photo & text by nacrowe
at the heart of the long SELF-PERPETUATED national narrative regarding AMERICAN MASCULINITY, there is this CORE BELIEF in HARD WORK, AMBITION and DETERMINATION paying off. that through some INGENUITY and plenty of elbow grease, the AMERICAN DREAM of personal AGENCY and FINANCIAL SECURITY is within reach. if anything, through his LISTLESS, PERIPATETIC and SEMI-AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL alter ego, HENRY CHINASKI, in the PICARESQUE FACTOTUM (BLACK SPARROW PRESS, 1975) novel, CHARLES BUKOWSKI is interested in absolutely none of that.
if anything, BUKOWSKI through CHINASKI is more concerned with addressing the counter-argument of what is left for the rest of us. you know, those NORMAL folk that are LESS INTREPID, GIFTED, EDUCATED, INSPIRED and endowed with the INSTINCT to further their MATERIAL INTERESTS. that majority of the LABOR FORCE who are just stuck as a cog in the grinding gears of CAPITALISM in UNAPPRECIATED roles at DEAD-END jobs with no sense of DIGNITY or real future. to me that is the focus of FACTOTUM. set stateside during the 1940s, including the war years, when available WORK was supposedly PLENTIFUL for any able-bodied person, CHINASKI is an ASPIRING writer who takes on a long series of DISPOSABLE JOBS throughout the country (LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK CITY, NEW ORLEANS, MIAMI, ST. LOUIS, PHILADELPHIA and so on) in order to temporarily fund his DRINKING and attempts at SEXUAL PURSUITS. these TEMPORARY WORK and residential circumstances are always abandoned and the relationships he picks up along with way, both of a PLATONIC and SEXUAL nature, are similarly just as DISPOSABLE. there is no real DEVELOPMENT or AMBITION for CHINASKI throughout FACTOTUM beyond getting DRUNK and attempting to seek a warm body for the evening. and that lack of consolidation or climax in that narrative arc of FACTOTUM is kind of the point for this type of LISTLESS and DIRECTIONLESS figure in AMERICAN SOCIETY. it speaks of a vein of MASCULINITY that has rejected self-identification with past TRADITIONAL markers such as participation in CONSUMER CULTURE or MILITARISTIC GLORY as stand-ins for one's ACCOMPLISHED sense of personal AGENCY and VIRILITY. instead you are left with this apparent husk of a man who has failed on all accounts, succumbing to to his CHEMICAL and SEXUAL INDULGENCES, but yet still comes off as wholly INDEPENDENT, SELF-MADE and SELF-DETERMINED in a WARPED manner. did AMERICA fail him and those like him or is this the path he chose, to reject SOCIETY and abide by his own VALUES and CODE OF CONDUCT. i woudnt call CHINASKI a REBEL or an ANTI-HERO by any stretch of the imagination inasmuch as he isnt consciously against anything specific, more navigating his IDIOSYNCRATIC path on INSTINCT. what i think he is, is an example of someone that falls and is FORGOTTEN between the cracks of the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. it is hard to pin down why such happens (technology, lack of education, entrepreneurial spirit, poor finances, lack of networking opportunities, etc.), but it is not hard to look around currently and see CHINASKI in many aspects of a SILENT, UNDERVALUED and OVERLOOKED majority that dont materially benefit from AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS and TRADITIONS. and in that respect, FACTOTUM is beyond prescient to the TOXIC mindset of our current UNRECOGNIZED WORKING POOR that has metastasized and grown BITTER and has largely REJECTED BEDROCK AMERICAN TRADITIONS in recent years.
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photo & text by nacrowe
i have hard time believing that when JERZY KOSINSKI wrote his SATIRICAL NOVEL BEING THERE (HARCOURT BRACE, 1971), he was not somehow channeling PLATO's PHILOSOPHICAL mind experiment ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE and the PROFOUND effect of education on one's nature. in PLATO's scenario, there is a man trapped inside of a cave since childhood forced to look at backlit shadows against a wall. that cave and those shadows are his REALITY and all that he is aware of, which becomes complicated once he is let out of the cave and forced to come to terms with the OUTSIDE world. in a very real sense this man has no tools for contextualizing, describing or comprehending what he it is he is seeing in this EXPANDED REALITY. PLATO's basic point is that such is man's dilemma when attempting to understand DIVINE and METAPHYSICAL matters that are not limited by our senses and their narrow constructions of REALITY.
in BEING THERE, the reader is confronted with a man named CHANCE who is a caretaker of walled-in GARDEN for a wealthy man. his childhood and upbringing was limited strictly to looking after the GARDEN and watching TELEVISION in an upstairs bedroom, his food regularly brought to him by support staff. outside of the wealthy man, those servants, his bedroom and that GARDEN, CHANCE has had MINIMAL social interactions and no concept of the REALITY outside his immediate threshold. TELEVISION in this context provides an ALTERNATE REALITY. for most viewers it would represent a mirror to their own REAL-LIFE experience, but for CHANCE and his uniquely siloed imprisonment, it provides a glimpse of another WORLD with internally understood CONVENTIONS, PLOT TWISTS, STRUCTURES, MEET CUTES and SOCIAL CUSTOMS. for CHANCE these SHADOWY figures in a very REAL sense are that of his TELEVISION and his GARDEN. and then the old man dies and CHANCE is set adrift outside, which is where the FUN begins. the novel takes place over a few days and immediately upon walking outside the building he is struck by a limousine and brought to another wealthy man's house for recuperation. there his literal descriptions of the nuances of his GARDEN are taken for ASTUTE, PLAIN-SPOKEN aphorisms about the state of the AMERICAN ECONOMY. this new singularly POWERFUL caretaker then introduces him to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES who is similarly taken by him, as well as ambassadors and foreign dignitaries, each projecting themselves and their SELF-CONFIRMING BELIEF SYSTEMS into apparent METAPHORICAL LANGUAGE issued by CHANCE (whose name is misinterpreted to be CHAUNCEY GARDINER). the plot of BEING THERE is in essence a SARDONIC TESTAMENT to the WARPED nature of POWER. how one's own CONFIRMATION BIAS and SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES very much alter one's grasp of REALITY and how such SELF-ABETTING tendencies are at the heart of the MUCH-INTERTWINED WESTERN POLITICAL, INDUSTRIAL, BUSINESS and INTELLIGENCE apparatus. it is a particularly PROFOUND insight that has only come to bear fruit over the decades in understanding the role of the MASS MEDIA in miseducating the population for specific political outcomes (i.e. GEORGE W BUSH administration's PROPAGANDIZED buildup to the second IRAQ WAR, DONALD TRUMP's ELECTION FRAUD lies and so on). in the figure of CHANCE / CHAUNCEY GARDINER you have the very PHYSICAL EMODIMENT of an UNDECIPHERABLE cypher from which power players project their INNERMOST DESIRES and find JUSTIFICATION for such, with literally no actual there being there. embedded in this scenario is the BITING CRITIQUE that being REAL or AUTHENTIC is not nearly as IMPORTANT as the APPEARANCE of being REAL and/or AUTHENTIC. especially on TELEVISION. if one presents as INTELLECTUAL and WELL-INFORMED, then the POWER of the media (and especially TELEVISION) will confirm those SUPERFICIAL cues on the public with potentially DISASTROUS effects. look to the TELEVISED JOHN F KENNEDY versus RICHARD NIXON debates in 1960 and much later TRUMP and his adroit MANIPULATION of PRESS COVERAGE as historically POTENT examples of such. i see KOZINSKI's point about the irrelevance of core competency and the supremacy of PRESENTATION in the age of TELEVISION, and it is still unnerving to consider now that we are more than a decade into the SOCIA MEDIA era where this same dynamic plays out in REAL-TIME without end. in fact, it is absolutely CHILLING. BEING THERE is required reading in my opinion, much as the PETER SELLER's cinematic vehicle that KOZINSKI participated in the screenplay of shortly thereafter. its an AMERICAN PARABLE that never becomes tired, in fact it becomes more RELEVANT with each successive tweet and repost. photo & text by nacrowe
within the MYTHOLOGY about the AMERICAN CHARACTER that has been passed down generations is the FOUNDATIONAL notion that in our society anyone can prosper and maintain a COMFORTABLE lifestyle with DEDICATION and HARD WORK. here we don't discriminate based on RACE, CREED or other markers of IDENTITY such as had been done with regard to our EUROPEAN forbearers. all that was needed to uplift yourself from POVERTY was a little INGENUITY and the WILLINGNESS to work. of course that myth surrounding the PROTESTANT ETHIC and more broadly the AMERICAN DREAM, was complete BULLSHIT from conception, but it is a DIFFICULT INTERNAL NARRATIVE to dispel entirely from our CULTURE and sense of self.
