Dawn of the Dumb

I very nearly coughed up a bit of sick in excitement, when I heard the news that Charlie Brooker has just published a new book. "Dawn of the Dumb: Dispatches from the Idiotic Frontline" it's in the shops (and amazon.co.uk) right now!.. What are you doing?. Go and buy a copy NOW!.

here's a little sample of my hero's literary genius:

"I don't get people. What's their appeal, precisely? They waddle around with their haircuts on, cluttering the pavement like gormless, farting skittles. They're awful."

hahahahhahhahhahhahha...see...funny....

I thought I was his biggest fan (at least, that's what I scrawled in my own blood the last time I wrote to him) but this little nuglet of media fluffery completely passed me by: I really must get my head out from up his bum and take a look around from time to time:

If you're at all interested, you can read his archived articles for commentisfree.co.uk, right here, plus there's his Guardian's Screenburn archive here. BBC fluff on Brookers TV Show "Screenwipe" here.

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I found this...

...the least you could do is look at it... well.... GO ON THEN!

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That's it...go on...bugger off

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Bansky!

If you don't know who Banksy is then you're either a bit of a twat, or you've been trapped under something heavy for about a decade, and therefore haven't looked out of your window for a little bit. there's some new stuff on his website. Check it



There's also a book. Which is nice.

"God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things.

....Right now I am so far behind that I will never die” - Bill Watterson: Calivin & Hobbs comic strip writer.
As newspaper comic strips go, Calvin & Hobbs is up there with Charlie Brown. Whatever, I just like the quote, I like this one too:

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club..." Jack London (Author, "Call of the Wild" , "White Fang")

Anyhoooo. No particular theme today, which might annoy or frustrate some of you wanting me to stay on a straighter, narrower path. Don't fence me in!.

Whenever I'm looking for inspiration, I'm reminded of a passage from one of my favourite stories by James Baldwin (You can find out all you need to know about this amazing man from the link)

There is a short story named "Sonny's Blues" taken from a book of short stories and essay's "Going to meet the Man" The Story tells of two brothers in the early 1950's, both polar opposites in their experience of life; in particular the passage reflects on questions that resonate through all of Baldwin's work, questions on identity and personal meaning, only, in this case he goes some way trying to establish a point beyond certainty;

"For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it must always be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness."

Of course, there are a number of ways this could be interpreted, and, taken out of the context of the book, even more ways to understand it. (if you want, you can read the paragraph in context here)

I've always chosen to remember this passage as an explanation to all things. Our "life tales" are meaning enough, and that is all the inspiration I need.