Please check out some of Ani's latest drawings at his companion blog - www.banishedart.blogspot.com
His work was also mentioned by Trace DeMeyer in her blog -
www.splitfeathers.blogspot.com
Happy Holidays to everyone.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Back in Segregation for an "Investigation"
Ani wants to write more soon as he can. He has been put back in segregation, whisked off his job, jerked into the confines of solitary. This is what I emailed to his attorney a week ago:
"...when I went to visit Ani today, I found he had been taken off his job in the kitchen this morning and sent to segregation for "investigation" of the circumstances around a piece of paper he was handed while getting dressed for work on Friday. I had an hour of camera visit with him. It took an hour of going over the facts with him for them to be more clear in his head so he understood more clearly the situation and what was being investigated. I hope he won't be found guilty of anything as I don't see anything he did, but the paper, which he says was handed to him but he didn't read and threw away, was apparently about payment for smuggling intoxicants in. He doesn't know anything about it but apparently it fell out of someone's pocket or shoe in the changing room and his friend picked it up and handed it to him and asked him if it was his. He says he didn't open it, but handed it back and said it wasn't his. They apparently have this all on camera, so we'll see what they make of it. If the correctional staff had even a little training on how to deal with inmates with FASD, they could be so much more effective."
So, I didn't hear anything from him for a week. When I visited him again today through the camera, I found him depressed. He said he had not heard a thing from anyone about why they are keeping him there or if they plan to charge him with anything. He said he had been sleeping a lot. He was noticeable more cheerful by the time I left. I'm glad that I can have that effect on him. It is tough to see how much power they have in a place like that to come right into their lives and put them in solitary confinement and how often they do it - at least to him. I can certainly understand how simply that act of assertion of power over your life can be very demoralizing. It reminds me of how often that was done to him as a young child - taken out of the home he was in and whisked away out of the blue one day, never to see these people again.
I have hopes that he will soon be out and they will give him his job back. He had been enjoying being back in the kitchen, making jokes all day long, and creating smiles wherever he goes. I sure miss his daily phone calls and the visits in the visiting room. Visiting by camera is surely not the same thing.
Ani said he plans to write another post soon to his blog.
Jackie
"...when I went to visit Ani today, I found he had been taken off his job in the kitchen this morning and sent to segregation for "investigation" of the circumstances around a piece of paper he was handed while getting dressed for work on Friday. I had an hour of camera visit with him. It took an hour of going over the facts with him for them to be more clear in his head so he understood more clearly the situation and what was being investigated. I hope he won't be found guilty of anything as I don't see anything he did, but the paper, which he says was handed to him but he didn't read and threw away, was apparently about payment for smuggling intoxicants in. He doesn't know anything about it but apparently it fell out of someone's pocket or shoe in the changing room and his friend picked it up and handed it to him and asked him if it was his. He says he didn't open it, but handed it back and said it wasn't his. They apparently have this all on camera, so we'll see what they make of it. If the correctional staff had even a little training on how to deal with inmates with FASD, they could be so much more effective."
So, I didn't hear anything from him for a week. When I visited him again today through the camera, I found him depressed. He said he had not heard a thing from anyone about why they are keeping him there or if they plan to charge him with anything. He said he had been sleeping a lot. He was noticeable more cheerful by the time I left. I'm glad that I can have that effect on him. It is tough to see how much power they have in a place like that to come right into their lives and put them in solitary confinement and how often they do it - at least to him. I can certainly understand how simply that act of assertion of power over your life can be very demoralizing. It reminds me of how often that was done to him as a young child - taken out of the home he was in and whisked away out of the blue one day, never to see these people again.
I have hopes that he will soon be out and they will give him his job back. He had been enjoying being back in the kitchen, making jokes all day long, and creating smiles wherever he goes. I sure miss his daily phone calls and the visits in the visiting room. Visiting by camera is surely not the same thing.
Ani said he plans to write another post soon to his blog.
