The Book I'm Reading: The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones

I can't (and won't) recommend this book for various reasons, which I'll get around to elsewhere, but in the last story there's a line which I thought was worth a bit of a chat-up.

It comes just four pages from the end of the final story in this collection, "Rocket Man." You don't really need any context for it, but here's a bit anyway: a young boxer who is getting ready for a big fight visits his friend / mentor, who is in a detox facility, and the older guy says (in part) this:

"...in every human breast a fund of hatred, anger, envy, rancour and malice, accumulated like the venom in a serpent's tooth, and waiting only for an opportunity of venting itself, and then, like a demon unchained...." 

There's no reference to the fact that these words belong to Arthur Schopenhauer...and I'm pretty sure that the only philosopher referred to in this story is Friedrich Nietzsche...which seems kind of unfair...but it's not my party, so I'll leave that at that. 

Anyway, I thought that was good stuff, and since I was sure that it wasn't a Thom Jones original, I went looking and found the source (big surprise if you're familiar with Thom Jones--it was from Arthur Schopenhauer) and a bit more of it:

"...of storming and raging. If a man has no great occasion for breaking out, he will end by taking advantage of the smallest, and by working it up into something great by the aid of his imagination; for, however small it may be, it is enough to rouse his anger

—Quantulacunque adeo est occasio, sufficit irae—

and then he will carry it as far as he can and may. We see this in daily life, where such outbursts are well known under the name of 'venting one's gall on something.' It will also have been observed that if such outbursts meet with no opposition the subject of them feels decidedly the better for them afterwards. That anger is not without its pleasure is a truth that was recorded even by Aristotle; and he quotes a passage from Homer, who declares anger to be sweeter than honey. But not in anger alone—in hatred too, which stands to anger like a chronic to an acute disease, a man may indulge with the greatest delight:

Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure,

Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure.

Gobineau in his work Les Races Humaines has called man l'animal mechant par excellence. People take this very ill, because they feel that it hits them; but he is quite right, for man is the only animal which causes pain to others without any further purpose than just to cause it."

Well. That's some powerful shit, isn't it? I think it's the perfect explanation for the crowds at Trump rallies. In their daily lives, they have had to suffer all kinds of shit. The everyday shit that everybody puts up with in some cases. Extra shit if they belong to the undereducated, underemployed, and underinteeligent. They desperately need to take their anger out on someone, and Trump not only offers them a target or two, he also gives them a venue in which they can congregate and expel their venom in one huge, monstrous orgy of hatred. Who wouldn't want to feel that ecstatic mass ejaculation surging through and around them? No wonder they don't care what Trump says or does...even if it is counter to their own self-interests. He gives them this. 

Nobody else does. 

Let's put it this way: have you ever stayed with a bad partner because the sex was at worst pretty good? Well, then. Trump's base is only going to leave him if he stops jacking them off. And he looks like he can still go a few rounds.

And that's the truth. 

Giovani Santillan vs Antonio DeMarco

I just finished watching a live boxing match.

28-year-old Santillan (26-0, 15 KOs) was a 5-1 favorite over 34-year-old DeMarco (33-9-1, 24 KOs)...but he barely pulled off a victory over the older boxer (95-95, 96-94, and 96-94...and the announcers definitely disagreed with that decision, as both of them had claimed victory for DeMarco). 

It was a good match. To my untutored eye, DeMarco seemed in control most of the time. In fact, I thought that he controlled the pace of the fight, controlled positioning in the ring, and regularly dropped his hands and invited Santillan to have a go at him. Not so much in a taunting way, I don't think...but there was definitely the confidence of a strong man behind his stance.

One of the non-punching things that struck me...and which I don't remember seeing before...is that the boxers regularly touched gloves after they parted at the bell ending each round. It just seemed exceedingly polite, you know? They were both quite conciliatory towards each other after the fight ended, too...though I got the distinct impression that both of them thought that they had won, so maybe that was a part of the equation. But no second guessing here: these two guys showed great sportsmanship, and that's something I am not used to seeing in the world of professional sports these days.

Of course, I was pulling for "the old guy." He handled the defeat gracefully, though...in fact, he barely indicated disappointment at all. It made me wonder what kind of guy he is when he's not in a boxing ring, you know? 

Speaking of which...I certainly understand why some people think that boxing is a barbaric sport. It's the only sport in which the goal is to inflict physical damage on your opponent...ideally to knock him unconscious. Not that that doesn't happen in other sports, of course...but it's not the goal. Not even in wrestling. So for sure on that count it qualifies as barbaric.  I probably hadn't watched more than a handful of boxing matches on television (and never live) until a few years ago. But in the last couple of years I've felt myself drawn to it more and more...and especially since the Covid-19 Lockdown. There's something exceedingly honest about it all, you know? I mean, in football you hear stories about people intentionally trying to hurt other players on the sly (remember the bounty stuff with the Saints from a few years back?)...in baseball there's intentionally hitting batters with the ball, spiking basemen as  the runner slides in...you know? It's all sneaky shit. In boxing, it's all right there. And if you hit below the belt or try something dirty, you get penalized. So yeah, there is a certain honesty to it.

