Better Than Friday - 302
Good afternoon ya'll, how are ya?
Finishing up the edit of a review of Maurice Blanchot's astonishing book "Thomas the Obscure" (Paid Link). Coming soon.
Wishing you a great weekend, thanks a bunch for your continued support.
1. A recent book gift: The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 by Margaret MacMillan (Paid Link)
This was a kind gift from my friend John - Thanks a bunch man!
A book about the beginnings of World War 1.
Back in the day I read MacMillan's 'Paris 1919', which I recommend.
2. Japanese Punk from 1979, SS - "Mr. Twist" Live
Incredible footage - Never heard of these guys.
Found via @sammyburns_music
3. Euronymous - Barbie Girl from @blackmetaleternal
I kinda died watching this. A joke for Black Metal fans.
The curse of that crop top, no?
4. A Buddhist Monk interviews Martin Heidegger
Woah. The fact that this exists is phenomenal.
A fantastic interview.
Heidegger's idea of Modern Technology stemming from Philosophy is fascinating, and his warning about technology is relevant.
5. "Starless and Bible Black" by The Stan Tracey Quartet
What a somber gem. Brooding and beautiful. Grows on me every time I hear it.
Pairs well with the photo below.
Comments (8)
Cheers, great update as always. Will definitely be checking out Thomas the Obscure. Fantastic review. Love the Jpunk. This Heidegger interview is so interesting. Sent it to my old Phil professor. I’ve been on a “summer” reading binge and right now I’m rereading The Magus. I sent a copy over to you years ago now (man, time FLIES). I was long overdue for checking it out again. Mentally I’m living in Greek island sunshine instead of Virginia humidity. Take it easy man
Heyo Benjamin, thank you for all your kind words, glad you enjoyed. And thank you very much for that copy of The Magus, it's on my shelf - planning on reading it one day, it's just an enormous undertaking. I'm looking forward to it. Wishing you a great summer man
Have you heard of Keiji Nishitani? He studied with Heidegger. A part of me wants to believe that his ‘Religion And Nothingness’ is one of the greatest texts on Buddhism available in English, but that’s only because (for me, at least) he dwarves Watts and Suzuki by miles.
I have not, thank you very much for the recommendation, I'll look into him, sounds great.
Heidegger definitely distrusted (modern) technology. But in his case it was no senseless rage against the machine, as can be seen in his opus magnum "Being and Time". He sees it as one of the many entertainments of the dumb party crowd to avoid looking down into the abyss of their own being, see especially from § 36 on. There he introduces the term "Aufenthaltslosigkeit" to express his Idea of the crowd having no real home, trying to be everywhere at once. Sounds familiar if it comes down to Tech these days.
Cliff, enjoy the book. I was inspired by your review of Passenger/Stella Maris. Found a rabbit hole of mathematicians referenced in the book that served in WWI. Figured it was time to dig back into it after reading “Guns of August” years ago.
Thank you so much Jack! I really appreciate it. I was wondering if that was you, it said 'John Healy' on the slip so I got confused haha Very interesting about the mathematicians. I'm looking forward to the book, thanks again.
The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 is a great book. Highly recommended. On the topic of history books I also recommend Tunnel 29, A Nasty Little War and Empire of the Summer Sun. One history book I am currently reading, and so far is also very good, is A Revolutionary Spring: fighting for a new world 1848-49. The documentarian Adam Curtis has mentioned that book inspired his latest documentary series Shifty.