Jackie
Sunday, October 20, 2013
2013 - BACK TO SEGREGATION FOR 90 DAYS, MORE ARTWORK, LEGAL WORK, AND BACK TO WORK IN THE KITCHEN
2013 –
Ani has been busy. He asked me to put some of what he wrote in letters to me from segregation on his blog. First, I think I need to give the reader a little background. In early March, 2013, he was getting used to his promotion from his job in the kitchen to a maintenance crew and anticipating the “4 rating” pay from 24 cents an hour to 42 cents an hour that accompanied the new job. All of a sudden I found him back in segregation. This is always an anxiety-provoking discovery for me. Sometimes he has just done something stupid - which is bad enough - and pays the price himself, but sometimes his bad decisions turn into really awful consequences for not only himself but others too. This time it was amazingly neither one.
My first goal was to find out what happened, but it is always difficult to find out what happened from Ani. His memory of events is stored in a jumbled way, full of holes and neither sequential nor connected. So his memory of “what happened” often doesn’t stick together in any way that makes sense to him or to others. Until we figured out that his brain was causing the problem, his accounts of things he experienced could sound like the worst lies you ever heard and my frustration with his crazy stories and his anxiety over not being able to answer questions often turned into some nasty arguments. This time, things were a bit easier as Ani had found himself in a seg unit near to a friend – a native brother. While in segregation, inmates are rarely taken out of their cells – and if they are taken out they are shackled hands and feet. However they do get one hour of outside “rec” a day. This consists of being put into a small individual wire cage. Each inmate is in his own cage, but the cages are in a row so it is possible to have a conversation with another inmate during this time which is how Ani came to be able to talk to someone. Ani’s friend also happened to be a self-taught legal specialist in institutional policies and procedures which is a sort of career someone can take up in the institution. Thus, his friend helped him to sort through his memory of the recent events by listening and being patient and interested enough to hear them over and over until the two of them had put the events together in a sequenced chain and discussed the connections between them. It is only because of this patient friend and their conversations through the cage walls that Ani could tell me what happened in a way that gave me a somewhat coherent picture and so I can now recount to you what Ani told me.
On the day he was put into segregation, the institution staged a surprise institution-wide “sweep search” of cells to look for contraband. Ani said that a search this big had not been done in the 11 years he had been at WCI. Since a search this size required more man/womanpower than the institution was able to support, they brought in new recruits to help out with the job. First thing in the morning, Ani was taken out of his cell and chained to the railing right outside his cell. He watched as two recruits searched his cell and found several non-punishable items which they confiscated. They gave him a paper listing what they had taken and told him to sign it. They then put him back into his cell and went on to the next. Later that day, someone came to get him and took him to segregation. When he asked what he had done, he was told they had found contraband in his cell. He was puzzled about what it was since he had seen what they had taken before and nothing on the list was a punishable offense. Several days later, he received his “ticket” which included a list of the items that were supposedly found in his cell. The ticked was signed by an officer who he knew and who was not there when his cell was searched. Ani has sent me the ticket and it says they found 10 porn pictures, 2 strikers (paper clips which are used to short circuit an electric cord and heat water), and 27 matches. Ani says none of those things were his and he did not have any of them in his cell. He says he thinks that in the confusion of such a large search things got mixed up.
Ani had only been in segregation about 10 days and was planning to contest his first ticket when he got a second ticket. This ticket was for possession of a credit card. The ticket said that he had written the numbers of his bank account debit card on a donation card for the Disabled American Veterans when attempting to give them a donation of $10. Possession of money in the institution is another contraband offense. Ani contested both tickets but was found guilty and received 90 days in segregation as punishment for them. He decided to appeal both tickets. This can be quite a lengthy and somewhat expensive process even when done pro se (without an attorney). You have to appeal up the chain of command within the Department of Corrections and then if that is not successful, you have to pay to file a Writ of Certiorari in a Circuit Court. Ani also has had to pay for a sheriff to serve the papers to the Warden. I know nothing about these things, but Ani has been helped by inmates who know how to do these things and by books he bought that explain the rights of inmates and how to do this. I have helped him by making copies of documents and then mailing them to the Circuit Court and then delivering them to the Sheriff’s office. Little things like finding out the correct address with a phone call or writing a check (I have POA on his bank account and can transfer money to myself to pay me back), make this something that almost requires that an inmate have someone on the outside to help. I have also helped by listening to his plan and then reminding him from time to time of what he said he wanted to do next, just to keep him on track. This will likely take at least 6 months of filing papers and writing briefs so it is on-going.
