'There were boos at Cannes when Bruno Dumont's L'humanité (1999) won three major awards. Boos perhaps because he's self-taught, an unusual filmmaker working outside the main tradition of the French film industry, and a creator of such extraordinarily fresh work that he polarizes opinion moreso than Mr. Stone-in-the-shoe himself — Lars von Trier. Instead, Dumont — unhappy with modern art cinema ("it's lost touch with life") — wants his cinema to "return man to the body, to the heart, to truth". I greatly admire his clean, organic approach and find his films intoxicating, indeed, utterly essential.
'If you gravitate towards cinema that is more than just fickle entertainment (a rare pastime today, I know) then the haloed procession of poet filmmakers over the last century will probably have caught your interest. For me, Bruno Dumont's cinema is refreshingly devoid of the aristocratic notions and self-referential winking that can sometimes asphyxiate modern art cinema. Dumont refuses to let meaning be obfuscated by these unfortunate traits - traits which have ghettoized modern art films to the fringes of cultural discourse. His films aren't made as traditional entertainment nor do they exist to make money (something that must seem incomprehensible to most American filmmakers and audiences) — but how refreshing they are!
'Bruno Dumont spent his twenties and most of his thirties working two jobs (teaching philosophy and making commercial films for local businesses) after being refused a place at the top film schools in France. His first film was for a bank surveillance company. Subsequent films dealt with heavy industry, machines in action and manufacturing procedures — basically from-a-raw-material-to-a-finished-product type films. He described the process in a 1999 interview, "I had the camera go inside the chocolate machine, which brought me one of my first emotions through film. It was beautiful to see chocolate fall down and I managed to amplify this and create emotion. People were touched to see the candy, and after that I was always trying, always searching for the emotion. I was only shooting the machines, but I was looking for the emotion in the machines."
For fifteen years he shot candy manufacturing films, the building of a highway, a real estate attorney's congress, and other seemingly banal projects. Dumont described how, looking back on this, everything he was filming, no matter how dull, became interesting, "I learnt how to make uninteresting things interesting. The way I work today is completely linked to those ten years of filming nothing."' -- Nick Wrigley, Masters of Cinema
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Media
(French w/ English subtitles)
Bruno Dumont on 'Twentynine Palms' (English)
Bruno Dumont on 'Hadewijch' (in French)
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Resources
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Interview
Are you, by nature, a religious man? Or more a philosophic one?
BRUNO DUMONT: These days I am very interested in mysticism because it goes way beyond philosophy. Mysticism takes us to areas that are beyond questions of reason, beyond speech, and beyond our comprehension of the world. It takes us to an area that is very close to cinema, and I think that cinema is capable of exploring that area and expressing it. That's why, necessarily, I am attracted to mysticism. At the same time, it's a complex area. I'm not myself religious—I'm not a believer—but, I do believe in grace and the holy and the sacred. I'm interested in them as human values.
For you, shooting a film doesn’t consist in obtaining a preconceived image in the screenplay, but rather in being inspired by what you get.
BD: I look for something that dazzles, but what’s dazzling is the film itself. It’s not a shot – beautiful shots scare me; music scares me. Even though this time I said I was going to put some in, I’m already having trouble getting it to fit. It’s very rudimentary, in fact. We manage to make things out of little pieces of wood, the actress does something else and we realize it’s not bad. At the same time, you have to keep an eye on it, there’s a screenplay, but I believe the movie will be less than the screenplay. That’s good. The screenplay is a mindset, it’s constructed by a mind. Making a movie with my mind doesn’t interest me at all. When I hear the dialogs I ask them to do from time to time, I find them pretentious. So I prefer for them to say nothing. I realize it. I talk to her, but often she’s looking at me, she doesn’t understand what I’m saying. The result is rather surprising.
I shot a scene with a page of dialog; in the end there was only one word. The little word at the end is really good because it came out of all those failures. You have to listen, go through the dialog, realize they can’t manage to say it, that it’s over-written. And anyway, they’re all printed. When people say my films are taciturn, it’s simply a result of the takes. At the beginning, there’s a lot of talking and we remove things until it’s very simple.
When I shoot, I’m terrified, it’s cold, there are a lot of people, we’re expecting this thing that doesn’t happen, so you’re better off embracing what comes along and giving it shape rather than fighting to force something to happen that will happen anyway. When I prepare a movie, it’s a composite of all the elements; the screenplay can’t be too good, nor the music too beautiful, nor the lighting too beautiful; it’s a balance. The screenplay isn’t that important, but it’s for the industry. It’s not the movie. The screenplay can’t be too strong, other things must come to life as well, there’s the sound, the frame, the camera movement – it’s a balance. But we work with a screenplay which is a determining factor because the financing comes from there. People swear by it.
And that’s why you refuse to give the screenplay to your actors?
BD: If you give it to the actors, they read it, work on it, and what interests me is rather what caused the screenplay. What interests me is that the film I’m making is what caused the screenplay I wrote, and not that it’s the result of it. That’s why I hope it’s going to be much simpler, much more ordinary, especially for a subject like this one.
The idea of returning to pure intentions…
BD: Purity. God, love, these words are so… You can write them down, I’m not afraid to write them down, but when you have a face in front of you… Love can come out of a footstep, a noise, a branch, it can come from anywhere, so you have to be careful to grasp it when it happens.
