----
*
p.s. Hey. Actually, the title of the post today is a misnomer. After I'd finished putting it together, I realized I had accidentally included one image of real, edible food. I was going to delete it, but then I thought maybe you guys with some time on your hands would like to take a guess. What do you reckon? The comments section seems ... different today. Hm, did it lose some weight or get a haircut or ..., ha ha. It's also a long one, so I'd better get started. ** David Ehrenstein, Hey. I know of Tristan Garcia. People here have talked about him and that book in particular. I didn't know it was translated, though, and I'll definitely seek it out asap. Thanks a lot. I'll let you know what the deal is. And very nice questionaire answers. And you're a devil to suggest that 'Ugly Man' story, ha ha. ** Davidc, Hi, David. Thank you very much. I'm really sorry I didn't get a chance to see you while we were both in NYC. I got sick just before you arrived, and I was either laying low feeling crappy or dragging myself out to 'Them'-related things while you were there. I wanted to see you, and I sure wish I could have. I hope your short time there was pleasing. ** Allesfliesst, Score on your partner liking to pack. What a strange and welcome 'like' that is, ha ha. Yeah, Kleist is amazing. I have picking up one of his books on my bookstore to-do list. Weirdness, yes, definitely. Is there any freshness left in the idea of approaching the weirdness full on or trickily, or has the weirdness been thoroughly autopsied too? ** Tosh, I don't think moving here is going to kill the beast of your Franophilia. Quite the opposite maybe. I'm going to check out your dad's show this week as soon as the galleries reopen. There's also supposed to be a kind of surprisingly incredible Robert Irwin show too, and, as I like his stuff inherently, I'll hit that too. While you got some rain while you were here, you seem to have just beaten it before the onset of winter. Very brr today, not that I'm even complaining about that. Please do move here post-haste. I'll help you lug stuff up the staircase even. ** Sypha, Congrats on the imminent move to part-time employment. Have you sorted out the college stuff: where you'll attend, what you want to study there, etc.? ** Nerstes, Hey, man! How great to see you. And how nice to have inspired the most optimistic thing you've written all year. Maybe you should out hang out here more often. I consider inspiring optimism as part of my job description. ** Pilgarlic, Well, that story was mega-worth the wait. An epic of color, pathos, and looney tunes. It did my heart and mental cylinders very good, man. Thank you. You're a pal. Love the Castaneda stuff. You know, I never read him. I think the people I knew back when who were into him freaked me out. I'm sure you would have proved the exception. Well, I'm not completely sure, ha ha. ** Matt Cassidy, Great, thank you, man. It'll take me a while, but I'm really looking forward to it. I have a cough too. Been with me a couple of weeks. But I don't sing, and typing while coughing is a whole lot easier than the singing/ coughing option. I don't think I know much of anything about your band. What can you tell me? ** Postitbreakup, Hey. Josh, honestly, I think you're over-thinking and overreacting, okay? I think what I wrote to you was pretty clear and honest and not mean or unfair or anything else, including the statement within my response that everything is fine and now and not to worry. I say it's time for all of us to chill out and move on. Obviously, if you want to do a post for here, I'd be totally thrilled and grateful. I'm pretty sure my computer can't 'un-rar' files. I think I've had problems with that. ** Steevee, True, there's a resiliency here, and it looks like things are going to be just fine, I think. Thanks for saying that, Steve. Did you say the other day that were interviewing Denis and Isabelle Huppert? If so, wow. Huppert is such a total God. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Hey. RSS reader application ... I'm pretty sure I do, yeah. Uh, I'll check, though, and enable it if I do and if it's not already up and running. Yeah, I think unloading all that stuff is something you'll only regret in fleeting moments at worst. Based on my experience. I'm anging for a special week here, and, while I was hoping you'd be my Tobin Sprout, I'll take a D. Boon as long as you have far greater luck on the lifespan front. ** Jason J, Hi, Jason. Welcome, and it's very good to meet you. Really nice of Dodie to suggest that. I'd love to get the writing, of course. Great. My email is: dcooperweb @gmail.com. My street address is: c/o Centre International des Recollets, 150 rue du Faubourg St. Martin, 75010 Paris, France. Like Dandysweets, I went over and had an initial listen to your music, which I think is really beautiful, and I'm going to download a batch of your work today. Yeah, your work sounds haunting and great. Everyone, Jason J, new guy here, is a writer and also quite an excellent musicmaker/ composer/ performer, and I urge you to go over to his 'Souvenier' page at bandcamp and stream or download some of his stuff. Go here. A real pleasure, man. Kudos, and do feel more than free to hang out here anytime, okay? ** Misanthrope, Hey, G. I'm feeling better today. And I got a bunch of work done on my novel this weekend finally, and that helped too. Very good news about Little Show. The hate emails seem to have run their course, fingers crossed. Nothing new and negative since early Saturday morning. ** Michael_karo, Well, that is very nice timing and/or a friendly coincidence indeed. ** Brendan, Well, I love you too. What a coincidence. ** Slatted Light, Hey, man. Great words both on the SSP/Kier post/work and on the WD situation. Thank you. Romantic films ... wow, I never think in those terms. I would have to think of films I love and then try to figure out if they're about romance in some way, ha ha. 'Four Nights of a Dreamer' is, I guess. 