*
p.s. RIP: Scott Miller. Hey. ** Tuesday ** Misanthrope, I see. Yeah, I have this weird maybe non-competitiveness streak in general, and the 'wanting to win' stuff going on seemed sort of just showy and for fun and because it seemed appropriate, I guess, I don't know. Allergies makes sense. I don't know about where you are, but it suddenly turned into warm spring here a few days ago, and I guess the pollen is flying around feeling its yearly spate of newfound freedom or whatever, and I'm a bit zonked by it. Hope that's all it is, on your end. Glad this mysterious whatever to do with your 'big mouth' is dust in the wind of your memory banks by now or something like that. I need more coffee. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, David. Well, the protests are a big deal in context because they reveal an ugly fervor on the right that is surprising a lot of people here, and also a shortsightedness on the part of the UMP aka the French Republican party who have pretty much come down against gay marriage as a whole, and that is kind of a head scratcher, but the protests are not being read as any kind of game changer or anything. A curiosity, more like. Michel Legrand is still doing stuff, that's interesting. I had no idea. I don't think I realized that he's still alive even. ** Joshua nilles, Hey, man! How's it going? Good to see you. Cool about your concentration and progress on the novel. Mm, I can't remember if you told me about the book of poetry. It's cool news, in any case. The Amazon wipe is interesting too. I'll go check out your blog when I get done here. I haven't been over there in a while. Nice! Yeah, it's a cool thing to have you back. ** Tosh, Hi, T. Oh, yeah, I'll go see the Demy retrospective show. It's already on the agenda. Really beautiful posters for it all over the metro here featuring these gorgeous, huge, blown up film stills. ** Cobaltfram, Hi, John. A Malick discussion sometime, yeah, maybe, let's see. We seem pretty far apart, and I don't know how that twain could meet, but, yeah, sometime, why not? I don't think my interest is moving towards memory. Maybe without conscious thought about it. I'm working with my real life in this 'former George novel' novel, so perhaps there's been a gravitational pull toward memory books, I don't know, interesting. Well, I hope the student art show surprised you. I've seen some pretty great stuff at student art shows at times. ** Billy Lloyd, Hi, Billy! Digital release is A-okay with me. Cool! Can't wait! And that's super exciting about your inspiration and productivity of late. Twenty minutes of new songs by you is ... what it's called ... a watershed. I don't even know what a 'watershed' is. Strange term for treasure. Oh, on the recent trip, well, there was a post. We were here. Off to Scandinavia for about two and a half weeks in early May. That's next. Then to Japan for a few weeks. Traveling madness/bliss in my world these days. Shit, I hope the Perfume gig isn't sold out here. I'll check. It could easily be. I've only heard Hatsune Miku's music on the videos, and it seems like, I don't know, typical sounding watered down Japanese pop, but it's all about the hologram and its fascinating usage ultimately, right? You haven't planned for your summer yet? No clues at all? ** S., Given your specific boy needs, and their total concentration on the surface of the boy, maybe coin operated is the way to go. Or one of those increasingly sophisticated, spookily almost but not quite real looking Japanese robots. Plus, they won't give you STDS. Just rug burn or something. ** Scunnard, It worked for me, for sure. Awesome, more, etc. ** Sypha, Good, very glad you're on the upswing. Abe is cool. Very cool, in fact. I quite liked 'The Sea Fertility' when I read it, but it was ages ago, so I don't feel like I can have any decent opinion on it now. ** Wednesday ** David Ehrenstein, Oh, wow, I really have to read your book. I don't know why I haven't. Is it in print? Wait, I can go find out on my own, and I will, pronto. ** Grant maierhofer, Hi, Grant. Thank you a lot for that, man. Let me pass on your ... Everyone, here's Grant Maierhofer with a request. Hear him out. Help him out. Here he is: ' if anyone on here's bored and feels like sharing some shit that has helped them in the past in predicaments like this (be it art, pornography, literature, whatever) by all means send me an email (maierhofer dot grant at gmail dot com).' He doesn't say so, but I'm assuming you could make your recommendations here in the comments arena too, if you like. Thanks! I should see 'Repo Man' again. Originally, on release, I liked it a bunch. Then I saw it on DVD years later and thought it was silly and dated. But maybe the film or my powers of perception were going through an awkward growing phase at the time. New CP Cavafy book? You mean a new translation, or did they somehow find work by him that was previously unknown or something? Love back to you, man. ** White tiger, Thank you, Mathster! ** Steevee, That does sound potentially very mediocre, I must say. Was it? ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hi, Jeff. Thanks a lot re: the Owen Land post. Yeah, I read 'The Loop' not long ago. It's very, very good, and quite different formally than the 'London' book. Lengthy dialogue problem ... Well, is it really a problem? Lengthy dialogues can be quite interesting. When you say the novel seems to call for lengthy dialogues, what do you mean? Call for that why? I don't know, I guess you can give them the usual (?) tests: test-read them as a casual bystander, test-read them as the novel's private investigator, really try to localize each character and do a test-read from his or her perspective, like, what does the character really want/need to hear, and what would he/she skim, ... Those kinds of exercises maybe? ** Okay, wow, that's it. A shorty. I have this weird feeling deep down inside that today's post is one of the best I've ever made, but maybe I'm crazy or not quite awake yet. It's in your court, in any case. See you tomorrow.