the idea born in someone's mind
is nurtured by a thousand blind
anonymous beings, vacuous souls
do you fear the confusion?
your lack of control?
you lift your arm to write a name
so caught up in the identity game
who do you see? who do you watch?
who's your leader? which is your flock?
Ethan Switch - Thursday, 21 January 2010
As with a lot of people, reading a book sogged in wet takes a toll on the whole. Way too friendly with each other, the fibres of the pages cling strong. Drip, let it dry and all is good again. And that's the feeling of reading Our Movie Year.
Read the rest of American Splendor: Our Movie Year by Harvey Pekar review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Sunday, 5 July 2009
Only the most blinkered of idiots can pretend that the events of the last few weeks weren’t damaging for Malcolm Turnbull.
Read the rest of Annabel Crabb - Stop at Nothing: the Life and Adventures of Malcolm Turnbull review
Ethan Switch - Monday, 11 May 2009
Chewing through another candle, the teeth plead, "No more!" as the coating waxes the enamel without song or fanfare. The stomach ponders the meaning of strife as the delivery makes its journey out the other end. What comes back splashing isn't quite the sparkles and well wishes of the icing days before. Birthdays, eat them up while the mind is playful enough to know it's not all downhill every day.
Read the rest of Happy Birthday, Anyway - Matt Huynh review
Ethan Switch - Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Waking up in the middle of the morning, with the sun behind clouds of snow, the knees feel the cold and move gingerly. Each flex and bend looking to generate enough warmth before kicking back and flooding the kneecaps with more than just a slap. No sweat for midday, shivers me timbers, sonny.
Read the rest of 700 Sundays - Billy Crystal review
Ethan Switch - Thursday, 6 December 2007
On the shelves of the second hand book store with no direction and even less in misdirection. Lady at the register plants a foot on the counter and yammers on about domestics. Too bad "CLOSED" on the front door is facing the inside. Moths fall and roll into dust and carpet bolls.
Read the rest of Area 51 - Robert Doherty review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Sunday, 22 April 2007
Patterned somewhat loosely on Primo Levi's excellent book, The Periodic Table, in which 21 chemical elements are used as a theme for a series of short stories, Genome, by exploring each of the 23 pairs of chromosomes, attempts to give a brief synopsis of the human species.
Read the rest of Matt Ridley - Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Sunday, 8 April 2007
I'm more than a little cautious these days when it comes to accepting the words of thinkers — even brilliant ones, like Dawkins — when they're delivered outside the area of their expertise. Richard Dawkins is an ethologist and an evolutionary biologist, but he is not a philosopher — as I had the misfortune of learning when I showed an essay Dawkins had written about the nature of truth (published in A Devil's Chaplain) to my girlfriend, who has studied philosophy. The hour and a half talk regarding truth, post-modernism and cultural relativism that followed doesn't bear repeating, and though I still don't know where I stand on the issue, I have learned to tread lightly.
Read the rest of Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Tuesday, 12 September 2006
Gira was in Swans.
Read the rest of M. Gira - The Consumer review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Wednesday, 31 May 2006
New to Reaktion Books' new series, Animal Series, is Paul Carter's Parrot, which attempts to summarise the natural and cultural history of the parrot — the latter, of course, in relation to human beings. It is separated into three sections: Parrotics, which, according to the blurb, covers the historical, cultural and scientific classifications of parrots; Parroternalia, which covers the association of parrots with different languages, ages, tastes and dreams of human society; and, lastly, Parrotology, the mimicry of parrots and what that can tell us about our own systems of communication.
Read the rest of Parrot - Paul Carter review
Ethan Switch - Wednesday, 13 April 2005
Bogus. Chance a go at wiping down a comicbook with a slightly, though not entirely, damp cloth, and spend the next few days in observation. Watch as the next days curl up the covers, possibly shortening the reach like the bed sheets at a hostel. No slight increase by way of meds here. One sudden burst in the right temperature and then BAM! The whole book needs to be flipped over to sleep on its stomach in an attempt to bring down the erection. The indignity of it all.
Read the rest of Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Adventures - Volume 1 - Slave Labor Graphics review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Thursday, 10 February 2005
As with a lot of people my first introduction to Harvey Pekar was with the movie American Splendor.
Read the rest of American Splendor - The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar review
Ethan Switch - Monday, 27 December 2004
Investigations are underway as to how this delivery ended up riding the fence as opposed to waiting on the verandah. Who would be in the wrong at such a stand? The delivery driver who chose not to even step out of his van or the resident who at the time was not at home? It's expected that a postal worker shall soon to wreck his wrath of revenge disgruntled style should the news filter down his own ears at this situation that has been bandied about in the communications stream of Australia Post. Private contractor no doubt.
Read the rest of The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years - Ballistic Publishing review
Ethan Switch - Monday, 25 October 2004
Whomping on the doorstep in the middle of the day, at a location an hour or so away from actually hearing the thud, a white boxed package lands with much force. Strapped as a sprained ankle, the double-box box holds in it a copy each of Exposé 2 and d'artiste sent over from Ballistic Publishing. This occurs several weeks in the past and haunting images of despair cloud the mind.
Read the rest of Exposé 2 - Finest digital arts in the known universe review
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