Lost In Translation

The Unlimited Dreams of J.G. Ballard

Here's another interesting tribute by Simon Reynolds in Salon to recently deceased J.G. Ballard:

Earlier this week a literary colossus made his exit, after a long struggle with cancer. The ovation that accompanied J.G. Ballard's departure was fully deserved. He was a visionary, one of the few fiction writers of our era with an imagination so singular that he was granted the suffix treatment: the attachment of an - esque or -ian to their surname, à la Kafka-esque or Dickensian.

But in death as in life, Ballard never quite got his full due as a thinker as well as a storyteller; he was a penetrating and endlessly provocative theorist about the intersections between culture and technology, media and desire. This tendency to think of him only as a fabulist is understandable to an extent, given that he never wrote a full-length book of nonfiction that condensed and focused his ideas. Instead his insights, speculations and polemical barbs are scattered across a panoply of reviews, columns, memoiristic essays, think pieces and single-topic commentaries written for or spoken to newspapers looking for theBallardian take on some current event, issue or innovation. (Thankfully, a decent-size heap of J.G.'s wit and wisdom has been shoveled into a single spot by the esoteric San Francisco publisher RE/Search: The 2004 "JG Ballard: Quotes" is a pocket-portable collection of mind-bomb aphorisms and pithy observations. "A User's Guide to the Millennium," a scrappy but absorbing anthology of essays and reviews, is currently out of print.)

Of course Ballard's ideas are also present in his novels and short stories, and arguably at their most potent there. He was drawn to science fiction as the preeminent literature of ideas of our time, the only form of fiction that could take the measure of the 20th century. At his most full-on, Ballard transformed SF into a kind of theory-fiction, his short stories and novels functioning in a manner similar to Marshall McLuhan's "probes," the latter's term for speculative aphorisms as opposed to fully developed theories backed up by research and empirical data. McLuhan is an apt comparison because his primary concern -- mass communications and man's increasingly symbiotic relationship with technology and media -- overlapped with one of Ballard's key zones of obsessive investigation: the post-WW2 culture of media overload, what he called "our perverse entertainment landscape." In a 1983 interview he characterized it as "a completely new thing, a parallel world which we inhabit," presciently anticipating the virtual and post-geographical realm of Web culture.

Revisiting Revenge

I recently re-watched a couple of great revenge films from the 90s. The first was The Limey (1999) directed by Steven Soderbergh and the second was Unforgiven (1992) by Clint Eastwood. I was inspired to get the DVD of The Limey because it was said to have an interesting DVD commentary and it was; Soderbergh defends his choices for the film with the screenwriter Lem Dobbs second-guessing him. I was struck by the experimental fragmentation of the story and dialogue that took place and made it sort of arty-instead of a standard revenge thriller-I didn’t remember that about the film. Terrance Stamp is great as “the limey” on a mission. Also, it has a great soundtrack and lots of Luis Guzman-always a good thing.  I wanted to see Unforgiven again because a Japanese colleague of mine said he was writing a paper about it. I couldn’t remember the story well, but the strongest impressions I had was that it was a revisionist western and that Gene Hackman was really good as the cruel sheriff. The revenge sequence happens very late in the film near the end, but there was plenty of entertainment in Eastwood’s conversations with Morgan Freeman and the kid. I was reading about it and saw that Hackman beat out Pacino in Glengarry Glenn Ross for Best Supporting Actor Oscar, but Pacino got one for his “Hoo-ha-ing” in Scent of A Woman the next year.

Spice Market

I found a new funky little Thai restaurant, Spice Market, in Hatagaya, one station before mine. It is reasonably priced and has a cool atmosphere with reggae playing in the background and incense burning. The prices are reasonable as well between ¥350-¥900 for most menu items.

Play It As It Lays

I have been an admirer of Joan Didion’s nonfiction, but I’ve been interested in reading some of her fiction lately, which is why I picked up Play It As It Lays.  I like this one much better than The Last Thing He Wanted. It is sort of a fictional version of Slouching Toward Gomorrah since it about the hedonistic people in the film business in California in the 60s. There are drugs, betrayals, sex, abortions, and plain bad behavior. It is a terse, laconic book that sears into your mind. Basically it is the story of a young woman caught up in this morally repugnant world and slowly losing it. The story stayed with me long after finishing it-you could say that it was haunting.

