Dear Grant, thank you for writing. You bring joy, optimism, laughter, and all-round coolness to my brain everyday I'm fortunate enough to read your work. -from a burnt out librarian, with love.
Thanks. You're eloquent description of the current state of oligarchs and wealth. It very much mirrors my own and no doubt many individuals' thought. I'm all for the outlawing of billionaires. However not necessarily at the expense of capitalism. I'd prefer that above a certain wealth, a percentage of profits (let's say 50%) must be distributed to non-profit charities. So make as much dough as you want, but the needy profit as well.
A friend once also told me that the reasons for racism etc was a distinct lack of imagination!
While I tend to agree your thoughts that these ne'er do wells have only the physical realm, it may be slightly off point. Surely Zuckerberg, et al had imagination enough to 'see' their vision and make it a reality? However in offering this I'm of the opinion that this 'vision' ultimately extended no further than approximately 2-3 metres from their central physical core.
I am reminded of Stephen Pinker's assertion in his book The Better Angels of our Nature which states that humanity is essentially becoming less violent. Part of this thesis is a gradual shift to the left as more 'rights' were/are recognised. That is, a right wing proponent now would be considered incredibly liberal by the right wing standards of the '50s, '60s and '70s. Indeed, maybe even the '80s.
Having said that, we seem to be experiencing by my reckoning 'the great backlash'. As the horrors of WWII fade in to history, and the education of facts is stymied, devolution becomes reality.
In Australia (my home) we're, incredibly, seeing support for the One Nation party rise (as the Liberal Party implodes) whose leader (a ginger headed numbat who has hung around like a bad smell for over 20 years) recently vomited that there are no 'good Muslims'.
Your question: "Why did we choose to elevate, valorise, reward and arm the very worst among us? What did we think would happen to us? Wasn’t this warning enough the first time around?"
Apparently not, though I suspect that those on this forum aren't associated with this "we".
I'm currently reading Hunter S Thompson's--no-one has yet surpassed his turn of phrase--account of Watergate and Nixon's resignation, and subsequent pardon by Ford. It's uncanny how so simple it is to replace 'Nixon' with 'Trump' and the copy could have been written now. Was this the first time around? Do we ever learn from history? Sadly, no. But what to do?
I’m surprised you didn’t like Eyes Wide Shut. For me it was less about Tom Cruise‘s relationship and more about the evil shit that happens on a normal everyday basis that we just ignore. I also am one of the conspiracy theorist who think Kubrick was talking about the sick shit the upper class does, maybe not specifically Epstein though. Also, would you ever publish a work about magical instructions? I know Alan Moore has one, but I haven’t bought because I thought it would be cool to compare and contrast if you had one. Also I just trust you a lot more than Saruman the Stoned (Moore)
I have to say I was a bit worried when I read the start of your latest "missive" (Supermissive?) as for a few minutes I did wonder if I shared my birthday with the Andrew formerly known as prince. Unlike him, I almost sweated, in my anxiety, but I then Googled it and hey presto! Wikipedia says it's the 19th of February, not the 3rd. However, I think you might be onto something. Last week, a friend of mine celebrated his young daughter's birthday, on February 23rd. Which left me quite perplexed as, for the past 9 years, I was sure she was born in April. I remember celebrating the birth of 3 baby girls in 2017 and I know for a fact they were born in February, April and September. But now it has now become the truth that two were born in February.
With regards to the Orange Menace across the Atlantic, I hear horror stories like this law that has now passed in Kansas where, overnight, all transgender folks have had their identity papers voided. Driving licences, updated birth certificates... The only way out was to choose the gender marker that did not correspond with their identity, which few people elected to do. Of course, for those who now have invalid paperwork, life has been made incredibly difficult.
I saw some sigils designed to protect trans folks, the owner has made them public and shareable. I don't know if magic works with a sigil designed by someone else or if it's better to work with one's own though.
Hoping there's an end to this political nightmare soon...
The Sharad Devarajan mention made me remember this bit of trivia: Did you know the first Indian reprint of your work was a pocket-sized comic featuring the Tomorrow Woman story from JLA #5, brought out by Devarajan's Gotham Comics imprint? You could get it for free with a pack of Maggi Instant Noodles in the year 2000. I missed the offer at the time but found a copy of that comic some years ago at a secondhand bookstore.
