fantasy flu
by uzwi
Under the heading “What my creative process looks like at the moment”, Ghost Light has YouTube of What’s he building in there ? (Paul McAuley also has this, under the title “The 21st Century so far“.) Meanwhile Mark E Smith says, “I do feel like an outsider, but I don’t lose any sleep over it”; sound advice. & Infinite thought has been doing some curious cultural research.
Oh, & the UK media caught fantasy flu, but that’s all over now: what I liked was how, in the last few desperate hours of the “story”, when they couldn’t even get the mothers of East Dulwich to panic, they began to blame the Mexican government for over-reacting to the situation.
Reading: On Foot in Sussex, 1933, AA Evans.
the m john harrison blog 
I stumbled across the Waits video, stuck it on my blog, and was going to say something about your SF and your fantasy lists (and mine), but got distracted. Maybe tomorrow.
I will say that I reckon ‘What’s He Building?’ and ‘Diamond Dogs’ are microcosms of the themes and textures of most recent good SF.
Coming back on the train from Bristol this Sunday, I got a face-full of rape seed pollen from the fields around Didcot and let out a loud, dry sneeze. The carriage filled with silence. Two middle-aged men studied me thoughtfully.
“I know,” I said. “I know. But it’s not.”
They weren’t so sure. I began to remember what “Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses” was once thought to be about; and those Webermans who’ve decided the new Dylan cd predicts a world-wide plague.
But I’m still fine. I think.
Nah. You’ve got it, Martin. Yr doomed.
Hi Paul. I look forward to that.
>>But I’m still fine. I think.
Yeah, nothing to worry about Martin. Your allergies are probably more dangerous than swine flu. In fact, I’d go so far as to wager it’s possible to sprinkle H1N1 on your Cheerios and only miss a day or so of work. It’s just the flu after all, pretty run of the mill except for the fact that agri-business made this strain by dumping lots of pig crap in Mexico’s drinking water.
Also, MJH, in addition to the lolcats, I thought you might be responsible for this when I read it on Monday:
“In an age of images and entertainment, in an age of instant emotional gratification, we do not seek reality. Reality is complicated. Reality is boring. We are incapable or unwilling to handle its confusion. We ask to be indulged and comforted by clichés, stereotypes and inspirational messages that tell us we can be whoever we seek to be… Reality is not accepted as an impediment to our desires. Reality does not make us feel good.”
You aren’t, by chance, Chris Hedges are you?
Full article is here if you’re interested:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/20090503_buying_brand_obama/
Hi Dave
>>You aren’t, by chance, Chris Hedges are you?
I’m not: but I very much like the cut of his jib. Thanks for that link.
You’re welcome.
Let’s hope you’re wrong about Martin though.
By the way, I made the move from the gym to the crag recently. Climbing outside is great & real & terrifyingly fun.
I did break down and buy a helmet though. My first day outside, someone dropped a #2 Black Diamond Camalot from about 200 feet up and it hit another climber on the head. So I guess my helmet announces the bumbliness of thouse around me. I hope so anyway…
Right: neither of you gets a funeral invite. Two less sandwiches at the buffet afterwards, too. There’s a bright side to everything, if you only look for it. Lee Harvey Oswald said that.
Life and life only, innit?
Sounds like fun up there, Dave – and thanks for the Hedges link: all too glumly in line with my perceptions. Short of a situationist coup, though, what happens next?
I’m looking forward to the man flu epidemic.
Hi Dave
>>someone dropped a #2 Black Diamond Camalot from about 200 feet up and it hit another climber on the head
How did his head seem after that ?
>>what happens next?
Quality of life continues to decline under increasingly totalitarian systems of government and we fail to address climate change until, eventually, the planet shakes us off like a bunch of fleas?
>>How did his head seem after that ?
Dented. But it could have been worse. While he was unconscious his friends made sure to clip the cam to his bag, so at least he got some booty for his suffering. Of course, it took a big fall and probably isn’t trustworthy anymore, but it’s the principle.
I’d never use a cam that had been embedded in someone’s head.
Krishna: so are we.
I have a strict no cams that have been embeaded in heads policy too. Anything else would invite some bad mojo.
Getting back to the fantasy flu and swine, dig this: at the Kabul Zoo the only pig in Afghanistan has been quarantined.
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE5444XQ20090505
That article is just great on lots of levels, but I especially like this bit:
When Mujahideen fighters entered the Afghanistan zoo in the 1992-4 civil war, “one fighter climbed into the lion enclosure but was immediately killed by [it]. The man’s brother returned the next day and lobbed a hand grenade at the lion leaving him toothless and blind.”
I hope the pig fares better than the lion did.
Hi Mike
Speaking of M.E.Smith I posted something today from a text that starts with him…
http://www.timetchells.com/notebook/may-2009/step-off-the-stage/
hope all’s well with you.
tx