p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Un très bonjour de Paris! ** Nick Toti, Hi, Nick. Great, thank you so much! Obviously, whenever is easiest and best for you is awesome. For guest-posts, the usual way to do it is to send stuff to me by email: denniscooper72@outlook.com. You can send the text of the post either by Word, Text Edit, or in the body of the email. Indicate in the text where you want any images or video embeds to go. Send the images as attachments or embedded in the email. For videos, you can either give me the embed codes or the links to the videos, and I can make the embed codes them on my end. Is that clear and easy enough? There are surely other ways to send the post which would be okay, but that’s the usual way people get them to me. Oh, great, about your new piece on KOKOFREAKBEAN. I’m excited to read it, and I will once I launch this thing right here! Thank you! Everyone, The really, really excellent writer and awesomely adventurous minded fella Nick Toti has written a new entry in this always fascinating and treasure-discovering series he’s doing on underseen digital films and filmmakers @ Hammer to Nail, which is a great site in general if you don’t already know it. This new piece is about “the maximalist, dada, chaos-priest animator” Kokofreakbean, and it’s sure to be impactful, so please take time this weekend to read it and check out the illustrations. Here. Thanks again, Nick! ** Steevee, Hi. Understood, and, yeah, letting what they now know about you sink in however it will sink in seems like the only good option. I hope they open. Good, very promising start with your actor. ** Dóra Grőber, Hi! Thanks a lot. We’re seeing the actor this afternoon. The big possible glitch is that he’s in school, studying fashion design in Antwerp, and he has to finish and present a new collection in May, so it’s a matter of seeing if he can spare the time for the shooting so close to when his assignment is due. We sure hope so, but it seems like it might be a stretch. Re: the river, we now have a new guy there looking specifically for a nearby, appropriate river. We know there is a good one, but it’s quite a long ways from Cherbourg, and since we might only have two weeks to shoot the whole film, which is going to very difficult to do, the time it would take to transport the crew and equipment and cast far away is a real problem. We can alter the scene a little if we have to. In the scene, two of the characters swim in the river, and we could take the swimming out if we can’t find a big enough river, but that would kind of suck. The apartment hunting is grim, and, honestly, getting pretty scary. No luck at all. We keep being rejected. We have to find something very soon because time is beginning to run out. So the hunting continues. Really, this is the first time you’ve really known that what you’re writing is a book? That must be such an exciting feeling. I mean, I know that feeling too, but I can only guess at how it must have felt the first time. So great! I’m very excited for you and, ultimately, for us all! Oh, wow, the group starts today already! Obviously, I’ll be extremely interested to hear what that was like and how you felt the experience went. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’re going to ace it. My reading went pretty well, I think. It was a big crowd, and people were very attentive, and people said good things about it afterwards, and the bookshop is a great place so, yeah, all in all, I think it was good. And it was strange and kind of nice to read poems that I wrote a super long time ago and try to get back into the head and mood I had when I wrote them. Everything else other than the apartment mess is very good, thank goodness. Well, again, I hope the meeting goes spectacularly today and that the rest of your weekend suits what you want perfectly. Please tell me all about it. ** New Juche, Hi, Joe. Yes, ‘Mountainhead’ Day! I can’t wait! Years ago now, Chip Smith wrote this nasty little screed against my work and me on his site The Hoover Hog, and I happened across it. It seems to have been deleted. I did this blog post long ago called something like ‘People Who Hate Me’, consisting of the most horrible reviews of and attacks on my work, and his thing was in it. I guess he changed his mind at some point. I think Peter Sotos talked him into thinking my work wasn’t so horrible, and it’s all cool betwixt him and me now. That’s very interesting about your upcoming talks. What are the talks about? I’m very curious. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Thanks about my reading, man. It seemed to go pretty well. Is the reissued ‘Blue Velvet’ just visually cleaned and spruced up? Nothing got added or changed or anything? ** Kier, Hi, Kier-ster! I read poems, most of them from quite long ago, written in the late 70s and 80s, mostly ones in ‘The Dream Police’ and then some from ‘The Weaklings XL’. It was kind of nice to read poems again. I think I like reading poems much more than I like reading fiction. Thanks about the apartment hunt. It’s getting pretty worrisome. Yes, I’ll say hi to Zac who will, guaranteed, say hi back to you. Have a super superb weekend, and talk to you soon! ** Bernard, Bernard, sir, bonjour. ** Cal Graves, Hey! Oh, my total and amazing pleasure, my friend, thank you! I hope Saturday and Sunday prove to be your oysters! ** Okay. So, I made a new gif work. This time I tried a genre thing to see what would happen. And I thought of it overall as a trailer for a non-existent sci-fi themed video game. And possibly for the inevitable spin-off movie franchise it would inspire. That’s deal. I hope it pleasures you in whatever way. See you on Monday.
