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Kader Attia Flying Rats (2008)
In Flying Rats, children sculpted out of birdseed disappear over time, [pecked into oblivion by live pigeons].
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Willy Verginer Teddy Bears, 2023
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Milissa Ragou Eighteen Year Old Boy, 2012
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Sharon Brunsher GYPSOPHILA #1, 2023
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Katharina Fritsch Child with Poodles (1995 – 1996)
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Marisol Baby Girl (1963)
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Bruce Conner CHILD (1960)
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Michael Zajkov Boy (2015)
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Li Wei Secure for Now (2016)
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Johnson Tsang Shaping Love (2015)
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Gehard Demetz How you reacted was right (2011)
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Stuart Candy NurturePod (2012)
An infant sits strapped into an egg-like booster seat, a virtual reality visor over its eyes, and earbuds plugged into its ears. It’s calm and quiet. The NurturePod helps manage circadian rhythm, keeps the baby entertained with age-appropriate puzzles and music from Bach to Beyoncé. It’s motionless and seems pacified. The sole sign of life is in the infant’s flushed cheeks. NuturePod is presented as a product for parents to buy. For a seemingly reasonable €789 (about $920), the device purportedly helps manage a child’s sleep cycles, while engaging its creativity, body awareness, cultural orientation, emotional regulation, and social skills. It’s not clear if these claims have been independently verified.
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Claudia Fontes The horse problem (2017)
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Wim van der Kant Curse Us (2017)
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Medardo Rosso Child in the Sun (1890-1892)
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The Gate Justin Bieber Shoe (2020)
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Tian He 青铜、丙烯、吹制玻璃，(2011)
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Yan Shilin What’s up? Empty Sofa (2010)
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Anders Krisar The Birth of Us (boy) (2007)
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Jim Dine My Angle (1972)
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Unknown EC (1993)
Lift Off was an early ’90s Australian TV show about a group of little kids and their faceless friend, EC.
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Louise Bourgeois The Young Couple (2003)
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José Cobo Niño incorporándose (2018)
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Duane Hanson Baby in Carriage (1983)
His shirt reads “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast the first stone,” from the Gospel of John 8:7.
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Rozdroza Wolnosci Untitled (2009)
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Ron Mueck Young Couple (2013)
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Charles Ray School Play (2014)
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Tari Nakagawa Abandoned Child (2008)
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Rachel Harrison Alexander the Great (2007)
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Nina Levy Drop (2006)
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Keith Edmier Beverly Edmier 1967 (1998)
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Jorge Pineda Little Red Riding Hood (2012)
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Martin Selman Bundle 1 (Dead Baby) (2014)
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The Kid Too Young to Die (2013)
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Adel Abdessemed Chicos (2015)
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Aron Demetz Somnambulist (1994)
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Brandon Boor “simplified mechanical crawling infant” (2018)
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Jenny Saville Chapter (2016)
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Sir James Guthrie The Glasgow Boy (1859)
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Wanda Tuerlinckx Android (2021)
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菅原玄奨 mob #2 (2020)
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Ronnie van Hout Boy Walking (2019)
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Janine Antoni Lick and Lather (1993)
Chocolate and soap.
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Olaf Breuning Home (2006)
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Maria Rubinke Untitled (2011)
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Paul Trey Little Boy Lost (2009)
‘Little Boy Lost’ by Paul Trefry is a life-like but oversized fibreglass rendition of a naked small boy with a spaced look. After initial exposure, it was decided that the figure could shock families, encourage pedophiles. Event organisers covered him with grungy speedos. After a few days the artist finally revolted over and removed the speedos, hopefully restoring lost boy’s innocence, and threatening to withdraw the sculpture if he was contradicted.