Doing this, and keeping the details of what he needs to do straight in his head, is very taxing for Ani and uses up much of his mental energy. He got out of segregation in June and had to wait 3 months before he could get a job again. At the end of September he started back in the kitchen and now he has to get up at 4 AM every other day. He has managed to do several new drawings during this time which will soon be posted on his other blog, “Banished Art.” He wants to start to sell some of his work on E-Bay so we are trying to figure out how to do that.
Now that you have some of the background, I will post below selections from letters he wrote to me during this time.
Ani has been busy. He asked me to put some of what he wrote in letters to me from segregation on his blog. First, I think I need to give the reader a little background. In early March, 2013, he was getting used to his promotion from his job in the kitchen to a maintenance crew and anticipating the “4 rating” pay from 24 cents an hour to 42 cents an hour that accompanied the new job. All of a sudden I found him back in segregation. This is always an anxiety-provoking discovery for me. Sometimes he has just done something stupid - which is bad enough - and pays the price himself, but sometimes his bad decisions turn into really awful consequences for not only himself but others too. This time it was amazingly neither one.
My first goal was to find out what happened, but it is always difficult to find out what happened from Ani. His memory of events is stored in a jumbled way, full of holes and neither sequential nor connected. So his memory of “what happened” often doesn’t stick together in any way that makes sense to him or to others. Until we figured out that his brain was causing the problem, his accounts of things he experienced could sound like the worst lies you ever heard and my frustration with his crazy stories and his anxiety over not being able to answer questions often turned into some nasty arguments. This time, things were a bit easier as Ani had found himself in a seg unit near to a friend – a native brother. While in segregation, inmates are rarely taken out of their cells – and if they are taken out they are shackled hands and feet. However they do get one hour of outside “rec” a day. This consists of being put into a small individual wire cage. Each inmate is in his own cage, but the cages are in a row so it is possible to have a conversation with another inmate during this time which is how Ani came to be able to talk to someone. Ani’s friend also happened to be a self-taught legal specialist in institutional policies and procedures which is a sort of career someone can take up in the institution. Thus, his friend helped him to sort through his memory of the recent events by listening and being patient and interested enough to hear them over and over until the two of them had put the events together in a sequenced chain and discussed the connections between them. It is only because of this patient friend and their conversations through the cage walls that Ani could tell me what happened in a way that gave me a somewhat coherent picture and so I can now recount to you what Ani told me.
On the day he was put into segregation, the institution staged a surprise institution-wide “sweep search” of cells to look for contraband. Ani said that a search this big had not been done in the 11 years he had been at WCI. Since a search this size required more man/womanpower than the institution was able to support, they brought in new recruits to help out with the job. First thing in the morning, Ani was taken out of his cell and chained to the railing right outside his cell. He watched as two recruits searched his cell and found several non-punishable items which they confiscated. They gave him a paper listing what they had taken and told him to sign it. They then put him back into his cell and went on to the next. Later that day, someone came to get him and took him to segregation. When he asked what he had done, he was told they had found contraband in his cell. He was puzzled about what it was since he had seen what they had taken before and nothing on the list was a punishable offense. Several days later, he received his “ticket” which included a list of the items that were supposedly found in his cell. The ticked was signed by an officer who he knew and who was not there when his cell was searched. Ani has sent me the ticket and it says they found 10 porn pictures, 2 strikers (paper clips which are used to short circuit an electric cord and heat water), and 27 matches. Ani says none of those things were his and he did not have any of them in his cell. He says he thinks that in the confusion of such a large search things got mixed up.
