C.B. Murphy's Blog, page 4

Check out my contribution: “Ten Things I’d...

Check out my contribution: “Ten Things I’d Like to Find on Pluto.”





Pluto
New Horizons for a Lost Horizon: Astronomy, Astrology, and Mythology
Edited by Richard Grossinger, Contribution by Richard C. Hoagland, Robert Kelly, Rob Brezsny and Dana Wilde

http://nabcommunities.com/shop/pluto/

Description:

Encompassing astronomy, mythology, psychology, and astrology, Pluto offers a wealth of knowledge about our most famous dwarf planet. First observed in 1930 and once defined as the ninth and final planet in our solar system, Pluto and its discovery and reclassification throw a unique light on how we generate meaning in science and culture. This anthology, timed to appear in concordance with NASA’s New Horizons‘s approach to Pluto in July 2015, shows that while the astronomical Pluto may be little more than an ordinary escaped moon or tiny Kuiper Belt object, it is a powerful hyperobject, for its mythological and cultural effigies on Earth incubate deep unconscious seeds of the human psyche.

Certain astronomical features pertain to Pluto in terms of its distance from the Sun, coldness, and barrenness. These also inform its mythology and astrology as befitting a planet named after the God of the Underworld. Among the issues central to this collection are the meanings of darkness, loss, grief, inner transformation, rebirth, reincarnation, and karmic revelation, all of which are associated with the astrology of Pluto. Pluto also embodies the meaning of true wealth as being nonmaterial essence instead of property, conventional accolades, ego identity, achievement. It is the marker of negative capability.

Table of Contents

Dana Wilde: Pluto on the Borderlands

Richard Grossinger: Pluto and The Kuiper Belt

Richard C. Hoagland: New Horizon … for a Lost Horizon

J. F. Martel: Pluto and the Death of God

James Hillman: Hades

Fritz Bruhubner: The Mythology and Astrology of Pluto

Thomas Frick: Old Horizons

John D. Shershin: The Inquisition of Pluto

Stephan David Hewitt: Pluto and the Restoration of Soul

Jim Tibbetts: Our Lady of Pluto, the Planet of Purification

Shelli Jankowski-Smith: Love Song for Pluto

Robert Kelly: Pluto

Dinesh Raghavendra: Falling in Love with a Plutonian

Steve Luttrell: Dostoevsky’s Pluto

Philip Wohlstetter: Ten Things I’d Like to Find on Pluto

Jonathan Lethem: Ten Things I’d Like to Find on Pluto

Robert Sardello: Ten Things I’d Like to Find on Pluto

Ross Hamilton: Ten Things I’d Like to Find on Pluto

College of the Atlantic Students: Ten Things I’d Like to Find on Pluto

Jeffrey A. Hoffman: What the Probe Will Find, What I’d Like It to Find

Nathan Schwartz-Salant: Ten Things I’d Like to Find on Pluto

Charley B. Murphy: The Ten Worlds of Pluto

Timothy Morton: Ten Things I’d Like to Find on Pluto & The End of the World

Robert Phoenix: My Father Pluto

Ellias Lonsdale: Pluto is the Reason We Have a Chance

Rob Brezsny: Pluto: Planet of Wealth

Author Biography:

Since the issuing of Solar Journal: Oecological Sections by Black Sparrow Press in 1970, RICHARD GROSSINGER has published some 35 books, most of them with his own press, North Atlantic Books, but also titles with Harper, Doubleday, Sierra Club Books, and J. P. Tarcher. These have ranged from long explorations of science, culture, and spirituality (Dark Pool of Light, Planet Medicine, Embryogenesis) to memoirs (New Moon) to experimental prose (Book of the Earth and Sky) and science fiction (Mars: A Science Fiction Vision). Grossinger received a PhD in anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1975 and lives with his wife, writer Lindy Hough, in Portland, Maine.

Reviews/Endorsements:

“This richly and diversely celebratory collection gives us back Pluto, previously and sadly consigned to historical triviality by a one-dimensional science mind that reclassifies it as not even a planet but a dwarf, mere sky fuzz. Grossinger’s assemblage and introductory remarks show us how and why we never consented to let it go, in fact could not dispense with it, given the profound place it holds in individual and collective mind. Pluto, like death itself, is interactive with self-realization, an essential dynamic within our range of sciences, systems, psychologies, and arts, critical to our thinking. A book that clarifies while inevitably complexifying, it’s one to read on sleepless moonless nights which open sky mind to its further reaches, where Pluto lives to die another day.”