when i was teaching F. SCOTT FITZGERALD's THE GREAT GATSBY (CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 1925) it proved to be an EXCELLENT instigator time and time again of INTENSE conversations concerned with the idea of REINVENTION. the internet has succeeding in FLATTENING not only the UNITED STATES, but seemingly the entire planet with up-to-date, user-generated communications about personal information regarding our individual whereabouts and day-to-day adventures as volunteered through social media. but in that pre-internet era it was possible to navigate AMERICA with no HISTORY, no PERSONAL NARRATIVE and nothing holding you back. on paper at least. there was a sense that one could disappear and reinvent themselves within a new context and a new community and have the opportunity to succeed economically without the CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS that once held you back abroad, where CLASS distinctions were often OSSIFIED and INSURMOUNTABLE. at least this was the FANTASY AMERICANS told ourselves. THE GREAT GATSBY itself concerns itself with the MYSTERIOUS aura that envelopes the MERCURIAL millionaire JAY GATSBY and the private events he throws at his LONG ISLAND mansion for the YOUNG, RICH and ELITE. GATSBY himself is almost an opulent yet UNKNOWABLE WIZARD OF OZ-like character of whom much collective projection is centered around during this JAZZ AGE narrative of OPULENCE and PROSPERITY. despite being at the center of the storm, GATSBY finds no pleasure in any of these festivities and is privately tormented and severely obsessed with reconnecting with a former lover. FITZGERALD thus puts his finger on an INTRIGUING pulse about AMERICAN SOCIETY during this period of WEALTH and OPTIMISM, namely how we as a CULTURE define success and whether or not one can really outrun their past. as stated before, a fundamental aspect of the AMERICAN PSYCHE is the ability to reinvent and construct one's life up anew, past be damned. through the figure GATSBY, FITZGERALD makes the argument that such notions are NAIVE and that what defines oneself are their VALUES and the relationships they foster and the company they keep, without such one is IMPOVERISHED in terms of their soul and general well-being. you look now at how AMERICAN CULTURE seemingly elevates and lionizes technology innovators like STEVE JOBS and ELON MUSK to the level of demigods and it feels like nothing has changed in the last century. at all. we are still bereft of purpose and meaning as a CULTURE when we chase ECONOMIC OUTCOMES rather than renewing our relationships with one another. it feels like our society is frayed from ECONOMIC INEQUALITY and the lack of REAL COMPASSION or any semblance of a safety net. and it appears that wont change. perhaps that BULL-HEADED STUBBORNNESS is baked into the cake as well. photo & text by nacrowe
there are some books that i feel like i was almost destined to appreciate and HUBERT SELBY JR.'s debut novel LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN (GROVE PRESS, 1964) is undoubtedly one of them. for starters, its second chapter was the namesake for THE SMITHS' celebrated third album THE QUEEN IS DEAD (ROUGH TRADE, 1986). the novel basically confronts the reader with six vignettes of UNDERGROUND LIFE along the docks in BROOKLYN and the FORGOTTEN and UNACKNOWLEDGED COMMUNITIES that inhabit this LAWLESS expanse that are in a suspended state from mainstream AMERICA. these include TRANSGENDER SEX WORKERS, LABOR UNION OFFICIALS, DRAG QUEENS, SAILORS, HOMOSEXUALS, DOCK WORKERS and JUNKIES all scrambling and struggling to make their way in life. as with all SELBY novels, most major characters are on a steady decline, some falling victim to their own HUBRIS and AMBITION, while others fall prey to lost HOPE, ADDICTION and so on. LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN is no different with regards to this CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT quirk with nothing less than the AMERICAN DREAM seemingly on trial for the fraud that it is for these LOST COMMUNITIES.
