"Hatred is nothing but the place where men who can't deal with sadness go."

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work - and their selves - to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so." - Peter O'Toole, as Anton Ego, Ratatouille, 2007

--

The car's on fire, and there's no driver at the wheel.
And the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides;
And a dark wind blows.

The government is corrupt,
And we're on so many drugs,
With the radio on and the curtains drawn.


We're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
And the machine is bleeding to death.


The sun has fallen down,
And the billboards are all leering,
And the flags are all dead at the top of their poles.

It went like this:
The buildings tumbled in on themselves,
Mothers clutching babies picked through the rubble;
And pulled out their hair.


The skyline was beautiful on fire,
All twisted metal stretching upwards,
Everything washed in a thin orange haze.

I said: "kiss me, you're beautiful -
These are truly the last days."

You grabbed my hand and we fell into it,
Like a daydream or a fever...
We woke up one morning and fell a little further down -
For sure it's the valley of death.

I open up my wallet
And it's full of blood.

- Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Dead Flag Blues, Track 1 on F♯ A♯ ∞, August 14th, 1997

--

RIP Kentaro Miura (July 11, 1966 - May 6th 2021)

--


"But there are times when a critic truly risks something - and that is in the discovery and defense of the New. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The New needs friends."