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The films
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Vie de Jesus ('Life of Jesus'), 1997
'In La vie de Jésus, Dumont represents the youth of today as decaying — lost and despairing — yet he's aware that they hold the future in their hands. He wants to combat their despair, to make them understand that they are capable of inventing their own future, "What's important is the person who watches it. He continues to live," — Dumont said at the film's release — "perhaps in this darkness he will see the glimmer, but I stopped, finally at the moment when the glimmer appears. I'm not a prophet, it is not for me to say anything, it is for people to do something."' -- MoC
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L'Humanite ('Humanity'), 1999
'L'humanité is a film that people either seem to be locked into from the start or they just can't abide. At the time of L'humanité's release, Sight & Sound magazine in the UK ran a feature article with an opposing rant and rave by two writers. The rave was by Mark Cousins who talked about the "stare" of the film. He wrote, "Dumont has no pity in his eyes for his extraordinarily empathetic policeman, who seems to absorb all the evil he sees. This creates a completely gripping system of looks — icy cold looking at burning hot — which is miles away from the Film Studies categories of the gaze, the objectifying look, the invisible narrative look. The stare of L'humanité is CinemaScope Pasolini, unblinking Bresson."' -- MoC
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Twentynine Palms, 2003
'Dumont's third is perhaps his most polarizing film yet. If one were trying to plot where Dumont might go after his first two films, you'd be hard-pressed to plot this. It's certainly no retread, and it marks a few important changes in Dumont's approach. Firstly, it's set in the USA; secondly, it features "proper actors" for the first time; and thirdly, it was written in two weeks whereas his earlier films took a number of years each. Twentynine Palms is a unique film which shows — in the simplest, bleakest terms — how senseless violence can engender further senseless violence. The visceral immediacy of this summation stays with you for days.' -- MoC
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Flandres, 2006
'Flanders is a remarkable film, though it is not an easy film to digest. This is director Bruno Dumont’s fourth feature, and like his previous films, it contains scenes of crude behavior and gruesome brutality. Flanders is relentlessly bleak, but as it works its way into your bloodstream, the aftertaste is somewhat akin to relief. It’s like a confession. For those who allow it, Flanders offers the comfort of recognition, and acceptance, of what it means to be human. Dumont refutes the notion of film as entertainment with a monk’s diligence. An austere stylist, he pares everything down to its essence, so that a film like Flanders almost doesn’t feel like a film at all. He uses nonprofessional actors, there is no music on the soundtrack, and there is very little in the way of a story. It’s a bit like what happens when we look at an abstract expressionist painting. It’s better not to try to understand the painting on an intellectual level, but to let it enter your awareness through how it makes you feel, in your gut.' -- Beverly Berning, Culture Vulture
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Hadewijch, 2009
'Hadewijch ends with a bang—or seems to—after which Hadewijch returns us to the convent for what at first feels like a flashback, and then like a dream (both of which would also be Dumont firsts), and which, even taken literally, ranks among the most haunting and profoundly beautiful sequences in all of Dumont’s work. It is a sequence that begins with an act of penance and builds to the long-delayed meeting between Hadewijch and a grubby-faced construction worker (Henri Cretel, who was the cuckolding friend in Flanders) labouring on the convent grounds. Like so much in Hadewijch, what happens between them can be seen as something entirely of this world or as an act of divine intervention. Either way, it reaffirms that Dumont himself is a cause very much worth believing in.' -- Scott Foundas, Cinema Scope
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*
p.s. Hey. I want to say that d.l. Jheorgge's recent show of enthusiasm for Dumont's work is what nudged me to put this post together, so thanks go out to him. ** Jake, Hi, Jake! Always a pleasure. Life on my end isn't bad, a little stressy and disorganized, but mostly nice. How about on your end? What's new and going on? ** Oscar B, It was too cold, ultimately. Let's plan. Oh, and I want to see if you'll accompany me to get the Buche today, but I'll call you in a bit. ** Chris Cochrane, It's super cold here too. Hopefully, I'll be acclimatized. How lo-fi is it? Like really lo-fi? Well, I've been trusting Ish's and Ben's judgement on this, and, yeah, well, punkier, I guess? I'm still sorting out the length of my NYC stay. As long as I possibly can afford. I'll know for sure fairly straight away. Feel better, man. ** David Ehrenstein, They said we were going to get snow today, but it's raining. Paris is always a beaut, but rain is the least special effect. But their awkwardness with their phone/ cameras make them seem so ... vulnerably human, don't you think, ha ha. Yeah, the 'Tree of Life' trailer is amazing. I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it. I'm guessing it will premiere at Cannes since it opens in May. That would make the most sense, I guess. I think you know that 'Providence' is in my top 5 all-time favorite films. It had a real influence on my new novel too. ** Sypha, Well, hopefully you are feeling better and the sinus infection symptoms are a ruse. Oh, I'll just go ahead and tell you that the post goes up a week from tomorrow aka Friday, the 24th. Since I'm taking Xmas day off, that'll give it a long weekend, which seems good. Hope that works. ** Bernard Welt, You on school vacation yet? ** Craig, Hey. Oh, it was Kiddiepunk! Aka Michael Aspen Taylor. Actually, since that post, he's changed his name legally to Michael Salerno. Anyway, he's my neighbor now since he lives here in the Recollets, so I'll alert him today if he doesn't see your comment. Any message I should tell him? Did you want one of his books, or ... ? Yeah, you're right: cleaning day used to be Tuesday, but they switched it to Wednesday six months or so ago, and, weirdly, they forgot to clean my room yesterday by some fluke, so my exile this week is going to take place today. Anyway, good memory, man. Oh, my email is dcooperweb @gmail.com. Good day