Friday, April 18, 2014

Phillip Somozo on Emanations: Third Eye



My friend Terrance Lindall -- artist and provocateur -- forwarded a recent review by art and literary critic Phillip Somozo of last year's literary anthology Emanations: Third Eye, which in part is praise of the artist "Bienvenido Bones Banez, Jr." and in part is praise of writer and literary critic Carter Kaplan, though also in part critique of them both! I will focus on the positive:
Book Review

Emanations: Third Eye anthology by International Authors introduces Surrealmageddon of Davao surrealist

By Phillip Somozo

Surrealmageddon (surreal + Armageddon), a term Banez coined to describe his phantasmagoric vision of the final battle between good and evil, was picked up by books author Carter Kaplan who used it as introductory title for his anthology Emanations: Third Eye, third of a series. This reviewer is motivated by Kaplan's reception of Banez's Surrealmageddon to scrutinize the former's introduction to Emanations: Third Eye.

Carter Kaplan is an American professor who had taught English and Philosophy for 30 years in many U.S. Colleges and in Scotland. He is a poet and had written a number of novels with philosophical and mythological themes.

Describing Banez as "pioneering philosopher of Surrealmageddon," Kaplan considers the Dabawenyo's vision of apocalyptic psychedelia as "a catalytic spec floating in the global crucible of morphing civilizations." What shapes the future, Kaplan rationalizes, is the global consumerist culture and he admits it doesn't seem very bright. Self-destruction, he elaborates, is built-in in the Homo s. sapiens because of greediness which, in the civilized world, is considered "not insanity." Kaplan's introduction, in effect, also concludes his interpretation of the anthology (subtitled Art of Ecstasy and the Ecstasy of Experiment) in the context of collective human thought deciding its own destiny. It is remarkable Kaplan corroborates Banez's cataclysmic semanticism.

The union of the terms surreal and Armageddon, a brilliant etymological updating, by Banez, modernized its semantic significance by redefining modernism's pinnacle to which society prophetically (and now affirmed by Kaplan's sound psychosocial arguments) is heading. The term could had been invented by Saint John the Apostle two millennia ago, if only John had knowledge of modern behavioral psychology and social dialectics. Bridging the gap between Prophet John and hermeneutic surrealist Bienvenido "Bones" Banez is artistic evolution.

Yet, I am sure not everyone agrees with Kaplan and Banez, not the inventors of artificial life-support systems (e.g. biotech, genetic engineering, transhumanism) who aim to perpetuate human life regardless if they have to alter nature, and the vested corporates who tweaked the nostril of the planetary Tao so that it has been desperately sniffing for the vanishing direction to its future since Modernism dawned.
There is more, much more, all of it somewhat obscure, though discernible with some effort, but I've received no website address, so I've nothing to link to. Part of my interest is that some of my poetry appears in the anthology, which can be ordered here.

I suppose this is less obscure for me than for some of my readers because I'm familiar with the individuals and their ideas -- and also because I've been reading a bit about "biotech, genetic engineering, [and] transhumanism" lately . . .

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8 Comments:

At 6:43 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Somewhat obscure" huh?

"Though discernible with some effort ... "

Reckon me drinking about ten beers before reading that again'd be "some effort" enough to get through from the obscure to the discernible?

(If I still did drugs I think I could maybe make heads or tails easier.

But only ... maybe.)

JK

 
At 7:09 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Drinking helps, but especially wine, for in vino veritas!

Jeffery Hodges

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At 7:01 AM, Anonymous bienvenido bones banez, jr. said...

Therefore they need LSD turn into ''Lucifer in the Sky within Distortion'' its like Reasoning into Babel!

*Bones*

 
At 7:22 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Nice reinterpretation, Bones! Thanks for the comment.

Jeffery Hodges

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At 7:49 AM, Blogger Carter Kaplan said...

I've posted the entire review in my blog:

Click Here

 
At 8:02 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Thanks, Carter.

Jeffery Hodges

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At 11:02 AM, Anonymous Bienvenido Bones Banez said...


From Facebook excerpted:
Carter Kaplan: Here's a response, of sorts, to Somozo's criticism of what he seems to think my religious views are):

A huge storm caused a violent and devastating flood. Smith, a devoutly religious man, was forced to climb to the roof of his house and hold on for his life. He prayed solemnly for God to save him. A couple of men in a rowboat came along and told him to get in, they would take him to safety. Smith said "No thank you, God will see to my safety." Reluctantly, they rowed away without him. Smith continued to pray. Then a raft with a few people aboard approached and they told him that they could get him to high ground. Smith said "No, God will save me. I have no doubt." Smith prayed some more, asking God to save him. Then some Sheriff's deputies approached in a motor boat and told him to get in. Smith refused. The deputies had no time to argue with him and pulled away. Smith prayed. The waters rose, and then rose some more. Smith soon drowned. Smith was a good man. His soul was guided directly to heaven where he was greeted by God himself. "Dear God," Smith said, "I prayed so hard, why didn't you save me?" God gave Smith an odd look: "I sent three damn boats to rescue you, why didn't get on one?"

Bienvenido Bones Bañez Jr. REPLY FROM:Phillip Somozo: I agree that Smith should have taken one of the boats. Too stupid of him not doing so. Still, having gone to heaven and talk to God suggests God saved him:-) in the afterlife that is. The story is somewhat analogous to orthodox belief that the world is not worth living in because heaven is Absolute Reality.
FROM:..Phillip Somozo: As for me, I want the best of both worlds! Thanks, for the response, Carter! I admit I made a mistake in thinking you wrote the Emanations 3 introduction alone, although somehow I atoned for that mistake by stating in my reaction that the international authors consented to the Intro's content. Just the same I am sorry for that mistake.

Bienvenido Bones Banez: But Phillip favor from Smith but for me its conflict to the paradise regain its not from heaven!. And according to Ecclesiastes 1:4- a generation is going, and a generation is coming ; but the EARTH is STANDING even to INDEFINITE. who told you going to heaven? read this Genesis 1:28 ; 2:15-18 - Paradise made on Earth for perfect humans. And not according to Smith. we trust in Bible word rather than Smith! And Paradise to be restored by God's Kingdom -- Matthew 6:9, 10; Revelation 21:3-5
The only going to heavens according to Revelation 14:4 & 5 - These are the ones that did not defile themselves with women; in fact, they are virgins. These are the ones following the lamb {Jesus Christ) no matter where goes. 5 - and no falsehood was found in their mouths; they are without blemish. They are to rule as kings over the earth--Rev.5:10
And here:
The 17th-century English poet John Milton had no such pessimistic thoughts. In his epic poem Paradise Lost, he wrote that God created the earth to be a paradise home for the human family. That original Paradise was lost. However, Milton believed that it would be restored—that a redeemer in the person of Jesus Christ would one day "reward his faithful, and receive them into bliss . . . in Heaven or Earth." Milton confidently declared: "For then the Earth shall all be Paradise."

Your Brother Bones

 
At 3:12 PM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Thanks, Bones.

Jeffery Hodges

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