luka

Well-known member
It's so badly written, conceptualised and constructed. It's like notes toward a book that never got written. Any random conspiracy website is streets ahead. I keep saying if you can't outperform the source material, don't bother.
 

luka

Well-known member
Any killah priest song is better, any post on the above top secret forum, any raving of a paranoid schizophrenic
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Any killah priest song is better, any post on the above top secret forum, any raving of a paranoid schizophrenic

I think it's because you resent someone encroaching on your territory. You do, after all, see yourself as the uncontested king of conspiracy theories.
 

catalog

Well-known member
I think some of the ideas are brilliant but he's a worse writer than Philip k dick. It sort of gets going with something but then gets stuck very quickly. I was on a roll with it but then started reading this thread which has put me onto Drummond
 

catalog

Well-known member
Was chatting about it the other day with a friend. I remember it as really boring. Like I had a 'is that it?' feeling. Robert Downey Jr was underwhelming and I can't even remember the other actors. My friend was saying the rotoscoping did his head in and seemed showy/pretentious. I think 'dazed and confused' is my favourite linklater film. Big film when I was a teenager. Saw it again recently, it's good but not as good as then.

Re dick, I did read 'valis' a few years ago and was pleasantly surprised, but even then, I remember thinking that it took him ages to say something worthwhile. He writes in a very matter of fact way with loads of unnecessary detail . If you wanna get massively bored really easily, read the exegesis.
 

version

Well-known member
Was chatting about it the other day with a friend. I remember it as really boring. Like I had a 'is that it?' feeling. Robert Downey Jr was underwhelming and I can't even remember the other actors. My friend was saying the rotoscoping did his head in and seemed showy/pretentious. I think 'dazed and confused' is my favourite linklater film. Big film when I was a teenager. Saw it again recently, it's good but not as good as then.

It's Keanu, RDJ, Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder, also Rory Cochran plays Freck - the guy who thinks he's covered in bugs.

I guess it is pretty uneventful, mostly a group of junkies milling about, but that doesn't bother me. I also quite like the rotoscoping, it really works for the scramble suits and the way everything's constantly shifting around in general seems appropriate given how paranoid the whole thing is, plus it lets them do fun stuff like having Downey and Woody morph into giant insects.

a-scanner-darkly-robert-downey-jr-insect.jpg
 

catalog

Well-known member
Yeah maybe I'll watch it again. I did like a bit of 'waking life', the bit with the Israeli film guy going on about bazin.
 

version

Well-known member
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Actually read the first few pages (of the Drummond) the other day. Very Gonzo (never read hunter s Thompson). Kind of wilfully offensive but very engaging and fizzy. Too much good stuff to read at the moment. Cyclonopedia obviously bottom of the pile cos it's so turgid.
In both Bad Wisdom and Wild Highway it's actually the chapters by Zed (ie Mark Manning from Zodiac Mindwarp) which are the insane and delusional explosions of gonzo madness, Drummond's chapters actually provide a relatively serious grounding counterbalance which give you some idea of where they really are and what is actually going on.
 
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