BSPH: Louis Aragon - Suicide

Some works of art are playing on a gag reflex. However, due to ambiguousness of the verbiage, the word "gag - choke or retch" is often mixed-up with the word "gag - joke". Because "higher aspirations are about to make one his bitch". Case in point - this poem.

This is a poem by French surrealist writer Louis Aragon titled "Suicide". It was published in 1924. It is a tongue-in-cheek poem that takes two unconnected concepts and mashes them together to concoct a bout of mild cognitive dissonance. 

In addition to that, "Suicide" holds a recognition of being one of the earlier examples of conceptual poetry - the one that deals more with an ideas behind the text than the text itself. In this case - it is about a reduction of language to its barest. In the same time this poem is also an affectionate parody of the utter pretentiousness that often plagues this kind of poetry.

"Suicide" is a thing of its time. It is a faux-provoking piece made purely for one's amusement - a trifle designed to annoy and perplex those who are vain enough to try to perceive its "hidden depths". In its historical context, "Suicide" is nothing more than "just another" poke at the literary conventions of then-mainstream establishment and its eerie double standards. 

The poem deals with the concepts of what can be and what cannot be considered as literature. It stretches the idea far enough to make the sound of tearing heard loud and clear - because it is a funny imaginary sound. In a way, it is an elaborate "take that" to all the pretentious, overwritten, overstuffed writing and critique surrounding it locked in a perfect echo chamber of perpetual self-celebration. The irony is that the surrealist movement itself was locked in an echo chamber of its own and that was a big contributor to its subsequent downfall. 

The poem itself consists of Latin alphabet recited in an alphabetical sequence broken down into five lines thus making it more or less looking like a short poem with a beginning, middle and end. However, it is a just an alphabet with a different title slapped on it. But the correlation between the title and the content is what makes it tick. 

There is an intentional cognitive dissonance at play. It begs to ask "What an alphabet sequence has to do with the concept of Suicide?" only to point out that there is no actual answer to that question with any form or shade of definiteness. In fact - there is nothing to it at all. Because it is just an alphabet sequence titled "Suicide" - because why not. Technically, this is the whole point of the poem. 

Ambiguousness is one of the virtues of "Suicide". It is what makes it special. Just like Hemingway's "Blank Verse", it is a throwaway joke that can be mistaken for a statement. It can be whatever a particular reader wants it to be without ever diminishing its aesthetic impact or lack of thereof. 

Being the way it is - "Suicide" is so open to interpretation - there is no other way to perceive it but to transform it by comprehending it. It is just too hard to keep yourself from it. The more you look at it - the more ideas it evokes. The thing - our minds have natural tendencies towards "making sense". It is an element of a survival instinct that after generations of comforting was left to its own devices and got bored so much it jumps on every opportunity to do its thing - to make sense out of something no matter what. This poem gives mind a chance to run wild a bit only to realize at some point that sometimes there nothing to make sense of. 

***

However, there is a lot to chew if we take a step in another direction and indulge ourselves in a slight bout of overthinking.

For example, "Suicide" might be interpreted as a scrabble riddle disguised as a poem. There are several words in Latin, French or English languages that contain every letter of their alphabets making a monstrous wordzillas. This notion adds another needless dimension to the poem. This way, the poem is presented in a deconstructed form, its content is reorganized in a default alphabet sequence and the goal of the reader is to put it back together - uncover the meaning behind this elaboration. There is a clue in the form of the title but that's not exactly a key. 

The thing might be an easy task if you just type the query to the search engine and select the words. But since there are several options - there is a need to select the one that fits the most. Every choice gives a different shade of meaning and there is a ghost of chance to make a perfect match. 

On the other hand, the process may be a futile attempt at breaking the non-existent "code" with numerous tries and fails to come up with the correct solution - by matching vowels and consonants in a semblance of coherent phonemes - all while constructing all sorts of shorter words in the process that just come and go never taken seriously. 

Then there is a distinct visual rhythm in how letters f, l, r and w cap off their respective lines until the last line ends midway through. The breaks make an illusion of having distinct parts of the text - as if the sequence A-F, G-L, M-R, S-W and X-Z were some alien words, magic spells of sorts, intentionally encrypted words that can make something happen (one thing for sure, Big Bird would have liked it). 

Either way, there is a narrative that actively involves readers. There is an experience beyond the text imposed by the reader itself in order to do something. 