to you. ** Jon Reiss, Hey, Jon! Oh, on the prices, it depends. If the escort is Europe based or nearby as in, say, the case of Turkey, it's Euros. If they're in the States, it's dollars, obviously. When the escorts are in, say, Russia or India or the Middle East or Mexico or South America, for instance, their prices are almost always in dollars for some reason. So, I'm guessing '88 Blocks to Tiffanys' isn't something I'm going to be able to find on youtube or via torrent, right? It sounds fascinating. I love that kind of thing. How are you? What's new? What's Xmas looking like? ** Jeff, Hey. No, the side-scrollers don't bother me at all. In terms of the height fear thing, I mean. It has to be pseudo-real-seeming, i.e. '3D'. That's really interesting and true to my experience about how you feel unlike yourself when playing games. I was working with that in 'God Jr.' a bit. I like that aspect of playing too. It's one reason why videogames are so relaxing, I guess. Thanks a lot for that cave/Koopa tip. I wrote it down. I need all the tips, walkthroughs, and cheats I can get when I play games. I really mostly just like to wander around in them, albeit on the preordained path. I've read about 'Epic Mickey, yeah, and I've been really intrigued. You've pretty sold me on it. It really does sound like it's completely up my alley. Thanks, Jeff. ** Allesfliesst, Ha ha, I usually get complaints that there aren't enough muscles. Glad to get support re: my support of wussies. The muscled escort set happened to be unusually on the ball with their profile texts in the last month. So, I'm imagining you'll start applying for the prof jobs soon, right? Are you thinking of making the job transition when the new contract expires, best case scenario? ** Brendan, My dirt is your ... mud? No, your dirt. It's your dirt as much as it is mine. I ended up using 'Nurse' as the title of that porn film I wrote and that will probably never get made. It seems to be a cursed title. ** Steevee, Wow, a total hacking assault. Sorry, man, and I'm glad you got through it without untold expense. Jesus. I guess it makes sense that the Herzog doc would be rather conventional. I had been wondering how in the hell someone gave Herzog the opportunity to work in 3D, but if it's the kind of film that would have a long, lucrative life on naturey cable TV, that would make sense. ** Killer Luka, 'Raw' ... I'll find it. I think I've seen a 'making of' clip from that porn. I distinctly recall a shackled MP being powder-puffed and so on. You have, like, the ultimate cool mom or the ultimate cool offspring/ parent relationship kind of thing going on, at least on a verbal level. ** Misanthrope, Yeah, the escorts were a bit more healthy and less weird-eyed/suicidal seeming this month, so it makes sense you'd like them more. Luck of the draw. If Leo DiCap puts on any more weight, his head is going to be sailing through the air past Macy's next Thanksgiving. I think what I have is more good powers of concentration than excessive energy. I'm like people who work really well on assembly lines or something. Good luck with the doc today, man. ** L@rstonovich, Ha ha, I was, but, in that case as in the current case, someone else figured out the tech so I could do that, and he showed me how to do it for future reference, and it went in one eye and out ... wherever. I'm an old fashioned guy deep down. Anyway, I'm going to memorize the trick this time by hook or crook. There's another one up? I'm behind. It's okay, though. I like long walks. If only -2 degrees liked my long walks. ** Shannon, Hey, S. How come you can't sleep well? Is it stress? I slept shittily last night for that very reason. Anyway, you're always my escorts posts' ideal audience. Well, you and me together. I'm like the posts' cook and butler, and you're their connoisseur. Or something. See, I told you I didn't get enough sleep, ha ha. You doing anything Xmas-wise, or anything that you're looking forward to particularly? ** Magick Mike, Hey, 10,000 words is good. That's one of those 'it's going to work/ happen' benchmarks: 10,00 words. I mean it is for me. But then my novels can sometimes be just a hair over 10,000 words long, I guess. What's going to happen with that finished novella? I hope you're going to publish it. ** Dusty Rose, Hey, Dusty Rose. It's a fine thing to see you. Yeah, I guess there was more uncut cock displayed, wasn't there? Generally 90+% of the escorts in my posts are uncut due to their European and further flung heritage. It's just hidden usually. Me, I can go either way. Cut, uncut ... whatever works. But I'm an ass 'man'. Anyway, sorry, I'm rambling due to insufficient sleep. The ones with feelings are the cutest. I think so too. So, how are you? What's going on? Tell me. ** Alan, Hey. Yeah, but I'm not the novel's target at the moment. Here's what I would do. Change it to 'Casual Encounters' for the sake of getting an agent and/or publisher because I think you're right that it's a more agreeable or whatever title. Then, when you get the agent/ publisher lined up, and if you're still favoring the old title, tell them you want to change the title. Maybe they'll go, Sure, no problem. Or maybe they'll say, No. Either way, you can't lose because both titles work just fine, I think. In any case, hold off on stealing 'French Hole' for at least next few weeks. (Not that I thought you were serious, but just in case.) I might need it. ** Math, Hey, pal. Yeah, 'Last Days of Disco', super awesome. Do you know Stillman has actually made a new film? It's finished and everything. David Ehrenstein linked to a very good article about him/that here a while back, but I don't have the link anymore. Cool news, no? No, I wasn't joking about the title. Is 'Try' more commercial than 'Evol'? I really can't tell. Me, I would read a novel called 'Evol' before I'd read a novel called 'Try' in a heartbeat. ** Creative Massacre, Good on the sleep. Maybe your insomnia got passed on to me, ha ha. No, I'm okay. That collaboration sounds totally cool. Really exciting. This artist Mike Kelley and I were going to collaborate on a goth musical back in the '90s, but we never ended up doing it. I'll be very interested to hear more about that as it develops. And a big phew on your mom. Frozen shoulder, weird. Wow, that's a relief. And just in time for Xmas and all that. ** Bill, Okay, confirmed, I'm going to avoid that Taymor film except for maybe Whishaw clips because I really do feel like I should see him move and talk. But he's yours, man, no matter what happens. ** Okay, that's it. Bruno Dumont is one of my fave contemporary French directors or rather directors in general. Check him/ his stuff out. See you next time.
