OVO

Trevor Blake on Books: Papillon by Henri Charriere [LINK-ZUM]

Autobiography. Henri Charriere was wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. This average man was placed in a situation far more dangerous than he was ready for, but through acts of cunning and physical strength he survived. Every attempt to imprison his body or crush his will failed. He never gave up. This average man wrote a book of his life experiences that became popular and which served as the subject of a popular film. I recommend both the book and the film.

The possibility that life for the average person could suddenly become much more difficult than anything that person has known before is always with us. Only by making ourselves strong in times of peace can we have a chance of turning adversities into opportunities. What Charriere survived gives me a healthy sense of perspective when I start to get wound up about the minor difficulties in my day-to-day life.

Wikipedia on Papillon.
Nine minutes from the film Papillon.

Labels: biographic, books, film, prison

Trevor Blake on Books: Left for Dead by Beck Weathers [LINK-ZUM]

Autobiography. Beck Weathers was part of the climb of Mount Everest described in the popular book Into Thin Air. Weathers was moderately prepared for the climb, but found himself in far over his head. Through acts of physical strength and an iron will, he survived. He wrote a book about it and now gives lectures on setting priorities in this life. What I learned from this book is sometimes your team will let you down but you have to keep going or perish.

Labels: biographic, books, trevorblake

Trevor Blake on Books: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs [LINK-ZUM]

Some of the writing in this book is poor, and some of it has not aged well. There's nothing to do but state so plainly and up front. But.

Tarzan of the Apes contains one set of answers for some important questions. What is natural for men? What does civilization offer us, and what does it take away? How do we relate to others who are weaker than us? Who is fit to rule, how do they aquire and keep their position? Tarzan of the Apes also contains some fine fighting, between man and beast and between men. Tarzan acts in accordance with Nature. Tarzan doesn't have any religion or politics. When it is time to follow, he follows. When it is time to lead, he leads. When it is time to kill, he kills. No remorse, guilt, second-guessing, shame, anger - just doing what is Natural. Sometimes Tarzan takes what he wants, and the fact of his ability to do so is the justification for having done so. This, the first of many Tarzan books, is my favorite in the series.

Tarzan of the Apes.
Tarzan of the Apes annoted by Kenneth Fuchs.
Wikipedia entry.
Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.

Labels: books, trevorblake

Trevor Blake on Books: The Boy-Man by Tim Jeal [LINK-ZUM]

A biography of Lord Baden-Powell (22 February 1857 - 8 January 1941) and a history of his greatest achievement, the Boy Scouts.

In most of the world you can be a girl Boy Scout (see FAQ at Scouting for All). You can be in prison for robbery, rape, or murder and still be a Boy Scout. But heaven help you if you try to be an atheist Boy Scout. The Boy Scouts of America aren't vague about this ban either - they expressly state that no atheist can be a Boy Scout. The Boy Scouts is a private organization, and I think it is reasonable to allow them to exclude whoever they want. I think it is a private affair that the Boy Scouts - the British original - allows atheists to join while the Boy Scouts of America does not. But in doing so, the BSA should not have access to tax-funded schools or tax-funded public lands, as our taxes are not supposed to support private organizations that discriminate.

But is the Boy Scouts of America is a private organization or is it a recruiting arm of the Mormons? Nearly 10% of the members of the Boy Scouts Advisory Council live in Salt Lake City; Mormons are less than 2% of the U.S. population but make up 21% of the Boy Scouts. The Salt Lake Tribune reports: "If the Boy Scouts of America is forced to accept gays as scoutmasters, the LDS Church will withdraw from the organization and take more than 400,000 Scouts with it." As late as 1974, Mormon BSA troops reserved leadership positions for white men only.

All of this nonsense is at a distance from what Lord Baden-Powell set out to do with his Boy Scouts. Read The Boy-Man and find out for yourself.

Labels: atheist, books, mormon, religion, sex, theocracy

Trevor Blake on Books: The Mighty Atom by Ed Spielman [LINK-ZUM]

Biography of Joseph L. Greenstein, "The Mighty Atom." A real life Popeye. Clean living, feats of super-human strength, willing and able to get in a scrap with dozens of much younger men and whip their candy asses, and he even ate his spinach. He could drive nails into a 2.5 inch wooden board and bend horseshoes with his bare hands. Not one man of any age reading this blog is as fit as he was in his 80s. There is nothing worthy of the Mighty Atom online, you'll have to track down a copy of the book. I was a fool for selling my copy considering how rarely it shows up for sale and how much it costs when it does. This book helped me understand how crushingly difficult life used to be for the average man only a few generations ago, and what a great deal of hard work over extended periods of time could accomplish in the realm of physical self-improvement.