“To forbid is forbidden.” – Sade (or a paraphrase of Sade, I read it in an article about Sade’s relation to French protesters in the 60’s)
“..so one person out of two is born in shit.” – Gaspar Noe (describing childbirth, which he filmed for an early film)
“I always knew we’d get AIDS together.” – a close friend of mine
“Suicide is all theory until you fall in love with a piece of shit.” -Sean Kilpatrick, in a review of La La Land
“Judy would.” -Overheard conversation
“Dont fuck nobody who looks like your cousin.” -Overheard phone conversation
“An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation, is normal behavior.” – Hannibal on the instance of a man sewing his social worker into a horse
“Vivo! [I live.]” -Caligula’s last word
Lyrics/Poems:
“Existence, as we know it, spins
A fatal warp, a woof of woe.
There is no place for God or soul.
Works, hopes prayers, sacrifices, sins
Are jokes. The cosmos happened so:
Innocent of guide or goal.
Else, what were man’s appointed term?
To feed god’s friend, the coffin-worm!”
Aleister Crowley, Images of Life: Prologue sec. III
“You never liked the thought of being human anyway.
Death is one more option to explore.”
From Bent Knee’s “Being Human”
Anon, with each pronunciation
Banners were smoldering, then dying
And burning my intestines
Taking away, alas,
All that kept me alive
Hast thou not crept up upon me?
Cruel poison of Life!
Thou hast taken everything.
But what hurts me is that
You’ve slobbered filthily
O’er the delicate lips of a delicate girl
From maudlin of the Well’s “Gleam in Ranks”
Brownish spider,
Brownish leaf
Confirms my deepest held belief.
No more spider,
No more leaf,
No more me,
No more belief.
From mewithoutYou’s “Brownish Spider”
Photos:
Courtyard of Lunatics – Francisco de Goya
paintings by Zdzisław Beksiński
Aggravation (1896) – Briton Rivière
In Hoc Signo Vinces – Zdzisław Beksiński
Videos/Movies:
Heaven’s Gate propaganda, specifically “Last Chance to Evacuate Earth (Before It Is Recycled)”
Feherlofia
In the Name of Satan – and other Bob Larson anti-satanism propaganda
The Pig Fucking Movie
Songs/Albums:
The Republic of Wolves – “A Weather Vane”
Sun City Girls – Horse Cock Phepner (full album)
Kayo Dot – “Marathon”
Giles Corey – “The Haunting Presence”
Killer Fox – “Killer Fox”
Golden Avant-Garde – “Born to Be Wild”
Philemon Arthur & The Dung – “Om Ni Tycker Jag Undviker Er”
Pearls Before Swine – “Translucent Carriages”
*
p.s. Hey. Today we get the great pleasure of sharing in some inspirations and writing prompts and muses of the fine writer and d.l. Cal Graves. A special look behind the scenes for us DC’s cognoscenti, both insiders and bypassers. Please enjoy and talk shop in whatever ways you like with Cal, okay? Thanks! And ultra-thanks to Cal! ** Monday ** Rewritedept, Well, hey there, Chris! A sight for sore eyes you are, sir. Yeah, busy on my end are the words. But good busy mostly. Oops about the call center thing, but it sounds like the oops resulted in an upgrade so, cool. Fun sounding stuff with your friend. Oh, I don’t really know Ween’s stuff much at all, no opinion. Deerhunter, well, you know I like them guys. Thanks for your 90s list. Good stuff, some very interesting, unexpected (to me) picks. I only heard one track off the new Chavez so far. Reminder to get it. Yeah, lots of casting and other work for the film. My time is gradually being completely occupied by the film stuff, which is necessary. Still waiting to hear about the TV series. We’re told by the end of this month, but I’m not holding my breath. Knife story: yikes. Okay, yeah, awesome to see you, buddy. Take it way easy. ** David Ehrenstein, Good morning, Mr. E. ** Damien Ark, Hi, Damien. I don’t think they have Satanic sex cults in France, even mythical ones. I wonder why. I’m going to ask around about that. ** Nick Toti, Hi, Nick. A great pleasure to see you. The Mike Warnke thing was particularly interesting to me among the stuff in that post. I’ve been thinking of tracking more down about him, so your info re: him is super interesting. Obviously, yes, indeed, I would