37 comments:
Yeah - well - I don't think Ish knew what the sound constraints were, Ben might have possibly and was not forth coming. It will be fine, possibly less loud and dynamic. I have to supply some equipment, which doesn't make me happy. I probably should have asked some questions early on, instead of committing so quickly. It will be fine. bundle up, bring extra clothes for your stay here. I'll say that and it will probably be 70 degrees when you get here.
Chris
Nice to see bruno Dumont Day.
Can't say he's a filmmkaer I "like" but I most certainly admire him , especially as compared to that charlatan Von Trier. I found Dumont's Flanders most impressive of those films of his I've seen.
Hey, Dennis, I finished reading "Tearoom Trade", and, for an academic and, sociological tome, it was still pretty interesting. I like the way Humphreys hoped it would be a "good manual for having sex in public restrooms" when it was suggested that that was what it was. As far as a porno, well, it'd be, mostly, oral encounters, with only a couple of instances of anal sex. I think some liberties should be taken with other portions of the work, such as the interviews he did a full year after the observations in the restrooms. Humphreys had changed his hairstyle and purchased a new car so he wouldn't be recognized. For the film, those interviewees should be nude, including the wives and, even, children ( although, the later two, very briefly ) to lend the thing a surreal look. They're only nude, in his mind's eye. Like the Cleaver family, at the dinner table, buckass nekkid, but acting completely normal.The discomfort is the interviewer's, as it should have been, or, perhaps, was. The soundtrack should be mid-sixties garage rock, or, something akin to it.Okay, I have wierd, and, perhaps even, naive ideas about films. I suffered from night terrors as a child, and, all-too-often my imagination falls into dreamscape. Nice ideas, sometimes, but, perhaps, unfilmable.
Amazing Bruno Dumont post today, Dennis. And after reading what he says in that interview extract you posted, I love him even more than I already did.
PS: Speaking of love, I watched the 'Tree of Life' trailer. I am stunned at how unbelievably great this film looks. It actually brought a tear to my eye, which is a first for watching a trailer. May can not come soon enough.
Im surprised to say that i've never heard of this guy, it looks something like Gasper Noe meets Larry Clark? No?
I'm good Dennis, thanks for asking. Regarding 88 Blocks to Tiffany's, you might find it on the usual Bit Torrent sites, do you know anything about private Bit Torrent sites? It's a bit nerdy but I belong to a bunch of private specialty bt sites one for TV, one for music, two for films. This one that I'm on called Karagarga has it, it has absolutely every tiny movie ever made. Theyre like regular bt sites but you need an invite and you have to keep a good ratio. I could invite you if you like.
I'm a jew so I don't do Christmas really, (arts editor of Jewcy.com) I'm a rare Scandinavian Jew, their aren't many of us. My mother got me big boy shoes so that I can meet editors wearing something other than ripped chucks and possibly not be treated like a kid. I make everyone mix drives for the holidays, basically a mix tape but on a flash drives with movies and stuff. On the site Brooklyn Based I made a guide to making them, good gifts.
This is nice.
Thanks for the heads up, Dennis. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like Thomas Ligotti, ha ha.
Jeff, regarding what you said yesterday, I really hope you don't keep silent, I think there should at least be a few pro-antinatilists putting in their two cents, otherwise things might get boring. As I hinted at yesterday, my day focuses more on Ligotti's literary/fictional achievements, because I find that aspect of him to be more interesting than his philosophy, even though the two are rather closely intertwined (though to be honest, aside from existentialism I find philosophy to be dreadfully boring and almost unreadable). I don't go too much into his antinatilism views (aside from linking to one of his interviews where he discusses the matter in greater detail), but I did try to hard to pick out some quotes of his that I think best express his extreme pessimism. But, anyway, I hope you're vocal.