i read LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN my senior year of high school and was taken aback by how RAW and TRANSGRESSIVE it was. that is not to say that SELBY did not exhibit immense EMPATHY and COMPASSION for his characters, but the acts showcased within are just so EXTREME. i cannot recall another book that has gang-rape in it. maybe you can, but i just cant. but the novel seems to be conveying a MENTALITY and WAY-OF-LIVING that is the very UNDERBELLY of AMERICAN CAPITALISM in which people are paying the price for our COLLECTIVE CONVENIENCE. the docks themselves represent an area in limbo, both ECONOMIC and PSYCHOLOGICAL. it is literally where foreign and domestic markets converge and everything has a price levied on it. where VALUE is assessed which is the lifeblood and heartbeat of MARKET CAPITALISM. SELBY just recognizes that the merchandise that is up for exchange in these regions includes people and all matters of VICE and HUMAN FRAILTY. these FORGOTTEN COMMUNITIES are in essence culturally TABOO and thus are beset by VIOLENCE and immense personal SUFFERING, all virtually in private, as a result of our collective inability to recognize our SHARED HUMANITY and look past our own QUIXOTIC notions of what reality actually consists of. it is the perfect metaphor for AMERICAN life in general, since these areas and people are so paramount to the health of the larger superstructure, yet UNEXAMINED and largely UNCONSIDERED in any meaningful detail. this is the sort of thing i have witnessed overseas my whole life, whether such be an UNDER-VENTILATED, OVER-CROWDED NIKE factory in CAMBODIA built next to the BURNED-DOWN and ABANDONED one next door or witnessing firsthand as a teenager the international opiate trade in NIGERIA. TRADE, CAPITALISM and the PROFIT MOTIVATION in the end degrades us all, just like it was presented nearly sixty years ago in LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN. as a former high school english teacher, i always delighted in SELBY's IDIOSYNCRATIC and wholly NOVEL use of GRAMMAR and SYNTAX. he basically does away with COMMAS (,) and APOSTROPHES (') and replaces them with SLASHES (/). if someone passionately and angrily yells out a piece of DIALOGUE, he just writes it in ALL CAPS (FUCK YOU), which is oddly LOGICAL and makes sense it today's MODERN PHONE TEXTING CULTURE. my personal favorite quirk is SELBY's complete disregarding of the common convention of tagging a speaker after DIALOGUE (i.e. he/she said). this is confusing at first but his characters are so MEMORABLE and DYNAMIC that it becomes obvious rather quickly who is say what, which is an INTRIGUING technical accomplishment. i just appreciate anyone who can bend LANGUAGE and LITERARY CONVENTIONS to meet their needs and EXPECTATIONS and not the other way around, which often feels the case. sometimes i feel writers are just creating with their audience too much at front-of-mind. i love how SELBY lovingly disregards his reader and thereby paradoxically elevates them and assumes their INDIVIDUAL INTELLIGENCE in the exchange. to mention LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN means i have to acknowledge the fact that it did court CONTROVERSY upon its release and was even the center of an obscenity trial in ENGLAND. this book, along with the rest of SELBY's catalogue, is absolutely meant for a mature audience with the ability to see past what are INTENSE descriptions of EXTREME situations and recognize the deeper fear of the DIRE consequences that come when we look past each other's INHERENT VALUE and SHARED HUMANITY and see only an INSTRUMENTAL means to an end such as PROFIT CREATION or SEXUAL EXPLOITATION. furthermore such objectives seem to be the very point in a CAPITALIST SOCIETY where literally everything and everyone is for sale. it is my belief that SELBY is presenting people struggling to hold onto their core sense of IDENTITY, of an INNER PURITY despite being victim to this hell-scape that is AMERICAN CONSUMERISM along the docks of BROOKLYN. LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN is a LEGENDARY cult novel that is deserving, much like its equally UNCOMPROMISINGLY BRUTAL ULI EDEL-directed cinematic adaptation, of a much larger audience. required reading in my opinion. photo & text by nacrowe
it never ceases to amaze me how a novel as UBIQUITOUS and WELL-READ for generations now in high school english classes as RAY BRADBURY's RENOWNED DYSTOPIAN novel FAHRENHEIT 451 (BALLANTINE, 1953) still has lessons to teach us about the NATURE and STRUCTURE of AUTHORITARIAN POWER through CENSORSHIP and CONTROL OF IDEAS through CONTROL OF LANGUAGE.
after failing to secure a publisher, FAHRENHEIT 451 was serialized in issues of PLAYBOY in the mid-1950s, which makes sense given the publication's longstanding advocacy on behalf of FREE SPEECH (another prominent example includes an unedited interview with CIVIL RIGHTS leader MALCOLM X). its plot dealt with a fireman named GUY MONTAG who incinerated books declared VERBOTEN on behalf of the state. the novel gains momentum when MONTAG starts reading said books and works to undermine his own job and the POWER STRUCTURE of a FUTURE DYSTOPIAN STATE. BRADBURY undoubtedly was moved both by the EXTREME BRUTALITY of the PURGES of political dissidents, artists and academics associated with the post-war STALINIST state, as well as the AGGRESSIVE and highly CONTROVERSIAL efforts of former SENATOR JOSEPH MCCARTHY and his HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE to curb FREE SPEECH and POLITICAL EXPRESSION stateside. i can remember teaching FAHRENHEIT 451 to freshman and sophomore students in countries (KUWAIT, MYANMAR, VENEZUELA) were books and class texts were EDITED and BANNED on a state level. CENSORSHIP in these countries was not an alien or academic concept, it was a matter of daily life. what gets me now is how PRESCIENT this well-trodden and widely-read novel is regarding out own situation here in the UNITED STATES, where states such as FLORIDA and TEXAS are effectively WHITEWASHING their own youth into being INDOCTRINATED into FALSE and BASTARDIZED NARRATIVES regarding SLAVERY and AMERICAN HISTORY writ large. on one hand it is SAD and PATHETIC, but on the other hand it is INSIDIOUS and TRANSGRESSIVE to even nominal conceptions of a FREE SOCIETY. it is also a NAKED POWER GRAB. these REPUBLICANS and their acolytes are likewise seeking to BAN literature that advocates for DIVERSITY, RACE and GENDER EQUALITY and an expanded appreciation of the HUMAN EXPERIENCE in all its nuanced COMPLEXITIES. the idea of BANNED BOOKS is such an ANATHEMA to our SELF-CONCEPTION as AMERICANS that the idea that it has become part of the current CULTURE really portends badly for us as a deeply DIVIDED nation moving forward. as a former educator, my experience teaching this book a decade ago abroad was one thing, but in a preceding stateside context CENSORSHIP always felt more academic and distant then a daily live experience. it seemed like an anachronism from the bowels of a FORGOTTEN MCCARTHYIST past. not anymore. it feels like it was written to describe our current PREDICAMENT. definitely worth rereading, even if the last time you did was in high school. youll be unpleasantly surprised how truly PRESCIENT FAHRENHEIT 451 still is seven decades after its initial publication. photo & text by nacrowe
i first read the novella THE METAMORPHOSIS (KURT WOLFF, 1915) by CZECH JEWISH literary icon FRANZ KAFKA way back in high school and for me it quickly felt PRESCIENT of my current situation at the time. the novella follows the salesman GREGOR SAMSA as he struggles to come to grips with the fact that he woke up one day from bed as a giant insect.