[Book Exerpt] [Wikipedia] [Mighty Atom, His Philosophy of Health] [Entry at "Old Time Strongman"] [Google Books]

Labels: biographic, books

Trevor Blake: Another Form of Expression [LINK-ZUM]

"All my life I have been acutely aware of a contradiction in the very nature of my existence. For forty-five years I struggled to resolve this dilemma by writing plays and novels. The more I wrote, the more I realized mere words were not enough. So I found another form of expression." - Yukio Mishima, in Paul Schrader's film Mishima. Collage by Trevor Blake.

Labels: books, fight, film, trevorblake

Trevor Blake: Douglas Adams [LINK-ZUM]

For some reason Douglas Adams thought that I knew about the aquatic ape theory of human evolution, and sent me e-mail asking for suggested reading. I wrote back, he said thanks. This happened a few months before he died on this day seven years ago. He died before the long-awaited film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came out. He died too soon. I heard once that he died while working for The Council on Ideas but maybe that's not true. Richard Dawkin's book The God Delusion is dedicated to Adams. This meager post is as well.

Labels: biographic, books

Trevor Blake: Fitna and the United Nations [LINK-ZUM]

From Wikipedia: "Fitna is a film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Dutch parliament. The movie offers his views on Islam and the Qur'an." The film is available online from Wikileaks, Google Video, and via bittorrent.

Jorge Sampaio is the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations. Mr. Sampiao issues a call for respect and calm:

The recent release of an insulting film on the Holy Qur'an seems to serve no other purpose than to cause offence. The film may provoke and prompt social unrest, and encourage extremist groups within European societies whose agenda is to discriminate against and marginalize Muslim immigrants. Similarly, this offensive film may add to tensions between different cultures and may give rise to the idea that Europe or the West as a whole are hostile to Islam. So let us always remember that misrepresentation fuels extremism and extremism appears to validate misrepresentation. That is the vicious circle we have to firmly oppose and avoid. We will all be the losers if we fail to immediately defuse this potential crisis, which will only serve to entrench already polarized opinions and to feed stereotypes and misconceptions that deepen patterns of hostility and mistrust among peoples and societies.

At the core of this situation is a trend towards extremism in many of our societies. We should indeed beware of overemphasizing it, because extremism anywhere is extremism everywhere, thanks to new media technologies. Few people think of themselves as extremists, but many can be pushed towards an extreme point of view, almost without noticing it, when they feel that the behavior or language of others is extreme. We therefore deeply regret this offensive film.

Mr. Sampaio's statement continues and may be read in full here. Fitna presents the words of the Qur'an as text, then shows Muslims and Muslim leaders reading that text and explaining what it means, then shows Muslims and Muslim leaders acting on that explanation. If the words, explanation and acts are murderous, it is not the fault of a film that reports such murders that is to blame.

The tension between different cultures presented in the film are as follows. In the West there is a pluralism in which filmmakers can make films and cartoonists can make cartoons without the threat of State-sanctioned death; a pluralism in which homosexuals can be homosexuals without the threat of State-sanctioned death; a pluralism in which women can be women without the threat of genitals mutilation. In the Muslim world, there is a monoculture in which filmmakers and cartoonists and authors and people in buildings and people on buses and people on trains and people just about anywhere can be put to death; a monoculture in which homosexuals can be put to death; a monoculture in which women can have their genitals mutilated. The pluralism of the West tries to include the monoculture of the Muslim world, tries to greet as friends those who are murdering them. The Muslim world contains no such contradiction. Mr. Sampaio uses ideas of culture, race and religion interchangeably. To condemn Islam is to be racist, he seems to say. It is not the case that culture, race and religion are so interchangeable, and to make that claim is deceptive.

This film may cause offense. The ten thousand men, women and children killed by Muslims since 11 September 2001 causes me more offense. How can it be that murder is a matter of culture while art is a criminal offense? The pluralism of the West has been perverted into cultural relativism.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made the following statement about Fitna:

I condemn, in the strongest terms, the airing of Geert Wilders' offensively anti-Islamic film. There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence. The right of free expression is not at stake here. I acknowledge the efforts of the Government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of this film, and appeal for calm to those understandably offended by it. Freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility.

