http://will-self.com The official website of novelist and journalist Will Self Wed, 14 May 2008 18:22:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Michael Bywater reviews The Butt in The Independent. http://will-self.com/2008/05/14/the-butt-review/ Last time I was in Dublin, Vivian drove me round in a big black Merc; this time it's a still bigger and blacker Chrysler. "I should've bought a cement truck," he observes, as we ooze past the Point, a massive new shopping-cum-entertainment complex that's sprouting a small forest of large ... http://will-self.com/2008/05/14/boomtown-stats/ An interview from May 9 2007 http://will-self.com/2008/05/14/guardian-why-i-write/ of The Butt can be found here http://will-self.com/2008/05/14/an-amazon-reader-review/ Back in 1985 I was an inpatient at a drug rehab in the West Country and had genital warts that required regular and painful treatments. Each week I went to the STD clinic at the nearby hospital, where a middle-aged consultant applied an acidic preparation to the glans of my penis. ... http://will-self.com/2008/05/14/the-wisdom-of-whores-bureaucrats-brothels-and-the-business-of-aids-by-elizabeth-pisani/ Read Will's latest Psychogeography column here 10.05.08 http://will-self.com/2008/05/11/olympic-hurdles/ To listen to Will talking about The Butt on Simon Mayo's Radio 5 Live programme on April 24 2008, sign up to the podcast. http://will-self.com/2008/05/09/book-panel-with-simon-mayo/ Some 20 years ago, I had a long wrangle with the music writer Barney Hoskyns about the relative virtues of rock lyricists. Barney's view was (and I hope I'm not traducing him in any way) that simplicity was the key. The structure of pop songs - most of which derive ... http://will-self.com/2008/04/29/foreword-to-nick-cave-the-complete-lyrics/ This week, Will writes about how he overcame his motoring addiction 29.04.08 http://will-self.com/2008/04/29/i-used-to-love-driving-%e2%80%a6/ To Broadstairs, not to bathe – it being April – but merely take the air. The Isle of Thanet has always been a little problematic for me; I can't even say it without recalling Ian Dury's lines: 'I rendezvoused with Janet / Quite near the Isle of Thanet / She ... http://will-self.com/2008/04/28/dammit-thanet/