the idea born in someone's mind
is nurtured by a thousand blind
anonymous beings, vacuous souls
do you fear the confusion?
your lack of control?
you lift your arm to write a name
so caught up in the identity game
who do you see? who do you watch?
who's your leader? which is your flock?
Ethan Switch - Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Waking up in the middle of the morning, with the sun behind clouds of snow, the knees feel the cold and move gingerly. Each flex and bend looking to generate enough warmth before kicking back and flooding the kneecaps with more than just a slap. No sweat for midday, shivers me timbers, sonny.
Holding the fingers down in this situation of tickle reading in the middle of the parking lot, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays.
Read the rest of 700 Sundays - Billy Crystal review
Ethan Switch - Thursday, December 6, 2007
On the shelves of the second hand book store with no direction and even less in misdirection. Lady at the register plants a foot on the counter and yammers on about domestics. Too bad "CLOSED" on the front door is facing the inside. Moths fall and roll into dust and carpet bolls.
From the land of the non-register, where aliens and probes go deeper than the tube at the clinic as the doctor squirts more lube on his gloves. For the ease of the operation they say. A smile is most disconcerting to the method and procedure. Area 51 by Robert Doherty. First in a series. Of what, matters not. End it here thank you kindly. Drown it all in Groom Lake.
Read the rest of Area 51 - Robert Doherty review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Sunday, April 22, 2007
Patterned somewhat loosely on Primo Levi's excellent book, The Periodic Table, in which 21 chemical elements are used as a theme for a series of short stories, Genome, by exploring each of the 23 pairs of chromosomes, attempts to give a brief synopsis of the human species.
Starting with the longest chromosome and — done so arbitrarily — proceeding to the shortest, Ridley tackles a series of themes which he believes to be representative of the human species — life, species, history, fate, environment, intelligence, etc. Ridley explores these themes by focussing on a gene that can be found on the relevant chapter/chromosome and tracing its function and evolution. In doing this he considers not only the chromosome in question and the genes it houses, but also how it relates to his overarching theme.
Read the rest of Matt Ridley - Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Sunday, April 8, 2007
I'm more than a little cautious these days when it comes to accepting the words of thinkers — even brilliant ones, like Dawkins — when they're delivered outside the area of their expertise. Richard Dawkins is an ethologist and an evolutionary biologist, but he is not a philosopher — as I had the misfortune of learning when I showed an essay Dawkins had written about the nature of truth (published in A Devil's Chaplain) to my girlfriend, who has studied philosophy. The hour and a half talk regarding truth, post-modernism and cultural relativism that followed doesn't bear repeating, and though I still don't know where I stand on the issue, I have learned to tread lightly.
Having said that, Dawkins is a brilliant scientist: The Selfish Gene, The Extended Phenotype, The Blind Watchmaker and Climbing Mount Improbable are absolute must-reads, both for the knowledge contained within and for his accessible, entertaining writing style. The God Delusion is a different beast, however, to his other books, even the not quite so scientific ones — it is, principally, a philosophical treatise, a rebuttal of religious faith. If you're at all like me, then, yes, it does seem a lot like kicking someone when they're down because — and I don't know how to put this gently — religious faith doesn't really have a leg to stand on. You don't, after all, need a Dawkins to neutralise the impotent argument of Pascal's Wager or to point out that, just because science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of god, it doesn't follow that the possibility of either must, therefore, be equiprobable, etc.
Read the rest of Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Gira was in Swans.
The book is separated into two sections: the first, The Consumer, contains writings from 1993 to 1994; the second, Various Traps, Some Weaknesses, Etc, contains writings from 1983 to 1986.
Read the rest of M. Gira - The Consumer review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Thursday, June 1, 2006
New to Reaktion Books' new series, Animal Series, is Paul Carter's Parrot, which attempts to summarise the natural and cultural history of the parrot — the latter, of course, in relation to human beings. It is separated into three sections: Parrotics, which, according to the blurb, covers the historical, cultural and scientific classifications of parrots; Parroternalia, which covers the association of parrots with different languages, ages, tastes and dreams of human society; and, lastly, Parrotology, the mimicry of parrots and what that can tell us about our own systems of communication.
The author has obviously gone to great lengths to research this book: the sheer breadth of sources (ranging from the scientific to popular culture) and illustrations (101 in total, 77 of which are in colour) gives credence to his sociological and psychological speculations.
Read the rest of Parrot - Paul Carter review
Ethan Switch - Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Bogus. Chance a go at wiping down a comicbook with a slightly, though not entirely, damp cloth, and spend the next few days in observation. Watch as the next days curl up the covers, possibly shortening the reach like the bed sheets at a hostel. No slight increase by way of meds here. One sudden burst in the right temperature and then BAM! The whole book needs to be flipped over to sleep on its stomach in an attempt to bring down the erection. The indignity of it all.
