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p.s. Hey. ** James, Morning above all possible mornings to you. Thank you: post attentiveness. My novel ‘Guide’ has a pressing fanfiction element, I suppose. The problem with most fanfiction is that it’s tiresomely logorrheic. And all that drawn out romance and longing. Same problem with disaster movies. Cut to the chase, I say. I think just trying to do something you’ve never seen someone do before makes it inherently fresh. I had a coffee with Troye Sivan’s ex-boyfriend last year. It didn’t sound like TS was a cake walk. Thanks for the twink research. I have an appointment with the French consulate when I get to LA where I’ll apply. So it’s just a waiting game right now. Nervous about it, but the dye will soon be cast. I just have to print out a ton of documents and take some passport photos. I don’t feel like I ever relax, but I guess I probably do. But I never kick back and go ‘aahhh’. My friend Ziggy’s nickname actually came from this comic that used to be in US newspapers called Ziggy about a weird, rebellious kid that I guess my friend felt a kinship with. Bon whatever today allows, bud. ** Misanthrope, Ah, right, I think remember reading about that failed lawsuit. Kind of hopeless, all of this. But there must be a way. ** Dominik, Hi!! Haha, yeah, that review. Suzi Quatro is very retro/glam sounding nowadays, but I remember one of her songs, ’48 Crash’, being especially fun. Maybe. Huh, I don’t know Get Scared. Never heard of them. That sounds kind of nice. God loves ya, but what could he do? Yeah, wha wha wha wha wha what could he do?, G. ** Steeqhen, Cool, backburnered but gorgeous. I can’t remember if you mentioned the awards, but congrats, maybe again. Yeah, I’ll give a peek at ‘Peep Show’, or at whatever evidence there is, and see what happens. It does sound very British. ** _Black_Acrylic, Pleasure to make such a vaunted introduction. ** Nicholas., Wow, Milkduds. I broke a tooth on one of them years ago, and they’ve been persona non grata ever since. I switched to Junior Mints after that. Uh, the films are definitely in my writing’s wheelhouse, but I do feel stretchier when I’m writing them. Gosh, thank you for being so kind about my stuff. It won’t be your fault, for sure. It’s the relatively rare person that wants art to take them deep, unfortunately, but they’re who matters maybe. ** Steve, I like what I’ve heard of the Whitechapel too. Curious about ‘Misericordia’. Share the scoop. Not so much about the new LaBruce. Ongoing hugs and hope about the situation with your parents. I mean … GPS? ** P, Hi. Thanks! I’m excited for you to see it: the film. That’s interesting: the friends activity. I’ve seen quite a number of videos of friends gut punching each other for kicks and views. There’s also the ones where they choke each other unconscious. Maybe you guys shouldn’t try that. Nice two-day birthday party-like event you have ahead of you, or I guess already in-progress by now. What’s your ‘work’? Wait did you already tell me? Can I encourage you to write that story? Writing is pretty interesting. You might really like it, and you might be amazing at it even. The reason at least old school books had those extra blank pages is because, if you look at the book’s spine, you’ll see that they print in these groups of pages, and if there’s too little writing to fill out the last one in the book, they leave the extra pages blank because the pages have to be there. I’m not sure if that explanation makes sense. Gun Club: nice. I really love their album ‘Miami’. I grew up with a pool table in my bedroom. My parents had one, and my room was kind of big, so it got stored there. I used to be a real wiz at pool as a result, but I’m probably really rusty now. I’m guessing you like playing pool? Have a total friends’ birthday blast. ** Tyler Ookami, Okay, ‘Peep Show’, I’ll definitely investigate. Thanks. Oh, yeah, she’s definitely really serious and also amused by her own seriousness, I think. That’s my impression, for sure. I don’t think I know Violet Cold. Cool, ‘Noir Kid’, checkmark. This might sound weird, but if a bad review called out my work on its actual vulnerabilities and weaknesses, I would feel impacted, but they almost always just come off as inattentive and/or with pre-existing expectations that I don’t want to meet, and I feel like they just didn’t get what I’m doing, and those responses I just kind of shrug at or feel disappointed by. I have a pretty objective sense of my work’s strengths and weaknesses, I think. And it’s very rare that a reviewer points out the actual problems. Maybe I’m deluded, I don’t know. Thanks for asking. What you are you up to or doing or working on at the