‘Aesthetics is an issue that should be of concern to all people involved in the ultimate selection and design of a noise barrier. It is often felt to be as important as the noise reduction provided by the barrier and is the most subjective of any aspect of noise barrier design, with the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” often used in discussing noise barrier aesthetic treatments. Whether a jagged, stepped, sloped, uniform, non-uniform, colored, plain, straight, curved, or textured barrier is desired at any given location is a decision left to the responsible organization based on its policies and procedures regarding design philosophies, community input, and any other factors which are considered in the decision making process related to barrier aesthetics. Public input should always by considered in the aesthetic design of noise barriers.’ — Federal Highway Administration
The Hundred in the Hands/Andy Stott Keep It Low
‘Named after the phrase the Lakota Nation gave to the Fetterman Battle/Massacre of 1866 in Wyoming — in which Crazy Horse led his warriors to a victory that resulted in the death of 100 white soldiers — the Hundred in the Hands fuses synthpop with post-punk and dream pop elements. They were influenced by artists such as Young Marble Giants, Wire, New Order, The Cure, De La Soul, Buddy Holly, Broadcast, Gang Gang Dance, and LCD Soundsystem. The Andy Stott remix of the first single from the album is a different beast entirely, with the Modern Love CEO and creator of ‘knackered house’ turning the light pop drama of the original into a soporific, tranquilized march.’ — collaged
____________
Pelt New Delhi Blues
‘Pelt were formed by guitarists Mike Gangloff and Skip James Connell in 1993 in Richmond (Virginia). With Pat Best and Jack Rose. Unlike other pursuers of the lysergic gospel, Pelt rarely sacrifice chaos for the sake of melody (Total Denigration is the only “acid ballad”). They stick to noise as the medium and as the end. Each track eventually loses its identity and leaves only sonic debris behind. The album is played with virtually no percussions: guitars are more than enough to raise this kind of hell.’ — collaged
____________
High Wolf RTT
‘France’s High Wolf possesses a natural-born ability to zero in on the tones most conducive to inducing transcendental states. Prolific without wearing out his welcome, this guitarist and manipulator of effects boxes looses fervid streams of fever-dreamy drones that suffuse any room they enter with mystery. High Wolf’s tracks carry the uncanny sense of sounding as if they’ve been sluicing since the beginning of time, and that he had the graciousness to siphon them for teasingly brief absorption before they shimmer off to the vanishing point. This elite droneur is one of the few musicians who could title a release A Guide To Healing without it coming off as an ironic gesture or a laughable boast.’ — holymountain.com
__________________
Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin Vaccination (For Thomas Mann)
‘In the world of instrumental electronic music, you’re nothing without your own sound. Without vocals and without an instrument that you can manipulate with your body, it’s harder to insert “you” into the music. And harder still to have that “you” be so thoroughly “you” that listeners pick up on it and can identify you from your sonics alone. Both Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin (better known as Oneohtrix Point Never) have gotten there. Each has his own aesthetic and you can hear them inside of it. Hecker’s is more immediately identifiable. Since 2001, he’s created a run of good-to-amazing albums that are typically built on static and shifting drones, number-crunching music that is also intensely physical and tactile. Lopatin’s approach is comparatively playful and also more steeped in appropriation, as he finds ways to incorporate the cast-off music of the past and make something that is both affecting and very much of this moment.’ — Mark Richardson, Pitchfork
______________________
Natural Snow Buildings Live at Hebden Bridge Trades Club, UK
‘This prolific duo have already logged over 20 releases in eight short years, not including numerous side projects. Drone and other forms of minimalist music is fairly easy to duplicate but when it takes on spiritual dimensions and transports it to holy places, it’s an all-too-rare experience in the currently glutted experimental music scene. Natural Snow Buildings are definitely one of those bands that possess the brute power and fertile imagination to transcend and ascend above the humming hive of clone drones. If you’re digging the recent rash of drone and minimalist bands, this should prove to be a jewel shining out of the mire.’ — Cult#MTL