Every chapter he publishes weakens the prison of an ancient god
~care of our very own Osiris.
I enjoyed One Battle After Another, although I am a Mandy type of girl myself. The scene where Nicolas Cage sits on the toilet to chug that bottle of vodka was one of the greatest scenes ever shot in cinema history. Cosmatos rocks my little cottons socks he does.
Can someone hear that? That sound, like the rumble of rusty, creaky tanks crunching on the brittle bones of children, that's the echo of the forth horseman getting ready to ride.
The stupid idiots think they are gonna take the world to war over a hissy fit because a section of their little paedo ring came unravelling.
Rumor has it that Epstein isn't really dead anyway. Some poor schmuck got incinerated in his place and old Jefferey can be found banging some twelve year old in Tel-Aviv wearing a new face but same old egg shape doo-da.
Speaking of Stars, is anyone watching for the Blaze Star, otherwise known as T Coronae Borealis ? It's meant to Nova and become visible to the naked eye very soon, which should make for an auspicious date for a ritual for those of us inclined. (insert wink here)
I hadn't actually gotten around to watching the interview, but I actually did get a chance to interview him for The Beat (albeit in email format, so I'm still waiting to hear back).
On the note of Dinosaurs vs Aliens, what was supposed to happen with that book? Both in terms of production and content? Are there any other unrealized projects you'd like to see finished?
Also, because it's on my mind since I saw it, any thoughts on Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die?
I've read more about Wilber's ideas than the things themselves, so may have picked up a skewed impression, will keep an open mind, but do very highly recommend Washburn's "The Ego and The Dynamic Ground" :)))
I've been doing weekly 2000AD reviews for CBY, from the perspective of an American picking the book up cold and trying to make sense of it. I'm seven progs in and absolutely love the weekly anthology format, the endless variety of truly great new-to-me talent that parades through, and the scale of the shared world building, but don't quite know what I'm supposed to make of the big man himself.
Ostensibly Judge Dredd is a satire of fascism, I think? I know there's cultural commentary in the incidentals of the world, but in the comic Dredd seems to uphold the authoritarian values of Mega-City One, and we the readers seem to be encouraged to root for his success unironically.
I guess maybe he's like a sci-fi Punisher character? It's not his job to deal with systemic societal problems, but rather to make the bad guys go boom, which is good enough for a laugh? While the medicine gets mixed in with that spoonful of sugar? IDK! I kinda read Dredd stories with an attitude like "fuck this guy," and can't tell if that's me getting the point or missing it!
Hi Grant. I'm bummed that your recent scripts for The Invisibles adaptation won't be turned into a production. Any chance that the scripts will be released in any form? Any chance you can leak them? Even just to me personally? I can be trusted - i was given a leak of The People's Joker that was given to me right after WB tried to shut down the film, and I didn’t give it to anyone!
Dear Grant, thank you for writing. You bring joy, optimism, laughter, and all-round coolness to my brain everyday I'm fortunate enough to read your work. -from a burnt out librarian, with love.
Grant,
Thanks. You're eloquent description of the current state of oligarchs and wealth. It very much mirrors my own and no doubt many individuals' thought. I'm all for the outlawing of billionaires. However not necessarily at the expense of capitalism. I'd prefer that above a certain wealth, a percentage of profits (let's say 50%) must be distributed to non-profit charities. So make as much dough as you want, but the needy profit as well.
A friend once also told me that the reasons for racism etc was a distinct lack of imagination!
While I tend to agree your thoughts that these ne'er do wells have only the physical realm, it may be slightly off point. Surely Zuckerberg, et al had imagination enough to 'see' their vision and make it a reality? However in offering this I'm of the opinion that this 'vision' ultimately extended no further than approximately 2-3 metres from their central physical core.
I am reminded of Stephen Pinker's assertion in his book The Better Angels of our Nature which states that humanity is essentially becoming less violent. Part of this thesis is a gradual shift to the left as more 'rights' were/are recognised. That is, a right wing proponent now would be considered incredibly liberal by the right wing standards of the '50s, '60s and '70s. Indeed, maybe even the '80s.