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Cool, you’re thinking of switching back to “French Hole”? It’s a no-brainer if you ask me. Would be an all-time great title.
ooo a frenchie.
hahaha "i'm an ass man". Dennis...we know.
So yeah Miles Pride...did you see the one where he has sex with an undersized watermelon? it was incontrovertibly captivating...riveting...compelling....engrossing...ok it was pretty stupid but hot but really, I felt bad for that fruit being exploited like that (Miles Pride I mean, not the watermelon). i dunno about the one where he plays a vampire and keeps getting his fake fangs caught on his prostate...oops i mean getting his fake fangs caught on his lip piercings. it hurts my life.
So "Raw" is new...Can you send it to me? or tell me where to get it if ya do k thanks.
Yeah my mom and I are very close. it's pretty tacky. Ok I am gonna try to go finish my drawing of a boy being raped by a giant eagle or something.
love ya,
me
Here's a recent interview with Bruno Dumont and HADEWICJH star Julie Sokolowski: http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/12/some-words-with-bruno-dumont-and-julie-sokolowski.html#tp. Warning: spoilers for HADEWIJCH.
I interviewed him in 2000 for the American release of HUMANITE and came away with a good impression, but I saw him do a Q&A for FLANDERS where he acted like a pompous dick. I loved HUMANITE but was really disappointed by TWENTYNINE PALMS and FLANDERS. I'm back on board with HADEWIJCH.
i've been meaning to watch some dumont forever, but haven't gotten around to it. i'm sure i'll find them interesting when i finally do see them. i'm just not watching as many movies as i used to. according to my records, i have only watched 71 so far this year, and surely this is the first year since about 2001 where the number is lower than 100.
regarding the novella: i sent it out to a couple of people/presses, we'll see what happens. i'm not sure what will happen to it... it's too long to self-publish, unless i used lulu or something i suppose.
Hello Dennis.
Today I've talked to my gallerists. Good times for my work. They're going to show it in the most important Contemporary Art Fair here. Only a couple of photographs, but it doesn't matter, that's great!
I don't know Bruno Dumont and his movies at all. Thank you for the day.
This is cool, to come across acknowledgement of this very difficult filmmaker. He's carved his own path, which is laudable enough in a medium full of followers and pretenders. I'm looking forward to Hadewijch. Let the fools boo him. Like Meursault, at the conclusion of "The Stranger", finally grasping the meaninglessness of it all, I'm certain Dumont would equally appreciate these howls of hate.
Twentynine Palms is one of the best movies I've seen in the past year. I discovered it during my "New French Extremity" obsession. Even though I was already informed of the ending, it still ripped me apart. Unfortunately, I can't manage to find his other stuff through Netflix. Or, at least, I couldn't when I still had Netflix, haha.
I hope everything is going well!!
And IMMENSE congratulations on your novel, Dennis!! IMMENSE!!
My comment, which I am pretty sure I posted a few hours ago, seems to have disappeared. And not by my own hand, even. Figures that when I actually write something sensible it would vanish. I'll chalk it up to karma. It takes me the longest time to write the simplest thing, so I won't retype it.
Sypha,
I might comment on the Ligotti Day when it comes. We'll see. I'm looking forward to it regardless. I swear that what I wrote in my vanished comment was better than this one.
Dennis,
I'm glad you found something useful in my video game comments. Addendum: as I remember, you need to fetch one of those springboard thingies earlier in the level and drop it on the raft to make the jump.
I was wondering if you own any consoles besides the Nintendo ones. I bought a Wii first, but later bought a Playstation 3 when I had a job and the money to buy one. I still have money from that job. I might buy an XBox 360 because I want to play Banjo-Kazooie, which as I recall is one of your favorite games, and I think Microsoft bought exclusive rights to games by Rare, the company that made Banjo-Kazooie, so it can't be downloaded on the Wii, even though it was originally a Nintendo game.
I'm just hesitant about buying all of the consoles when they will probably just release the next-gen ones in a few years anyway. Oh well, it is not like I have a life to speak of.
Dennis: Super Dumont Day. Brandon (I think) brought a couple DVDs over a few years back. I remember Humanity. I think the other was Flanders, which I didn't see, and which is buried in the room I have to clean for holiday co. So, I'm gonna find that after phys. ther. tomorrow and watch it, instead of A Charlie Brown Christmas for the third time already this year.
The holiday co. up in here will be Jimmy and the canine Ray, and Auriel and his brand new fiance. That's gonna be a huge, fun mess. Maybe Auriel will wanna do some stuff that could compose a post-holiday post for here, as we've done at least a couple of times. I know he got a new camera.
Aaron got his security deposit back and is now unhappily back in the suburbs. It's a bummer, but the cops, who are obviously smoking all the crack, have all the info they need to arrest these people if they can find them. I haven't noticed them around, and I'm a little pissed because I wanted my plumbing problems fixed, but whatever. Just waitin' for the next crew of cons.
I'm ready for bed at 8:30 pm. That is so weird for me. But it is fuh-ree-zing, and that means bed.
Best to all.
Njr
I have been wondering lately what the point would be in me making arguments in favor of antinatalism. Beside the obvious fact that I am generally disliked and it is therefore easy for people to to dismiss any idea I espouse, it seems that the pronatalists always have the upper hand.
