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NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND

  And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better—cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?---Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground There are certain people of whom it is difficult to say anything which will at once throw them into relief—in other words, describe them graphically in their typical characteristics. These are they who are generally known as “commonplace people,” and this class comprises, of course, the immense majority of mankind. Authors, as a rule, attempt to select and portray types rarely met with in their entirety, but these types are nevertheless more real than real life itself. For instance, when the whole essence of an ordinary person’s nature lies in his perpetual and unchangeable commonplaceness; and when in spite of all his endeavours to do something out of the common, this person ends, eventually, by remaining in his unbroken line of routine—. I think such an individual really does become a type of hi
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Charles Bukowski---BORN INTO THIS



 

"There is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average human being to supply any given army on any given day"

 Born into this 

Walking and living through this 
Dying because of this 
Muted because of this 
Castrated 
Debauched 
Disinherited 
Because of this 
Fooled by this 
Used by this 
Pissed on by this 

John Dullaghan makes his feature-length directorial debut with the documentary Bukowski: Born Into This. The infamous poet, novelist, and screenwriter Charles Bukowski has made a legacy of writing about hard living in a unique prose style. His work paralleled his lifestyle, leading to the autobiographical novels Women, Hollywood, and Post Office.

 "I'm such a spoiled old toad ... I was blessed with a crappy life" - Charles Bukowski in 1993

This documentary investigates his life through archival clips, interviews, and footage of the man himself. He appears at a public reading in San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore. Conversations with Bukowski's friends, including rock star Bono and actor Sean Penn, reveals some personal stories and experiences. Bukowski: Born Into This was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the documentary competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
"How much was legend, how much was pose, how much was real? I think it was all real, and the documentary suggests as much."



Dinosauria, We
Born like this 
Into this 
As the chalk faces smile 
As Mrs. Death laughs 
As the elevators break 
As political landscapes dissolve 
As the supermarket bag boy holds a college degree 
As the oily fish spit out their oily prey 
As the sun is masked 
We are 
Born like this 
Into this 
Into these carefully mad wars 
Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness 
Into bars where people no longer speak to each other 
Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings 
Born into this 
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it’s cheaper to die 
Into lawyers who charge so much it’s cheaper to plead guilty 
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed 
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes 
Born into this 
Walking and living through this 
Dying because of this 
Muted because of this 
Castrated 
Debauched 
Disinherited 
Because of this 
Fooled by this 
Used by this 
Pissed on by this 
Made crazy and sick by this 
Made violent 
Made inhuman 
By this 
The heart is blackened 
The fingers reach for the throat 
The gun 
The knife 
The bomb 
The fingers reach toward an unresponsive god 
The fingers reach for the bottle 
The pill 
The powder 
We are born into this sorrowful deadliness 
We are born into a government 60 years in debt 
That soon will be unable to even pay the interest on that debt 
And the banks will burn 
Money will be useless 
There will be open and unpunished murder in the streets 
It will be guns and roving mobs 
Land will be useless 
Food will become a diminishing return 
Nuclear power will be taken over by the many 
Explosions will continually shake the earth 
Radiated robot men will stalk each other 
The rich and the chosen will watch from space platforms 
Dante’s Inferno will be made to look like a children’s playground 
The sun will not be seen and it will always be night 
Trees will die 
All vegetation will die 
Radiated men will eat the flesh of radiated men 
The sea will be poisoned 
The lakes and rivers will vanish 
Rain will be the new gold 
The rotting bodies of men and animals will stink in the dark wind 
The last few survivors will be overtaken by new and hideous diseases 
And the space platforms will be destroyed by attrition 
The petering out of supplies 
The natural effect of general decay 
And there will be the most beautiful silence never heard 
Born out of that. 
The sun still hidden there 
Awaiting the next chapter.







The Genius Of The Crowd: Charles Bukowski



there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average
human being to supply any given army on any given day

and the best at murder are those who preach against it
and the best at hate are those who preach love
and the best at war finally are those who preach peace

those who preach god, need god
those who preach peace do not have peace
those who preach peace do not have love

beware the preachers
beware the knowers
beware those who are always reading books
beware those who either detest poverty
or are proud of it
beware those quick to praise
for they need praise in return
beware those who are quick to censor
they are afraid of what they do not know
beware those who seek constant crowds for
they are nothing alone
beware the average man the average woman
beware their love, their love is average
seeks average

but there is genius in their hatred
there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding solitude
they will attempt to destroy anything
that differs from their own
not being able to create art
they will not understand art
they will consider their failure as creators
only as a failure of the world
not being able to love fully
they will believe your love incomplete
and then they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect

like a shining diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock

their finest art





















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