading perec’s species of spaces collection. are there any good novel length stuff besides life a users manual and a void?
There is a Go reference in “Life: A User’s Manual” tho. p. 103 in the Vintage Perec edition. Referring to Tale of Genji. I haven’t made it much further than this (ok, to be honest, I just read this passage and thought I’d share the reference), and I’m not really sure I see how it moves like a knight. Enlighten me (please).
Lily, I didn’t know that about Calvino, and he’s one of my favorite favorites. That’s probably why I like him so much! Do you know where I can read more about his constraints? Now I’m going to have read Invisible Cities again (oh, no, right?)
Calvino, obviously, and I love Harry Mathews a lot, esp Cigarettes. I’ve been happy with most OuLiPo I’ve read. I also really dig Gilbert Sorrentino, though I’m not sure if he was officially a member, I don’t think he was. Also, Roubaud (Great Fire of London) & Queneau, obvious good choices!
ah. ive got cigarettes on my list. think ill go press that buy button. thanks!
The building is a 3d chess board, the chapters move over two up one or up two over one or down two over one or up two over one. You get my point. The brilliance of this book is that you don’t need to know the constraint to appreciate it. The book is fabulous. Knowing his constraint in movement just adds a layer. This is not unlike Calvino’s Invisible Cities (the chapters move in a sin wave). Cool stuff, no?
invisible cities moves in a sin wave? i didnt know that.
is that really chess though. maybe it sounds more like tetris.
“upwords”
really cool! thanks! did Calvino use such constraints often? I just picked up a copy of Marcovaldo (someone dumped off all their Calvino at my favorite English bookstore here and I plan to pick it all up, slowly) and the only obvious constraint seems to be the seasons. I like the whole picaresque aspect of it -though some of it’s a little weak (read for: early).
do you use such constraints in your writing?
and i wonder, what levels do these add in terms of interpretation? probably something for a grad level paper and not a htmlgiant comment, but i still wonder.
do you know the composer Xenakis? he openly used math/statistical based constraints to compose but almost never said what they were -i.e., if i’m not mistaken, he often hemmed and hawed when asked what the constraints were. there’s something there that i find (more) appealing. like, he uses the constraints to find ideas but then presents the ideas and not all the work behind it.
i guess it’s the same with oulipo only that they make their ideas more readily available. question mark?
That chess structure was “anticipatorily plagiarised” by Lewis Carroll.
There aren’t any more reply button so I’ll answer Shane down here: Calvino was a member of the OuLiPo, so presumably, yes, he did use constraints often, though I don’t know to what extent. I read about the sin wave in the OuLiPo Compendium, I think (but I’d figured it out before, I like games).
Yes, I use constraints in my writing. Some are very obvious. Some aren’t. I prefer the non-obvious constraints, like LIFE or Invisible Cities. They play with potentiality more, in my opinion. I did an independent study on the OuLiPo in grad school. Interpretation of constraint is fun, but the texts ought to stand for themselves. Furthermore, the whole idea of constraint is in its potentiality, which is the text itself, you know? So should we bother interpreting the constraint? idk, I think I’m confusing myself right now.
I haven’t heard of Xenakis, but I know of quite a few OuMuPo (the music version of OuLiPo) people who use math and constraints during the composition process. There’s also a comics version of OuLiPo.
You are so Deleuzian, Lily.
Perhaps playing Go for the first time will prove how Deleuzian I am.
Maybe I should never play Go.
I’m scared the infinite multiplicity might prove as banal as Badiou wants me to think it is.
Nice post, by the way.
I am now looking up “comics Oulipo.” Thank you.
The workshop for potential comics! I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about this.
Go games do not have to take a long time. Just set an informal time limit on moves.
I regularly finish Go games in an hour or less.
Lily, I didn’t know that about Calvino, and he’s one of my favorite favorites. That’s probably why I like him so much! Do you know where I can read more about his constraints? Now I’m going to have read Invisible Cities again (oh, no, right?)
War is like Go.
lily,
have you read Roubaud’s E (can’t make the actual symbol here)? It’s based on Go.
and since I’ve read 20+ books on the OuLiPo (or by members) in the last three weeks, I could go on, but won’t cause I have to get back to reading. Great post.
‘E’ is incredible. When Roubaud was in NYC for the Oulipo conference last year I talked to him briefly about the structure of ‘the great fire of london’ (in terms of its branching systems) and he made a comment about colonizing the space of the book. Strikes me now as a very ‘go’ oriented sentiment.
Hi Dave, I haven’t but will. It’s ordered. Thanks. Hey, send me yr reading list, won’t you? I see yr updates on FB, and I have some holes I need to fill.
