English, because why not?

One of the buildings in the header picture at the right angle of the sun and with a solid portion of luck will actually melt the paint off of your car. Fun fact of the day.

I don't know why, but I feel like posting in English today. Any English readers out there? Shout it out in the comments. I am insanely happy to see what is going on in the Leipzig comedy scene. Look, I am coming and will always cite my time in Shanghai as the start of my comedy career. That is just what I say, the reality is, that I went on stage maybe 5 times over the course of one year. Check out Kung Fu Comedy on Youtube here. Just to have fun and talk about stuff that I find funny. I had no ambition to take comedy seriously whatsoever. I heard the tips, but I didn't follow through. Recently through Ho-Ho-Hong-Kong, the late Mamahuhu (and The Mythic Picnic Podcast) as well as other things that happened in Shanghai during my 8-year tenure there. The old Mamahuhu videos make me miss Shanghai, they make me laugh and occasionally cry. But most of all, I really regret taking the chance of being an active part of Comedy and Mamahuhu back then. It was right up my alley, and I was more locked into a standard career. That makes sense looking back, as I always prioritised stability over chances of what my heart tells me to do. Shout out to all of you, and I am insanely happy and proud the way you moved forward, and I wish you all nothing but success and maybe our paths will cross again.

There is English comedy in Leipzig and shoutout to Unfenced Comedy. I made sure to jump on the first opportunity to do a set there, and it was a punched-up set of my five times or so in Shanghai, and it killed. First I thought I shouldn't do English and German comedy at the same time, because one will eventually suffer, but maybe that is a limiting belief.

Maybe I am writing this in English because I will be in London again in 3 weeks or so. I will catch up with good friends and hold a keynote for work. It's time to grow the geographical area I am active in again, and I am happy to do that. Maybe it is also because I read one of the most insane books I ever laid eyes on. Now that I have lulled you with comedy further down this article, here is my review of the latest book I finished:

Cows by Matthew Stokoe

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Woah! What a ride.

This was sick. In the best and the worst sense. Cows starts out in a dystopic world not unlike Eraserhead. Steven lives in a small and dirty flat and the "hagbeast" aka his mother is feeding him horrendous food (that makes him sick) while a loving dog "dog" drags his useless hind legs through said flat. Steven starts working at a meat processing plant. For cows. There things are different. Everything is bright and there seems to be joy and power coming from killing and processing cows.

It's surreal. It's absolutely dark and disgusting and the story takes twists and turns that are surprising, vomit-inducing and at times "funny".

If you are easily disgusted, then this is not the book for you. However, for horror and gore fans that are looking for a ride, then this might be for you. I think I looked for the sickest books in history and this was in the top ten. So I bought it. And this book deserves a high place in the list.

My reaction to the middle part of the book was almost like watching the first Transformer movie. At some point it got so ridiculous that it was just so much fun. I couldn't put the book down. Minor spoiler: a cow starts talking at some point, and then it gets so insane that you can't help but enjoy the ride. Towards the end it gets even darker than the beginning and the ending is just sick, twisted and absolutely gut-wrenching. This shouldn't go together, but it just works. It goes from Eraserhead to Dances With Wolves (more literally and replace wolves with cows) to Martyrs mixed with Inside. Uff!

If this was a movie and say Wes Anderson would direct it, it would still be one of the sickest movies you could watch...

The writing is a joy. Fast, to-the-point and as disturbing as it is fantastical. I lived in that world and went through a lot of emotions. I can't call it fun, but it was interesting and kind of what I expected while still surprising me. Not only that, but I will read more from Matthew Stokoe.

Be warned: this is not for your avid reader, but the overarching theme and the psychological undertones are thought-provoking - this book will not leave me for a while, and that is not a bad thing. It's a bit like Martyrs (the French movie) where the violence and twisted darkness does have something to say and that is why I liked this book.

View all my reviews

Now let that sink in. Anyway, have a fantastic time and leave me a comment or let me know if you are reading on here and enjoy it.