*
p.s. Hey. ** Steevee, Hi. Painful and ... well, I was going to say bewildering, but since everything happening on the right side of the aisle in the US is bewildering, I guess disturbingly predictable are the words maybe. When I've been in situations similar to yours with Kent Jones, I think I've tried to pose the question in such a way that it seems like you're addressing the problem not in a challenging way but rather as an interesting and notable facet of his project, such that that he feels comfortable and confident explaining his reasoning in that regard to someone whom he has every reason to think is a nonjudgmental inquisitor? ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, D. If it's of interest, the reason Gombrowicz came up here when he did is because Christophe Honore's new play, 'Fin de l'histoire' is based on Gombrowicz's writings, and I just saw it the other night. Very good, but tough going for a non-fluent French speaker like myself, but very good. Thank you about that LIKE CATTLE TOWARDS GLOW review. Yes, we were very happy with it. ** S., Hi, S.! Interesting dilemma, or possibly not, I guess, that when you see 'the prettiest girl I've seen ever seen', it means 'to that point', and there's always the chance you'll see one even prettier somewhere in your seemingly huge future, so, unless one is psychic or a 'first thought = best thought' type, there's the strong temptation to wait. I guess when one is my age, though, one could see 'the prettiest girl I've seen ever seen' and think, with a reasonable amount of logic, 'I'm probably right'. Gombrowicz is a keeper. His diaries are really good too, super super cynical. I have this pretty based feeling that Paris's Xmas will have enough going on to do its yearly great thing. Your comment was a beautifully thought out and written thing. Thank you for it. ** Scunnard, Hi, J. That's what I figured: biennale as excuse, biennale as extra-added decor, biennale as 'Xmas in Paris'. Venice in fog, whoa. I've only been there in the summer when fog would have been god. ** Etc etc etc, Hi, Casey. I think there's some mellowing here. There's still the feeling that things could re-erupt though. That could last a while. Cool and fun about the TPR party. I didn't know about that book. I'll hunt it. Ira rules. No, I ... don't think I've been to the Jane Hotel or its ballroom. Name's familiar. Cool, I'll go check my email. I haven't pried it open yet this morning. Hope things on your side of the ocean are both comfortingly placed and excitingly misplaced. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. That sounds very interesting. The lecture/preview. It does sound like, thanks to your mom, you're fairly set, yes. Thanks for the RM link. I'll go watch that. ** Pascal, Hi, P. Writers have to be so patient. With themselves, fine, understandable, but with publishers too, which is ... well, understandable too, I suppose, but ... I need to get on finding a London venue of the film. I have to figure out how to do that. Our producers, who are supposed to be doing that, are useless. I did come across the Spicer unfinished novel, I think via Spicer expert Mr. Kevin Killian. And I think I read part of it even maybe, and I think maybe I thought it was interesting but that there did seem to be a fairly good reason therein as to why he decided not to finish it, but the details of all of that escape me. ** Joseph, Hi, Joseph. He's good, man. Worth a gander. Poems upon poems, excellent! How could that not be excellent, I ask you, or, well, ask anyone. Awesome, thanks the link to your piece.I won't subject it to p.s.-brain because that's no kind of justice, but I'll read it post-haste. Everyone, the super good writer and long-standing d.l. Joseph Goosey has a new poem up at the lovely mag/site Wussy, and his work is always juicy and invigorating, so give yourself the boost of clicking this blue portal and reading it. Do. Oh, he says it has some 'heavy typos' but that he likes typos, so, when and if you reach them, try to think of them as extra-fireworks. Oh, shit, ouch about the cat/self-loving/computer trajectory. It's an interesting trajectory, if that helps. ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hey, Jeffster. It's good. The book. I like Coetzee, sure. Someone did a post on him here, like, years and years ago. I think I remember quite liking his novel 'Foe' which is a Robinson Crusoe remake/ remodel. And ... hm, 'Slow Man'? And probably others. What are you reading of his? Yes, that UK DVD box thing of Rivette is really exciting! I'm gonna score that, for sure. Paris has been doing its level best to reenter normality with reasonable success, but stuff like that big raid yesterday morning are keeping things edgy. Still, it's possible for stretches of time to feel like everything's as it was albeit with a new amount of cops and soldiers. ** Chris Dankland, Hi, Chris! 'Pornografia' won't steer you in a bad direction. Yeah, I get the Sadean thing, yeah, hm. I'm going to try think about why that is exactly. No, I wrote SAFE in LA and NYC. First it was just the center section, 'My Mark', which was published as a booklet in 1982 when I was still living in LA. When I moved to NYC in '83, I wrote the two surrounding sections. It was published as a whole in '85, not so long before I moved to Amsterdam. Thank you for the kind words about it. I should reread it someday. My feeling has been that 'My Mark' is really good and probably the first actually good thing I ever wrote, but that the surrounding two sections are a bit thick or something and trying too hard. But I haven't looked at it in years. Anyway, thank you a lot, Chris. Things are rocky and nervous and strange here, but life goes on, and things are relatively normal feeling again, as much as they could be, considering. Thank you for the good thoughts. All is good to incredibly great with you, I hope. ** Sypha, Hi, James. Okay, never mind about the Poptimism thing, I understand. Either George will pony up, or I'll find a way to do it myself maybe. Well, honestly, having gone through many stops and starts and restarts with you on your writing projects, I won't mourn the end of 'Harlem Smoke' just yet. I hope you find your way back into it if that ends up being the interesting thing for you to do. If the 'horror/Weird Fiction community' is acing like that, then they need a savior, and, hey, why not you? ** Misanthrope, Ha ha, um, he's not a filmmaker. Busted! Oh, well, I guess in the case of something like Bieber, I don't anticipate or even necessarily want his music to speak to me. It's more like listening to it as part of a survey of what a lot of people like and trying to figure out why or something. I do that with blockbuster films too. Oh, I love the world, and I think it's grand with obvious weaknesses. ** Alan, Wow, hi, Alan! It's really, really good to see you! Thanks so much for coming in here. I've missed you! I'm safe, safe enough. No, I'm not really a fan of Eagles of Death Metal per se. I get the thing people like. I think they seem quite clever in their enactment of the thing that they're trying to do, but I haven't gotten into them. But, really, I've just dipped in here and there. Okay, I don't know 'Death by Sexy' at all, or any of their albums. I will go test that one out maybe even as soon as today. Thank you, man. How are you, if you don't mind saying? What's going on in your head, life, world? Love, me. ** Right. I fear that I've made a post which will severely challenge your loading time today, and for that ... wait, I was going to say I apologize, but I don't feel apologetic about it, actually. Huh. Anyway, let's just say that what happened up there has happened, and I'll see you tomorrow.