Better Than Friday - 303
Good evening everyone, how goes?
Recently finished "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess (Paid Link) for the first time.
Quite something. Review coming soon.
Thank you so much for your continued support, wishing you a great weekend.
1. A book recently recommended to me: "Flesh" by David Szalay (Paid Link)
I reviewed Szalay's "All That Man Is" years ago, curious about this one.
Anyone read it yet, and if so, what'd you think?
2. Beethoven's 9th - Sung by 10,000 Japanese
This is flat out astounding. One of the most impressive things I have ever seen.
The expressions on the face of the conductor at the end...
According to a commenter, this was put on after a large Tsunami and Earthquake in Japan.
Beethoven's 9th has been in my head, naturally, after reading "A Clockwork Orange".
3. A Clockwork Orange fight scene
Kubrick's controversial masterpiece. What a film.
English post-punk. Great stuff.
According to Wikipedia, their first 7'' was produced in part by Ian Curtis from Joy Division.
5. The story of Vesna Vulović
Vesna Vuloić was a Serbian flight attendant who was blown out of a plane by a briefcase bomb planted by Croatian nationalists.
She fell over 33,000 feet -
And lived.
She was the only survivor of the plane bombing.
She held the record for the highest fall survived by a human without a parachute.
Beach Parrots
Comments (12)
Mentioning Anthony Burgess, he was once pals with the writer Graham Greene but then their friendship turned sour with Burgess continuing to pour virtriol on Greene even after his death ('a very good minor writer') : https://lithub.com/literary-friends-to-enemies-why-graham-greene-hated-anthony-burgess/
Interesting read, thanks for that!
Vesna’s survival story reminds me of Juliane Koepcke. She was also the sole survivor of a plane crash after falling out of the plane still strapped to her seat. She landed in the Peruvian rainforest and since her parents were zoologists she had an intimate knowledge of the terrain and was able to survive 11 days and eventually found her way to a loggers camp. Werner herzog directed a documentary about her survival story called wings of hope. I’m also thinking of the man who survived the twin towers fall. Absolutely incredible what the body can endure. Clockwork orange is also on my to read list. Interested in hearing your thoughts. Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure, and thank you for sharing that incredible story as well, wow. I've got to see that documentary.
Guess this is a sign to bump Clockwork Orange higher on my to-read list. One of many great novels unfortunately neglected on my shelf right now (Thomas the Obscure included haha) Speaking of Kubrick, what’re your thoughts on Eyes Wide Shut?
I enjoyed it, not my favorite Kubrick but I thought it was pretty good.
A little something for you on Burgess and Sollers: https://www.anthonyburgess.org/blog-posts/burgesss-fictional-afterlives-part-two-burgess-in-france/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLoCU9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHozTBr1U28ZDv96hVjhRbgKLpzA89P45pS10dty3mvJGkYwM7Bvmn63ixd2S_aem_j8f8vesdxtkEH6VKMIbH-w
Thank you very much!
I am currently reading Flesh. So far it appears to be living up to the hype. A review of Flesh from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/06/flesh-by-david-szalay-review-brilliantly-spare-portrait-of-a-man
Awesome - On the list it shall go, thanks very much.
REALLY looking forward to the Clockwork Orange review! 100% sure it’s gonna be brutal.
Thank you very much!