Presents of Mind

If Santa left you disappointed this year, you could do worse than download the pdfs to the translations of Cornelius Castoriadis's Rising Tide of Insignificancy, Figures of the Thinkable, and A Society Adrift, and then self-publish them using Xlibris, Lulu.com, or one of the other online publishing ventures. I gave my copy of A Society Adrift the rather gloomy cover above, but there's nothing to stop you tarting up your edition with pictures of bald-headed Greeks, Molotov-lobbing Athenians, or a large cock. Whatever takes your fancy.  It makes them easier to read on the train if you don't have an iPad, and there's a good chance people will ask what it is you're reading.  Especially if it has a large cock on the front.

A Happy New Year to All Our Reader

We collectively promise to be more productive next year.

Not more interesting. Just more productive.

My Brilliant Blogging Career

...or "how the internet killed my brain and sprained my wrist by telling me lies and feeding me too freely available porn."

But that's enough of that. Here's something for you: I watched the remake of The Karate Kid the other day. The kids in my class chose it as their end of term DVD treat and though my heart sank as I counted the hands in the air I actually really enjoyed it on the whole. Here's the thing though - it has no Karate in it. The new version is set in Beijing and since Karate is a Japanese martial art we see Jackie Chan (who is an absolute revelation, by the way) imparting the ways of Kung Fu (you're thinking of David Carradine now, aren't you?) to Will Smith's lad.

You should have called it The Kung Fu Kid, you fucking tossers!

Would I have been as angry about that when I was twenty two as I am about it now? We'll probably never know. The Kung Fu Kid. It has Kung Fu in it. Not Karate. Karate is Japanese. It should have been called The Kung Fu Kid. Is that really too much to ask?

Bah.

Merry Christmas, everyone.