Zompist Bboard Again

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, by Philip K. Dick. That one is about alternate realities and a generalized police state -- so very paranoid, but of course I expected that

I generally love Philip K. Dick, though he's written a couple books I'd love to like, but just don't work for me (Man in the High Castle, VALIS). My favorites are Ubik and The Three Stigamata of Palmer Eldritch.
He had a talent for thoroughly dystopian stories, but with a flurry of cleverness and creativity, and in fact a lot of humor. (The bored martian colonists playing with Barbie dolls in Palmer Eldritch, for instance, simultaneously tragic, comic and with just a hint of cosmic horror.)

Flow My Tears doesn't disappoint:

He trod across the wall-to-wall capret, which depicted in gold Richard M. Nixon's final ascent into heaven

There's something I think typically 1970s American in there; there's something fascinating in Nixon's depiction in American pop culture, both clownish and sinister.

Ares Land wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2026 1:43 am Flow My Tears doesn't disappoint:

He trod across the wall-to-wall capret, which depicted in gold Richard M. Nixon's final ascent into heaven

There's something I think typically 1970s American in there; there's something fascinating in Nixon's depiction in American pop culture, both clownish and sinister.

What's a "capret"? A long-lost relic of 1970's American popular culture unknown to anyone outside certain parts of the USA?

Anyway, I'm nearly finished with Milennium, by Robbie Williams Tom Holland.

alice wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2026 2:29 pm

Ares Land wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2026 1:43 am Flow My Tears doesn't disappoint:

He trod across the wall-to-wall capret, which depicted in gold Richard M. Nixon's final ascent into heaven

There's something I think typically 1970s American in there; there's something fascinating in Nixon's depiction in American pop culture, both clownish and sinister.

What's a "capret"? A long-lost relic of 1970's American popular culture unknown to anyone outside certain parts of the USA?

I think it is some upholstered surface or large cloth that is typically on the floor. I could be wrong though.

alice wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2026 2:29 pm

Ares Land wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2026 1:43 am Flow My Tears doesn't disappoint:

He trod across the wall-to-wall capret, which depicted in gold Richard M. Nixon's final ascent into heaven

There's something I think typically 1970s American in there; there's something fascinating in Nixon's depiction in American pop culture, both clownish and sinister.

What's a "capret"? A long-lost relic of 1970's American popular culture unknown to anyone outside certain parts of the USA?

Anyway, I'm nearly finished with Milennium, by Robbie Williams Tom Holland.

Something like that. An artifact of copying quotes by hand.
(Typing this on a cell phone. Unexpected lexemes may appear)

Elsewhere on the web, someone introduced me to Saltatio Mortis, Besorgter Bürger. So, so good. So, so true. And the musical style is exactly my kind of thing, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0xzJ_7Iro4

Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Jul 08, 2026 5:16 pm Elsewhere on the web, someone introduced me to Saltatio Mortis, Besorgter Bürger. So, so good. So, so true. And the musical style is exactly my kind of thing, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0xzJ_7Iro4

Yeah! I like this music style, too, and the lyrics are spot on. Thank you for sharing!

Salju Abadi - Kuliga yi nimbirak o

Even though Salju Abadi were Mee (or at least the frontman, Auleman Pekei, was.), this song is in Lani. Most of their other songs that I was able to find were in Indonesian, though they did have one song in Ekari called "Anii uwii ne meka makiyo" which I'm pretty sure I've already posted here before.

EDIT: And here's a case of the inverse, a Lani band singing in Ekari: Lunggik Roots - Weya Uwo (sorry for the bad quality but it is a West Papuan cassette. Those who know, know...)

I know that everyone and their grandma seems to be talking about it now, but, well, Mr. Jambo really does live up to the hype, at least IMO. Having some trouble watching it all the way through, though, because of the Fremdscham, or, more accurately, fremd embarrassment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJBm1n8JUZ8

I finally started reading an anthology of amateur manga I bought ten years ago. Since it's all in Japanese, it's going very slowly. And the book is very thick.

Qwynegold wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2026 8:32 am I finally started reading an anthology of amateur manga I bought ten years ago. Since it's all in Japanese, it's going very slowly. And the book is very thick.

Now I'm not entirely sure whether you're frustrated that it'll be such a chore to work through or happy that you'll get to spend so much time enjoying it.

I just finished Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities by Emily Tamkin. Or at least almost all of it. I couldn't bring myself to read all of the chapter on explicitly xenophobic MAGA Jews yet.

The book is about cultural, economic, everyday, religious, and political aspects of Jewish life in the USA from the 1920s* to the early 2020s. It's one of the best books on Jewish matters I've read so far. The author looks at all kinds of things related to the subject from all kinds of different angles, and avoids focusing too much on one specific aspect or theme, always keeping in mind that there were different things going on at any given moment. My one quibble is that the various chapters have fewer examples of Jews actually accusing each other of being "bad Jews" than you might guess from reading the introduction, or the title.

*She starts in the 1920s because that's when the decades of mass migration of European Jews to the USA ended, and she thinks that makes that time a good cutoff date.

I'm currently nearing the end of All Out War, published in 2017, which is about the competing campaigns for Britain leaving and staying in the EU. "The left", as represented by JEZZA!!! and his personality cult, don't come out of it very well; they seemed more preoccupied with being opposed to "capitalism" in all its forms than doing anything practically useful.

alice wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 2:53 pm I'm currently nearing the end of All Out War, published in 2017, which is about the competing campaigns for Britain leaving and staying in the EU. "The left", as represented by JEZZA!!! and his personality cult, don't come out of it very well; they seemed more preoccupied with being opposed to "capitalism" in all its forms than doing anything practically useful.