______________________
Kevin Drumm Live @ Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival
‘Kevin Drumm’s greatest successes in his long career have occurred when the chaos of his music utterly overwhelms the listener’s sense of authorship. Of course, he’s always in control, but quite early on, with albums like the classic Sheer Hellish Miasma or Horror of Birth, the illusion of reckless abandonment to sonic violence overtakes any sense that anything other than some mad, inhuman force controls what we’re hearing. Such a feeling might derive from a number of sources: sensory and affective overload, the sheer impenetrability of the architecture of the piece, the inability to determine the source of the sounds, activation of fear and pleasure centers in the brain, or finally just total immersion. With so few gaps in the musical landscape, there is no time to think.’ — Tiny Mix Tapes
_________________
Holly Herndon Movement
‘Electronic music meant for clubs tends to get shelved far away from work by academic composers. But within Holly Herndon’s immersive soundscapes, the dance floor is always just a step away from the lecture hall. The San Francisco musician bridges brainy compositions with techno sensibilities on her debut album, “Movement,” drawing equally from traditions founded by avant-garde heavies like Karlheinz Stockhausen and techno legends like Kevin Saunderson. Herndon has a solid background in both worlds, so her approach doesn’t sound forced. She’s working toward an electronic music doctorate at Stanford these days, but her obsession with programmed sounds started in Berlin, where she began haunting nightclubs as a teenage exchange student.’ — SFGate
____________
ZS Live @ SXSW
‘ZS’s music has described as “brutal-prog”, “brutal chamber”, “post-minimalism” among others. They have said their music is sometimes either very loud or very soft and also says on their website that “it is primarily concerned with making music that challenges the physical and mental limitations of both performer and listener. Manipulating extended technique, unique instrumental synthesis, and near telepathic communication, ZS aims to create works that envelop the listener and unfold sonically over time, evoking unspoken past, present, and future rites and ritual.”‘ — discogs
_________________
Silent Servant Invocation of Lust
‘Juan Mendez, aka Silent Servant, has stoically been serving the darkened, after-hours crowd something decent by which to swing and sway for well over a decade. His sizable oeuvre on the Historia y Violencia label, and with the on-hiatus Sandwell District collective, is among the best no-bullshit techno of the naughties. In Gilles Deleuze’s prophetic ideological diatribe Postscript on the Societies of Control, he writes, “There is no need to fear or hope, but only to look for new weapons.” It’s up to each of us to determine which masters we serve, and Mendez is ultimately in the service of something quite sacred: the bloody dance floor.’ — The Quietus
__________________
Bee Mask Live @ the Tribal Haus
‘So much of writing about music is about scale. Something is ‘expansive’ or ‘contained’; ‘claustrophobic’ or ‘cavernous’. It’s rare for something to be described as microscopic; music seems to exist at a scale that we can immediately apprehend. But Bee Mask (aka Chris Madak) makes synthesiser drone and low voltage hum that sounds like peering through a microscope. Which gives it a grandeur all its own. Maybe Wagner should have eschewed magical rings and valkyries for alleles and corpuscles.’ — Three Thousand
_______________
Shed I Come By Night
‘Sonic fragments seethe. Tarnished acid bubbles oscillate. Snatches of melody are confused and irregular, the awkward interior facets glowing with longevity. It suffocates with its bulk. An uneasy vocal fragment swings back and forth over yet more scorched terrain as blistered, uncouth and jagged ideas protrude from Shed’s minimal landscapes. Shed hasn’t reinvented the wheel, but he has captivated us with his sonic mottle, daubed onto the classic edifice of techno’s irresistible structures. Techno can appear one of purest genres, and we’ll thrive here in its warm breath forever.’ — Matthew Bennett
________
Forma OFF
‘Forma’s debut was a welcome ray of light in the usually pensive, doom-ridden synth scene, and the trio’s mischievousness is thrown into overdrive on ‘Off/On’. We’ve already established that the band have an enviable collection of real analogue gear, and they put it to great use here building on the templates set out by Giorgio Moroder and John Carpenter back in the late 70s. ‘Off/On’ is far from simplistic retro fetishism however and while the tracks have an eerie quality, there’s a brightness that you’d rarely expect to find on most records of this kind. Maybe it’s a nod to synth pioneer Jean Michelle Jarre (just check ‘FORMA278′) but it sounds like the band are formulating a core sound, something that defies simple characterization.’ — boomkat
