Biblioklept

> “Casablanca is best described as cinematic magic that occurred accidentally on purpose,” writes [Alan K Rode, biographer of the director Michael Curtiz] This is also the message of Umberto Eco's essay called "Casablanca, or, The Clichés are Having a Ball" — https://biblioklept.org/2013/05/26/casablanca-or-the-cliches-are-havin… > Casablanca brings with it, like a trail of perfume, other situations that the viewer brings to bear on it quite readily […] it probably made itself, if not actually against the will of its authors and actors, then at least beyond their control. And this is the reason it works…

I try to specialize in American authors--but If you want a random selection of my favorites to recommend in order to understand this modern era of America, I present these three: J.R. - William Gaddis (1975) (A very nice blog post on it here: https://biblioklept.org/2012/02/09/i-riff-again-on-william-gaddiss-eno… J R, ambitious sixth-grader in torn sneakers, bred on the challenge of "free enterprise" and fired up by heady mail-order promises of "success." His teachers would rather be elsewhere, his principal doubles as a bank president, his Long Island classroom mirrors the world he sees around him -- a world of public relations and private betrayals where everything (and everyone) wears a price tag, a world of "deals" where honesty is no substitute for experience, and the letter of the law flouts its spirit at every turn. Operating from the remote anonymity of phone booths and the local post office, with beachheads in a seedy New York cafeteria and a catastrophic, carton-crammed tenement on East 96th Street, J R parlays a deal for thousands of surplus Navy picnic forks through penny stock flyers and a distant textile-mill bankruptcy into a nationwide, hydra-headed "family of companies." Bleeding Edge - Thomas Pynchon (2013) It deals with government paranoia, conspiracy theories for 9/11, It uses Computer and ‘deepweb’ Internet as the framing device for the novel—which is why I bring it up in this context. It somehow fits…

The quote in Spanish about a Norse god is from a story by Jorge Luis Borges, here's an English translation: https://biblioklept.org/2019/04/02/the-disk-a-very-short-story-by-jorg…

You could create a d1 with this shape! Much better are more stable than Jorge Luis Borges': https://biblioklept.org/2019/04/02/the-disk-a-very-short-story-by-jorg…

A side splittingly humourous take on the matter from a writer closer to the era: https://biblioklept.org/2013/02/10/moral-effects-of-tea-tasting-from-f…

related: https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/ If anything, it would be the opposite as suggested by Huxley.

You might appreciate Stuart McMillen's The Amusing Ourselves to Death comic: Neil Postman’s ‘Orwell versus Huxley’ https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/ Note from the creator, who had to remove it from his website at the request of Postman's estate: http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/blog/amusing-ourselves-to-death/

Although I understand its been critiqued, I always liked the visual depiction of "amusing ourselves to death" from Postman [1], by McMillen [2] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death [2]: https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/

I wish more people read Brave New World. It's a more fitting comparison [0], even if it's a little more "distant" feeling than 1984. The tyranny in it is born from convenience and complacence, not violent compulsion. Comparing it to our current environment requires no awkward contortions around violence and control. And it's available for free online! https://www.huxley.net/bnw/ [0]: https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/

Here’s that same sentiment in webcomic form. https://biblioklept.org/2010/12/14/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic/

An idea nicely distilled in this 2009 comic: https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/

Ungoogled link: https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/

Not "1984", of course, but "Brave New World". https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/

Today you are one of the lucky 10000: https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/