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p.s. Hey. ** The legendarily inclined Thomas Moronic is back today with the tenth installment of his always eagerly awaited gif-employing extravaganza. I am very happy about this turn of events, and I hope sincerely that you are as well. And I hope you will make noises of some sort in Mr. Moronic's direction throughout the course of the day. Thank you! And, maestro T, thank you without reservation! ** Tosh Berman, Hi, Tosh. Oh, goodness, I sure do recommend dipping into Joy Williams' work. It is super rare that American sentences are born with such gorgeous and odd properties. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. I don't know if you're familiar with Emmanuel Todd in general, but, in my opinion, he is very frequently full of shit. ** H, Hi. I hope you enjoy reading Joy Williams. Thank you, yes, the New Yorker thing is really cool and heartening. Awesome that you're hard at work on the manuscript. I like the title. Jean Frémon ... mm, no, I don't think I know his work. Hm. Might be a memory slip though. I'll check. I've only read Frank Bidart here and there. The odd poem once in a while, but I don't I've ever actually read a full book of his. I don't think I have a real sense of what he does. Sounds complicated. I'll try to remember to investigate him further and see what's what. ** Etc etc etc, Casey, hey! Blessings on you, man. Yeah, there is that every once in a while when the New Yorker is really supportive of a great, truly auteur-ish writer like Williams or, oh, Millhauser, and others. Have the best day! ** James, Hi. Thanks. Our film is not the kind of film that everybody is going to love, that is a guarantee. But it would be cool if a reasonable portion of the attendees do. Gulp. Oh, shit, yeah, I'll send you my address today, I promise. Sorry, I'm just crazy busy. Thanks about the New Yorker. Really, that's pretty cool, right? ** Steevee, Hi. Oops, I fear today's post won't be kind to your computer. Oh, that's too bad that the new film isn't so hot. Mumblecore meets 'Groundhog Day' is a most curious description. But, yes, one that I can easily imagine works best in the imagination. ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T. Thank you ever, ever so much for gifting us with this latest batch of brilliant madness! Cool, do tell about the zine's release. Holy shit, Halloween is coming, isn't it? I can start doing my annual Halloween countdown posts in as soon as a mere week or two, if I can't wait, which I know I can't. Definitely a nice, really interesting talk with Chris and the Weaklings gang yesterday. Well, for me at least. I don't know how much I actually helped them. Joy Williams is definitely one of the absolute masters of the America sentence. Thanks about the New Yorker. All thanks to the amazing and generous Mr. Casey Henry. ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hi, Jeff! Good to see you, man! Thanks about the TNY piece. Yeah, wow, that was really nice. I've been twiddling my fingers for months waiting for this new or partly-new Joy Williams book, and I still am since I haven't gotten an actual copy yet. Do you know anyone who has actually met or studied with her or anything? I would so love to meet her someday. I don't know about the omission of the early stories. Huh. I wonder why, if so. Well, it would hard to describe the changes we made to 'TVC' without having to lay out a whole bunch of background. Overall, the piece has a complex and very rangy tempo and tone. Parts are crazily frenetic, other parts are gradual and dreamy, other parts are dead still. And the tone ranges from wacky and wild to very strange to quite emotional. Gisele has been fine tuning the piece's build, and it's pretty much as perfect as it can get now. Then she made a bunch of little trims. The piece is by far the longest of our works at 1 hour 40 minutes, so it has to be really tight. There are still two problem points in the piece, things are okay but not working the way they need to, and we're working to revise them right now while there is a couple of weeks break between gigs. Another thing is that the piece seems to work better in English than it does in German for some reason. Maybe because of the distance created via the performers having to speak in a second language, I'm not sure. Anyway, I think it's pretty close to being completely in place now. Really great luck on the new theater piece. I would love to hear anything about that if/when you have the time and inclination to share. And really, really great news that you've gotten a solid handle on the novel! Obviously, that's something else I would love to hear about in more detail at some point, on the phone or here. Take care, bud. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Oh, she's pretty consistently great, so you could start almost anywhere with her, I think. Great luck re: the meeting with Andrew. And the (((echo))) thing sounds fun and enticing. Ha, a Hello Kitty bong. Super swell idea, man. Excited to see what you come up with. ** Krayton, Hi. Never say never. Thanks about the film. It doesn't seem like the kind of film that could be a hit in the usual sense of hit. Maybe a sleeper hit, as they say. I haven't read Alan Watts since I was knee-high to a bong. Much love back. ** Mikel Motorcycle, Mr, Motorcycle! Holy moly! How sweet it is to see you, my old pal! You'll be here for the film premiere? Wow. I'm going to be a total nervous, distracted wreck at the premiere, so let's make a plan to meet up once it's over. I'm around, so, yeah, let's definitely meet up for a coffee and a long catch-up and talk while you're here. It'll be so nice to see you! Big love to you, and see you soon! ** Bill, Hi, Bill. For stingy Williams, even 13 new stories is pretty sweet. Congrats on figuring out that code issue. Technical yay! Leonora Carrington is so strange and great. I really should do a spotlight post on her. Hm, consider it done. ** Douglas Payne, Hi there, Douglas. How's tricks? I really don't think you will regret reading more Joy Williams. I'm pretty confident about that. How are you? What's going on in your world right now? ** Kyler, Hi, K. Ha ha, well, thank you for into-ness. Letting go of friends is a weird, melancholy thing, yeah. Weird when that suddenly seems like an important thing to do. Progress is a fascinating thing. Best to you! ** Right. Go back up into the fray of Mr. Moronic's concoction, won't you? Thanks. See you tomorrow.