Ani had only been in segregation about 10 days and was planning to contest his first ticket when he got a second ticket. This ticket was for possession of a credit card. The ticket said that he had written the numbers of his bank account debit card on a donation card for the Disabled American Veterans when attempting to give them a donation of $10. Possession of money in the institution is another contraband offense. Ani contested both tickets but was found guilty and received 90 days in segregation as punishment for them. He decided to appeal both tickets. This can be quite a lengthy and somewhat expensive process even when done pro se (without an attorney). You have to appeal up the chain of command within the Department of Corrections and then if that is not successful, you have to pay to file a Writ of Certiorari in a Circuit Court. Ani also has had to pay for a sheriff to serve the papers to the Warden. I know nothing about these things, but Ani has been helped by inmates who know how to do these things and by books he bought that explain the rights of inmates and how to do this. I have helped him by making copies of documents and then mailing them to the Circuit Court and then delivering them to the Sheriff’s office. Little things like finding out the correct address with a phone call or writing a check (I have POA on his bank account and can transfer money to myself to pay me back), make this something that almost requires that an inmate have someone on the outside to help. I have also helped by listening to his plan and then reminding him from time to time of what he said he wanted to do next, just to keep him on track. This will likely take at least 6 months of filing papers and writing briefs so it is on-going.
Doing this, and keeping the details of what he needs to do straight in his head, is very taxing for Ani and uses up much of his mental energy. He got out of segregation in June and had to wait 3 months before he could get a job again. At the end of September he started back in the kitchen and now he has to get up at 4 AM every other day. He has managed to do several new drawings during this time which will soon be posted on his other blog, “Banished Art.” He wants to start to sell some of his work on E-Bay so we are trying to figure out how to do that.
Now that you have some of the background, I will post below selections from letters he wrote to me during this time.
ANI GOES TO SEGREGATION AND APPEALS HIS TICKETS
3-22-2013 -
“I just spent $20 to get 131 pages of copies: The 303, “The Prisoners Guide to Prison Discipline” and “The Prisoner’s Guide to the Inmate Complaint Review System (I.C.R.S)”. The last 2 are from L.A.I.P. and it occurs to me that I probably could have just written them directly requesting those two manuals and saved myself about $17-$18. Hmmm, maybe next time. Its shit like that – thinking about stuff after the fact – that drives me batty. (er) :>p Whatever. So I did all that and watched the streetlights on the other side of the wall click on. Weird, eh? It’s Med Time so it must be after 8 pm. I took a banging nap this afternoon (11:30ish – 3:00ish) but I feel myself getting all yawny. But it was a big day – seg-wise, lots of interesting stuff. Visits and recreatings. [He had a visit from me and a conversation with his friend when out in the cage for an hour during “recreation.”] So let me tell you about “el”. His name is W.H., but I call him Willy. He’s a Native, but there’s been some people who whisper gossipy crap questioning his ‘blood.’ I’m not the type to usually question heritage since so much shit can go wrong with a person's…’paperwork’ I guess you’d call it. If I ever do question someone’s claim its because there are other problems with that specific person. I’m not immune to the more paranoid members of this band of Lake Michigan Paranoid Indians who always think that the administration is constantly trying to infiltrate and plant a stoolie in our midst. Generally, though I’m pretty accepting of most people. And every ‘skin whose opinion I trust is fine with El’s pedigree. But that has nothing to do with anything with the story I’m trying to tell.
Apparently several years ago while El was a pass warner he got implicated in some scandal involving a C.O. that was supposedly bringing in porn, tobacco, a cell phone, etc. So he got dragged into that mess – it was about the time I was a tutor. I remember because I went to night rec with him, Sun-dog, Jughead Pat, and Blacktooth Grin. (Don’t we have the best nicknames!?) So all us natives went to rec and it was shortly after that time that all this scandalous shit took place. So he’s been in the grip since then. First he did his time on his ticket and then they stuck him on A.C. [Administrative Confinement] and then they started writing one bogus c/r [conduct report] after another. So I haven’t seen him in some time and it was nice to talk to him and give him some news. He figures he’s got another 5 years up on this hill [in segregation] before he goes back to general population. What really bothers me about this is that what really screwed him isn’t that he was involved but that he wouldn’t name names. I’ve always believed that another man’s business is his business and if it doesn’t involve me then its none of my business. I respect a “stand up convict,” a person who can hold his mud. But there are Powers that Be that tend to get a little bit shitty when you don’t give them the information they think they have some right to. So I give El the respect for doing the right things and doing what needs to be done. But that’s how the game is played. We do dirt – they do dirt. It’s a zero sum game though, but that’s never really factored much into the equation. I’ve always wondered which world I had more respect for and I’m not sure I’m any closer to figuring out the answer than I was 20 years ago. I mean looking at either side you’re not going to find shining exemplars of humanity. Oh well. The bible says that after Cain slew Able Gawd marked Cain so that everyone he met knew Cain’s crime. My guess is that he made him wear green. And how do we know that this Able feller didn’t need killin’? So many questions.
