Today, books blew my mind

On tuesday, I went to the local library and borrowed two novels.

One was the classic Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, the story of a man who becomes obsessed with a 12 year-old girl.

Another was titled Roman by Audun Mortensen. I got the book without knowing what to expect. The cover revealed little as to its contents, but it made me curious. Mortensen is an author who I was only vaguely familiar with, having heard his name and possibly read a few of his poems. 

Now, here comes the mind-boggling part of my little library tale:

Roman is Lolita backwards. They are literally the same book, with just these two differences:

  • The characters have switched genders, Humbert Humbert becoming Sammy Sammy and Lolita becoming a little boy called Roman.
  • The sentences have changed order, and are presented backwards, the first sentence in Lolita being the last sentence in Roman.

Other than that, they are identical. They even use the same translation! On tuesday, I went to the library, and got the same book twice, except the second time backwards. And I did not realise until just now, thursday. That is a mindblowing coincidence. I do not know how to feel about that at all.

Excuse me while I clean up all the messy bits of my head which has exploded everywhere, and pick up all the balls which I am currently tripping.

I have seen into the future, everyone is slightly older.

Cosmo’s Ladder - Future of the Left. (via getoutofthoseshoesandgrowwings)

Existing is great!

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Title: Before The Hurricane Artist: Martin Newell 1 play

musiquediscreet:

Martin Newell (1953) is an English singer-songwriter who had a part in multiple bands but is best known for his work with lo-fi psychedelic 80s band (yes, a solid 25 years ahead of the trend) Cleaners From Venus. He also has released several solo albums, most notably The Greatest Living Englishman, produced (and many other things I suspect) by XTC’s Andy Partridge. On tracks like Before The Hurricane, Newell crafts proper chamber pop that sounds like what you’d expect from any Andy Partridge related project, catchy melodies and quirky harmonies abound.

Eg veit so vel, det finst ein Barm
med same Kjensla inne,
med same Hug og same Harm
og same Von og Minne.
Og fann eg den, vardt alting rett,
og Livet skulde skrida lett.
Men det er verst aa minnast:
me skulo aldri finnast.

Ivar Aasen, Saknad

mrstsk:

A Higashi-Osaka City bookmobile — or mobile library — visits the grounds of a Shinto shrine in the Asahi district, announcing its presence by continuously broadcasting an eerie, tinkling themetune.

Comparison of the eggs of various stick insect species. Wikipedia can be amazing sometimes.

(via unicodecharacters)

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Title: Chapter 5 supplement - Recording underwater Artist: Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine 22 plays

Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine attempting to buy condoms in Beijing (so that they can record dolphins underwater).

(via facts-i-just-made-up)