Kurt Vonnegut

15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else Ever Has Or Will | The A.V. Club

I still find it difficult to believe that he is no longer with us. Of course, being a fan, I know that he is perfectly alive in plenty of other moments. So it goes. Slaughterhouse Five had a revolutionary impact on me; and the way I thought about life and time as an entity. I would say that the discovery of Vonnegut's many and varied literary contributions was a life changing experience.

He thought, and wrote, like no one else, in my experience. I don't know -- he had a way of ridiculing the truth, while still maintaining its validity. Kurt's writing gave me the feeling of being on the edge of some kind of epiphany.

It is the kind of peculiar, edgy and dangerous prose, which inspires me to write. Very few people seemed to have the ability to see what is really going on in the given situation -- I think Vonnegut was one of those people. Seemingly every Vonnegut book I read, contains some kind of mind-bending truth or observation. (I should point out that this was not meant to be hero worship or a sycophancy; only observation and respect.)

He has made a great contribution to this world. I see things differently, now. I discovered Vonnegut's fairly late; I wish that I had caught on earlier.

Olympics in Beijing

I wish China, and her people, all the best of luck in the Olympic Games. While the excitement of the sports will remain the same, no matter where it is held, the location does seen to be bringing out very strong feelings with some people. In everything I read, there seems to be one controversy or another.

China seems to want to prove something to the rest of the world; and that is coming across in a rather pointed way. Everything needs to be strong, perfect, spotless and unblemished. I thought the Olympics was supposed to be about competition and acceptance, not intimidation and social unrest. Rather than saying what a good job China has done, people were talking about Tibet, Internet censorship, or the opening ceremony miming incident. It is unfortunate; because, even though I am a casual observer at best -- I find myself thinking about the political and social issues, as opposed to The Games. I cannot remember the actual Olympic Games being turned into a propaganda opportunity. I have only read about this kind of thing in history books. It's quite strange -- everywhere I turn, China wants to flex its proverbial muscle.

Aren't there sports in the picture, at some point? Sure, there are, if one wishes to focus on that, but they seemed to be running a poor second, to everything else that's going on. It's quite bizarre.

Even with everything else, I'm sure China will make a good job of this year's Olympic Games. Hopefully, everybody will remember that the sports and culture are the main reasons everybody travelled to Beijing.

Sometimes, I have no idea what to do.

It can be rough, when my own brain gives me a sense of all-pervasive confusion. I just sit in my room, and my mind goes completely blank. With all my CDs, and DVDs, and a computer, and a television to watch; I feel completely incapable of forming even the simplest of ideas.

The fog in my brain can be awful. (It's a symptom of my illness, dysautonomia. It makes me feel a bit useless -- as though I could not produce my own last name, if I were pressured to do so. It turns all the ideas in my head into misty nothingness; too insubstantial to grab a hold of. Sometimes, when anything is possible, that very promise could almost be perceived as a threat. Far too much is possible, for me to handle.

I need to clear my brain of these unproductive notions. Divest it of the sheer weight of ideas and possibilities. As if it is unwanted clutter on a computer hard drive. The feeling is one of the physical weight, sometimes. That I only have so much space in my head for ideas. I certainly can't write my book, if I feel in a state of intellectual disorder -- chaos, even. The best thing to do, is to make a conscientious attempt to retain only the good ideas. This even works, from time to time. This post is an act of catharsis.

I can move on to good ideas, now.

Plato, and his cave

Yesterday, I decided to look at Plato on iTunes. Admittedly, I didn't expect to find much. Instead, I found many of Plato's works; in their entirety.

I settled on The Allegory of the Cave, from The Republic. The piece, itself, is quite brief but powerful. It only takes up about nine pages of The Republic; however, those nine pages or so, deal with the very nature of reality and how we perceive it. What do we find to be real, and how do we express the findings? Are we too comfortable, within our own, little shell. Perhaps we are too content, to accept the shadows we see on the metaphorical cave wall -- rather than seeking the objects, themselves.

If we were to see life, as it really is, would that revelation be painful? This is where a lot of the philosophy from the trilogy of Matrix Movies comes from. I have not done the theory justice here. I cannot convey the enormity and the brilliance of Plato's thinking. I simply implore you to read Plato for yourselves. It changed my life, and will continue to stimulate my thoughts.

My video about it:

The Anthology: 1947-1972... Muddy

allmusic ((( The Anthology: 1947-1972 > Overview )))

This is a fantastic album. Anyone who has an interest in the blues, and loves the music, should own this! This will hopefully be the first in a long line of album reviews. I am pretty sure this was the first Muddy Waters album that I ever owned. It is very difficult to overstate the importance of Muddy's music, within the landscape of popular culture. The figure of the man is immense. His body of work is so good, it's intimidating.

It is difficult to find weak spots in this anthology, or to say bad words about it. There have been many compilations made of Muddy's music -- this may be the best.

If I have not convinced you yet, there are the many equally talented musicians, to were featured on this album, to back Waters; like Otis Spann, Willie Dixon, Little Walter... etc.

The age of the Internet

 There are many people who have criticised the Internet, and its worth, very harshly. They say that it will draw you will way from other people, and put it within reach of perverts  and social malcontents. I am sure that is true. Yes, there is pornography, and a lot of undesirable material -- but it can be avoided!

However, there are people, for whom that kind of thing is not an issue. The Internet is responsible, in no small measure, for saving my sanity during his illness. I have been able to keep in touch with people, express myself creatively, and have fun. It has been an outlet in, and the means for discovering things, which I never thought possible. YouTube is a good example of that. Now, blogging has become possible, too. It is very achievable, to explain one's horizons, without ever leaving the house.  Amazing people are just a click away.

What's going on with the Olympics?

 So, it seems that people are talking about the 2008 Olympics for all the wrong reasons.

It is definitely the most politicised Olympics, that I can remember.  When there is discussion about the Olympics, that is unrelated to the sports themselves; it's usually about some kind of drugs scandal, or which nations will be competing. In other words, it's pretty boring. 

 Usually, I find the games themselves boring, as well. Unless I want Australia to win really badly, of course!

But now that China is running the show this time around, it is from most politicised Olympic Games that I can remember. This seems to be a lot of talk about who is boycotting these games, and who isn't. It is possible that the lead-up to the games will be more interesting than the games, themselves.

I am thankful that these Olympic Games have brought the Chinese occupation of Tibet for a discussion, again. I would not have known about the situation in Tibet, at all; if not for the publicity surrounding the Olympic Games. It is a horrible business, I am glad that people are speaking out about it.

But it is a situation that has happened in history, on many previous occasions. Australia was thought to be unoccupied, when it was taken over by the British. Of course, it wasn't. Indigenous Australians had been occupying the land for hundreds of thousands of years. I can see some parallels.

Nobody can arbitrarily declare that they have the right to take over a particular piece of land. It happened with the pilgrims, who colonised America. It's a double standard, really. If that had not happened in Australia, I would not be here. Still, it's not right.

I don't believe it's right, or peaceful, to impose democracy on another country. I think that's what happened in the  recent conflict with Iraq. I don't know what the real reasons for the conflict in Iraq are.

I still fully support the job that the troops over there have been assigned to do. I am proud of the bravery of the armed forces.

That's all, for now.  (It took me ages to finish.)