William Burroughs: Preface to The Atrocity Exhibition
by William Burroughs (1970) The Atrocity Exhibition is a profound and disquieting book. The nonsexual roots of sexuality are explored with a surgeon’s precision. An auto-crash can be more more sexually...
View ArticleHas Reese Witherspoon read Crash?
The New York Times recently reported on the phenomenon of Los Angeles paparazzi inventing their own photo ops by crashing their cars into those of their celebrity targets. “Ms. [Cameron] Diaz recalled...
View ArticleJG Ballard Was Not Killed in a Car Crash
Over at who2.com, they write: “Ballard, like actor Matthew Broderick, is an honorary member of our loop Death By Car“. He’s joined by the usual Ballardian suspects – Princess Di, Jimmy Dean – as well...
View ArticleJGB on Jordan
A JGB-quoting story from the Daily Telegraph, on the ‘news’ that popular glamour model Jordan is to ‘write’ two novels - Several heavyweights of the literary world were impressed to have an unexpected...
View ArticleWhy I Want to Fuck Arnold Schwarzenegger
In the ongoing battle between the two movie stars: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Warren Beatty, there has already been a number of Ballardian moments. If Beatty actually throws his hat into the ring...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chariot of Fire: Preliminary Analysis & Damage Reconstruction of the Death of...
by Annik Hovac GRAVITY’S PEAK IS SURVIVABLE “About midnight, Diana walks out, all green eyes and friendly breast velocity. Dodi, her Prince, is there to sweep her away from the insatiable paparazzi.”...
View ArticleAt the Airport Hanger
BEATTY TRIES TO CRASH SCHWARZENEGGER RALLY By MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated Press Writer SAN DIEGO Actors Warren Beatty and wife Annette Bening tried to crash a campaign appearance Saturday by Gov....
View ArticleJG Ballard vs Dan Melchior
Googling for an mp3 of Orson Welles monstering, for semantic crimes, the director of the frozen-peas radio spot he was appearing in, I instead ended up with J G Ballard and frozen peas — in the 2002...
View ArticleClik here to view.
J.G. Ballard: The Complete Short Stories, vols 1 & 2 (2006)
OPENING LINE: “I first met Jane Ciracylides during the Recess, that world slump of boredom, lethargy and high summer which carried us all so blissfully through ten unforgettable years, and I suppose...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A User's Guide to the Millennium (1996)
OPENING LINE: “In his prime the Hollywood screenwriter was one of the tragic figures of our age, evoking the special anguish that arises from feeling sorry for oneself while making large amounts of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hello America (1981)
OPENING LINE: ‘There’s gold, Wayne, gold dust everywhere! Wake up! The streets of America are paved with gold!’. From the Carroll & Grad 1981 edition: A century after America’s financial collapse...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Invisible Celebrity Literature
No Fear of the Future, a new group blog that’s recently come on line, features a jaw-dropping analysis of celebrity culture from the talented Chris Nakashima-Brown. It begins by outlining the...
View ArticleThom Two
Writer Tim Footman unpacks the Thom Yorke/Ballard thing (I posted on Yorkey’s Ballard quote yesterday): I referred to [J.G. Ballard's Crash] in some depth when discussing ‘Airbag’, the opening track of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Structural Burglary
The infamous Texas Book Depository window, and the fatal frame from the Zapruder JFK assassination film. Abraham Zapruder was a tourist in Dealey Plaza whose amateur cine-film captured the President’s...
View ArticleThe Greatest
The Guardian has sparked off an unholy war: When the Guardian referred to Martin Amis as ‘Britain’s greatest living author’ last week, one reader was so outraged she threatened to emigrate – or worse....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ballardosphere Wrap-Up, Part 1
Photo: Stephen Hughes. Read recently… + Via Fanny Magnate, David Chandler’s essay on the work of photographer Stephen Hughes: Over the last five years Hughes has worked all over Europe, developing an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ballardosphere Wrap-Up, Part 3
+ KILLING CARS Rich, car-crashing idiot No. 2: Stefan Eriksson. Over at The Wrong Advices, Dan writes, ‘After watching Eddie Griffin destroy a Ferrari Enzo I was reminded of some of the other times...
View ArticleMore on Myspace
As I’ve been taken to task regarding my last post about the J.G. Ballard Myspace profile, in hindsight I can see that my tongue had actually pierced my cheek, and for that I apologise. Just to clarify,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sticking It to the Man
I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the image of musicians and artists, who have built a career on left ideals and a rigorous program of apparent anti-authoritarianism, accepting knighthoods,...
View ArticleQuote of the Day
Pertinent, in the wake of this and this: Tired after my meeting with Zander, I sat down and ordered a vin blanc from the young French waitress, who wore jeans and a white vest printed with a quotation...
View Article
