Fiction
(in no order)
Gary Lutz Assisted Living (Future Tense Books)
Christopher Higgs As I Stand (Civil Coping Mechanisms)
Aimee Parkison Refrigerated Music for a Gleaming Woman (Fiction Collective 2)
Christopher Kang When He Sprang From His Bed, Staggered Backward, And Fell Dead, We Clung Together With Faint Hearts, And Mutely Questioned Each Other (Green Mountains Review Books)
Meghan Lamb Silk Flowers (Birds of Lace)
Ashley Farmer The Farmacist (Jellyfish Highway Press)
Scott McClanahan The Sarah Book (New York Tyrant)
Eugene Lim The Cyborgs (FSG Originals)
Kenward Elmslie The Orchid Stories (The Song Cave)
Constance DeJong Modern Love (Ugly Duckling Presse)
Mat Laporte Rats Nest (Book Thug)
Jennifer Scappettone The Republic of Exit 43: Outtakes & Scores from an Archaeology and Pop-Up Opera of the Corporate Dump (Atelos Press)
Grant Maierhofer GAG (Inside the Castle)
Alissa Nutting Made for Love (Ecco)
New Juche Mountainhead (Nine-Banded Books)
Elizabeth Ellen PERSON/A (Hobart)
Mitch Sisskind Do Not be a Gentleman When You Say Goodnight (The Song Cave)
Leonora Carrington The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington (Dorothy, a publishing project)
Nathaniel Mackey Late Arcade (New Directions)
Jen George The Babysitter at Rest (Dorothy, a publishing project)
Ron Padgett Motor Maids across the Continent (Song Cave)
Mathew Rohrer The Others (Wave Books)
Henry Hoke Genevieves (Subito Press)
Lidia Yuknavitch The Book of Joan (Harper)
Jac Jemc The Grip of It (FSG Originals)
Ken Sparling Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt (Civil Coping Mechanisms)
Julien Gracq A Balcony in the Forest (NYRB)
Dodie Bellamy & Kevin Killian, eds. Writers Who Love Too Much (Nightboat Books)
Poetry
(in no order)
Susan Howe Debths (New Directions)
Deborah Kuan Lunch Portraits (Brooklyn Arts Press)
Clark Coolidge Selected Poems: 1962-1985 (Station Hill Press)
Jerome Sala Corporations Are People, Too! (NYQ Books)
Kevin Killian Tony Greene Era (Wonder)
Clark Coolidge The Circus (flow)
Renee Gladman Prose Architectures (Wave Books)
Douglas Crase The Astropastorals (Pressed Wafer)
Mónica de la Torre The Happy End / All Welcome (Ugly Duckling Presse)
Rosamond S. King Rock | Salt | Stone (Nightboat Books)
Bill Knott I Am Flying Into Myself: Selected Poems 1960-2014 (Farrar Straus & Giroux)
Nonfiction
(in no order)
Peter Cherches Autobiography Without Words (Pelekinesis)
Kate Zambreno Book of Mutter (Semiotext(e))
Andrew Ervin Bit by Bit: How Video Games Transformed Our World (Basic Books)
Michel Leiris Nights as Day, Days as Night (Spurl Editions)
Juliana Huxtable Mucus in My Pineal Gland (Wonder)
Michael Seidlinger Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves: Bookmarked (Ig Publishing)
David Ehrenstein Playing the Third String: Weeding in the Garden of Cinematic Delights (CreateSpace)
Jarett Kobek Soft & Cuddly (Boss Fight Books)
Music
(in no order)
Guided by Voices August By Cake (GbV)
Chino Amobi Paradiso (NON/UNO)
Helena Celle If I Can’t Handle Me At My Best, Then You Don’t Deserve You At Your Worst (Night School)
Oxbow Thin Black Duke (Hydra Head)
Tobin Sprout The Universe and Me (Burger)
Emptyset Borders (Thrill Jockey)
William Basinski A Shadow in Time (TRR)
Pharmakon Contact (Sacred Bones)
Wayne Koestenbaum Lounge Act (Ugly Duckling Presse)
Sendai Ground and Figure (Editions Mego)
Skullflower The Black Iron That Has Fell From The Stars, To Dwell Within (Bear It Or Be It) (Nashazphone)
D Glare 4 Oscillators And 130 Samples At 130 BPM (Opal Tapes)
Anthony Pateras Blood Stretched Out (IMM008, 2017)
Alex G Rocket (Domino)
Huxley Anne Illum (Doom of Doom)
Jlin Black Origami (Planet Mu)
Stormzy Gang Signs & Prayer (Merky)
GAS Narkopop (Kompact)
Charli XCX Number 1 Angel (Asylum)
Blanck Mass World Eater (Sacred Bones)
Wire SILVER/LEAD (Pink Flag)
Shit & Shine Total Shit! (Diagonal)
Film
(in no order)
Bong Joon-Ho Okja
Michal Marczak All These Sleepless Nights
Alex MacKenzie Apparitions
Albert Maysles, Lynn True, David Usui, Nelson Walker III, Benjamin Wu In Transit
João Pedro Rodrigues The Ornithologist
Makoto Shinkai Your Name
Chad Stahelski John Wick: Chapter 2
