I have been reading some intensive political documents which I have been finding confusing and annoying. I hate it when people's own sentences contradict each other, but there you go.
As a relief to that, I have also been reading a bunch of Babylon 5 novels. Now, I came late to the show (like, ten years), and enjoyed it immensly. The novels are another thing. I like some, I loathe some, I ambival some (yes, it's a word. Well, no, actually, it isn't. But it will be).
What I do like about the Babylon 5 world, if you will, is that there is not black and white going on, and sometimes there are no win situations in which no one wins. Unlike Star Trek, or a number of other sci-fi universes, failure is an option in Bab5. Technology and magic do not solve everything. You make a bad decision, and the consequences are there for you and everyone to try to clean up.
Anyhoo- I'm still alive.
Another book I read was The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, by Lemony Snicket. Darned good, really. It's the tale of a misunderstood and scalded potato pancake who is so frustrated he cannot stop screaming. Even as the various christmas creatures he meets try to tell him what he "really" is, he clarifies patiently but with obvious annoyance what he actually is, why, and the symbolism he represents. It's heartwarming, charming, and also has a somewhat happy ending (not fot the latke, though).
If you MUST read a holiday book, make it this one.
Books and thoughts on and around them. And some other things. By a Marxist-Leninist-Troskyist Mom.
T is for Trotsky
This started as, and remains primarily, a place to review books and other media from a Trotskyist-Leninist-Marxist perspective. It has become as well a place to review experiences, personal and of the world at large, from that same perspective.
Art and culture are inextricably bound together.
There is a lot of question about what a socialist is. There are a lot of people and groups describing themselves as socialist. I will tell you this:
Here you will find an Internationalist view, as opposed (and in opposition) to a nationalist view. The Working Class is the only International Class. I am a member of the Working Class. You probably are, too.
L is for Lenin
- Clare is Reading!
- In the middle of many books, many magazines, and many situations.
4 comments:
I never mentioned how much I enjoyed your review of the Brooks novel, which I read on the World Socialist Web Site. I hope you continue writing on what you read and see, perhaps even on the Babylon 5 novels (and the TV series). It surprised me that the show grew more intelligent over the years. I watched it, but I'm afraid I didn't process it as a social-artistic phenomenon.
I don't think I would have if I'd have seen it then. I am about to re-watch it with more intention, though. While it is not necessarily a socialist view, it is interesting to see what is being said. My favourite part is when Sheridan tells the old ones to Get Out Of Our Universe.
Thanks for the feedback. We should maybe plan a viewing sometime!
i ate a knish for breakfast and now some really bad things are happening. first you people had to kill christ, and now me!!!
PS i swear i'm going to stop leaving obnoxious comments on your blog
I doubt you will, and it would be a sad day if you did.
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