Life’s chapte’s correspond to an infamous problem known as ‘the knight’s tour (the goal being to touch each square of the chessboard once–and only once– with a knight.) while there are innumerable ways to complete this operation on a conventional chess board, Euclid (?) theorized that the process was impossible to replicate using a 10×10 square board. Perec was the first ‘mathematician’ to come up with a solution for the expanded tour. He then grafted the movement onto a set of architectural plans a friend drew up for him, and the motion of the novel was established (though, since he’s a funny motherfucker, he skips a chapter, and explains it away with a little girl sitting on the landing eating a box of Lu le cookies ((the pun is erased in translation, but the idea is that it’s the past tense of ‘to read’. The cookies have been eaten, the chapter has been read, etc.))
If you want to learn how to play Go, this is a good tutorial: http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/
sent.
and in my haste, i forget to mention my focus for the list, which might be helpful.
not many outside the OuLiPo talk about them this way, but almost everything I’ve read from members talks about their research, and that, primarily, they’re a research group. so my reading is focused on that aspect…what their research actually is, and how their texts are often extensions of the research (rather than examples). Now that I’m done reading this list, it seems rather short – so many other books would’ve worked on this list, but had to keep it narrow. Would love to talk more about your constraints…pretty much everything I do is constraint based.
Okay, try again.:) Anyone? Where can I find out more (in-depth, not from Wikipedia) on OuLiPo, and also specifically on Calvino’s writing as part of that philosophy? I’m truly sincerely interested. This stuff sounds right up my alley, as I love logic and games, in writing and real life.
Hi Amber, Warren Motte edited an OuLiPo primer and there’s also an OuLiPo compendium, edited by Harry Mathews, I think. At least one of these is a Dalkey title, but I’m not sure which. One of these has the Calvino sin wave essay. (It seems like forever ago that I read them, so please forgive my vagueness.) I also like logic and games and math and writing. This stuff is cool. Also, you should check out the Les Figues anthology (n)oulipian analects. It has non-OuLiPians doing OuLiPo stuff. Calvino does some cool stuff, but check out other OuLiPo writers too. You won’t be disappointed! The pleasure in writing is coming up with your own constraints. Maybe I’ll start working on a constraint post?
O, also, sorry I didn’t respond to this earlier.
Amber, Lily mentioned it earlier, but the Oulipo compendium [edited by Mathews and Brotchie] is a great, if purposely scrambled, resource. Warren Motte’s ‘Oulipo: a primer of potential literature’ is also a good source, but it is mainly primary source documents and not criticism. The best source are the minutes taken from the meetings, but a knowledge of french is required. That’s where all the really juicy stuff is. The compendium has a few of the meetings translated, but if I’m recalling correctly, none of them feature Calvino. Castle of Crossed Destinies and If on a Winter’s night… are the most rigorous of the Calvino’s post-induction constraint based works. Invisible cities and Cosmicomics are what got him invited to join.
Hey Amber, I wrote a semi-satirical essay on the history of the Oulipo for AGNI, which, if you’re interested in the topic you might find interesting:
http://www.bu.edu/agni/essays/online/2009/higgs.html
Lily, it’d be great if you would do a post on constraints sometime. Christian Bök’s work is worth a glance:
http://archives.chbooks.com/online_books/eunoia/text.html
http://www.subtletechnologies.com/2007/?page_id=82
War is like Go.
Yes! Christian is a very cool writer indeed. His Eunoia is definitely worth a read!
Thanks, all of you! This is a ton of good stuff to go after, and I’m super excited to check it all out. Lily, no worries–I figured the post went down the page far enough that you didn’t see, since I asked the question late in the day. You should absolutely do a post on constraints–I think it would be fascinating.
Amber—Cool that you’re reading David Jones’ In Parenthesis. His other long poem, The Anathemata (if you haven’t already encountered it), is also terrific.
Christopher—Excellent concise history of Oulipian origins (I’d never heard the Niels Bohr anecdote before). Thanks.
Or wait—was the Bohr anecdote one of the satirical aspects of your essay and I bought it like a dope?
Tim! You’re not a dope. I tried very hard in that essay to blend truth and fiction so that the identity of which was which would always be in question. Alas, the Bohr anecdote was a product of my imagination. One of the strange anecdotes that was *not* fabricated was the bit about Lenin being irked at the Dadaists in Switzerland – I guess he did actually have a place close by the Cabaret Voltaire, and they did piss him off. He was trying to concentrate on reading Hegel and they kept distracting him.
Well, you had me there for awhile, and pretty much anything (even my own breathing) distracts me when I try to read Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, so I’m with Lenin on that one. Have you ever listened to the British experimental band Cabaret Voltaire?
lily,
have you read Roubaud’s E (can’t make the actual symbol here)? It’s based on Go.
and since I’ve read 20+ books on the OuLiPo (or by members) in the last three weeks, I could go on, but won’t cause I have to get back to reading. Great post.
