Heavy Rain - buzzed by dramatic resonance

For all non-early adopters in the tech game like myself
it often seems like the future has gone by already and
left us standing in the bleachers sniffing the vapor
trails. The latest state of art computer game is
Heavy Rain, and everyone is talking about the
depth of characterisation that the creators have
achieved and how this takes gaming to a whole
new level of empathic involvment for the players.
Which obviously enhances the playing experience immensely. This particular casting
scene released quite a while ago illustrates this clearly and leaves me mumbling to
myself - "Do try to keep up, John". Take a look at the main release trailer on the link
above too, it is stunning stuff.

     Going to start saving for a play station, today.
John Luxton

Karen O and The Great God Pan

In The Crock of Gold by James Stephens the God Pan is explaining the difference between  knowledge and wisdom to a Shepherd Girl. In answer to her question - "What is the beginning of wisdom?" He replies - "It is carelessness."

     Not 'careless' in the sense of being clumsy and breaking things - hearts, appointments, words. But rather 'not caring less', is my take on this. Maybe. Anyhow in my last post I name dropped Hugh MacLeod whose recent book is impressively titled "Ignore Everybody". A simple enough sentiment but one that is challenging to live out for most of us. In his book he gives 40 pieces of distilled advice that can point you towards finding your own creative niche. It reminded me of that great quote from Dr Seus which goes - "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter".
     My drive to embrace this ethos has been challenged recently on the couple of times that I have mentioned the fact that I love the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and that their two London concerts of 2009, were the absolute highpoint of my year. People have become uncomfortable, almost as if they were embarassed on my behalf and quickly changed the subject. This now only serves to prompt me to plough enthusiastically onwards as they slowly back away.
     Anyway this blog is not a soapbox for me to mount in order to explain why they are my favourite band (I do that here music and book reviews). Go and discover them for yourself if you do not know em. Or then again don't bother. I could not care less.

John Luxton

Time of the Assassins by John Luxton

My interest in the poetry of Rimbaud has been renewed by a lucky find last weekend at the Amnesty Bookshop in Hammersmith of the Henry Miller study of Rimbaud's poetic genius titled The Time of the Assassins. My very old copy of Rimbaud's A Season in Hell and the Illuminations has fallen completely apart, adding a cut-up vibe to reading these already hallucinatory poems as I shuffle randomly through the loose pages . There is a covering of yellow dust on my desk when I finish reading. Maybe the incandescence of the language is eating through the tired old wood pulp like sulphuric acid. Almost like the binding forces that held the molecules together to constitute 'a book' have given up the ghost and decided to move on.

     Society back in his day seemed to have little use for him or his visionary poems, so he gave up his ghost or muse and went to Africa to become a gun runner. He 'moved on' by giving up poetry at the age of nineteen. I have heard it said that if he were alive today he would be a rock star or at least be recognised as the genius he was. Maybe so, but perhaps being so 'out of time' is what somehow imbues his words with such power.
     I hear echoes of his work everywhere, he did delineate our modernist angst for us, after all. But these days the romanticism and beauty in his work would be seen as infra dig. Beauty and romanticism have been infantalised and therefore are easy to dismiss. Our loss.
     Anyway, given that it is the poet / artist's job to lay bare the truth, however painful that may be, check out the work of  Hugh MacLeod at http://gapingvoid.com. He achieves something that Rimbaud never managed by being an outsider and yet having his work recognised and embraced for it's unique slant on communicating those same truths.


John Luxton