*
p.s. Hey. ** Carsten, Thanks, man. I’m not surprised that Visconti’s not your thing. I did a tour of Ludwig’s castle back in the early 80s when I was nearby in Amsterdam. Like so many of those kinds of things, I mainly remember that it seemed so small. Paris used to have a lot of squats, even when I first moved here. I suppose there are still some, but they play it more lowkey. High hopes that that place comes through for you. I’m aware of the origin of the gif at the top. It was meant as a tip of the hat. ** Dev, Ah, score! It definitely comes through in his work even when he’s trying to play it cool. I loved the Oz books, yes. I think I read all of them. They were my go-to books as a kid. Strange that they’ve fallen so far off the radar. I would think they’re a Harry Potter-style movie franchise just waiting to happen. Ozma is a total proto-feminist hero character, in my memory at least. Goodest week to you. Spellcheck tried very hard to change goodest to gooiest, which maybe would work too? ** Bernard Welt, Mr. Welt. Bresson’s birthday is a bit of a holy thing in my neck of the woods, yes. I thought of ‘The Dead’, but that’s a short story. Great adds, thank you. ‘The Disappearers’ is the really the book du jour, it seems like. I can’t imagine I’ll read it, but Marlon James is a good guy, so good for him. I’m sure you know that Ange got married. And she’s great, and obviously some degree of a saint, haha. I will pass along your hi’s and unleash your name into the moody Paris air. ** laura w, It’s strange how films fall in and out of favor. It doesn’t seem like John Huston is a trending director in recent times, but that’ll shift. Oh, right, ‘Cabaret’, I blanked on that one. Off the top of my head, I would say unfaithful adaptations tend to make better films than faithful ones. ‘Cabaret’ is a good example. How was the nor’easter? I’ve heard mixed reports. I think the early Wim Wenders films can be quite good, but after ‘Wings of Desire’, I think they’re most pretty terrible. Lost his mojo or something. I guess I should have figured that the streets around the Pope thing would be totally blocked off, so I didn’t see a thing other than a lot stray Catholics tromping around in my hood. But there were 800,000 people there! ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. ‘The Leopard’ is worth your time, when you find the time, as my memory has it at least. ** Dominik, Hi!!! You’re like me with my Dutch, which is just barely there now. The French have gotten somewhat better at muffin making in the last year or so. They’re still a little too scrunched and moist, but I plop them in my mouth sometimes. No, because Zac and I need to be on London for the Halloween ‘RT’ screening, no LA Halloween this year. It’s rather painful. More than rather. As I told laura, the Pope’s thing was a giant success with 800,00 people, but I didn’t see a thing because my whole area was locked down with no access. Are there more French Catholics now? We will see. That love would make a good escort or maybe sugarboy. Love outlawing text messaging and making everyone send each other telegrams, G. ** Steeqhen, Hi, S. Well, to be accurate, I think the guy who made ‘Backrooms’ fed it into the mainstream rather than his thing having been stolen, if that makes a difference. Maybe that’s why the ‘Narnia’ film franchise petered out? After sitting through the Taylor Swift concert movie, I have the opposite of any interest in Taylor Swift, so I don’t know. ** James Bennett, Hi. I remember both enjoying ‘Possession’ while also thinking that it is very overrated. I met Ethan Mordden a few times in 80s NYC. He was very into musical theater, and we didn’t really have much in common. But he seemed nice and smart. He definitely was not in the Violet Quill in-group, but he was one of the respectable older gay fiction writers. I read a couple of his books way back, but I don’t remember them. Pretty conventional? I’ll try to have another peek. Weekend was okay. I had my biweekly Zoom club on Sunday, for which we read an excerpt from an Annie Ernaux novel. I’d never read her before, strangely. She’s an incredible writer, whoa. Only four days now, right? Pack your bags. ** jay, Hi! Oh, yeah, ‘The Leopard’ is a goody. I loved hearing you play the Mozart. Your speed and dexterity were wild, and it’s a pretty piece, at least under your auspices. Thank you for the adrenaline. At least your roommate didn’t say ‘The Marble Swan’. Every once in a while, someone says, ‘Oh, you wrote’ The Marble Swan’, and I have to tamp down my blood pressure. Edmund White always called it ‘The Marble Swan’, but that was him being mean. Love back from the top of a so-far drizzly week. ** HaRpEr //, The Helmut Berger autobiography is pretty amusing. I didn’t like ‘The Wild Boys’ or Mandico’s films in general. To me it seemed like a Guy Maddin ripoff without any understanding of what makes Maddin’s films magical. That endless scene on the ship made me want to kill myself. Sorry, but of course it/he is wholly supportable for making films that are deliberately out of the ordinary. Just didn’t do it for me. ** Right. Halloween encroaches. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
We used to have a really good nightclub in Dundee called Zazou and they had a Halloween event every year. Remember I wore a zombie mask in 2011 but this photo shows me at some other point in the night. Expect my thinking was that the mask made for a nice contrast with the shirt and tie.