Ken and Flo Jacobs Ulysses in the Subway
Art
(in no order)
Peter Campus video ergo sum (Jeu de Paume)
Fujiko Nakaya & KTL NIAGARA REVERB#07150 (Centre Pompidou)
Jean-Luc Verna Retrospective (MAC VAL)
Ismaïl Bahri Instruments (Jeu de Paume)
Internet
(in no order)
Rhizome
Musique Machine
Max Echo
The Creative Independent
Fanzine
Entropy
Real Pants
Queen Mob’s Teahouse
dark fucking wizard
HTMLGIANT
TL;DR
The Chiseler
espresso bongo
nicolashaujolly
Experimental Cinema
The Wire
FUCKED BY NOISE
SOUL PONIES
{ feuilleton }
The Los Angeles Review of Books
Solar Luxuriance
3:AM Magazine
largehearted boy
Bookforum
THE NEATO MOSQUITO SHOW
Cutty Spot
pantaloons
Beach Sloth
Tiny Mix Tapes
UbuWeb
Harriet
Open Culture
Locus Solus: The New York School of Poets
giphy
The Wonderful World of Tam Tam Books
ISOLA DI RIFIUTI
Hobart
*
p.s. Hey. ** Dóra Grőber, Hi! Thank you, thank you. Optimism is my stock and trade, ha ha, so no problem. No, I missed the concert. I ended up Skyping internationally with an old friend instead, which couldn’t be beat. Did you fight off your laziness and attend the lecture? Interesting topic for sure. I think the heatwave begins to slowly fade away today, or we’re promised. Yesterday was still gross (weather-wise). I hung out with a visiting friend, and we saw the David Hockney retrospective at the Pompidou. That was interesting because it confirmed my opinion that he’s a totally mediocre artist apart from a brief few years in the late ’60s when moving to LA and maybe being in love seemed to bring something interesting out of him. Otherwise, I think he’s just a dabbler of an artist who’s into mish-mashing together tropes from painting’s past and who has almost nothing of his own. Art for people who think art died with Picasso and Modigliani and Matisse and those guys. I guess that sounds really harsh, oops, but what can you do. So I did that and not a whole lot else, I don’t think. I’m going to try to rectify that relative nothingness with I don’t know what this weekend with the help of the cooling skies, if they do cool. What did you do this weekend? ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Cool that you’ve conferred with Wurlitzer. Incredible stylist, superb writer. A new piece by you, great! I’ll read it over the weekend greedily. Everyone, our eminent blog pal David Ehrenstein has written a new article/think piece provocatively called ‘Why I Chose To Be Gay’, and reading it seems like a very awesome thing that you could do, so do. It’s here. ** Steevee, Hi. Theoretically, it doesn’t surprise me that the new Jodorowsky is that good. But then I think the dismissals of him as an old hippie, etc. and just dumb and self-indicting. It would surprise me if Alex Cox made a great movie this year, it’s true, but I don’t think Cox ever made films at the level of Jodorowsky at his best by a country mile. ** Bill, Yes, messiness is proving to be the total case. Giving up is starting to seem like the most sensible option. Ha ha, I can totally believe it about the soundless ‘Angelic Conversation’. I once saw ‘Sebastiane’, easily my very least favorite Jarman, in a similar situation, and I similarly thought, ‘Oh, it’s not so bad’. ** Wolf, Wowlf!!!!! You saw Oxbow, cool. I never have. I think I always miss their Paris visits. Yeah, the new Oxbow is really good. It seems like their ‘Forever Changes’ if that makes any sense, which it probably doesn’t. I don’t know Ho99o9 at all. Huh. I’ll check them out today. Cool, thank you! Have the most splendiferous weekend! ** H, Hi. Yeah, I painted and drew a lot through high school. I was more thought of as an artist than as a writer by the people at my school. But then I took some art classes in college and realized I had no talent in that area whatsoever. It just had been easy-ish to seem talented during the ‘anything goes’ psychedelic days of my youth. ‘Coming Attractions’, wow, cool you read that. A lot of those poets became greats later on, it’s cool. I did see and really like ‘The Ornithologist’, yes. It’s in my list up above. Excellent weekend to you. ** Scunnard, I’m still emitting hip-hip-hoorays with your name on them over here! ** Bernard, In the flesh! ** Amphibiouspeter, Hi. I was in Lisboa once for a few days and really liked it. There and Porto, which I liked even better for some reason. I couldn’t deal with the heat right now though. I’m from LA so I don’t know why heat seems like such an airborne torture device, but it does. Hope you like ‘Nog’. He’s a hell of a writer. Very good about your writing. Too introspective? How so? Next for our film is color grading, which starts early on Monday morning and will continue for maybe 8 to 10 days depending. Bon Saturday and Sunday! ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi. I don’t think you’ll be sorry for scoring ‘Nog’. He’s great. I can still remember my driving lessons in high school, and it was a chore and an obstacle course. But then all that stuff becomes second nature. It’s magical. ** Jamie, Hi, Pajamies! Yeah, I like Beckett, sure. I haven’t read him in ages. I like his novels especially. It seems like his novels are his least sung work, which is weird. Friday was okay, heat aside. Lovely to see my friend. Good to solidify an opinion on David Hockney. Weekend … I’m meeting with someone today about a very interesting seeming new/forthcoming online lit/art project that he wants me to do something for, but I don’t know much yet or what he wants from me. Gonna see the new Bruno Dumont film on Sunday. Random stuff otherwise, at least in foresight. You? Wow, it takes Valium to knock down the Steroids effect? That’s interesting. Do you feel all chemical-ed out? I hope that does the trick. Jeez. I think the heat is down a bit today, but it’s too early to tell. It’s supposed to fade today and tomorrow, and then next week is supposed to be dreamy. Promises, promises. What’s interesting in your new hood? Are the in-laws there now? What else is good or not? Octopussyesque love, Dennis. ** Jeff J, Hi, Jeff. I saw ‘Glen and Randa’ but long enough ago that I have no memory of the screenplay at all. If I had to pick a favorite Wurlitzer, I think it would be ‘Drop Edge of Yonder’. Amazing news that he’s working on a new novel even slowly. I do want to see ‘Baby Driver’, yeah. Its seeming fun sounds like fun. Enjoy the mountains and your family and hopefully tolerably measured temperatures. For the new Gisele piece, there’s no dialogue or audible texts in the piece at all. There are a few jokes told in sign language (one of the characters/dancers is a deaf drug dealer). One of the dancer’s character is manic-depressive and rants to the other dancers, but only they hear it. I created characters for each of the 15 dancers. With the dancers and Gisele, we created back stories for the characters, and then the dancers learned how to inhabit their characters while simultaneously playing out Gisele’s quite complex choreography. Each character has a narrative trajectory that plays out through the piece. The trajectories intersect and are shaped/directed by the other characters’ trajectories. It’s all pretty organized and set, but there is room for spontaneity within given limits. So, yeah, my contribution is all under the surface, although the characters and their trajectories are visible to varying degrees to to viewer. If that makes any sense, ha ha. ** S., Hi, bud. Aw, thank you, likewise. Ocean swimming is nice. I like how the ocean is always the top. Seaworld … I think they have one or two very good roller coasters. When Zac and I were in Orlando, we could see Seaworld from our hotel window, but we didn’t go. Seems doable, yes. ** Sypha, You have no choice, ha ha. I love the new single! It’s raucous in a very original way. I really like it. ** Will C., Hi, Will! Yes, it’s been ages! It’s really awesome to see you! Life can happen, for sure, and I’m glad you’ve wrested control. What’s going on with you as of currently? Take care. ** Okay. Up there is, duh, lists of things that I would consider my favorites among things that were made in 2017 and that I’ve experienced thus far in 2017. I would be very happy if you guys want to share things that have been especially good for you in those categories or others post-December 2016, if you feel like it. No matter what, I’ll see you on Monday.