although the conceit seems HUMOROUS at first glance, the underlying PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR of an UNSANCTIONED PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATION has rendered this narrative a classic example of EXISTENTIAL literature. in my case, going through the double whammy of PUBERTY and the ISOLATION of boarding school, not to mention the later moves during my high school years to both KUWAIT and SACRAMENTO left me feeling a bit CONFUSED and UNSURE of my place in the world. when confronted with a NOVEL SITUATION or a new REALITY, the main thing is survival, just getting through it. when rereading THE METAMORPHOSIS over the years, that yearning to adapt after the initial shock of it all was what rally felt COMPELLING for me. i always found it INTRIGUING how quickly SAMSA pedals to SURVIVAL MODE and completely bypasses the RATIONALIZING and SEARCH FOR MEANING in his predicament. to me that felt TRUTHFUL to my experience of life at the time (and since). once one is at a COMFORTABLE distance you can sit back, analyze and come to some conclusion about the wider RAMIFICATIONS and CONSEQUENCES of a TRAUMATIC event. but such is a luxury one does not have in the moment. THE METAMORPHOSIS poses for me a PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION about the very notion of a PERSONAL IDENTITY. is our IDENTITY the very collection and narrativizing of our PERSONAL EXPERIENCES or are we SEPARATE from such? does one ever really transcend seismic shifts in our lives or do we, in essence, TRANSFORM into a new being, DIFFERENT version of ourselves. having traveled extensively throughout my life and been put in countless cultural situations across several continents, i often wondered what would i be like if i never left SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. on a FUNDAMENTAL level, would i be a DISTINCTLY SEPARATE person sans those experiences. in THE METAMORPHOSIS, is SAMSA somehow TRANSFORMED FUNDAMENTALLY given his new insect anatomy, or has his personal sense of IDENTITY remained intact? for me that is the question of the novella. we all are in a CONSTANT state of TRANSFORMATION, as 98% of our atoms are replaced every year, creating an INTERESTING real-life SHIP OF THESEUS-like scenario. that WELL-KNOWN, MIND EXPERIMENT first presented by ANCIENT GREEK philosopher PLUTARCH presents a scenario in a plank of wood is replaced on a SHIP. the consideration then arises of whether or not the SHIP is in fact the SAME SHIP due to this replacement of a minor part? extrapolated further, the question arises of how many pieces can be replaced before it could fundamentally be determined to be a DISTINCT DIFFERENT SHIP? is there such a threshold? there is no CONCLUSIVE, DEFINITIVE answer. similarly, THE METAMORPHOSIS is always asking us to constantly QUESTION OURSELVES and especially our firmly-held SENSE OF REALITY in the face of LESS-THAN-SATISFYING answers in an at-best INDIFFERENT MORAL UNIVERSE. in a sense, that UNYIELDING TRANSFORMATION of all things is the point, even if we can't QUANTIFY or CONTEXTUALIZE such to our limited expectations. we are living in a natural world that is in a constant ETERNAL STATE OF FLUX, of TRANSFORMATION, of BECOMING. it is an ABSURD and DIFFICULT REALITY to internalize in any PRACTICAL way, especially as we are taught to recognize patterns and discern meaning from outside stimuli. from such we determine an OBJECTIVE, a MOTIVATION, a MEANING. here there is none. just NEVERDING CHANGE. which is ABSURD. and the pursuit of meaning in amidst such an ABSURD REALITY is enough in of itself is what i gather from KAFKA. THE METAMORPHOSIS is required reading in my opinion. in addition to the novella, anything by KAFKA is most definitely worth checking out. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
something EXTRAORDINARY happened in the 1960s. from the post-war economic prosperity and relative CONSERVATIVE CULTURAL MALAISE of the 1950s came an ERUPTIVE overflow of long-simmering ideas that altered the COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS of the BABY BOOMER generation just coming into their own. any and all TRADITIONS were under RECONSIDERATION, which resulted in various movements (CIVIL RIGHTS, FEMINIST, ENVIRONMENTALIST, ANTI-WAR, PROTO-GAY RIGHTS, NATIVE RIGHTS) and new adoptive practices (SEXUAL REVOLUTION and PSYCHEDELIC REVOLUTION) to effectively DISCONNECT this COHORT GROUP from all generations that came before. this was by definition a COUNTER CULTURE.
the SUPERB ALISON ELLWOOD and ALEX GIBNEY-directed MAGIC TRIP (MAGNOLIA, 2011) documentary holds its focus on this MONUMENTAL inflection point in AMERICAN HISTORY, manifested by the transformation of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (VIKING, 1964) author KEN KESEY during this period. KESEY was every bit the all-AMERICAN boy next door, the son of HUMBLE dairy farmers who married his middle school sweetheart (til his death in 2001) and attended the local UNIVERSITY OF OREGON as a lettered wrestler (and one-time OLYMPIC prospect). after being injured he became interested in journalism and later creative writing which led him to STANFORD after graduation. it was here that he became involved in nascent government studies on HALLUCINOGENIC DRUGS. it was his understanding at the time that they were being examined and studied for their PALLIATIVE EFFECTS, only to learn years after the fact via friend and colleague ALLEN GINSBERG that such were conducted with more COERCIVE intentions. incredibly, LSD was being state administered to garner information concerning their MIND-ALTERING EFFECTS to be used in future interrogations by the CIA. regardless, a seed was planted in KESEY. in the late 1950s and early 1960s there was a groundswell of academic and intellectual exploration into the CONSCIOUSNESS-EXPANDING EFFECTS of PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES, most famously by HARVARD professors TIMOTHY LEARY and RICHARD ALPERT (a.k.a RAM DASS). even BRITISH intellectual heavyweights such as ALDOUS HUXLEY were early proponents of MEASURED and DELIBERATE usage of PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES in order to gain a WIDER and more VIVID EXPERIENTIAL APPRECIATION and PERSPECTIVE on the natural world and our connection to it. but this was still very much an academic and intellectual affair. KESEY and his friends (dubbed "THE MERRY PRANKTERS") decided to cross the UNITED STATES from OREGON in 1964, auspiciously to see the newly opened WORLD'S FAIR in NEW YORK CITY while filming themselves along the way. there was a technical issue with the sound, which never linked with the video, and numerous editing attempts rendered the film ultimately abandoned. what is INCREDIBLE is that the majority of the film is conceived from this footage and some of the audio. MAGIC TRIP is a REMARKABLE look at the emerging of a CONSCIOUSNESS and the COUNTER CULTURE of the period. all of these clean shaven, short-haired prime examples of AMERICAN youth over the course of the journey on this PHANTASMAGORICALLY COLORED, heavily MODIFIED school bus (named "FURTHER") took DRUGS that opened them up to new SEXUAL CONFIGURATIONS with each other (regardless of married status) and new NOVEL APPRECIATIONS of the NATURAL ORDER, whose ever-shifting, EXPANSIVE landscape they witnessed in real time from their window. some went MAD and others fled for easier routes eastward, but what emerged was the birth of a new CONSCIOUSNESS. by the time they got to QUEENS and saw the WORLD'S FAIR, the cultural landscape had already effectively SHIFTED, rendering such a WILD corporate fantasyland of the future an anachronism due to simmering DESTRUCTIVE tides of the period related to the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT and the recent tragic assassination of JFK. once the common usage of PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS became something a NATIONAL SOCIAL PHENOMENON (or a trend) over the course of the decade and had long since transcended the measured and deliberate usage prescribed by its academic fore-bearers, KESEY changed his tune somewhat. more than being arrested on trumped-up MARIJUANA charges that forced his hand to avert prison time, KESEY saw the DESTRUCTIVE power of these CONTROLLED CHEMICALS on NAIVE and UNINFORMED users. such is the case with all new technology (nuclear, pharmacological or otherwise) that once out of the bag, the responsibility lies with the participating adult. it INTRIGUING how in one roundtrip bus excursion across the UNITED STATES that took less than a year to complete is the story of an entire decade. one whose CULTURAL REVERBERATIONS we are still grappling with and feeling more than half a century later. MAGIC TRIP is an EXCEPTIONAL documentary well worth checking out. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
my introduction to the CINEMATIC work of KEVIN SMITH is intertwined with my family's relocation from SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA to NEW JERSEY in the mid-90s. during that period we were only stateside for the summer months as we were living abroad in NIGERIA at the time as part of my parent's work, but found ourselves every year at a distant relative's JERSEY SHORE home in a SUBURBAN town called MIDDLETOWN just off EXIT 114 on the GARDEN STATE PARKWAY. we've more or less been based in the same general area ever since, despite several stints abroad. it was our adopted base and has become our home.