Dunno if you saw the news that Zidane made a winning start to his reign as France national team manager? Mbappé scored but then got injured so I think it would have been a mixed night all round.
Meanwhile, the big news here is that Manchester City have been found guilty of major financial cheating, thus invalidating the last decade of English football. One knock on effect might be that their Norwegian striker Erling Haaland was born in Leeds so could relocate to his rightful home? This one will run and run.
Hey Dennis,
Mordden = pretty conventional? Yes and no, I guess. The narratives are classic capers and love stories etc. But I think he does get a critical mass of subtle weirdness and charm into them. However, I am not surprised you guys didn’t have much overlap.
Ah yes, Annie Ernaux is so great. It’s cool that she’s having this explosion of popularity in English translation so late in her career. And it wasn’t even the Nobel Prize that did it. Which book did you read?
Xo
J
Hi Dennis! Thanks for these latest posts!
Were you able to visit the Carrington exhibition at Almine Rech?
I’ve had the chance to visit some of the Lyon Biennale venues, and I wasn’t entirely convinced… (I still haven’t been to the two major venues — Les Grands Locos and the MAC — but they’re not necessarily the most interesting ones).
What made the biggest impression on me was the room dedicated to the duo Can Yıldırım & Lalin Mercan at the Institut d’Art Contemporain in Villeurbanne. The Musée des Tissus, which is currently closed, is also hosting some of the artists. The venue is quite well “inhabited” by the artworks: some spaces almost look like an Urbex site, the display cases have been repurposed by other artists, etc. It gives the impression of a “ghostly” place that you’re normally not allowed to enter.
The following day, I went to Geneva and visited a small exhibition dedicated to Sylvia Sleigh. Her nude paintings are actually pretty good!
I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of the Biennale if you’ve had a chance to visit it. I’ll be going back to see the other venues, as well as the Musée sentimental exhibition at the Beaux-Arts.
Some nice stuff today, Dennis. I tend to like more the ones with a low-tech homegrown look, that are just “off” in some slippery way. Like the boy on the bicycle, and the 2nd one from the last. Though I do like obviously artisanal masks when done well! I love Richard Raaphorst’s masks from Infinity Pool, for instance. On that note, when are we getting another movie from Brandon Cronenberg?
Greetings from the mysterious orient. I’ve mostly been tied up in family care stuff. There’s an Anne Imhof show that I’ll try to catch before I leave.
Bill
Hi!!
A very inspired collection up there! Some of them are genuinely creepy. Thank you!
Let’s hope the French’s mozzarella stick–making abilities follow the trend of their muffin-making abilities then!
Oh, I see. That’s rather painful about Halloween indeed, even if the screening will surely be fun. Maybe the venue will be at least a little bit Halloween-y…?
800,000 people, Jesus… That’s wild. Well. I hope it gave them everything they’d hoped for and more…
I’d be down for that—telegrams instead of text messages. No pressure to see and reply to everything immediately.
Actually, love catching up on all his personal emails and text messages and feeling very proud of himself, Od.
Quite the seasonal line-up there. Though I have to say that with masks, I think less is more. There’s something instantly unsettling about a simple sack with eye-slits. Boy that last sentence has a weird lilt to it, doesn’t it…
You weren’t surprised that I’m not into Visconti? Haha I guess I wear my taste on my sleeve, or you know me well, or both. But yeah, lush, ripe, operatic art is not my thing.
Your reaction to Ludwig’s castle mirrors something I often hear from Americans visiting European sights. Do you think that has something to do with it? That being used to American expansiveness everything over here seems a bit small?
Still no confirmation on the apartment, & October 1st is fast approaching. The real estate agency is still dicking around, in fact. I can tell from their questions that they’re suspicious of me. If this goes sideways I’ll be pissed. And that would mean taking an Airbnb till I secure something solid—at double the price.
popping back in again! hi dennis! how are u? i moved to my dads last week. it’s good so far. still need to unpack all my stuff. i made a friend who lives in paris and not 2 hours away now so i might be able to visit agaiiiin! i miss paris soooo much. i was there last summer it’s too long ago:(. i wrote this weird thing today, im not sure what it is. it’s not like totally fiction it’s not nonfiction it’s not prose poetry by any means. i thought of u while i was writing it and thought maybe u would be able to judge or package it more properly if u want to. here it is regardless(totally not polished):
safety never stings as much as when i miss him. i would give anything right now, anything to once again be that pale little girl he hurt at night. see that house over there, tucked away and old. it almost looks like ours once did. he told me he would protect me: those were the first and only words i ever believed. now i sit here at night overlooking the old house and laugh and smoke and try to forget i’m alive. sometimes i tell friends i should have died long ago. i should have stayed that perfect unmoving little doll in a glass coffin for him to use. it tore my heart out to not give all of myself to him: i’m in the custom of correcting that now. men tell me i’m a good girl. i’ve learned, right? i don’t know anymore. last night a woman came to my porch. she looked homeless. there was something so enrapturing in her bright eyes, i didn’t catch what she said to me. i asked her to repeat herself, then again. this woman, not ghostly yet, had been the little girl i once was. “there’s nothing in this for you. i’m long gone.”
