Gods and monsters

by Bill Davenport March 12, 2009

Stucco relief sculptures recently discovered at the El Mirador site in Guatemala are the earliest known representations of the Maya creation story, and have archeologists excited. The two 26-foot panels were created around 300 BC and depict the hero twins surrounded by cosmic monsters. El Mirador, the largest and oldest Mayan site in Guatemala, is currently accessible via a two-day hike in the jungle, or helicopter, but a light-rail line scheduled for 2020 will make visiting the site easy.

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theremin November 15, 2008 - 23:38

“Heaven for the scenery, Hell for the company.” Yes, I am sure that you were hugging that hamster, and of course, hospital emergency rooms are overfilled with people who made this same grievous error of passion. Next time, try to incite people with racist comments, instead. Your infatuation with religion is so… 2001.

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theremin November 15, 2008 - 23:56

That’s weather, not scenery. You caught me snoozing, and I haven’t been to Ireland for several years.

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Andy Feehan November 16, 2008 - 10:32

It would be useful to differentiate between matters of religion and matters of the spirit. While there is no place in contemporary art for religion, I think there is plenty of room for spirit. Simply put, religious art makes a statement illustrating dogma or doctrine, and it hasn’t been taken seriously since the seventeenth century in the West. In the East, there are those who believe the village statue of Vishnu actually houses a powerful entity, but people with deeper understanding appreciate the value of metaphor and the esthetics of the object.

I think that many contemporary artists operate from a position of toughness as a matter of self-defense. To be cynical is to wear a full suit of armor. Armor is required these days because too often the artworld is competitive, secular, and completely tied to culture. I think art that addresses the spirit addresses nature, not culture. Art that only addresses culture is not moored to much that endures, but in the short run, that’s the type of art that most people “get”, since it seems “relevant” and is often easily identified in context: TV, the Web, Commerce, Film, Politics. Joseph Campbell talked about tough-minded people and tender-minded people when he talked about artists. Tender-minded artists are, by the nature of what they do, vulnerable. While the quality of sincerity may be often joined at the hip by simple-mindedness, sometimes intelligent sincerity is valid if it is also poignant or open-ended in its intent. Nobody likes a preacher unless he is a naive folk artist (and his work is appreciated for its raw esthetic, but not for its doctrine). There is room for art that addresses what is finally unanswerable, art that does not declare truths but asks questions or points to the mystery that all people finally encounter if they look hard enough.

Most artists who cling to careers in academia have already shown that they belong to the tough-minded group. They walk on the tightrope you describe, balancing with the aid of the usual political correctness, mild manners, and other forms of servitude required in that milieu. Art institutions are no different. Museum curators live like gypsies or crew members on a motion picture. They follow the work and would love to be on a picture that takes ten years to make. It’s very dicey for curators these days to deal with matters of the spirit in art. Too often such shows, while full of good intentions, end up looking political or at least polemical because they advocate worldly positions…cure for AIDS, end homelessness, etc. Those are all worthy issues, but they are tied to culture. It is difficult issue.

Take a chance, everybody. Drop the armor and walk naked. Risk everything.

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tobrienwriter November 17, 2008 - 12:49

I enjoyed this.
I’m reminded of being in a crit in grad school – a couple of us sculpture knuckle-draggers (including the dept chair) bum-rushed a final group painting critique. One gal, refering to some particularly gnarly giant goopy green and purple abstractions, was going on about her mystic connection to the flora of Bali, and the profs were gushing about the push and pull. I just asked if anyone had mentioned drugs, because to me it all just looked like a bad trip committed to canvas (mind you, this was before that all had become de rigeur.) Talk about enjoying the shocked silence and looks of horror. My prof snickered approvingly.
That whole spirituality vs religion thing makes me shudder with cliche-reflux. I understand being horrified by the word (spiritual). But mainly because it means nothing really, and is the blanket apology for the mist of the mystics. But to declare yourself a Secular Atheist is just another religion, and possibly even more passe. Flood gets into it here.
What gets me is that we somehow manage to mostly overlook the vast fucking mystery of being – of having this extraordinarily ordinary adventure of consciousness. What are we? Where did we come from? What the heck IS this? To pretend that one has any clue, and then parlay that into tenure or a head curator gig, is the real kick in the ‘nads.

