Paper Moon

HYPERDEFENSIVE LIT NERD: "Henry Miller was a true poet, the James Joyce of obscenity and smut, and those of us who write both owe him a debt of gratitude for bringing the wild and woolly and truly passionate side of sex out into the open."

MULTIPLE COMMENTATORS ON MULTIPLE POSTS: "No, James Joyce is the James Joyce of obscenity and smut."

PREACH IT.

And no, that's not just because of his filthy letters to Nora Barnacle. Have y'all ever read Finnegans Wake?! We're talking about a 600-page book that averages at least twenty sex puns per page.

(Although for the record I think my absolute favorite thing about Joyce's letters to Nora Barnacle is that the smuttiness was never one-sided. Nora's side of the correspondence is probably lost forever, but we know from reading Joyce's letters that at least on one occasion she wrote him detailed instructions as to how he was to masturbate himself while reading her letter. And he followed her instructions faithfully. OMGtheirloveissoscatological.)

Clearly this is an excuse to post some Ewan McGregor as James Joyce:

REPRESENT.

ASDFGHJKL;

ASDFGHJKL;

ASDFGHJKL;

Joyce is even more mindblowing when he's being comprehensible.

(Of course it's a bit of a letdown compared to Finnegans Wake, but then again everything ever written is a bit of a letdown compared to Finnegans Wake, so, natch.)

In other news, I am now neck-deep in Joyce's Book of the Dark (my third guidebook for Finnegans Wake so far) and it is so fantastic that I don't even have words for it. In case anybody is curious, I'm reading Finnegans Wake with the help of Joseph Campbell (A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake), William York Tindall (A Readers Guide to Finnegans Wake), John Bishop (Joyce's Book of the Dark), the most excellent FinnegansWiki. I have not read but am extremely intrigued by this book, as it would appear - based on the synopsis posted on Amazon.com - that it most closely describes the reading that I'm personally bringing to the book. (I am not entirely ashamed to admit that I'm viewing Finnegans Wake partially through the lens of Soul Eater and that I am also viewing Soul Eater partially through the lens of Finnegans Wake, and yes, THIS IS HOW MY BRAIN WORKS.) I am also dying to read this book because although race is clearly a central issue in Finnegans Wake (esp. the way that xenophobia factors in HCE's downfall early in the book) it amazes me that none of the guidebooks that I've read every really bother to discuss it.

Of course, I realize that there are a gazillion and two excellent guidebooks written about Finnegans Wake and that I'm never going to be able to devour them all. I am, however, utterly enchanted by the fact that there is such a thing as a James Joyce-themed cookbook in existence.

But anyway, back to Dubliners.

In a word: KEYSMASH. It is seriously that good. I haven't been so blown away by prose like this since I first tasted Gabriel García Marquez.

BTW there are some lovely readings from Dubliners uploaded on Youtube.

Tonight, I finally finished reading through page 316 of Finnegans Wake.

This calls for 80's hair rock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUSDS9pkA2Y (Booooo Universal Records and your stupid no-embedding rule!)

BTW, epic litfuck fic is halfway finished now, too.

And after an evening spent slooooowly uploading some doujinshi scans, there are now officially 42 files in the /soul directory in my Badongo account. (*snickers*)

Now if you'll excuse me, I have more Finnegan to plow through. Unfortunately I'm already done with my absolute favorite part (Book II.2 for over forty pages straight of Isabel being epic awesome and also hawt Shem/Shaun twincest action), and now I have to plow through the rest of Book II.3 and the torturous pub scene. Gaaaaaaaaaah.

Also, Joyce managed to pun "Cincinnati" on page 285. So I guess that nowhere is safe from Jimmy Joyce anymore.

Thing the first!

ZOMG YAAAAAAAAAAY MOAR BONE MOAR BONE MOAR BONE!!!!!!!

Especially this tidbit:

Reprinted material will include such things as the never-before-reprinted Bone story from Disney Adventures.

I... still have that issue of Disney Adventures. No, seriously.

Thing the second!

Is there anybody on my flist with mad Photoshop skillz who would be willing to edit ugly seams out of a DVD-box scan for me?

I ask because it is officially time for another Scanspam Week, and I want to do a Soul Eater kickoff with this shizbit, but I am le fail at getting the seams edited out of the Maka box scan.

Edited to add: The flist delivers, as usual. Thank you!!

Thing the third!

Found scribbled on a post-it note that I stuck inside my copy of Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake:

Who is the Black*Star of of the literary world?

Vyasa

James Joyce

CAGEMATCH!!!!

I suspect that Vyasa would be the winner here, both in terms of sheer authorial badassery and because in a cage match he could beat up anybody. Then again, this is Jimmy Joyce that we're talking about, the man who decided that the English language just wasn't good enough to properly express his masterpiece, so he spent seventeen years just making up his own goddamn words, including 35-syllable onomatopoeia, just because he could. Oh, and he wrote love letters to Nora Barnacle demanding that she describe, in graphic detail, how she masturbated to thoughts of his greatness. And she did. That's pretty epic badassery right there. And yet! It's still not as badass as demanding that a god write down your epic masterpiece as you dictate it - your epic masterpiece which, by the way, is eight times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined - because you're just too awesome to waste your own time writing down yourself. Oh and then you insert yourself into your own story and basically open with a scene that involves a beautiful princess informing you that the world is on the brink of destruction and that disaster can only be averted by the magical properties of your glorious cock. Yes, really. And that's why Vyasa wins. Well, that and the fact that he could, in fact, beat up anybody. Really.

See, you guys, this is how my brain works when I'm bored.

Edited to add: Okay, four things now.

I want this.

And I will die of awesome if any of the Goon characters quote the "hookers and ice cream" line.

How to Win at the Internet, Serious Business version

How to Win at the Internet, Not-So-Serious Cannibal Irish Zombie version

In other news, HELLLLLL YEEEEAAAAAAH Japan won the Baseball World Classic today!!! So I say because every Japanese person that I know would immediately disown me if I admitted that I was actually cheering for South Korea during that game. Maybe not just stop at 'disowning' me. I'm pretty sure that actual tar and feathering would be involved at some point.

See what living in Japan has done to me?! I care about baseball now. I actually freakin' care about baseball. Now there's no turning back. Insert your own 'turning Japanese' joke here.