A few years ago I was discussing atheism with someone here, and I remember the sentiment being expressed that Christianity is a 'religion of death,' or something like that. I remember thinking "if it is a religion of death, why are there so many of them?" I can understand the sentiment if it is referring to something like living death, I guess. I could make a joke about how they reproduce so as to increase the amount of death in the world, since creatures need to be born to die.
I don't know if there has ever been a society that existed that was antinatalist. If there was, I probably haven't hear of them because they died out quickly.
What I mean is that I think pronatalists have the upper hand because pretty much all human societies encourage breeding. Of their own kind, of course. They want people to have children and perpetuate their memes.
Anyone who goes counter to their project is subjected to shaming and exclusion tactics. "You will die and rot in the cold." Basically the threat is exclusion from the society and banishment to the wilderness. Women are especially skilled at this, as if it was second nature. Another way of putting it is "your genetic code ends here."
I think that in modern society this ancient banishment technique doesn't hold the weight it used to, what with home heating and such. It can be a source of amusement and pleasure to observe the diminishing power of gatekeepers.
I was wondering what tactics can be used against the pronatalists, and it occurred to me that their own methods could be turned against them. The banishment hex formula, I mean. Antinatalism doesn't have the power of society behind it, but it does have logic and consistency, which society ostensibly observes. If there is a way to call them on it and turn it against them... maybe.
I'm doing pretty good right now. Working through the everyday grind. I have all kinds of ideas in my head but right now I'm having a hard time really sticking to one.
I think societal adhd is really getting at me.
There are three right now that I think could grow to be something great as soon as I get all my ducks in a row for them.
I'm awfully partial to the uncut boys. My first sexual experience was with one and it was awful, should have scarred me for life and sent me crawling after girls, but it didn't. I finally found another one, and it's not scary at all so I'm holding on with both hands.
"Boyish is only one letter away from goyish."
- from The Book of Jeff's Useless Aphorisms.
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The snow is just ice now; it's like the ground is a giant slurpy, or slushie, or squishie; something like that. I'm thinking of murdering my family. That's the reason for my silence yesterday.
Which brings me to a second funny coincidence; tonight there's a rerun of The Office that is set at a community theater's production of Sweeney Todd. Since it's a community production though, the set design is horrible. Still it makes me wonder why a designer hasn't done a collection based on crazy victorian whores, it's a look.
Maybe it's the snow and being trapped, but I've become squeamish in the last week. Today I saw a photo of a gingerbread house made from raw meats and wanted to throw up. A long way from the Andrew who established a Thanksgiving tradition of watching Sweet Movie followed by The Wizard of Oz a few months ago.
Hey Dennis,
Well, these are all from Wednesday's replies to Tuesday, so:
I didn't think you'd like Xanadu. You don't like Showgirls either, right? Well, I'm not sure if 'like' is the right word. But you know.
I did like The Last Days of Disco. I thought it was funny and sad and the dance number at the end was a good way to end it, even though I would've never thought that would've worked.
I'm sorry about the cold. Was it warmer yesterday?
I'm glad Oscar and Kiddiepunk liked the show but I'm sorry you didn't. From your description I'm thinking of those sepia pictures from somewhere that I always assume to be Oklahoma, though.
Did you go to the Xmas village?
I'm sorry about your agent, but he does love it so far. So that's still good.
Oh, yay, you have a Buche de Noel Weekend ahead of you! That's exciting.
My day:
Well, yesterday the internet wasn't not working, but everytime it would open a page it would immediately close it. After making sure nothing had lodged itself against the keyboard, I shut it off and hoped that would fix it.
So today:
Wake up.
Shower.
My friend called me, so I knew it was probably bad, and it was. Of course. I was in the middle of stretching, and for some reason I thought I could finish and talk to her. So I dropped the phone once and a few times made noises that probably startled her, but she didn't say anything about it. She needed me to help her clean her house, which is a shitty thing to ask, but I don't mind, I guess.
So I went over and did, and she helped because I made sure of that, and I kept reiterating that no, I am not a maid. So she probably regretted asking me, and I feel kind of bad about that. But anyway, we got to a problem whenever I asked her to help me make her bed:
"You make your bed?"
"Yeah."
"Why? You're just going to get right back in it."
"True."
"Then there's no point, basically."
"Everything else is clean, though. And the bed just looks all rumpled up and messy."
"I'm going to sleep tonight."
"I had assumed so."
"So, no."
"It's nice, though. It'll be all nice and tight and safe. And if you're mad at something you can kick the sheets around and pretend it's whoever you're mad at."
"I might actually enjoy that."
"I know. You have a lot of pent up anger."
"I do not. But let's make this bed!"
So we did, and finished, and after a while I left.
Turning on the computer, I saw something out of the corner of my eye and immediately smacked it. It ended up being a moth and I like moths, so that was depressing. It wasn't completely dead yet, so I tried to humanely end its life with the bottom of a water bottle, but that just kept fucking with its wings, so I had to eventually use the bottom of a lighter. This whole thing was completely sad to me so I tried to pretend the moth's burial via trash can was dignified.
Fixed the internet by going to somewhere and clicking on a few things and now it's fine, just missing a few toolbars. So that's good.