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Andy Feehan November 17, 2008 - 14:50

To respond to Titus in regard to the “spirit vs. religion thing”, I agree that the whole thing is old and rather worn out. However, the essay’s title seemed to invite the necessity of sorting it out a bit. Plus, the image of the crucified Christ and the references to hillbilly pentecostals as a one side of the question pretty well obviate the need to mention the mystery that you describe in your final group of questions as an antidote. Of course it is a cliché. Unfortunately a lot of teachers and art administrators love to either give answers or at least pretend they know more than the rest of us students. I am often impressed by the most difficult but often most thoughtful reply to a question: “I don’t know.”

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theremin November 18, 2008 - 07:10

What if you happen to be Reform Jewish? You may have some serious questions about whether God is everywhere, and even question whether your pact with God should be taken seriously, given the Holocaust, and all. You might be offended by kooks performing post-mortem baptisms, and other flakes saying they love the Jews, but ‘pray’ for their souls. I applaud the panel for generally not touching the topic with a ten foot pole. I wish everyone was so civil.

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rainbird November 18, 2008 - 15:35

Christ looks pretty happy….even orgasmic, I’d say, in that shot. And I’ve seen that look before. Did you order the book, Theremin? I did. I enjoyed it so much, I ordered the book.

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Asshole November 19, 2008 - 07:13

You enjoyed Christ or the book?

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theremin November 20, 2008 - 03:54

I can only hope someone was touching it with a ten foot pole when you saw that look, my dear. Havent read the book, but I’ve seen the movie.

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theremin November 20, 2008 - 06:27

I would agree with Tightus that Atheism is indeed reliant on a type of dogma that seems to defeat the purpose of purging yourself of a religion, although I don’t borrow from Duchamp interviews, and call them another religion. However, to suggest that Secularism and Atheism are synonyms, or must be used in the same sentence is utter bullshit. Besides, what’s wrong with Atheism? Nothing more than any other religion, as you imply. Whether any of it is any more of a cliche than the existentialist dribble offered in his Zen mantra is a matter of one man’s opinion.

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titus_obrien November 20, 2008 - 08:28

“My art is secular, he said, made for a secular audience. I’m an atheist.” See above.

Mistaking existentialism for Zen and vice versa is the basic blunder. Very Beatnik of you. If you say they’re the same, you miss. If you say they are different, you also miss. The main “doctrinal” difference would be that in the face of life’s inevitable suffering, existentialism throws total reliance on the egoic self, while “Zen” is premised on questioning the very existence of such a thing. One results in grudging acceptance (push rock up hill), the other in a compassionate grappling with the realities of inter-being (no rock, no hill. How hilarious! man, are my arms tired…can I help you with that?) And a mantra is a short sacred phrase, repeated for magical or psychological effect. I don’t deploy them on GT…as far as you know.
Atheism is fine, I don’t discriminate – I just question how one could ever finally know, either way, pro or con. I can’t see how it matters, in the end. The question misses the point.

One only has to look at contemporary art practice to realize Duchamp has become nothing short of a religion, with priests, rituals, tithing, and vast cathedrals built in his honor, thousands wishing for his grace and blessing. And many greater minds than mine have revealed the deeply Catholic mechanisms at work in many of Duchamp’s maneuvers. I frankly think this is more redemptive of his work than shameful, revealing that (at his best) he was dealing with a full-spectrum, and not just caught up purely in a “secular atheism” as many of his heretical disciples are.

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Asshole November 20, 2008 - 10:19

“how one could ever finally know, either way, pro or con. ”

It is referred to as gnosis Titus. The trailer parks are full of it.

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Andy Feehan November 20, 2008 - 13:04

On the face of it, what I just said sounds naive, but isn’t it a very deep thing in human nature to search for order, pattern, mathematics, ethics, etc. ? The mine where all those things are occasionally extracted is full of a thousand empty, foolish dry holes, but it’s hard wired in human beings to inquire, experiment, observe, and, finally, just be amazed. Isn’t amazement delightful? Some of us shudder at doctrinaire “explanations”, religions that claim to be exclusive and unique understanding of The Way Things Are, but upon close scrutiny are just reflexes of a particular culture, reflections and projections of human power structures, superimposed upon some imaginary deity created for the purpose of making a particular tribe behave itself. Some languages, beautiful as they may be, claim to be the words of God or some Ursprache from a long-past Glory. All that, though, is parochial. To me, it’s a worthy endeavor for artists to continue to search for and describe what is finally delightful, awesome, sublime, horrendous, tragic, humorous, compassionate, and so on.

Speaking of meaning, maybe it is useful to think of spirit from an etymological standpoint. Spiritus is breath. What do you do in Zazen? Why do we say we are inspired? Maybe spirit is consciousness expressed by life, and life is defined as that which breathes.