__________________________
Raime We Must Hunt Under The Wreckage of Many Systems
‘Raime are an enigmatic London-based duo seeking to re-establish electronic composition as a physical and emotionally inquisitive force. Their music offers a creeping, unavoidable sonic truth, moving steady and relentless from the speakers and weaving vast waves of sound, both beautifully intricate and artfully industrial, around gut-shaking rhythm cycles. Raime draw explicit inspiration from the marginal mavericks of early European goth, minimal dance and synth wave – artists largely omitted from the current master narrative of post-punk history, who strove to make music at once cerebral and visceral, futuristic and atavistic.’ — numusic.no
*
p.s. Hey. So, I guess I should say, wow, the world didn’t end, etc.! ** Alan, My favorite is ‘Serial Mom’. Right behind it would be ‘Female Trouble’ and then ‘Cecil B. Demented’, I think. ** Unknown/ Pascal, Hey, initially mysterious Pascal! Equipment from 2002, yikes. Does it have a floppy disc port? Uh, tomorrow’s post doesn’t have any videos, so if you and your gray-haired comp can hang in here until then, it should get okay for the weekend at least. Man, I so appreciate you saying that about George. It means so much. And your typing his name even means a lot because creating meaning and feeling and memory for him is maybe the most important goal of my work. I wouldn’t be who I am as a person and maybe wouldn’t even be a writer, or certainly not the writer I am, if it wasn’t for him. He meant the world to me, and his death is almost unbearable, and creating work in his memory and for him is so little, but it feels like a necessity, and it’s all I can do. Anyway, really, thank you for saying that, Pascal. It is a shame that ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ is Rhys’ calling card, although it seems that, as time goes on, the earlier novels are catching up. Dude, heavily awesome about the ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ themed day! That’s thrilling! Thank you so much for that! If I don’t talk to you before, may Dublin transfigure into a fest in your presence. ** 5STRINGS. That is Xmas cheer if I ever saw it. You’ve got the whole image stack in your hands. Everyone, one of the savviest maestros of the image stack genre aka 5STRINGS made a Xmas pile. I’m happy to announce that it awaits you here. So, you want to look like them? Interesting. Really, you choose middle-aged C. Thomas Howell over the Tiger Beat one? That’s interesting too. Nah, I think my ass is a recluse for some sort of good reason. Don’t worry about it. It’s as snug as a bug in a rug. You probably have more fun, but I’m cool with the funnish. Oh, yeah, Analbook is cool, and the privacy issues are so much less problematic there. ** Will, It just occurred to me, all credit to you, that being scatter-brained is an essential part of celebrating. I wonder if that’s true. Seems like it. Not to mention the obliterating of patterns. You did the celebratory proud, man, it sounds like. Never have watched a moment of ‘American Horror Story’. I had a chance in LA to watch an episode when in LA, but I was told that I should watch the series from the beginning, so I begged off. But I will. It seems like the show right now. I have seen four episodes of ‘The Walking Dead’, and I did quite dig it. Thanks about the post. No, I haven’t watched that lecture on ‘Boom’. Man, yeah, it sounds like a must. I’ll go find it. Thanks re: my holidays. Mine should be quiet in the nice way, and I hope yours find the perfect balance between input and output that makes it qualify for membership in the sublime. ** Scunnard, Hey. Mm, I think maybe because John and I are friends and because he reads my blog, that made a Day seem daunting or something, I don’t know. I hope he liked it, gulp. Sometimes I feel like that Dennis Cooper baby’s parents are deliberately playing with the similar name thing, but I’m probably dreaming. One of their videos is called ‘Dennis Cooper meets Richard Branson’. I mean, I don’t know, what do you think? Until I pronounce your name in your presence and you look at me agog, I will maintain that those who can’t pronounce your name properly are vocal cord-challenged. I saw your email in my box this morning. I’ll open it and write to you today. No problemo, man. ** Cobaltfram, I’ll write to you today too. Yesterday got away from me. But I got the email, and, yeah, awesome! I want to see ‘The Hobbit’. The 48 frames rate thing is just too enticing. And I loved the ‘LotR’ movies, and I’m not ashamed to say that. Okay, I’ll get the pen, and, gosh, there are probably all sorts of