south of the border, west of the sun

i don't remember the last time that i felt *this* depressed after a book.

"south of the border, west of the sun" really fucked up my circuits and it's getting me to evaluate murakami's position in my favourite authors list.

it's standard murakami- fucked up characters, strange incidents (including strange sex) and all the trappings of a consumerist society that's beyond redemption.

but this one was just depressing simply because of the idiocy of the central character- hajime. and the fact that this was so uncomfortably close to the truth of my existence and that of my friends.

then again, murakami's magic realism and his short stories (at this point in time, i can't help but smile about "family affairs" and "kangaroo communique") really helps pull his act together to retain his position in my list of favourite writers.

1984 was paranoia. martian time slip was that inaccessible world. cakes and ale will always be fascination. everyman redefined loneliness. the 100% perfect girl was love. and south of the border, west of the sun- it will be loss.

the wiki.

maybe i'm just spending more time actually browsing these days, but it seems to me that there are more wikis around than i previously imagined.

the first time i heard of a wiki was when my friend, A had/visited (not sure) a wiki outlining all the annotations on alan moore's v for vendetta.

some time lapsed before i stumbled on the wiki detailing all the er.. "happenings" connected to nine inch nails' year zero (for the uninitiated, check out the link which is my post before last). Today, again, i was reading the wiki dedicated to warren ellis' "doktor sleepless". Of course, there are all those artist wikis on last.fm...

the wiki concept is one solid step ahead to making sense of the information overload. i don't know whether academicians use wikis or not to organise their references, but considering the massive bodies of work that they reference and cross-reference, it would be a fairly prudent thing to do.

from what i could gather of warren ellis' interview on comicbookresources.com, the wiki can also be a sort of an extended back matter- it goes beyond the standard 2-3 pages that comes with the printed edition and helps create an entire context, particularly for readers not quite familiar with ellis...

"It's there to gather up all the information inside the book...There's more information written than could possibly be fitted inside the narrative of the comic itself -- at least, not without completely distorting the shape of the narrative and doubling the book's run. It's also there for people to play with. There's a complete backdrop and mythology to 'Doktor Sleepless,' and the wiki will allow people to make connections between it all, and perhaps see what some of the characters are really up to... I was inspired by the 'Lost' wiki project, where the first connection was made between a screenshot of the 'boatbillies' and the Dutch scientists involved in Dharma. If you work hard enough, then you can provide enough material that interested readers can find a whole new level of engagement with the work."

dreams and the endless

i promised that i'd write on experiential marketing.

instead, i'll write on the sweet, seemingly endless sleep of hashish- it's an experience to be cherished, especially since sleep in otherwise normal circumstances is a fleeting, furitive presence.

add to that the heat waves that linger when the summer sun is long gone, the sweat streaming from my body and the lack of desire for anything worth living for.

i realise now, though, that writing about a hash trip ruins the very foundations it stands on... it's an esoteric bond between the individual and the endless. i don't know and i won't comment on who is worthy of it, what the best hash is or why it is taboo.

all i know is that i long to bow down to the endless and get enveloped in parvati's womb. over and over and over again. for the dreams of hashish are the elements of the endless.

year zero

experiential marketing.

slowly speed my aching need...

on this space that has been christened raskolnikovna, i thought i'll probably do a series of essays on "globalization", particularly the fallacies of the term "anti-globalization" and how it belies a cause that's perhaps a shining testimony to the concept of "globalization" itself

however...

a. this requires much reading and reference work and all that fancy academic shit.
b. i was listening to 12 rounds this morning.

12 rounds can be classified as post-rock, industrial and shoegaze... as is my wont, i can't and i won't genrify the band. 12 rounds is not the kind of band that would induce you to take up suicide attempts or serial killing or pissing off born again christians as a full time occupation.

what makes the genius of claude sarne and her buddies refreshingly different are the totally off the kilter lyrics rendered in the smokiest, huskiest voice since beth gibbons of portishead. smokier and huskier, even.

oh, and if you do feel a tad doped, don't be surprised, 12 rounds does that to you sometimes.

do sample the lyrics while the going is good...

Sodomize the rage in space and watch your red red sky
Fill my heart with happiness and give me reasons why
Slowly speed my aching need no more so old so new

Breathe in me don't fight just be
Call your own come be my home

Ripped up sideways chained to Always
Spread so wide so true
Scratch the very life that fed
And sucked his fingers blue

Breathe in me don't fight just be
Call your own come be my home

Love the way he puts it
ripped and chained but I loved it
In as much

Strange daze