20220530 - Review: Seconds

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Finding better worlds,\ replacing others with shrooms, \ abandoning life.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: Seconds

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Enjoyed reading Bryan Lee O’Malley’s “Seconds” over the course of a day. April owns the physical copy which is immaculate in publication quality, and we share a bit of a bond over reading Scott Pilgrim together. “Seconds” follows Katie, a chef who helped establish the titular restaurant, who was struggling to get her own restaurant “Lucky’s” off the ground and had resorted to walking around while tripping on red mushrooms that had the ability to remedy any one specific issue within Seconds. Katie was able to see house spirits, like Liz, but she often ignored their demands.

“They change things, Hazel.”

Bryan Lee O’Malley’s writing and art style formed a whimsical setting that tackled challenging and dark adult themes. Katie learned to deal with moving on from a past success that was owned by someone else, with wanting to fast track her next project, with giving up control while allowing others to handle her worries and desires. At its core, “Seconds” is about dealing with one’s problems instead of wishing them away.

“Don’t you want to try?”

Consequences become worse every time Katie takes a mushroom to redo an issue she has with Seconds, where the effects are incurred by the book’s side cast including Seconds waitress Hazel, Katie’s ex-boyfriend Max, Seconds manager Raymond, Lucky’s business partner Arthur, and Katie’s current-fling Andrew, among other background characters, where Katie’s reactions to these effects act as the catalysts for the plot’s constant forward motion.

Other-Katies were abandoning their worlds in the same manner that Katie was changing hers. The witch was, spoiler alert, another house spirit taken from Lucky’s who mirrored Katie’s story; consuming others' worlds in place of their own. Liz and the house spirits symbolize how one must take care of their house, how ignoring one house was unable to substitute another and how using substances of any kind to ignore one’s issues affects those in one’s life.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

... Updated 221015 

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... updated 22 09 05 

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These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection. Stay tuned to HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair, via our emailing list and social media, for mindful meditation haiku / scifaiku poetry based on book reviews and on previews of metaphysical stories, such as the superhero inspired sci-fi "Escape Perennial City" (available on Kindle Unlimited): https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

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These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on Medium and Goodreads. “Hector Blake” is also free to read online alongside book reviews and articles: https://haikuprajna.medium.com - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms: Electric Armchair - Feast of Fools 

https://album.link/y/OLAK5uy_mwn2Kg_wXCjcg4TWf12bBrG0m_unVlZUM

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Every week, you can collect an ebook on Free Fridays! Selection rotates every few weeks; collect them all! 

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Get book previews and mindful meditation haiku \ scifaiku poetry from my metaphysical and magical realism stories (like the sci-fi superhero novel "Escape Perennial City", available on #KindleUnlimited!) sent to your inbox for free Alchemic Wisdom from @electricarmchair and @haikuprajna via the emailing list over here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html  

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20220523 - Review: A Scanner Darkly

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Feeble existence,\ seeing purpose for all things.\ Empty death without.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: A Scanner Darkly

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“Entering the phone booth, he did a phone thing.”

In “A Scanner Darkly”, Philip K. Dick offers a glimpse into the lives of those suffering from substance abuse. Consumerism is used as a central role in the day-to-day of the cast of characters in order to display the similarities between the “straights” and the “heads” in the hope of instilling a sense of empathy and compassion toward human beings who experience tragedy.

“Someday, he thought, it’ll be mandatory that we all sell the McDonald’s hamburger as well as buy it; we’ll sell it back and forth to each other forever from our living rooms. That way we won’t even have to go outside.”

This story is rife with love-it-or-hate-it scifi-concept mentions like malls that repel those without credit cards, where the juxtaposition between mundane conversations and in-depth descriptions of neurochemistry help drive the book’s main plot--which follows the deterioration of an undercover narcotics agent’s psyche while reporting on himself--by symbolizing the way one’s intellectual brain cannibalizes itself and its creative counterpart during addiction, with a focus on the individual’s altered conscious experiences over the medical jargon.

“‘How do we stop them, sir?’ ‘Kill the pushers,’ Arctor said…” 

An emphasis on the effects of paranoid episodes attempt to shed light on the biological or evolutionary functions of these hindrances, on how paranoia could both prepare one to defend themselves while also leading to complete dissociation or to the belief of vivid fantasies. Consumption leads to compulsion which leads to addiction and ends in death, and Philip K. Dick argues that this is true of any substance, from D to weed to McD’s, and that one must find a way to rise above this. Good examples of the duality of paranoia were shown whenever Bob Arctor had formed assessments of Barris’s activities.

“After he saw God he felt really good, for around a year. And then he felt really bad. Worse than he ever had before in his life. Because one day it came over him, he began to realize, that he was never going to see God again; he was going to live out his whole remaining life, decades, maybe fifty years, and see nothing but what he had always seen…”

The flip side of this paranoia can be seen all throughout the story in the form of Bob and Fred’s split and decline, where we witness him watching his own intellect toiling as his psyche burnt away so that he functioned merely as an eye for others. Twists related to this are well teased through the story with the descriptions of cop cars and inconsistencies in characters. If there’s a prevalent message here, it’s that one has to find the philosophical ‘good’ in everything, that there’s a use for even the worst of human suffering, up to and including the different forms of Death.

“And the black-and-white wolf had never complained; he had said nothing even when they shot him. His claws had still been deep in his prey. For nothing. Except that that was his fashion and he liked to do it. It was his only way. His only style by which to live. All he knew. And they got him.”

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

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These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on Medium and Goodreads. “Hector Blake” is also free to read online alongside book reviews and articles: https://haikuprajna.medium.com

April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms: Electric Armchair - Feast of Fools 

https://album.link/y/OLAK5uy_mwn2Kg_wXCjcg4TWf12bBrG0m_unVlZUM

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Every week, you can collect an ebook on Free Fridays! Selection rotates every few weeks; collect them all! 

