tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20372165.post4026229984712443115..comments2023-08-20T12:26:47.093+01:00Comments on From Brighton Beach to Santa Monica: England's Lost EdenUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20372165.post-716613765546440632009-10-21T21:32:57.656+01:002009-10-21T21:32:57.656+01:00So I read Darkmans, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Tha...So I read Darkmans, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you for recommending it to me.Alasdairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17158304208028291709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20372165.post-86095943659196388142009-09-06T21:37:34.776+01:002009-09-06T21:37:34.776+01:00Yes, I think you are right, Darkmans seems to begi...Yes, I think you are right, Darkmans seems to begin with almost nothing but cruelty and bleakness; but I thought there was real joy, humour and hope at the end of the story as well as a tremendous love for language and heritage - a very British book.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20372165.post-87929706652315026572009-08-14T06:48:20.524+01:002009-08-14T06:48:20.524+01:00I had 'Cornfield by Moonlight' saved in my...I had 'Cornfield by Moonlight' saved in my hard drive from a few years ago and hated I didn't know who the artist was. Attracted to the painting on your blog, I looked up Samuel Palmer and BAM! there it was, the object of my adoration. Reminiscent of one of my favorites, George Inness. <br /><br />I never put 2 and 2 together, but The Clientele albums very much fit the Tonalism style with which these artists paint.<br /><br />Can't wait for the new album!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07581183197175254300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20372165.post-87658513486716894182009-08-08T22:42:32.841+01:002009-08-08T22:42:32.841+01:00The Opposing Shore is a dense read and is also har...The Opposing Shore is a dense read and is also hard to find in English. His first book "The Castle of Argol," considered to be the first Surrealist novel, is shorter and easier to get a hold of...<br /><br />Here's an especially wonderful paragraph from the first chapter of The Opposing Shore. The entire book reads much like this. <br /><br />"We glided along the dusty road as though within the current of a river of cold air flecked with vague patches of whiteness; on either side, the darkness loomed up, entirely opaque; everywhere on these lonely arteries, where any encounter already seemed so unlikely, nothing equalled the impenetrable ambiguity of the shapes suddenly silhouetted against the night, only to vanish forthwith. In the absence of any visible landmark, I felt rising within me the gradual atony of all sense of direction and of distance which paralyze us before any real symptom - like the onset of a fever - in the middle of a road where one has lost one's way. Above this earth benumbed in a dreamless sleep, the huge and stupefying glitter of stars broke upon us like a belittling tide, sharpening the sense of hearing to a morbid refinement of its dry blue sparks, as one cocks one's ears despite oneself to hear the sea divined somewhere in the distance. Swept on by this enthralling rush into pure darkness, I reveled for the first time in these southern nights unknown in Orsenna, as in some initiatory ablution. Something had been promised to me - something had been revealed; I was entering without enlightenment into an almost agonizing intimacy, eager for the morning already pressing upon my unseeing eyes, even as one advances blindfolded toward the site of revelation." <br /><br />PS a month with The Violet Hour might have been an exaggeration, it was probably more like two weeks where it was every other record I listened to... which put me in a strange head space to say the least.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07530287754616392177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20372165.post-27672939425729344572009-08-04T10:46:43.730+01:002009-08-04T10:46:43.730+01:00ok Steve, thanks, I'll check both of those out...ok Steve, thanks, I'll check both of those out. ps a month with the Violet Hour?!? yikesAlasdairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17158304208028291709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20372165.post-77586696562492952962009-08-03T23:50:42.793+01:002009-08-03T23:50:42.793+01:00Alasdair, you MUST read Darkmans! I read it last ...Alasdair, you MUST read Darkmans! I read it last summer and was constantly reminded of various Clientele songs... Come to think of it, finishing it marked the beginning of about a month long binge on The Violet Hour.<br /><br />Have you read The Opposing Shore by Julien Gracq? (English translation of Le Rivage Des Syrtes). It's the other novel that I found reminiscent of both your writing and Clientele songs, more so even than Darkmans.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07530287754616392177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20372165.post-80561684398826450712009-08-03T15:52:16.776+01:002009-08-03T15:52:16.776+01:00I have not read Darkmans, it looked a bit cruel an...I have not read Darkmans, it looked a bit cruel and bleak and I haven't been in that mood for a while. I usually like the books people recommend here though so maybe I'll pick it up.<br /><br />Capitan Zissou, I hope one day we will play in Argentina, especially if it can be with Hacio dos veranos, but there ar eno current plans.Alasdairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17158304208028291709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20372165.post-4448937370604918052009-08-01T20:49:29.994+01:002009-08-01T20:49:29.994+01:00I'm intrigued and will find out more about Sam...I'm intrigued and will find out more about Samuel Palmer - did you read Darkmans?Emmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20372165.post-74873254847828479642009-08-01T18:38:52.908+01:002009-08-01T18:38:52.908+01:00Hi,sorry for the off topic (and for my sometimes w...Hi,sorry for the off topic (and for my sometimes weak english),but having read that you like Atahualpa Yupanqui,it seems right to ask you if you guys ever consider come to Argentina to play with The clientele (and maybe with Hacia dos veranos as your support band?).That will be really nice.Maxi from Buenos aires,Argentina.Capitán Zissouhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00958074472910671399noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20372165.post-69417270855003593352009-07-30T22:35:42.504+01:002009-07-30T22:35:42.504+01:00Wonderful strange stuff.Wonderful strange stuff.Ian Wolcotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13824138231723753507noreply@blogger.com