This phrase brings to the surface nothing but trouble. It becomes a floodlight onto the foundationless structure on which we perform our mental handstands. How could this be? How could the prospects of "pure life" somehow cause more salt to enter the wound of existence than say a job at the commodities exchange? It's in the boldness of the gesture - the attempt to undercut the very legs one stands on.
The trader embraces those stems which keep him upright. He trains on them and reinforces each strand of muscle. However, the conqueror of the useless makes sure to hobble his stance at every turn. He is deeply skeptical of the legs that got him here, and cannibalizes them on a whim. In truth, the man of uselessness is living a lie. He is the ultimate contradiction, devoting his life to chopping away at the foundations of his goals.
It would seem then that the truest gesture would be to stop chopping all together, and a great many have put down their axes - but not willingly! They dropped their blades in the same way a soldier releases his military issued firearm into the mouth of the desert. For this reason, I refuse to call these men cowards. They are in fact heros, placing themselves on the frontline of battle - casualties of some meta-war. Fortunately, there is no use sitting around counting bodies, and the fallen wouldn't want it that way, because someone needs to relight the torch and carry it on towards that falsity known as progress.
It is in the space between chopping and dropping that the pure negative exists.
As per usual, I started this mix months ago and just kept adding/deleting tracks, so now it mostly represents the first half of 2010. Not much to say about this one except: ignore the borders and be wary of who's rolling the dice.
Philosophy is often framed as an elitist and impractical endeavor. Does Hegel's notions of identity in difference matter when you're stuck in an office at 3:30pm on a Tuesday? Can anyone pick up and understand a philosophical text without formal training? I'd argue an unequivocal yes to both questions. In the words of Slavoj Zizek, "Philosophy isn't about providing answers, but only about rephrasing the question." That statement both demystifies the art of philosophy, and brings it into the practical realm.
Much of life is built around argument (or at least discussion), and understanding what makes a strong and rational statement/question is vital. Within the Information Age, exists a flood of misinformation. The theory goes: if you can create enough noise (false info), then it becomes laborious to sift for facts. It's similar to when the music industry used to flood Napster and Kazaa with noise tracks labeled as a popular song. Philosophy helps to identify the "noise," and frame the question in an appropriate way.
Ok, so where to start?
First thing: Go buy Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy as a reference guide for all philosophers prior to Kant. He goes all the way through Dewey (1859-1952), but it's most important for philosophy pre-18th century. For this reason I'll be staying mostly inside the last 300 years.
Next move: Find some old and new philosophers to tackle simultaneously. I've found this to be a more enjoyable and sustainable process. Starting with Socrates and trying to plow through nearly 2,500 years of deep thought is slightly daunting. I started with mostly modern thinkers, and listened for the philosophers they referenced. Once that list grew large, I began buying those source texts to both contextualize my contemporary reading and lay a strong foundation for my philosophical knowledge. Above is the poster for Examined Life, which is a great study of 8 Modern Philosophers. I highly recommend using this as a guide as well.
Some 20th/21st Century philosophers I started with:
Slavoj Zizek (The Sublime Object of Ideology, Tarrying With the Negative, Zizek the film)
Cornel West (Democracy Matters, Race Matters, various lectures online - he's more of an orator by trade)
Michel Foucault (Discipline & Punishment, College de France lectures, History of Madness)
Noam Chomsky (Profit Over People, Manufacturing Consent, The Chomsky-Foucault Debate)
This is a pretty diverse group, although they cross pollinate in interesting ways. Take some of these names for a spin through wikipedia/amazon and see what sticks.
From there: Foundational names will start to pop off the page, so it's time to dig in deeper. I tried to break this list into Essential and Secondary Texts, but failed to justify the split. I'm in no position to make such a call. Also, this is in NO way a complete or near complete list of essential philosophical texts. This is just a list of people and books that I've come across - mostly from the last 300 years, since Russell takes care of everything prior (Greek Philosophy etc…).