Bill Moyers Interviews David Simon

Here's a great interview by Bill Moyers with David Simon, I miss The Wire.

Smile When You're Lying

Chuck Thompson’s Smile While You’re Lying is a very entertaining book. It is a little hard to categorize since it functions as a travel book, memoir, and take down of the travel writing industry. That being said, Thompson has a sharp wit and a gift for inventive similes and entertaining anecdotes. His books are also of special interest to me since he was a JET (Japanese Exchange Teaching) Program in 1987  (I was also a participant on JET 10 years alter in 1997). He lived in the Japanese Alps in Gifu, and later taught at Mt. Hood University in Okayama. So he has some interesting and accurate things to say about Japan. Here’s an example: “Teaching English to the Japanese is like making panda babies-an extremely delicate procedure requiring repeated attempts and resulting in constant disappointment.”

He also discusses what he thinks is wrong with travel writing, rehashes his experience of a failed travel magazine, and shares some of his observations about travel and the travel industry. He likes the Philippines, Queens NY, and Caracas dislikes Florida (except for some of the Keys islands), The Caribbean, and Baltimore’s harbor. In addition, he enjoys traveling in South and Central America, but he knows it will never catch on with mainstream travelers in America because of perceived dangers: “ Latin America shares little of the stifling obsession with ticky-tack regulations that’s turned America into the most pussyfooted nation on earth, after Japan.” Here’s another of his pointed observations: “New Zealand: Nice people, nice mountains, but unless you live in Australia, save yourself time and trouble and visit British Columbia instead.” It was an entertaining and quick read-highly recommended for anyone who likes to travel.

J.G. Ballard R.I.P.

I'm not so into SF as an adult, but I always found Ballard's futuristic tales intriguing, he will be missed:

J. G. Ballard, a writer of dystopian, literary fiction whose novels and short stories of a contemporary society in insidious thrall to technology, the media and relentless progress both expanded and defied the genre of science fiction, died on Sunday in London. He was 78, and lived in Shepperton, west of London.

Dances With Sheep

In Matthew Stretcher’s introduction to his book on the work of Haruki Murakami, Dances With Sheep, he states that he is trying to write a book that will appeal to academics and general enthusiasts alike. Stretcher is a former colleague of mine from Toyo University, and I think he book has merits, but I can't imagine that it would be of much interest to the general reader given its price and his emphasis on postmodern theorists like Althusser, Jameson, Lacan, and the like. In particular the third chapter, “Desire, The Symbolic Order, and Mass Society,” was difficult to get through. However, I think he has some interesting insights into the Murakami’s meditations on identity and his opposition to capitalist consumer life that has enveloped post war Japan and the failure of the left to make a stronghold after 1969.

Twilight of the Superheroes

I really enjoyed Deborah Eisenberg’s collection of short stories Under the 82^nd Airborne (1992), and want to read all of her stories. Twilight of the Superheroes (200&) is her latest collection, and while there are some very good stories-they generally lack the exotic flavor of the previous book, which was set in South America during the 80s. This collection is considered post 9/11, but I think only one story deals with it directly, but it haunts several of the other stories. I guess these stories were probably written 25 years apart, so I imagine Eisenberg’s life has changed quite a bit since then as well, and these stories, which are generally set in New York among elites reflect that, but is harder for me to relate to, that being said she brings these world to life vividly in an engaging manner. My favorite stories were “Window” and “The Flaw In The Design.” I still need to get her Collected Stories So Far.

Let The Right One In

Let The Right One In is a Swedish vampire romance directed by Tomas Alfredson, based on a novel written by John Ajvide Lindqvist. It may sound cheesy, but it is a compelling film. The tone is stark and quiet, punctuated with bursts of violence. A grade school boy, Eli, befriends a mysterious neighbor, Oskar, an androgynous vampire who looks to near his age, living with an older man. A number of murders begin to occur and Oskar helps Eli deal with bullies at his school. It is a strange and mesmerizing film (Unfortunately there is a Hollywood version in the works as well).