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Ragnar Kjartansson, Margrét Bjarnadóttir, & Bryce Dessner No Tomorrow (2022)
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Stefan Zola Untitled (2008)
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ByungHo Lee Vacuum Packed Boy (2003)
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Patricia Piccinini Game Boys Advanced (2002)
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p.s. Hey. ** ellie, Hi, e! My week has been pretty okay so far, strangely enough. I’ve done a little room rotting too. But that can be productive, as you have now proven. Why is it called James Merrill workshop? In remembrance or something? Awesome that it’s been such a boon. I’m happy to hear you’re into your longer thing, and of course an essay by you on Sotos is mega-intriguing. No good film news at all, but we’re waiting to hear from a couple of film festivals, so we’ll see. Life’s okay. The Olympics is already turning my neighborhood into an Olympics-adjacent lobby. Starting next week I’ll need to have a special card and code to even enter it. But all’s fine. Wonderful to get to start catching up with you. Excited to hear more. Hearts galore to you ** _Black_Acrylic, We’re in election time too. Big stress over here. I can’t vote, of course, but, if I did, I’d vote for Front Populaire. A tie, okay, not bad, cool! ** Jack Skelley, Jock! People do call me Denny. Benjamin has been known to call me Denny. I’ll watch my mailbox for ‘ML’. Well, actually, I’ll check it. I’m not going to sit at the foot of my staircase and stare at my mailbox all day, even for you. How’d the workshop go? Title rules! Everyone, Jack ‘the dude’ Skelley has had a conversation with ‘Silicone God’ author Victoria Brooks about their commonalties and disjunctions at X-R-A-Y, and that means here. Don’t get sick. Orders from the East. DenDen. ** Dominik, Hi!! She’s very interesting and wild. Love moved a chair over the stain even though that put the chair in a suspicious location, but it worked (so far). More love success. Our landlord is … fine, yeah, basically fine. Oh, sad about the tree. What is wrong with people who have saws in their hands?! Love making this place I found yesterday that claims to serve softserve ice cream serve actual, low-grade, cheap ass, delicious Dairy Queen-style American soft serve ice cream and not the merely goopy normal ice cream that passes for soft serve in Europe, G. ** Bill, Hi. Yes, she’s all over the place. I knew Thom Gunn a little, and I always found him to be quite reserved and polite and friendly, but then I never went drinking or drugging with him, and I wasn’t his type. ** Steve, Very very best of luck to you and especially to your teeth and gums today. Wow, timing! Everyone, Completely coincidentally, an article by Steve about yesterday’s blog center of attention Shu Lea Cheang has just appeared now, so you can go learn more about her and her work from an unimpeachable source right here. Very interested to read that. No, hm, no, I don’t watch book shows on youtube. I should investigate for the blog if nothing else. Huh. Thanks! ** Lucas, Hi! Yeah, I figured it wasn’t the same church. Paris is the same. Old churches everywhere you look. Yes, what a nice, lowkey elegant insect. And it’s a helluva a dancer too. Thanks, pal. I’m still looking for the photographable. Sure, I’m totally interested in seeing your collages/edits, most definitely. You’re coming here next week, wow! Yes, let’s meet, for sure. Uh, I guess write me by email — [email protected] — and let me know when you’re free. Great! My day was pretty okay. How was … wait, what’s today … Thursday? ** Brenda(n), Hey, Brenda(n). It’s really good to meet you! Thank you for the really, really kind words. Yeah, I’m just accidentally a very curious, enthusiast kind of person who feels some kind of compulsion to share my interests. Oh, god, you’re in the thick of the already legendary heat dome. I’m so sorry. I hate overly heated skies. You’re a music maker and you like Guided by Voices! Wow. I’m blown away that you made work after my work. That’s incredible. I’ll listen to it as soon as I finish the p.s. today, and I’ll share it here, if that’s okay. Everyone, Brenda(n) makes music under the moniker The Pickman Bridge, and they’ve made a track inspired by my own ‘George Miles Cycle’ called ‘My Own George Miles’, and I’m very excited to hear it, and maybe you are too? It’s here. Thank you so much again. I can’t wait to hear it. And, yes, please, come back and let’s talk more and get to know each other and our work even better. Stay cool, whatever it takes. Yours, Dennis. ** Don Waters, Hey. Mm, there are actually some scattered early Genesis tracks that I kind of like, or did the last times I heard them. Ah, but there’s great country music. Some country songs’ lyrics are kind of hilarious but quite brilliant. Kenny Rogers, well … but wait, ‘Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town’ is kind of a great song. And ‘Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In’ remains charmingly awful. Hm, there are bands that were important to me but who then slacked off and made a lot of blah work and lost my interest. Echo and the Bunnymen. I still rate their album ‘Heaven Up here’ near the top of my all-time faves, but, after that, they stopped being ambitious and just made moody rock, and they lost me, but I still highly rate their early visionary period. So, maybe there are artists like that. Maybe Todd Rundgren. I was really obsessed with his stuff in the 70s, and now I think my reverence was a bit over the top. So, there you go. Happy day! ** Harper, Ouch, but glad it’s over. Three weeks?! I sure hope you don’t need to reschedule, but, yeah, at least you’re on the way. High and mighty non-smokers are the worst. I’m, like, ‘Look, I’m vegan-ish, don’t drink alcohol or do drugs anymore, and my only vices are cigarettes and coffee, so fuck off.’ But, no, cigarettes are the ultimate Satan to them. High and mighty meat eaters are the worst too. Well, high and mighty everyone sucks. If I were rich, I’d put some dough into that invention too. Keep hanging in there. ** Dev, Hi. Oh, uh, I best not say about my dating guy just because I don’t know what his current public stance about himself is. Great about the concert! I need to go to a rock show. I only ever go to electronic music shows there days. I did see Sparks last year. I think I’ve only read a bit of Maupassant, not enough to have a real take on him. I should read him. I do like that he has kind of the most French name ever. ** Uday, Hi. Uh, I don’t know, my brain is always really hungry, I guess. Seneca, cool, you have a really hungry brain too. High five. Kiss them. Beards? Uh, I don’t understand why people grow them. I’ve asked some people why they have a beard, and a few of them said it’s because they don’t want people to look at them and just see their younger face in an aged state. I have nothing against beards. I just don’t understand them. Do you like/not like them? ** Nicholas., It is you. My pleasure. Uh, yes, new book(let) by me in about a week and a half. There are worse ways to end up than doing a blog. Judging by a quick study of others my age, I think I can safely say that. Does Pocky count as candy? I had some Pocky the other day. Does chewing gum count as candy? I chewed gum last night. What about you? ** Okay. Kids can be art. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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Hi!!