I hope this list of names helps give people a starting place for philosophical exploration. I am in no way an expert on any of these thinkers, but I've been enjoying my journey through their work.
Just a glance into these scribbled pages makes me realize the true obsession and cost of genius. Wallace jumped into literature with both feet, and never looked back. This amazing collection of manuscripts, library, notes etc was put together by The Harold Ransom Center at The University Texas at Austin. The site has a preview of what will be made available to the public later this year. Unfortunately, much of it is too small to read, so hopefully we'll see hi res images soon. Will let you know when we hear more.
Delphinium's title acts as a pretty efficient synopsis, but we'll start there anyways. The experimental short, written and directed by Matthew Mishory, focuses its lens on the childhood of artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman. I have to admit that while recognizing Jarman's name in the lexicon of iconic artists (specificaly as a pioneer in gay activism), I had little to no exposure to his work prior to seeing Delphinium. My experience was therefore unique, in that only later while admiring one of his paintings or a scene from Jubilee, did I retroactively piece together allusions Matthew had made to Derek's work.
The centerpiece of Delphinium (and much of Jarman's own work) is the stunning use of Super 8. The beautiful image above is one of the film's Super 8 moments. The rich color and grain transports you back in time, and highlights the rapturous visions that young Derek had as a child. The contrasting crispness of the digitally shot scenes helps exaggerate the harsh realities of Derek's adolescence.
Another effective parallel to Jarman's work, is Mishory's use of theatrical set pieces, and false backdrops. The layered set keeps the viewer fluctuating between reality and artifice - calling into question our suspension of disbelief.
Delphininium has been featured in film festivals across the globe, and recently won the Easton Kodak Grand Prize for Best Short Film at this year's US Super 8 and DV Film Festival. Visit the official site and facebook page for screening info. Also, be on the lookout for Matthew's upcoming feature, Portland.
Happy end of the decade! I know the last thing people probably need is another end of the year list, but here's another end of the year list. I decided to abandon the "top albums" distinction and go with a broader "top releases" label. Let's be honest, the album format is a construct that the limitless potential of digital music no longer has to abide by. I'm a huge fan of a unified collection of music, but as Animal Collective's Fall Be Kind EP proved, a cohesive release can be as little as 5 songs. Also, I don't have the writing staff like P-fork to whip up ten different lists for every category of music. Scroll to the bottom to see #1 and download a zip file of 10 songs (one per artist).
10. Phaseone - White Collar Crime
Phaseone put out my favorite mixtape of the year - a collection of new material and the remixes (Burial, Radiohead, Animal Collective) that put him on the map. You can download the entire mixtape for free here.
9. The Antlers - Hospice
The Antler's music is understated and at times a little slow, but every song on Hospice has an amazing undercurrent of beautiful, drony melodies. I don't feel like enough people were talking about them this year.
8. Wavves - Wavves
Ah, to be a bratty punk rock kid. Wavves is crunchy surf/skate/punk music for Gen Naught.
7. Washed Out - Life of Leisure EP
The album cover says it all. Impossible not to enjoy.
6. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
Spencer Krug has yet to release anything bordering on disappointing (and the guy puts out a lot of music!), and Dragonslayer keeps that winning streaking going. At this pace Wolf Parade is becoming the side project of Sunset Rubdown, and not the other way around.
5. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Grizzly Bear have proven to be the most musically adept band of recent years. There music lives on a different level then any other indie band I can think of. And it's no gimmick. Chris Taylor plays clarinet, bass, flute and sax because it adds to the richness of the music, not for show.
4. Girls - Album
Girls was the standout album of the year. It came out of nowhere and doesn't follow the technology trends found in most recent releases. It's closest to Wavves in ethos, but just coming from a different sonic approach.
3. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion / Fall Be Kind EP
From a play count point of view, Animal Collective should be #1 on this list. They're definitely the Radiohead of the naughts. That's been the case for a while, but 2009 was an especially good year for Avey Tare and company.
2. Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
If I were to point to one sound as the future of music, it would be Memory Tapes. Digital music with an analog heart. The cold sounds of The Bloody Beetroots (and the like) had a short stay in the consciousness of music lovers. I was blasting "Rombo" as loud as anybody, but at the end of the day music is about human connection. Memory Tapes is that perfect balance between laptops, guitars, voice and beats.
1. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Dave Longstreth has been threatening to release a masterpiece for a few years now. All his experimenting was going to one day culminate into a earth shattering record, and Bitte Orca is that album. For that and a lot of other reasons, it's my favorite album of the year.
In the past I've done a book/song list where i pair up a book I'm currently enjoying with an appropriate song. This time around I think I'll just make a list of books on my mind at the moment.
Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means by William Vollmann
This book took Vollmann twenty years to write, but it was well worth the wait. RURD is a 7 Volume treatise on the nature of violence. I pick a copy of Vol I and II at the library (the boxset is out of print and about $600), but he also published a much condensed version of the text for easier access. It's currently on Amazon for 7 dollars, which is about a penny a page - pretty good deal.
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
Bolano spent the last decade of his life slowly dying of kidney failure. During that time (the 1990's) he wrote the bulk of his work, including his most widely read and arguably best work of fiction, The Savage Detectives. It tells the oral history of two Spanish literary Quixotes in search of a lost poet. The book is full of youth, humor, and freedom. Thanks to his suburb translator, all his works are now available in English.
The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth
The Ghost Writer marks the beginning of Roth's decade long Zuckerman Bound Trilogy. It's a great starting point for anyone unfamiliar with Roth's massive catalogue of fiction. Nathan Zuckerman is an alter ego to Philip Roth, and shows up in many of his best works, including American Pastoral and The Human Stain. At under 200 pages, The Ghost Writer is a great weekend read.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Easily one of the greatest living authors, McCarthy is currently in a Renaissance of sorts (not that he ever had a low period). In 1985, Blood Meridian was McCarthy's fifth novel and it's initial reception was mild from both critics and readers; however, it is now known as his masterpiece and the beginning of his time as a household name. Meridian is a dark and brutal tale of Indian hunters in the border towns of Mexico in the mid 19th century. It reads like a Western-Horror story written by Milton. If they ever need someone to rewrite the Old Testament, Cormac McCarthy would be the first choice for the job.
Das Kapital by Karl Marx
It's unfortunate that the name Marx strikes people with such visceral reactions. Especially since most people have never read the work they are hardwired to hate. The Communist Manifesto is a quick, passionate, drunken treatise that caused a chain reaction that no one could have expected. I don't really have much interest in it; however, Captial has so far (I'm just diving into it) proved to be a pretty dynamic economic education. I have Adam Smith's Wealth of the Nations cued up right after, so I should have two sides of the same coin pretty well examined by the time I'm done.
Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen
Edgar J Watson is a complicated man, and that's what drew Matthiessen towards him thirty years ago. Set in Southwest Florida during the late 19th century, Shadow Country is a retelling of Matthiessen's trilogy on the semi-historical outlaw and murderer, EJ Watson. The sort of folks who would choose the isolated existence of the undeveloped Everglades marshland during that time, come to life under the command of Mattheissen's writing. Those who read the trilogy probably don't have much reason to go back, but to new comers like myself Shadow Country has been a great journey.
Although I wish I put these mixes out more frequently, I'm still pretty happy to have made it to Episode #8. Seven is supposed to be the perfect number, but I always thought 8 had the most going for it. Two of my favorite albums came to mind when I was trying to name this thing. The first being Interstate 8 (an early Modest Mouse record and song) and the other being Figure 8 (by Elliott Smith). I went with the former but used the concept of a Figure 8 with the Philip Glass bookend - so it should play on loop pretty well. Enjoy!
