Comments on: Olde English Advocacy (Nuggets, Vol. XV)

By: Jais

Jais — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:35:46 +0000

Real Muthaphukkin Gs and Boyz N Tha Hood fucking classicsss. Shit, even Gimme Dat Nut was fucking awesome. CITY OF COMPTON!
I heard the combo of 40oz and OJ (obviously not the RB) was divine. Trying this very very soon.
PL: That probably would be good. The sweetness would cut the acidity of the juice nicely. Drinking 1/3 of the 40 and replacing it with a sweet whiskey is also a favorite for some.
Some who roll at a level most of us will never understand.
Eazy E’s been dead 14 years. 14 years.

By: Kakutogi

Kakutogi — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:50:32 +0000

I’ve been reading your old stuff again, particularly the comments in the Centralia piece and the essay about the bailout almost not going through. It’s trippy, and I welcome this future. It came just as I fucked my 3.6 to 2.bullshit, at the cost of learning a language and networking.
PL: I like huge messes. Like living in a permanent massive snowstorm. I like calm, but I’d be lying to say I don’t like watching things crater. It’s fascinating to watch.

By: Tyler Kosnik

Tyler Kosnik — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:20:58 +0000

Much as you and I usually rail against narrative in society, sometimes it’s too convenient to not use. Personal gain trumps societal conviction.
PL: Couldn’t agree more. If a person can be manipulated via those triggers, he deserves what he gets. And you owe him no better.

By: John

John — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:22:44 +0000

None of your stories are about the surface. Your writing could be categorized as one long paper defending the way you perceive the world. It’s a good paper.
It’s also a good story and, as I have said before, I enjoy your writing. I suppose it matters to me because I believe most of your readers relate to you via the premise that you somehow grant them insight into a deeper sense of their own version of “the truth” (i.e. “you read my mind!” reactions.) By changing the variables around your main character (which happens to be you and this is unimportant) one can test the (macro-level of the) point of view you advocate. Unfortunately, such point of view does not survive precarious economical and existential situations where life is less valuable. In order to “get” you, one must be able to be “there” emotionally by complying with rebellious and cultural first-world requirements. (Note: you can even say that your musical references are nothing else than custom agents asking for passports to readers.) Whereas your strongest ally in this recreation of your past/world seems to be piercing logic, it doesn’t help those who live under a crippled version of Maslow’s Pyramid. 1+1 is not equal 2 to them. I’m not criticizing you at all. It’s probably a futile observation. The only value I can add is to suggest that your work would be difficult to translate. Stories about violence, sex, love, Kafka’s feelings of inadequacy, Vonnegut’s interplanetary solitude or an innocent young wizard going to magical places are easier on the mind than reinforced/culturally complex points of view.
This one time I was locked in a corporate office (accounting) for six months and I read everything you wrote. I’m a fan.
PL: That’s an interesting way of looking at it, one I hadn’t considered. Might explain a lot of the criticisms I get about the book. People from different backgrounds come to the material expecting different things, and it doesn’t translate universally. Hence, the book’s “cult” status… an inside handshake laugh for a certain type of mind. I also play the victim poorly, which is the standard trick used by most writers to appear grounded and “human” to readers. A submissive posture aggrandizes the audience by putting it in a position of power over the speaker. I’d rather skip the emotion and focus on deconstructing the logic, or lack thereof, exhibited.
Shrewd eye on the college thing, but not quite spot-on. I was a shade below Ivy, well up the charts. No “ne’er do well senator’s son” schooling.
Your observation on the music thing is brilliant, by the way. Yeah, that’s part of how it works. You might not be the first to note that, but you’re the first to articulate it so succinctly.

By: jj

jj — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:05:21 +0000

I wish I was this switched on at 18. Would it have made a difference to my life though? Probably not.
A++ Would read again.
PL: Thanks, but this isn’t “switched on.” This is a high school kid acting as certain breeds of high school kid will. I got switched on later.

By: rbz90

rbz90 — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:03:23 +0000

I just graduated highschool a year ago and I can’t believe how much this reminds me of it. Not the story, just the mindset. Particularly the last two grades. While a lot of my peers were stressing over things like getting into university and “what course their life will take.” To me school was just a hiccup in-between doing things I wanted to do.
Now I’m going to second year of university though, things here are serious business. A bad mark in any coursework can have serious implications on the rest of my adult life!
PL: Ridiculous. Systems like that should be banished. they’re the prime reason so much of the corporate world is filled with idiot wind-up dolls. Push people through a rigid system like cattle and you’ll get cattle.

By: Jeromy

Jeromy — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:01:36 +0000

Brilliant, good or bad, I’ve been doing the same thing for years. In my opinion this whole piece about narratives is essentially what a trial comes down. How can the two different lawyers put their spin on facts to convince a jury that they’re “right”.
PL: Which is why society doesn’t, and never will, respect lawyers. It’s a sleazy skill set. Everybody in a court room’s lying on at least one or two issues.
If a jury’s decision were considered a real, final objective verdict on the truth of something, wouldn’t we then prosecute the loser for some form of perjury?

By: John

John — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:55:21 +0000

This usually doesn’t work in a developing nation. Manipulation of narrative in high school grounds in this context I mean. If you are drinking, most likely someone did die. There is less of a chance that you are doing it for fun because of diminished quality of life. For that to happen, you would have to be rich and/or the son of a politician, and no authority would try to reprimand you anyway. Ironically, if you are rich and/or the son of a politician, would probably also mean that you are soon going to a good-but-not-great US college. Interesting.
PL: I guess, but out of curiosity, what does it happening in a developing nation or not matter? It’s a story about being drunk in high school in America.

By: kakutogi

kakutogi — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:06:20 +0000

Excellent. And I’ve been drinking Bombay Sapphire every other night. Custom in Japan is for the senior students to treat their juniors, so I figure this would be the best time to go down your list of recommendations. Great stuff, cuts like a motherfucker though. Only had that and Tanqueray on the rocks, so far though. Anxious to try them in Martini form.
PL: I fired through a bunch Bombay martinis over the weekend myself. Cleanest stuff on earth. No pain, all gain.

By: iamjoecollector

iamjoecollector — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:38:00 +0000

Ah yes, the narrative. Never lie but as I always say “form the truth to fit your needs”. If everything you say is true to a degree the only way to get blown up is if someone actually sees it. Then the question becomes: What did they actually see?
My view of the narrative is that humans have a fear of the unknown and conversely the fear of being wrong. Through the narrative, those fears can be exploited.
When I was a prosecutor, the winning cases were the cases where I had a confession. Other than that is was anybody’s guess as to the result because the defense uses the unknown, no matter how slight or pathetic, to fear enough of the jurors into a not guilty verdict.
PL: Trial lawyers have been making bank for decades pushing narratives. Give a jury a compelling “story” and they’ll take it over sober analysis of facts every day of the week.