Now available in North America 
*
I think a lot of the cultury stuff I consumed so far in 2017 was produced in 2016 so I’m bending the rules and, since I have not participated in this for more than 1 year, declare it legit to include things that are more-than-6-months-old (or only made it into the UK in the last 12 months-ish). Boom! Hyperlink-madness ahead.
Shows:
(me:)
– Sugimoto’s The Sea And The Mirror at Chateau La Coste That’s stretching it because I saw his Seascapes set for the first time (in huge size!) at the Arles festival at least 2 years ago. But this was in a beautiful building by Renzo Piano, so a piece by itself in a way.
– A Handful of Dust at the Whitechapel Gallery
(joint entries with marc):
– Maria Lassnig at Hauser&Wirth
– Revolution: Russian Art 1917–1932 at the Royal Academy
– Wolfgang Tillmans at Tate Modern
– Giacometti at Tate Modern Tate Modern
– Queer British art at Tate Britain
…and this is reaaallllyy stretching it as I’m pretty sure it came out more than a year ago (about 4,000 I think actually) but… behold The Glory That Is Knossos!!!!!
(marc:)
– Pierre Guillotat reading (new translation of Eden Eden Eden) + exhibition of his drawings
– In case there’s a reason at Raven Row
Books, non-fiction only looks like…
(me:)
– Matthew Desmond, Evicted
– Cathy O’Neil, Weapons of math destruction
– This amazing New Yorker article about the Mosul Dam (with ace pictures too)
(marc:)
Mark Fisher, The weird and the eerie
Gigs
– Oxbow
– Wovenhand
Music
Ho99o9, United States of Ho99o9
TV
– Twin Motherfucking Peaks The Motherfucking Return, which really is in a different league from everything else
– The Handmaid’s Tale
– American Gods
– Preacher (season 2)
– Fargo (season 3)
Bear-nard!!!!!!
Hahaha shit my deluge of hyperlinks has kicked me in the ‘awaiting moderation’ bucket! Anyway D I forgot to say: 100% agree with your no-BS assessment of Hockney. Seems everyone and their aunt loves him here, and I really don’t see the deal anymore. As Willow would say, ‘bored now’!
aw man, there’s so many interesting books on here…i want to read more really old books but this is so tempting, i have to get a handful of these. reading is such a problem sometimes, i want to read everything
i’ll enjoy reading everybody’s lists, these days are fun
///
NEW BOOKS
The Sarah Book – Scott Mcclanahan
The Dying Grass – William T Vollmann
Something to Do With Self Hate – Brian Alan Ellis
Dust Bunny City – Bud Smith and Rae Buleri
///
OLD BOOKS
The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine (which i read like almost every day, i’ve probably read it like 3 times now)
The Turnip Princess and Other Fairy Tales by Franz Xaver Von Schonwerth
The Mabinogion
On the Sublime – Longinus
The Lays of Marie de France
The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser (only read like half of it though)
Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
Adagia by Erasmus
///
MUSIC (in order from from most to least favorite)
(Various Artists) – Sky Girl
Kendrick Lamar – DAMN
Aimee Mann – Mental Illness
Jay Z – 4:44
Flaming Lips – Oczy Mlody
Alex G – Rocket
Young Thug – Easy Breezy Beautiful Thugger Girls
Juana Molina – Halo
Courtney Marie Andrews – Honest Life
Khn Narin’s Electric Phin Band – II
///
TV
i liked the new season of Fargo a lot, & Twin Peaks
///
MOVIES
i honestly can’t remember any movies i’ve watched this year…i watched like 6 Fassbinder movies & the new spiderman movie & i liked those
Thanks for the plug, Dennis!