The United Nations is the centre of the world's efforts to advance mutual respect, understanding and dialogue. We must also recognize that the real fault line is not between Muslim and Western societies, as some would have us believe, but between small minorities of extremists on different sides with a vested interest in stirring hostility and conflict.

This reads to me like nothing so much as a man encouraging his neighbors to continue paying 'protection money' to the gang that controls his neighborhood. The plain words of the Qur'an, the recorded speeches of Muslims and Muslim leaders, the video of Muslims using a hand knife to saw off the head of kidnap victims... somehow these are worthy of mutual respect, understanding and dialogue. It is a film that accurately portrays these that is hateful, not the acts themselves. It is a film that is to blame for inciting violence, not what the film portrays. This film should be banned by law, but somehow that is not a violation of the right of free expression. And once again we are offered the claim that the pluralism of the West is to be found in the Muslim world if the West will only keep quiet about the Muslim world's vested interest in stirring hostility and conflict. Once again we are told that the extremists are to found on both sides. But from where I'm sitting one side made films and cartoons and books, the other side kills people.

I am disappointed by these two statements by United Nations representatives regarding the film Fitna and regarding Islam.

Labels: art, books, comics, film, islam, theocracy, video

Trevor Blake: Books By or About Me [LINK-ZUM]

Book including work by Trevor Blake:

The SubGenius Psychlopaedia of Slack by Ivan Stang. New York, Thunder's Mouth Press 2006.
The Journal of Ride Theory Omnibus by Dan Howland. Portland, JORT 2003.
Strange Creations by Donna Kossy. Los Angeles, Feral House 2001.
Revelation X by Ivan Stang. New York, Simon & Schuster 1994.
Kooks by Donna Kossy. Portland, Feral House 1994.
In Extremis by Bill Babouris. Athens Greece, Survival Kit 1994.
Killing for Culture by David Kerekes. London, Creation Books 1994. Co-author.
Anarchy and the End of History by Mike Gunderloy. New York, Factsheet Five 1991.
Killer Fiction by Sondra London. Atlanta, Media Queen 1991.
Three-Fisted Tales of "Bob" by Ivan Stang. New York, Simon & Schuster 1990.
Pozdravi iz Babilona by KRT. Ljubljana, KRT 1987.

Books including Trevor Blake:

Akashic Record of the Astral Convention by Hakim Bey. Portland, EsoZone 2007.
'Zine by Pagan Kennedy. New York, St. Martin's Press 1995.
The World of Zines by Mike Gunderloy. New York, Penguin Books 1992.
T.A.Z. The Temporary Autonomous Zone by Hakim Bey. New York, Autonomedia 1991.
Loompanics Greatest Hits by Michael Hoy. Port Townsend, Loompanics 1990.
High Weirdness by Mail by Ivan Stang. New York, Simon & Schuster 1988.

Also appearing in periodicals such as ReadyMade, Whole Earth Review, semiotext(e) and Maximum Rocknroll among many others.

Labels: books, ovo, trevorblake

Rudyard Kipling: The Gods of the Copybook Headings [LINK-ZUM]

[A search on google indicates that a copybook heading would have been understood by a reader in Kipling's time as something like an 'eternal truth.' The Gods of the Copybook Headings are those elemental gods that every school child knows cannot be overthrown. - Trevor Blake]

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.

Labels: books, satanism

Trevor Blake: Download Alms for Jihad [LINK-ZUM]

Wikipedia: "Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World is a 2006 book co-written by American authors J. Millard Burr, a former USAID relief coordinator in Sudan and Historian Robert O. Collins. [...] In August of 2007, the publisher, Cambridge University Press, removed the work from circulation under pressure from a libel action lawsuit filed against them in the British legal system by wealthy Saudi Khalid Salim A. Bin Mahfouz because the book accused him of funding al-Qaeda."

Google search for "alms for jihad download," or try The Pirate Bay here, or buy the audio-book version here, or try one of these downloads [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]. If you can't find this book after all that help, I don't know what I can do for you.

Labels: books, islam, theocracy

Adam Liptak: 1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says [LINK-ZUM]

For the first time in the nation's history, more than one in 100 American adults is behind bars, according to a new report. Nationwide, the prison population grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to almost 1.6 million. Another 723,000 people are in local jails. The number of American adults is about 230 million, meaning that one in every 99.1 adults is behind bars. Incarceration rates are even higher for some groups. One in 36 Hispanic adults is behind bars, based on Justice Department figures for 2006. One in 15 black adults is, too, as is one in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34. The report, from the Pew Center on the States, also found that only one in 355 white women between the ages of 35 and 39 are behind bars but that one in 100 black women are.