‘E’ is incredible. When Roubaud was in NYC for the Oulipo conference last year I talked to him briefly about the structure of ‘the great fire of london’ (in terms of its branching systems) and he made a comment about colonizing the space of the book. Strikes me now as a very ‘go’ oriented sentiment.
Hi Dave, I haven’t but will. It’s ordered. Thanks. Hey, send me yr reading list, won’t you? I see yr updates on FB, and I have some holes I need to fill.
Life’s chapte’s correspond to an infamous problem known as ‘the knight’s tour (the goal being to touch each square of the chessboard once–and only once– with a knight.) while there are innumerable ways to complete this operation on a conventional chess board, Euclid (?) theorized that the process was impossible to replicate using a 10×10 square board. Perec was the first ‘mathematician’ to come up with a solution for the expanded tour. He then grafted the movement onto a set of architectural plans a friend drew up for him, and the motion of the novel was established (though, since he’s a funny motherfucker, he skips a chapter, and explains it away with a little girl sitting on the landing eating a box of Lu le cookies ((the pun is erased in translation, but the idea is that it’s the past tense of ‘to read’. The cookies have been eaten, the chapter has been read, etc.))
If you want to learn how to play Go, this is a good tutorial: http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/
I’m familiar with that band, but haven’t given them a proper listen. Is there a particular album you’d recommend?
sent.
and in my haste, i forget to mention my focus for the list, which might be helpful.
not many outside the OuLiPo talk about them this way, but almost everything I’ve read from members talks about their research, and that, primarily, they’re a research group. so my reading is focused on that aspect…what their research actually is, and how their texts are often extensions of the research (rather than examples). Now that I’m done reading this list, it seems rather short – so many other books would’ve worked on this list, but had to keep it narrow. Would love to talk more about your constraints…pretty much everything I do is constraint based.
You can’t go wrong with any of their prime stuff on Mute, but “Red Mecca” is my favorite. If you stumble across the double-disc compilation “Original Sound of Sheffield” and it’s affordable, go for it—it’s a solid introduction to their career.
iTunes has samples from “Red Mecca”. If they don’t entice, then you can pass on Cabaret Voltaire. They’re certainly not for everyone and the Wu Tang Clan they ain’t.
Here is a decent overview (sans any semi-sarcasm to snare the gullible):
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jifqxqw5ldfe~T1
Okay, try again.:) Anyone? Where can I find out more (in-depth, not from Wikipedia) on OuLiPo, and also specifically on Calvino’s writing as part of that philosophy? I’m truly sincerely interested. This stuff sounds right up my alley, as I love logic and games, in writing and real life.
Hi Amber, Warren Motte edited an OuLiPo primer and there’s also an OuLiPo compendium, edited by Harry Mathews, I think. At least one of these is a Dalkey title, but I’m not sure which. One of these has the Calvino sin wave essay. (It seems like forever ago that I read them, so please forgive my vagueness.) I also like logic and games and math and writing. This stuff is cool. Also, you should check out the Les Figues anthology (n)oulipian analects. It has non-OuLiPians doing OuLiPo stuff. Calvino does some cool stuff, but check out other OuLiPo writers too. You won’t be disappointed! The pleasure in writing is coming up with your own constraints. Maybe I’ll start working on a constraint post?
O, also, sorry I didn’t respond to this earlier.
Amber, Lily mentioned it earlier, but the Oulipo compendium [edited by Mathews and Brotchie] is a great, if purposely scrambled, resource. Warren Motte’s ‘Oulipo: a primer of potential literature’ is also a good source, but it is mainly primary source documents and not criticism. The best source are the minutes taken from the meetings, but a knowledge of french is required. That’s where all the really juicy stuff is. The compendium has a few of the meetings translated, but if I’m recalling correctly, none of them feature Calvino. Castle of Crossed Destinies and If on a Winter’s night… are the most rigorous of the Calvino’s post-induction constraint based works. Invisible cities and Cosmicomics are what got him invited to join.
Hey Amber, I wrote a semi-satirical essay on the history of the Oulipo for AGNI, which, if you’re interested in the topic you might find interesting:
http://www.bu.edu/agni/essays/online/2009/higgs.html
Awesome! Thanks, Tim. Just downloaded RED MECCA. Am digging it. Very eerie, very cool industrial strangeness.
Lily, it’d be great if you would do a post on constraints sometime. Christian Bök’s work is worth a glance:
http://archives.chbooks.com/online_books/eunoia/text.html
http://www.subtletechnologies.com/2007/?page_id=82
Yes! Christian is a very cool writer indeed. His Eunoia is definitely worth a read!