I have a copy of that Michel Leiris around here somewhere. Haven’t read much in the way of “new” lately.
Reading movies there’s a marvelous new film called “After Louie” starring Alan Cumming about an older gay man still grieving over the over who died of AIDS (brilliantly played by the great David Drake) and starting a kind of relationship with a younger one.
That’s EXCEEDINGLY harsh about Hockney, who I revere for a great many reasons. Yes the quality of his work is quite variable but his sensibility and work ethic remain admirable IMO.
One other thing of interest I’ve read: The Little Shoppe of Horrors” issue by Sam Irvin devoted to the Isherwood/Bachardy TV movie “Frankenstein: The True Story” it’s quite something.
It’s ironic that you’re doing this day just after I posted my top 5 films of 2017 and wondered why no one else seems to be doing this ritual on Facebook yesterday.
Anyway, my top 5 films of 2017 are
1. GET OUT
2. PERSONAL SHOPPER
3. STARLESS DREAMS
4. ENDLESS POETRY
5. RAW
I restricted that list to films with U.S. distribution, but Midi-Z’s THE ROAD TO MANDALAY, which is the consensus discovery of the ongoing New York Asian Film Festival and doesn’t have a U.S. release lined up as far as I know, also deserves a nod.
As far as music, I haven’t thought of any kind of preferential order, but I really admire the new albums by Sampha, Run the Jewels, Big Thief, Charli XCX, Vince Staples, Anthony Pateras’ THE SLOW CREEP OF CONVENIENCE, Arca, Gas and Perfume Genius.
Dennis, thank you for the TamTam Books website mention! It’s an honor to be here among the greats. Also, the recommendations here are a treasure to explore. Especially for the readings, because so much is from smaller presses, so having that push out there, makes these books known to the curious reader. Thank you for that.
Perfume Genius is the only “new’ music that I follow. As for books and in no order:
“Vinyl Freak” by John Corbett
“The Dream Colony” by Walter Hopps
“Beautiful Twentysomethings” by Marek Hłasko
“Like Art” by Glenn O’Brien
The above list are recent discoveries and what I enjoyed reading recently.
I don’t listen to many “new’ releases, but this is what I have heard in 2017 (so far)
Tony Conrad -“Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain”
Egisto Macchi – “Città Notte”
The Feed-Back – “The Feed-Back”
Perfume Genius – “No Shape”
David Bowie – “No Plan EP”
Evariste – “Do You Know The Beast?”
And Hockney! You’re holding back your feelings about David, do go on! Such a long career, but I don’t feel he’s consistent like Francis Bacon, Freud, or other artists. He has a restless mind, so I admire him for that. I do like his portrait paintings. Landscape – so-so. There needs to be a really good independent ‘critical’ book on Hockney. Too much love for him brings a cloudy and muddy view of his work.
I recommended Perfume Genius to a friend of mine in his early 60s, expecting that he probably would respond negatively, but I was surprised that he thought NO SHAPE is great and wound up buying it. He also loved Big Thief, but they’re grounded in folk music and singer/songwriters in a way that I thought would be much easier for him to understand, given his taste.
Hey Dennis, thanks for the compliment re: +Passover-
Some books that I’ve enjoyed so far this year are (asterisk =reissues):
FICTION
A Pilgrim Stranger (Mark Samuels)
Holidays From Hell (Reggie Oliver)
The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington (Leonora Carrington)
Dear Sweet Filthy World (Caitlin R. Kiernan)
The Cutest Girl in Class (Justin Isis/Quentin S. Crisp/Brendan Connell) *
Moriah (Daniel Mills)
Masks in the Tapestry (Jean Lorrain)
This Is Memorial Device (David Keenan)
NON-FICTION
Ontological Graffiti (Michael Bertiaux)
In Search of Silence: The Journals of Samuel R. Delany Vol. 1 (Samuel R. Delany)
The Autobiography of Arthur Machen (Arthur Machen) *
Down Below (Leonora Carrington) *
Art Sex Music (Cosey Fanni Tutti)
CCRU Writings 1997-2003 (Nick Land/Various)
POETRY
October (Quentin S. Crisp)
Tony Greene Era (Kevin Killian)
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
A Cat Named Swan (Holly Hobbie)
MUSIC
Harry Styles (Harry Styles)
Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie (Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie)
The Spirals of Great Harm (Skullflower)
Melodrama (Lorde) (actually, still uncertain about this one)
FILM
Sadly, I have seen no new movies this year, though there are some upcoming films I’m very looking forward to: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, The Dark Tower, IT, and of course the new Star Wars.