Feared lost with severe degradation in back issue bins or drowning in the heady throwaway status of many a comic, this reprint collection brings back the first four issues of Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book along with the adaptation of the Bogus Journey film. The original series is in disparate and dissected numbers out there. Fighting desperately against age and mould on the battle ground made of long boxes, naked without the aid of backing boards.
Read the rest of Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Adventures - Volume 1 - Slave Labor Graphics review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Friday, February 11, 2005
As with a lot of people my first introduction to Harvey Pekar was with the movie American Splendor.
I’d wanted to check out some of his work for some time, but, unfortunately, the only American Splendor comic I could find was the one with the picture of a black soldier in Vietnam. Since I was far more interested in what Pekar had to say about normal, ordinary life than what he had to say about politics, I never really got around to picking it up.
Read the rest of American Splendor - The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar review
Ethan Switch - Monday, December 27, 2004
Investigations are underway as to how this delivery ended up riding the fence as opposed to waiting on the verandah. Who would be in the wrong at such a stand? The delivery driver who chose not to even step out of his van or the resident who at the time was not at home? It's expected that a postal worker shall soon to wreck his wrath of revenge disgruntled style should the news filter down his own ears at this situation that has been bandied about in the communications stream of Australia Post. Private contractor no doubt.
Ballistic Publishing is a company that produce volumes and books that are sufficient enough for a light workout. Heavy is one word that lingers in the air, weighty is another. The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years, even in a soft cover edition, is no different. Pages are big, thick and glossy, the cover sturdy and open with flaps that really as yet don't explain themselves.
Read the rest of The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years - Ballistic Publishing review
Ethan Switch - Monday, October 25, 2004
Whomping on the doorstep in the middle of the day, at a location an hour or so away from actually hearing the thud, a white boxed package lands with much force. Strapped as a sprained ankle, the double-box box holds in it a copy each of Exposé 2 and d'artiste sent over from Ballistic Publishing. This occurs several weeks in the past and haunting images of despair cloud the mind.
First thing to note on grabbing a hold of Exposé 2 is the sheer weight. Not surprising with a hardcover and thick glossy pages designed to stand up to numerous readings. But reading is where this book falls short. Designed more as a directory of talented digital artists, it lets their work speak for itself. Starting with an in-your-face Surprising Moment from Gunther Heinrich and running through to finish off with a rather creepy Church by Mark Brink, this tome features impressive work by a swag of artists and painters from around the world.
Read the rest of Exposé 2 - Finest digital arts in the known universe review
Ethan Switch - Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Family Matters collects the first four issues of the ongoing Invincible series from Image Comics and takes just under a train ride into the city, or one coming home from, to read from start to finish. This does not include the bonus material such as the behind the scenes process work of writer/creator Robert Kirkman, artist/creator Cory Walker and colourist Bill Crabtree. Then there's the introduction by Kurt Busiek that would fall nicely into one of those many slots in which the train will just sit there on the tracks going nowhere, minutes at a time. If the passengers weren't annoyed at the chug-a-lug before, they sure would be now. Watch for the carriage stained with a wall of vomit and no windows to let the outside air in. Mileage may vary.
Speaking with fingers, Family Matters sports the familial soft and deceptively smooth feel one would expect from an Image trade paperback collection. As if a fine residual layer of talcum powder was blasted into its fibres and sweated through its pores. The pages themselves cork on finger tips knowing a rare day with moisture and traction. A noseful serves to remind the head of a scent known, but lost in the scheme of odours.
Read the rest of Invincible - Volume 1: Family Matters review
Jimmy Weasel - Monday, August 2, 2004
This is not the kind of book expected to appear on the doorstep wrapped in four layers of protective butcher's paper. Neither is it the kind of book that will make any kind of "best-seller" list, even in this day and age where views against the norm spring up from time to time and manage to fill the cinemas. Not that it's poorly written, but it does lack the sensationalist subjective viewpoint that grabs people's attention for a few fleeting seconds before begin forgotten. Perhaps it's too complex for the average chump, but that isn't for me to argue. What I am to discuss is the book itself.
This book is both well written and thoroughly researched. It may require a basic understanding of "philosophy", or at least the kind of patience that would keep a dictionary open to help out with the words not oft used by the lay. That being said, the book is not overly hard to read, as the wording and conceptual layout make its absorption a fairly straight forward procedure. This author has a well rounded turn of phrase that will help those unfamiliar to this topic and field get a better grasp of the matter at hand. He's not afraid to explain things, to be certain that the meaning received is the one given. It's also an important book in that the vast majority of familiar philosophy is written by Europeans. There is no Balance in this world.
Read the rest of Hegel on the Negroes: A Victim's Interpretation - Dominic Amadiwochi review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Monday, March 8, 2004
I bought this book because the Calvin and Hobbes book that I saw yesterday was no longer there; I didn’t want my trip into the city to be in vain.
This book was written and illustrated by Kid Koala and coloured by Louisa Schabas.
Read the rest of Kid Koala - Nufonia Must Fall review
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