[Article continues at link. One quick way to reduce this horrible statistic by a quarter would be to end prohibition. And while we're at it, we could decriminalize the other victimless crimes. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: books, prison, prohibition

Stewart Home: The Assault on Culture [LINK-ZUM]

The Assault on Culture by Stewart Home (1987) is a book I have recommended to many people for many years. It is well-researched while clearly-written, brief while informative. The Assault on Culture describes 'utopian currents from Lettrism to Class War.' Some of the more familiar names in this current might include the Situationists, Fluxus, mail art and punk rock. Stewart Home went on to write Neoism, Plagiarism and Praxis, which includes descriptions of his performance art / magick attacks on agents of conformity in a psychogeographically mapped England. Not only does the character King Mob in Grant Morrison's Invisibles act like Stewart Home, he looks like him. Read up on the real thing.

The entire text of The Assault on Culture is now online for free.

Labels: art, books

Trevor Blake: The Psycholaedia of Slack at Boing Boing [LINK-ZUM]

I contributed to this book as "Rev. Dr. Uncle Onan Canobite."

Labels: books, subgenius, trevorblake

Chestnut Tree Cafe: George Orwell FAQ [LINK-ZUM]

Did George Orwell ever say: "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf?" Or: "We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us?"

Not exactly. But he did make comments that were along similar lines. In his essay on Rudyard Kipling (1942), Orwell wrote: "[Kipling] sees clearly that men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilised, are there to guard and feed them." And in his Notes on Nationalism (1945) he wrote: "Those who 'abjure' violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf." Where the rough men crept in is anyone's guess.

[FAQ continues at link.]

Labels: biographic, books, fight

Trevor Blake: Twenty Recommended Art Links [LINK-ZUM]

When I worked in used and rare bookstores I would sometimes buy art books. That occurs less often now that I do not have an employee's discount. Here are twenty wonderful art links that compensate for that loss, grouped by general themes...

Books and Paper: BibliOdyssey, I Love Typography, Joseph Wu's Origami Page, notebookism, Paper Forest and Stains on Paper.
Old: Art Deco, Beautiful Century, The Boat Lullabies, Modern Mechanix, Posters of Cuba, Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, Shorpy, and A Soviet Poster A Day.
Random: A Best Truth, Dark Roasted Blend, Everlasting Blort, FFFFound!, flickr and riot rite right clit clip click.

Labels: art, books, music, ovo, paper

Kerry Wendell Thornley: Saint Distaff's Day, 7 Jan [LINK-ZUM]

There is no truth to the legend that St. Distaff, Patroness of the Spinning Wheel, was simply the creation of a medieval wit and did not actually exist. To hear some people, you would think St. Patrick and St. Christopher didn't exist!
Although never officially canonized by the Papacy, St. Distaff was a real person. What skeptics ignore is that her first name was Saint and her last name was Distaff (her middle name was Mary). A child of poor but ignorant parents who wanted to name her after Saint Mary's Hospital where she was born but didn't know how to spell hospital, Saint M. Distaff grew up to become the foremost champion of feminism of all Southern France in the dark ages. "God just ain't a man and that's that." She had heard of Eris from a passing needle sharpener who passed through her hamlet one January 7th just as the 12 Days of Christmas were winding down.
Seated at her spinning wheel near a window in a castle keep where she was employed as a maid, Saint Distaff was busy making flaxen thread when a mysterious gypsy called to her and asked if any of her needles were dull. "Just a moment and I'll look" she said. Upon discovering her sewing basked was in disarray, a chaotic hodge-podge in fact, she commenced to complain with the Five Noble Rhetorical Questions: 1) why do things get in such a jumble? 2) why cannot I find anything I need when I need it? 3) what did I do to deserve all this chaos? 4) why am I confused? 5) when will I get organized? Then the mysterious gypsy answered these questions by explaining that Eris Discordia was the answer to all but the last question, to which the proper reply was "never, so get used to it!" Upon hearing these words, Saint Distaff was enlightened - so the Inquisition burned her to a crisp.
St. Distaff is observed by embroidering samplers featuring Discordian proverbs.

[Previously unpublished. For more works by KWT, see OVO 17 The Dreadlock Recollections. - Trevor]

Labels: books, periodical, subgenius, zine

The Road to Serfdom in Cartoons [LINK-ZUM]