Checking into the Beat Hotel

While this may seem a more fitting post for my other blog, Why Did I
Write That?, I’ve blogged about William Burroughs on Strange Horizons
before so I thought it would fit.

I’ve decided to write an academic essay on the “cut-up” method of
composition.  What the thesis is and what new thought I can hope to
add has yet to be determined, but my interest in Burroughs and cut-ups
is enough to compel me to write on the subject.  That and I’ll get to
mention David Bowie in an academic paper, even if just in passing.
One of the main sources I plan to study is a book I’ve mentioned here
before, The Beat Hotel by Barry Miles.  It was at that eponymous
building in Paris that William Burroughs met writer Brion Gysin and
learned about the cut-up technique.  While The Beat Hotel doesn’t seem
to skimp on the psychedelic drugs and sexual experimentation (nor
should it as it is integral to the Beat story), I am nonetheless
hoping it has enough literary scholarship to help me prink this paper
to academic standards.  I'll let you know how it all works out, likely on the other blog.

Driving past the local post office yesterday, I saw an odd old man
erecting a cardboard display.  The sidewalk tradeshow booth of the
bizarre featured several posters of Barack Obama redone to make him
resemble Hitler.  “Dump Obama and Socialism” proclaimed one of the
signs.  It’s not unusual to call a president “Hitler.”  The Left
certainly did that with W.  The Right does it with Obama and any
dictator who runs afoul of us.  But let’s face it.  There was only one
Adolph Hitler…and one was enough.

My recent playlist:

“Drop Dead Gorgeous”—Republica
“Runway Runaway”—Duran Duran
“Not Even Jail”—Interpol
“White Love”—One Dove
“Die Without You”—P.M. Dawn
“Smile Like You Mean It”—The Killers
“Dig In”—Lenny Kravitz
“An Honest Mistake”—The Bravery
“Discotheque Francais”—Matinee Club
“Common People”—Pulp


Follow me on Twitter: @Jntweets