'Breathless' is a good choice. Wow, that a stumper of a question. I'll give it some brain time. All love and the best to you too. ** Kier, Awesome bear hug, man, thank you. Really nice, and no broken ribs or nothing. It was so great to have your work and 'answers' here. I'm super proud. And the great response from the gang speaks for itself. And thank you a lot about the whole mess or rather two messes around this place of late. I'm going to indulge my side that believes in fate, I guess. Man, it would be so great to see you here more, if you want. No pressure or anything at all. It would just be so great if and when you feel like it. ** Rigby, Wow, lots of you is a very good thing. I feel jump-started. Howdy. I'm not going anywhere. Well, I'm actually going down to the street to buy some cigs, but this place is not invited. No, 'Scott Pilgrim' hasn't opened here yet. Must be soon, though. I'm going to jump all over it when it does, you bet. I'm way behind on '30 Rock'. The French haven't embraced it yet. I don't know why. Thanks for everything, R. ** Alan, Hey. ** Paradigm, Hey, man. Really nice to see you. Yeah, that makes sense about Kafka. And you kickstarted a pretty good dialogue going about the guy here. Like I said, I haven't read him in ages. I have almost no clear thoughts on his work as result. He's become more a writer that heavily influenced a lot of writers I love than an actual, firsthand presence for me. Now that your comment gives me an interesting way in, I'm going to revisit his stuff. Thanks, man. You good? ** Jake, Did I ever end up telling you how impressed I am with 'MMM'? Last week was so crazy, I hardly remember what I said and didn't say. Beautiful piece, man. Are you working on anything new? ** Heliotrope, Oh, gosh, Mark. Heavy blush over here. I mean, you know, thank you. I guess if anyone knows me warts and all, it's you. I love you, man. Anyway, it looks like the blog has made it through another obstacle course. I don't know. Just thank you, Mark. So much love to you and J. ** Ken Baumann, Ken! Dude! How great to see you! Yep, the Sharits post is utterly thanks to you. That's what I hear about '127 Hours' over here too. I'm not a huge Boyle fan in general. You finished the 'Solip' edit? Holy shit! Man, that's exciting news and a reason to keep living. I mean for me to keep living. When you are going to leak it and where? Can't wait, Ken. Awesome. Love right back to you. ** JW Veldhoen, If that thing you're writing is for real it sounds pretty interesting. ** Dandysweets, Hey, pal! I say 'The Atrocity Exhibition' and 'Crash' are very worth a read if you want to crack Ballard's stuff. ** Oscar B, Hey. I'm okay. Wow, it's cold out there. Yeah, let's see the Irwin show and the Berman show too. Oh, I have a thing you may or may not want to do in a bit. I'll call you. ** FreeFox, Yeah, I felt more than a bit terrible on Saturday. I'm better or at least betterish. Can you tell? I'm using words like betterish. I think that's a sign. Really kind, great thoughts about the blog. Yeah, I think so. I think this place is kind of magic. Too many magicians don't in fact spoil the show. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Fox. ** Kiddiepunk, I bet you're loving the temperature outside today. NOT. ** Empty Frame, Hey, man. It's all good, my friend. Very good. Time to truncate your vacation, if you ask me. ** Paul Curran, I totally agree with you, obviously. Thanks, Paul. Is it as suddenly freezing cold there as it is here? Yikes. ** 'Stoopid Slapped Puppies', Hey, Nick! Aw, thank you so, so much for the post and for everything. In addition to its general invaluableness, it proved to be the perfect tonic too. I only noticed this weekend that your blog is back in action, and the new piece you're unfolding there is stunning and gorgeous so far. Everyone, the great 'Stoopid Slapped Puppies' has started putting new works and things on his crucial blog, and there's a fantastic new piece of writing called 'Kissing In The Dark' that's unfolding at the moment. I thought you should know that it/he are back in action, and of course I'm encouraging to head over there. There being here. Have a great time in Barcelona, or else I hope you did. Love and respect. ** Changeling, Hi, man. Yeah, everything seems fine now, and the blog is on course and pretty much its old, determined self again, and I think we're good for another semi-eternity. Thanks for the good, kind words. Say the word when the time is right re: that piece you're working on. I'm very curious about it, of course. ** Bill, A house-sitting possibility, cool. I mean, it would be great to have you at the Recollets, but it's nice that you have two options. And, seriously, the internet here is a nightmare. Where is the place you'd housesit? In any case, it's sounding more likely that you'll be here, which is the real and great news. ** L@rstonovich, Oh, gosh, thanks, man. A heck of a lot to live up to when I finally get to meet you though, ha ha. How is the mysterious project going? ** Killer Luka, Hey, pal. Wow, I really do need to revisit that Kafka guy. Your mom is wild. That's all I have to say. I say having your show up longer would be worth the wait, as vexing as waiting for such a momentous occasion would be for all concerned. I have to agree with virtually everyone else, I think, and say go with Ouroboros as the title. I liked it immediately. ** Jeff, Hi, Jeff! That Calendrier Magique looks amazing and beautiful. Goodness. Everyone, courtesy of Jeff, do go here and check out Calendrier Magique, 'a rare piece of occultist ephemera, printed in an edition of 777 copies to commemorate magic for the coming year of 1896'. It looks pretty stunning. I don't think I've actually heard How to Dress Well. I think I've only read about him. I've been meaning to, and I will. Noted. Thanks, man. ** Nb, I'm good with the knitting. And on the organic scarf front, my neck isn't going anywhere now that they've outlawed the gallows. Mm, I want to hear about the latest on the SF thing. Let's Skype or something. I'm so much better at vice-to-voice than mailbox-to-mailbox. Today I'm finally in a decent state and ready to read the new work on your blog. I just glanced right now. It looks very tasty. Everyone, Nb, divine writer and d.l., has put his cult favorite blog back online for the time being, and there are some new writings by him there, and new writings by him are a rare treat not to be pooh-poohed. Hence, I strongly advise you to click this right now. ** Andrew, Hey. Hope you get the computer thing sorted out. I need a new one badly. I'm just hoping this one holds out until I finish my novel because switching computers mid-novel seems like bad luck or something. But it's barely hanging on. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Great news about your upcoming talk. The little Alan Clarke post that your suggestion inspired is coming up here this week. The Jonathan Horowitz shows sounds promising. Is he showing videos or sculpture or both. I think I like videos best of his work that I've seen. ** Flit, Hi, Flit! Oh, you know MANCY? That's very cool. Thanks for the good words about the blog and all that. I really appreciate it, you know. Obviously, I hope you get the space and dough to finish those gallery worthy pieces. Maybe the blog could hold a fundraiser. Don't scoff, it might just work, and I like the challenge. You're writing? Wow, I'd love to see it. Can I? ** Chris Cochrane, Yeah, kind of an avalanche in the comments arena today. But a happy one. Thanks for sending the book. Eyes are peeled. Did you record the gig? Have you listened to the recordings Kato made of the 'Them' performance? Waiting anxiously to hear from, uh, Vallejo, I guess, about January. Really hoping. Lots of love to you, Chris. ** Polter, Hey. Paris is strangely homey and cozy. Plus, I would squire you around, and mine is supposedly a comforting presence, they say. Oh, you saw 'Jerk'? Cool. Yeah, Jonathan, the performer, is just brilliant. I've watched that piece a hundred times easily, and he's always riveting, and he always does something new and unexpected. I really want to see Oslo. If I can finagle my way into coming for the 'TIHYWD' shows, will you hang out with me? ** Creative Massacre, My weekend started out really shitty and then got fairly okay by the end of it. Thanks for the good words. Yeah, I'm sort back into the blog and its joy today. It's probably a good thing that I have a short attention span, ha ha. No, your advice wasn't cliched, it was great just like you are. Love to you. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey. No, he just held the 'invisible dog' leash in his hand the whole time. He didn't even move it. I don't think he realized it warded people off if anything. Jesus, that's a lot of death around you at one time. Sorry, but it's really good of you to talk to the bereaved and no doubt cheer them up considerably. Calzones, mm. I want one. Not a frozen one. Were yours frozen? I bet not. The woods story was spooky. Woods can make anything spooky, but that was spooky. Especially when the cell phone lost its signal. I'm glad you're okay! My weekend: On Saturday, I was pretty much in a crap mood for the reasons I mentioned here. I worked on the novel a little. It rained nonstop all day and Sunday and again today so far, and it's that kind of steady, unwavering, chilly rain that has no positive qualities whatsoever. So, I didn't do much. I went out with my umbrella and bought food. I think that was my only external trip of the entire weekend. Saturday evening, I guess I watched TV or surfed the net or something. I can't remember. I felt pretty pooped all day. On Sunday, I woke up at 7 am, made coffee, started working on my novel and didn't stop until after 4 pm. So that was most of my day. It was productive. I need to keep up that kind of routine if I'm going to try make my editor's deadline for my novel. After that, my brain was kind of fried. I made a blog post and started a second one. I ate my usual. I chatted with Christophe Honore, and he said he's filming his new movie right near the Recollets today, and if I want to stop by the set this afternoon to say hi, he might be able to introduce me to Catherine Deneuvre, who's starring in the movie, and I'm pretty sure I'll do that, even though the rain is so awful today that I wonder if they cancelled the shoot. Only one way to find out. Not much else. I watched a documentary about Tolstoy on Arte. The old footage was cool. And I fell asleep. How was Monday, man? ** Tender prey, Hi, Marc. Yeah, it's definitely a relief to come back here today and find nothing but your and everyone's greatness on full display. I'm grabbing a Kafka book for sure. How are you doing? How's your work? Is the Brighton move in-progress or a done deal or ... ? Thanks, Marc, and my love to you. ** Okay, we're off and running. Fake food. Try to spot the imposter if you want. I'll see you tomorrow.
52 comments:
my favorite fake food is in the showcase outside a fugu restaurant called torafugutei next to tokyo's kichijouji station. you certainly know those japanese plastic food models, don't you? to show how fresh the fish is, they have equipped one of the plastic fugu filet slices with a little motor that makes it move up and down as though the fish had just been killed and was still twitching...
#9 looks like it might be real. but then a lot do...
the funny thing about research on kleist in germany is that it's almost as weird and at the same time also as prussian as kleist himself. so the weirdness is mirrored, but in a very bureaucratic fashion. it'll be my first appearance at a conference hosted by kleist specialists, and i'm afraid i won't fit in there very well since my weirdness is...different i guess, and hence the way my weirdness relates to kleist's weirdness may also be different, and i'm not sure if they will like this weirdness-to-weirdness communication, but we'll see. right now i'm reading "michael kohlhaas," which is so like me against german telecom and how i'd love to see them burn.
I was just about to mention the Japanese, allesfliesst. They're the past-masters of fake food in that their restaurants ar built around them. Go to any Japanese restaurant in a Japanese neighborhood and you'll see fake food in the window. What's fascinating is the way it sometimes looks reall good and other times really "off."
NEVER turn down an opportunity to meet Catherine Deneuve!
The fisrt time I met her was at the New York Film Festival in 1970.
She was there with Truffaur. He had L'Enfant Sauvage. She had Tristana Anyhoo one afternoon I was leaving a press screening exiting Alice Tully Hall through one of the revolving doors just as she was coming in the same
door. As we passed through the door I gasped at the sight of her. She immediately saw that I did and turned on the full force Catherine Deneuve smile. Like the Mona Lisa on acid.