Having said that, we seem to be experiencing by my reckoning 'the great backlash'. As the horrors of WWII fade in to history, and the education of facts is stymied, devolution becomes reality.
In Australia (my home) we're, incredibly, seeing support for the One Nation party rise (as the Liberal Party implodes) whose leader (a ginger headed numbat who has hung around like a bad smell for over 20 years) recently vomited that there are no 'good Muslims'.
Your question: "Why did we choose to elevate, valorise, reward and arm the very worst among us? What did we think would happen to us? Wasn’t this warning enough the first time around?"
Apparently not, though I suspect that those on this forum aren't associated with this "we".
I'm currently reading Hunter S Thompson's--no-one has yet surpassed his turn of phrase--account of Watergate and Nixon's resignation, and subsequent pardon by Ford. It's uncanny how so simple it is to replace 'Nixon' with 'Trump' and the copy could have been written now. Was this the first time around? Do we ever learn from history? Sadly, no. But what to do?
My question: is magical imagination enough?
Sincerely
Ross
I’m surprised you didn’t like Eyes Wide Shut. For me it was less about Tom Cruise‘s relationship and more about the evil shit that happens on a normal everyday basis that we just ignore. I also am one of the conspiracy theorist who think Kubrick was talking about the sick shit the upper class does, maybe not specifically Epstein though. Also, would you ever publish a work about magical instructions? I know Alan Moore has one, but I haven’t bought because I thought it would be cool to compare and contrast if you had one. Also I just trust you a lot more than Saruman the Stoned (Moore)
I realized recently that during Seaguy week, the final issue/script for Seaguy Eternal wasnt released. Why was that?
Is it not completed? Or are you saving it in the off chance it may resurrect itself? Or a secret third thing?
In my dreams it's because John McCrea is busy drawing it :)))
Hello, fellow wanderer from the necromantic underground of imaginations clothed in flesh that we know as Planet Earth!
I've decided to speak and write in improvised verse for the foreseeable future, for the purpose of pure entertainment, so,
I scratch this screed in much benighted age,
When needed, are, to scrawl majestic tome,
The ancient ways of luminary sage,
To guide us, from your land of Xanaduum,
Where you do sit at story weaving-loom
As your mechanics solitary grind
And disp’rate threads of tangled tale consume
To see the gems uncovered you’ll find,
And pick important threads to fix together with your mind.
The story like a muddled riddle is,
A mystery that in mandalas spins,
And just when, seems, an answer to the quiz
Appears to be, the Mandela begins,
And sweeps away all multifarious sense
Of careful-laid and long considered plot
Like ectoplasm scatter’d cross the lens
So magic, though apparent, seems as not,
And scatterd are the proofs that ancient order long has sought.
But we, I think, rely on little proof
Since all the best is much ephemeral
And comes to us when under trance aloof
To wax the verse of lights incredible.
As, incred’lous, we, the liminal
And arcane nature of our sacred art
Perceive concrete, while masses cynical,
In vain, proceed to shred the path apart,
A diff’rent renaissance is stirring clammering to start.
I read your posts like crosswords for the week,
Or missive from the magan up on high
Whose arrows, cast from castle swamp to seek
Companions weird, swift to my feet do fly
And stir my latent creativity.
When I was born, in ninety-two, that day
A wish, upon a candle, did supply
A strange coincidence for Dor’thy, gay,
When I would, much astonishd, from the literature stray.
I do not know how it is possible;
But it is evidence enough to know
That magic, though it seems improbable,
Does move as mighty gust of wind do go.
So something in that nineties water glowed,
Because, like clockwork, prophecies yborne
On waves of time, beyond our bodies, flow
O’er all imagination’s roads, forlorn,
On great dodecahedron seas, of mem’ry’s ways walk-worn.
>"Team Human podcas"
Pedants; there's always one there when your spellcheck fails.
Love you, Man, thanks for everything!
I have to say I was a bit worried when I read the start of your latest "missive" (Supermissive?) as for a few minutes I did wonder if I shared my birthday with the Andrew formerly known as prince. Unlike him, I almost sweated, in my anxiety, but I then Googled it and hey presto! Wikipedia says it's the 19th of February, not the 3rd. However, I think you might be onto something. Last week, a friend of mine celebrated his young daughter's birthday, on February 23rd. Which left me quite perplexed as, for the past 9 years, I was sure she was born in April. I remember celebrating the birth of 3 baby girls in 2017 and I know for a fact they were born in February, April and September. But now it has now become the truth that two were born in February.