things that my coked up birthday whore will be able to do with it if I remember to max out my ATM withdrawal limit first. Oh, right, I’ll ask John, but, yeah, he won’t mind ‘cos he’s like that. And the whole movie is watchable on Youtube, so he obviously doesn’t care re: that. ** Rewritedept, Hey. I figured the Hans thing wasn’t a stroke of genius on my part. Your name is Italian. Hooray for my psychic abilities. Little noses are cool ‘cos noses keep growing, as you undoubtedly know, and so you’ll probably have a biggish nose on your eventual deathbed, and you can die with a perfectly organized face, which seems like it would be better than not. Sucks about your shittily malaisey day. However, nice about the mystery solutions. Hope the pot helped. It can do that. ** David Ehrenstein, I second everything you said about John. He really is just about the nicest, kindest, most generous person in the world, in addition to his mega-talents. I’ll have to get that ‘Cry Baby’ DVD. Cool. ** Billy Lloyd, I might not get to go either since I stupidly have still not bought a ticket. Sheesh. I do that too. I mean, I eat almost the exact same thing every day for forever, and I have no problem with that. Maybe I’m part automobile or something. So, the noodles were a great shock to the system, and I’m already tempted to get on their track. Whenever I’ve been in London, it seems like everybody there is drunk as soon as it gets dark, so being there with a non-fluid based head-oriented high seems like it’s the way to go. Well, you should move to, like, Rome then. Although the Italians aren’t the best English speakers. Or you could learn Italian. Or … hm. Some places are made for great visits and not for great living. I feel that way about NYC, but people who live there think it’s great, and both times I lived there, I thought it was great for about a year before I went, Get me the fuck out of here. Well, I get the feeling most people here would recommend that you start your John Waters experience with ‘Female Trouble’. You certainly can’t go wrong if you start there. I’ll toss in my favorite, ‘Serial Mom’, as another option. ** Bill P. in Chicago, Hi, Bill. Nice pair of saints you’ve got there. Interesting about how the film seemed to differ with that audience in tow. And it survived the shift with your respect in tact. That’s interesting too. Nice, man. ** Steevee, Calling Divine John’s ‘longtime companion’ is a weird way to put it. No, they were never a couple in that sense at all. I’ll go find your ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ review. Hold on. Oh, there it is. Great, excited to read it. Everyone, here is the always very savvy, brainy Steevee’s review of ‘Zero Dark Thirty’. As always with his writings, a must read. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Oh, that would be really fantastic if you can come to Paris for Mike’s retrospective. I would finally get to meet you and hang out with you, which would be major. And I would love to meet your mom. Yeah, keep me posted, and, if you need any Paris advice in any way, just let me know. Great! That is an awesome artwork idea, man. Way to use a title too, ha ha. Sweet. Obviously, go for it. ** Paul Curran, Yeah, about the Watersian here. Ha. Google Plus ate you. Me too. There’s something creepy there, but I guess we’re long since Google’s bitches. ** Paradigm, Hi, Scott. Kind of amazing how John aced that beloved cultural icon shift. Especially given that he has to be the least careerist, back-stabbing guy ever. John’s a good friend of mine, and, yes, he is utterly down to earth and kind and great. I don’t know how he has managed to stay like that given the massiveness of his fame. One of the rare examples of how fame doesn’t inherently corrupt. Yeah, same deal here in France. There’s a deep-seeded paranoia that is peculiar to the US. And to Russia also, at least, but, in Russia’s case, it’s thoroughly understandable, but in the States, it seems like a strange contagion or something. Okay, yeah, see, those three ideas are all really, really good. Just reading them gets my brain fleshing them out. I can see why it’s hard to choose, but, on the other hand, it’s not like the ones you don’t pick first will go away or start seeming less interesting. Mm, I don’t think I ever start with ideas like that in mind. I feel like I always start with the same idea, and then I try to open it up more widely or in a different way. Usually, when I get what I think is a good idea akin to the kind you’re talking about, I’m already writing something, and then I just incorporate it into what I’m already building as an additional trajectory or side-trip or something. Like, say, in ‘TMS’, the Flatsos thing, which I’m kind of proud of. That erupted or bloomed in process. I don’t know. Does that make any sense? I reserved the second Buche yesterday, and I’ll see it/pick it up on Monday. It’s this one. Yury and I took a vote, and that Buche won. Hope that work didn’t overwork you yesterday. ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hey, Jeff. I know, weird about the late breaking John Waters Day. Thanks about it. Glad your roof is secured. No, I have no skills in that regard at all. I’m okay at thinking and talking my way through crises in a practical way, but when it comes to handiwork, I’m all thumbs. I don’t even know how to take a photo with my iPhone even though Yury has explained how to do that simple thing to me over and over. No, I haven’t that guy’s earlier film, but I want to now, of course. I did know that he’s von Trier’s nephew, and I’m so glad that the apple fell that far away from the tree, ha ha. ** Sypha, It’s only the early John Waters films that have the ‘gross out’ thing. Watch ‘Serial Mom’. It’s not gross in the slightest, and it’s fucking hilarious, and you’ll like it, I’m pretty sure. ** L@rstonovich, Hey, man! Thanks for thinking of me. Yeah, nice about the Bresson bit in ‘IJ’. I had a really good talk with David about Bresson once. Beautiful paragraph about perpetual adolescence. Really beautiful. Probably the same, in my case, I guess. But I have no idea how people become totally adult like they so often do. I can’t figure it out. What made that happen? Did it happen in a flash, or was there an ongoing erosion of some sort that ‘matured’ them, or what? It’s a total mystery to me. I feel like I’ve just always lived my life and paid attention to everything like you’re supposed to do, and it makes sense that I wouldn’t have really changed that much. Why people change so drastically post-adolescence makes no sense to me. I don’t know, man. It’s interesting, I think you and me, we should be happy to be overgrown kids, you know? A hit single? Awesome. Get that shit down on tape, or, uh, into technology’s memory storage, or however they do that these days, ha ha. You will totally finish the novel next year. Crazy, right? But you will. And how great is that going to feel not to mention be. Love to you, buddy, and have a Xmas with a bold, italicized X, and enjoy your access to American holiday food that I sorely lack. You can’t find eggnog here to save your life, man. ** Un Cœur Blanc, Hi. It seems preserved and to be nourishing itself to me. When some say something, it’s always important to remember that it’s just some, and it’s only some for a good reason, or I try to remember that. Welch is so wonderful, isn’t he? I know, I agree. Thank you, my friend. ** Marc Vallée, Hi, Marc! How great to see you! Early very Merry Xmas! Thanks about the JWD. No, I hadn’t caught your Year End List. Thank you. I’ll read passionately and in detail in just a minute since I think you’re the last commenter of the day. Everyone, the great photographer and all around top notch fella Marc Vallée has posted his ‘END OF YEAR REVIEW: MY TOP TEN PICTURES’, and that is your cue to click this. You’ll be glad. Oh, man, I would love to get the zines. Thank you so much! My address du jour is: c/o Centre International des Recollets, 150 rue du Faubourg St. Martin, 75010 Paris, France. Thanks a bunch, Marc! And it’s really great to see you! ** Okay. Seeing as how the world hasn’t ended yet, I propose you attend a gig today. Most of you probably won’t, but it would be cool and potentially rewarding if you do. In any case, tomorrow I’ll see you.
Now available in North America 
D-
Yeah, permanent adolescence, our cat remains a permanent kitten. She gets older but stays like a kitten. Most of my close friends, and I imagine yours too, get older but keep the same outlook and wonder of life, but we see these people who suddenly become "adults" aka "squares." Sometimes it is an eroding and others an overnight transformation, usually due to a job they hate or becoming parents, or entering a relationship with someone who has no room for them hanging up their college Clash posters on the wall. I am lucky to have found someone when I was 22 who occasionally wants me to act my age but more than not is just like me and acts like an artist who knows what they value and prioritizes accordingly. Me and Jen have our 15th anniversary in 2013 and it's been pretty easy as those things go.
and yea making a hit single tomorrow definitely involves getting down to "tape." and you poor guy, my wife keeps the house stocked with egg nog from thanksgiving to january.
(you talked to DFW about Bresson? man, he taught English at Emerson a year before I got there, but based on his bio it was a really bad era in his life. I got turned onto him because my college g/f's roommate had him and bought Girl With Curious Hair.) Will catch today's DC gig when I wake up.
