catalog

Well-known member
Higgs is a bit mad and he's found his niche, good luck to him. Not sure about his new book, about the beatles and James bond and tracking their cultural ups and downs since 60s.
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
The Crucifixion Considered as an Uphill Bicycle Race

Alfred Jarry​

Barabbas, slated to race, was scratched.​

Pilate, the starter, pulling out his clepsydra or water clock, an operation which wet his hands unless he had merely spit on them -- Pilate gave the send-off.
Jesus got away to a good start.
In those days, according to the excellent sports commentator St. Matthew, it was customary to flagellate the sprinters at the start the way a coachman whips his horses. The whip both stimulates and gives a hygienic massage. Jesus, then, got off in good form, but he had a fiat right away. A bed of thorns punctured the whole circumference of his front tire.
Today in the shop windows of bicycle dealers you can see a reproduction of this veritable crown of thorns as an ad for puncture-proof tires. But Jesus's was an ordinary single-tube racing tire.
The two thieves, obviously in cahoots and therefore "thick as thieves," took the lead.
It is not true that there were any nails. The three objects usually shown in the ads belong to a rapid-change tire tool called the "Jiffy."
We had better begin by telling about the spills; but before that the machine itself must be described.
The bicycle frame in use today is of relativelv recent invention. It appeared around 1890. Previous to that time the body of the machine was constructed of two tubes soldered together at right angles. It was generally called the right-angle or cross bicycle. Jesus, after his puncture, climbed the slope on foot, carrying on his shoulder the bike frame, or, if you will, the cross.
Contemporary engravings reproduce this scene from photographs. But it appears that the sport of cycling, as a result of the well known accident which put a grievous end to the Passion race and which was brought up to date almost on its anniversary by the similar accident of Count Zborowski on the Turbie slope -- the sport of cycling was for a time prohibited by state ordinance. That explains why the illustrated magazines, in reproducing this celebrated scene, show bicycles of a rather imaginary design. They confuse the machine's cross frame with that other cross, the straight handlebar. They represent Jesus with his hands spread on the handlebars, and it is worth mentioning in this connection that Jesus rode lying flat on his back in order to reduce his air resistance.
Note also that the frame or cross was made of wood, just as wheels are to this day.
A few people have insinuated falsely that Jesus's machine was a draisienne , an unlikely mount for a hill-climbing contest. According to the old cyclophile hagiographers, St. Briget, St. Gregory of Tours, and St. Irene, the cross was equipped with adevice which they name suppedaneum. There is no need to be a great scholar to translate this as "pedal."
Lipsius, Justinian, Bosius, and Erycius Puteanus describe an other accessory which one still finds, according to Cornelius Curtius in 1643, on Japanese crosses: a protuberance of leather or wood on the shaft which the rider sits astride -- manifestly the seat or saddle.
This general description, furthermore, suits the definition of a bicycle current among the Chinese: "A little mule which is led by the ears and urged along by showering it with kicks."
We shall abridge the story of the race itself, for it has been narrated in detail by specialized works and illustrated by sculpture and painting visible in monuments built to house such art. There are fourteen turns in the difficult Golgotha course. Jesus took his first spill at the third turn. His mother, who was in the stands, became alarmed.
His excellent trainer, Simon the Cyrenian, who but for the thorn accident would have been riding out in front to cut the wind, carried the machine.
Jesus, though carrying nothing, perspired heavily. It is not certain whether a female spectator wiped his brow, but we know that Veronica, a girl reporter, got a good shot of him with her Kodak.
The second spill came at the seventh turn on some slippery pavement. Jesus went down for the third time at the eleventh turn, skidding on a rail.
The Israelite demimondaines waved their handkerchiefs at the eighth.
The deplorable accident familiar to us all took place at the twelfth turn. Jesus was in a dead heat at the time with the thieves. We know that he continued the race airborne -- but that is another story.
 

catalog

Well-known member
The Assassination Of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered As A Downhill Motor Race

J.G. Ballard
From the Evergreen Review Reader 1967-1973.
Originally published in Evergreen #96, Spring 1973.
From Love and Napalm: Export USA (Grove Press, 1969).

Author's note. The assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, raised many questions, not all of which were answered by the Report of the Warren Commission. It is suggested that a less conventional view of the events of that grim day may provide a more satisfactory explanation. Alfred Jarry's "The Crucifixion Considered as an Uphill Bicycle Race" gives us a useful lead.

Oswald was the starter.

From his window above the track he opened the race by firing the starting gun. It is believed that the first shot was not properly heard by all the drivers. In the following confusion, Oswald fired the gun two more times, but the race was already underway.

Kennedy got off to a bad start.

There was a governor in his car and its speed remained constant at about fifteen miles an hour. However, shortly afterwards, when the governor had been put out of action, the car accelerated rapidly, and continued at high speed along the remainder of the course.

The visiting teams. As befitting the inauguration of the first production car race through the streets of Dallas, both the President and the Vice-President participated. The Vice-President, Johnson, took up his position behind Kennedy on the starting line. The concealed rivalry between the two men was of keen interest to the crowd. Most of them supported the home driver, Johnson.

The starting point was the Texas Book Depository, where all bets were placed in the Presidential race. Kennedy was an unpopular contestant with the Dallas crowd, many of whom showed outright hostility. The deplorable incident familiar to us all is one example.

The course ran downhill from the Book Depository, below an overpass, then on to the Parkland Hospital and from there to Love Air Field. It is one of the most hazardous courses in downhill motor racing, second only to the Sarajevo track discontinued in 1914.