Ooh I love list days like this! Best cultural event by far for me has been the return of Twin Peaks which has blown all expectations and preconceptions out of the water/park/whatever… and it’s still only halfway through! The show’s also generated an avalanche of online commentary that’s been fascinating to pick through.
Books
David Keenan – This Is Memorial Device
Jen George – The Babysitter at Rest
Cosey Fanni Tutti – Art Sex Music
Music
Dopplereffekt – Cellular Automata
Art
I really enjoyed the Anthea Hamilton show at the Hepworth in Wakefield earlier this year.
Wow–thank you, Dennis.
Thanks for the lists, Dennis and everyone! Really looking forward to exploring this weekend.
Dennis, I saw the trailer for The Ornithologist a couple days ago. Will definitely try to catch a screening. I see lots of intriguing unfamiliar items on your music list especially.
Steevee, good to hear about the new Jodorowsky. Trailer looks promising.
I’ve been out of it, but here’s what I’ve enjoyed. Some 2016 items sneaked in.
Books:
Gary Lutz, Assisted Living
Clare Beams, We Show What We Have Learned and other stories
Aimee Parkison, Refrigerated Music for a Gleaming Woman
Leonora Carrington, Complete Stories
New Juche, Fountainhead
Christopher Kang, When He Sprang from His Bed…
Herve Guibert, Crazy for Vincent
Dodie Bellamy and Kevin Killian, Writers who Love too Much
[Eugene Lim would probably be on this, but I haven’t got to it yet]
Movies (I did say I’ve been out of it, right?):
My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea
Get Out
Music:
Sult + Lasse Marhaug, Harpoon https://sult.bandcamp.com/album/harpoon
Drew McDowall, Unnatural Channel
Splitter Orchestra with Felix Kubin, Shine on You Crazy Diagram
Gabriel Kahane, Works on Paper https://gabrielkahane.bandcamp.com/album/works-on-paper-music-for-solo-piano
Beins/Capece/Kuchen/Vogel, Fracture Mechanics (Mikroton)
Cilantro, Borderland (Mikroton)
York Holler, String Quartets (Neos)
UnicaZurn, Transpandorem
Ross Feller, X/Winds https://www.innova.mu/albums/ross-feller/x-winds
Bischoff/Brown/Perkis, Transit https://timperkis.bandcamp.com/album/transit
Henry Threadgill, Old Locks and Irregular Verbs
Live stuff:
Chris Heenan/Emilio Gordoa/Boris Baltschun/Michael Vorfeld, Berlin house concert
Paul Clipson etc at Cinematheque event at SFMOMA
Antoine Schmitt/Franck Vigroux audiovisual concert at Gray Area, SF
SF Contemporary Music Players play L’histoire du soldat, w. Peter Evans/Bruckmann/Winant, SF
Art:
Jonas Burgert at Blain Southern, Berlin
Lynn Hershman at Yerba Buena, SF
Bruce Conner at SF MOMA
Bill
Re: the Jodorowsky, there’s a critic I know who publicly stated he hated it and didn’t want to write a review of it, although he was assigned one. I sent him a link to my own rather ecstatic review, saying something like “I think you might find this interesting, although I know we totally disagree.” He wound up replying “No, you’re on to something” and says that his review ends by saying that the film will go on to start arguments.
Dennis:
Impressive list. Giving me more to seek out media-wise, hah. Forgive the longevity.