Back in the 80's she came to L.A. for something or other and they threw a party for her in Beverly Hills. It was a madhouse. So many people came that itwas like the stateroom scene in A Night at the Opera. I suddenly found myself on a couch sitting next to her. No one was paying any attention, so involved they were in the din. So she and I had a nice chat. None of the madness around her disturbed her at all. THAT'S a star, boys and girls.
Major Redisocvery. Personal Enemy a play about a gay American teenager written by John Osborne and his lover Anthony Creighton back in the 50's. It was never performed because the British censor wouldn't allow any plays abou Teh Ghey to be done.
At all.
Somehow Terence Rattigan and Noel Coward survived. Osborne was always advertised (by himself) as their sworn enemy. When the curtain rose on a squalid kitchen rather than a drawing room in Look Back in Anger the world was alleged to have been thrown off its axis.
AS IF!
Rattigan set the stage for the REAL breakthough of Joe Orton. By the time Orton arrived, however, Osborne (manipulativr bisexual that he was) had gone back into the closet and tossed Creighton aside. Epitaph For George Dillon was also written with Creighton and the character of Cliff in Look Back in Anger is quite obviously Creighton.
Most interested to see this new/old work.
Hi Dennis
Long time no speak! Sorry man, I've been caught up in a bunch of personal life stuff and working hard on a new book which has been obsessing me. I emailed you, albeit messily, apologizing for not seeing you while you were in NY.
My vote for the real food is the big mac. That looks like a real big mac to me, so that would make it 'real fake food' no? (I mean since its so heavily processed, you can hardly call that meat "real") I know youre a vegetarian but I have to say that there is no greater pleasure in the world than eating a big mac when you have a hang over. That's my #1 hangover cure, for sure.
Thats why I'm such a healthy specimen ;)
Dennis, naaahhh, I wouldn't have freaked you out, and the Castaneda mileau drugs I was doing, at the time, would've just been fun. I never did any peyote, but, I did some mescaline. I didn't meet Mescalito, but I did try to cross my eyes while staring at a dog, and it just about wrenched my head off. There's some things you just don't do while tripping, and, crossing your eyes is one of them.
DavidEhrenstein, I made a late-breaking answer on the last post, and...ummm ( gulp and wince in Dennis's direction ) I don't have a copy of "Ugly Man", handy. I realize it may ruin the intended effect, but, could you help me out with that ? Also, since you seem to be a fan of wierdo cinema, if you've seen Andy Milligan's "Vapors" what's your take on it ?
Okay, the fake foods...I say the imposters are one of the two salads, the potato salad, or, the Ceasar salad...Caeser? Fuck, Seizure salad, dammit !
Dennis, did you call? I'm going to the opening of a show at the Jewish Museum today, it's curated by a critic from my hometown and she invited me to go so....
I owned some of this fake food, the exact same one. That chicken leg and bacon and burger, to be precise.
And I can confirm that is not the real, edible one.
You may meet Catherine Deneuvre today? You must! Rain, freezing cold, for godsake its Catherine Deneuvre!
The fake food is great. Also in Tokyo there is an area that is heavy kitchen wholesellers - and that is where one buys plastic food. And if memory serves me correctly very expensive.
Paris is a must in my life. I just love love that city. Lun*na and I are going for sure next October (or this time next year) but I want to make a trip with no plans so I can just walk the streets till my legs fall off and I end up crawling to the Seine. That is my dream day.
I thought I'd helped oyu out already, Pilgarlic (For those of you just joining us the story in Ugly Man recounts how Dennis met Shirley Jones.
Vapors played the Filmmaker's Cin ematheque briefly and as I recall was rather well-received. It was made for a buck and quater, but indicated that Milligan was a serious gay filmmaker. Alas he descended into exploitation trash that certainly has a following -- and a very straged following at that. My friend George Box who appeared in one of Milligan's horror film is to this day pestered by Milligan "fans."
Obviously the toast is real, as is the image of Our Lady it miraculously bears.
Kleist was a great influence on Kafka, as was Walser. Perhaps it would help to compare his style to David Foster Wallace’s, in that it kind of meticulously spells out every aspect of a situation. But it’s hard for me to understand why you wouldn’t intuitively get it, Dennis. So much of your own writing dramatizes the impossible struggle to be certain about anything (“The Sluts,” etc., etc.).
hey what up. Fake food eh? Well technically the Mary toast is real toast, yo. I’ve had a huge fetish for fake food since I was wee as in I used to love to touch it and arrange it and stare at it. I guess because it was my first taste of the antithetical and the total illogical. The absurd. Uselessness. Meaninglessness. Chaos. Hopelessness. And how many times have you jerked off over those giant cloth Oldenburg sculptures of cake? Like a billion! Anyway, fake food also makes a great Christmas present for the anorexic in the family.
Yeah Re: Kafka cont. I actually think there is a lot in common with your work and his. Very calculated, labored, tight, obsessive, ritualistic and constantly revisiting the same basic theme over and over again, which to my mind is also similar i.e. alienation, paranoia, and Victimhood. The sensibilities are different yeah but I think that has more to do with 1920/30s European Jew vs. 19 ...whenever to now American Christian dude. If Dennis Cooper were a Jew living in 1920s Prague, what would he write like? Probably like Joan Collins. And Can you believe that that Kafka motherfucker wanted EVERYTHING he wrote to be BURNED?! which reminds me of something you said in an interview where the attraction of writing was its secrecy and privacy and independence. No doubt Kafka would agree.