—George Quasha, author of Axial Stones: An Art of Precarious Balance and Glossodelia Attrace (preverbs)

“Plutonic thrills galore underlying everything, this anthology is a blue- or blackprint for someone’s new onyx and translucent Pluto-world Moby Dick, relegating poor old Ken to some unimaginably darker, colder Kuiper belt, teeth chattering … me and Pluto howling at every passing moon.”

—Kenneth Rosen, author of The Origins of Tragedy

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notes on David Lynch’s LOST HIGHWAY

 

How the hell does David Lynch get away with transmigration of souls as the core theme? True, he dresses it up in LA caper mode/ “moll” and leather coats and toughs and guns and porn, and all the trappings of classic B thrillers, but at the core there’s this “demon” guy (Robert Blake before he murdered someone in real life)… who orchestrates the identity switch

For what purpose?

 

There seems to be something important about the porn movie featuring Marilyn Manson. It seems to imply it’s a snuff film.. If so, why so unclear about it? If it is a snuff film where someone is really killed, would that be enough to call forth the Blake demon?

And the two gals Patricia Arquette plays… Alice and Renee… are they demonic or possessed (twined, doubled) for some karmic retribution…

If the theme is about retribution… (i know ,I know i’m trying to “make sense” of it).. What did Bill Pullman’s character do “wrong” to get pulled (ha ha pun) into this? Did he inadvertently get involved with an evil two-hearted (two “identitied”) woman? Yes, Renee has an affair and Bill Pullman kills her for it, but in the future after he’s been through the adventure of being someone else for a while. How does he even remember she is his wife?

But actually Pullman doesn’t kill the Laurent character outright. He kidnaps him and it’s the Blake demon who shoots him. Did Laurent (Loggia) do something in a previous life to piss off the Blake demon? And why do demons need guns?

Unlike Pullman’s characters (played by two different actors) Robert Loggia plays two different guys who look and act alike– Frank Laurent and Mr Eddy. In Bill Pullman’s world heh is is Laurent but in Pete Dayton’s world (the car mechanic) he’s Mr Eddy… In both worlds he’s a creepy guy that (possibly) deserves to die…

Bill Pullman is arrested for killing his wife… (which apparently he did commit… though can’t seem to access why at the time he’s arrested). In prison he’s “stolen” by the demon and put into the Dayton character. Now a mechanic instead of a sax player he gets pulled into evil blond Arquette’s (Alice’s) plan involving freedom and betrayal.

Did renee do something that deserved death other than having the affair?

Surely alice is a piece of woik… a mol.. nasty…and perhaps a succubus demon just traveling around with Robert Blake demon using transmigratory worm holes to play games with people. If so are the demons (really the stars of the film) having fun?

Note on the music: I have to say it has alot of music i really like — Bowie, Lou Reed, Rammstein…

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This week’s watchings

my son turned me on to the “australian” slap (not to be with the american slap coming soon to broadcast tv)

Danger5 the parody of 1980s action team films… season 2 on netflix

 

finally getting to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me

Reading tom drury THE END OF VANDALISM

Painting continuing “biomorph” theme

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Micheal Meyers, Ricky Gervais, David Lynch and John Cleese on creativity

Michael Meyers on Creativity

David Lynch Explains How Meditation Enhances Our Creativity

John Cleese on the Origin of Creativity

Comedian Ricky Gervais Tells a Serious Story About How He Learned to Write Creatively

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A series of Dear letters

 

 

 

Dear Saul, You are some kind of new hero, Bob Odenkirk, funnier and trickier than the show that birthed you.. will we be able to stand in one-to-one relationship with you (so funny!)  or will this be a one night (season) stand? You are smarter than you look.. we sense it… (thanks to Vince Gilligan)

 

Dear Ben Lerner, You are smart smart smart but I don’t think I have the patience for your book. Oh, sad sad sad me… will I finish it or toss it before book club? how will I feel after?

Dear Scott Synder, OMG you teach at Sarah Lawrence and write vampire graphic novels, how do you do it? how do you fight off your critics? or is there a meta level I’m missing or does it have something to do with going to Portugal or is it Brazil for the artists that make it something that can live in the simultaneous world with your day job. you are a hero.

Dear Bio-Morphic (unfinished) painting. OMG are you an lsd flashback (don’t tell my kids, they don’t read my blog)… I had to apologize at the prison when I realized this was just too too happy to show… I had to admit a background of drug use….

Dear Mutts, Dear Labradoodles, how is it you are so wonderful when the world thinks of you merely as a genetically engineered creature (for our allergies yet!) is no one shocked on a daily basis that primates can share a home with canines (ie. “love” them)?