-L
Musique Brute! (Mais Oui)
Serial Mom is delightful but Female Trouble remains my fave. I'll nver forget when Bill and I went to see it we laughed so much we were sure we'd missed something — so we sat through it again immediately afterwards.
Uh, no, I don't want to look like them, I could do an "Outsiders" what's his name. I like the blond guy's rigamarole. I just watched Fast Times At Ridgemont for the first time the other day, I like the chick's look and naivety about sex. I don't know what I would like to look like, um, a 120 lb me with some plastic and couture? They all feel the same inside, to the fingers anyway. I don't have any fun, I'm wasted by years of perfection inside and otherwise content, I don't have a bored concept anymore really. I just play on difference, beauty, and power. In other news, I'm writing a Xmas story. The plot came to me the other night at my last night at work. My ghost friends got really quiet. I dug through the last remaining gay DVDs and boiled it down and voila. A nice, fun little Xmas story. It feels kind of TMS inspired in the early stages. It's gonna be inspired by my experience in the sex industry and current emotional distraughtness. Funnish is that like Finnish? Analbook, haha, I think that's what I'm going to call L. Dunsany's Wonder Tales, "What's in the box?" I'm going to a drag queen Zombie Apocalypse End of the World party tonight. I think I'm gonna have to take the old 4-wd as it's snowing. I slept all day yesterday, I had a dream about David E. I think he was writing. I asked him something, he responded, "Not really."? Bonjour
PS. Fucking kill JW day, I'm gonna dig in. What have we today, some noise? "I think my 70's head start just tagged some hot stuff." =)
Latest FaBlog: The Xmas Factor
If you looked at my ZERO DARK THIRTY review today, you've probably read David Ehrenstein's comment on it, where he says I misunderstood the narrative's treatment of torture. If this is indeed the case, I attacked the film because I didn't get the basic plot straight. This is really embarrassing, but I'm wondering why so many other people have gotten the exact same point wrong. I saw the film and wrote most of the review three weeks ago, so I don't think I was influenced by the current debate about it. I may have jumped the gun in saying Kathryn Bigelow's on the wrong side of history.
In any case, I saw the Israeli documentary THE GATEKEEPERS last night, which is an interesting addendum about the ethics of counter-terrorism.
Bill and I have always thought C. Thomas Howell is the perfect name for a gay S&M; porno star.
More than one person got the plot point worng steevee. This has to do with the fact that they were discomboulated by the torture scene, Cheney's "inhanced interrogation techniques" blather and the "moral" posturing of Glenn Greenwald and his ilk.
It's not an easy film in any way. It deals with a complex and multi-faceted situation. I'm sur[ised it won critics awards. Obviously they were impressedby Kathy's technical mastery. But it's not an "uplifting" experience in any way. The ending is particularly bleak. "Maya" has "won" but in te process she's destroyed herself. There's nothing left and she has no home to go to.
Hi Dennis. Ah yes, that makes sense with him reading it. Funny how something like that can affect so much, but it was a bravo day, so no worries I'd assume. heh, every time I see someone throw up in a movie because they are upset, I always think of Waters in an interview talking about how unrealistic of a reaction that is… and it makes me want to compile them all into a super reel of vomit for him, but I imagine his mail receptacles are perpetually brimming with such things! Yes, I was thinking the same thing as you about the Dennis Cooper Baby, and the possibly too self-aware titles they were giving the videos on youtube, such as: Closer hugs for Dennis Cooper, Baby Dennis Cooper is a Weakling, or Marbled Dennis Cooper baby Swarm…
Hey D,
Bresson is so profoundly full of wonder. I read about half of it yesterday and hope to finish it up over the weekend. I can totally see its influence on you: all the stuff about fragmentation, flattening scenes, allowing beauty to come out through mechanical processes; I mean, I know I won't have nearly the handle on it that you do after just my first reading, but I feel hugely enthralled. The trick is going to be how much to incorporate into this porn article. If I were smarter, I would filter that entire video through Bresson, but I just don't know if I'm there yet. I feel like it'd be trying to filter it through, like, Hegel.
We watched the 1st LotR last night (my dad has the special extended edition DVDs) and yes, I'll go on record calling them super fun. Maybe even works of art. I was afraid, because what if my love was nostalgia for a really settled time in my life, but no, they're wonderful.