MFT: Superman Adventures #41 - "Twenty-two stories in a single bound"

"Twenty-two stories in a single bound" is a title of Issue 41 of "Superman Adventures" comic book series. The issue was written by Mark Millar and illustrated by a murderer's row of illustrators including Ty Templeton, Terry Austin, Joe Staton, Neil Vokes, Bret Blevins, Min S. Ku, Cameron Stewart, Mike Manley, Craig Rousseau, Rick Burchett, Darwyn Cooke, Aluir Amancio, Philip Bond. It was released in March 2000 and It was the last comic of Millar's run on the title.

And for a curtain call he decided to do something out of an ordinary.

The issue consists of 22 one-page stories, all self-contained and dedicated to a particular character and specific element of Superman mythos. The narrative is built around "a day in the life" format focusing on key events in their most expressive forms.

For example, there is a story about just another working week of Lois Lane. She is depicted as a damsel in distress for the majority of the panels until the script is flipped and Lois is shown to be capable of standing on her own - you know, it's just she doesn't need to do it all the time.

Or there exploits of Mister Mxysptlk who tries to ramble and scramble and bumble and rumble Superman with his reality warping powers. It doesn't go the way he expects. On the other hand, bumbling backwards Superman adversary Bizarro gets his legitimate hero moment and that is nice.

There is also a page where all the key characters are sleeping and we can see what they are dreaming about. Which is exactly what you can expect - Lois Lain being Superwoman, Jimmy Olsen being The Boss to Perry White, Bibbo (don't ask) dreaming about sleeping (of course), while Lex Luthor dreams about Superman being defeated. The page is capped with Superman doing his job. As usual.

Overall, an issue can be described as a mosaic, a kaleidoscope of moments that seems disjointed but ultimately comes together into a cohesive whole. Every story is drawn by different artist which gives them distinct indentities even though the aesthetic is largely the same.

"Twenty-two stories in a single bound" is an exercise in ultra-minimalist condensed storytelling - one-part newspaper comic strip and one-part constrained comics of the likes of Chris Ware. In a way, it is a great showcase how to tell a story in leaps and bounds that omits everything superfluous and concentrates on the key elements.

MFT: Chappelle's Show - If The Internet Was a Real Place Sketch

"If The Internet Was a Real Place" is a sketch from Chappelle's Show. It is a part of 8th episode of 2nd season of the show. The sketch is a neat kaleidoscope of all stuff going on in the early-to-mid 2000s Internet. While it is rather simplistic view of the World Wide Web it also manage to adequately depict its essense - i.e. complete and absolute mess where you rather stumble upon stuff than find something.

In the sketch, the Internet is imagined as a giant mall with all sorts of "characters" bumbing onto Chappelle. In a way, if your pareidolia skills are high - you can interpret Kevin Smith's "Mallrats" as another elaboration on this concept albeit a retroactive one. Chappelle plays a man who is on his journey though the magical space of the web for the very first time. He is a straight man who just wants to explore what it is and if there is anything worthwhile in it.

There is general sense of lack of purpose lingering upon everything.

The sketch starts with that particular feeling of being lost in the vast seemingly endless sea of web that happens the first time you get online. Without further ado, things gets weird. The first character Chappelle bumps into is personification of a fishing scam - "make your penis extra-large" kind of spam. The ensuing conversation quickly devolves into pointless attempt at persuading to spend money on a suspicious scam.

Next go free mp3 downloading sites and the whole illegal music downloads affair that was all the rage back then. There is even a cameo by then-still clumsy legal music purchase venues. Things go in a familiar direction - Chappelle grabs whole lotta stuff, most of which he will probably never even listen.

Then things move to the main event - porn. Ron Jeremy plays pornography representative who invites Chappelle to watch Paris Hilton's night vision sex tape (remember that?), which he does two times to be sure it was she for real. And then some old man in a coat and not much else invite Chappell to watch goat play with a maid in a leather uniform, which is as weird as it sounds.

After that Chappelle stumble upon a pop-ad purgatory in which he moves in a loop for a bit. Getting into a pop-up loop was something of an initiation into the Internet back in the day and seeing it play out in live-action is really-really funny.

At last there is a section with chatroom where Chappelle finally settles on a semblance of calmness in the sea of pointlessness. He even hooks up with the girl who says all the right words before it turns out to be that fishing scam guy from the beginning. It is sad sadness.

