Anthropomorphic things. Overthinking. Train travel. Interest summaries.
(If you're really interested, you'll make the effort to ask. And i'll appreciate your doing so.)
31st of March 2008 :
(April by Sun Kil Moon)
(past records: Alopecia by Why?, Rise Above by Dirty Projectors, On Leaving by Nina Nastasia, 10 Days Butterfly by Kim Doo Soo, Measurement by Spokane, Music For Tourists by Chris Garneau, A Life Full Of Farewells by The Apartments, The Patron by To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie, Purplene s/t, White Birch by Codeine, Missing Link by Jeremy Enigk, Airs Of The Ear by Richard Youngs, Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy by Billy Bragg, Little Hours by Spokane, 10 Songs by I Hate Myself, The Plural of the Choir by Settlefish, War Elephant by Deer Tick, American Water by Silver Jews, A Place To Bury Strangers s/t, Share This Place by Mirah + Spectratone, My Red Scare by Frankie Sparo, Tromatic Reflexxions by Von Südenfed, Broom by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsen, The End Of History by Fionn Regan, Risk Revival by Hot Cross, Tired Sounds of Stars Of the Lid by Stars Of The Lid, Hecla & Griper EP by Songs:Ohia, Ola Podrida by Ola Podrida, Mars Audiac Quintet by Stereolab, Tree, Swallows, Houses by Maps and Atlases, Excellent Italian Greyhound by Shellac, Owls by Owls, Sam Prekop by Sam Prekop, Noyes EP by Noyes, End Of Love by Clem Snide)
In our world, where there are more and more faces, more and more alike, it is difficult for an individual to reinforce the originality of the self and to become convinced of its inimitable uniqueness.
There are two methods for cultivating the uniqueness of the self: the method of addition and the method of subtraction. Agnes subtracts from her self everything that is exterior and borrowed, in order to come closer to her sheer essence (even with the risk that zero lurks at the bottom of the subtraction).
Laura's method is precisely the opposite: in order to make her self ever more visible, perceivable, seizable, sizable, she keeps adding to it more and more attributes and she attempts to identify herself with them (with the risk that the essence of the self may be buried by the additional attributes)...
The method of addition is quite charming if it involves adding to the self such things as a cat, a dog, roast pork, love of the sea or of cold showers. But the matter becomes less idyllic if a person decides to add love for communism, for the homeland, for Mussolini, for Catholicism or atheism, for fascism or antifascism.
In both cases the method remains exactly the same: a person stubbornly defending the superiority of cats over other animals is doing basically the same thing as one who maintains that Mussolini was the sole savior of Italy: he is proud of this attribute of the self and he tries to make this attribute (a cat or Mussolini) acknowledged and loved by everyone.
Here is that strange paradox to which all people cultivating the self by way of the addition method are subject: they use addition in order to create a unique, inimitable self, yet because they automatically become propagandists for the added attributes, they are actually doing everything in their power to make as many others as possible similar to themselves; as a result, their uniqueness (so painfully gained) quickly begins to disappear.
Milan Kundera - "Immortality"