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What I Learned this Week

Infinite Jest was finished (yeah, I know passive voice) by two people I respect. This goes against the grain of the popular joke for it being the book you put on your nightstand to impress a potential lover as was recently done on Man Seeking Woman. It has a lot to do with Canada and 12 Step Progams. Parks and Recreation did an homage to it. (They must have read it then.) It has also appeared on The Affair as a book no one reads

I learned that acrylic markers will not automatically translate drawing skills into painting skills. Bummer.

I learned I can carry on a conversation with a Muslim inmate who supports ISIS using the following lines: I wonder how well they will be able to run grocery stores, I mean, if they win.

Banshee maybe the only show on television I can watch then instantly watch again. Am I sick or what? Plus I didn’t know it was a graphic novel. Duh.

Vertigo’s Noir series of graphic novels are awesomely satisfying. Plus, it matters to me how the drawings are done. I prefer black and white. Lines must be crisp. Story must be good.

 Twin Peaks is on netflix. I will finish it. I will be ready for the reboot.

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Projects Updates: Writing, Graphic Novels and Painting

Apologies for being a typical blogger who doesn’t blog. I’ll explain. I thought the easiest update would be to update you on what I’m doing project-wise.

BARDO ZSA ZSA

Bardo Zsa Zsa has gone through a VERY SERIOUS REWRITE which is odd to say as it’s a “fun” book, but i re-wrote it in CURSIVE (for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s script, it’s handwriting, it’s what they used to teach in school…) Then I’m putting it into a Word Doc, importing it into Scrivener (my go-to writing program, try it!) and now re-editing and (reading aloud… big fan of that)… I’m on Chapter Eight (out of approx 40, but hoping “against hope” that it’ll be going faster soon). Also, finally reading Pynchon (“The Crying of Lot 49″) and really liking it, but it’s not like you can say you are inspired to write like Pynchon (it’s so much easier to use Vonnegut or Douglas Adams)… using Pynchon is like saying (what?) I’m reading Einstein and he’s really helping me with my trigonometry.

CUTE EATS CUTE (Re-Issue by Calumet Press)

 

We’re waiting for the BIG UNVEIL so I don’t want to say too much, but the publishing rights to CUTE EATS CUTE have been acquired by Calumet Editions and we’re getting a BRAND NEW COVER and aiming the reboot at the YA market. It probably always was a YA book but when I wrote it (pre Harry Potter, etc) I was spooked by the label (thinking adults wouldn’t read it and/or I would always be seen as a YA author). Now (post Harry Potter) the writing word has a heck of a lot more respect for YA and thanks to many authors to jump back and forth there is no longer much of a labeling issue. The issues of dealing with divisive (ecological) politics hasn’t really gone away. Nor has the more specific “deer issue” the book uses as a base for it’s coming-of-age story.

 

THE SECOND MONGOLIAN INVASION

The Second Mongolian Invasion (Mongo for short) is a very strange book. I say that with all due respect to my “past self” (punk/businessman) who made this weird thing. My son Lucas (20) told me it’s still weird after all these years and I should re-issue it. The problem has been that many of the original drawings (it’s set up as a page of drawing with a sentence or two descriptor) have been lost. How this happened I cannot explain. I can’t blame Hurricane Katrina only the solar winds of the passage of time. Besides (important point coming…) I have found that since I am going to rescan all the original (printed) pages I can improve them with my new skills with GREY SCALE MARKERS. So, I like to think of this a “remastering” of a “lost classic”.. Yeah, that’s what it is! I don’t know if re-mastering applies to re-scanning and re-printing, but it’s not unlike colorizing an old black and white movie. Sort of.

PAINTING

“The General” (homage to Ghanaian hand painted movie posters) I am proud to say is now on display at the Baton Rouge Pop Surreal VI show opening this month. It’s the second time I’ve been in the show and I’m very excited about it.

 

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CUTE EATS CUTE: The muskrat trappers revisted

Last year was the first time I encountered the muskrat trappers on my lake. It just happened again. I was out with my dog like last year, and these two figures in hunting orange had a sled and were making their way methodically around the lake, finding which muskrat burrows were active and setting traps in them.

The mixed feelings I experienced were the same one I wrote about in my novel CUTE EATS CUTE, only that was actually a bit less ambiguous as deer are significantly “cuter” than muskrats. So I thought I would write my stream of consciousness questions that arise when Cute Eats Cute.

Who are these people? Is this legal? I looked it up last year (I think). I’m pretty sure it’s legal. But are muskrats ‘varmints’? Is that what they call them–varmits–like in the old cartoons? They are wearing orange. They aren’t trying to hide. But they’re not neighbors, they’re strangers “harvesting” our fur resource. Is muskrat fur a resource? Who uses it? Who wants it? Do the people who live on a “private access” lake have any say in the use of the creatures on their lake? No.