oh also a very important question! are u familiar with marie darrieussecq’s books and what do u think of them would u recommend them and if so to whom? they seem very much my vibe but also like they could be way more superficial than they seem so im curious and not really willing to test and try haha
i forgot that the last time i wrote u was in august, wtf… it feels like two weeks ago but between starting school and getting a concussion (thx german police xoxo) and making things official w my bf and moving it might have flown by faster. so that’s sort of what u missed in my life! also turning 18. it was not that dramatic at all. did i miss anything crazy? what are you up to? film stuff?
i get the impression new york and new jersey got hit harder than we did with the nor’easter- it was kind of just a fun little storm here, a good excuse to stay in and watch movies and also football. i didn’t realize it was bresson day on friday but i did watch both a man escaped and l’argent this weekend. i can see why a man escaped is his most popular, because it’s very accessible and also hopeful which i’m told people prefer to watch. i’d put it above un femme douce but below pickpocket. l’argent on the other hand was very excellent, and i would put that above pickpocket. the ending was incredible!
800,000 people is an insane number to flood a neighborhood. but i suppose that’s small potatoes for the pope. good to know about wim wenders. i specifically see paris, texas everywhere. also that newish japanese film he made, too- perfect days? i always saw him as “not werner herzog” for whatever reason. and herzog has kind of become a parody of himself but he is very funny.
was thinking of a conversation had here a few weeks ago, about creatives who have been deified annoyingly after death, and it pains me to say this but: david lynch.
testing, testing
Funny, I tried posting twice this afternoon, but both got swallowed up into the void.
I’ve come across mask fetishists on IG, but they’re into “realistic” masks that head into the uncanny valley.
My current laptop is a decade old, and it’s ready for the retirement home. I may not be able to do so for a month, but I plan to buy a new one by the end of October. No more sticky keys, dark screen and noisy fan!
I get where you’re coming from with ‘The Wild Boys’. Yeah, there were viscerally strong echoes of Maddin to the extent that I got the urge to watch a Maddin film instead at points when it dragged on a bit. Albert Serra echoes too. That’s what kept me from really really liking it, even if I still did like it quite a bit. I will admit that there are times when if a subject of interest appears in front of me in a film I can be easily manipulated, though.
I think I feel the same specific thing you have for Mandico that I have for this director, Mark Jenkin who makes these moody films about fishermen shot in 16 mm that are mind-numbingly boring and feckless.
But anyway, in terms of film, I’m invested in a deep dive of the director Jon Moritsugu at the moment. His film ‘Terminal USA’ really knocked my socks off in particular. Can’t believe I hadn’t heard of him.
I was recently caught by surprise by Annie Ernaux too. I assumed she was upmarket lit-fic, artsy fartsy type of stuff (probably because my mum is really into her), but I read her book ‘Happening’ and really liked it. I like a slim, precise novel that acknowledges its impossibility.
hi !! just wanted to thank you for your work, it’s a huge inspiration to me in my poetry and my gay-speed-fiend-searching-for-beauty-in-the-wound life here in nyc. also my lover just broke a long sad silence between us by telling me he’s finally reading the copy of the sluts i gave him. your words are magic <3 also realizing i don't have enough monster masks in my closet. so fab
xo,
caro
Love the post today, and you really took every possible angle for the theme too… Just a beautiful spread! Always have loved halloween masks of course, the only one I really keep on hand is a shiny silver plastic skull mask hood combo… cant go wrong!
Been pretty busy but I have kept up with the blog passively. Will need to dig nore thru the book rec post… in your recommendation I was seeking out a Roubaud book, the only one at my library was “The Plurality of Worlds of Lewis” which seems fascinating enough? Also, totally having my mind blown by “Project for a Revolution in New York” right now… would love to see what kinda notes Robbe-Grillet kept when constructing this stuff… This one is most definitely a fave so far. The way it flows from interrogation scenes to first person narration is very cool. And the book within a book thing is something he pulls of in such a compelling way… wow!!
Anyway, looking forward to more halloween/fall posts, so keep up the good shit as usual! Week looking good over there so far? K, bye!!
Awesome! I’ve always been a huge fan of masks, especially the more, I dunno, restrained ones. Ones that are only a little off from being human, like the one here with the face projected onto a blank mask. It’s like a sort of gentle distortion of identity. Hate wearing a full face or full head mask myself, though. Too claustrophobic.