2 days later…
“Another day shot in the butt and sent on its way. I got a new pen, my old one was acting up so I got a new one. See what I do to things that act up? ;) Har de har har. It snowed today – grainy little flakes, winds from the east. Must have snowed for 3-4 hours but no accumulation. Why bother if you’re not going to leave a mark of your passing? I found out from talking to El at rec on Friday that its been taking about 30 days to get a copy of the decision which seems to me to be not only over long but a bit calculated, too. Sort of a big ol’ ‘f-you’ to us people that have to sit in segregation. I have a theory that Waupun is using its segregation as a de facto housing unit rather than solely as a segregation unit. Meaning, that if suddenly a wave of rule abiding swept this place that there wouldn’t be 180 beds in general population. Which of course means that the administration needs to keep this place stocked with people. That would also serve to show how ‘dangerous’ and poorly behaved prisons and prisoners were. I don’t know. To be sure there are people here that have earned their way here being violent. I think that since Wisconsin was settled by a lot of order and discipline loving Germans that some how that need to impose rigidity and punishment seeped into our culture. Whatever.
From time to time I ponder trying to learn the law. I’m amazed by people who know it. Usually people who know it are some what condescending to those who don’t know the law; dispensing their “wisdom” and advice like they were the only ones who had the real insight and keys to freedom. But then I look at these paragons of knowledge and they’re invariably lifers or have been locked up for 20 or 30 years and I think, “like I’m going to take advice from some loser like you whos been locked up since the discovery of fire.” I don’t think so, then again I’m sure that knowing the law has helped a lot of people that really had no hope. I’m just not sure that my brain is made for the law. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I look at a citations and its gibberish, jargon, jabberwocky: “State ex rel. Anderson El 11 v. Cooke, 2000 WI 40,234 WIS 2d 626, 610 N.W. 2d 821” What the f- does that mean? I ask people that profess to know the law and they act like it either obvious or that they really don’t know. All I know is that it is the key to a lot of arcane powerful knowledge. I’ve got to know what it means.
DAYS PASS BY IN SEGRETATION AT WAUPUN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
3-2-3013 [Right after being put in segregation.]
"I'm trying to be positive but its not easy. I think that this little world that's been created inside of this prison has finally begun to wear me down - makes me want to quit.... It's funny but I think that the only way I feel alive is when I'm risking death or utter disaster. You'd think I have a deathwish but I don't - I want to live for ever. I love life - I love this world. I want to ride every ride, watch every movie, play every game. I love the variety and creativity of living and can't wait to see what's next around the corner. ...what I think happened is that somehow in the confusion of the lockdown that something got mixed up. So I soldier on. It seems like another round in an endless game of 'Gotcha'. ... I don't think I can 'prove' that I didn't have any contraband. ... What's weird is that this whole mess feels the same when I'm innocent than when I'm guilty. These people f__ up too. They make mistakes but when they do the bureaucracy - the Machine - it covers up for them insulating them from any consequences from their misdeeds. ... I wanted you to know that I didn't have any contraband, but the weirdest thing is that that fact doesn't matter here. I get treated just the same. Yeah, that really bothers me. I know that it goes with the territory but that knowledge gives me no comfort. Anyways enough bitchin' and moanin'. For the duration of this lockdown they've given us bag meals for breakfast and dinner, and a hot meal for lunch. It's been a steady diet of PB&J, cold cuts and apples and oranges. Today was the first bag meal that didn't have bolgna or Salami as the cold cut; today was turkey-ham."