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theremin November 20, 2008 - 21:11

Titus,
If you were to try to pigeonhole artists, it would not be closer to the truth that they can be placed in one of two categories– those who are self obsessed, and those who are interested in understanding all that can not be defined as themselves. Although, I would have to say it is impossible to distinguish between these two activities in your writing. Given the self obsessive nature of your work. Duchamp came by the Catholic stuff quite naturally. He was born into it. Were you born into a Zen Buddhist family? If not, how did an interest in the world outside somehow become a self obsessive act for you?

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titus_obrien November 21, 2008 - 08:36

Theremin,
were you born into a family of dicks, or did you convert?

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Asshole November 21, 2008 - 10:01

“existentialism throws total reliance on the egoic self, while “Zen” is premised on questioning the very existence of such a thing”

This takes me off guard: the egoic self.

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Andy Feehan November 21, 2008 - 11:45

After sixty years, a Rabbi decides to retire. Taking the large box of foreskins he has collected over the years of attending circumcisions, he goes to a leather goods manufacturer and says to the man. “Can you do anything with these?”
The man says “No problem, come back in two weeks.”
After two weeks the rabbi returns to the shop, and is presented with an elegant wallet.
In total dismay, he says to the craftsman “After sixty years and all those foreskins, the best you can do is a wallet?”
The man replies, “Don’t worry, just stroke it a few times and it will grow into a suitcase.”

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theremin November 21, 2008 - 16:54

Andy X’s father was flat broke, and out of a job. The economy was in a tale spin, and his career as a head cheese cleaner lost all its jobs to the Irish, who’ll do anything for a buck, and even work some of the time on the clock, if you can keep them sober, and civil. Andy X’s mother stood up and said, “Seamus, I’m going to turn out as a prostitute, so we might have some gruel.”
Andy X’s mom returned that evening, and handed Seamus her the wad she collected that evening. After counting, Seamus looks at Irene, and says, “There’s 7 Pounds, and 42 pence, here… who gave you the 42 pence?” Irene looked back at Seamus, and gleefully shouted, “THE ALL DID!!!”

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rainbird November 21, 2008 - 17:34

Oh dear….
I’ve misjudged you, theremin.
But I’ve misjudged others.
(Titus, theremin is a convert, a covert convert….but he can’t help it any more than I can….and you both exhibit ‘Anita Bryant’ syndrome.)

Tell us another, brother.

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theremin November 21, 2008 - 19:22

Anita Bryant syndrome? I’m the one who came up with the yes is no on 8, no is yes on 8 shell game. I’m so Anita Bryant I drink orange juice for breakfast. I shot Harvey Milk.

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rainbird November 21, 2008 - 19:41

You (and titus) protest too much. That’ s all.

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Andy Feehan November 22, 2008 - 00:16

Drivel is what flies out of one’s mouth into the air. Dribble is what flows out of one’s mouth down one’s chin.

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theremin November 22, 2008 - 04:38

Blow it out your post-pie hole, Lil Ms. Andy-Semite.

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Andy Feehan November 22, 2008 - 05:39

I wish everyone was so civil.

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theremin November 22, 2008 - 09:38

Are you currently taking Andypsychotics, or Andydepressants?

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Andy Feehan November 22, 2008 - 11:26

You caught me snoozing, and I haven’t been to Ireland for several years.

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theremin November 22, 2008 - 11:38

All that, though, is parochial. It merely illustrates your Andysocial behavior, Andy-Semite.

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Andy Feehan November 22, 2008 - 13:59

Yawn

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Asshole November 22, 2008 - 15:44

The trailer parks are full of it.

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theremin November 22, 2008 - 16:15

Whatever happened to the state hospitals?

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Trungpa Ricochet November 23, 2008 - 01:56

It appears “theramin” has made the mistake of taking a knife to a gunfight.

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theremin November 23, 2008 - 10:36

The trailer parks are full of it.

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Andy Feehan November 23, 2008 - 11:26

Leonard Cohen

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theremin November 23, 2008 - 14:02

So long (Andy-Semite), Marianne…

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bruce November 23, 2008 - 17:40

Someone please bring on Part 2.
We all, almost all of us anyway, eagerly await. Theremin usually takes a nuclear device to a (swiss army) knife-fight when something much smaller will almost always certainly do.

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bruce November 23, 2008 - 18:14

doesn’t suit you at all.
Ching, ching, lie lie.

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Asshole November 23, 2008 - 21:24

Carefully neutered bling bling.