Was George a LotR fan? Maybe that's out of the blue, but I remember the younger brother in Frisk being very absorbed in it. Or was that from somewhere else? Is that a bummer thing to ask? Hope not :(. I just remembered it while watching 'Fellowship' last night.
Talk soon
J
For me, ZDT's use of Cheney-style Orwellian language was the biggest reason I interpreted it as pro-torture. When Maya refers to "rugged detainee interrogations" (I may be paraphrasing) as a source of information, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that it meant torture.
I wonder how Bret Easton Ellis will respond to the NRA singling out the film of AMERICAN PSYCHO as a cause of violence in America. If Wayne LaPierre had read the book – he's probably never read a book, unless it was by Ayn Rand or Tom Clancy – he'd know how toned-down the violence in the film is, compared to Ellis' version.
D. The blog is a no fail zone (Boris Mikhailov, John Waters).
This gig is so on!
Have you been tapping my playlist?
Did you get a chance to check out Helm's (Luke Younger) 'Impossible Symmetry' this year? Here is a Gig ,if you you have 40 min. If you have 59 sec you can watch Luke dance.
2012 sound was full of possibilities.
Bret wants to remake American Psycho. I suspect Mary harron was too "grily" for him or something.
Wayne LaPierre is a psychopath and his utterances are to eb regarded in that context.
I would like to offer this in condolence for anyone who saw On The Road 2012 or American Psycho 2000
Dennis:
This post's great, really. I haven't heard of some of these people, going to invest in searching for more from them. I have the new Raime LP, but I just haven't listened that much to it. Everywhere I read positive things and know I'll get to it at some point.
About the 'BOOM!' lecture: it's hilarious. I had never even heard of the film before it, too. It's at the top of my list to find/watch.
Best,
-will
@ DC, my mum is talking about us coming over in May. I could even maybe take in The Pyre and the MK show too if we did that. Or are you likely to be insanely busy then? We'll be over for a few days whenever we do decide to come.
Bjork ain't goin nowhere so I'm sure I'll get the chance to see here again! Hopefully anyway!
What do you eat every day for forever? I've recently got into the habit of eat some marmite toast for breakfast and then a big bowl of rice (done in my special recipe/method) with peas, sweetcorn and carrots. Just that, but then I have gained weight so I wonder if the lots of carby rice is a good idea. It's so tasty though!
I've never thought of moving to Rome, that hadn't even occurred to me. London (clearly) has a great selection of Italian/Spanish/Middle Eastern guys anyway so maybe I'll just stick to there and be lazy and not learn another language!
hmmmm, I did like it when I visited, but also felt very overwhelmed. It seems a WHOLE lot bigger than London and we were only in Manhattan the whole time! And it just generally seems like a completely different world. I guess time will tell, I'll probably flip a coin.
I have just realised that I actually have seen Serial Mom!!! I really liked it, that form of very dark humour really appeals to me. If you like dark humour there was this incredible pilot written by Julia Davis called Lizzie and Sarah I can't find a link for the actual full program and I am sleepy but I bet if you googled around a bit you could find it, it's so funny and shocking!
Good work to everyone for surviving the so-called end of the world! I did feel very weird this morning and thought I had perhaps ascended but it turned out I was just hungover.
Hi Dennis, today, I don't understand your note. The word, "some," strange. I like it from you and M Kitchell. It's like sweets or rocks. Otherwise, I kind of pass it by. They say "some." More uninteresting. Today, you sound happy. I'm okay. I might travel to NYC again for a few days. I am very fond of nolita market soy cappuccino. And that barista is my kind.
Very cool gig. I can drive myself nuts trying and failing to pick this music apart. It begs for it. So, when someone tries to describe it in writing, it can get pretty amusing at times. Some of my friends are very into the defining specifics. I'm just glad I have some decent speakers and some pot. Cats tend to really dig it, too. The opening quote from the Federal Highway Administration is really clever.
The gig confused me pleasantly enough that it is futile for me to determine why some of these stand out for me. Shed, Raime, and High Wolf really get me, for whatever reasons.
