As Based As Possible

A list of 8 things worth talking about.

1.

A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO GBV (Playlist)

My favourite band is the American group Guided By Voices. Headed up by Robert Pollard, the project is 40 years old now and has featured over 50 musicians. The engine of the band is Pollard’s prolificacy: he’s written over 3000 songs and there are 35+ GBV albums. So, getting started with this music is quite the undertaking .

My cousin James wanted to dip his toe, so I made this 10-song starter playlist. Maybe you’d like to convert too?

2.

BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 (Film)

I recently rewatched Brawl In Cell Block 99. It’s on Australian Netflix. It’s an insane film and the first time I saw it, I was so shocked by the violence and fast reversals that I somehow overlooked how funny it is. One of Vince Vaughns best performances.

3.

HOW TO LIVE (Harmony Korine Interview)

Excerpts of this Harmony Korine interview are doing the rounds on my feeds, notable for depicting the 50-year-old Harmony —wearing a crazy mask (and loafers), and smoking a cigar— as he tells the interviewer that he just wants to make shit as based as possible.

I completely agree with this.

Besides, his new project sounds fascinating.

4.

THE RIPPER BY DAVID PEACE (Short Story)

UK novelist David Peace has written very few short pieces. But I was on his wiki page the other night and there’s a link to this autobiographical story on the Yorkshire Ripper. Great stuff.

Peace’s Red Riding trilogy are all downriver from White Jazz by James Ellroy and like Ellroy, his childhood is marked by an obsession with a specific violent crime.

5.

Speaking of Ellroy and his backstory, he published a piece on Crimereads recently about his new book and telling a slightly different origin story:

Interviewers harp on my mother’s 1958 murder and cite childhood trauma as the fount of my gifts. I’ve played along. It jukes book sales. Disingenuousness is a sin. I’m writing this essay in the spirit of atonement. My ongoing biography should be revised to reflect this:

I’m just a numbnuts kid who loves to read. The books I read taught me to write. I love American Hard-Boiled Fiction. I rarely stray from that oft-maligned canon.

6.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF MIAMI VICE (YouTube)

The 2006 remake of Miami Vice is one of my favourite movies. Michael Mann’s film was much maligned upon release but has gradually found it’s correct place in the culture as a cult favourite / vibe-piece. This behind-the-scene doco is worth a look, mainly for the brutal hazing of Colin Farrell.

7.

SFX2 (Reading)

Currently reading two speculative fiction titles: Grant Wamack’s Melancholy’s Finest (a cyberpunk novella) and The Humming Bird Effect by Kate Mildenhall.

8.

RENTAL STING (Short Story)

This feels like a weird entry on my list but last week’s story really did a thing. Lots of comments, a few shares and I sold books directly off the back of it. It’s proof that y’all clearly want one thing from me: elaborate cursing.

END OF LIST

— IAIN

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