I also like Rimbaud. Can't spell Rimbaud without "R" "I" "M", eh Dennis.
Which leads me to my next lament: WHY THE FUCK did those fuckers make sharethatboy.com a pay site?!? LIFE IS HORRIBLE ENOUGH y'all gotta go makin my favorite porno site unfree. FUCK.
Ouroboros it is then.
balls,
S810 (which means S Eight Ten) = SATAN <3 emo demon = demo
Read A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka Here, one of favorist stories ever.
GO>
YAY!!
Very fine spread today, Dennis. Have you ever done a post on real food that looks fake? It's probably a bit obvious these days to troll the molecular gastronomy sites...
The house-sit possibility is on the southern edge of central Paris, real close to the Fragonard museum in fact. If you'll actually be around, I would be inclined to hang out at the Recollets instead. Hopefully at least one option will come through.
A lot of Ohno and Butoh-related time this past weekend. And this is quite bizarre. It seems to be out on DVD, but nobody around here has one yet.
Bill
I've actually compared you to Kafka quite a lot, but basically only when trying to explain my enthusiasm for you to people who read only mainstream fiction, so maybe what I've thought apples to a lot of other writers. (But very few of our age and of your reputation; I mean Lydia Davis is a little like Kafka sometimes.) It just has to do with untrammeled access to the whole range of the unconscious (I feel funny saying that but what else are you going to say?) and especially the world of infancy and childhood as the basis for moral fables. Like Kafka you're not a plotter so much as a fairy-tale teller. Like Kafka you're thinking about the roots of violence, power and injustice in a way that very few contemporaries even think of doing.
(Can I just digress here a second to say, I'm really a nice person and hate to say anything unkind about anyone--which is probably the main reason I haven't said anything here recently--so I heard what people said about Franzen's "Freedom," and just kinda thought, "Well, different strokes." Then last week I riffled through it in a bookstore. Holy cow. How incredibly embarrassing and painful. I have no right to talk because I do fuck-all, but golly, how awful I must be to write like that. And take it seriously. And be praised for it. I'm thinking the only way to do it justice would be to dig up Mark Twain to see what he'd have to say about it.)
Yeah, so anyway: And the thing about Kafka's sentences, which allesfliesst etc. could address better: To put texts by Kafka and Mann next to each other is a pretty amazing experience. But it's similar to putting next to each other texts by, oh, Conrad and Beckett. Personally, I love both, but I don't think much of anyone would really complain that Beckett is too spare or plain or doesn't give them enough to sink their teeth into.
But on top of that, the sparseness makes Kafka an amazing stylist and one who makes real language break through into literary prose. And it's not only very German, it's very Prague German, which gives it an amazingly local, three-dimensional character. I don't mean dialect, I mean spirit of the place.
And of course you're very different, because California is very different from Prague. But I am reminded that someone surprised me once by mentioning that they were excited you had a new book coming out--a straight guy with not much interest in stuff outside the mainstream. And he said that he grew up in Pasadena and just never came across anyone else who wrote the language he grew up with the way you do.
So there.
Sent you an email but I expect you saw that.
So I wrote "how awful I must be" instead of "how awful it must be." And I just did this thing in class on why we should be critical of the notion of the Freudian slip.
Dennis, I'm not sure which college yet, maybe Rhode Island College again (which I graduated from in 2003). I'll probably study computers or something. My goal is to land a boring non-retail computer job that will give me enough to do without wanting to slit my wrists and leave me enough free time to pursue my other interests.
Man, it's barely 12:30 in the afternoon here and I'm exhausted already. This morning I dropped off 11 bags of books at the local library to donate them to their annual book sale. Around 170 books total, most of them taken from my "tier 2" bookcases (which are bookcases I keep in my parent's basement, whereas my "tier 1" bookcases are those I keep in my bedroom). It's nice not having piles of books lying around anymore.
Or maybe I'm just tired because I read nearly 100 pages of "The Collector" last night before bed. H'mm.
Hi Dennis - I just sent you an email and a zip file...
Bernard, You're awful!
Great post. Love the full English breakfast. Ever notice how England is the only place where even the despiction of food in show cases or on menues always looks colourless, faded, and somehow disgusting? (Of course, the real stuff tastes divine... blackpudding and mushrooms covered thick in brown sauce... yum ^_^) And the food made from cloth was also brilliant.
Like the others I'd finger either the potato salad or the mary toast for the edible piece. Though of course, is a truly miraculous, holy toast still edible...? (I wonder if the Mary Toaster is marketed for the devoted or the blasphemous market.)
David E: Thank you. I like Frank Sinatra fine but I worship Betty Garrett (of course). The original cast album of On the Town (which my parents saw on their honeymoon) turned me gay (of course).
Isn't that an actual piece of toast that's had an image of the Virgin (for the sake of the argument) Mary stamped into it?
okay, I vote for the tray of cupcakes being the real food...although they look absolutely dreadful...ew.
when my mom moved from arcadia, the house she bought had a whole bunch of fake plastic food in boxes outside in the carport. really weird. that house was weird period. the neighbors all said that the couple who lived there before my mom were into black magic...chanting, robes, creepiness. I always liked that about her place...it was a very strange house no doubt. the fake food just sealed the mystery of who those folks really were.
sorry if I went a little overboard over the weekend...the last person you need pontificating around here is me. but done is done...and i meant every word.
went to a night of the scream festival at the redcat last friday night. randomly generated sounds feeding back...triggered by another random algorithm tied to a manipulable graphics program...cool, but ultimately tiring...had fun though.
ohhh...Deneuve...i wouldn't be able to even speak if I had the chance to meet her...but you could...and I hope you do.
tons of stuff I have to do right away...so we love you...