SMITH, much like BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (or to a much lesser extent BON JOVI) is a prominent part of the cultural fabric of that community, as he grew up in HIGHLANDS and famously worked at the QUICK STOP in nearby LEONARDO by the naval base (both part of MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP), before pursuing the most IMPROBABLE of FILM CAREERS. the retrospective CLERK (1091 PICTURES, 2021) documentary follows SMITH's career trajectory and examines how successes and failures effected his sense of IDENTITY. in essence, he learned along the way that he personified a certain AMERICAN archetype revolving around supposed NERDISH pursuits (i.e. comic books, STAR WARS, hockey?) that endeared him to a surprisingly abundant yet dormant national community of likeminded SELF-IDENTIFIED DORKS. this career pivot towards online fan forums (long before social media), touring speaking engagements and later podcasting made him more immediately available and on INTIMATE terms with his audience. yes, he is a noted SCREENWRITER and FILMMAKER with an identifiably specific, working-class ethos and voice to his work, but he has now made a second career of professionally being, in essence, KEVIN SMITH. his fans have basically been riding shotgun with him for years now, supporting his privately distributed INDIE FILMS and learning about his gains (new projects) and setbacks (including a recent HEART ATTACK that led him to go vegan and lose weight). recently i watched a retrospective documentary on QUENTIN TARANTINO, in which there is mention of a statement he made after learning about the MASSIVE court case against former MIRAMAX / THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY chairman and elite producer HARVEY WEINSTEIN. he noted that he knew enough to know something and did nothing end stop. it was an ANEMIC response that really made TARANTINO look TERRIBLE and surprisingly IMPOTENT. SMITH, likewise, had many of his more WELL-KNOWN and critically REVERED films distributed through MIRAMAX over the years. learning about the WEINSTEIN allegations shocked him to his core, enough to immediately vow to donate all future residual earnings from those films to the nonprofit WOMEN IN FILM, an advocacy group for GENDER EQUALITY in the FILM INDUSTRY. which is pretty incredible. im just continually relieved that someone from my area has gone on to create great work on such a massive scale while still remaining part of the local JERSEY SHORE community. its just something about MONMOUTH COUNTY where sightings of FAMOUS residents like DEBORAH HARRY (LINCROFT), BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (COLTS NECK), BON JOVI (RUMSON) and KEVIN SMITH (RED BANK) are met with shrugs. they are just regular people getting on with their lives in peace. success for some is something to aspire to, but these people seemingly didnt lose themselves along the way and remained available and local. i respect them for that and im glad they are from my area. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
its difficult to downplay the cultural impact of THE NATIONAL LAMPOON on MODERN HUMOR. what are now considered heralded comedic institutions such as SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (NBC, 1975-present), ANIMAL HOUSE (UNIVERSAL, 1978), CADDYSHACK (WARNER BROS, 1980) and even THE SIMPSONS (FOX, 1989-present), were built on the collective INSPIRED work of generations of WRITERS (PJ O'ROURKE, MICHAEL O'DONOGHUE, GEORGE W.S. TROW, ANNE BEATS, SEAN KELLY, MIKE REISS, AL JEAN, TONY HENDRA), ARTISTS (SAM GROSS, CHARLES RODRIGUES, M.K. BROWN, RICK MEYEROWITZ, BRUCE MCCALL, GAHAN WILSON) and COMEDIANS (JOHN BELUSHI, GILDA RADNER, BILL MURRAY, HAROLD RAMIS, CHEVY CHASE) famously associated with the publication. the publication, which was started by two preternaturally GIFTED HARVARD undergrads DOUGLAS KENNEY and HENRY BEARD in 1970, grew to be unrivaled in its INTELLIGENT deconstruction of cultural and political events, while simultaneously producing some of the RAUNCHIEST, borderline OBSCENE material meant to probe and titillate at the same time. its beyond INTERESTING that they had both poles so expertly covered during a period of such cultural and political turmoil in the UNITED STATES with the VIETNAM WAR sill very much in effect as well as the aftermath of the FEMINIST, ENVIRONMENTALIST and CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS from the previous decade.
i feel i understand why the DRUNK, STONED, BRILLIANT, DEAD: THE STORY OF THE NATIONAL LAMPOON (NETFLIX, 2015) documentary came out when it did almost a decade ago. the SAD reality is that those involved with THE NATIONAL LAMPOON are dying of old age. in fact numerous PROMINENT WRITERS interviewed for this film have passed away just in the past three years. in many ways this film is meant as a testament to their legacy in-their-own-words a la recent efforts to the same effect by other INFLUENTIAL upstart and/or legacy publications like MAD, CURVE, PLAYBOY, BIG BROTHER and CREEM. not to mention the surviving members of MONTY PYTHON, who are a comedic universe and institution unto themselves to rival that of THE NATIONAL LAMPOON. one aspect of this retrospective lens a work in this film that i found COMPELLING was how the HUMOR itself wasnt examined that deeply, i.e. all the SEX-CRAZED stuff from an obvious MALE GAZE perspective that would absolutely not play in recent decades. it feels that such an examination is meant for another film by another party as DRUNK, STONED, BRILLIANT, DEAD seems more concerned with faithfully explaining their mindset as they saw it. not how such somewhat RETROGRADE comedic tropes would fit into our current more INCLUSIVE era. given how influential films like ANIMAL HOUSE and CADDYSHACK have been on subsequent decades of comedic films, a cottage industry unto itself, that examination would be fruitful if pursued elsewhere no doubt. i appreciate this film for what it is: a timely reminder of the legacy of a major publication that helped mold AMERICAN HUMOR. interview participants beyond the surviving WRITERS, ARTISTS and COMEDIANS included numerous ACTORS (KEVIN BACON, TIM MATHESON, BEVERLEY D'ANGELO, JOHN GOODMAN, BILLY BOB THORNTON & MEAT LOAF) and DIRECTORS (JUDD APATOW & IVAN REITMAN). its an INSANE story but i still feel this film was a bit of a hagiography and a bit of a MISSED OPPORTUNITY to examine how their comedic perspective was reshaped, morphed or completely discarded down the line by subsequent HUMORISTS, COMEDIANS and WRITERS since the publication went under in 1998. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
BRITISH author ALDOUS HUXLEY is far and away one of the most REVERED LITERARY MINDS of the 20th century, SCIENCE FICTION or otherwise. his enduring legacy was furthered not just with the release of his TRANSFORMATIVE and TRANSGRESSIVE DYSTOPIAN NOVEL BRAVE NEW WORLD (CHATTO & WINDUS, 1932), but likewise with his decades of ESSAYS and CRITICISM, of which were the basis for many PUBLIC DEBATES and SPEECHES, about some of the biggest topics of the modern era. such include then-novel subjects like the negative effects of OVERPOPULATION on our global ecosystem, the paramount danger of NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION (then in its infancy) and even the potential benefits of PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES.
