Arius - video

I have uploaded my short story about Cyrenaic theologian Arius onto YouTube.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ABbarxIJ4Tg

 

Joyce

 Winamop has published my short story about Irish writer James Joyce. This is the description on the website: 'Simon King likes to drop in on the life of a notable figure. This time it's Irish novelist, poet and critic James Joyce. We join him in his early life on a traumatic visit to the home of Oliver St. John Gogarty.'

https://www.winamop.com/sk2604.htm

This part four from Fifteen Characters: Volume Three.

Popper

 Winamop has published my short story about Austrian philosopher Karl Popper. Here's the description on the website: 'Simon King likes to drop in on a scene from the life of a notable figure in history. This time we visit philosopher, academic and social commentator Karl Popper as the second world-war ends.'

https://www.winamop.com/sk2602.htm

This is part three from Fifteen Characters: Volume Three.

Ahoy Facebook #26

 

New acquisitions. 🙂

Three books: Nero: The Man Behind the Myth by Richard Holland, Dialogues and Essays by Seneca and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Nero has acquired a reputation as a tyrannical leader, although this biography presents a more nuanced account. He was quite enlightened and civilised and sought to rule in peace and not in the militaristic way of of his predecessors. Also, there is no evidence that he himself set Rome on fire.

Seneca was Nero's tutor, a Stoic philosopher. Here he writes about several timeless philosophical issues.

This book was quite seminal when it came out, as it exposed the shocking conditions of the gulag to the rest of the world. Khrushchev himself had it published during the 'thaw,' an attempt to recognise the excesses of the Stalinist period.

New acquisitions. 1/2 👍

Two books: El proyecto Chile: La historia de Los Chicago Boys y el future del neoliberalismo by Sebastián Edwards and El pensamiento político de Jaime Guzmán: Una biografía intellectual by Renato Cristi.

I'm currently in Chile over a month (visiting my sister, her partner and my new nephew), so I thought that I'd buy books about Chile. I have become more interested in its political, social and economic history, which is especially interesting.

In this book, Edwards writes about how Pinochet appointed the Chicago Boys. They initially had a free market program designed for Chile as far back as 1956. Initially, when the military dictatorship came into power in 1973, Pinochet had nationalist, authoritarian and protectionist principles. However, Milton Friedman came in with his 'shock therapy' treatment in 1975 so as to contain raging hyperinflation. 

Chile still had very high unemployment, poverty and inflation for a long time. Indeed, in 1982 the banks collapsed and they had to renationalise many parts of the economy. Edwards says that this economic program would have been voted out during a democracy. However, during the late 80s things started turning around and they had high economic growth. However, it really took off during the return to democracy under the centre-left coalition government. They presided over growth rates of 7% which significantly reduced poverty. However, they also introduced social programs which helped with this. Chile went from being a mid-tier country to being the country with the largest GDP per capita in Latin America and it later joined the OECD.

However, it has had a lot of social and economic inequality and not enough social mobility, which Edwards acknowledges is a problem (it did go down a bit under the Concertación governments, though). There were a lot of protests during 2019 for precisely this reason and a hard-left government was voted into power recently (though they have moderated themselves whilst in power).

Jaime Guzmán was a minister during the Pinochet Government and he wrote the controversial constitution in 1980. Whether or not one agrees with his politics, he was an interesting figure. He read a lot of political philosophy, which informed the constitution. He was assassinated by a hard-left group in 1991, a year after the return to democracy. It was the the  first (and only) political assassination following the return to democracy.

New acquisitions. 2/2 👍 

One record: The Shape of Jazz to Come by Ornette Coleman

This is one of my favourite albums ever, so I was delighted to run across it in a record shop in Santiago. Coincidentally, I was even wearing my Ornette Coleman t-shirt at the time!

Here are all the books that I read I read this year. 👍

https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2025/5993530?fbclid=IwY2xjawRte9xleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR7O-6ot885WAxo22fsxcktl1_UHDipEHjuNh83qsfuJq4QX9EXzkvSAtQOMiw_aem_XUpKpTND67xrMnIG5WFJmQ

New acquisitions. 🙂

Six DVDs: The Magnificent Ambersons by Orson Welles, Badlands by Terrence Malick, The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick, Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola, Come and See by Elem Klimov and Home from Home: Chronicle of a Vision by Edgar Reitz.

