Radiant Void


Book Description

Karl De Mesa's Radiant Void is a collection of engaging and observant reportage and journalism on Philippine popular culture, from indie music, the comedy of Michael V, the rise of sleeping disorders among call center agents, to the rise of MMA in the Philippines."e;If there is one thing that's enviable in Karl De Mesa's writing, it's his sense of restlessness. Coupled with a zeitgeisty sense of phraseology and a penchant for the grotesque, this agitation-encapsulated in spitfire Hunter S. Thompson-vibe notes on a sort of continuing present-day doomsday (a socio-cultural doomsday, if you may)-is even more marked, even more gripping than in his already-golden fiction. I say this because, shit, what's more terrifying than the real world? In Report From the Abyss, De Mesa respects his subjects enough to offer himself up to a sort of voluntary drowning, a drowning in worlds not entirely his, an unwelcome, chest-thumping guest so snarky in prosody and observation-nay, journalism-that these very worlds are shaken, momentarily plucked from their otherwise steady orbits."e; - ALDUS SANTOS, Author of Vocalese (Poems) and Repeat While Fading"e;Karl R. De Mesa's writing is like a Mac running on a multi-core-fast, gripping and smooth. The only choking that happens is the one you feel at the base of your throat after reading it."e; - ISHA, movie soundtrack scorer, folk-jazz singer"e;Philippine culture is not a melting pot, as Karl De Mesa makes clear in this engaging set of essays on the rich smorgasbord that comprises the country. There are pop culture icons here, but also underground heroes, contemporary babes (Marian and Solenn), and discerning pieces on how "e;Jingle Magazine"e; and a defunct rock club shaped much of today's music culture without most of today fans knowing it. Then there's the reportage about deadly family feuds in Mindanao and sleepless call center agents, and you begin to wonder, all this in the same country? The flip side of disunity is diversity, and it takes a writer of Karl De Mesa's versatility to capture it in all its riotous glory."e; - HOWIE SEVERINO, news anchor, journo icon




The Roots of Transcendence


Book Description

Critical Acclaim for The Roots of Transcendence... From the Scholars: "This is a powerful book.... A true picture of the cross-fertilization of human history and culture....A major book, one of the signposts of the time." -Molefi Kete Asante, PhD, Chairman, Department of African-American Studies, Temple University; Author, Afroocentricity, and Rhythms Unity From the Psychiatrists: "A PIONEERING TEXT in Transego Psychology. The author envisions the next step in the development of human psychology. He raises the 'new' question that the self is not localized in the mind but is 'non-local, ' a field of interconnected relations.... A valuable model is presented to define psychopathological diagnostic issues and therapeutic treatment issues. Truly wonderful." -Richard D. King, MD, From the Preface; Author, African Origin of Biological Psychiatry From the Consciousness Researchers: "A daring leap involving new conceptual models.... Discusses the anxieties and stresses of our time while IT PROVIDES READERS THE TOOLS BY WHICH ANXIETIES AND STRESSES CAN BE ADDRESSED." -Stanley Krippner, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies; Author, Dreamtime and Dreamwork, and Your Personal Mythology "A mighty synthesis of knowledge and feeling, science and poetry, clinical observation and spiritual insight... which SPEAKS POWERFULLY TO LAY AND PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE ALIKE.... An important contribution to our understanding of the mind and its operation in the world." -John White, MAT, Author, Future Science, and Kundalini, Evolution and Enlightenment Here is the epic adventure of the rise and unfolding of human consciousness from its earliest days millennia ago, on through the first civilizations and down to contemporary times. The mythic Mitochondrial DNA, "mother of humanity," of 10,000 generations ago is used to personalize this journey for readers, a journey seen to be an integral part of each of us. This includes not only her shared African gene pool but also the neuro-biologically interwoven evolutionary impulse. How different personalities deal with this intelligent and luminous current is the primary thrust of this groundbreaking book that readers will find of extraordinary value in the exploration of human consciousness. Edward Bruce Bynum, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, family therapist, and Director of the Behavioral Medicine and Biofeedback Clinic, University of Massachusetts Health Services. He is the author of The Family Unconscious and Families and the Interpretation of Dreams. He has published widely in both popular and professional journals. Some of his work has been translated into German, Japanese and Russian. He is a student and a practitioner of Kundalini Yoga.




Dostoevsky and the Affirmation of Life


Book Description

Dostoevsky's philosophy of life is unfolded in this searching analysis of his five greatest works: Notes from the Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed, and The Brothers Karamazov. Predrag Cicovacki deals with a fundamental issue in Dostoevsky's opus neglected by all of his commentators: How can we affirm life and preserve a healthy optimism in the face of an increasingly troublesome reality? This work displays the vital significance of Dostoevsky's philosophy for understanding the human condition in the twenty-first century. The main task of this insightful effort is to reconstruct and examine Dostoevsky's "aesthetically" motivated affirmation of life, based on cycles of transgression and restoration. If life has no meaning, as his central figures claim, it is absurd to affirm life and pointless to live. Since Dostoevsky's doubts concerning the meaning of life resonate so deeply in our own age of pessimism and relativism, the central question of this book, whether Dostoevsky can overcome the skepticism of his most brilliant creation, is innately relevant. This volume includes a thorough literary analysis of Dostoevsky's texts, yet even those who have not read all of these novels will find Cicovacki's analysis interesting and enthralling. The reader will easily extrapolate Cicovacki's own philosophical interpretation of Dostoevsky's literary heritage.