moment? ** HaRpEr, Yeah, I think that ‘typing’ thing was a Capote hangover. I’m always really interesting to know how my work is being received, good and bad. I feel like it’s important to know what its context is and think about that. Strange that the rights problems are so unsolvable about ‘Eden Eden Eden’. I guess that press that published the English language book must be being fascist in its possessiveness or wanting an absurd amount of money. It sucks. Glad you got that weird sounding bootleg though. What an odd assignment: ‘about the marketplace near to our campus’. I can’t tell if that’s a genius idea or the laziest one ever. What you’re doing re: it sounds exciting. Brecht/Weill, it doesn’t get better than that. For me ‘Song of the Insufficiency of Human Endeavor’ is in competition for the greatest song ever. Follow your excitement. Trust it. I don’t even need to tell that, of course. ** jay, ‘The short-hand of pre-established narrative for a set of characters/archetypes/investments probably lets you get into meatier parts of writing earlier’: I think that’s really true and wise. When I was young and writing poetry mostly, I wrote a lot about teen idols of the time because they were or at least seemed kind of like quick, shareable, relatable examples if what I wanted to write about. Right, I really don’t like people making a fuss about me when I’m racked or, well, actually at any time. So nice to just feel there and just a comfortable presence or something. Top marks, yay, congrats, pal! What’s next? Like as of as soon as today? ** Uday, Nice living situation there then. My book loves/suggestions will pop up tomorrow. Thanks about the film. We might, if we’re lucky, solve the biggest problem — finding a technician to help us ace the final details who doesn’t need much money to help us — starting today or tomorrow. If so, we’ll be close to the finish line after that. Enjoy (like really) today (tonight included). ** Okay. There are a whole bunch of fake-scared, semi-fake scared, and even actually scared people for you to gawk at today. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
Shelley Duvall in the Shining was the ultimate scream queen in my opinion.
Happy to back up Steeqhen and Tyler’s support of Peep Show. Its humour is quintessentially British yes, but the performances are standouts and its truths are universal. Co-writer Jesse Armstrong went on to create the excellent Succession, making him the ultimate TV power-player right now.
Dennis, Yes, there must be a way. I did get an email from our manager at the agency today that said to continue with our current schedule. So there’s hope. We’ll see. And the big manager is about to call me. š®
Hey Dennis,
That ninth gif is from Sims 4! The 70th gif (if I counted correctly) was one of my favourite reaction gifs to use on Twitter, especially as a response to some actor or celeb who i didnāt like.
Just had my narratology exam, which went surprisingly really well, though I forgot to study a section that showed up as a question, but I think I knew enough from attending the lectures. I read for about 6 hours from textbooks and essay collections and whilst most of it ended up not even being necessary, itāll be really good for both my presentation in a month and also the dissertation when it comes to how you played with narrative in a lot of your novels.
We ended up winning a bunch of awards last night, but came runner up for the Best Publication and Photo which I was hoping to win. Found out as well that Iām most likely going to have a paid trip to Exeter in England for the Student Publication Awards, which is exciting!! I havenāt been to England since I was like 11, crazily enough considering my proximity.
About to spread the newest issue of ETC magazine around campus and then have the magazine launch party tonight! If we post it online, Iāll link it below! I ended up using that photo we took as part of the background collage, plus a brief little mention of our coffee.
Hopefully I can keep up being productive and work on my dissertation tomorrow + the weekend. Hope everything is going well for you, Iām sure the French consulate thing in LA will work out. *smiley face* cause š always autocorrects to an emoji for me
Ooh, awesome. I agree about Shelley Duvall, but I’d maybe put VĆ©ra Clouzot in Les Diaboliques on this list too. Although maybe that film requires the hour of buildup before the scream to really have an impact. I also second/third/fourth the Peep Show recommendation, it’s one of the funniest sitcoms ever made, I think. It sort of focuses on people’s darker thoughts and impulses, but it never has any on-screen death, or anything like that, so it’s all much harder to marginalise from your own impulses.