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Trungpa Ricochet November 24, 2008 - 02:06

The knife metaphor was meant to describe “theremin” and his apparent prediliction for whining about things that he doesn’t really understand. He doesn’t have the chops to discuss the issues, either with Flood or with O’Brien. The first comment on Flood’s piece, from “theremin”, has the tone of a person taking personal offense at what is, to me, simply a plea to take a risk in talking more about internal and personal points of view rather than always being worried about being politically correct. Theremin seems like a self-appointed nanny making sure that the children all play nice, except he or she is full of the worst kind of bile herself. BTW, the “rabbi joke” was standard fare for comics in the Borscht Belt and has been told a million times by guys like Shecky Green. So “theremin” takes offense, playing the innocent victim entitled to tell (badly) that old canard about the Irish. He can’t spell. He even fucked up the punchline. This is in addition to what he feels perfectly entitled to say to Titus O’Brien about Zen. O’Brien even extended him the courtesy of responding, not in kind, but by actually giving a very succinct explanation about the differences between Zen and Existentialism. However it zinged right over theremin’s head. Theremin loves to dish it out, but he/she can’t take it. Finally, theremin might investigate the form of gnosticism known as Kabbalah.

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theremin November 24, 2008 - 08:10

Why, thank you for your unbiased take on things, Ttus. M/C Flood has a sense of humor, and welcomes opposing views, if not outright relishes them. In the context that “Andy Sheehan”, aka Andy-Semite, presented his little joke, it can only be taken as an insult to someone, based on their cultural heritage. The art world, and the better half of the world, frowns on such things. Don’t you have your own blog to lord over?

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Asshole November 24, 2008 - 08:28

I esp. liked Titus’ take on Zen vs. Existentialism, now I’ve got to go back to the books and look up egoic self reliance.

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Trungpa Ricochet November 24, 2008 - 12:37

theremin can dish it out, but he can’t take it. Plus, you misunderstand Feehan. He is the Andychrist.

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theremin November 24, 2008 - 15:47

The trailer parks are full of it, and so are you both, Titus. Mark should be arrested for impersonating an Irishman. Andy-Semites.

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theremin November 24, 2008 - 16:01

Tell the Andychrist to drop 150 lbs., or invest in Andygravity technology, the Andy-Semite.

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rainbird November 25, 2008 - 15:50

Truth be told, I usually only post while drinking, heavily. This place is where I come to be with friends and with enemies. The line gets somewhat blurred by this time in the evening and I’ll regret this post around 3:30 tomorrow morning when I wake up hungover and laying between dogs, while I struggle to remember what I’ve said or what I’ve bought off ebay and elsewhere….I won’t fall back asleep until around 5:00cam and I’ll promise myself then that ‘Ill never come back here again. But I do and tonight I wonder why.

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tobrienwriter November 25, 2008 - 16:59

bought a parka recently on eBay, and a fur hat for Ray. Et tu?
But I have to burst Theremin’s bubble – I’m not Trungpa R. Though he strikes me as sharper than some of the other tools in this drawer – except for falling into the trap of bothering to post at all. Oh shit, I’m doing it again too! I’m cutting myself back off. Fookin Jameson.

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tobrienwriter November 25, 2008 - 17:02

I was saying how I think maybe rainbird and I are maybe the same person, since we have the same experience posting on GT, and ebaying. whatev’s.

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rainbird November 25, 2008 - 17:27

We aren’t the same. If only. I certainly admire you. Buy used stuff from North Face, Mountain Hardware, Arc’teryx,

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rainbird November 25, 2008 - 17:30

…and Patagonia. They may not be the best but they will keep you warm.

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Asshole November 25, 2008 - 18:56

I’m not drinking Wild Turkey or Bombay, but those were the days.

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theremin November 25, 2008 - 20:27

After reading this today, I am Andyalcohol.

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Trungpa Ricochet November 25, 2008 - 23:07

You don’t need warm clothes. Where I live, everybody this time of year just drinks Andyfreeze.

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theremin November 26, 2008 - 07:27

For the record, I hope Chicago treats you well, and that the climate at least better suits your work, even if you do need a parka.

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Trungpa Ricochet November 26, 2008 - 13:05

תודה. עם זאת, אני לא טיטוס.

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Trungpa Ricochet November 26, 2008 - 14:01

Níl gach uile fhánaí caillte

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Asshole November 26, 2008 - 15:11

The first one is something about W is coming tired to your house and he second one is something about not all wonder is white.

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theremin November 26, 2008 - 17:11

if you were a wanderer, you’d drop the 150, sugar dumplin’.