this latter interest is of substantial focus in the documentary HUXLEY ON HUXLEY (BRAUBACH PRODUCTIONS, 2009) in which his surviving second wife LAURA looks back at her experience with her late husband. herself an ITALIAN concert violinist that played at CARNEGIE HALL in her teens, was stranded in the UNITED STATES when WORLD WAR II commenced and eventually found her way to HOLLYWOOD where she failed at being a film editing assistant in the burgeoning new industry. she was married to ALDOUS for only seven years from 1956 to 1963, but during that period he was involved with screenwriting efforts with the likes of ORSON WELLES and GEORGE CUKOR as well as holding court at his HOLLYWOOD HILLS home with cultural luminaries such as GERALD HEAD, CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD and IGOR STRAVINSKY among others. he also found himself at the cutting edge of a recent revolution in the CONSCIOUSNESS EXPANDING and THERAPEUTIC potential of newly synthesized PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES based on the CHEMISTRY of compounds PSILOCYBIN and PSILOCIN. this interest put him in concert with younger academics and EXPERIMENTAL practitioners like TIMOTHY LEARY and RAM DASS of HARVARD UNIVERSITY. in essence, the MEASURED, THOUGHTFUL and DELIBERATE METHODOLOGIES surrounding ALDOUS and his exploration of LSD predated and provided academic cover to what would later blossom in the counterculture of the 1960s almost a decade later. for LAURA, decades after the passing of her late husband in 1963, her life is still very much a continuation of this EXPLORATORY ETHIC, having written and published various self-help books related to her interest in PSYCHOTHERAPY. the DRUGS were just a conduit to understanding the internal capacities, mechanizations and functions of the MIND through bypassing the prefrontal cortex and getting to the heart of the matter. it would seem her such activities were conducted in order for her to achieve her real objective: HELPING PEOPLE. it would appear that such is in alignment with that of the ALTRUISM of her late husband and his adroit and DIRE WARNINGS for the future of HUMANITY. its UNCANNY how PROPHETIC his predictions bore out over time and how PRETERNATURAL his evolved understanding of the HUMAN CONDITION was back in the 1930s through his death on november 22, 1963 (note: yes, the same day as fellow author C.S. LEWIS and the JFK assassination). this HUXLEY ON HUXLEY documentary is a little WONKY in its editing and pacing but CHARMING and EDUCATIONAL nonetheless, which makes it well-worth checking out. RIP LAURA and ALDOUS HUXLEY photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
the SECRETIVE figure of the much REVERED author J.D. SALINGER is as COMPLICATED and ORNERY as his most FAMOUS fictional creation HOLDEN CAULFIELD and the latter half of the 20th century that grew in his image. his 1951 novel THE CATCHER IN THE RYE (LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY, 1951) was the product of a DISGRUNTLED and MISTRUSTED mindset and CONTRARIAN perspective that grew out of SALINGER's INTENSE experiences as a COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AGENT during WORLD WAR II. that sense of understanding the daylight between official rhetoric and witnessing the unadulterated HARSH realities of war. the success and universal praise of his book resulted in a NOTORIETY and CELEBRITY that he was neither prepared for nor wanted. his retreat from NEW YORK CITY, where he grew up a child of immense means and PRIVILEGE, to rural CORNISH, NEW HAMPSHIRE was maneuver meant to ensure both his PRIVACY and CREATIVE PROCESS. he wasnt a hermit as he was a part of the fabric of the SMALL TOWN, whose inhabitants were fiercely LOYAL to him. but to outsiders and national press with questions related CATCHER or CAULFIELD he had no time for.
thus there is the somewhat personally INTRUSIVE documentary SALINGER (THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY, 2013) released shortly after his death that attempts to contextualize his LITERARY CAREER and CULTURAL IMPACT / LEGACY as well as provide explanations for his lifelong sabbatical from the limelight. participants include fellow novelists TOM WOLFE, GORE VIDAL, E.L. DOCTOROW and ELIZABETH FRANK as well as playwrights STEPHEN ADLY GUIRGIS and JOHN GUARE, not to mention actors PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, EDWARD NORTON, JOHN CUSACK, DANNY DEVITO and MARTIN SHEEN among others. probably most SIGNIFICANT are the many editors, confidants, lovers and peers that knew him in his earlier years that participated in the film, yet nobody seems to have a handle on the MERCURIAL figure. everyone was presented with a figure in command of himself to the point that he only revealed what he wanted to show and once one's usefulness or prying nature reached a point, were shut out on no uncertain terms. it would appear every relationship was on his terms post-FAME. pre-FAME he was in love with OONA O'NEILL, daughter of REVERED playwright EUGENE O'NEILL, who left him for CHARLIE CHAPLIN while he was serving in combat during WORLD WAR II. for the rest of his life SALINGER was preoccupied with young women in their late teens and early twenties, roughly the same age of O'NEILL when they were together. it would appear SALINGER was not comfortable with women once they reached the stage of INDEPENDENCE and/or motherhood, which is interesting but SAD. its as if his emotional and psychological development was stunted or irrevocably WARPED after bearing witness to the unendurable HORRORS OF WAR. he had participated in the D-DAY invasion as well as later discovered a sub-camp of DACHAU called KAUFERING IV where the NAZIS forced the sick and dying to work before being exterminated during the HOLOCAUST. due to his proficiency in both GERMAN and FRENCH, SALINGER stayed on after the armistice to hunt down NAZIs and bring them to justice as a COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AGENT. it should be noted that throughout this intense period SALINGER was writing CATCHER. it is no hyperbole to say that the figure of CAULFIELD and SALINGER's own views towards femininity were rooted in his WARTIME EXPERIENCE. in a sense you can view FAME and the burgeoning CELEBRITY CULTURE of the period as a new confrontational front to be weary of resist at all costs. its hard not to be intrigued by SALINGER the person. his life's narrative is one of INTENSE LITERARY AMBITION and punishingly BRUTAL personal disappointments. he lived a full life even if such was in the shadow of his fictional creations that were so adored, or in the case of three PSYCHOTIC maniacs, misunderstood, by many. SALINGER is worth checking out whether one is a fan of literature or not. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
i found the documentary WARREN ELLIS: CAPTURED GHOSTS (SEQUART, 2012) about the NOTORIOUS BRITISH graphic novel writer to be quite a bore. my interest for watching this film came from reading his work in TRANSMETROPOLITAN (VERTIGO, 1997-2002), RED (WILDSTORM, 2003-2004), and THE AUTHORITY (WILDSTORM, 1999), all three are INTENSE, THOUGHTFUL comic book series that utilize TRANSGRESSIVE scenarios as a means of prodding the reader's sense of HUMAN DECENCY. in essence, WARREN ELLIS is producing MODERN ALLEGORIES and MORALITY PLAYS, utilizing familiar narrative forms while pushing them to their ethical limits. in contrast with his creative work, which i found to be quite CONTEMPLATIVE and entirely THOUGHT-PROVOKING, this documentary which follows him basking in his own TIRESOME attempts at SELF-MYTHOLOGY just came off TRITE and BANAL. to be perfectly honest, i had a difficult time staying awake throughout.