You'll be happy to know, Bernard, that Betty Garrett is very much alive and kicking. I frequently run into her at various events.
Fabulous woman.
Dennis my love,
Nice slideshow of your Nyc 'Them' trip!
Have you thought about doing a second 'Userlands'? One of the things I regret most in life is not sending in a submission. I came across my copy today, which is what made me think of it.
I'm inundated with school work. And things related to applying for graduate study. The holidays are also coming. OVERLOAD!
xoxo,
Lb
Re: Comment section the day of the photos from Nyc
Wolf: LOLXO
All looks mighty tasty to me! Yummers. I think all writing is real writing, so um. I changed my blog:
http://jwveldhoen.tumblr.com/
ALL REAL writing ALL THE TIME. 24/7
I say Help, over Ouroboros.
Who is Franz Kafka?
I think it's the chocolate banana on a stick. Even if it's not, that thing's for real.
I reckon it's the Big Mac, because I do a lot of searching for how to make a fake Big Mac, but it's still made of real food. This post is making me wish I'd bought the wax cake I saw in the second hand shop on the way back from a country swapmeet this weekend. I decided I had enough crap like that but what was I thinking. Had an obsession with those japanese miniature fake foods, now they're floating around the house in pieces.
How's it going Dennis? I'm enjoying holiday solitude big time. And I just got a sweet new job for a tabloid newspaper as a online ghostwriter. Pretty much a dream come true. Starts next week.
Hmm... no thanks, I'm not really hungry.
@ Killer Luka, there's an insightful essay by David Foster Wallace called 'Some Remarks on Kafka's Funniness' that I would recommend for a different take.
@ Dennis, haha so nice you noticed! Well I got my hair cut in an art gallery last week and it was free, and I never seem to gain much weight despite all the beer and pies I consume.
Supercool about the forthcoming AC day. I'm off down to Leeds later in the week and I might put a day together while I'm down there. I was thinking maybe a Rising Damp day? Just an idea. "The series is in the British comedy tradition of having failure as a key underlying theme, each of the characters leading lives of quiet desperation." A clip is here.
cor! i love the way the japanese have the suspended animation of drinks pouring and chopstick held noodles by ghost hands.. well besides the toast it has to be the cupcakes.. or else someones been clever sticking them on top of an oven
it's odd how many of these look like shit.. literally.. like a kid has been using his owb as if it was plastecine or something.. the one that really stands out for me is that fried egg type think sitting in the carved out anal sphincter of some angry sex alien creature.. i wonder what that would taste like?
so pleased to see you perked up a bit.. and Mistress Deneuve today eh.. blimey!
oh i keep meaning to tell you how much i love this cleaner design to the blog.. very nice
@kier.. i think it was my connection rather than your site.. you will be my secret santa gift to myself and others
@killer.. d'oh.. i can't believe i didn't see the satan thing.. haha
Hey, Dennis, Just been catching up on your blog and felt compelled to comment today and say what an inspirational, challenging, exciting, weird, funny and lovable space it's been over the last few years. I've just had a story published which totally was inspired by this place. (And, right now, I'm thoroughly embedded in Robbe-Grillet's Recollections of the Golden Triangle and it's FUCKING BLOWING MY MIND (!!!) and your blog was the space that sent me in that direction with my reading stuff. You sound tired at the mo, and reading back I can see why, so I just wanted to say thanks and send some good wishes to you and everyone. All the best xp
Dennis, yeah winter just dropped in full time over here too.
I was going for the coffee, even tough I think it's fake, but I could smell it from that picture.
Interesting Kafka/Dennis thing. I always read Dennis's fiction as the opposite of paranoid, whatever that is.
Pascal, congratulations on the story. Can we read it somewhere?
@paul.. i was thinking the coffee too.. i mean why would dunkin donuts have a spilt coffee cup on display? and since it contains milk (a major mistake with coffee) i guess it's food
I like artificial food but this post has made me aware for the first time that I dislike photographs of artificial food.
I interviewed both Denis and Huppert, although most of my questions were intended for the former. (I'm far more used to interviewing directors.) I actually came away liking Huppert better than Denis. Denis seemed to disagree with the premises of several of my questions and reacted brusquely. I've heard that Huppert can be a diva, but she didn't live up to that reputation with me. I'm going to finish the article and turn it in tomorrow. It will be published next week.
i kind of think the cupcakes must be fake, because it's kind of odd to ice them while they're in the tray (actually, i wouldn't know), and that one might put them in the tray to make them look more genuine. conspiracy theory. i have the virgin mary toast stamp, ellen/asthmabunny gave it to me. i've never gotten to try it properly because i never have any white bread.
hi dennis, i was going for the perfect bearhug so i'm glad it landed well. i like the fake food, it's very handsome, and as killer luka says, uncomplicated to the eating disordered. did you get flesh world, by the by? i finally got it back and sent it to you a while ago.
i'm gonna try to be around here more, i want to be, and it's good for my head, so there's no downside really. i have to go sleep, but in the meanwhile i hope you're catching a bunch of breaks right about now. goodnight coop.