Well, the last time we spoke I had been trying to change my life for awhile. Last year it finally came around. I’m going back to school for a Computer Science degree in August w/ the intention to become a programmer. It marries writing, abstract thought, etal, and wanting to make a decent living. I’ve been into computers most of my life (wanted to get a CS degree when I was younger) and finally said, “Okay.”
Sadly in the chaos of the last fiveish years my creative output suffered tremendously. I don’t really write anymore. I can on occasion get it to happen. But, I know somewhere in the future I’ll get back to it when things are more stable (that’s really what it’s been about: stability for writing). Too, as many lovely people have pointed out to me in my life, I’ll definitely have material to work w/, haha. That I do. I’m definitely happy. I couldn’t have said that hardly in the last five years but in rare, fleeting moments.
I’m truly glad to see this blog still going. It’s a place for the oddities. I’ve always felt welcome here.
Best, Dennis,
-will
We all know Diane Arbus was One Sick Puppy But apparently she was a lot sicker than most of us were aware.
the sun was my top today. you know you go on vacay and fall in love with a local thing isnt thst weird. i guess i can recommend a 4 month coke and crack binge. gbv live is always good. trainspotting 2 was fun nostalgic yet dancy and trainsitional. the fasbinder gay kiss and subsequent spinetemoval was interesting avec the master margarita cameo. john wick 2s ending is everything. rabbits on the run! the new obituary is good. i think i liked the pallbearer record. wens winter was bomb. lol that mclanahan book is so cute. burnt to a crisp. caught a dolphin telling tea on me
Hi Dennis, as always stunning list — I’d like to be ensconced in it. Lists by other DLs too are so nice — thank you!
I don’t have much new 2017 things I can contribute. Mostly revisiting, or newly discovered old ones, but still a few:
Film: Nocturama, Ornithologist + (I’m going to watch Ghost Story soon here, but I have this feeling that I might like it.) Otherwise, watched too many films from the past, but among those, I loved Akerman’s Toute une nuit and her 4 documentary films. (Oh, really intrigued by Ulysses in the subway. Where did you see (?) it, if you don’t mind answering? )
Books: Not one day (Anne Garreta), Writers who love too much (although I haven’t finished it, I love it so far), Juice/Event Factory (Renee Gladman, read this year), George Washington (Adam Fitzgerald). Otherwise, too many film relevant books which can be a little dreary to others here.
Internet: your home, Purple diary, Experimental Cinema, and Melissa Anderson’s film reviews here and there.
Shows: I was at some shows as I’m in nyc, but I really don’t remember them enough to re-mention…those were not good. Ah, Ashbery collage show was nice, but it was too little.
Oh, I missed Herve Guibert’s Crazy for Vincent. I enjoyed the prose in it, although I thought it could have been more complicated. (It didn’t seem like its style of minimal prose was an appropriate instrument for that sort of love, emotionally to the narrator as well as readers. )
DennisinneD! How are you? How was your weekend? How was the movie?
I am in a mildly chemicalish state, but not too extreme. I’m taking it easy with the Valium as I’m not too into being zonked in that way. One good thing to come out of all this pharmaceutical hijinks is that I’ve been working on this piece of writing for a while, but felt it needed a little more psychedelia or a sense of skew, and I’ve been back on it the past few days and think my chemical imbalances may have helped a lot. Of course, there’s every chance I’ll come back to it in a week and see it as drugged out whimpering, but atm it seems good.
Ta for your big list of stuff. And everyone else here’s seems great too. Next to y’all I feel entirely uncultured, but my awful memory must take part of the blame.
Is it Monday that you start the colour grading? Feel free to geek out and share as much of the process as you feel like. Hope it goes good.
Okay, I’m off to cook a huge split pea dal. Early to bed then Newcastle in the morning.
Hope everything’s as good as possible with you.
Split pea love,
Jamie
Dennis, This is kind of depressing because it reminds me how I struggle to keep up with new stuff. At the same time, thanks to you and the blog and my fellow Weaklings, it’s not as hard as it could be to keep up. I think time, or the lack thereof, is really my enemy. Also, living in these ‘burbs, where only blockbuster movies come to the theaters, makes it hard. The really interesting part of your days like today is seeing what turned others on. You get to know a little more about them, especially if you haven’t met them in real life yet.
