"The strongest poison ever known / Came from Caesar's laurel crown."

[larryhammer]

A review of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition as a satirical dystopian novel. "This vision of humanity’s predicament has echoes of Samuel Beckett at some of his more nihilistic moments – except that Beckett allows his tramps to speak for themselves, and when they do they’re often quite cheerful. The sufferers of DSM-5, meanwhile, have no voice; they’re only interrogated by a pitiless system of categorizations with no ability to speak back." (via)

A late link is better than none: Commander Chris Hadfield records "Space Oddity" aboard the ISS. Well, just the vocals, guitar, and video were recorded in space -- the rest of the tracks were groundside. Still -- "SPACE ODDITY" IN SPACE. (via)

Instant better Thomas Kinkade paintings: just add Star Wars. The guy is better at vehicles than figures, though. See also added Cthulhu. (via)

---L.

Subject quote from "Auguries of Innocence," William Blake.

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That review of the DSM is a work of genius!

If there is a normality here, it’s a state of near-catatonia. DSM-5 seems to have no definition of happiness other than the absence of suffering. The normal individual in this book is tranquilized and bovine-eyed, mutely accepting everything in a sometimes painful world without ever feeling much in the way of anything about it. The vast absurd excesses of passion that form the raw matter of art, literature, love, and humanity are too distressing; it’s easier to stop being human altogether, to simply plod on as a heaped collection of diagnoses with a body vaguely attached.

[larryhammer]

It is brill.