Last Rose of Summer

I don't know how to start this and the title is just the song that's playing now on YouTube as I write this. I'm reading Maus by Art Spiegelman and marveling at what people are capable of. I'm just at the bit where Auschwitz is about to be introduced, Truth be told,  I am scared of proceeding further. I mean, sometimes the visuals are so striking that it just makes me want to puke. 

There's a war going on in the world now, as I'm writing this and I wonder who invented war and why. It is inhuman. I come from a country that kicked the British out and that in itself was a war of sorts. We've seen 'Nam. We've seen the second one, the war to end all wars and yet it marches on, like an insatiable machine guzzling oil and belching out misery and murder. That's all war is actually, glorified murder.

And I'm reminded, as the last notes of the song fade away that a certain man called Nietzsche stated that 

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music"

I am also reminded of the fact that the world spends trillions on defenses and if that money were redirected somehow, perhaps we wouldn't need to defend ourselves.

I made a YouTube video about this which you can check out here  on my ScrollStack and see for yourself what my feelings about war are. I'll shout this from the rooftops if I have to, but if war is the answer, ou're asking the wrong question.

 

And so, although Maus is uncomfortable, tear jerking and horrifying...I will finish it. I will finish it because I want to know that the human race is capable of doing this to itself. I will also finish it and remind myself that I am a member of that race and I will remember the novel, and hope that one day I do not turn in to such a monstrosity.

And isn't it fitting that Half the World Away by Oasis is playing, which has this line, whose poster version is uploaded below? By the way, the poster is one I designed myself...(shameless self promotion, on a corner of the Internet that is mine and also yours and will remain so)

The Bilge Master
 

What I Took Away From Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba

I first read Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba at the age of 22. At the time, I still had a mother, I was in college and I was revisiting metal for what must have been the umpteenth time. I read the book in one sitting and most of what I read made little sense to me.

I read Daytripper for the second time today after a text from my book club admin revealed she was reading it too. (DM paperbacks.n.backpacks on Instagram to join). Six years have passed since the revisit to metal and now I am not exactly listening to metal but I'm also not not listening to metal. It is complicated. I no longer have a mother and I am no longer in college.

Perhaps the fact that six years being a long time and change is practically sacrosanct is what made Daytripper hit some different chords this time on the musical instrument that accompanies me and I call thought. 

It is difficult to sum up Daytripper. I feel it analyzes the fickleness that is life. We walk in the shoes of a man called Brás de Oliva Domingos, a man who writes about death everyday. He is employed by  a newspaper and he is in charge of the obituaries.  Sensing that he possesses a certain flair with the pen and an understanding of the fact that his obituaries give closure to a sect of people who have lost a loved one makes Brás de Oliva Domingos take his job seriously. However, the narrative changes frequently as we shuttle between different stages of his life. 

The twist is, each chapter of this unusually crafted graphic novel ends with Brás dying. Fabio Moon would perhaps be considered a bit macabre for imagining varied scenarios in which his main character dies. I believe the obvious message to take away is that life is fickle and can be snuffed out at any time, at any age (for in one scenario, a very young Brás meets his maker while still a child) and thus life is something to be enjoyed and lived. 

Concepts of loss are explored immensely well in this tome and so is the concept of carpe diem and living without regret. Although it may seem a tad nihilistic to some, it is actually a profound look at the importance of being happy and structuring your life with small moments, which in turn add up to a bigger picture that you, the one living your life is painting. We have often been told of that statement that we should look at the bigger picture. This novel tells us to paint the bigger picture using all the tools we have at our disposal, so that someone may one day come along and look at the picture of a life lived. Perhaps this is what Moon and Ba were intending when they wrote this novel.

I came away from my second read of this book with the resolution to make the most of the fact that I am at this moment on a rock made of stardust floating somewhere in space, inhaling an invisible compound consisting of multiple gases. 

I think Daytripper serves to remind us that we could die at any time. 11, 41, 21, 76. It reminds us that many die each day and that some die sooner, some later and some before taking their first breath. It reminds us that the life we are leading now is the unrealized dream of every stillborn child, that loss is inevitable and that Death is as much a part of living as the sun is a part of the Milky Way.

I wrap up with some panels from the novel, one of which is on my wall right now.

Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba. Rating 5/5

(All images are the result of a Google Search)

The Bilge Master

 

Notes From the Underground Cults

 You all thought perhaps I had disappeared into the ether never to be seen again did you not? I had indeed taken to other roads, for as Tolkien has said, 

"The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began

Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow if I can

Pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way,

Where many paths and errands meet, and whither then? 

I cannot say"

There have been some changes in the content I am creating these days. I have more or less shifted entirely to vlogging via Scrollstack. My profile is hyperlinked here and you can feel free to check it out.

And now, to arms! 

Doors and roads span out before us every day of our lives. The ones we take are the ones we follow, or sometimes not, for as Robert Plant reminds us,

"Yes there are two paths you can go by

But in the long run, there's always time 

To change the road you're on"

I'm sorry, I have not sat down at this editor and written for some time so this post is taking some time to get started. 

I was at a metal gig yesterday with a very special person, who was a Facebook acquaintance and has now become a grandmother. I never knew the love of a maternal grandmother, nor was I one of the fortunate people who meet their paternal grandfather, but Maya di has been a bridge over troubled water in the two years I have known her- scolding me, embracing me, holding me, putting the broken pieces of my psyche back together through deed and through the mad world of social media.

So, I was at a metal gig with Maya di and the people there were young. Maya di blended into the crowd, danced, jived and grooved and even screamed and growled. She's a 64 year old woman, and she is goals. When I am 64, I have only one wish...that I can be Mayalakshmi Rao. 

And now I've finally understood where this is going...so ONWARD! 

Pain and sorrow are expressed in different ways, one of the expressions being music. Hope and strength are also expressed in the same way, through music. I remember being influenced by an image I saw on Facebook back when I was a teenager and I've found it again using the tool of excellence that is Google and I now see it is a song so I shall link it below...

Yesterday the event saw me connect with a lot of people society would call damaged, people society would be afraid of, people society would say were taking risks , that their hobbies were something that the older generations would not understand. I was reminded of this line from Dylan,

"The old road is rapidly aging,

Better get out of the new one if you cannot lend a hand

For the times, they are a changin''"

Yesterday, I was shown a side of humanity. I saw a 20 something touch the feet of a 64 year old, I saw a 64 year old be properly protected by a gang of youngsters. I networked with a lot of people, dressed in black, but with liquid fire in their eyes. Some of them even recognized me even though I did not recognize them. I was humbled. The rage I had been carrying for aeons was gone, the metal was pouring out of the sound system like a clarion call....

And when Dreadhammer (one of the acts) took the stage and started playing a medley of Black Sabbath, what could I do but yell till I was hoarse? 

Welcome to the underground cults who think a little different from you. Entertain your preconceived notions about these people. Trust me, they do not care. They are too busy having fun! 

And as I wind up this article, a line from Cohen strikes me,

"For less than a second, our lives will collide 

The endless suspended, the door opened wide"

I've gone through the door. Follow me?

The Bilge Master