So shit, the only new stuff I’ve actually looked at or listened to is Will Self’s “Shark,” which I’m reading now and is very good; Harry Styles’ album, which I liked; and Arcade Fire’s single, “Everything Now!”, which I really like. I’ve seen some new movies in theaters, but I don’t think they’re anything to write home about (the King Arthur movie, the Wonder Woman movie). I’m looking forward to seeing “Valerian” in a couple weeks, as well as “Dunkirk” (frankly, if Harry wasn’t in it, I wouldn’t even go see it).
Yeah, Andy Roddick could come off as a bit of a dick. Djokovic is a total dick, though he can also be really funny. You know a guy who frustrates the hell out of me? Gael Monfils. I’m sure you’re aware of him because he’s French. I watch this guy and I’m like, “How does anyone beat him, he’s so fucking talented?” And then he goes and loses to some jobber in the early rounds of a major. He’s a head case. Just can’t get over that hump to the next level.
To be fair, there’s a bunch of young guys on tour like that. No one seems to be able to step up.
You’re right about vanilla. I like strawberry too…if it’s done right. But every year, vanilla outsells all the others. What’s kind of weird is that I’m no longer much of a chocolate lover. It’s gotta be very mild or mousse-y or something. Otherwise, I’m just bleh about it.
Soooooo…Friday night, I fell asleep in my haunted rocking chair at 8 p.m. I woke up at 9:30 and could barely walk to my room. The tiredness was so heavy in me, I could barely move. Jumped into bed and woke up at 5:30 Saturday morning feeling pretty damn great. I’ve got to get better sleep during the week.
Hi!
Ah, thank you for your list! My weekend was a bit busy with my book and a sudden meeting with some friends but I’ll explore it thoroughly and send you some of my favorites from this year so far in exchange!
Yes, I guess talking to an old friend is priority in a lot of cases.
I did fight off my laziness and attended the lecture. It was… well, I came home with more questions and gray areas about the whole topic than I arrived with but it was interesting to meet people who identify as asexual and to listen to their very-very various experiences.
David Hockney. I’ve only seen a few of his pieces here so I don’t have such a thorough opinion about his work as you; generally, it just doesn’t really do anything for me. I don’t find it horrid but I don’t find it gripping either.
I’m almost finished with the final reading of my book (before I give it to the formerly mentioned trusted people). I planned to finish today but then I met a few friends I haven’t seen in a while instead so I guess it’ll happen tomorrow. I had quite a successful and fun weekend like this.
How was yours? I hope the weather did cool off a little!
I’ve realized that my tendency to over-share and my inability to keep secrets did not go away when my bipolar disorder began being treated. And I’m increasingly attracted to a form of writing closer to brief personal essays than reviews, as you may have noticed from my recent Facebook posts. But honestly, while I can reveal that I’ve taken steps into moving into the world of film curation as well as criticism, I don’t know how much I should say beyond that, and because I’m excited about the work I’m doing now, I’ve spouted my mouth in person to far more people than I should have. I hope I haven’t said anything that the people I’m working with would object to or resent, taken credit for their work or talked about very tentative future events as if they’re definitely going to happen. I’m really worried that some day I will totally fuck up and land in real trouble. I think I’m self-aware enough not to go around outing people I know or insulting them, but I’ve talked about people I know in extremely vague and unidentifiable terms – but in ways they might object to if they read it. I seriously have a hard time knowing how much information is too much to give away.
Hey Dennis, thanks for all this… In the book realm I’ve either ingested or have in a to-ingest pile most of these and agree on all and the few with which I’m unfamiliar I’ll be sure to alter.. As for film/art/internet/music most of the time I’m falling way behind and people such as yourself remind me to wake the fuck up and I look forward to doing so. Speaking of film, though, I want to ask you whether or not you’d seen The Strange Color Of Your Body’s Tears? If you have it’ll be obvious why I asked and if you haven’t and choose to, the same. Hope you’re well as possible.
D-
Yes the new Oxbow is great and challenging and ominous and all the things I want. Glad you are listening too. I’m always happy to be thought of by you! I’m in my normal post-show depression. I always go through it, but it never stops sucking. Hopefully I can get through it faster than normal. I need a new project!
B