Kennedy went downhill rapidly. After the damage to the governor the car shot forward at high speed. An alarmed track official attempted to mount the car, which continued on its way cornering on two wheels.

Turns. Kennedy was disqualified at the hospital, after taking a turn for the worse. Johnson now continued the race in the lead, which he maintained to the finish.

The flag. To satisfy the participation of the President in the race Old Glory was used in place of the usual checkered square. Photographs of Johnson receiving his prize after winning the race reveal that he had decided to make the flag a memento of his victory.

Previously, Johnson had been forced to take a back seat, as his position on the starting line behind the President indicates. Indeed, his attempts to gain a quick lead on Kennedy during the false start were forestalled by a track steward, who pushed Johnson to the floor of his car.

In view of the confusion at the start of the race, which resulted in Kennedy, clearly expected to be the winner on past form, being forced to drop out at the hospital turn, it has been suggested that the hostile local crowd, eager to see a win by the home driver Johnson, deliberately set out to stop him completing the race. Another theory maintains that the police guarding the track were in collusion with the starter, Oswald. After he finally managed to give the send-off Oswald immediately left the race, and was subsequently apprehended by track officials.

Johnson had certainly not expected to win the race in this way. There were no pit stops.

Several puzzling aspects of the race remain. One is the presence of the President's wife in the car, an unusual practice for racing drivers. Kennedy, however, may have maintained that as he was in control of the ship of state he was therefore entitled to captain's privileges.

The Warren Commission. The rake-off on the book of the race. In their report, prompted by widespread complaints of foul play and other irregularities, the syndicate lay full blame on the starter, Oswald.

Without doubt, Oswald badly misfired. But one question still remains unanswered: Who loaded the starting gun?



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jenks

thread death
@catalog Speaking, as we were, of the French, this line:



reminded me a lot of Gilles de Rais, as described in La-bas.

The only Ackroyd I've read is Hawksmoor, but I remember enjoying it. Can't recall what the writing was like particularly, but it had some cool ideas.
Just finally on Ackroyd…I was listening to this thing on Alan Garner and I was struck by how much had been stolen from him - the whole overlay of ancient and modern, the rituals of the past, the slippage and time travel between the two. It’s all there in the Owl Service and plenty of his stuff from the 60s onwards. It may not be urban psychography but more likely rural but it’s there nonetheless.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Just finally on Ackroyd…I was listening to this thing on Alan Garner and I was struck by how much had been stolen from him - the whole overlay of ancient and modern, the rituals of the past, the slippage and time travel between the two. It’s all there in the Owl Service and plenty of his stuff from the 60s onwards. It may not be urban psychography but more likely rural but it’s there nonetheless.
Mrs Tea raves about Garner. I should probably check him out.
 

linebaugh

Well-known member
The plan is to gauge enthusiasm outside of where Im at (which has been pretty good actually!) and try to solicit a few local people for pieces on the cheap to buff up the portfolio before I follow thousands of people and everyone whose ever gotten a tattoo in chicago and start charging normal rates
update:

Ive received an early request for a cute cartoon penguin in a 'really intense suit of armour'
 

catalog

Well-known member
am i right in thinking that the common english word "piss" is derived from the French? Cos of the french word "pissoterie"?

The definition of pissotière in the dictionary is public urinal reserved for men.


monumental discovery if correct
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
am i right in thinking that the common english word "piss" is derived from the French? Cos of the french word "pissoterie"?




monumental discovery if correct
Origin
1636726123524.png
Middle English: from Old French pisser, probably of imitative origin.
 

luka

Well-known member
No I don't think so. Interesting go me that in modern times, last 20 years or so, a lot of British ppl have moved to eg Berlin or Lisbon but none to Paris, or at least none that I know of. Kind of dropped off a bit as a culture centre I think
thats why its much better than berlin literally a billion times better than Berlin
 

luka

Well-known member
i wouldnt go to Berlin if you paid me. absolute pits. most depressing place in Europe. probably more depressing than those orphanges in Bucharest Blue Peter were always trying to raise money for
 

catalog

Well-known member
I would like to live somewhere else, another country, just cos I never have done, and if it turned out to be Berlin, I wouldn't be too upset. I really love Germany, love German people, also the countryside there and their attitude to it is really good. And I think there's still a lot of interesting bits in the east. I think Munich would probably be better, or cologne maybe.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I would like to live somewhere else, another country, just cos I never have done, and if it turned out to be Berlin, I wouldn't be too upset. I really love Germany, love German people, also the countryside there and their attitude to it is really good. And I think there's still a lot of interesting bits in the east. I think Munich would probably be better, or cologne maybe.
Germans are polite almost to a fault when you talk to them, but if you're trying to get served in a bar or something they are total barbarians, and the person with the sharpest elbows gets to go first.
 

catalog

Well-known member
I like that they go quite hard. Good quality beer and drugs as well. Terrible music generally speaking, as well as terrible taste, but it's swings and roundabouts.

New Juche has just done a new very expensive book about Hitler

 

Leo

Well-known member
No I don't think so. Interesting go me that in modern times, last 20 years or so, a lot of British ppl have moved to eg Berlin or Lisbon but none to Paris, or at least none that I know of. Kind of dropped off a bit as a culture centre I think

I wonder if it's easier to manage in Berlin without speaking German. English more widely used there compared to France, where you really need to speak French. just a guess.
 
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