Oh yeah, I noticed some of your pop-idol interests in Closer, although it’s not a community I know much about, so I’m sure lots of went over my head. I think Troye Sivan is probably this generation’s equivalent figure, in terms of being an insubstantial pop-ish boy, but I’m sure there are lots of nicer/nicher figures I’m unaware of. I suppose that stuff has been supplanted by fanfiction somewhat, given that you can gain access to the entirety of a fictional character because of their delibarate construction, whereas pop stars may act in ways that are out of character or irritating, like Kanye or something.
Hmmm… plans for today is mostly work, which is nice. My friend just linked me to a strange gay porn tumblr blog that’s apparently up my alley – I’m sure people have mentioned it here, but gay porn blogs on that site are often incredibly strange and homogeneous, with very normal softcore gay porn imagery followed up by incredibly fetishistic and strange erotic writing that positions the two men as (for example) brothers, or a coach/rugby boy duo. This one seems a little more subdued though, it’s mostly images of twinks with captions from the blogger’s life, or comments about the unerotic parts of the photos, like the cable management, or ugly tattoos on the boys. Anyway, I hope things are great your end, cya!
I’m not afraid often. I can’t remember the last time I was genuinely afraid of something, in an immediate sense. Generally speaking, I’m afraid of failure, and boredom, and loneliness, and people seeing me fuck up, and having my private stuff be made known to people I don’t want it to be known by. But this is veering from fear and more just into a list of things I dislike. I see Ferris Bueller. And Mirai Nikki. Guy I mentioned last comment made images involving that series to make insinuations about our relationship dynamic. I see ATLA, which I’ve heard good things about, but I’ve never quite been able to care about it. I see Breaking Bad, which I’ve not seen in full. I see Glee. Many telly shows and films I’m unfamiliar with, here. Apart from the IT Crowd. And Little Shop of Horrors. And one of the HP films. And The Shining. And Oz! And a Home Alone flick. My personal favourite GIF is the one 12th up from the bottom most GIF, the chap in the white shirt. It’s still an efficient meme. All amusing to see.
Morning to you too, Dennis, though it’s early afternoon here. I’m having a swell time, so far.
Many things deserve my attentiveness, to various extents. The blog is of course one of these things.
The only stuff I’ve heard/read about Guide fanfiction-wise is that there’s something to do with a member of Blur, question mark? But I have yet to read it, so, 1) hence my ignorance and 2) eek, spoilers. In agreement with you that fanfic can feel longer than it needs to be, but I guess people take pride in being able to produce sizeable works. Whatever pleases. Last year I did Kinktober, where you write a smut fic every day based on a different prompt/kink, and that swiftly grew tiresome. I started off having fun (somehow typed up 4k words in one day) but eventually I was just like ‘yeah alright let’s just get the fucking done so I can do something else with my time.’ I aimed for 1000 words minimum, though sometimes they were only a few hundred words. It was interesting, seeing how the way I wrote changed over the month. It turned into narrative fuckery and shitposting, really. I totally don’t have the patience to do much longing in real life, or to write about it, or to read about it. I don’t think I’ve ever ‘longed’ for a person. But being snappy is preferable, writing-wise, at the moment for me.
I feel relatively fresh today. Super sunny, windy enough for my long hair to be a bit of a nuisance. Plus, a shower boosts the fresh feeling. And I’ll feel fresher after shaving tonight, presumably. As a not very film-y person, I’m still curious what kind of film I might be able to make.
I wonder what the overlap between people who like Troye Sivan’s music and people who like your writing is like. I’d consider myself a member of that overlap. Dating any kind of famous person sounds tricky. Might’ve been an ex from before he blew up though, I dunno. There’s just so much blondness in The Gay World, it seems. But I’ve a terribly limited view to it.
Researching words is usually fun. Bugger, I think I encountered a word recently I wanted to know the meaning of, but I’ve forgotten what the word was. Drat. Or maybe I found out the meaning. Hrng, darn. I’ll bump into a new one soon enough.
Never had to go to a consulate, sounds kind of serious. And I rather hate waiting. Edinburgh still has yet to get back to me on an offer or rejection. But alea iacta est, and all that, yeah. My passport photo is truly fucking atrocious. And I hate printing shit. Oh, man. Printers upset and anger me so much. It’s crazy.