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If anyone reading this has a Medium account and needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me and I'll follow you back! Thanks to you guys, I've reached 100 followers! #MediumWriter #Medium

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20220509 - Review: The Epic of Gilgamesh

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Caring for the dead, \ defying the deities, \ building pantheons.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: The Epic of Gilgamesh

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The Epic of Gilgamesh follows many of the exploits of the titular semi-historical Sumerian god-king across the fragments of numerous tablets.

The story involves Mesopotamian myths with gods as embodiments or personifications of nature. The adventures include tales of Fate and Death that pit humans against the gods, and even details a deluge story with Utnapishtim the Distant and his wife, who were transcended to be among the gods--which I believe meant they, like the deified Gilgamesh, had become an idea or a myth like the gods.

Gilgamesh’s relationship with Enkidu is (one of) the oldest example of two very popular tropes in media today; adversaries becoming best friends, and the death of a prominent character that propels the protagonist into the rest of their quest. 

“... this plant is a plant of great renown [or transformation]; and what man desires in his heart, he obtains. I will take it to Uruk the strong-walled, I will nurse [plant] it there and then cut it off. Its name is: 'Even an old man will be rejuvenated!' I will eat of this and return [again] to the vigor of my youth."

In true ancient heroic fashion, Gilgamesh achieved his goal to be reunited with his slain friend. He defied the gods by denying Ishtar's love for him, overcoming her sacred and mortal armies “that ruin men”. This was a story, in my opinion, meant to give the people who read it the insight on how one could overcome any problem that one could face.

"'Take good care of your dead.' He is properly cared for who rests on a soft couch, and drinks pure water…”

The Epic of Gilgamesh teaches its audience about the transcendence of objects into ideas via death, and about choosing the gods one follows through life; all the deities in the universe are lesser than the transcendent forms of one’s life.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

...

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on Medium and Goodreads. “Hector Blake” is also free to read online alongside book reviews and articles: https://haikuprajna.medium.com

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering? Get book previews and mindful meditation haiku \ scifaiku poetry from my metaphysical and magical realism stories (like the sci-fi superhero novel "Escape Perennial City", available on #KindleUnlimited!) sent to your inbox for free Alchemic Wisdom from @electricarmchair and @haikuprajna via the emailing list over here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms: Electric Armchair - Feast of Fools 

https://album.link/y/OLAK5uy_mwn2Kg_wXCjcg4TWf12bBrG0m_unVlZUM

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Every week, you can collect an ebook on Free Fridays! Selection rotates every few weeks; collect them all! 

https://www.amazon.com/Allen-W-McLean/e/B0867C5D24

If anyone reading this has a Medium account and needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me and I'll follow you back! Thanks to you guys, I've reached 100 followers! #MediumWriter #Medium

20220508 - Overseer of the Forest

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Loving the Forest, / taking care of the living, / the hearts remember.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Overseer of the Forest

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Happy Mother's Day to the strongest and most hard working mother in the world. I love you forever, xo.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

20220507 - FCBD 2022

 

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#HAIKUPRAJNA -

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Happy Free Comic Book Day! May update this post later with a haiku. Was wishing to find a few others like Bloodborne, but I'm happy nonetheless. Support your LCS!

April and I also picked up this cutie that she named Tomothy.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

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Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering? Get book previews and mindful meditation haiku \ scifaiku poetry from my metaphysical and magical realism stories (like the sci-fi superhero novel "Escape Perennial City", available on #KindleUnlimited!) sent to your inbox for free Alchemic Wisdom from @electricarmchair and @haikuprajna via the emailing list over here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms: Electric Armchair - Feast of Fools 

https://album.link/y/OLAK5uy_mwn2Kg_wXCjcg4TWf12bBrG0m_unVlZUM

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Every week, you can collect an ebook on Free Fridays! Selection rotates every few weeks; collect them all! "Hector Blake" is also free to read online alongside book reviews and articles: 

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/03/20220323-hector-blake-second-edition.html

If anyone reading this has a Medium account and needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me and I'll follow you back! Thanks to you guys, I've reached 100 followers! #MediumWriter #Medium

20220504 - May the Fourth 2022

 

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Hopeful prophecy, / forced to rule the galaxy, / balance shall have peace.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - May the Fourth 2022

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Happy Star Wars Day 2022! Bringing balance to the force taught us the necessity of transcending evil into good. I grew up watching the movies, playing the games and reading the books. Today, I have a stack of Star Wars comics that I’ll be writing reviews for. 

May the force be with us all on and beyond this May the Fourth!

Here's another haiku from 2019's Revenge of the Sith inspired May Fifth!

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The Jedi foretold / that the Sith would rise again, / that they would not win. 

#HAIKUPRAJNA - May Fifth 2019

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Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

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Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering? Get book previews and mindful meditation haiku \ scifaiku poetry from my metaphysical and magical realism stories (like the sci-fi superhero novel "Escape Perennial City", available on #KindleUnlimited!) sent to your inbox for free Alchemic Wisdom from @electricarmchair and @haikuprajna via the emailing list over here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms: Electric Armchair - Feast of Fools 

https://album.link/y/OLAK5uy_mwn2Kg_wXCjcg4TWf12bBrG0m_unVlZUM

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Every week, you can collect an ebook on Free Fridays! Selection rotates every few weeks; collect them all! "Hector Blake" is also free to read online alongside book reviews and articles: 

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/03/20220323-hector-blake-second-edition.html

If anyone reading this has a Medium account and needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me and I'll follow you back! Thanks to you guys, I've reached 100 followers! #MediumWriter #Medium