A Season of Loathsome Miracles


Book Description

A vengeful witch twists time and space on her way to the pyre, and hundreds of years later, a woman loses everything to the addictive lure of omniscience. A Season of Loathsome Miracles has begun, a season untethered to the sun and spanning across centuries. A World War I flying ace is conscripted into war on a cosmic scale, and a musician of the distant future travels beyond known space to play the ultimate concert. A vice cop scours the streets of Manson-era Los Angeles in search of a sentient snuff film while, in our own time, a yoga student learns a new practice that transforms her, body and soul. Max D. Stanton's debut collection assembles thirteen short stories of gruesome horror, bleak ascensions, and gallows humor.




Hearts of the City


Book Description

From the late Herbert Muschamp, the former architecture critic of The New York Times and one of the most outspoken and influential voices in architectural criticism, a collection of his best work. The pieces here—from The New Republic, Artforum, and The New York Times—reveal how Muschamp’s views were both ahead of their time and timeless. He often wrote about how the right architecture could be inspiring and uplifting, and he uniquely drew on film, literature, and popular culture to write pieces that were passionate and often personal, changing the landscape of architectural criticism in the process. These columns made architecture a subject accessible to everyone at a moment when, because of the heated debate between modernists and postmodernists, architecture had become part of a larger public dialogue. One of the most courageous and engaged voices in his field, he devoted many columns at the Times to the lack of serious new architecture in this country, and particularly in New York, and spoke out against the agenda of developers. He departed from the usual dry, didactic style of much architectural writing to playfully, for example, compare Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao to the body of Marilyn Monroe or to wax poetic about a new design for Manhattan’s manhole covers. One sees in this collection that Muschamp championed early on the work of Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Thom Payne, Frank Israel, Jean Nouvel, and Santiago Calatrava, among others, and was drawn to the theoretical writings of such architects as Peter Eisenman. Published here for the first time is the uncut version of his brilliant and poignant essay about gay culture and Edward Durrell Stone’s museum at 2 Columbus Circle. Fragments from the book he left unfinished, whose title we took for this collection—“A Dozen Years,” “Metroscope,” and “Atomic Secrets”—are also included. Hearts of the City is dazzling writing from a humanistic thinker whose work changed forever the way we think about our cities—and the buildings in them.




The Poems of Octavio Paz


Book Description

Now in paperback, the definitive, life-spanning, bilingual edition of the poems by the Nobel Prize laureate The Poems of Octavio Paz is the first retrospective collection of Paz’s poetry to span his entire writing career from his first published poem, at age seventeen, to his magnificent last poem. This landmark bilingual edition contains many poems that have never been translated into English before, plus new translations based on Paz’s final revisions. Assiduously edited by Eliot Weinberger—who has been translating Paz for over forty years—The Poems of Octavio Paz also includes translations by the poet-luminaries Elizabeth Bishop, Paul Blackburn, Denise Levertov, Muriel Rukeyser, and Charles Tomlinson. Readers will also find Weinberger’s capsule biography of Paz, as well as notes on many poems in Paz’s own words, taken from various interviews he gave throughout his long and singular life.




The Dreams of Chang


Book Description




The Triangle of Master G


Book Description

This book is in memory of Vladimir Stepanov a.k.a. Master G Epitaph “The Lord’s knight, Master G, you’ve been accepting everyone coming to you, as you followed the word of the Lord. You’ve been warming us by the warmth of your heart and tirelessly have been admonishing us to study ourselves and the Holy Scriptures, and to aspire to God’s Holy Spirit.“ The Author’s Introduction The concept of inner development has always attracted me. Since my early childhood I have wanted to plunge into the mystery of our existence, to look behind so to say an unseen curtain which limits our perception. The majority of people do not believe that there is mystery behind the visible world. Therefore I could discuss these matters and my experiences with just a few friends who just like me had more questions than answers. I once met a person who pointed out to me a very unusual spiritual Path to which my heart felt irresistibly attracted. However it took me a year to put aside my old views and intentions and leave behind my old life and follow him on his continuous journey. The adventures and new experiences and the growth of my being were necessary in order to accept an incomprehensible teaching that this man has been carrying in his heart. The best definition of this teaching could be in my opinion ‘Russian Christian Hermeticism’, and its main practice was spiritual alchemy. However it did not seem to me appropriate to write another condensed and incomprehensible alchemical treaty and I just described it all as it happened. Finally, I should like to express my gratitude to my friends Gouri and Maria for their help in writing this book. They did a great job of preparing and editing the materials for this book and Gouri, in addition to it, has enriched the text with many details which had almost disappeared from my memory. Konstantin Serebrov, Moscow, January 2001




Red Tape (Book 3 of White Rabbit)


Book Description

With his life in complete meltdown in this world, Simon Cadwallader finds himself unexpectedly transported into an alternative reality. Hallucinogenic dream or a parallel universe? Either way, he arrives completely disorientated and with no memory of his previous life - not even his own name. As he gradually gets his bearings, it becomes apparent that our amnesiac hero is an unwitting participant in a game about which he knows nothing. Indeed, as the story unfolds, the absolutely pivotal nature of his role in this game becomes disturbingly clear, as does the multitude of attendant dangers. The four books of the series follow the stranded hero as he struggles through a world of which he is not part in his search for a way home. Alice in Wonderland for adults, Odyssey for the post-psychedelic age, or improbable mystical allegory, White Rabbit combines black comedy with surreal adventure into a weird and fantastical entertainment.




The Stone of Light


Book Description