love a Mike Warnke Day on the blog, if you want to do that. That would be fantastic! Thank you a ton for the offer! I’m good, and I hope you’re good too at the very least. ** Steevee, Hi, Steve. That’s both very interesting and obviously unfortunate about the difficulty you’re having connecting with your parents on that awakening in your identity. It sounds like they have a lot of complicated built-in roadblocks and that you’re causing them to deal with a lot internal stuff of their own that they’ve already built barriers around and don’t want to access. That’s a tough one. I personally never expected or wanted my parents to understand me or or who I really am, but I know that desire is deep in most people. It sounds like you’ve done what you can for now, and now you have to wait and see whether they’ll engage with you and, more importantly, with themselves about that? Which might take some time? ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Thanks a bunch for engaging and taking to Bb. ** Misanthrope, Hi, G. I swear, like, 80% of everyone I know has a bad cold right now. I started to get one a few days ago, and then it seemed to decide that I wasn’t an interesting vessel and took off. I hope you’re feeling more up to speed by now. Are you? ** Tuesday ** Chris dankland, Howdy, Chris! Yeah, tricky/trippy/silly/serious project, right? I’m glad it tweaked you. Hugs from France. ** Ferdinand, Hi. ‘Lallend flees’ sounds quite intriguing. Maybe I’ll pick it up and try to use it to try to reawaken whatever remains of my ability to understand Dutch. Sometimes I suspect there’s more hiding inside my head than I think. Thank you! ** Bernard, Hi, B. Yikes! The jaw/grafting thing. Although I suspect the operation’s power of suggestion is far more alarming than the thing. But still. Jaws, disturbing things … ? Whatever do you mean, Mr. Welt? Oh, wait, I suppose the jaws are somewhat involved in what springs to mind when you suggest that. Cannibals must have amazing jaws, no? ** B, Hi, Bear! You good? Me, I would defnitely choose immortality. I guess how the physical aging thing works in that situation would need to be figured out first, but I’ve always wanted immortality. I think it’s objectioonable and unfair that I have to die. I know that’s weird. I think maybe I feel that way because I’m so interested in and excited by new things? And maybe it has to do with the fact that a lot of my closest friends are younger than me, sometimes much younger? I don’t know. But, yeah, if you ever bump into someone who has the power to bestow immortality, feel free to give them my contact info. Ha ha. Thanks, man, and I hope everything is flying high on your end! ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Wow, another Bresson related book. There’s been a windfall lately. What’s going on, I wonder? I’m so excited for the new Godard film. I think it opens here next month maybe? ** Steevee, Hi. Well, finding out if he’s gay seems like the big first step. Personally I don’t see how it would be weird at all if you see if he wants to have dinner. Or at least a coffee if you want to play it safer. ** Bill, Hi, Bill! Things went very well in Bas Normandie, thank goodness, yes. Snippets of their hands! I like the sound of that. I really like that. Ooh. ** Wednesday ** David Ehrenstein, Strangely, yes, right? ** Bernard, That is a sweet New Yorker cartoon. Ha. Thanks, B. ** Steevee, Hi. Yeah, like I said, I think maybe just accepting that you’ve said and done what you can say and do and now waiting to see if they want to access this new truth about you or not is all you can do? But, again like I said, parental understanding is not something I ever expected in my life. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hey. Cool, glad Mrs. Claus, wherever he or she is, sublimed you. ** Thursday ** Dóra Grőber, Hi, Dóra! Oh, let’s see … Well, the possible ‘Tim’ had to cancel for Monday, so we’re seeing him tomorrow instead. But we did officially sign up the guy who will play another one of the main roles (Guillaume). The Bas Normandie trip was very successful and quite exhausting. We now have more of our cast in place. We filled four roles, three smallish and one fairly large. And I think we might have found the guy to play another of the four main roles. We’re bring him to Paris soon to try out with the actor playing the main role, but I think that’s going to work out. And we scouted locations in Cherbourg for a very long day and found some very good places. Now we have to wait and see if the owners of the houses and apartments we’d like to shoot in will agree to let us or not. That’s a big question. But we nailed down a wonderfully terrible little nightclub for one scene, and we found a lot of the outdoors places (park, streets, a mine, a carnival/fun fair, etc.) The hardest one is a river. We need a pretty-ish river with a spot that’s big/deep enough to swim in for one scene. There don’t seem to be any rivers like that around Cherbourg, so we’ll have to look further away. Anyway, it was a very successful trip. My head cold died out fast, thank goodness. No apartment news yet, and my stress about that is getting bigger. Ugh. I’m looking at yet another possible place today. You started writing a book! That’s huge! Awesome, really exciting! As is the new gig with you being a co-leader of the transsexual self-help group! When does that start? Do you have to prepare for it? So, you’ve been doing really, really well since I last got to talk with you! Fantastic! Did today follow suit, and how? ** Kier, Hi, Kier! I’m good, a little pooped, but not too bad. How are you? Oh, wow, Rimbaud was the winner. That’s funny, that’s fortuitous. I’m really glad my weird little idea clicked. My reading is tonight. I’m going through my usual ‘why the fuck did I agree to do this reading?!’ pre-event anxiety but hopefully it’ll be okay. Oh, and Zac and I will be in touch soon about the next step of our wondrous collaboration with you! Loveliness to see you, my pal! ** David Ehrenstein, Thank you, I will use that Fassbinder link wisely and greedily. ** Jeff Coleman, Howdy, Mr. Coleman. Oh, wow, New Juche’s book is official announced! Everyone, Superb writer.artist and d.l. New Juche’s new book ‘Mountainhead’ is coming out in April from Nine Banded Books, and we’ll be doing a birth celebration around that event here, but, in the meantime, if you want to look at the cover or pre-order it, you can do that by first clicking this. Yeah, I think it’s funny and interesting that Chip Smith is wisely publishing writers who hang out here considering that he used to despse me and everything I stood for. It’s a nice, unexpected ending. ** New Juche, Speak of the non-devil! Hi, Joe, My week was productive and good, yeah, thank you. Great about the day job being largely behind you. How are you going to use and decorate your remaining down time there? The apartment situation is unchanged, and the fear grows, but the determination remains, so, yeah. Yes, the Kiddiepunk Reader should be really good. I’m cool with ‘French Hole’ being reprinted. It’s a very particular thing, probably only of interest to people who want greater access to the secret substrucrure of ‘The Marbled Swarm’. It’s like a little book of cookies and clues. Very, very exciting about the April release date! Whoo-hoo! ** Bernard, I noticed that a Facebook friend of Mr. Dallesando’s alerted him to the post’s existence yesterday. It’s exciting to imagine him scrolling through it. ** Steevee, Hi. All sounds good with your actor, cool. Do you like prepping with the actor? I kind of really like starting to work closely with the actors in our film. It’s an interesting forming relationship. ** Raymond, Oh, my god, Raymond, I’m so sorry. That loss is just unimaginable. I don’t what to say. I send you all the love and support and hope for strength for you and your wife that I can. Jesus, I’m so incrediby sorry and sad to hear that. ** Okay, wow. Um, please enjoy thinking about Cal’s creative inputs today, and speak to him in whatever fashion you wish. Thank you. See you tomorrow.
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