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Trungpa Ricochet November 26, 2008 - 22:02

לא משנה
אתה גמד

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Wayne Dolcefino November 26, 2008 - 23:28

For THIS we are spending our-hard-earned tax dollars? The least you clowns could do would be to write in English so the rest of us could read what you are arguing about. This is America. I spent two days’ pay on a computer just so I could look at Glasstire after my producer told me to find some soft target to bump the ratings. Another thing, stop telling me to drop the 150. I am not fat. I just have big bones. That also proves I couldn’t possibly be a tick, because arachnids don’t have skeletons, at least not on the inside. Mine is on the outside. I’m thick-skinned and shapely, like a Bartlett pear.

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Asshole November 26, 2008 - 23:47

Choosing the past instead of the future creates ontological guilt by association.

Couldn’t get the second one Ricochet.

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Trungpa Ricochet November 27, 2008 - 03:19

It’s not important. Besides, ontological guilt is a Western Tradition.

From Ulysses:

“What points of contact existed between these languages and between the peoples who spoke them?
The presence of guttural sounds, diacritic aspirations, epenthetic and servile letters in both languages: their antiquity, both having been taught on the Plain of Shinar 242 years after the deluge in the seminary instituted by Fenius Farsaigh, descendant of Noah, progenitor of Israel, and ascendant of Heber and Heremon, progenitors of Ireland: their archeological genealogical, hagiographical, exegetical, homilectic, toponomastic,historical and religious literatures comprising the works of rabbis and culdees, Torah, Talmud (Mischna and Ghemara), Massor, Pentateuch, Book of the Dun Cow, Book of Ballymote, Garland of Howth, Book of Kells: their dispersal, persecution, survival and revival: the isolation of their synagogical and ecclesiastical rites in ghetto (S Mary’s Abbey) and masshouse (Adam and Eve’s tavern): the proscription of their national costumes in penal laws and jewish dress acts: the restoration in Chanan David of Zion and the possibility of Irish political autonomy or devolution…..

In what common study did their mutual reflections merge?
The increasing simplification traceable from the Egyptian epigraphic hieroglyphs to the Greek and Roman alphabets and the anticipation of modern stenography and telegraphic code in the cuneiform inscriptions (Semitic) and virgular quinquecostate ogham writing (Celtic).

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Wayne Dolcefino November 27, 2008 - 04:05

God I hate you guys.

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theremin November 27, 2008 - 05:36

Are you working on a sequel to the movie PI, or did your babblecrock buddy eat it whole?

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Wayne Dolcefino November 27, 2008 - 07:03

Are you talking about Dave Ward or Marvin Zindler?

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Asshole November 27, 2008 - 08:17

That’s the wrestler’s stream of ptyalin grinnin at defeat’s estranged daughter.

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Trungpa Ricochet November 27, 2008 - 09:24

Such was the lot of Lot.

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Asshole November 28, 2008 - 09:38

That was a joke about pie.

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Trungpa Ricochet November 29, 2008 - 01:22

Genesis 19:32
Finally, perhaps the thing we share, a piece of the ∏, is that we are all irrational.

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Andy Feehan November 29, 2008 - 02:13

Je jongle, donc je suis.

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Wayne Dolcefino November 29, 2008 - 02:18

Swallow it whole and blow it out your post-Π hole. Hooke, Lyon, and Cinquer.

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theremin November 29, 2008 - 06:34

You don’t juggle, but you are most certainly subject to gravity, therefore, you are… welcome to blow it out your Π-hole, Andy-Semite.

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Wayne Dolcefino November 29, 2008 - 07:34

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

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Trungpa Ricochet November 29, 2008 - 08:23

….but I guess it just wasn’t in the cards.

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theremin November 29, 2008 - 08:46

Andy-Semite Ricochet,
We already said, “Good night, Dick.” So, Good Night, Dick.

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Andy Feehan November 29, 2008 - 10:19

Yawn. Good night, cousin.

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Asshole November 30, 2008 - 23:31

I bought that book Ricochet. Cause of your suggestion.

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theremin November 30, 2008 - 23:42

I tried to read it, but found it to be Andyclimatic.

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Trungpa Ricochet December 1, 2008 - 11:58

Yes

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Asshole December 1, 2008 - 12:04

Not that one, the other one, constructing alterity in and around Molly’s age.

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theremin December 1, 2008 - 12:26

If you will pay attention to the symbolism in Ulysses, you will notice that Leopold and Molly lay in bed with their feet at opposite ends, forming an eternity symbol.

