K-Punk

okzharp

Well-known member
Josef K is the protagonist in Kafka's The Trial..

on a different tip... what's the 'K' about with these lads?

Kode9
K-Punk

Did Kodwo have a word?

'Kicking Cuh' is how I remember it from primary school. More forceful. Visually like the X.
 

catalog

Well-known member
I don't know the answer in most of the above cases, but strangely, I do remember a specific article from MF in which he explained that his pseudonym was a different version of the expression cyber-punk but he changed the c into a k because... actually I can't remember why, but he did make that change. So I guess that in actual fact I don't know, apologies for jumping the gun.

What's MF?
 
The term k-punk came out of Ccru. ?k? was used as a libidinally preferable substitution for the California/ Wired captured ?cyber? (the word cybernetics having its origins in the Greek, Kuber). Ccru understood cyberpunk not as a (once trendy) literary genre, but as a distributive cultural tendency facilitated by new technologies. In the same way, ?punk? doesn?t designate a particular musical genre, but a confluence outside legitimate(d) space: fanzines were more significant than the music in that they allowed and produced a whole other mode of contagious activity which destroyed the need for centralized control.

https://k-punk.org/why-k/
 

catalog

Well-known member
the khyber pass is historically very important and i assume theres a greek etymological root to it cos of Alex the G
 

catalog

Well-known member
Ive finished xenogothics book now. Pretty good, though not completely my cuppa unfortunately. Its well written and has some engaging bits, and id like to encourage him to post more on here really, although can see why hes not, cos hes got nuff other projects on the go. His blog is interesting.

So its good for summarising a lot of disparate threads, various blog posts and so on. Very readable as well, i finished it in a couple of days, its very engrossing. The section riffing on westworld and talking about the american west generally, about how its become a codified thing in the imagination, when it was so many different things, thats good.

And very good also on pulling together a load of different strands of philosophy, many of which seem very interesting, especially herbert marcuse, he sounds like someone to follow up. I might also check bataille out, i previously safely cancelled him after chris kraus, but he sounds pretty intriguing in these pages.

He refers to blanchot a lot, who ive never heard of, and i dont think the reference is completely successful, but what was interesting is that he picks up on how he converted, from being right wing early on, to more left wing later, this idea of conversion is something ive been thinking about a bit recently, so it resonated.

So the less good bits... overall i would say it doesnt hang together all that well, cos its got so many different things going on. Hes tried to connect them all together but it feels a little forced, particularly cos at the end of each longish chapter, he tries to link to the next, but this technique didnt really come off for me. Mightve been better to just have shorter chapters. Dunno.

Theres also a few bits i found frustrating, where he talks about various disagreements and factions developing in the wake of the the death, but then he doesnt really go into them in much detail. I understand why, cos it would come across as too gossipy, which would devalue the whole thing i think, so maybe better just not mentioned. And this same issue rears up at the end, where he talks about the uni, thought that was all a bit wishy washy and im someone who needs a good ending.

But i think that may just be an issue of me not being such a good audience in a way, im not that well versed in mark fisher tbh, have read capitalist relism (which i think is good) and a few odd blogs, but not much else. Ive put him down more than picked him up, in a sense, i thoughts the ghosts book was pretty poor. And i find some of his cultural judgements (eg on red riding) baffling. But this has encouraged me to maybe pick up weird and eerie at some point.

I found most of what he said about k punk to be completely uncontroversial, but its presented like it is, cos i guess hes addressing/heading off a more left wing audience. Like, i pretty much agree with what mark wrote in vampires castle, i think others (eg jarett kobek) have said it in a better way tho. And acid communism, im a bit humph about that, just sounds boring and not so different to various other ‘new’ isms. The language seems wrong to me. But i appreciate it was an unfinished project.

Also the references to popular culture that xenogothic makes (the walkin dead, the oc, picnic at hanging rock), they are fairly interesting, but ive never actually watched or read any of them... so that stuff missed the mark a bit. Maybe will watch westworld or read picnic at some point.. Ditto in a sense for the music refs, heard of these people but only know aphex twin, and what he says on him is not revelatory to me much, but then i dont like aphex hugely.

So overall, not quite as good or affecting as some other stuff ive read recently, tho i tend to read fiction books more than anything else, so its not a particularly valid comparison (however i did read ‘spinal catastrophism’ a few weeks ago and thought it was excellent).

Still interesting stuff tho, would recc others on here buy it and read it, would be keen to know what people think. And would be good to have xenogothic start a few threads, i look forward to his next book as well.
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
Without trawling through his whole post history, is there a standout thread that I can read to understand what happened to Mark on here? Why he left etc. It's still a major mystery to me after 10+ years of reading. luka hints at it fairly often. Across the board he attracts almost as much scorn as he does admiration.. But no clues to go with it.
 

luka

Well-known member
catholics are pedos. dope smoking dads. niceness is evil.

but to be honest without the context i dont know how much sense it will make.
 

luka

Well-known member
these were personal antagonisms and beefs of the kind that are still rife on the board now and i dont know how easy it would be for someone from outside it to work out what was going on
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
Right, I've seen that thread before but I still can't quite grasp it. Sometimes I wish I was possible to time travel on a forum. Like 'take me back to october 2018' and you can read all the threads that were happening at that time, so you can get a proper feel for what was going on. Don't think any other forum I've been on has as much overlap and bleed between threads as the D.
 

luka

Well-known member
that was k punk at his worst and also me at my worst so i dont really get thrilled at the idea of people reviving it to be totally honest. always makes me feel nervous and shifty.
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
I really do. It feels important to understanding the board. But the negative comments I've seen didn't always seem to be about personal stuff as luka's saying. More his views started to wind people up or something? Did he change over time?
 
Top