Quote, “Have you ever considered the possibility that God might be a crazy woman? Or that John Dillinger died for you? Do you think there might be a secret technique by which the Enlightened can literally get Something for Nothing? Could the Martians have the true religion while Earthians are lost in superstitious darkness? Can a cup of coffee be a sacrament, and if not, why not? Does the mathematics of six-dimensional space-time and philosophy of Multi-Ego Pantheistic Solipsism explain the universe?” Intro to the 1986 piece Religion For the Hell of It by the revered Robert Anton Wilson.

12.08. filed under: belief. ideas. 2

Quote, “In the beginning was the Word. There was a little pond and in the pond was a little letter “O”, a word. Soon the pond was full of trillions of O’s, happily mouthing their meaning. And the word was fruitful and multiplied. Then something happened. An “O” changed to an “I”. Another changed to an “A”. (Others changed to “x” and “p”, but these were not fruitful and were, sadly, deselected.) Soon, the pond was swimming with O’s and A’s and I’s. The I’s, in particular, thought they were something special, but the O’s were happy just to be noticed…” Zachriel’s Sea of Beneficence, part of the larger Word Mutagenation.

12.02. filed under: bits&bytes. ideas.

Night of the Ground Stars

Or: urban shoe-gazing finds a purpose

Electric light, Concrete, and Chewing Gum, what have they in common? Though, admittedly, both concrete and chewing gum can ultimately trace their roots to antiquity, all three of these items, in something akin to their modern form, entered the American stage in the 1870’s.

Edison invented the first commercially successful incandescent lamp around 1879. At the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876 David O. Saylor exhibited the first American made portland cement, though it was not until 1891 that the first concrete street in the United States was paved. Thomas Adams opened the first chewing gum factory in 1870, and a year later Adams’ chicle based New York Gum went on sale in drug stores for a penny apiece. By the beginning of the 20th century all three of these items had become popular and were on their way to being staples of American life.


Been reading the 1968 book Camp Concentration by Tomash M. Disch and have been enjoying it very much, more, in truth, than I expected to. It sat in my to-read pile for a long while before I actually got up the interest to crack it open. Perhaps it was the ‘72 cover illustration? The cracked spine? I don’t know. In any case, having never heard of Disch, I figured perhaps you had not either, and thought I’d share a few paragraphs to get you acquainted. The following is a snippet from a conversation between the protagonist, Louis Sacchetti (a poet, and conscientious objector to some conflict or other who has been sent, as an objective chronicler, to a military instillation where patients are injected with a modified strain of syphilis which makes them brilliant before eating away their brain and killing them) and Dr. Aimee Busk (an icey doctor at said military instillation.) Hope you enjoy.

09.10. filed under: books. ideas. 3

Mark Rothko on The Artist’s Dilemma

I’ve been making my way through the collection of Mark Rothko’s Writings titled, The Artist’s Reality, Philosophies of Art in fits and starts for a while now and have wanted to post some snippet of the text in order to share what I regard as some very beautiful and cogent writing. Problem is this isn’t sound-byte type material. I’ve decided therefore to simply take the plunge and transcribe the first piece in the book, titled, The Artist’s Dilemma, in full. (Hopefully Mark’s son, and editor of the book, Christopher, will look upon this as the loving tribute [and incentive for those unfamiliar with the volume to pick it up] which it is, and not merely a copywrite infringement, which… it also unquestionably is.) Though the public persona of “the artist” has certainly changed since Rothko’s heyday as a member of the artistic intelligencia - particularly in the wake of Warhol’s savvy marketing blitz - this piece is, I believe, still relevant in many ways and beyond that it is a beautifuly written and precious artifact from what many of us would surely consider “better days” in the history of painting. See below.


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