I could spend hours exploring this collection. So many great pieces. I’m in love with Milissa Ragou’s “Eighteen Year Old Boy” and Claudia Fontes’ “The horse problem.” And Michael Zajkov’s BJD is beautiful. His dolls are so delicate and gorgeously painted. Thank you, thank you!
I’m glad love could at least conceal the coffee stain, even if only temporarily. Renting a place has its benefits for sure, but Anita and I always talk about how great it’d be to actually own the apartment we’re currently living in. Of course, we’d need one of love’s brilliant money-making ideas/miracles to work for that… Maybe now that love’s on a roll?!
Now I’m curious whether what I know as soft-serve ice cream meets your criteria! Fingers crossed for the new place you found!! When are you planning to try it?
Love feeling largely like Medardo Rosso’s “Child in the Sun” today, Od.
hi dennis!
I’m so grateful you’re interested in those collages/edits I made. it’s fun because it’s a really intuitive process and I’m essentially just messing around with a drawing app and some photos I have saved online. I guess I’m not putting pressure on myself to “make it good” the way I do usually with other things, which I should really try to stop doing. these two are the only ones I finished yesterday, though I started working on a few more https://imgur.com/a/KhWGCB3
the fact you need a card and code to just enter your neighborhood is crazy, wow. I probably could have picked a better time to visit paris re: olympics and elections, but I’m still excited about going, obviously. ok, I’ll reach out to you when I get there! my other friend who lives there is kind of busy right now and I’m not one to plan huge excursions so I’ll have a bunch of free time, I think (and hope).
again, I’m happy to hear your day was okay. how was your thursday? I hope I infected you with the current upwards spiral I’m on. although mine was kind of tedious: I had to go to the rehearsal for my graduation (the actual ceremony is on friday) and it was pretty dreadful and boring. I’m not excited about tomorrow either. I dislike those kinds of big ceremonies and, frankly, I don’t feel like seeing all the people who tried to make my life impossible for years get all weepy and go “I don’t want to leave I had the best time here” etc. at least I’ll finally be done with this place haha sorry for the rant. otherwise today’s alright so far, I’m just exhausted.
I’m hoping your day was better or less mentally tiring than mine at least!
Denny (makes me think of Martin Denny… so I’m vibing exotica sounds to yr Paris Olympic Quiet Village.) I did get a crummy cold. Shit. Plus I got my Instagram chat function suspended for a naughty image I posted to promote last nite’s “Transgressive” workshop. Double-shit. I’m muted in Insta-Jail for 3 days. Your I Wished and other boookz were a hot workshop topic. Reading yr other commenters: Remember when we saw Echo & Bunnymen at the Whiskey? Eager for yr take on Orson Welles The Trial… and for Orson Welles anecdotes. Yours, Arthur Lyman…
Hey there, been a minute. I had a dream you were in (hope thats not strange but also what can i do, dreams are dreams…)
A younger but able-to-drive me was driving thru a totally fictionalized nighttime santa fe landscape and met you at some book store or coffee shop and we got to talking, you said something about that i should meet ‘your son’ (LOL) and that you were sorry my mom was trapping me in my home.
Today I warped back to that dream (had it at least a week ago) and in this dream you were advocating for me to my mom, telling her it was weird and sad to trap a kid, and that I should be able to have conversations with anyone of any age and should be let out of the house. I had wanted to go out and speak with you again but she had prevented me from going. I guess the night I went driving, I wasn’t supposed to?
