sms sugar man: A journey up the arse of god
A journey up the arse of God
Sugar Man and Other Bitter Stories
Aryan Kaganof
2002
Pine Slopes Publications
Aryan Kaganof’s second novel begins with quotations from Puerto Rican singer Jesus Rodriguez and Baudelaire and is informed by a quotation from Heraclitus: “Nothing worthwhile is gained without strife”. Existing within the same essentially South African Hell which informed his earlier novel Hectic!, Sugar Man is a work of many levels. Hectic went for the gut with the clarity of a Charles Bukowski. Sugar Man plumbs the depths of a Hell that is on Earth with the precision of Georges Bataille or Edgar Allen Poe. The eponymous Sugar Man, a drug-dealer and philosophical low-life is searching for the drug lord known as the Dark Magus. To truly know the Dark Magus he must become the Dark Magus. This is a journey that leads to death or possibly to realising that he is dead already. Street girls with drug habits pepper the narrative with names such as Nameless Nobody. There is also an array of blondes, perhaps all of them one blonde, perhaps not. Their melanin deficiency is a sign of a particular form of vampirism.
And then there are the meetings with film producers. Kaganof as a successful filmmaker knows this world well, especially the bullshitters, liars, pretenders, sniffers and snorters that do penance in these halls of Karma. Sugar Man takes time out for three such meetings within the narrative. Many of the characters described are mighty close to real celebs of South Africa’s belicose film industry. For those who haunt the places where people with projects congregate, these narrative asides are worthy of note.
No easy read, Kaganof takes his search into the dark side, even unto the very ends of the cosmos, up the very arse of God. J.K.Rowling beware. Sugar Man is a mature Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the Chamber Pot of Secrets. The final revelations exist in the scatological
South African literature has been waiting a long time for the incisive brilliance of Kaganof. Only two South African authors I can think of are his equal. Etienne le Roux and J.M.Coetzee. The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Trevor Steele Taylor
this review originally published by African Review Of Books
January 31st, 2006 at 9:59 am
Dear Aryan
How are you going to pay those expensive film-star hos, except from the well-gotten gains from selling jou ma se poems?
Happy 2006/year of the dog
Owen
January 31st, 2006 at 10:00 am
Shit! I just finished a book on cinema and thought I was rewriting the book on cinema.
Professor Jan
January 31st, 2006 at 10:01 am
hello
Genius! What a brilliant concept. Thank you for the
email.
nicole
January 31st, 2006 at 10:04 am
Dear kaganof
am proud of you, i read the media release they put out
about sms sugarman.
so you have made the first digital movie and now the first
cellphone movie. it’s impressive.
when is the preview or premiere?
muff
January 31st, 2006 at 10:05 am
Just got the press release for your new film.
Sounds fucking incredible!!! I can’t wait to see it.
Leading the pack, as always
Much love
James
January 31st, 2006 at 10:07 am
core! That’s great, I’ve been waiting for someone to do this.
How long can each cellphone film for or do you pipe it directly into the laptop? Have you fashioned some sort of tripod for the cellphone?
Looking forward to this
January 31st, 2006 at 10:09 am
Hey, I saw this and am sssoooooo proud of you!!
I hope when my cellphone contract needs renewing that
I can get one of those with the SMS Sugar Man trailer on it. Has Rodriguez seen it yet?
Best wishes from us both,
Karen and Claus.
January 31st, 2006 at 10:11 am
Hey, good for you, Aryan. Great idea, too. Hmm, a notion I can copy here.
The technological technique isn’t copyrighted, i presume.
Wish you all the luck on the production. And if you can send a copy over, I may be able to get you invited to a digital filmfest.
Warm regards
— Krip
January 31st, 2006 at 10:12 am
You never fail to amaze me, Aryan. This is genius stuff.
I hope this recognition is truly gratifying and gives you a deep sense of your value to our society as an asskicker of note. Let nobody be caught napping by an AK with a cellphone.
I salute you, pal.
Hope I don’t sound too breathless and gaspy…
Just go do it again, man.
Liesl
January 31st, 2006 at 10:32 am
hi aryan,
i hope you’re doing well. i read the article about you on the sunday
times, and think you’re fucking crazy, but am glad you’re doing what
you’re doing because the world would not change without people like
you. me: a few years ago i wrote a song called the ’sms song’, it’s
short and sweet, and think that it would be really ironic if played on
the kind of film you’re currently completing. i would love for you to
hear the song, i stay in joburg and would be willing to meet you to
listen to it.
i know this is a bit of a wildcard, but i ask you to consider it, i
truly believe you could make great use of it.
faithfully,
langa.
January 31st, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Can’t wait to see it!
Well done Kaganof…
January 31st, 2006 at 9:03 pm
I’m marveling at the pictures..including the actresses..Those breasts are huge…Kan je een bierglas opzetten
January 31st, 2006 at 9:32 pm
Ai..this is some sort of Roman Catholic mystery..You send an e-mail and like magic it appears on somebodies blog…Huuhhhh weird man..OK..Must go..I am meeting a close friend of my sister..She is an evangelic (my english is crap sorry) alcoholic and tonight she is going to convert the two of us to alcoholism..By making b52’s (she also works in a bar..perfect combo..she drinks 42 b52s in a row without getting drunk,mixes that with huge quantities of camels sigs and large amounts of hashish… she is made out of concrete )
God I feel like a teenager..but with wrinkles
February 1st, 2006 at 1:10 pm
CONGRATULATIONS! Cannot wait to see it. Congratulations.
Regards,
Storm
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:08 am
wesome stuff. when and where can we see?
Mike
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:09 am
the first cellphone movie–is this interesting? bear with me my dear pal. 2 minds here, one is publicity, first of this or that, so what. the other, well, your commitment to real (i mean real, not avantgardist bullshit) exploration has always been tremendous and tremendously interesting. so: i’m absolutely thrilled you did this thing and can’t wait to see it. great!
love r
August 5th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
[…] This particular narrative was drawn from my novel SUGAR MAN AND OTHER BITTER STORIES which was published by Pine Slopes Publications in 2001. It’s a novel in splinters and ruins about the sleazy underbelly of South Africa. […]