Review: Apocalypse Culture II

Angry Brady's Book Review Corner: Come have a seat children!!

Well, I couldn't sleep! My bottom front teeth are hurting. The result of a dental procedure I'm in the process of. Long story, maybe I'll tell it sometime. So... I decided to review a book out of my home library; for your reading pleasure, or not! It makes me no difference. This shit just keeps the gerbil that runs that little wheel in my head, from driving me certifiably bat-shit!

On with the review! Apocalypse Culture II is the sequel to, obviously, Apocalypse Culture, which I may review at a latter date. Edited by Adam Parfrey and published by Feral House ('cause you like nice things'. My insertion there. Not the publishers.) As a side, Feral House is a damn ballsy, and excellent publisher! If we had more publishers in this society like them, we might not be in the sad shape we're in! Of course we might not BE! Check out some of their other titles if you dare...BWWAAHAHAHAHA!

Apocalypse Culture II is a compendium of Paranoids, Alternative Thinkers, Satirists, Writers, Artists, Psychotics, and Killers. The book is definitely NOT for the faint of heart,or that have delicate, morning dew on a Fall Pansy, sort of constitutions. Some of the articles are written by the likes of, Boyd Rice, Crispin Hellion Glover (yes McFly!), George Petrose, Charles Darwin, and Ted Kaczynski, just to name a few! 'Who the fuck are they?!', you say. Well, if your asking yourself this, and have managed to read this far....STOP!... and move along to the FaceBook profile you were trying to find, or to the Betty Crocker Institute of Cooking with Lard, or whatever the hell you were trying to waste you time doing! If not.... Read on.

One of the most interesting stories to me was,The Strange Crime of Issei Sagawa. It is the factual story of a Japanese man, living in Paris, who befriends a female and eventually kills and eats some of her flesh and organs. Which is, of course, for our T.V. Babies, nothing new. What IS interesting is, how big a celebrity he became! Not only in Japan, but in European countries as well! This after a stint in mental institutions,jails,etc. He then began writing very strange poetry, and the story evolves from there.

Another article that was quite an eye-opener was, The Late, Great Asthetic Taboos. This talks about how we Americans, love to talk about our freedom of Press and lack of censorship with one side of our mouths, then scream about indecency and lack of personal responsibility with the other. Basically it's only okay with us, as long as it doesn't offend our Puritanical leanings. It pushes the envelope of moral standards and belief structures. Interesting though.

The story entitled, Real Doll, (this one's right up 'America's addiction to sex' alley), is about the cottage industry of producing 'life-like sex dolls'. Some of these baby's go for upwards of  $5000 to $7000 dollars a pop (pun intended)! They are made of silicone and prosthetic skeletal structures. Some even come with voice chips and real human hair, in all the right places, wink-wink, nod-nod.

Lastly, the read entilted, Hi-Tech Market Research, is a veritable plethora of information on how 'Big Business' uses psychology, sociology, body language (in the form of EKG, EEG, Galvanic Skin Response, and EMG's), studied in controlled clinical environments. All to better 'understand' what you, the consumer, wants! And if you happen to not want it, well, you will soon enough! Some of it is a dry clinical read, but well worth the effort. It's a who's- who of big name companies you know and love, that are analyzed, their secret's divulged, by some of their very own. A must read, if you believe you are any kind of a thinking person, and may not  yet feel you are in the full clutches of, what I like to call Psycho-Consumerism. Or possibly you are feeling the tinges of that biggest of Consumerist diseases/lies called, BUY ENOUGH SHIT TO FILL THAT BIG HOLE  INSIDE-ITTIS! No matter how much you wish it away, spend it away, waste it away! You know what I'm talking about? Like when you start getting all AMPED when you're about to purchase that new Rube Goldberg Machine. The one that washes your clothes, while it orders your dinner, and allows you to watch "Those Dallas Cowboy's on your T.V." all at the same time!! Then once you get it home, as the days and months go by, the love affair wanes, kinda like that $8000 BowFlex you just knew that if you had, you too would be as buff as the young Aryan stud on the info-mercial using it was! To quote Jello once again, "It never happened, did it?"

My summation, if your not too enamored with the latest Dean Koontz thriller, or busy reading the latest Danielle Steel soft-core porn; It would behoove you to find this book and put it in your brain! Of course, ignorance IS bliss! Besides, you may be too busy even to be reading anything of consequence, 'cause you're too caught up in who might be the best dancer on  "Dancing with the Schmaltz", or possibly extremely concerned about which Tribesman gets kicked off the Island next. Or possibly, you may be waiting with bated-breath, with heart palpitations even, for news or views of the next Eninenima/Poop Daddy  bling-fest to stare at! Ah!! The shit that keeps the North American continent afloat. I understand. Thinking is better left to those that can handle it.

Latters!!!