It's been 20 years since I read JG Ballard's "Millenium People" but I find myself thinking about it a lot these days. Upon its release it seemed vaguely out of step with the times - while everyone was concerned with Islamic terrorism and the "clash of civilizations", Ballard was predicting the re-emergence of a radical and violent strain of politics which would come from the upper middle classes, most likely out of sheer boredom. It was a great read and, two decades later, it seems incredibly prescient. He followed it up with the similarly-themed, and also excellent, "Kingdom Come" then, sadly, went and died on us. I've been meaning to re-read both for a while but I never seem to get around to it. If anyone's read either recently I'd be interested to hear if they stand up as well as I remember.

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Ballard was so, so good but sadly seems to have fallen into a bit of neglect since he died even as our society falls further into uniquely Ballardian forms of insanity.

I think Miracles of Life was his last (non-fiction), but I've yet to read that one. It's amazing how his books seems so cinematic, your two mentions, cocaine night, super Cannes. But apart from Crash his fiction hasn't really been taken up (High Rise was p dissapiiting so not counting lol). You'd think with so much dystopian TV/film adaptations would make sense, but alas no. Probably for the best really. I suppose both cronenberg's are indebted to him massively. Have you seen the latest Brandon cronenberg? Infinity Pool?

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/books/j-g-ballards-memoir-miracles-of-life.html

Sorry I didn't want to akkksshuualy you btw lololffs

Yeah, I wasn't counting "Miracles of Life" but I fully deserve to be ackshullied from time to time. I haven't read it either - I bought it when it came out and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since.

Cocaine Nights would make an excellent film, but as cinematic as his stuff is, there's still a weird psychological dimension cinema can't reach. Crash was good, but nothing in the book. Haven't seen High Rise (came out after I entered my bubble - the only non-kids film I've seen since 2008 was the Alan Partridge film) or Atrocity Exhibition. Hadn't even heard of Infinity Pool.

oh yeaaah there was atrocity exhibition too, didn't really count that cos it was more art video-y than what i was thinking.

well, if you decide to peer out the bubble i think Possessor and Infinity Pool by cronenberg jr might be interesting in a pretty ballardian way. I should watch daddy cronenberg's Crimes of the Future. I'm always whingeing about having nothing new to watch.

I don't want to talk about the pile of unread books today 😭😭😭😭😭

Sorry. Coming back to this lol. There is also somewhat of a trend in current media (TV/film) of actually the 'dark side' of being rich. But sort of as an enjoyment (I'm NOT saying it's a payop lolol). A sort of rich despair porn 'but look how miserable they are'. You might not have seen this from your bubble eg Triangle of Sadness, Succession... Off the top of my head. Just thought it was interesting in comparison to the Ballard you mention.

I haven't seen them but I think I'm familiar with the phenomenon you're talking about - Bret Easton Ellis (who I like) seemed to pioneer it. Or am I off track?

Yeah, probably is a BEE influence, I suspect there's more of a moral message and vicarious enjoyment of punishment in these versions.. maybe. Could be wrong. BEE has /will have a new book out too. Does your bubble extend to books?

Books are very much inside the bubble - part of the reason I quit movies and TV was to devote more time to reading and writing. That said, I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction and I haven't got around to reading the last two Ellis novels. I will at some point though.

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"Heaven gives us only one life, but with the help of books we live a thousand." Jay Christophf