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rainbird December 1, 2008 - 16:02

their feet smelled worse than their mouth?. I haven’t gotten to Ulysses yet. I’ve been reading most of the 100 ‘best’ books of the century because my education was much so worse than woeful. I also bought a whole bunch of the ‘Paris Review’ compilation books that I won’t remember reading. I sure don’t remember ordering them. ‘Cloud Atlas ‘is a great postmodern book (hahahah ,I typed postmortem first…..). Titus, you and Theremin , Asshole and Trungpa and even perhaps Clark should list the 5 most important books you’ve ever read. I’d certainly be interested. I’m always looking for something good to read….(to keep me from here as much as anything else.) Or just make fun of me. That’s good too.
Antdyintellectual.

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rainbird December 1, 2008 - 16:21

make my spelling lackluster. But funnier.

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Asshole December 1, 2008 - 16:46

theremin just for that comment I’m going to list my five most important books: Zoetrope, The Looming Tower, Buried Dreams, God In Not Great

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Asshole December 1, 2008 - 16:47

and Postmoderism and the Holocaust Denial.

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rainbird December 1, 2008 - 18:07

you forgot Suttree.

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theremin December 1, 2008 - 19:04

I’m not big on lists, but here’s some great books everyone should read, and I still enjoy: Remembrance of Things Past, The Divine Comedy (I consider it a great masterpiece of fiction, but it has very much influenced the ‘Christian’ concept of heaven and hell), The Impossible, The Cantos, Tropic of Cancer, The Glass Eye Bead, Pere Ubu, 120 Days of Sodom, My Secret Life (a diary of the sexual exploits of a Victorian era “Gentleman”)… enjoy, although I doubt your education is ‘sorely lacking’, rainbird.. and thanks for the list, Asshole. There are three I haven’t read, and should.

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theremin December 1, 2008 - 20:43

The title is the glass bead game, not glass eye bead.

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Trungpa Ricochet December 2, 2008 - 01:28

Those are good books, I am sure, although I haven’t read all of them. Like theremin, I’m not much on lists either, since there is so much great stuff to read. Just for navigating through life, we all should know the Bible (I’m serious.) Then all of Shakespeare. Then Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Then all of Joyce, but preferably with a group, because he is so dense, and I mean that in the best sense. On a completely different note, Joseph Needham’s huge achievement, Science and Civilisation in China, will astonish the reader and completely alter anyone’s notion of history.

I like theremin’s list, and I’d like to add that Dante’s model is of course taken from Ovid, Virgil, Homer, and, prior to all of them, his “architecture of eschatology” is taken from the Ziggurats of Babylon, upside-down as well as right-side up. The Christian ideas of heaven and hell are much older than Christ (who, if he actually existed, probably never would have made such a building).

Thomas Mann and Umberto Eco fascinate me, too. Anything by either is worthwhile. And, although he probably has suffered from simultaneous overexposure and misunderstanding due to cursory exposure among some readers, Joseph Campbell is a treasure trove. The Masks of God (4 volumes) is a great road map. Like anyone else, he had his blind spots, but he was an amazing scholar and a great teacher.

Thanks, all of you, for the suggestions.

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Asshole December 2, 2008 - 08:59

Well of the books I listed I’ve only read one of them, Buried Dreams and part of Postmodernism and the Holocaust Denial. The others are important because someone gave them to me. rainbird is right, Surtree is one of my favs along with that other madcap thing which I can’t remember right now. Trungpa is right as always, thanks Trungpa. thanks rainbird for the books. Joe is a nice treasure trove, he kind of rocks.

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theremin December 2, 2008 - 15:05

I haven’t read Suttree. I liked Blood Meridian, but found the Road disappointing. Like John Irving, sans humor. I agree that Dante owes a debt to the past, and this is in no small part the reason Virgil was his guide through hell. I have to disagree on the importance of reading ‘the bible’, and don’t plan to ever do so. There is a great documentary on Holocaust denial called either Mr. Death, or Dr. Death. It follows a man who built electric chairs for the state of Mississippi, and his subsequent involvement in “scientific” proof the Holocaust never happened. Creepy man, scary story. Best to all. Mr. T

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tobrienwriter December 2, 2008 - 15:51

just some I like, that I go back to regularly (or want to), in no particular order. A sort of desert island selection:
-the Platform Sutra by Hui Neng
-Finnegans Wake
-The Road Home, Jim Harrison.
-Sexus, Henry Miller
-The Book of Serenity (Shoyo Roku.)
-I Am That, Nisargadatta Maharaj
-Leaves of Grass, Whitman
-Break the Mirror, poems by Nanao Sakaki (out of print I think)
-I Ching, Stephen Karcher translation
whoops – that’s ten. I don’t want to do with less, if I don’t have to…I’m sad there’s not woman on my list. So I’ll add Jane Hirschfield, The October Palace. And a collection of Emily Dickinson. And Riprap