With regards to the Orange Menace across the Atlantic, I hear horror stories like this law that has now passed in Kansas where, overnight, all transgender folks have had their identity papers voided. Driving licences, updated birth certificates... The only way out was to choose the gender marker that did not correspond with their identity, which few people elected to do. Of course, for those who now have invalid paperwork, life has been made incredibly difficult.
I saw some sigils designed to protect trans folks, the owner has made them public and shareable. I don't know if magic works with a sigil designed by someone else or if it's better to work with one's own though.
Hoping there's an end to this political nightmare soon...
The Sharad Devarajan mention made me remember this bit of trivia: Did you know the first Indian reprint of your work was a pocket-sized comic featuring the Tomorrow Woman story from JLA #5, brought out by Devarajan's Gotham Comics imprint? You could get it for free with a pack of Maggi Instant Noodles in the year 2000. I missed the offer at the time but found a copy of that comic some years ago at a secondhand bookstore.
Shabbat Shalom People.
A writer mistakes prophecy for fiction.
Every chapter he publishes weakens the prison of an ancient god
~care of our very own Osiris.
I enjoyed One Battle After Another, although I am a Mandy type of girl myself. The scene where Nicolas Cage sits on the toilet to chug that bottle of vodka was one of the greatest scenes ever shot in cinema history. Cosmatos rocks my little cottons socks he does.
Can someone hear that? That sound, like the rumble of rusty, creaky tanks crunching on the brittle bones of children, that's the echo of the forth horseman getting ready to ride.
The stupid idiots think they are gonna take the world to war over a hissy fit because a section of their little paedo ring came unravelling.
Rumor has it that Epstein isn't really dead anyway. Some poor schmuck got incinerated in his place and old Jefferey can be found banging some twelve year old in Tel-Aviv wearing a new face but same old egg shape doo-da.
Speaking of Stars, is anyone watching for the Blaze Star, otherwise known as T Coronae Borealis ? It's meant to Nova and become visible to the naked eye very soon, which should make for an auspicious date for a ritual for those of us inclined. (insert wink here)
Hey, you should smile more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk&list=RDbuqtdpuZxvk&start_radio=1
I hadn't actually gotten around to watching the interview, but I actually did get a chance to interview him for The Beat (albeit in email format, so I'm still waiting to hear back).
On the note of Dinosaurs vs Aliens, what was supposed to happen with that book? Both in terms of production and content? Are there any other unrealized projects you'd like to see finished?
Also, because it's on my mind since I saw it, any thoughts on Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die?
Holarchy does indeed sound appealing!
I've read more about Wilber's ideas than the things themselves, so may have picked up a skewed impression, will keep an open mind, but do very highly recommend Washburn's "The Ego and The Dynamic Ground" :)))
I've been doing weekly 2000AD reviews for CBY, from the perspective of an American picking the book up cold and trying to make sense of it. I'm seven progs in and absolutely love the weekly anthology format, the endless variety of truly great new-to-me talent that parades through, and the scale of the shared world building, but don't quite know what I'm supposed to make of the big man himself.
Ostensibly Judge Dredd is a satire of fascism, I think? I know there's cultural commentary in the incidentals of the world, but in the comic Dredd seems to uphold the authoritarian values of Mega-City One, and we the readers seem to be encouraged to root for his success unironically.
I guess maybe he's like a sci-fi Punisher character? It's not his job to deal with systemic societal problems, but rather to make the bad guys go boom, which is good enough for a laugh? While the medicine gets mixed in with that spoonful of sugar? IDK! I kinda read Dredd stories with an attitude like "fuck this guy," and can't tell if that's me getting the point or missing it!
Hi Grant. I'm bummed that your recent scripts for The Invisibles adaptation won't be turned into a production. Any chance that the scripts will be released in any form? Any chance you can leak them? Even just to me personally? I can be trusted - i was given a leak of The People's Joker that was given to me right after WB tried to shut down the film, and I didn’t give it to anyone!