And then in my half awake state I remember dreaming myself frantically needing to check the blog because in the aftermath of the conversation I was so embarrassed that you had advocated for me at all and I felt guilty to have even let you do that. I was wondering if you would write something about it in the ps and I wanted to apologize. The conversation between my mom and you was detailed and drawn out, intense, but I don’t remember it much now.
I woke up thinking I should honor the frantic need to check your blog in my dream by stopping by and sharing today. Hope you are well!
I’ve maybe told you this before, but back in 1999 I went on a mission from Leeds to visit NYC on my own and see all the hippest art I could. In 1 gallery they were showing Keith Edmier – Beverly Edmier 1967 and I remember it left a big impression on me at the time. When I returned and was stood on the platform at Leeds station, I got into major trouble with my mum because I hadn’t phoned home in all the time I was abroad. My then-girlfriend was understanding, but I can see now that I was being a bad son. Still, it’s a fantastic sculpture.
Re the Euros, Scotland will play Hungary this coming Sunday and that will be very much a winner-takes-all encounter. We have to believe!
Hi Dennis, I hope you’re doing well. I’m happy you posted the Ted Berrigan post a couple of days ago. I love his cleverness and humor. I also really enjoyed today’s post. My favorite was Keith Edmier’s Beverly Edmier 1967. The blog has become a routine part of my life at this point. I read it almost every morning. It’s great the amount of inspiration I get from it for writing. Anyway, I was wondering if you knew of any other poets besides Bob Flanagan who focus on sadomasochism to a similar extent he did who you would suggest? Do you have any favorites in that regard? I just finished the book and am looking for similar lit.
Sorry to hear the Olympic madness has begun, Dennis. You’re not planning to be out of town for at least some of it?
Some lovely pieces today. Flying Rats, yes. I’ve seen the Fritsch and Conner pieces, and really like them. Fritsch was everywhere in the 90s, but seems to have a much lower profile these days.
I saw a Ragnar Kjartansson installation with friends at SF MOMA. Afterwards I told them “if I ever tell you I’m making a video with me naked in a bathtub playing guitar, you should tell me NO BILL, NO, NO, NO.”
Bill
Re: the mystery guy, no worries! I figured that might be the case. My comment was mostly rhetorical. Ha, that’s true about Maupassant’s name.
The NurturePod piece is funny. Reminds me of the E.M. Forster story The Machine Stops, about a world where everyone lives in their own pod hooked up to a machine that purportedly fulfills all their needs. As a parent, I can’t say the NurturePod isn’t at least a little tempting. Flying Rats is a cool one too.
Having a kid also rewires something in the brain to make art involving child death extra horrifying. I showed my partner Barry Lyndon when our daughter was a newborn, totally forgetting about the death of the little boy, and he was mad at me lol.
OMG! Love the polish boner sculpture! We just launched our zine website https://mattazinesociety.com/ and a preparing for the https://www.lazinefest.com/ this Sunday. We connected with Kid Congo Power and just finished our new zine about him. He asked us to publish the lyrics to The Pink Monkey Birds new album The Delicious Vice – so freaking cool. Our DC zine continues to sell well. We will need to reprint it soon and could include an insert on you film if there are any updates! xoxo M&J
Greetings. Yes, high and mighty morally righteous or conceited people are my least favourite types. This is why I hate Ricky Gervais so much, the people going around saying ‘you can’t say X anymore’ and make a netflix show called ‘cancelled’ or something to that effect and do an hour of stale political commentary which by definition isn’t comedy.
People are always saying that vegans are crazy and go into seizure if they see someone eating meat, but as a vegetarian / sometimes vegan adjacent person (some days I don’t eat dairy without even thinking about it), I have to say that those kind of meat eaters try to provoke vegans to say something crazy and will say things like ‘I had steak yesterday, does that offend you?’. A lot of people in my family who perhaps aren’t the most socially aware think that not eating meat is still this taboo thing when it’s really not. They think I’m like this hippy that lives in a commune and writes manifestos which is the furthest from the truth.
Alas, I have started doing patches. I know it sounds like my quitting journey is going downhill but doing it cold turkey was unrealistic. Also, I’ve chewed so much gum that I’ve got ulcers on my tongue which isn’t great. All the acid. What’s crazy though is that all the products you can buy for quitting smoking probably add up to paying more than you were when you were smoking. So great, you have to pay to die and pay more to live.
