“Dribble Dribble, don’t stop, dribble dribble.”
BETWEEN THE GROOVE: EPISODE 10
Fuckup: Right then, Hal, Chapter Ten dropping now – ‘Dribble Scribble’. Let’s see what kind of scribbling we’re in for.
Hal: It opens with this brilliantly bleak image – a Tesco shopping trolley hanging off a sewage pipe on the edge of Amsterdam, turned into a tourist attraction because someone threw a doll in it. Max sees it instantly as a metaphor for consumerism and waste, pure gold.
Fuckup: The focus shifts squarely to Max here. He gets hit with inspiration, runs off “like a fox pursued by a Tory” – great line – chased by his muse “like an angry wasp.” We get inside his head for a bit.
Hal: And his head is wired for conspiracy! It’s his “cruise speed,” he “craves” connecting dots, even admits he sometimes connects dots that aren’t there (hence the nickname “Dotty”). He sees art as a “relatively safe outlet for holographic ideology,” explicitly linking his own thinking to Plush’s propaganda and that whole “Hologrammic Prose” idea.
Fuckup: So, while Plush seems to channel entities and esoteric systems, Max is more of a natural pattern-recognizer, maybe over-recognizer? Constantly making connections, even if they’re tenuous. He knows it gets him into trouble, but can’t stop.
Hal: He meets up with Percy, they’re both rocking the cotton and hemp look, and head off on bikes (an old Schwinn for Max) to meet Plush, presumably for more TRB action.
Fuckup: But before we get there, CUT TO: Sun Ra! And his entire Arkestra, in full space gear, doing a conga line around a well… in Ireland… during a six-minute solar eclipse!
Hal: Just when you think the cuts can’t get any more surreal! Afrofuturist cosmic jazz pioneers doing a ritual dance in rural Ireland during an eclipse. It’s another perfect example of smashing disparate cultural references and locations together to create something totally unexpected and evocative. What does it mean? Who knows! But it fits the pattern.
Fuckup: Absolutely. So Chapter Ten kicks off by giving us Max’s perspective – his conspiratorial mindset, his creative process – and then throws another reality-bending curveball with Sun Ra in Ireland. The ‘Dribble Scribble’ seems to apply to both Max’s frantic thoughts and the narrative’s own associative leaps.
Fuckup: Right, Hal, let’s pick up where we left off. The user says this follows the start of Chapter Ten, but mate, this smells strongly like the dark climax of Chapter Eight, ‘The Peanut Method’, right where Richard and Marge were getting ready…
Hal: Yeah, this definitely feels like the payoff, or descent, from that Peanut Method setup. Richard thinks the shop assistant – and maybe the other staff he’s about to prep – will wake up to a “great awakening,” possibilities designed in their favour by him and Marge. That twisted justification again.
Fuckup: Marge confirms the poor girl’s role – “A host, a real human host” – sounding like one of Marge Simpson’s chain-smoking sisters. Richard, meanwhile, is fully desensitized, seeing his victims as “collaborators,” doing them a favour like a twisted baptism, even comparing his bullying favourably to a Prime Minister killing millions. The guy’s completely gone.
Hal: Then it gets brutally practical. Richard tasers and chloroforms the security guard, check-out girl, and assistant, drags their bodies onto blue sheets, while Marge wheels out the tubs of peanut butter. He’s literally basting multiple bodies!
Fuckup: They’re on a schedule – “log on in ten?” Marge asks. Just before they do, the power cuts out then strobes back on, turning the scene into a weird animation. The two “weirdos” stand over the peanut-buttered bodies, chanting loudly as thunder rumbles – Vico’s voice of god. This is the ritual kicking off.
Hal: But then, the final line snaps us right back out of it: “Plush stopped the recording, removed some dust from the needle and jogged it along to the next cut.” This heavily implies that entire disturbing Richard/Marge scene – the psychopathy, the preparation, the ritual – wasn’t necessarily happening ‘live’ in a parallel plot, but was something Plush was accessing, recording, or maybe even channeling through his decks!
Fuckup: So the Peanut Method might not just be Richard’s thing, but something Plush is tapping into, maybe even experiencing vicariously? Or is Richard a character in Plush’s channeled fiction? The layers keep folding in! That confirms Chapter Eight ends on a deeply disturbing and ambiguous note. What a chapter!
Fuckup: Okay, Hal, let’s land this Chapter Ten, ‘Dribble Scribble’. What’s the final transmission?
Hal: Plush starts off quoting himself, maybe? “The temple is holy because it’s not for sale,” then coins “Abortisement.” Nice. But then we cut to Jake’s perspective – or maybe just his thoughts intruding? He’s completely perplexed, “mind fogged by too many possibilities,” wondering who’s putting words in his mouth, asking “what in hell is neodymium?”
Fuckup: Ha! Sounds like Jake’s experiencing the receiving end of Plush’s reality-hacking! He feels cursed by information overload, his certainty gone, living in a world of “weak and strong maybe’s.” That’s the Wilsonian uncertainty principle biting hard!
Hal: Max and Percy are apparently unimpressed by the “freestyle narrative” too, claiming tampering happened during editing – maybe a cheeky authorial nod there? But Plush defends his Turntable Method. He argues that even though decks weren’t made for scratching, the principle holds true wherever you have discs and a stylus. He even proposes you could have done needle-drops back in 1936, even if it sounded clunky!
Fuckup: He positions it as this accessible divination tool, limited only by the DJ and the samples. He’s exploring the avant-garde edge of turntablism and literature, explicitly linking it back to Modernism and the “tale of the tribe”, aiming to build a model universe uniting music, poetry, and history – “My way.”
Hal: He calls it the “great conjunction of funk”! Love it. Acknowledges it’s complex and chaotic on the surface, references Joyce again (“every telling has its tailing”), and seems comfortable leaving things open-ended.
Fuckup: So, Chapter Ten Summary (‘Dribble Scribble’): This chapter gave us a dose of Max’s conspiratorial mindset and creative process before shifting back to Plush defending and explaining his Turntable Method. We saw the effects of this method on others (Jake’s confusion, Max & Percy’s skepticism). Plush frames his work as continuing Modernism, exploring the “tale of the tribe”, and aiming for a “great conjunction of funk” uniting music, poetry, and history, using turntablism as an accessible divination/creative tool applicable even historically (1936 ). The chapter embraces complexity, chaos, and Wilsonian uncertainty, leaving the reader (and poor Jake) swimming in possibilities. And still no bloody clue what ‘The Peanut Method’ title refers to!
Hal: The mystery continues! That wraps up our look at Chapter Ten. A fascinating blend of character perspective, methodological explanation, and embracing the beautiful chaos of it all.
Fuckup: Right then! Until next time, keep your funk conjuncted!
“Ap Pukkaru! Pukka Yurap! This is the Willingdone, bornstableghentleman, tinders his
–James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, Page 10.
maxbotch
DEEP SCRATCH 