Thanks, all of you! This is a ton of good stuff to go after, and I’m super excited to check it all out. Lily, no worries–I figured the post went down the page far enough that you didn’t see, since I asked the question late in the day. You should absolutely do a post on constraints–I think it would be fascinating.
Amber—Cool that you’re reading David Jones’ In Parenthesis. His other long poem, The Anathemata (if you haven’t already encountered it), is also terrific.
Christopher—Excellent concise history of Oulipian origins (I’d never heard the Niels Bohr anecdote before). Thanks.
Or wait—was the Bohr anecdote one of the satirical aspects of your essay and I bought it like a dope?
Tim! You’re not a dope. I tried very hard in that essay to blend truth and fiction so that the identity of which was which would always be in question. Alas, the Bohr anecdote was a product of my imagination. One of the strange anecdotes that was *not* fabricated was the bit about Lenin being irked at the Dadaists in Switzerland – I guess he did actually have a place close by the Cabaret Voltaire, and they did piss him off. He was trying to concentrate on reading Hegel and they kept distracting him.
Well, you had me there for awhile, and pretty much anything (even my own breathing) distracts me when I try to read Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, so I’m with Lenin on that one. Have you ever listened to the British experimental band Cabaret Voltaire?
I’m familiar with that band, but haven’t given them a proper listen. Is there a particular album you’d recommend?
You can’t go wrong with any of their prime stuff on Mute, but “Red Mecca” is my favorite. If you stumble across the double-disc compilation “Original Sound of Sheffield” and it’s affordable, go for it—it’s a solid introduction to their career.
iTunes has samples from “Red Mecca”. If they don’t entice, then you can pass on Cabaret Voltaire. They’re certainly not for everyone and the Wu Tang Clan they ain’t.
Here is a decent overview (sans any semi-sarcasm to snare the gullible):
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jifqxqw5ldfe~T1
Awesome! Thanks, Tim. Just downloaded RED MECCA. Am digging it. Very eerie, very cool industrial strangeness.
I just read about these doodles and vandalizations that Stalin did to texts and pictures. pretty wild stuff. for example on a pic of nude males he would write: “if he hadn’t pissed against the wind, if he hadn’t been angry, he would be alive” or “Ginger bitch Radek.” (I almost feel like this is in the wrong thread and belongs in JC’s post about god and vaginas). Stalin = DADA
I just read about these doodles and vandalizations that Stalin did to texts and pictures. pretty wild stuff. for example on a pic of nude males he would write: “if he hadn’t pissed against the wind, if he hadn’t been angry, he would be alive” or “Ginger bitch Radek.” (I almost feel like this is in the wrong thread and belongs in JC’s post about god and vaginas). Stalin = DADA
Christopher, I loved this essay, and I was really really hoping the Lenin but was true. That makes me so happy that it was/is.
Also, thanks again, all–I just bought a crap load of these recommends and am so excited to dig in.
Tim, I’m nuts over In Parenthesis–I can’t believe I never read it before. I’ve been looking for Anathemata, but it looks like it’s out of print. I guess I’ll have to go to the library. I want to read The Sleeping Lord, too–I’m doing a piece on legendary sleepers right now, and his take on Arthur and the savior myth is interesting.
Christopher, I loved this essay, and I was really really hoping the Lenin but was true. That makes me so happy that it was/is.
Also, thanks again, all–I just bought a crap load of these recommends and am so excited to dig in.
Tim, I’m nuts over In Parenthesis–I can’t believe I never read it before. I’ve been looking for Anathemata, but it looks like it’s out of print. I guess I’ll have to go to the library. I want to read The Sleeping Lord, too–I’m doing a piece on legendary sleepers right now, and his take on Arthur and the savior myth is interesting.
Christopher—Glad Red Mecca is delivering some eeriness to you. By the way, what would you recommend by Deleuze to someone who has read only Difference and Repetition and (with Guattari) 1000 Plateaus?
Amber—The Sleeping Lord, as you know, wasn’t finished, but it’s worth reading nonetheless. I have the rare Summerfield guide and commentary to Anathemata and Sleeping Lord if you ever wish/feel the need to borrow it. Summerfield elucidates a lot I would’ve never figured out on my own.
Christopher—Glad Red Mecca is delivering some eeriness to you. By the way, what would you recommend by Deleuze to someone who has read only Difference and Repetition and (with Guattari) 1000 Plateaus?
Amber—The Sleeping Lord, as you know, wasn’t finished, but it’s worth reading nonetheless. I have the rare Summerfield guide and commentary to Anathemata and Sleeping Lord if you ever wish/feel the need to borrow it. Summerfield elucidates a lot I would’ve never figured out on my own.