Saw that the director of Breakfast at Tiffany's died, which was sad. Saw that Jean Rollin died, which is also incredibly sad. I think I'm going to watch The Grapes of Death tonight, in tribute.
But how was your day, Dennis?
If you want to see Ben Whishaw moving and talking, seek out "Criminal Justice." Besides his performance being excellent, he's also naked about five seconds into it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmunB9MHROg
D- yeah i'd love one of his books, things that we lost was the one that really caught my eye but i'm betting since its so long past all of them don't exist anymore. I'm just glad that I figured it out. I do seem to have a really good memory, at least for some stuff, but never in really applicable situations, the exception is at work, I can remember the stupidest stuff on where a book is based on the cover, people ask me all the time on the off chance that I saw it in the last month or so. I pretty much can recall for at least that long, as long as I have the cover. But now I feel like i'm tooting my own horn so thats no good either. I have so much that I'd love to catch up with you about, but at the same time I feel that since I was gone its my responsibility to read through and figure the stuff out on my own. I don't even know where to start like with filling in on where ive been and what kind of stuff I've been doing, but suffice to say I'm pretty busy. I'm involved in two different companies that offer after-school classes for kids. One place is mostly science based, the other is kind of a hodge-podge and includes but isn't limited to Lego type classes, they're a lot of fun and a great experience for me too.
I'm sorry I don't have much to say on the day, but I know that the stuff you like is always intriguing to me and even if I don't like it, I feel more well rounded for being exposed to it.
I bet you probably remember me being a bit negative before, and I still have my bouts, but I'm trying really hard to change that in the sense of accepting what I have and *trying* to only worry about the stuff I can actually control, its always been really hard for me because I want to be superman and fix everything,I don't want anyone to hurt or any bad things to happen ever, but when they do I tend to take full responsibility for them. Which sounds pretty stupid I know, but its kinda how I was raised, and a bit of humility isn't bad, but I do believe I take it to the extreme sometimes. I will drop you an e-mail in the next couple of days, its something kind of stupid but if you'd at least look at it I'd really like that.
Its cold as fuck here, not so icy anymore, but getting rougher, Just trying to make it to work sometimes is tough. Now here's where I turn it back to you a little bit.. Do you have any plans for the holidays do you and Yury do anything special? Are you picking up a... ahhh.. i can't remember the word... the yule...thing.. I suck with that. um.. Anything you;d like to pose to me? I see that you saw Harry Potter recently, any other films that have caught your eye or that you've seen and are worth mentioning?
I suppose thats my attempt today at engaging and starting a conversation, But I hope you're doing well and continue to do so and have a great day.
Dennis, aw man thanks for the Dumont reminder! Just in time as I'm taking a few days off (well, at least one, tomorrow...) from the three books I'm working on just to watch movies all day, catch up on emails, and, ahem, blogs!--the rarest luxury these days!--I've seen The Life of Jesus and Twentynine Palms--I'm a sucker for anything SoCal desert which is weird enough on its own and to this celluloid fan was made perfectly strange by our French hero--all obsessions with making the deceivingly normal exquisite, very killer; I discovered him via Pola X, which of course I discovered because Scott Walker did the soundtrack...
Humanity, embarrassingly enough, I've missed, but not for the lack of trying at least twice...so thanks for the reminder!
Hey! Also, in your post-novel-finished life, I've been meaning to ask you, so I'll do it now, what I might do to twist you to write me a new short fiction story for my forthcoming speed anthology on Akashic? I know in my heart and my own retired amphetamine joy-and-psychosis-filled schnoz that nobody would do it like you would do it, and I'd be sure as godamned excited and honored. It's a killer volume, Vollmann=meth and trannies, Megan Abbott has a Gold Heart Mountaintop Dr. Feelgood, our mainman Mr. Greer is on...if you feel inspired...
Oh, yeah, also before I forget--I do have a copy of the Carroll book for you, can drop it in the mail or hand it over here in L.A. in Feb., whichever is easiest...
Okay, more sooner than later, but now I open wine and pump the DVD player, on deck first is a little Fox and His Friends to cheer me down! Cuddly Fassbinder.
Cheers!
Joseph
Well, Jeff, re: breeding, I'm not really for it or against it. I just acknowledge that it exists and that there are some people who will breed and others who will not (giving the fact that I pretty much have zero interest in having sex with women, it's not an issue I myself have to deal with).
Is Christianity a religion of death? Maybe, but I think you can say that about any religion (Buddhism also comes to mind).
I think I'm beginning to understand the danger of sharing dreams in public. Dreams are the only escape (of sorts) I have. I wake up so many mornings after brief dreamless sleep feeling like my brain was cooked on a grill.
By sharing them, they are no longer an escape because they are out in the open.
I had a dream recently where I was in a clearing surrounded by a forest. It was night and the darkness of the forest was very frightening, with the kind of nightmare terror that dreams bring, but I felt very calm and comfortable, and enjoyed the beauty of the sky as I buried myself under grass.
Dennis – haha I hope my insomnia got passed on to you now maybe I can sleep. Lol.
Goth musical huh? That sounds really awesome.
