“… most people are about a billion times more likely to have a chance to dream about having sex with someone not their spouse than to have a chance to push a fat man on roller skates in front of a trolley. ”
253 is a novel in html, with a non-linear structure and contextual links, set on the London Tube. Interesting if you like that sort of thing, but if you think the idea is pretentious/stupid you probably won’t enjoy it.
That’s the Funky Four Plus One, and the picture’s taken from The Rub, who’ve apparently extended their History of Hip Hop mix series all the way up to 1999! There’s now a mix for every year from 79 to 99 - 21 in all.
Gantz is a manga whose plot is pretty hard to describe - people die, but then go on missions fighting aliens, basically. There’s a lot more to it than that - it’s extremely violent, and most of the characters get killed off right after you’ve formed any attachment to them, making it more complex emotionally. Plus there’s gratuitous nudity; it’s obviously aimed squarely at teens (to the point where most chapters begin with a mostly topless pinup with guns, which has made for slightly awkward reading in public places).
But beyond that there’s a lot going on below the surface, which has made it pretty interesting reading for me, even though I’ve pretty much never been terribly interested in manga before.
(The translations at the link seem to start off pretty well, but then switch to a different translator who’s much more prone to typos and stilted language. I understand that sometime this year they’re being properly released as translated editions in the US, so if you happen to enjoy this, you might want to look into that.)
(Also I’m not sure who of my friends that read this would be into this - I’m mostly putting it here so I don’t forget where to find it.)
“As a child, Lord Macaulay clearly took a different view. Supposedly, he kept completely schtum until the age of four, saying nothing until one day, on being accidentally scalded with hot coffee and comforted by a guest, responded: ‘Thank you madam; the agony is somewhat abated.’”