wv: inflated (really)
Coop: My vote for real is 12 - the chocolate cake with sprinkles. Though the Big Mac sort of defies the laws of real and not-real so perhaps it's the real odd man out. I left some thoughts yesterday on the Kafka thing but they were got missed. I'm not all that surprised actually to find Kafka isn't really your thing - you really are kind of the anti-Kafka, though that isn't to say the opposite of him like the optimist to his pessimist either. Just a totally seperate sensibility - even if there's crossover in some ways in material, as Bernard and Alan gesture. It's kind of cool you don't really love or automatically get him actually since I think a Kafkaesque range would pretty much ruin what you do, make it too resolute in the wrong way for you. The K-man is a massive influence on me but it's because he's so highly and compressingly analytical - his prose is the prose of the most advanced and dense intelligence, the kind that becomes so sentient it transforms into another kind of shuttle: a bug. Whilst your own intelligence is defused through more vegetative, dazed, stupified or chatterbox and agitated methods that look more to the communicative frequencies that follow us all the way down. I'm also not sure if I agree with Paradigm that Kafka's style is bland: the way I'd describe it is procedural, highly procedural. It unfurls with the precise technicalities and stylistic moratorium one finds in the language of the law and connects that language to the pure style of parable. I find that's what make the surreal logic to which the style is applied so genuinely sinister and captivating: it's as though Kafka were running a dream through a machine. Except the dream has nothing whatsoever to do with dreams or machines, and the machine has nothing whatsoever within it that was designed to deal with dreams. Thanks also for the suggestion re: romance in films. I know, it's not a category I generally think with either, which is part of what struck me about it. Romance seems like such an impoverished genre to me that I know I must be wrong about it. Oh, also, if you're interested, I offer some brief and friendly advice on how to better yourself over at Alec's new philosophy blog. All the best, man.
Dennis, I'm not a huge Kafka fan but I thought The Castle was incredibly beautiful and strange. Maybe that does make me a huge kafka fan.
also, how great is this?
Dennis – You’re more than welcome for the kind words. :) It’s the least I can do for all you’ve helped me through.
Picking out the real food, my guess would be the spilled coffee.
I emailed you my ‘Gore’ day. I’m hoping it sent ok because I was having some trouble with it.
Take care,
x
Mmmm fake foods *the sound of Homer Simpson gargling his drool* John Waters has an extensive collection of fake waxed foods, not just the mundane things like fruits, he has an entire wax susi set-up on his coffee table. I saw this in a documentary, I've never had the honor of sitting at John Waters coffee table.
For the most part I've been able to manage on this borrowed laptop, but today is the day when it's hit the fan and I'm actually feeling a little disgruntled I'm not at my own computer. Fingers crossed on yours surviving the writing process.
That doll scares the fuck out of me. The rest I want to eat, except the Big Mac, which is clearly real.
Dennis, Yeah, let's this weekend? Give me a time, I never go on, but I can when designated. I think you can find me by my email? I dunno, I never use that thing. Thanks for the link, of course. I agree with what you said on Jake's piece. Very beautiful indeed.
wv: nonsibli
What is Dunkin' Donuts coffee doing on that table cloth? And I can't spot the real food, dammit. The things being poured are my favorite, though.
Hey Dennis,
That guy should've moved his invisble dog. I met a real dog and it wasn't very active but it layed down and walked around a little.
Hopefully they're happier now, yes.
I don't know if it was frozen. I ordered it from Pizza Hut, so more than likely yes, but it still tasted pretty good.
The woods weren't really spooky. There were a few dead trees and one that had fallen down but that was about it. Everything else was just soggy.
Aw, I like even the chilly rain, except when you're out in it. Then it seems absurd for it to exist and inconvience you like it's doing.
I'm glad about the novel work. Did you enjoy it or is that the wrong word?
Oh, yes, you have to meet Catherine Denueve. And if they cancelled it, it has to be another day.
My Monday:
Woke up after pitiful attempts at sleep.
While on my walk to wake up (which isn't usually the point of these walks, and whenever this happens I always yawn a lot and seeing somebody yawn is always strange and makes you want to yourself so that's probably not a good thing), I met the aforementioned dog. She was laying outside her house, and her owner was a bit of a bitch. She was sitting in a lawn chair in a tracksuit and hangover glasses and kept talking about now that the dog can't race anymore she just lays around. The dog (Estelle, an unusual dog name but better than Fluffy or something) walked in a circle and layed down and rolled over and landed on the other side, where it finally yawned and tried to sleep inbetween eyeing me petting her.
Shower.
My friend wanted to have a relaxing day, so we went to a bookstore, which is always nice. It was used, so I looked at the old section and found a clipping from the 50's of a pastor trying to discover Atlantis in a copy of Bleak House. In the Art section, where my friend was looking at a book of nudes and laughing, muttering 'Fake!' and then turning the page, I found a slip of paper with sparkly stickers surrounding 'LOVE' inside an Andy Warhol book. Atlantis is more interesting, though.
Went to the magazine section and flipped through the old National Geographics, ended up being those people the clerks hate because neither of us had any money.
Walked around and she left, because a week ago it's 10 and her body's still used to that.
Came back, ate dinner, watched The Walking Dead. It was even better than last week's episode, so that was exciting. If it keeps going like this it could end up being the best zombie anything ever made. I can't really compare it to TV shows, and it seems unfair to compare a TV show to a movie, so yeah, just anything.
Read they're remaking The Toxic Avenger and that's a little sad. But at the same time, not, as I can't imagine them 'cleaning it up'. Or being worse than the second one. So it might be all good. Maybe.
That's about it. How was your Monday?
dennis,
me, over-think and overreact? when has that ever happened? haha
slatted light, I think 'procedural' is exactly the right word to use about Kafka's style of writing. I'm thinking of the annual reports he proudly compiled at his office, for instance.