"If The Internet Was a Real Place" is a fine example of how to make highly contrasting cognitive dissonance inducing exploration of a concept while also exposing its built-in ridiculousness and not making it an infernal travesty. The key is subtlety and easygoing tone. Nothing of it really makes sense but that is the point and that is somewhat endearing.

BSPH: Steve Blackman WWF theme - Drums in the night

Sometimes a wrestling theme is going beyond establishing a character and setting to tone of the event. This is one of such examples.



"Drums in the night" was a second entrance theme for a wrestler Steve Blackman. It is dark and brooding piece that unravels a disturbing imagery. It is a chill out tribal trance composition with very dense percussion parts and tense atmospheric pads. "Drums in the night" was produced by Giles Perring and Nick Cash. The original composition was first released on an album "Rhythmworx" by the label Extreme Music. It was described as dark and dangerous drum drama.

It is also a bad example of a wrestling theme. As an entrance theme it is definitely something completely different especially for the time when it was used. However, in the same time it fails to make a statement and sonically establish a character beyond some cool and unconventional sounds. As in integral part of the wrestling character - the theme must work with the character and that is something "Drums in the night" is not really doing. Which doesn't really mean anything

On its own it is completely different thing. In its original form "Drums in the night" are a trilogy of compositions that share common melodies and rhythmic structure. It really works as an impressionist piece of some foggy jungle swamp full of something wicked that is apparently getting closer. The parts have very distinct sonic landscapes that show very different things throughout its running time.

Part one is more constipated looped jazz fusion stomp that is drowning in a quicksand. Part two is more of a smooth slaughterhouse in a refrigerator. Part three is the most reserved of the three. It lays the dense fog and lets the beasts out to for hunt. Curiously, nothing ever comes out of it probably because those beasts got lost in the fog but the notion of something being there is persistent.

MFT: Predator 2 Dance Outtake

There is a new Predator movie coming out! So let us all remember this undeservedly little-known crowning moment of awesome from way back when!

This is an outtake from the film "Predator 2". It takes places on the Predator Ship that appeared during the final showdown of the Danny Glover's character Mike Harrigan and City Hunter Predator. The scene featuring the members of the Los Angeles Hunting Party. But unlike what is seen in the film, where they pick up their fallen comrade and congratulate Harrigan with getting a win - they do something out of the ordinary - a dance routine.

Yep. A bunch of predators dancing in their ship filled with some atmospheric fog because why not. Needless to say, it is quite an unconventional showcase of the species to say the least.

The scene was probably shot during one of the breaks or in the end of a tiring day or as a test of the lighting or just out of whim. It plays out as a self-contained video. If you think about it - this is an ultimate piece of behind the scenes footage. Something so out of place and so meaningless you can't resist but liking it.

The scene starts with one of the predator coming into the hall of the ship. He is then joined by the rest of gang. They get into the new jack swing groove with orchestral stabs on tails peppered with the lead predator counting down the beats. The dance is basic but given the fact that these the Predators dancing - it comes out as an utterly bizarre sight.

There is a lot of Predator hip shaking which is a bit baffling sight to behold. Then there is a little bit of tap dancing, some jumping bouncing and even a short burst of gopak before they all come into the circle and Danny Glover joins in and they get into the groove of utter ridiculuousness of the scene.

This dance was choreographed by Lionel Douglass who played one of the predators in the final scene. He is the last Predator seen dancing before Glover joins in.

"Predator 2" was a mixed bag of a film. It contained some solid Predator action, a couple of particularly nasty set-pieces, unconventional casting decisions, troubling racial stereotypes with some downright racist undertones and other somewhat erratic pace. However, it was a decent expansion of the Predator lore that culminated in a brief in-joke turning into a franchise of its own.

MFT: Wolverine Publicity

There are some things that can be considered both entirely reasonable and absurd in the same time. Case in point - Wolverine Publicity. 

Wolverine was one of the biggest draws in the Marvel Comics fold back in late 80’s up to late 90’s. No wonder why - his hard boiled tough guy demeanor and badass attitude was appealing to the target audience like nothing else. He was different from the rest of the X-Men. Wolverine was enigmatic, the information about him was scattered but even a slightest glance was enough to understand that he was a real deal. 

Needless to say it did wonders to the sales figures. His first solo series made a significant splash in the sales and his appearances were always an attention grabbers. Soon enough publishers took notice of this and started to exploit character’s popularity. And so Wolverine started to appear in the other Marvel titles.

This phenomenon became one of Marvel's most infamous marketing practices known as Wolverine Publicity.

