Plenty of things have been said about William Seward Burroughs over the course of his life and after. He was a shamble man with a box full of mysteries, a man that can’t be admired nor respected but simply studied for the amount of chaos he produced with virtually everything he touched.
He’s a funny cat ain’t he? Probably the craziest author to have ever lived, and I am well aware of the magnitude of such statement. His stories were filled with the most brutish of images, straight out of the gates of Hell. Heroin addicts in greasy slimy orgies…
FILM
Treating filmmaking as a Rorschach test
Ever since his abrupt death on March 7th, 1999, Stanley Kubrick has managed to remain a fresh artist that every new generation has come to admire in sublime and cultish ways. It was ironic that the man who produced a vision of the future so breathtaking four decades prior was unable to see the vast technological progress that took place a few years after his death, the progress that led to more people discussing his work in the confines of the internet. …
Throughout the course of my three year academic journey, the life and works of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche have been a continuous subject of study and interpretation. His influence goes beyond just philosophy, reaching the limits of mainstream popular culture much in the same lines of fascination and admiration of historical figures such as Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Goth, and John Cleese. Films and television programs like The Sopranos, Seinfeld, Parasite, and The Lighthouse among others owe much of their themes and explorations to the works of the 19th Century German philologist-turned-philosopher.
If we expand further, we may…
Oh my goodness. I have made a terrible mistake. While discussing the Patriots’ chances of becoming contenders this upcoming NFL season, I completely and totally forgot to talk about Jakobi Meyers, the third-year undrafted wide receiver who has earned the respect of just about every hardcore Pats fan. His absence from my analysis leaves me in a state of great shame, especially after the performance he had last year.
My first glimpses of Meyers came in the 2019 season. He was featured very briefly in the Patriots’ season opener against the Steelers, where he caught one pass for twenty-two yards…
Football season is just right around the corner, and I can finally feel the excitement building itself up to a state of catatonic bliss culminating with the season opener in September. Many of you who have read my essays on film and philosophy would have you believe those are probably my biggest passions in life, but the truth is I am far and away a bigger football fan than I ever will be a filmbuff or philosophy geek. Football is where my heart belongs, and even Albert Camus would agree, although for a different kind of football.
With the season…
There have been plenty of films I have seen well over ten to twenty times in my life, but I am fairly certain the number for Terminator 2: Judgement Day is way above thirty. Released in 1991, it was, like many cultural touchstones, the result of the perfect storm of components – and my personal favorite selection as the greatest action movie of all times. Directed by legendary money-making machine James Cameron, and starring one of the greatest movie stars in Hollywood history in Arnold Schwarzenegger, it was going to be damn near impossible for this film to fail expectations.
…
The story of a small and meaningless accident and its effect on the psyche.
It was a calm and wondrous night in the realm of dreams and ideas. All ran wild in a mood of festivities through the dwindling hours before sleep. The subject was rock and roll, and the mind of Lester Bangs was the guide. I recently purchased a copy of his book, Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, in the hopes of learning more about music reviews and their way of formatting. It didn’t take long for me to get started, and before I knew what was happening my mind was deep in the spirit of the book. It was fresh, engaging…
The absurdity of war is viciously dissected in the Marx brothers’ satirical masterpiece.
My first venture into the Marx brothers’ filmography has been well documented. They made a very quick and powerful impression that very few artists have been able to do to my sensibilities. It was with this spirit that I embarked upon a quick binge of the other films they made, each one making an even better impression than the last.
Right after Animal Crackers, the Marx brothers made Monkey Business. This film features them all in of a position of impunity, playing stowaways on a cruise liner, but once again bringing havoc everywhere they go like leeches on a wound…
And how they make you a better writer when you search.
The best way to learn how to write is reading a wide variety of great writers. Many would have you believe the theory of composition is what you need to know first before delving into the writing, but this is just mere academic heresy. The truth is there is no right way to do things in the world of the written (and frankly you can make a great case for practically any field in the world). You have great and successful writers who have spent their entire lives honing their skill through the academy, and you have great writers who…
Lately I’ve been hitting a quasi-existential crisis. Nagging migraines have been keeping up most of the night, and my thoughts constantly revolved around the frustration it is giving me. This has been a struggle for over three years, coming and going as the time goes by. The problem is simple: I am not doing what I need to do, and I despair; everything I set out to accomplish hasn’t even come close to being done, let along even planned out. …
Ezra T. James
Absurd journalist and essayist from the outskirts of Shambhala.
