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p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Yes, real estate seems to be a good fit. He likes it a lot, and he’s earning very good bucks, or whatever the ‘buck’-like nickname is for Euros. There must be one. ** Kyler, Hi! Well, I’m chuffed to hear that ‘LCTG’ provided your new laptop with a proper dawn. Thanks for letting me know, pal. Hope you’re getting through the winter in excellent shape. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. You get the prize — I’ll have to figure out what it is — for being the only commenter to acknowledge the post yesterday. Thank you for being its lifesaver. I’m kind of the opposite. I wish everyone watching fireworks would just shut up so I can hear the popping sounds, ha ha. But, you’re right, that happiness is tender. ** Steve Erickson, I figure Hatari was a blip within a blip, but, you’re right, who knows? And I guess people buy Gwar albums. Best of luck with that, yes, dread-suggesting task. ** Misanthrope, Good, good, glad to hear it. Very hard to imagine that it could be because they’re calm and comfortable and content and relaxed. The US is like a big electric chair. If there’s something more annoying than spilled coffee grounds, I can’t think of it. Just wait until everywhere you go that requires an entrance fee the ticket seller immediately asks if you qualify for the senior discount. ** Right. Today I’m indulging my fetish for topographic maps, and, if you don’t share that fetish, you probably have a long, or, rather, short local day ahead of you. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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Hi Dennis – I haven’t been around much. I sent you an email a few weeks back. Just say thanks and I’m glad you enjoyed XOM to put it in your yearly list thing.
I got a new book coming out shortly on AS. Will get you a copy.
I share your topographic map fetish. Reminds me of the summer I worked as a forest surveyor and we used them to plot our paths bushwhacking between survey plots.
I was very impressed by both Mack’s and Cai’s work. Mack re-invigorated my interest in experimental film making and Cai gave me a new appreciation of art with universal rather than cliquey appeal. I’d like to see Cai do some kind of adaptation of Stockhausen as their extraterrestrial ambitions seem similar. Wonder if it’s already happened.
Coffee grounds are definitely an aspect of coffee drinking I don’t miss. It’s been hard to acknowledge that drugs and habits that are either positive or neutral for lots of folks can be extremely negative for me.
Congrats on the exhibition. I really would like to make it to Paris as I’ve never been. Maybe I can find some crazy deal on a flight
Today’s Topography-orma reminds me of that like from “The Womn” : “I hate to say it dear but you pores make the Rocky Mountains look like Chiffon velvet.”
Ddid you get that e-mail I sent you with the link to the Bill Cunningha documentary Dennis?
Hey Dennis – Love the topographic maps and the fireworks yesterday. I’ve been lurking on the blog and enjoying the posts, but usually a day behind b/c I was off FB for a blissful spell and the blog was loading a day late.
Been having all sorts of computer woes that finally seem to be resolved after getting the keyboard on my macbook replaced for the *third* time. A huge relief to have my machine back in running order.
How’re things with you? Did I read the novel’s been picked up in France? Fingers crossed there’s good news from the US soon. What’re you focusing on these days?
Tonight I’m reading publicly from novel-in-progress for the first time – something I’ve never done previously with any book. Interested to see how it goes across. Been making decent progress on the book lately and spending a lot of time on it.
Doing some film programming — showing super rare films by Brakhage, Sharits, and Owen Land in late Feb, all on 16mm, none of them ever digitized. The coup is Brakhage’s ‘Portals for the Gates of Heaven’ which Fred Camper calls one of his masterpieces and supposedly the summation of his hand-painted work (or at least a vivid sampler of his many styles), one of the last major things he completed before his death. Also talked the local museum into showing Matthew Barney’s new film. Hopefully both will get decent attendance.
Hope all’s well with you
For whatever reason when I first got into Joy Division I assumed that the cover art for UNKNOWN PLEASURES was supposed to be some sort of topographical relief (or a depiction of one).
I’m on vacation this week and have been watching movies to pass the time. Today I saw my second Bresson, THE DEVIL, PROBABLY, mainly because I remembered you writing about it in one of the essays in SMOTHERED IN HUGS. I greatly enjoyed it, but man, what a downer, ha ha… might have to watch something a bit more cheerful tomorrow.
Hey Dennis,
Hope all is well. I’ve been catching up on the last few days of posts while snowed in this afternoon. I loved the Cai Guo-Qiang post. What vision and attitude! And I can’t believe I missed Jodie Mack day, she’s one of my favorites! She came to Iowa City to show the Grand Bizarre last year and I wrote a little about the film, the Q & A, and her work in general: https://bijou.uiowa.edu/bijou-blog/jodie-mack/
I’d also like to ask for some advice, if I can. I’m thinking about applying to teach English in France in the next year or two and I was wondering if you have any tips about living there (including where you think is most interesting and friendly) & integrating yourself? I understand if you don’t have much to say, though.
Thanks & best.
Nate
Hatari’s “we hate capitalism, so buy our merch” Instagram schtick was initially funny, but it’s getting old. (One of their singers has a day job as a reporter for Icelandic TV.) I was expecting their debut album to feature English-language vocals and be released worldwide on a label like Mute, but I guess not.
I found an MP3 blog that has posted hundreds of late ’70s punk singles. I thought that those kind of blogs were long gone, but I came across one that consists of a guy posting his entire record collection, including plenty of music on major labels that’s still in print. Their enforcement seems to consist of taking down the uploads on filesharing sites.
Have you read Errol Morris’ A WILDERNESS OF ERROR, his revisionist look at the Jeffrey MacDonald “acid is groovy, kill the pigs” murder case? I finished it today, but I knew almost nothing about the case and I have a hard time judging its accuracy.
Hey Dennis, I wouldn’t say I have a fetish for topographic reliefs, but I do enjoy them. Those Can Guo-Qiang fireworks are pretty fine too.
If you happen to be in a Pink Dot-y mood, this live recording just came out from their tour last year:
https://legendarypinkdots1.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-los-angeles-2019
Pretty good clean sound so far. Their SF stop was pretty good too.
Bill