I have kicking back and going aah moments. But in general I feel quite relaxed with life at the moment, so it’s kind of like, an ongoing, slow-release, or constant state of aah-ness, maybe. I may yet become a neurotic mess come exams, but for my GCSEs I was actually pretty giddy the whole time. Only time will tell what A Levels will do to me.
The only comics in newspapers I see these days are political caricatures in papers my family members read which I’m not super interested in, or the occasional one in one of my many copies of the New Yorker. Fictional characters are so kinship-generating, for me. It rocks.
Today allowed a manageable waking up, and an equally manageable geography ‘lesson’ which involved little learning but a documentary, instead. I watched it occasionally. Nice to have a pretty leopard or snowscape in between my reading Eric LaRocca’s Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke on my laptop, which I’m really liking so far. I’m so very totally into fiction with internet chats involved. I plan on finishing Try this afternoon since I’ve got the house to myself for now, which is lovely. I’ll join the Peep Show praise, it’s very funny and intensely quotable. But bon chance tyou too. See you after Thursday has zombified me.
P.S., jay, righty-oh, cheers. A dude fucking a scorpion just didn’t scream AIDS to me. In terms of French poster, visual, things, I was aaaages ago sent this anti-smoking image by a guy because he thought I’d like it, and he was right – https://images.ladepeche.fr/api/v1/images/view/5c1ba6b18fe56f446b55f98d/full/image.jpg – link, please work, and save me from e-mbarrassment. As for gay porn and Tumblr, a fun combo. I remember being younger and somehow falling down this rabbit hole of scantily clad chaps shooting up heroin, I think it was, just by following increasingly obscure post tags. Which I guess is standard enough. Tumblr and porn in general seem to have a weird history/relationship. Like, they stopped having porn, so people moved? But there’s still porn there. I don’t use the site anymore but every now and then I’ll log in just to see that x or y porn bot account has followed me. I love stumbling on weird, unpopular erotic stuff on the internet, just feels so personal and intrusive. Interesting stuff. Ramble ramble. Anyway, Merry Wednesjay :]
I think of “Hitting Bedrock” as a prescient resolution to the now-seemingly-interminable dead-dove discourse before dead-dove fanfictions as a subgenre were even a thing, so I’m biased towards finding that fascinating.
Hi, Mr. Cooper. I told James a while back that I think Frisk is the foremost reason for prose in the English language to exist and all the generations of literature and human life reached an event horizon beyond which awaits the singularity that is Friskāand, hand-on-a-stack-of-chaote’s-sigils-i-forgot-what-they’re-for-so-it’s-working but on what, I meant every word, ‘Frisk’ is shelved in my personal canon and ranked in my top three beside Persepolis and Haroun and the Sea of Stories. (I’m getting ratioed, though, everyone I talk to about the GMC likes Try better. Prediction that after James finishes reading Try that I get slightly even more ratioed again. I typed that out with the intent of providing a mild momentary amusement. I am my own serial killer and my weapon of choice is this hill that I keep dying on.)
James, reading your email review of Try and I’m cackling witch-like because I called it! I do agree with all your observations tonally, tragicomedically, and how the text builds a sort of shorthand of evil eruditionāthe free indirect discourse, though, I need to sharpen my sense for because I swear I’ve been told what that is but it doesn’t jump from the page like when I usually understand which bit to look for so I probably don’t really understand the qualifiers of that bit to look for. Will get back to you after the embroidery’s hatched, and the swamp has a cooler. Toodles Ė
You’re very much not alone in liking Frisk more than Try, I’m very much the same. Try may actually be my least favourite cycle novel, and I personally slightly preferred Period and Guide to Frisk.
jay, ahh but Frisk is my very favorite one of all time, ha ha unratioed and reratioed my net gain is zero but it’s always awesome to have more people to talk with about it
The scene with Chris and Fictional Dennis in Guide I keep saying is the single truest depiction I’ve ever read of that sort of conversation that I’ve had in real life with like five different men at slightly different points in my life (and very different areas) who they had bad things happen to them as kids, but they do what I now can’t help thinking of as “a guy thing” of unpromptedly bringing that up and oddly sort of…showing that off(?) to brush it off, and then spiral into these suicidal ideations and preoccupations that are probably (definitely) related to the bad thing that happenedābut that one scene in Guide is like what I watched happen over a decade to those five different people but condensed into one scene. I was reading Guide and thinking, right, that is exactly how it goes.