New acquisition. 🙂

One record: One Size Fits All by Frank Zappa.

I was thinking recently that I'd like to own this on vinyl. I was pleased to run across it at a record shop in Chesterfield. It was reasonably priced, too (£13), so it made complete sense to purchase it.

New acquisition. 🙂

One book: Igor Stravinsky - A Creative Spring by Stephen Walsh.

I bought this book about Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. I have over a hundred books in my 'to-read pile' (which is why I want to stop buying so many books), however I have a section of musical biographies in this pile. I have one on Bartok, so I thought that I could read this one on Stravinsky afterwards.

This is part one of two volumes, chronicling his early life in Russia and later France, when he has his earliest and most iconic pieces performed. I thought that it'd be interesting to read about the premier of The Rite of Spring, which caused a riot. He is one of the most distinctive composers ever, let alone the modernist period, so it'd be cool to read this.

New acquisitions. 🙂

Six CDs: Symphony No. 8 Unfinished/Symphony No. 5/Rosamunde: Ballet Music No. 2 by Franz Schubert/Slovak Philharmonic/Michael Halasz, The Best of Wagner by Richard Wagner, The Best of Erik Satie by Erik Satie, Switched-On Bach by Wendy Carlos/J. S. Bach, The Essential Cole Porter by Cole Porter and Spiderland by Slint.

I thought that writing volume four would be overdoing it a bit, but then I don't really have much of an audience, so I might as well write whatever the hell I want (within reason).

Oliver Cromwell

Luther

Doris Lessing

Frank Zappa

Don van Vliet

Alaric

Jorge Luis Borges

Julio Cortázar 

Eric Dolphy

Mel Brooks

David Lynch

Igor Stravinsky

Irene

Pablo Neruda

Anton Von Webern

New acquisitions. 1/2

Two records: Out to Lunch by Eric Dolphy and Angels and Demons at Play by Sun Ra.

I encountered these records a couple of weeks ago, but I was running low on money. I was paid today, so it was more than propitious to buy them today.

This album by Dolphy is fantastic. It's free jazz, but it has some great melodies and the playing is rhythmic, dynamic and precise.

I also ran across several Sun Ra records. There were a couple that I already own on CD, but I thought that I'd buy one that I hadn't heard before. He released hundreds of albums, so they can't all be corkers, but I recognised the cover of this one, so I'm sure it's good.

New acquisitions. 2/2

One book: Another World - The Oxford Years: A Memoir.

This book was published a day ago. I saw reviews of it online, so I went to Waterstones today to buy it. 

This is a sequel to his previous memoir, which was about him growing up in Cumbria in the late 40s and early 50s. In this second volume, he writes about attending Oxford in the late 50s. He won a scholarship and it was quite rare for someone from his humble working class background to attend this institution at the time. I'm sure that the third volume will be about him working for the BBC and I'll buy that, too.

New acquisitions. 🙂

Six DVDs: 12 Angry Men by Sidney Lumet, The Battle of Algiers by Gillo Pontecorvo, Summer with Monika by Ingmar Bergman, Smiles of a Summer Night by Ingmar Bergman, Winter Light by Ingmar Bergman and The Silence by Ingmar Bergman.

New acquisitions. 1/2 🙂

Seven CDs: Perotin by Perotin/The Hilliard Ensemble, Solo Cello Sonata/Duo for Violin and Cello by Zoltan Kodaly/Yuli Turovsky/Elonora Turovsky, November Steps by Toru Takemitsu/Kinshi Tsuruta/Saito Kinen Orchestra, Four Classic Albums by Freddie Hubbard, Speak No Evil by Wayne Shorter, Spiritual Unity by Albert Ayler and Live 1993: Batschkapp Frankfurt by The Fall.

New acquisitions. 2/2 🙂

One book: Sex and the Intelligent Teenager by Colin Wilson.

