J G Ballard bot
@ballardbot.bsky.social
a thought from JG Ballard every day
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by: @mbonsall.bsky.social
using: https://bluebotsdonequick.com
more: https://fentonville.co.uk/digital-ballard/
The physical mass of the buildings and the discontinuity between street life that existed -- the two dimensions of the plane on the city floor and the hidden, concealed life going halfway up to the sky is very constraining.
November 10, 2025 at 3:25 PM
The physical mass of the buildings and the discontinuity between street life that existed -- the two dimensions of the plane on the city floor and the hidden, concealed life going halfway up to the sky is very constraining.
Curiously enough, I had very strong visual memories of the camp, but writing about it in detail brought back other memories that I'd completely forgotten: the terrible smell of the place, the heat and terrific humidity in the summer, and the fierce cold in the winter.
November 10, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Curiously enough, I had very strong visual memories of the camp, but writing about it in detail brought back other memories that I'd completely forgotten: the terrible smell of the place, the heat and terrific humidity in the summer, and the fierce cold in the winter.
The Space Age lasted about ten years.
November 9, 2025 at 11:25 PM
The Space Age lasted about ten years.
They find themselves in a world totally dominated by advertising, by a corrupt politics carried out as a branch of advertising, and by a reality that is a total fiction controlled by manufacturers, PR firms, and vast entertainment and media corporations.
November 9, 2025 at 3:25 PM
They find themselves in a world totally dominated by advertising, by a corrupt politics carried out as a branch of advertising, and by a reality that is a total fiction controlled by manufacturers, PR firms, and vast entertainment and media corporations.
After The Tesseract, the question needs to be asked.
November 9, 2025 at 7:27 AM
After The Tesseract, the question needs to be asked.
Years later, when I took up gliding, I realized what had spurred me on.
November 8, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Years later, when I took up gliding, I realized what had spurred me on.
And how much we enjoy it!
November 8, 2025 at 3:25 PM
And how much we enjoy it!
Careers have foundered trying to define what that means.
November 8, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Careers have foundered trying to define what that means.
A pretty shocking film, actually.
November 7, 2025 at 11:25 PM
A pretty shocking film, actually.
In the future of sex, men and women may not be necessary to one another.
November 7, 2025 at 3:25 PM
In the future of sex, men and women may not be necessary to one another.
Jacopetti's Mondo Cane series of documentary films enjoyed a huge vogue in the 1960s.
November 7, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Jacopetti's Mondo Cane series of documentary films enjoyed a huge vogue in the 1960s.
Hundreds of spy cameras, an army of wardens, a computerized surveillance system out of Alphaville -- in short, an Orwellian nightmare come true, but disguised as a public service.
November 6, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Hundreds of spy cameras, an army of wardens, a computerized surveillance system out of Alphaville -- in short, an Orwellian nightmare come true, but disguised as a public service.
Once you've dissected the cadaver -- thorax, abdomen, head and neck, etc, you go on to the more exhaustive anatomy of, say, the inner ear, and the metaphors aren't so generously forthcoming.
November 6, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Once you've dissected the cadaver -- thorax, abdomen, head and neck, etc, you go on to the more exhaustive anatomy of, say, the inner ear, and the metaphors aren't so generously forthcoming.
She smoothed the damp hair from my forehead, already working out the next move in the game she was playing with me, like an older sister with a docile small brother who would end up trussed and gagged in the toy cupboard.
November 6, 2025 at 7:25 AM
She smoothed the damp hair from my forehead, already working out the next move in the game she was playing with me, like an older sister with a docile small brother who would end up trussed and gagged in the toy cupboard.
Think of yourself in a wider context.
November 5, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Think of yourself in a wider context.
We are seeing the last vestiges of a literary culture.
November 5, 2025 at 3:25 PM
We are seeing the last vestiges of a literary culture.
What do they do to us on a neural level, on the unconscious levels of the brain?
November 5, 2025 at 7:26 AM
What do they do to us on a neural level, on the unconscious levels of the brain?
It doesn't work out like that!
November 4, 2025 at 11:25 PM
It doesn't work out like that!
It was a great education; when you see the truth about human beings it's beneficial, but very challenging, and those lessons have stayed with me all my life.
November 4, 2025 at 3:25 PM
It was a great education; when you see the truth about human beings it's beneficial, but very challenging, and those lessons have stayed with me all my life.
Ten minutes later I was soaring around the house like a bird, my mind a window filled
November 4, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Ten minutes later I was soaring around the house like a bird, my mind a window filled
Someone of 19 who can only sum up his own ambition in terms of money and fame -- for god's sake that's the end, that's the death of the spirit.
November 3, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Someone of 19 who can only sum up his own ambition in terms of money and fame -- for god's sake that's the end, that's the death of the spirit.
People will still work -- or, rather, some people will work, but only for a decade of their lives.
November 3, 2025 at 3:25 PM
People will still work -- or, rather, some people will work, but only for a decade of their lives.
What I'm against is nothing but McDonald's.
November 3, 2025 at 7:24 AM
What I'm against is nothing but McDonald's.
If my novel or Cronenberg's film, Crash, had been about a small group of people who got their kicks from crashing aircraft, you would be getting close to the absurdity of Catch-22.
November 2, 2025 at 11:20 PM
If my novel or Cronenberg's film, Crash, had been about a small group of people who got their kicks from crashing aircraft, you would be getting close to the absurdity of Catch-22.
Even in the privacy of our own homes we had all been recruited to play our parts in what were little more than real-life commercials.
November 2, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Even in the privacy of our own homes we had all been recruited to play our parts in what were little more than real-life commercials.