Are muskrats “cute”? Are they cuter or less cute than squirrels? Would I mind if someone harvested my fat grey squirrels? No. Muskrats are like very large mice. I kill mice everyday in various traps as they invade my house and studio. I feel fine about that. They are invaders; it is war. Do muskrats “overbreed” and do damage to a lake? Or are they beneficial to a lake? How do they get along with beavers? Do I care? Why won’t I take the time to research all this, but feel OK asking all the questions?

Nearby, in summer, there is a “fishing spot” where people without boats can legally fish off the road. It is often dominated by Hmong fisherman. Which is interesting because they have to drive a long way to get out here. They must really like fishing. If this generation was born in America, they must have received the “love of fishing” from their parents? Were Hmong big fisher-people in Laos? Do they hunt, too? Wasn’t there a movie about a culture clash in Wisconsin between white hunters and Hmong hunters? No, that wasn’t a movie, but a court case. Someone got shot.

Would it matter to me if the orange-clad muskrat harvesters were Hmong? Would that be cooler, more “understandable”? Is that diversity-affirmative or patronizing? If they were “poor” people who ate the muskrats and made shoes out of their hides, would that be “better”? If I am thinking “better or worse” what then would be worse? What would be the worst? Some faceless corporation strip-trapping muskrats in Minnesota lakes until they are extinct, like Paul and Babe nearly did to our white pines in the 19th century? Would corporate strip-trappers wear logos? I just made that up. There are no corporate strip-trappers. There were though once. The Hudson Bay Company. But they thought the resources were endless. Like the passenger pigeon. Shoot a couple hundred, what the heck.

I guess my “point” is that despite strong feelings on all sides, our relationship to the animal world is complex. Here I am, the mouse-killer, out here with my dog who I love like a child but who would kills squirrels is she could catch them. Is killing mice hunting? My friend who has a small farm says mice killing is controversial on the green websites. She believes the most ecological thing is to feed them to her cats, not trap them and let them go so they can come back. Some people would never feed them to cats. Cats are pets, expensive at the vet. Mice are “full of germs,” aren’t they? Why do wild animals have so many ‘germs’ on them yet manage to live with them?

   

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A Theory of Winter

Winter doesn’t “need” a theory. In Minnesota, it does need an attitude however. Here’s mine: Winter is not a season, it is where we live. Summer, spring and fall, grouped together make up at best 50% of the year in Minnesota. We live in a land like Iceland. When one of those cute short “seasons” come, we enjoy it, but it is an aberration from our natural state which is winter.

This is not meant to depress the winter-haters. Try it out: “I live in Iceland.” Iceland is cool, right? Don’t they have good music and a lively bar scene? Active volcanoes? Geothermal heating? We don’t have those last two, but arguably the first if you can get out of your driveway or not freeze to death waiting for a bus (and now light rail!)

 

I love it that store clerks don’t bug me by saying, “Did you get out and enjoy the weather?” like they do on a nice summer/spring/fall day. I don’t have to feel guilty that I stayed cozy indoors with my wood burning fireplace, forcing myself to be “creative.” I find it invigorating that Death is at our door. You get locked out in your underwear and you could die an ignoble death. “We found him, um, frozen, um in his skivvies,” the rural policeman would report, choked up with embarrassment. Accident or purposeful, the coroner would want to know. “He died like a Minnesotan–in his underwear.”     Put that in the report.

     

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Miranda July’s New Society

 World Premiere of “New Society” by Miranda July

Miranda has asked that any reviewers avoid descriptions of the performance and I am going to honor that. I have a personal connection to her via my college mentor, her father (and mother) Richard Grossinger and Lindy Hough. When I was in Ann Arbor in 1969, Richard was studying anthropology and I was studying how to become a hippie. I met him when he read his prose poetry at East Quad and I was blown away by the way he mixed science, magic (and magick), occultism, pop culture, UFOs, film history and baseball into his mystical view of contemporary life. Afterwards I approached him and told him I was interested in filmmaking. Soon, under the auspices of his grad program we began an “Anthropology Film Series” where we showed Maya Deren, Harry Smith, Stan Brakhage, Kenneth Anger and others.

Over the years I have maintained a friendship with Richard and Lindy and it was fun to see their daughter perform. I have appreciated her feature films, especially The Future with its unusual blend of humor and magical realism. Her interests are in how people communicate (or fail to) and the basic issue of being human and trying to build a decent (i.e. New) Society. She brings to the project a sophisticated of Bunuel, Jose Saramago, and Andy Kaufman plus a few generations of performance artists starting with the Dadaists. It’s very difficult to be original “these days” but I think she manages to do it with a hip following that has seen everything. That’s no small task.

 

 

 

 

 

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