Today's post for Sunday Scribblings is Oracle.
Oracle-a person who delivers authoritative, wise, or highly regarded and influential pronouncements.
hoping
and praying
for a better tomorrow
Adventure: I love adventures!! It's something new and exciting. I would love to have one everyday.
Shame: There are a lot of things I should be ashamed of, but I can only think of one- stealing money from my grandmother when I was... 6 I believe. Crazy how that popped into my head first when I thought about something shameful that I have done. I really haven't thought about it in years. But I guess now that my grandmother is gone, I feel a little more shameful for what I did. I did apologize and gave her the money back, but it still feels embarrassing getting caught.
So I borrowed two books from my roommate both written by Carlton Mellick III. My roommate got me turned on to Mellick books when she first let me borrow Punk land(that is also a book you should read).
(Got this from a fellow fan of the book.) In one of his most recent works, the aptly-titled Ultra Fuckers, Bizarro boss Carlton Mellick III presents another vivid look into the humdrum, monotonous future of humankind. Probably the shortest work of Mellick’s career so far, this book packs a powerful punch in 108 pages.The herd mentality within the minds of so many people is an epidemic of disastrous proportions. Mellick proposes that through our own apathy, or fear of being different from the crowd, our lives are systematically becoming mundane and indistinguishable from one another. Perhaps we are just imitating life because innovative thinking hurts.
This work of fiction explores the very real and quite parasitic outbreak of suburban housing development and design. Married-couple Tony and Tammy try to find an address to a party in suburbia—while passing dozens of streets each having a modifier added to the name “Pueblo”—ending with hilarious results. The banter between husband and wife is entertaining yet disturbingly poignant. Tony becomes determined to take charge of his life and the world, hopefully making both better places to inhabit.
Mellick creates an intriguing parable: one man against the world, with all odds stacked against him, yet he continues to persevere. Tony embodies the qualities of what makes a true heroic leader. He is consistently challenged, but he refuses to conform. Nietzsche said it best when he wrote: “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” Both authors recognize the hardship and anxiety linked to what many would believe to be idiosyncratic behaviour. It is difficult to go against the grain, but it is also a test of your confidence and ability to think for yourself.
Ultra Fuckers is my newest favorite from CM3. It echoes elements of his successful work from the past, but provides an extraordinarily inspirational theme. I enjoyed this aspect of the book because it’s precisely what Mellick intended. He shows the reader that the truly redeemable characters in the story are the ones who don’t conform to trends simply because everyone else does.
So don’t be a “Chachi”—check out this ultra-cool book.
(Got this from a fellow fan of the book.)The latest endeavour of renowned Bizarro author Carlton Mellick III, The Egg Man, proves to be one of his most powerful and absurdly bleak pieces of work. In spite of the fantastic imagery (e.g. fetus flies and mega-brained egg men), Mellick sets many evocative themes in an eccentric Dickensian backdrop. However, unlike the works of Dickens, Mellick focuses more on the submissive nature of man towards the industrial machine, rather than an ambitious self-advancement through social class.The Egg Man tells the story of Lincoln, a post-graduate seeking a successful career as an artist. As Lincoln’s story progresses, Mellick paints his dreary, desolate, post-industrial world around the central character’s story—edging closer to the ominous abyss of humanity’s future.
Life has become regulated through the power of our new leader—the corporate machine. Society has become business-owned and run, which is probably the least absurd notion in this story. Humans become cogs in the machine, whereas corporate death-squads are in constant battle for control.
While Mellick’s foreboding future sets some specific perimeters, I believe a worldwide corporate takeover would be more subtle, entrancing us, enchanting us, and enticing us. With the dawn of new technological gadgets and gizmos such as iPods, iPhones, and digital cameras, corporate companies keep us decadently satisfied. We are bought off, thus making us easier to control. As historian Howard Zinn writes in his “Declarations of Independence": “If those in charge of our society—politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television—can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves."
Ultimately, The Egg Man is a warning against reliance on (and adherence to) technology, which would slowly eradicate any form of intuitive or imaginative thought. The egg men represent that mechanization of the human being; we use our brains as information storage, but not information processing. The information we trust to our computers is used to keep us wired in, and part of the universal online network.
Both were really cool books. If your into the Bizarro genre or just wanted to read something new well these will give you a whirl from your normal readings.
Oh yeah, photo by Tim Walker.