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tobrienwriter December 2, 2008 - 15:52

riprap and other poems, Gary Snyder. and and and

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Trungpa Ricochet December 2, 2008 - 23:08

Theremin, although I think I understand your reluctance to read “the bible”, what, for the sake of brevity, the Christians call the Old Testament is so woven into Western culture that it would be hard to function without it. Even if you look at it as history, poetry, or geography, it seems essential, even if, as history it’s not always accurate. And how much art history wouldn’t be recognizable if one didn’t have biblical iconographic references? Just as a set of points to find one’s bearings, it seems important to me. If you accept it or reject it, you can still bounce a signal off of it.
Titus, I have the Wilhelm translation of I Ching. The page edges are black with use. Although I haven’t consulted the oracle in a while, there was a time when I did, daily. I even have the Legge translation, which is awkward but kind of fascinating as a piece of history. He worked with the Latin that the Jesuits published. Chinese to Latin to English is a great way to make mud, I realize. Still, I used to look at it as a sort of backup, and it was the first version I saw when I was young. I’ll have to find the Karcher, now that you have made it known to me.

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theremin December 3, 2008 - 08:37

I get your point, and I am well versed in the stories, iconography and symbols associated with the saints, angels, and biblical heroes. I grew up in a family that collected Mexican Retablos, etc., including Greek, Russian, Armenian, and Eastern Orthodox relics. But, there are several versions of ‘the bible’, some include books that are not in others, some are dreadful revisions of stories from long before, as you well know. If I read ancient Greek, I may be more inclined to have an interest in them.

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rainbird December 3, 2008 - 10:32

I should be working but I read this and thought, Hey! I grew up in a family that collected relics too! …old beer cans and soda bottles mostly. They also sold worms, 50 to a box, for extra spending money. (Dried creek beds offer a wealth of worms). Later they would raise the worms in tubs the back yard and also bake cakes. I hadn’t thought of that in years! Thanks for the post Theremin. And my sincere thanks to you all for the reading suggestions. I was pleased to see I had read some of them already. That ‘Science and Civilization of China’ book lists for over $300. and ‘My Secret Life’ has 11 volumes!) I might just buy one or 2 of those to start with.

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theremin December 3, 2008 - 11:30

Hello, fellow collector. My copy of My Secret Life is a box set, hardbound in two books. You must be warned that the language is quite explicit, and the “Gentleman” might be described as depraved, at best. It’s one of those books you can open at any point, read until you’ve had all you can stand. This might mean one, or two sentences, or more. It is all depending on the thickness of your skin. Remembrance of Things Past is 7 books, and over 3,000 pages. I’d devote a month to it, on your first go around.

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Trungpa Ricochet December 3, 2008 - 11:54

Theremin, I figured you were raised with all those stories, told in one language or the other, translated from something to something else. So was I. I was thinking of a dozen books that I would take with me if I were to leave the earth on a space ship with only carry-on luggage. Everybody here obviously reads and probably knows the OT. You are quite correct about visions, versions, revisions, reversions, translations, etc., and how some were tailored for various reasons. And the Gospels…that’s a whole other thing, political, mostly, I think. Most people who call themselves Christian accept what is given to them in the NT, but there are other gospels, as I imagine you also know. And with all of them we are asked to trust the translators. Same with all literature. We have several years’ worth of reading, just looking at the books and plays listed here. It would be miraculous if we all could read them, each in the original language.

Rainbird, the Needham books are the life’s work of a huge scholar, a polymath of the nth degree, and they still haven’t all been published. If you live near a decent public library, you might be able to find all volumes. Borrow them one at a time. I think there are over twenty now. I lived in Houston for years, and people stole many of the things I was interested in at the downtown library, including that title. Interlibrary Loan is a great way to score stuff, too. Even if you live in a small town, your local library can get you anything you want through this network.

Theremin, I’d really be impressed if you had Proust in French.

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Asshole December 3, 2008 - 11:55

I saw Gary Snyder read a poem once.

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Trungpa Ricochet December 3, 2008 - 12:04

Actually, there’s no way all that shit would fit in the overhead compartment, so I got it all on my hard drive.

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rainbird December 3, 2008 - 12:23

No worries here. My skin is really thick. I sat next to asshole once…. during a movie.