it is important to state that this film came out years before reports of SEXUAL COERCION allegations were brought on by multiple women in the summer of 2020. since then he has been something of a PARIAH within the industry and has effectively been BLACKLISTED in the wake of said claims. i think this documentary is interesting in how it presents a REVERED cultural figure and the lengths to which peers and acolytes rationalize and contextualize aggressively DEVIANT and unapologetically DEBASED behavior. i found the BRAZENNESS of these justifications by lackeys to be pretty SHOCKING, even in the wake of DONALD TRUMP. its a situation entirely reminiscent of MARILYN MANSON and how his public and private persona fed into one another and led to his DOWNFALL, which likewise included SEXUAL COERCION as well as false-imprisonment and grooming allegations. none of it felt like a surprise in that an army of misguided apologists attempted to justify such as part of his art in some VILE and absolutely WARPED perspective. its truly BIZARRE in that you even have JOSS WHEDON (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, TOY STORY, THE AVENGERS) expressing opinions on said behavior, himself someone in just a few short years after the recording of this film will be publicly alleged to have utilized his authority on set to coerce sexual favors from subordinates. just proves the power of celebrity and the gender power imbalance that is still very much a feature of western society, despite our attempts to point fingers at other parts of the globe. it should be noted that ELLIS has since come out and apologized from what reports i could gather, but the documentary i am interested in would be the 2022 version of his personal narrative, not this 2012 version. especially given the nature of his work and the SAD legacy of his personal choices, he may be an ideal candidate to eloquently shed light and poignant insight into the CORROSIVE mindset of TOXIC MASCULINITY and the societal structures that encourage such to metastasize and flourish. or not. photo & text by nacrowe
during my teaching days i absolutely loved teaching LORD OF THE FLIES (FABER AND FABER, 1954) by BRITISH author WILLIAM GOLDING. this was due in large part to its highly SUBVERSIVE core message surrounding how AUTHORITY is rooted in CULTURE.
you have these children that are marooned on an island after some unspecified world-ending event and what happens from there is INTRIGUING. you would think that this SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON-esque premise would result in a colonialist fever dream whereby 'CIVILIZATION' is established where there once was 'NOTHING.' the idea that in our ANTHROPOCENTRIC conception of reality, NATURE is something to be tamed and made SUBMISSIVE to our own designs and needs. in short order among the new inhabitants a SOCIAL ORDER is quickly established among, with a HIERARCHY based on BRUTE FORCE and an arbitrarily divined and ever-evolving set of RITUALS (i.e. "THE CONCH"). it is difficult to read and not quickly discern that GOLDING is not merely describing a set of list children in a deserted tropical locale, but rather the story of CIVILIZATION. how SYSTEMS OF POWER are established and maintained. what is ingeniously presented is a DARK FANTASY of innocents effectively being CORRUPTED by the eternal forces of GREED, STATUS and POWER that have motivated humans through time immemorial. the implication of such is that these motivations are part of HUMAN NATURE and that CULTURE cannot elevate us above such. in fact CULTURE may be the root of the problem as it is rooted in HUMAN NATURE. even in a vacuum, new RITUALS and HIERARCHAL STRUCTURES will emerge and over time we will SUBJUGATE NATURE and our peers in a never ending climb to ascend atop that greasy pole. it really is an amazing thought experiment since many people have the idea of escaping society. what they dont realize is that they cant separate themselves from CIVILIZATION. it is a part of your SELF-CONCEPT, your IDENTITY, even when stripping it or deny its affect, you are still interacting with the concept. furthermore, if you were successful in extricating yourself physically to a foreign 'BARREN' land, you would only be effectively spreading 'CIVILIZATION' to a new locale. LIKE A VIRUS. it is quite a DARK CYCLE to consider and something I always find intriguing to think about and investigate. all that in a novel normally taught in middle school. again, i always loved teaching LORD OF THE FLIES. it allowed for potent discussions about the NATURE OF CIVILIZATION and our individual role in supporting or supplanting such en masse. these themes are arguably more resonant now with our current domestic political situation than at any time in living memory. photo manipulation by nacrowe
IT/LL BE BETTER TOMORROW (SQUITTEN, 2006) is a sparse, no frills documentary focused on the life and cultural legacy of HUBERT SELBY JR, literary cult hero and author of LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN (GROVE PRESS, 1964) and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (PLAYBOY PRESS, 1978) among other titles that centered around the death and destruction of that most seductive of nonexistent myths: the AMERICAN DREAM. i like to think of him as a prophet who showed AMERICA its dark soul, much like other notable clarion voices before him.
the documentary, as you would expect, details the struggle of his journey, which began in his beloved BROOKLYN. leaving school after 8th grade to join the merchant marines during WWII, he ended up contracting tuberculosis which left him scarred and bedridden at at stateside sanitarium where over four years he had multiple operations that result in part of his lung being removed along with six of his back ribs. he had lifelong medical issues dating back to this period, but he was lucky, as he was the only survivor from his ward. during this period he decided to be a writer. and maybe that pain and isolation he encountered allowed him the PSYCHIC FREEDOM to fearlessly pursue the depths of humanity on display in his work. in the documentary several people make the observation that the subject at hand is the absence and replacement of love. unfortunately the censors and religions hypocrites at the time couldnt get past the JUNKIES, PROSTITUTES and UNION LEADERS of his first novel LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN to appreciate such. makes me wonder what they get out of their bible. whatever greater fame he had at the time was gained through the notoriety of being the subject of such obscenity trials both stateside and in ENGLAND. but who cares about cretins that can't appreciate art. along with his physical ailments, the other carryover from his time at the sanitarium was an addiction to opiates, brought on initially by prescribed morphine but bloomed in subsequent years into a full-blown heroin addiction. his eventual conquering of both heroin addiction and alcohol dependence midway through his life was the second major conquest of his life, having now beat the odds twice. the literature that followed made his name, but he took to conventions of grammar, punctuation and basic norms of identifying speakers in a manner that made them bend to his will for his own agenda. i've mentioned this before in my previous entry (linked HERE) on SELBY but for me one of his greatest technical achievements is to have paragraphs with multiple characters speaking without quotes or tags revealing identification ( such as "he/she said"). the cadence and flow of the characters' use of language reveals their individual identities, which only further reveals SELBY's mastery as a writer. cant think of anyone else able to pull that rabbit from their hat. his later life resulted in him collaborating with screenwriters as well as teaching writing workshops at USC. while never gaining the level of notoriety commensurate with his talent during his life beyond cult status, he was much beloved as showcased by the sheer involvement of noteworthy figures who speak on his influence in this documentary including musicians LOU REED and HENRY ROLLINS, writers JERRY STAHL, AMIRI BARAKA, LUKE DAVIES, NICK TOSCHES, GILBERT SORRENTINO and RICHARD PRICE, actors ELLEN BURSTYN, ALEXIS ARQUETTE and JARED LETO and directors ULI EDEL and DARREN ARONOFSKY. much like HUNTER S. THOMPSON, SELBY had a deep hatred of the GEORGE W. BUSH administration and their misadventures abroad as well as their abuses to free speech and the AMERICAN constitution. both were ashamed of their country in the wake of his rise to power. its not hard to think of what their reaction to our current predicament would be. despite SELBY stating outright that his later years were his darkest due to the new administration, we have only slipped deeper into that well of despair in the years since. but the dude was the ultimate survivor. and i believe ultimately so are we. photo & text by nacrowe
there is an interiority to SABRINA (DRAWN & QUARTERLY, 2018) by NICK DRNASO that i really appreciated. the idea that in an increasingly digital world where all of human experience is reduced down to IMAGES, SOUNDS, WORDS and VIDEOS emanating from a screen, that all of reality is really what we choose it to be. in essence our senses have been hijacked and our ability to trust our perceptions has been compromised.