Boxing also makes for some great movies, doesn't it? Let's see...
Rocky...maybe Rocky II...Cinderella Man...The Hurricane ...Requiem for a Heavyweight (two of them)...Million Dollar Baby
...When We Were Kings...Hard Times (the James Bronson one)...
Raging Bull...The Boxer. Did I miss any? Maybe Southpaw. Yeah, for me that'd be in there. Are there that many great baseball movies? (I know there aren't that many great football, basketball, soccer, or ice hockey movies.) And if you're with me on that...why is it that boxing lends itself to great movie making? There's something to it, for sure.

ANYway...gotta go. Got some more boxing matches to watch on my dvr. And I might need to see if I can find Somebody Up There Likes Me. Haven't seen it yet, but I've heard good things....

Absentee Ballot

My first absentee ballot ever. As I placed my voter sheet into the envelope, the symbol in the top corner caught my eye, though:

I mean...really? A rooster? The Republicans get an elephant...an animal associated with power and a superb memory, and we get an animal associated with annoying everyone in the morning and fucking every female in the general area? What the hell is up with that?

I want to go on record for suggesting that the Kentucky DemocratIC Party switch over to a roaring bear. It's very Kentucky, it's fierce, and the open mouth is perfect to house a word balloon...maybe something like, "Don't fuck with me!" to parallel the old Gadsden flag (and reclaim it from those suckass Tea Party folks). Or if that's too much, maybe the milder, "Fuck with me at your own risk!"

And while I'm on the subject, I think that Amy McGrath (who didn't get my vote on this ballot, but who certainly will when she wins the primary and goes up against Bitch McConnell), would do a lot better if she'd knock off those stupid ass I'm Talking Like a Tough Guy In a Prison Movie commercials and just go to thirty seconds of footage of her flying a fighter jet and end with the words

 Fuck Bitch McConnell 

emblazoned across the screen.

Just sayin', sir.

Again, Superman: The Man of Tomorrow

I like Superman. And I like weekly comics. And I really like 99¢ weekly comics. So, as previously noted (https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2020/05/superman-man-of-tomorrow-1.html), I started reading DC's Superman: The Man of Tomorrow shortly after it premiered on April 20 2020. And I was impressed by it, and continued to read it...until May 25 2020 (#6), when all smiles stopped together. Every couple of days I checked back...nada. DC's other weekly digital comic books (Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Swamp Thing) were still coming out...but no Superman. Until June 15 2020, when issue #7 arrived. I hesitated before buying it. For one thing, a lot of my comic book buying depends on momentum. Once that momentum has been broken, I often stop and ask myself, "Do I really want to spend my money on this?" And the answer often comes back, "No."

And to be sure, Superman: The Man of Steel had been on a downward trajectory for me, anyway. After a good first issue, things had become more pedestrian...and then the issues started getting shorter. But I took a look at ComiXology's preview for #7, thought that it looked interesting...and gave it a try.

There had been some changes, for sure. There was a new writer, Dave Wielgosz, of whom I'd not previously heard. And a new team of artists, Tom Derenick and Yasmine Putri, both of whom were also new to me. And another new artist. Miguel Mendonca, who was also new to me. Not to mention that there were two stories in this issue, which was a new thing as well.

And? Well. First off, the art was pretty good. In fact, Yasmine Putri, finisher and colorist on the first story, was very good. She had a very nice, light touch...which didn't look at all like Gil Kane, but reminded me of him nonetheless. Check out the cover and see if that makes sense to you:

I think this was my favorite panel from this story, though:

Lovely use of light, perspective, and composition, ennit?

The art on the second story was more like standard comic book fare. Solid figures, heavy line work, saturated colors. Nothing wrong with that, of course. But let's put it this way: I wouldn't buy this book just for that art. I would buy it just for Yasmine Putri's art, though, even if the story was not very good. Maybe even if the story was bad.

Not that it was. The first story was okay. Kind of a standard issue Superman story, though. The second was a couple of cuts above that. In a few short pages (8), it goes from a Superman Slug Fest to a questioning of the nature of Superman, an examination of his psyche, and a redefinition of The Man of Steel. Pretty impressive, eh? Given all of that, I'd normally feel compelled to suggest that next time around the writer of the second story switch assignments and work with the writer of the first story, but this time around that wouldn't work out very well, since this Dave Wielgosz guy wrote both of them.