3-4-13
"I had forgotten what it's like to be in seg - the land of the lost. I've heard countless pointless conversations about stupid shit. Drives me nuts. I have no earplugs so I can't block out the voices. Oh well. ... I'm trying to go through all the possible ways that the hearing officer can possibly find me guilty. My greatest fear is that he simply says that due to the 'lockdown' he'll allow the C.O. to write a bogus c/r. Or that he'll let her offer testimony on the behalf of CO "x" and CO "y", which is not usually allowed. Cuz I know the C.O. will say, 'no, I didn't search his cell - officer x and officer y did and I believe that they did recover the contraband from his cell and I believe them to be truthful.'
...it's not enough for my pride to simply prove my innocence - I want to deliver an eye poke and beat them with the stick they were going to use on me. It occurs to me that arrogance and pride will one day lead to my demise. One of the things you come to see as an inmate is how the employees of the DOC both overtly and subtly look down on you. I see it and I resent the hell out of it. I don't need to be judged by people that know nothing about me or my personal history. Now I know that not everyone employed by the DOC thinks that way - to some people that type of thinking is alien, abhorrent. Yet there is a very numerous powerful cadre who do think like that and aren't shy about showing it. It's like knowing that not everyone locked up is a 'career criminal', some are victims of circumstance - people who simply, at the worst possible times, made the worst possible choice."
4-30-13 [Ani is still in segregation but has moved up a level and now gets his TV and property. These are selections from his letters.]
"I know it’s not so much morning as it is afternoon (its 3 pm) but I just awoke a little while ago. I flossed, washed, braided, injested and excreted so I’m ready for the day. I did go to legal rec this morning so I don’t feel like an utter and complete slug. I also spent some time perusing my purchases from Hamilton [Books] that arrived today. Somehow looking at what I buy seems less fun than the “act” of buying them. Does that make any sense at all? It seems crazy; the wanting is better than the having. The two art books I bought were crappy and not what I thought they’d be; if I had saw them prior to purchase I probably would have passed. But they were worth $7, so I don’t know if I feel that I misspent $14. Then again- given the choice I probably would have spent that money on some other books. It’s not like I would have saved $14. ;0 Ha. ~~ I ate din-din (tater tot casserole. Yum! :P) and read my paper then planned my nights viewing."
5-2-13
"May already – time seems to disappear quicker as I age. Time on my first bit dragged while the last 11+ years pretty much sprinted by me. Weird doppler effect. ~ Ive been reading my Prisoner’s self help litigation Manual. Man, the law is pretty complicated. And there are no “easy” sentences in it. Its going to take me a long time to understand what I'm reading. Yet, I got nuthin’ better to do than read and reread this thing until I got it down cold. I think an hour a day is a good place to begin. Yesterday I got motivated and worked out. Did 108 pushups 8 sets. Woulda, coulda, shoulda done more but I stopped at 7 pm. Survivor was on y’know."
5-7-13
"It’s 11:30 pm and I’m switching between watching Zooey Deschannel on Letterman and Lauren Graham on Leno. I thought I’d give you a few minutes since I’m not too tired, getting there though. I stayed up rather late yesterday listening to my radio program. I’m getting too old for this. Not only is the music changing stylistically so much that it doesn’t sound like what was called heavy metal back when I grew up. That's not to say that I don’t like it, yet one band doesn’t sound all that much different than the next one. Not to mention that I used to spend way more time paying attention to what was going on musically. Nowadays I pretty much listen to what’s on commercial radio which is way different than what's being played on the “college” or “community” stations. Now it's the latter stations where trends are made; corporations rule the commercial airwaves. But what really wears me down is the fact that what I listen to only airs from 11pm – 2 am and 12 am – 1 am. I've been on “seg time” (early to bed; early to rise. A.k.a. Farmer time) since the last time I was on the hill. It worked out to my advantage when I had to get up early for food circus."
