Irvine Welsh

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

I think Irvine Welsh is a serious writer

I think Irvine Welsh is a serious writer. He can also be funny.
What I mean is I think you could do him at A-level. Imagine that.
All the class comedians would be stumped.
I just think he's good thematically and linguistically.

He has a few ideas.

------------------

And to all the yanks slagging him I have two words to say in reply.

Henry James.

Welsh is better than loads of other stuff around.
He might stand the test ae time likesay.
Anyway I'm not sure about what makes a "classic" or
whether there are "cannons" of literature.

I suppose there do have to be "cannons" if only to make study easier.
There have to be "cannons" because I think there are such things as standards.
There are such things as classics.
But I suppose that they are opinions......Not sure about all this.

St. T.S. Eliot wrote an essay about what makes a classic. Must dig that out.

Anyway.......I think I will just go and have a drink.

Plonker Oscar Wilde said ----

"There is no such thing as a moral book or an immoral book. Books are either well written or badly written. That is all."

I disagree. I genuinely think the exact opposite.

I think that ultimately, and in a way that needs a little explanation, there is no such thing as a well-written or badly-written book.

Books are either moral or immoral. That is all.

I agree with George Orwell when he says:

"The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude."

Hang on isn't Irvine Welsh decadent and cynical? Yes maybe to a point.

And I certainly don't like that about his writing. But maybe he's expressing a view...

BY THE WAY: DRUGS ARE INDEED SHITE. :D

Sunday August 27 2006 - One Big Pop Concert

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Sunday 28th August

It won't be climate change that gets us.

I think it will be because in a few weeks time the world will just be one big pop concert.

Everyone will be in a band and giving a live concert all the time so no one will man the buses and trams and human civilisation will collapse as everyone launches into their drum solo or guitar solo. The audience will dwindle until they too are all in a band.

And no one will notice.
The whole idea of a band or pop group or whatever is a product.
The Beatles pretty much patented it and the Monkeys tried to imitate it.
A hundred years ago many people played music just FOR SOMETHING TO DO and enjoy not as a "job" or quasi-religious mission to fame, fortune and influence. You played the fiddle, guitar or piano because there was no telly. And because there was no telly you got pretty good at it. Even here in Essex there are pictures from the 1890s of men sitting in the road with fiddles.

If you'd asked one of them if he was in "a band" when he had finished his melodies, he wouldn't necessarily have known what you meant.
Right that's the rant out of the way. Actually it has potential I think. It's exaggerated but I think it has something.But I should avoid ranting. I will talk about my life maybe.

None of which is meant to slag anyone.

Went to a gig the other night really enjoyed it. And appreciated all the work that had gone into it. The bands were all great.

My ears are recovering quite well.
If anything else was making that amount of noise you would run away or regard it as a hostile act.
It would be nice to hear the lyrics. I'm sure they're excellent.
------
I rarely if ever see a view in any of the media that I entirely agree with or that expresses my views.
I am sure I am not alone in this.

I do however see things I agree with in the blogosphere. If I were allowed to write a column in the Guardian or make a television programme, I would spend most of the time explaining how insane I think our society is, and the degree to which I feel the need to express rejection of our society. I don't know if you can do that and get away with it in the mainstream media.