The collaboration project is called, 'Ghost Harbor'. It's my friend's new musical venture. He had one before called, 'Drake Fathom' which made him oddly popular in Russia.
Here’s his ‘Drake Fathom’ project: Drake Fathom
Sypha,
Well, I agree that it exists, and I also think that my opinion doesn't matter much because people who are inclined to have kids probably will, and those who aren't won't, and neither care much about what I think, or factor it in to their decision making. If anything my behaviour is probably counterproductive. I should probably just calm down. I'm tired, anyway.
I am sexually attracted to women mostly, also sometimes men, but I don't think I will ever be in a position where I am in a relationship with a woman who wants kids, so I don't think about it like that. The very idea of someone wanting to have kids with me strikes me as preposterous. I am a... Beta? Omega? Something lower than that?
I do think it is worth talking with people who are thinking about having kids, and trying to convince them not to, because their potential child can be spared from life, and it matters.
I'm probably not the best candidate for the job, though.
hi there. i like this Dumont day.
Dennis, oh a new Whit Stillman, that absolutely made my day. no Chris Eigeman, surprising! at least, he's not listed in the cast on imdb.
well yeah Try is a more commercial title than Evol.. i mean trust me. Try is a regular word, people know what it means. Evol is Love backwards and the name of a Sonic Youth album but it's not a word. it looks like it could be Latin or something and thereby seems hoity. no offense.
man, i'm so tired all the time right now. i'm eating a lot and inching my way back towards normalcy but i need like 2 naps a day, it's crazy. just now i was supposed to go do something with this girl @9pm. i went into my room to get dressed. next thing i know i'm fully dressed, hat and scarf and all, waking up on my couch @2am, one boot laced up and the other one not yet.
i shoplifted a copy of Catcher in the Rye today, i havent read it since i was 13. more than half my life ago. i'm curious.
happy weekend all.
xxm+
i haven't seen any of his films but the idea of filming uninteristing things and working to them interestings sounds like the best idea any filmmaker could have.
not much else going here. working on some art and writing, playing some videogames, figuring out what the big deal with new kanye's new album is. might be a dorm room thing. going through my media player and listening to albums i've kind of put off listening to. yawn.
congrats on finishing the book.
wow. spelling errors everywhere.
also, thanks doing the day blog dedication on the books i put out. really cool of you.
hey dennis, wow, i saw 'bruno dumont day' and wondered if my bringing him up had anything to do with this and there you said it! so happy to have planted this one in yr mind d.
it was actually the sight and sound article on 'l'humanite' mentioned in the post which got me to check him out, the 'for and against' with mark cousins arguing passionately 'for' (mark lives here in edinburgh and i often see him at the cinema).
but yeah, like i mentioned, 'hadewijch' just thrilled the hell out of me, my favourite now of his i guess - kind of fell in love with julie sokolowski, and the whole theme of late capitalism robbing life of what it could previously hold sacred, by flattening everything into commodities (as i read it anyhow), and this idea that one might only find peace through martyrdom/self-destruction is a beautiful one to me - especially when set within those landscapes (the convent/the parent's house/those woods/that banlieu).
dennis, you said you and dumont were co-interviewed? can i ask if you remember what was discussed about both of yr work that prompted the pairing to come about?
also, don't wanna turn this into a pestering at all, but any chance you could email me the ghost drawing if you have time? (hi.georgetaylor@gmail.com), again, i would be so, so grateful for it dude.
have an awesome fritag
jhx
Dennis- sent you an email re Nyc
Dennis, Well, shit, I'd like to have that concentration then! Hehe. Actually, when I set myself to something, I can get it done and usually do my best, whatever that may be. It's just getting up the energy/drive/ambition to do it. I think of all it will entail, both physically and emotionally, and just...get tired and go to bed.
But frankly and very honestly, I know it's the meds I'm on. I wake up a lot of times feeling great, take my meds, then an hour later I'm dead.
The doc went okay, I guess. The blood pressure's still way too high. 142/110. When it should be 120/80. It's the bottom number that's scary. So the dude jumped on the net in the office, went through Walmart's $4 hypertension drugs, and we're gonna try a new one. In the short term, the high bp's not that big a deal, but in the long-term it's gonna kill me. Literally.
I need to make some lifestyle changes too. Lose more weight, quit smoking, blah blah blah.
Poor Leo's head. Yeah, as he's gotten older and filled out -and slicked back his fucking hair all the time- you can see just how huge his head is. But I think J. Edgar was quite a bit pudgier in real life than Leo, so that's what I meant about gaining weight, of course. I know you know that. And you're right, that head gets any bigger...hehehehe.
It snowed here today. A couple inches. But enough to get me stuck in the Fed Ex parking lot with my niece, who had to overnight her phone to her grandmother in Mississippi for the new plan they're doing. Took 5 of us to get our asses out of there.
So I've really been getting into this HBO series "In Treatment." And this one actor in particular, Dane DeHaan. The acting's just so good in this series, it makes up for any deficits script-wise, in my opinion. I just hope DeHaan doesn't fuck up his career like Leo has by doing blockbusters.
thanks Jheorgge (and DC), after the clips i'm eager to see a feature.
I'll be your mud anytime, Dennis.
You've inspired me to sometime make a piece and name it Nurse. I wonder what it will look like?
b
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