18 Mar 2015 .. London .. sumwhere near Trafalgar sq .... read High-Rise by J.G. Ballard on the way here from Naples .. on the train to Rome then on the plane .. about a modern (written in 1975) high-rise bldg w/ all the amenities so u never have to leave .. a self-contained microcosm that slowly becomes detached from the rest of the world .. + of course mostly about the well-to-do occupants + how they become slowly unraveled .. denatured .. how technological progress leads to regress .. a devolution back to the primal state ..

High-Rise as scene from our current view

.. not exactly high-rise where we write now (only on the 5^th floor in this hotel) but can relate sumwhat in our 18^th floor living these past 2 years in NYC .. or even on planes .... the more creature comforts + conveniences u give ppl the more they focus on petty shit .. especially in such close proximity w/ other humans .... inevitably a hierarchy forms .. a true utopia or anarchy cannot exist .. just like in Lord of the Flies sooner or later ⍺-assholes come along to exploit the situation + take power .. pulling the rest of us back into the primal muck ..

on the train from Heathrow

.. Ballard has a knack for making a chaotic + strange world rife w/ violence seem completely natural .. part of natural selection .. as if the normalcy existing now merely masks or represses our true natures + desires .. inevitably the laws of entropy will default us back to a primal state of dog-eat-dog regardless of how much we try to act «civilized» or better our living conditions ..

.. thinking we'd love to see High-Rise turned into a film + google around + guess Jeremy Thomas already thawt of it .. wanted to do it in the 70s but never did but finally now in production as we speak .. slated for 2015 release .. Jeremy Irons plays the aging master architect (of the high-rise) that lives on the top floor—Anthony Royal .. for sum reason Gordon Lish popped in our head when we read about Royal .. but Jeremy Irons makes sense ..

reflecting off Tate

.. last night ate all sorts of ceviche w/ tiger's milk in Soho .. followed by Guinness in honor of St. Patrick .... today walked around .. across the river to the south bank > Borough market .. back across Tower bridge to Whitechapel > Bethnal Green > Shoreditch > Hoxton > .. stopped in @ the Artwords bookshop (not to confuse w/ Bookart bookshop also in Shoreditch < (coincidentally we also read Ballard on this 2009 trip)) .. but no room in our bag to get anything ..

reflecting off The Scoop

«In a sense life in the high-rise had begun to resemble the world outside—there were the same ruthlessness and agression concealed within a set of polite conventions.»

Borough market

Tower bridge

the Shard looming over Tower of London

goats rule

hedgehog (presumably Roa)

in action (Shoreditch)

along Sclater st

Chance st

.. then slogged across town to Warren st .. met J for pho .... back to the hotel .. met M for beers in Soho/Chinatown .. then met S + M for more drinks sumwhere in Fitzrovia .. on Charlotte street .. then ate @ The Barnyard ..