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theremin December 3, 2008 - 15:46

RB, Did he ask you to pull his finger? Unlike ancient Greek, I can read French. I would like the new translation, or to obtain the French text it was compiled from. Great brain exercise to read other languages. Why it is controversial to look at more than one account of the crucifixion, I will leave for others to say. There were an awful lot of crucifixions in Judea, and it was not unusual for everyone in the crowd to be reluctant (to say the least) to speak up for anyone who was executed for political reasons. Those Romans were savages, the damn Christ Killers! : P

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theremin December 3, 2008 - 16:37

It is also perhaps the magnetic attraction of polar opposites. You complete me?

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rainbird December 3, 2008 - 16:41

No he didn’t. I don’t think he even spoke to me. Most people avoid me like the plague. And I don’t blame them a bit. I drink too much. Did i mention my dad sold worms for a living?
Signing off…again.
pray for me never to return…..

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Asshole December 3, 2008 - 17:52

No one has ever said my dad sold worm for a living.

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theremin December 3, 2008 - 18:53

Not even Rodney Dangerfield?

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Asshole December 3, 2008 - 22:28

What crucifiction? Maybe Rodney said that or some equivalent, I don’t know, I think he peed on the carpet though.

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Trungpa Ricochet December 4, 2008 - 03:56

Theremin, uncoordinated Cartesians in South Louisiana saywhen they mean . I think you have to be from New Iberia to have thought it was funny.
Oh, well…

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Trungpa Ricochet December 4, 2008 - 04:04

The program apparently doesn’t recognize some foreign diacritical marks.
Uncoordinated Cartesians is South Louisiana say “je jongle” when they mean “je pense”.
I’m starting to talk like the murdered monk in The Name of the Rose.

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Wayne Dolcefino December 4, 2008 - 06:47

This is as close to religion as it gets. Paste this in your browsers:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid960594369/bctid1716406566

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theremin December 4, 2008 - 13:34

the Rodney post was a comment on the humorous, self-deprecating remarks from rainbird. thoughts are sometimes juggled, I was referencing an unfinished portion in the Large Glass, the juggler of gravity. Mark/Clark, we are all blog hogs. don’t go changing to try to please little ol’ me, just big ol’ you!

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rainbird December 4, 2008 - 15:49

You people aren’t praying nearly hard enough.

Those weren’t humorous or self-deprecating remarks, Theremin…they were god’s own truth! My worm-selling dad later landed a job as a history teacher in a private ‘Christian’ school. My dad, (who doesn’t believe the holocaust happened either, by the way….) got to teach ‘history’…to a bunch of wretched teenagers…for years!!
I attended that same private Christian school for 1 year… (I was in the 4th grade and learned to say no by the 5th!) more stories for another time…but let me tell you…. I filled many a notebook with drawings of perversely over-endowed bikini clad women, sitting in the back of that room filled with over 60 4th graders.

Humorous, self-deprecating remarks? I wish.
My geography is perhaps the worst but my Mother taught me how to spell it…. George Eat Old Gray Rat At Paul’s House Yesterday.
My head is going hurt real soon.

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rainbird December 4, 2008 - 16:29

my tv isn’t ready for dtv either. Oh woe is me…..

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Asshole December 4, 2008 - 17:29

You ever do any pictures of worms on crosses?

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nestortopchy December 13, 2008 - 18:01

Its good to have you still protesting those icky human contractions. giottos deadly sins do a good job of personifying them. you can find a description in any world religion ,though for some reason most people like to find the same stuff in an exotic wrapper. i find most modern/postmodern art to be rank materialism, most of mine included.
best, n.

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rainbird December 15, 2008 - 16:26

My head hurt so bad after that post I started throwing up. For 9 hours, give or take, I threw up. I didn’t drink for a whole week after that! Only a little red wine tonight and a gift for anyone who ventures back here. Try DELICE DE BOURGONE if you enjoy brie. Get a real soft mushy piece. Best brie I ever ate.
I’m making a work that involves caterpillars, Asshole…. metaphorically speaking…I guess those are sort of like worms.

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Asshole December 18, 2008 - 23:54

After the first couple hours it gets to be every 20 to 30 minutes as the bile builds back up. Then of course when you take a hydrating sip, that comes along back up the highway with the bile. Then your mouth tastes metallic or something, like a serious depletion of some kind.

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rainbird December 19, 2008 - 18:33

I thought of saying ‘metamorphicaily because both words made sense. I can’t seem to spell it, but you already know what I mean.You’ve walked that mile in my shoes…..which sort of explains things.

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