I'm getting through some Colin Wilson books at the moment. He is generally seen as an author that you read in your angst-laden teen years, but you later grow out of him. I never read him as a teenager, but I'm really enjoying reading him in my mid-thirties, which probably means that I am either a perpetual teenager or insufficiently sophisticated. Perhaps both.

I was looking at books in his bibliography and I found the title of this one very intriguing. I don't know how you can take a concept like this and pad it out into 192 pages, but I'm still looking forward to reading it.

New acquisition. 🙂

One book: Sparta - the Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower by Andrew Bayliss.

I've bought this book about the ancient Greek city state Sparta. It subjected its citizens to brutal military training and subjugated an underclass known as the Helots. They were led by two kings. It would also be interesting to read about how they helped defeat the Persians alongside the Athenians. Of course, it would also be interesting to read about the ten-year war that they had with Athens. They were envious of Athens' burgeoning trade and wealth and the success of their Confederacy. Their society has echoes of fascism and Hitler mentioned Sparta in his speeches. It was an authoritarian culture which, unlike Athens, did not leave a lasting cultural legacy, although Plato preferred the way that they organised their society to Athens. All in all, I'm looking forward to reading this.

New acquisitions. 🙂

Six CDs: Kammermusik by Paul Hindemith/Riccardo Chailly/Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tant-Schulz by Mauricio Kagel/Rundfunk Sinfionieorchester Saarbrucken, Out of the Cool by The Gil Evans Orchestra, Karma by Pharaoh Sanders, Reign in Blood by Slayer and Dr. Octagonecologyst by Dr. Octagon.

Keynes and Hayek

 Winamop has published my short story about English economist John Maynard Keynes and Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek. This is the description on the website: 'Simon King's story looks in on a meeting in Cambridge between economists John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek.'

https://www.winamop.com/sk2601.htm

Part two from Fifteen Characters: Volume Three.

Goethe and Napoleon

 Winamop has published my short story about the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. This is the description on the website: 'Simon King drops into the lives of Goethe and Napoleon in the early 19th century. To add some background: Goethe is regarded as the most influential German writer and Napoleon.. well, he was an Emperor!'

This is part one from Fifteen Characters: Volume Three.

https://www.winamop.com/sk2600.htm

https://www.winamop.com/sk2600.htm

Ahoy Facebook #25

 

New acquisitions 😊

Six books: The Library of Alexandria: The History and Legacy of the Ancient World’s Most Famous Library by Charles River Editors, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Lincoln by D. Herbert, Flawed Giant: Lyndon B. Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973 by Robert Dallek, Mao’s Great Famine: The History of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62 and Central Europe by William T. Vollmann.

The library of Alexandria was a library in Alexandria, Egypt. It housed thousands of papyrus scrolls. It had books from Egypt and Greece. The library was eventually destroyed, probably by a fire during a Roman conquest. If I could travel in time, I would probably choose to travel here and salvage some of the scrolls. I bought a short little book to learn more about this.

This is an iconic work from the Enlightenment, in which Smith explains how nations build their wealth. Written at the start of the industrial revolution, Smith offers a defence of free trade and a critique of mercantilism. It includes his famous metaphor of ‘the invisible hand.’ This is a very long, quite complex book which I might get around to reading some day, but it’s good to own anyway.

I bought a biography of Lincoln, who led the United States through the civil war, defeated the confederates and abolished slavery. I thought that it’d be good to read about one of the USA’s most iconic presidents.

Lyndon B. Johnson became president after JFK died. His landmark achievement was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination based on race, colour, religion or sex. It outlawed discrimination in employment, housing and voting rights. It was a major victory for the civil rights movement. He also created Medicare. He had his grand vision about ‘the great society’ and ‘the war on poverty.’ He was an unpopular president at the time, mainly because he increased troops in Vietnam, but he is generally seen as one of the most successful presidents.

I bought a book about Mao’s cultural revolution, but to complement it I also bought this book about the dreadful famine, ‘the great leap forward.’ It left a death toll of between 15 to 55 million people, making it (if the higher figures are correct) the largest famine in human history. It was an attempt to turn China into an industrialised society by collectivising agriculture (the Soviet Union also created huge famines by collectivising agriculture). 