Fake food, huh. I couldn't find the real one. All these fakes and fake fakes put me in a Philip K Dick frame of mind, which I can't rightly deal with at 7am or at many other times.
Dennis, I can't draw as well as Tobin Sprout - I love that picture book so much - but I'd love to believe it could be so. I got my visa yesterday, so I have to get and sort out flights and all manner of other goofiness. Now the shit really does hit the fan. :)
D- I'm behind on the mystery project. I fear Finnegans Wake has temporarily changed my paradigms as far as words are concerned and I need to incorporate that and reboot.
I would devour that big mac.
-L
the first..powdered doughnut...real.
dig it.
Dennis, Frankly, I have to disagree with all these Kafka comparisons. I've always seen parallels between your work and that of Beatrix Potter, what with all the bunnies and rimming and whatnot. But I'm a very keen reader, so I'm probably right.
I have to go with the Big Mac as the real deal. Yeah, McDonald's food is horrible, but I tell ya, there's nothing more serious than a Big Mac Attack!
Yeah, Little Show's good. Thanks for that. Now the kids are just saving up for our trip to NYC in December. It's kind of funny to watch them as scour the house looking for loose change.
Good about you feeling pretty good. I'm not so bad myself. :D
ahoy hoy dennis, good morning!
just wanted to say, remember how when i last saw you i offered to do you a copy of 'four nights of a dreamer', like the original telecine that the usually available copy that floats around is the nth generation copy of? well i now have a big pile of blank dvds in front of me, and was wondering if this is still something you'd like? i could also throw a bunch of bresson docs/interviews (basically all the dvd extras available atm) on there. lemme know, and i'll mail it out to you.
things are ticking along here, back in edinburgh - i'm 'between jobs', though have been making a decent amount of notes for a long-ish bit of fiction that i'm hoping to start on soon, so mebbes i can end the year with something productive/fingers x'ed. been re-reading a lot of alan warner actually, then whilst googling noticed that you'd reviewed 'the sopranos' for spin back in the day, great to see yr (still?) a fan.
anyhoo, all the best to you duder x
oh aye, and the holy toast is the real food no? real, edible, sacred, buttery, virgin toast.
Ah, okay, a superfluity of Shaun. I think I get it.
I saw "Vapors" many years ago, and it was in a time of my life when I couldn't fully appreciate it. It was paired with "Fleshpots on 42nd Street", and I saw it in a tiny strip mall cinema in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was across US Hwy 1 from the motel I was encamped. The desk clerk told me in his clipped Florida yankee accent " I wouldn't cross that highway, bub, you'll be puttin' ya life in ya ass's hands !" My ass's hands ? He was right, though, as a pedistrian, I was just a target. I remember more of the viewing experience than of the film, itself, except that it made me feel lonlier than I already was.
complacency. is. ending. ifeelit. o.mi.god. thankfuck.
DENNIS! it's AWESOME to see that you're feeling better. i wore my backpack outside for the first time on saturday, and it's totally comfortable. and two lovely things happened to me and this is what they are. the FIRST thing has to do with one of my friends from university, one of my best friends that i totally love and respect and all that stuff. i lost contact with him at the beginning of the year, when i was self-destructive and emotionally fucked up and a complete RETARD and i DESTROYED THE SIM CARD OF MY PHONE. i wasn't able to remember his number and i didn't have his e-mail address, and i have been to his place but srsly, it's like trying to find a NEEDLE in ALBERT FISH'S PERMANENTLY WOUNDED GENITALS, and it was this really horrible situation. anyway, a couple of weeks ago i was tidying my bedroom and i found a piece of paper with his number on it and i sent him a text message explaining what had happened and last week he responded, in his usual whimsical way and everything is totally okay and we're gonna meet up when he's next free. PHEW.
[btw, he used to be a writer, he teaches english these days, and he had this beautiful collection of short stories published by faber and faber. i have two copies, can i send you one? it's such an amazing work and i'm nearly certain that it's something you haven't read before.]
okay, the second thing has to do with my friend that i really like, that's into bdsm stuff like me. we met on saturday, i had my backpack with me, and it was such a nice time. and on sunday he sent me a text message, explaining that he REALLY LIKES ME AND HE WANTS TO DO THE STUFF WE ALWAYS TALK ABOUT, i'm gonna wear a dog tag and a cb6000 for him and yeah, i dunno if it's a friends with benefits situation or what and i'm gonna ask him but things are HAPPENING, like in the next week they're happening and my heart is ACHING from the yearning that i feel.
things i learned:
i love friendship
i love love
my backpack is the greatest lucky charm i've ever owned
nothing much else happened at the weekend but that's okay. my auntie and uncle paid me twenty pounds for helping my cousin with his gcse english literature coursework, and i got paid forty pounds for taxes that i didn't need to pay and i used it and the internet to buy things. and i began listening to christmas songs. yikes? i dunno, it's november but i liked it. this is the first christmas since maybe ever, where i'm not gonna be frightened about exams and stuff. i wanna spend lots of time walking about the city listening to aimee mann, and i want there to be snow, and maybe i can buy a duffle coat?
things i bought:
'kept' by peter sotos
'annihilation zones' by stephen barber
'diary of an innocent' by tony duvert
'butchershop in the sky' by james havoc
'tokyo sodom' by stephen barber
'flesh inferno' by simon whitechapel
'caligula: divine carnage' by stephen barber
'the bloody countess' by valentine penrose
yep, these days i'm just buying everything creation has ever published that i think i might like. my relationship with money keeps getting pooier and pooier.
lots of love,
darren
xoxo
PD
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