5-9-13
"See, I got this new fancy printwheel and I’m simply unable to contain my GLEE at having something new to play with. So now you get this typed letter. I know it’s not as personal as handwriting, but you’re a tough cookie and I think you’ll be fine. I used to hate when someone would say shit like that to me, “you’re a big boy, you can handle it.” Now I play it forward and say it when I’M the one doing the shitty thing. See how that works? And they say I don’t learn. Ha! I’m not the only person that has ever learned THAT lesson.
There’s still time. No one won the Powerball. Might be 300 million. I’m just saying.
The calendar is cool. I like all the room I got to write things. And its so big that it can’t hide from me. Sometimes my planner hides and makes me go on a hunt; thinks that’s funny. “Hey! Lets make the fat indian go nuts. Woooh-hooo!” Good times. The only thing I don’t like is that they give me all the holidays for both Mexico and the Canada, as well as the U.S. If I wanted to know Mexican Mother’s Day is on May 10 then I would have been born Mexican. But I’m not.
So ICI finally got around to REJECTING my complaint. No real surprise there. So I’ll go through the motions and file an appeal with the ARA and then it's court time. Now the rubber is gonna meet the road. I’m also going to drop another letter to El, and see what he has got to say. He thought a rejection would be in my best interest as far as time was concerned. They’ll do what they can to avoid the issues.
Time to get busy."
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
"The Walking Dead" by Mess'rs Kirkman, Adlard and Rathburn: A Book Review
Now these people know how a corpse should behave. This is actually the second compendium of awesome zombie rotten-ness. I admit that this series of graphic novels took a while to click with me. I initially didn't like Adlards art which I now view as nothing short of epic, and the premise I thought was a bit video-game inspired and an not good way. I do not like the comatose amnesiac protagonist as being creatively lazy. That aside the question is asked - in a world gone nuts to what ends would you go in order to survive? And apparently to these three men its a wide open smorgasbord (now there's a Scandinavian innovation I can support!) of human depravity. Cannibalism, murder, rape, wanton pillaging ... turns out humans are far more disgusting than the undead. Its layered, complex, and gross all in one - Love It!!
"Handling the Undead" by John Ajvide Lindqvist: A Book Review
Did not care for this book. Dour, dull Swedes are all the literary rage since "the girl with the dragon tattoo" foisted its boring depressing craptastic writing on an unsuspecting America. Lindqvist (how droll - spelled with a "qv" rather than a "qu", reinforcing how Swedish this guy really is) is touted as the Scandinavian Stephan King and a "master philosopher of the horror genre." I always said what the horror genre needed was a philosopher to put all the gory killings in perspective for me. Enter one John Ajvide Lindqvist. This book promised a "humanistic take" on zombies; when I think rotting shambling brain munching corpses I think whats missing is the humanism in all the brain eating. I never thought I'd hate zombies until I read this book. Be forewarned these zombies get down and...dance. What!?
"Halfhead" by Stuart B. Mac Bride: A Book Review
A Sci-fi thriller/mystery that claims to be an "International Bestseller." I always wondered what nebulous criteria must be met to claim that moniker. I think it must be sheer gall, if you have the nerve to claim it then its yours. Nothing screamed bestseller to me but I really wasn't disappointed even if you could see the ending broadcast a mile away. Its an imported book a first edition bound and printed in Great Britain (can't we all agree that the "Great" is long past and it should be simply Britain?). I wonder what a first edition paperback is worth? Not much, I'm afraid. Set in future Glasgow I'm getting a lot of colorful colloquialisms like "sodding," "bloody," and "bollocks," but my favorite being the inscrutable "bamheid" which I believe contextually means "looney." Its got a decent premise and setting, a truly fearsome female serial killer, and a protagonist that you don't want to kill yourself. Its also got a very sadistic take on the future of crime and punishment with a brutally heavy focus on the punishment aspect. It seems criminals (the worst of the worst [hate that phrase!] are subjected to "halfheading" - hence the title. Man, nothing escapes me! Half-heading consists of removal of the lower jaw, followed by lobotomizing and retraining to do manual labor. In the future there are no janitors just goofy looking simple minded criminals. Apparently this approach has done nothing to lower crime rates as there seems to be a veritable army of creepy looking felons.
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