William T. Vollmann won the National Book Award

 for this, a novel about WWII. I quite like long, sprawling, complicated novels, even if I have no idea what I’m reading half the time, so I look forward to reading this eons from now. Also, Dmitry Shostakovich is a character in this book, which is cool.

New acquisitions. 👍

One book: Memoirs by Kingsley Amis.

One record: Crescent by John Coltrane.

Amis here writes about his life here and his encounters with other writers, intellectuals, artists and politicians. He was quite a cantankerous and literate man, so I thought that it'd be interesting to read his account of this period.

This is one of my favourite albums. I own the CD version of this and I play it a lot. I found this record of it and I thought it'd be a good item to own

New acquisition. 👍

Four LP Box set: Sun Zoom Spark: 1970-1972 by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band.

I received some money for my birthday, so I thought that I'd spend it on this Captain Beefheart box set. It is comprised of four records (Lick My Decals Off Baby, The Spotlight Kid, Clear Spot and Outtakes).

New acquisition. 🙂

A small statue of Zeus.

I bought this small statue of Zeus. It is modelled on a sculpture which was built at Olympia and it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was built by an Athenian sculptor called Phidias (I recently wrote a little story about it). I thought that it'd be a good item to own.

New acquisitions. 🙂

A maroon fez.

The Theban Plays by Sophocles.

I have a Prussian helmet in my flat, so I thought that I could have another hat/decoration with a historical theme to it. I read a book on the Ottoman empire recently, so I bought this maroon fez.

I saw a film adaptation of Oedipus Rex by the Italian filmmaker Pier Pasolini recently. Sophocles is pretty essential reading - we still read his plays thousands of years later, with many of his themes recurring in subsequent literature - so I thought that I'd buy this. It is comprised of three plays (King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colobus and Antigone).

New acquisitions. 🙂

Seven DVDs: The Trial of Joan of Arc by Robert Bresson, Mouchette by Robert Bresson, Au Hasard Balthazar by Robert Bresson, Goodfellas by Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street by Martin Scorsese, Silence by Martin Scorsese and The Irishman by Martin Scorsese

New acquisitions. 🙂

Two posters: an Aguirre: the Wrath of God poster and a Mulholland Drive poster.

My kitchen was looking a bit drab, so I thought that I'd put some posters of some films on the cupboards.

I took out a page out of a book on German cinema and my dad photocopied it and enlarged it. It is a stunning shot from a great film.

This is a Mulholland Drive poster, another great film.

New acquisitions. 🙂

Two records: Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band and Doc at the Radar Station by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band.

I was always hoping that I'd bump into these albums at one of the record shops that I visit, but I never have, so I thought that I'd buy them online. The illustrated covers look great with the larger vinyl format. These are some of the last releases that he made before he retired from music. They're great, colourful, inventive, endlessly surprising albums.

New acquisition. 🙂

One record: An Evening With Wild Man Fischer by Wild Man Fischer.

I went to a record fare in Chesterfield and stumbled upon this. It's quite rare and it was for sale only for £35. Wild Man Fischer was a paranoid schizophrenic who had a rather sad life. Frank Zappa encountered him in the late 60s and made this album with him. It is a classic example of 'outsider art.' Allegedly, it is Warner Brothers' worst-selling album, shipping a meagre 12,000 units.

New acquisitions. 🙂

Six DVDs: The Ladykillers by Alexander McKendrick, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly by Sergio Leone, Once Upon a Time in America by Sergio Leone, Kagemusha by Akira Kurosawa, Ran by Akira Kurosawa and Werckmeister Harmonies by Bela Tarr.

New acquisitions. 🙂

Three mugs: a Ludwig van Beethoven mug, a Franz Schubert mug and a Bela Bartok mug.

I already own some music-themed mugs, so I thought that I could buy more. I've bought three mugs with some of my favourite classical composers emblazoned on them: Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Bela Bartok.

New acquisition. 👍

One record: The Golden Number by Charlie Haden.