Dennis: Hi, D. One of the best things about Waters' work is revisiting it every few years with people who have heard about, but have never seen the earlier films. I love seeing people react, having a certain idea in their heads as to what the often-mentioned scenes are going to be like. I've seen people become upset that they were not upset by the films. So, it was nice to see that there are full versions of those super-early ones on You Tube. It seems like Female Trouble is a common favorite. I was lucky enough to grow up by a theater that let kids into R-rated movies. The first Waters movie I saw was Polyester at that theater. Wonderful experience for a new pothead, 12 years old.
Boris Mikhailov really stunned me. I'll never forget those images.
Um, BRRRRR!
Best,
Njr
Hey Dennis, great gig. I just bought today Raime and Forma. I was not sure about that new Pelt but I will give it a second listen. I also did not check Drumm and Bee Mask till now. So thanks for that.
An old friend of mine just told me last week that he was this summer the driver for The Hundred in the Hands for their festival tour in Germany. He said that they were nice and cool people and it was fun to drive and hang out.
Otherwise I saw Boris on last sunday. Also a nice gig!
I have one week off and that is good. We drove to Berlin and hang out with family in particular with my three months old niece. She is really cool.
How are you? How is the pre-Xmas time treating you?
Best wishes from here,
Uli
Your day convinced me to go buy Holly Herndon's album (along with the new Burial single.)
Also, I finally unfollowed Glenn Greenwald on Twitter. The endless stream of posts about how awful ZD30 is got on my nerves, and I started out agreeing with him (although I would never approve of passing moral and political judgment on a film one hasn't seen).
Hey Dennis, how are you man? I've been here, just in silent mode, but now in Florida with my folks and thought I'd say hi on this longest night of the year. Which reminds me, just resaw Jarmuch's Night on Earth, liked it a lot again, but not the last Finnish episode so much. You like Jarmuch? Don't think I've ever heard him mentioned around here. Loved his Coffee and Cigarettes, but was nearly the breakup of a friendship when I turned to my buddy at the end and said, "Wasn't that great?" and he said, "No, I hated it." I think he does some excellent scenes with his actors and Tom Waits in the background doesn't hurt. So wish me luck getting along with my parents. So far OK, except one super fight with my Dad over updating his computer where he actually screamed at me. Can't talk computer with him at all. See ya tomorrow morning, signing off from Dad's computer, Kyler
Dennis, I hope I didn’t get on your bad side again with my comment the other day on anarchism and gun control. I’m used to talking that way with other friends and so I forget how much it bothers you.
dennis the cliffmeister cooper, sup dude, fuckin loved your john waters day, he seems so awesome in every interview & i like his voice a lot too. plus he seems totally sweet. i like that story about him trying to erve you raw meat also haha. i wish i could be vegan like you 🙁 dennis i really liked female trouble but i remember also taping it and pausing cuz this dude shows his cock in that movie & i thought it was a very very very nice cock. i showed it to my first boyfriend too. i liked serial mom also. i haven't seen any of the others except a dirty shame, which i didn't like so much but i prolly just need to rewatch it! yeah xo it's so cool you're friends with john w & you talked to DFW. dennis i'm sorry to ask for yet another fucking favor but is there any way you have a word doc or pdf or anything of my loose thread? i dunno if authors even keep such things, i guess when it's published you might be done with it. i absolutely guarantee i wouldn't upload it to any file-sharing places and i can show you the copy i've bought too. it's just my idol book right now and i wanted to study it and i've fucked my brain so much that i pretty much only read on the computer/phone nowadays. if not i totally understand i'm sorry i'm always asking for shit!!! love you bud, i really hope i get to meet you someday!!!!!!!!!!!!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hi Dennis, this prof, Leon S. Roudiez who wrote a book, titled FRENCH FICTION TODAY keeps me awake. It's written in 1970ish. But I like books on French lit/phil written about that period. Recent books in that field proudly show its own boredom. Is it because of publishing competition among scholars?!
I will get the zines off to you today DC. Looking forward to what you make of them. I’m going to be publishing three zines in 2013. The first one is going to be about Dylan. A 19 year old skateboarder from south east London. Take care dude. x
hey dennis, also, i tried to update the weaklings library but as always, if i missed anyone, you or any of the missed authors let me know!!
The Jacqui Look