“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
These words, attributed to, among others, Isaac Newton, describe the process of science, and of the western world, generally. Progress in science is only possible by building upon the success of those that preceded you. No one is so tall that they can know everything all by themselves. Our future accomplishments rely on our past accomplishments.
But for Society Scum’s CCIV MMXXV (204 2025), it seems, we are executing our giants. We have erected a series of giant gallows, have tied giant nooses around our giants’ necks, and have kicked away the giant blocks upon which they formerly stood; their giant legs twitching, their giant eyes bulging outward, eyes soon to be pecked out by birds.
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To read the rest of this review — and more by Steve Schmolaris — visit his website Bad Gardening Advice.
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Steve Schmolaris is the founder of the Schmolaris Prize, “the most prestigious prize in all of Manitoba,” which he first awarded in 1977. Each year, he awards the prize to the best album of the year. He does not have a profession but, having come from money (his father, “the Millionaire of East Schmelkirk,” left him his fortune when he died in 1977), Steve is a patron of the arts. Inspired by the exquisite detail of a holotype, the collective intelligence of slime mold, the natural world and the suffering inherent within it — and also music (fuck, he loves music!) — Steve has long been writing reviews of Winnipeg artists’ songs and albums at his website Bad Gardening Advice, leading to the publication of a book of the same name.