This is definitely worth picking up. (Hell, it's only 99¢, What were you going to do with that dollar, anyway?) Here's hoping that DC can this book out on a weekly--or at least regular--basis for awhile, and that the teams can maintain or improve on the quality of their first outing.

The Book I Read: Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs

I just finished reading Out of Time's Abyss, which is the last book of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Caspak Trilogy. Unless you're a moderately serious Burroughs fan, you probably haven't heard of this...though the first book in the series, The Land That Time Forgot, has gone to the movies twice (in 1974 and in 2009), and the second book, The People That Time Forgot, took that trip in 1977. It's also made it to the comic book page at least a few times...from Marvel in 1975, from Dark Horse in 1996, from Campfire in 2010, and from American Mythology in 2016. And there's a comic strip you can check out @edgarriceburroughs.com. So it's out there.

This was the 55th Edgar Rice Burroughs book that I read out loud to Joe. (I've read all 84 ERB books myself, some of them twice...all three books of the Caspak Trilogy amongst them.) And while it doesn't rank up there with the best of Mr. Burroughs, it was a fun read. And it made me wonder (once again) why ERB seems to be a forgotten man these days. According to yourdictionary.com, "His novels sold more than 100 million copies in 56 languages, making him one of the most widely read authors of the twentieth century." And IMDb lists 79 movies based on ERB's works...most of them Tarzan-related, but still...that says something about his power as a writer, doesn't it? 

And there was a time when he was either the best-selling writer of his day or second-best (to Zane Grey) from what I've read (having three of his biographies under my belt). But now...other than remaking Tarzan every couple of years, Hollywood and the world at large seem to have forgotten Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Which I think is sad. He's not one of the great authors, for sure. His work doesn't hold up against Charles Dickens or Fyodor Dostoyevsky or anyone of that ilk. But he's always a fun read. And he's often funny. And he had a great vocabulary. You could do a lot worse.

As for this Out of Time's Abyss...check out this publication history: It first appeared in The Blue Book Magazine in December of 1918. 

After that, it was reprinted in book form--either by itself or as part of an omnibus--at least 40 times...and that's only counting the English versions. Keep in mind that this is one of Burroughs' lesser  efforts, and you really get a sense of the power of the man's words.

The story itself is a little hinky at times. The basic premise of it is that there is a remote and virtually inaccessible island which has two unique features: (1) prehistoric creatures still live there and (2) all life on this island evolves from the most primitive to the most complex forms. A human being, for instance, begins as a tadpole-like creature, then gradually goes through all of the phases of evolution until it becomes a modern man. (More or less. Even the most modern men on the island seem a little cave-is.) Well...I could swallow the first one, I suppose. As have lots of other writers, since this idea has been pilfered quite a few times, hasn't it? Ka-Zar's Savage Land and Dinotopia both spring to mind immediately. But that second one...well, that's just stupid. 

Despite that, though, I did enjoy reading the book. It has some exiting action, some humor, and some insights which are worth your time. It also dredges up several of Burroughs' favorite tropes, including (1) the modern man falling in love with the primitive woman (no less than three Modern Men in the course of the whole trilogy, and each of these love affairs ends in marriage), (2) nearly naked people, and (3) wicked foreigners...in this case, Germans. (Burroughs' lack of love for the Germans got him into a little trouble at times, but I suppose it's understandable in that he lived through both World Wars, when the Germans were hard to love.) But even when he is hitting familiar ground, Burroughs manages to come up with some innovations. In this book, for instance, there is a race of winged man-like creatures, and they and their society are described in ways that make it and them both interesting and disgusting. Burroughs was an excellent world-builder, and I can't help but think that if some movie maker would be willing to put in the time to Get It Right, any of his series would make for grand box office fare. Of course, the two Caspak films that were made way back when were not very successful...and the solo one made more recently was an absolute shit storm...but none of them had a budget worth talking about. (In fact, the 2009 film had a $600,000 budget. I'm sure you can imagine how well the special effects turned out on that one. For the sake of comparison, the Star Trek film which came out in the same year had a budget of $150 million.)

All in all, though, you could do a lot worse than Out of Time's Abyss and the whole Caspak Trilogy. It took me about a month to read it out loud to Joe, but that was at a rate of only 5 pages per day, and usually only 4 days per week, so even at a mild pace you could knock this out pretty quickly. 

And you could actually start with Out of Time's Abyss and be okay. One of the most interesting aspects of this series is the way that Burroughs interweaves the stories. Instead of doing straight up sequels, he has the stories overlap and loop-do-loop in very interesting ways. And believe it or not, it's not confusing. 

As for me, I'm on to my next ERB series with Joe. Tonight we start on The Mucker...which will be followed by The Return of the Mucker, and then The Oakdale Affair. Hot diggity.