[Main Blog Post] A Few Thoughts on Slack

[jprussell]

If you've ever bumped up against the Church of the Subgenius, then you know "slack." I give my own take on what it means to me in my latest post.

Comments

Re: Slack Seeker

[jprussell]

I'll have to check that one out too.

As for Philip K. Dick, I have, well, mixed feelings. Some of his stories are absolutely brilliant, and he was always incisive, but later on in his life/career, the cynical paranoia really crept into everything. I have heard that of the movie adaptations, A Scanner Darkly is likely the most accurate. That being said, I plenty enjoyed Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report, despite (because of?) the liberties they took with the adaptations.

Re: Slack Seeker

[(Anonymous)]

I like the schlocky/pulpy stuff too. Blade Runner is my wife's favorite movie, and despite the flying cars, I even the sequel was pretty good. Total Recall was a favorite as a kid/teen -and it still holds up.

Of course PKD did get very paranoid -but what I like about his later novels is the mystic gnosticism and contemplation you get in VALIS (with its mysterious satellite), The Divine Invasion & The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. Ideas about reincarnation and different states of reality, really spoke to me.

While I might not agree with his views about the world as a "black iron prison" per se, as someone who was exploring reality or realities, I really felt like PKD was also in line with others around his time -Robert Anton Wilson for instance.

In any case... sorry to get off topic. Just enjoying some slack on the job, before I get back to work.

Re: Slack Seeker

[jprussell]

Maybe I ought to revisit more of his work now that I'm a bit weirder myself!

And no worries - I don't yet have enough commenters to be overly worried about staying on-topic.