SABRINA presents narrative surrounding the abduction and murder of a CHICAGO woman and how such gets played out online when the video of such goes viral. illustrated efficiently yet plainly with muted colors and faces with seemingly no emotion, this graphic novel ingeniously utilizes LANGUAGE as the locus of tension and action. language here serves to deliver these plainly depicted figures into a surreal psychodrama. in essence digital media has the transformative ability to make us all question our sense of IDENTITY and our relationship to each other. with relatives, friends and significant others thrown in the mix in the public square that is the internet, disinformation and false narratives are proposed and take hold in the collective consciousness, some forwarded by unsympathetic actors with personal agendas and others by professional journalists. it is all the same racket an loved ones of the deceased are merely products to be analyzed, investigated and questioned with contempt. their humanity is compromised at the behest of public intrigue. this book is less about a murder victim and more about the collateral damage that has befallen the families of tragedies such as SANDY HOOK who have been the target of disinformation campaigns by the likes of ALEX JONES and other nefarious conmen leeching off the body politic with their conspiracy theories under a false flag of patriotic fervor and the limits of free speech and personal freedom. funny how concepts such as CIVIC DUTY, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY or even HUMAN DECENCY enters the picture with these bloodsuckers. but they are just a symptom of our collective appetite for tragedy from which we all vicariously experience at a distance. we are all vampires feeding off each other. SABRINA even depicts the extended circle of the victim engaging in this sort of behavior, checking out conspiratorial blogs and websites, listening to right wing news in an effort to make sense or draw order from the nihilistic notion that there is no meaning or lesson to draw from such a senseless act of VIOLENCE. and for me that tension is the crux of this narrative and where DRNASO succeeds wildly in this subdued yet immensely affecting graphic novel. that very need to define what is undefinable rather than look truth in the face and realize that there is no greater intent or purpose for human suffering. anything else is a fabrication conceived out of existential pain. conspiracy theories, hope, religion are all symptoms of this nihilistic worldview. maybe the proliferation of information via the internet has only gotten us closer to that realization or distracted us from it with a renewed sense of creative abandon. interesting book worth checking out. photo manipulations by nacrowe
in the obtuse documentary BURROUGHS: THE MOVIE (CITIFILMWORKS, 1983) by director HOWARD BROOKNER we are provided a rare glimpse into the mind and writings of the influential BEAT writer WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS through not only his narration, but interview footage with peers and acolytes such as ALLEN GINSBERG, TERRY SOUTHERN, LUCIEN CARR, HERBERT HUNCKE, BRION GYSIN, PATTI SMITH, FRANCIS BACON and JON GIORNO as well as his only son WILLIAM BURROUGHS JR (who passed on during the time of filming).
we follow BURROUGHS as he guides us through his past including his time spent as a child in ST. LOUIS as well as his time at HARVARD, medical school in VIENNA, his failed attempt to enlist with the OSS (now the CIA) during WWII and subsequent fall into HEROIN addiction in NYC which was around the time he made the acquaintance of JACK KEROUAC and ALLEN GINSBERG. this continues through his marriage to JOAN VOLLMER and brith of his son through her accidental shooting in MEXICO and his son's eventual death in his 30s due to the chronic effects of alcoholism. littered throughout this personal narrative we find BURROUGHS reading excerpts from JUNKIE, NOVA EXPRESS, NAKED LUNCH, THE WILD BOYS and EXTERMINATOR! among other publications. we learn that NAKED LUNCH was written during his time in TANGIERS in the early 1950s when he was able to make use of the lax customs of local pharmacies to indulge in narcotics. as a documentary this film was exceedingly dry. this is partly due to BURROUGHS prodding vocal affectations that seem to drone on ad infinitum. its funny, if i wasnt a fan of his work than i would find this film impossible to stomach, but he is a figure that pretty much brought POSTMODERNISM to literature in the 20th century and is a preeminent literary figure among his peers. his work is almost like a collage in art terms or montage in film terms as his cutouts served to provide jagged juxtapositions of concepts, words and phrases that seemingly spawned new visualizations and ideas out of multiple perspectives connected over space and time.
to verbalize his influence on modern culture, which has only bent more towards his worldview in the digital age of fractured realities where truth isnt relative, its irrelevant. seemingly we are in a post-truth and post-morality world where everyone is a JUNKIE for information. brutal low-grade gossip or refined, well-articulated and researched essays all fill the same fix and are mainlined and discarded the same, onwards looking for the next hit. so this all makes me think that to experience this film expecting a straightforward presentation of a coherent narrative is wholly missing the point. if anything this film is a snapshot that is out of focus and out of context. a brief window into his late life mindset after a long fruitful yet painful career. it is up to his to draw our own conclusions on the worth of his perspective and words. on us to provide the context for this disjointed documentary of a man whose trade was navigating moral and temporal ambiguity. photo & text by nacrowe
for anyone unfamiliar with the BEAT writers and their impact on modern culture, well beyond poetry, the graphic novel THE BEATS: A GRAPHIC HISTORY (HILL AND WANG, 2010) is an excellent starting point. while providing a fairly definitive, warts-and-all overview of the three main writers associated with the movement in JACK KEROUAC, ALLEN GINSBERG and WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS, it also deftly chooses to contextualize them within the greater SAN FRANCISCO POETRY RENAISSANCE scene that found them with writers like KENNETH REXROTH, MICHAEL MCCLURE, PHILIP WHALEN, WILLIAM EVERSON, GARY SNYDER, ROBERT DUNCAN, LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI and GREGORY CORSO as well as other important related figures like AMIRI BARAKA, CHARLES OLSON and ROBERT CREELEY. this breadth of scope results in a wider perspective about the greater influence of a movement that largely defined an era in art, poetry and literature that is still reverberating today.
i appreciate very much that the art and text both don't attempt to gloss over the fact that the three main figure (KEROUAC, GINSBERG and BURROUGHS) were involved in activities that put them at the edge of society. i understand back in the 1950s being openly homosexual was an issue and that our society has come a long way in accepting all forms of sexuality, but all three were confirmed pederasts which is still remains major taboo (for good reason). not that i am conflating the two. the all also engaged in petty crime and drug sales across state lines and in the case of BURROUGHS, manslaughter. some (KEROUAC and BURROUGHS) where petty, xenophobic, racist, solipsistic and in later life (ironically) bitterly homophobic. they were a collective that took sexuality, drugs, the written and by extension experiential consciousness to their polar extremes, which very much informed the breadth and potency of their work. the authors don't condone such, but merely present such in a straightforward manner in order to evoke a clarity of message and mission. the choice in showcasing their exploits within a context of the greater literary and academic scene at the time and shortly thereafter provides necessary insight into how they were perceived at the time and why they are referred back to constantly today as touchstone influences. in an era that demanded conformity during the rise of foreign fascism, their ability to wave their own freak flag of individuality provided an example of unadulterated freedom and personal liberty, for good or worse, down the line. hard to tell which. credits: text by HARVEY PEKAR, NANCY J. PETERS, PENELOPE ROSEMONT, JOYCE BRABNER, TRINA ROBBINS and TUL KUPFERBERG. art by ED PISKOR, JAY KINNEY, NICK THORKELSON, SUMMER MCCLINTON, PETER KUPER, MARY FLEENER, JEROME NEUKIRCH, ANNE TIMMONS, GARY DUMM, LANCE TOOKS and JEFFREY LEWIS. |
NICHOLAS ARCHIVES
April 2024
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