This only makes sense if you don't think opposing capitalism is practically useful. In a world where Elon Musk buys Twitter and ordinary people still support him ("I can think of a trillion reasons why I trust Musk more than you!"), such a position could only be said with a straight face by two kinds of people who have thoroughly researched the facts: 1. Someone undergoing a psychotic break. 2. Someone with business interests who wants capitalism to succeed.

alice wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 2:53 pm I'm currently nearing the end of All Out War, published in 2017, which is about the competing campaigns for Britain leaving and staying in the EU. "The left", as represented by JEZZA!!! and his personality cult, don't come out of it very well; they seemed more preoccupied with being opposed to "capitalism" in all its forms than doing anything practically useful.

Do I get this right that a major factor there was that

1) Corbyn himself was a Leaver

2) most of his supporters were Remainers

3) therefore, he didn't have the guts to say directly and openly that he was a Leaver, and

4) most of his Remainer supporters could never imagine that he might be a Leaver, because, after all, everyone knew that only bad people were Leavers, and everyone knew that he was a great guy, so, obviously, logically, he couldn't possibly be a Leaver?

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 3:25 am

alice wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 2:53 pm I'm currently nearing the end of All Out War, published in 2017, which is about the competing campaigns for Britain leaving and staying in the EU. "The left", as represented by JEZZA!!! and his personality cult, don't come out of it very well; they seemed more preoccupied with being opposed to "capitalism" in all its forms than doing anything practically useful.

Do I get this right that a major factor there was that

1) Corbyn himself was a Leaver

2) most of his supporters were Remainers

3) therefore, he didn't have the guts to say directly and openly that he was a Leaver, and

4) most of his Remainer supporters could never imagine that he might be a Leaver, because, after all, everyone knew that only bad people were Leavers, and everyone knew that he was a great guy, so, obviously, logically, he couldn't possibly be a Leaver?

I don't think so; his position on the EU was pretty well known. The point is more that for him and most of his supporters the most important thing was to be ideologically correct; for example he refused to share any platforms with Conservative MPs with whom he might have been able to make common cause.

alice wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 2:20 pm
I don't think so; his position on the EU was pretty well known. The point is more that for him and most of his supporters the most important thing was to be ideologically correct; for example he refused to share any platforms with Conservative MPs with whom he might have been able to make common cause.

Ah, thank you.

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 2:22 pm

alice wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 2:20 pm
I don't think so; his position on the EU was pretty well known. The point is more that for him and most of his supporters the most important thing was to be ideologically correct; for example he refused to share any platforms with Conservative MPs with whom he might have been able to make common cause.

Ah, thank you.

Bear in mind that for many on the left, any association with anybody any distance to the right (e.g., for Corbynites, anybody in the mainstream Labour Party) results in the instant and permanent destruction of their leftist credentials. Much like how no Libertarian could publicly admit to doing anything remotely connected wth the government, however necessary.

alice wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 2:39 pm
Bear in mind that for many on the left, any association with anybody any distance to the right (e.g., for Corbynites, anybody in the mainstream Labour Party) results in the instant and permanent destruction of their leftist credentials. Much like how no Libertarian could publicly admit to doing anything remotely connected wth the government, however necessary.

Stuff like this makes me slowly come around to a position of wanting Centre-Left People And Farther Left Measures.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 3:01 pm

alice wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 2:53 pm I'm currently nearing the end of All Out War, published in 2017, which is about the competing campaigns for Britain leaving and staying in the EU. "The left", as represented by JEZZA!!! and his personality cult, don't come out of it very well; they seemed more preoccupied with being opposed to "capitalism" in all its forms than doing anything practically useful.

This only makes sense if you don't think opposing capitalism is practically useful. In a world where Elon Musk buys Twitter and ordinary people still support him ("I can think of a trillion reasons why I trust Musk more than you!"), such a position could only be said with a straight face by two kinds of people who have thoroughly researched the facts: 1. Someone undergoing a psychotic break. 2. Someone with business interests who wants capitalism to succeed.

The specific issue was about the EU. 'Opposing capitalism' doesn't help here: the EU is a pro-capitalism body, but also better than any of the alternatives.
Also, when abolishing capitalism is clearly not an option, well, there may be still something to do.

So in certain contexts (such as Brexit), no, opposing capitalism wasn't practically useful.

Ares Land wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2026 6:47 am

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 3:01 pm

alice wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 2:53 pm I'm currently nearing the end of All Out War, published in 2017, which is about the competing campaigns for Britain leaving and staying in the EU. "The left", as represented by JEZZA!!! and his personality cult, don't come out of it very well; they seemed more preoccupied with being opposed to "capitalism" in all its forms than doing anything practically useful.

This only makes sense if you don't think opposing capitalism is practically useful. In a world where Elon Musk buys Twitter and ordinary people still support him ("I can think of a trillion reasons why I trust Musk more than you!"), such a position could only be said with a straight face by two kinds of people who have thoroughly researched the facts: 1. Someone undergoing a psychotic break. 2. Someone with business interests who wants capitalism to succeed.

The specific issue was about the EU. 'Opposing capitalism' doesn't help here: the EU is a pro-capitalism body, but also better than any of the alternatives.
Also, when abolishing capitalism is clearly not an option, well, there may be still something to do.

So in certain contexts (such as Brexit), no, opposing capitalism wasn't practically useful.

I wonder if you'd say the same if the situation was reversed. What if a Communist Party was about to take power that told various marginalized groups their revolutions would have to wait?