On a conceptual level - there is nothing wrong with the popular character showing up in the other titles. It happens all the time, especially if the other title is just starting out and needs to establish itself or just struggling to gain momentum. Cameos of an established and popular characters in the comics are reasonable business practice. If done right, it may even help to get the other title over with the fans by proxy. If done right...

Superman does it all the time and no one complains. But Wolverine Publicity is infamous for a reason. 

At first, Wolverine’s appearances were moderately reasonably justified. He could show up because the heroes needed his help to solve a particular problem. His first X-Men appearance in Giant-size X-men was like that - the team got lost and so Xavier hired Wolverine Then there were stories were his presence was welcomed but not exactly necessary. Anyway, it was a nice touch short of being slightly overbearing. Wolverine was drawing target audiences attention and that often gave the other titles a positive sales rub.

Then things started to go out of control and the whole cameo thing started to make no sense. It was going in an increasingly random direction with Wolverine showing up, the story stopping dead so that he could pop his claws and say one of his catchphrases. And then the story went on as usual. It started to get annoying after a while but it worked. 

At some point Marvel became so reckless they didn’t even bothered to put Wolverine in the stories itself instead just keeping him on the covers.

The most infamous was the one for comic book adaptation of Anita Blake series. It had Anita Blake fighting off Wolverine and that had nothing to do with the story, it was the cover-only thing. And there was a little text in the corner notifying “Wolverine does not appear in this issue”.

This phenomenon was even mocked in one of the issues of “Moon Knight” that also had Spiderman and The Punisher on the cover and the text “Wolverine does not appear in this comic” right in the middle of the cover that was continued by “But with Spiderman and The Punisher guest-starring, we have a feeling you won’t mind".

Just think about it. How reckless a publisher should be if it is so confident that people are going to buy anything with a presence of a particularly popular character even if it is a cover-only affair? Then it all came crashing down as the overall comic books sales started to wine down. With sales, constant Wolverine spotting became less and less frequent until it quietly died down.

In a way, Wolverine cameos of that era are something of a genre of its own. A kind of comic book haikus. Relentless and senseless pieces of something popping out of nowhere, making no sense and dissipating into ether.

Talking with Cleverbot

I have a soft spot for talking with chatbots. There is something unknowable in the nature of their responses. It is ineffable. A couple of days ago i was trying to maintain a civil conversation with Cleverbot because i'm a hopeless romantic whose got nothing better to do. For the most part - it was a mixed bag experience. Nothing really special - a standard back and forth with some basic phrasing. 

Then things took an unexpected turn.

This little bit of dialogue occurred out of nowhere and it was really baffling thing to experience. I mean - here we are, trying to out-Eliza each other with some blank bonks and it is going nowhere with an old spice ting and then Cleverbot asks me whether i'm still dead - without any build-up, with no apparent reason, just out of nowhere. I felt confused whether it was someone playing a joke on me or there was something else going on.

After a couple of negative responses the conversation returned to its original pointlessness but this little bit stayed with me as an unsettling episode of interacting with dumb chatbots.

MFT: Robot Chicken - Alien Slapstick Comedy

It is a well-known fact that things unseen are the most effective imagination teasers.  That's how it works. In this clip from the recent episode of the "Robot Chicken" we can see what happened behind the closed doors during the climax of James Cameron's 1986 classic "Aliens".

The episode elaborates on a scene where Ripley and Hicks are trying to break through the hordes of aliens during the climax of the movie. As you know, once they get into the elevator - alien drone blocks the door and tries to get inside but Hicks shoots him and get injured by the alien's acid blood. That's what we see in the film. This episode explores fate of the alien drone. And it is a bit slapstick.

Since xenomorph's blood is acidic - this creates a problem for an injured creature. Instead of just retreating anywhere - its blood burns through the floor and the creature falls level down. Over and over again. It tries to avoid another fall by jumping on the box but it backfires and so xenomorph falls down and meets the box. Then, on another level, it tries to run away from the hole but instead alien gets a prolong falling session down to the depths of Hadley's Hope.

It turns out that underneath the Hadley's Hope was a xenomorph city. Because of course it was there all along. With the buildings, streetlights and sidewalks and other xenomorphs walking leisurely casually dressed. An unfortunate alien falls down and gets splashed on the ground. The passerby sees that and calls an ambulance. Xenomorph's body is taken away but since the blood is acidic - it damages an ambulance car and causes one final accident.

Moral of the story - don't spill acid blood when you bleed.