I’ve been reading Delmore Schwartz’s stories today. ‘In Dreams Begin Responsibilities’ had a real effect on me. ‘I am anonymous, and I have forgotten myself. It is always so when one goes to the movies, it is, as they say, a drug.’ I love that line. I’ve been meaning to read Schwartz for ages since The Velvet Underground are my favourite band and Schwartz was Lou Reed’s mentor, which I found out watching Todd Haynes’ documentary which is like my favourite documentary ever. I’m always putting it on in a creative stump and feel inspired after. A thick collection of his poetry was brought out this year, it’s pricey but I’ll have to keep my eye on it.
Oh yeah, the Jehovah’s Witnesses woke me up today. I came to the door in this red silk dressing gown and probably looked insane. My hair was ruffled and I barely have eyebrows and my eyes are barely open and what looks like the ‘American Gothic’ couple is staring back at me. They weren’t like mormons who have that kind of uncanny glaze of cleanliness, these people had really been through it, and they looked at me like I was what they were trying to warn people about. And looking through their crazy pamphlet going on about the sins of the modern world, I certainly could be.
Hey, Dennis! Such great curation today, it’s hard to pick a favorite. ‘Lift Off’ looks creepy in the best kind of way. I started reading Pinget’s ‘Fable’ upon your recommendation. I’m only about half way through because I find myself re-reading sections I’ve just read as the prose is so dazzling. The imagery/repetition is definitely hitting the spot. So, thanks! Hope you had a nice day.
My brain is indeed hungry! But I fear my stomach might be hungrier. To read, eat and hang out is the ideal life I think. You’ve been high fiving a bunch in the comments lately. Did you ever have a weird form of greeting? I’ve recently been dapped up more times than I care for. I am also ambivalent on beards. If I wait even just a couple days without shaving I grow one so maybe it’s less ambivalence and more resignation. It used to be linked with dysphoria until a privation-induced revelation severed any attachment to gender expression I had (and thus erased dysphoria the other way). I’ve thought occasionally about deliberately inducing privation for new revelations but am ethically confused about doing that. Wishing you a day of pleasant rain.
Hey Denny, Can I get on this bandwagon? Because I will if Jack above will let me? I’ll give you Genesis, some of it. Actually, I’m now remembering an amazing performance by Phil Collins at Live Aid; or at least I’m remembering Freddie Mercury as part of that concert? Anyway, sure. Some country is fantastic, esp. Waylon, Cash, Kristofferson… I made a Nashville pilgrimage, oh, ten years ago, and saw the Opry, but better than that was the Blue Bird Cafe, where we watched songwriters sit “in the round” and tell stories about the famous songs they wrote, and then they sang the songs. The kind of country I’m talking about is the dull wallpaper pop-country noise that invaded my head while living in Nevada. I do have a memory, seeing that Kenny concert, where the panels on the circular, moving stage lit up every time he stepped on them, like M. Jackson’s “Beat It,” only country music. Never got into Todd Rundgren, but love Echo and the Bunnymen, probably stopping at Evergreen, which I listen to all the time, for some reason. Some of the bands I’ve been reevaluating are a lot of early-ish punk (SST type stuff), but maybe that’s because I’ve now got two kiddos and my nerves are shot enough. Weirdly, I have been listening to lots of Pig Destroyer, but only in small, manageable doses. Crazy ‘Kids’ day today; I wonder if some of the imagery hits differently since my two adorables are nearby? Cuz I had to quickly scroll past some of these. That thing in the high chair… ! Take care, Donny
what about abortions?
(Several days late whoops) ‘Dennis le Malice’ definitely has a ring to it. Speaking of foreign adaptations of TV shows, I semi-recently learned from some friends that only the English version of ‘Dora the Explorer’ teaches Spanish, and all the rest of them teach English. I did a little bit of fact-checking, and found a video of Danish Dora teaching Danish Boots to say ‘hi, Dennis!’
‘The Birth of Us (boy)’ from this post was great. Dunno what it is about it. Also that Australian TV show? Man. That’s unreal. I really hate the term ‘nightmare fuel’, but if there was ever a time, well, that’s probably it. Youch.
Entirely unrelated but whatever algorithm dictates my Instagram explore page has decided I’ve seen enough mid-century modern interior design and book recommendations and has instead populated itself almost exclusively with gay Korean webcomics, which has been wild. Didn’t realise that was a thing. It’s got the same sort of pitfalls as old yaoi, I guess, but somehow dialled up a notch. I’m kind of fascinated.
Anyway! How’s your weekend shaping up? Any fun plans while you’re still somewhat free of the Olympics mania?