Fantastic Metropolis

Reading

The Thomas Ligotti Reader, edited by Darrell Schweitzer

A bunch of essays about Ligotti, a man who hates life even more than I do. Including a couple of interviews. Makes me want to read his stuff all over again, which is good.

The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson

For once something worthwhile won the Arthur C. Clarke Award. These books have pirates, cypher theory and loads of sly glimmery details about the origins of words. Blows it right at the end—it should have hoved onto one over-arching concentrated mind-blasting image, rather than just sort of tidying up some loose ends as it does, but still, bloody good.

Purgatory Theory, Colette Phair

(Unpublished)

Creating heaven and hell upon discovering they don’t exist yet, humanity outdoes itself for manipulation but, since those manipulations have always been part of human life, there’s no real escape from jaded reality. Good enough not to see the light of day, especially in this god-awful 1980s re-run we’re living in at the moment.

Uzumaki, Vol. 3, Junji Ito

The town finally succumbs totally to the spiral, with human snails a-plenty.

Hip Priest: The Story of Mark E. Smith and The Fall, Simon Ford

Probably not the best book on The Fall but at least there are some, at last.

Party of One, Anneli S. Rufus

About people’s fear (along with their fear of just about everything else) of loners, and why this particular fear and suspicion exists.

Murdered by Capitalism, John Ross

A larky account mainly of the Haymarket, with Joe Hill, etc. thrown in for good measure. A bit like Fahrenheit 9/11 in the sense of “does anyone genuinely not know about this stuff or are they just pretending so that they can then act shocked as a get-out clause” but good nonetheless.

Gurdjieff, John Shirley

Shirley almost made me want to go back and try again to slog through Gurdjieff’s mind-bending ordeal book Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson. Almost.

Arthur Magazine

Read it!

Movies

Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki

I was probably the last person in the western world to see this, and yes, it’s really amazing. Great gloriously-fanfared parades of strange spirit-monsters, and even the train ride is beautiful.

Scarlet Diva, Asia Argento

Sloppily gorgeous Asia Argento in a semi-autobiographical movie from a few years ago. She seems a bit stupid and keeps blundering into victimhood but it’s a great movie, with Joe Coleman as a slimy, puckish satyr, and a central scene where Asia puts on her make-up and smudges it off again and that’s all, with beautifully sad music playing.

The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson

Putting aside all the god stuff, this movie gives a fair picture of human cruelty on an average day. (Though as a depressive migraine sufferer I think it pales in comparison to a mere walk round the block.)

Music

Smile, Brian Wilson

I know, I always thought the Beach Boys were a bit ridiculous too, but this Smile thing, aside from a few embarrassing animal impersonations, is beautiful.

Flight of the Behemoth, SunnO)))

Subsonic nosebleed low-frequency utter doom guitar.

WO.8, Scorces

Hypnotic long-sustained drone music.

Soviet Kitsch, Regina Spektor

CD Baby comes through again. Regina can be a bit cutesy à la Bjork sometimes but other than that she’s amazing, a great songwriter, funny and able to curve her voice around in ways you’ve never heard before. Saw her live, a gorgeous Jewish girl with a huge mouth. Wow.

---

Karloff’s Circus, the fourth book in Steve Aylett’s Accomplice series, is published by Gollancz.