EEEEeeeeek !!
Shit, I wrote a long comment that just disappeared. To make a long story short, my parents refused to go to the meeting with our lawyer this morning. I believe they’re no longer capable of living on their own. I’ve contacted their doctor’s office regarding this, and I’m waiting to hear back. In the meantime, I’m so drained I find it very hard to get on with the usual work of writing reviews. I also have to call my accountant and do my taxes.
I’m working on a new song, “Palantir’s Scrying Mirror.” I watched many YouTube videos from witches in a quest for samples. They’re all grifters, just another brand of annoying influencer. The ones who aren’t are probably buried by the algorithm. I almost laughed out loud when one said “Burning incense helps attract spirits to you and makes it easier to communicate with them” and then flashed a link to their website, where you can buy their special brand.
Hi!!
Yay, I love your thematic GIF posts so much!
Thank you for the tip! ā48 Crashā is extremely catchy! As for Get Scared ā I like them, but I think Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows (D.R.U.G.S.) is better in that genre. The two singersā voices are incredibly similar.
Pavement! When I first started listening to Iceage and Elias Bender RĆønnenfeltās other bands, I wondered if Pavement was a musical influence on his vocals. I tried and I tried to run and hide, I even tried to run away, You just can’t run from the funnel of love, It’s bound to get you someday, Od.
Hi. Iām actually not a scream queen. People laugh at me because I shudder and jump like a cartoon cat all the time. I wish I had a good scream in me, though. Someday maybe.
My marketplace assignment is totally pointless. Itās part of this mandatory class called āhumanities in the environmentā and the professors have sort of scrambled together a load of lectures about the marketplace. It is fairly historic in a way. Thereās the coronation stone there which royalty used to stand on to be crowned, and a gold statue of some queen or other atop a building. We did have a lecture which was a visit to the university archives which was fun. They have Iris Murdochās archive and showed us the stones she collected along with her hefty beer mat collection. Never read her though.
I feel very professional having two meetings tomorrow. One with my gender clinic for my six month check-in, and another with my experimental poetry lecturer who Iāve been telling you about so he can go over my work one to one. But gah. I looked at when all of my assignments are due and freaked out. Most of them are due by the end of April. Shit. My dissertation which is a fragment from a novel is almost good to go but there is a major fundamental issue that I have no idea how to work out. Itās a whole thing but it involves teaching myself how to write riddles and thatās just so difficult to do well so Iām going to have to place my thoughts outside the box, possibly another box entirely.
āSong of the Insufficiency of Human Endeavourā is amazing. I’ve been really exploring Weill recently. Thereās something that really excites me about his compositions. I always have been drawn to things that are very theatrical, because I am quite theatrical in a way, but theatrical in a way that intersects with something else. Growing up, my favourite musicians were always people who were so incredible to watch on stage in terms of what they were doing with their body and what they were wearing. But obviously, Iām drawn to how thatās intertwined with a drunken slutty cabaret kind of thing. Iāve also been watching videos of Jacques Brel performing on youtube in awe. I want all of the lyrics to āJackieā on my tombstone. Or perhaps more fittingly, āMy Deathā.
Iāve also been doing more research on Punch and Judy than I ever thought I would. I guess itās a very British thing, everyone who grew up in the UK knows what it is. Itās a puppet show that although is told differently with every performance, involves a drunken lunatic called Punch who throws his baby on the fire and beats his wife to death. As a kid you donāt really think about the implications of that, itās just funny when the silly puppet man keeps jumping on the silly puppet woman.
I’m not familiar with Lewis Klahr’s work. Looks very intriguing, will be watching a bunch tonight.
I’m trying to squeeze in some movies before I leave town. Definitely Mulholland Drive in 35mm and other Lynch items that are screening around town.
Just started rereading Gary Indiana’s Resentment. I frankly don’t remember much from my original outing in the 90s. That dream scene with the “Martinez” parents reincarnated as mice with gunshot wounds inflicted by the sons, whoa.
Bill