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Versum – Lought from Tarik Barri on Vimeo.
Monolake Live at Sonic Acts 2010 from Tarik Barri on Vimeo.
More on Tarik Barri: http://tarikbarri.nl/
Earlier this month I saw Jacob Sello’s Licht and Hiebe, a piece with many intriguing and magical moments. It’s written for Sello’s Hexenkessel (Witches’ Cauldron), basically a modified tympani with interactive electronic sound and projection. Here’s a demo of the system; the flow of the actual piece is a little different:
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p.s. Hey. Today you get some fantastic videos and related info from d.l. Bill Hsu, who’s the opposite of a slouch as a audiovisual artist himself, needless to say. Watch them ‘cos there’s some amazing stuff up there, and speak to Bill, please. Thanks! And a whopping thanks to you, B! ** Killer Luka, Hey. Yeah, you said it, basically. I would imagine the ghosts chose to follow someone who wasn’t going home to a rather unopulent hotel in Tours. In any case, not a trace that I can tell, no. ** Jax, Intrigue upon intrigue. Tough choice there for Lord Rigby. Being that it’s fiction and all, I vote for him feasting, but if he follows his heart, I understand. Yes, a table all prepped for a different kind of feast involving fake madeleines. Nice touch. The pool looked blah but it had a bunch of cool bubbling and whooshing and so on effects, I’ll give it that. Ha ha, actually I wrote more on my vacation than I had in weeks. 10 1/2 train rides and nights in a very shut down little village will do that to you. All right now, you make Lord Rigby do the right thing, you hear? ** David Ehrenstein, There was some Marienbad going on in a few of those castles, you bet. John Moulder-Brown circa ‘Deep End’, ‘Ludwig’, etc. is some kind of total physical ultimate. ** Empty Frame, Hey. Cool, glad the tips helped. More when or if you wish. Lucky you to have the Ashbery/Rimbaud in hand. It’s taking its sweet fucking time to get over here to Paris. ** Tosh, Well, when I finally do get home to LA for real, I’ll miss France like crazy for completely sure. I need your nagging, believe me. Yes, yes, I’ll finish that up. Damn, I’m sorry. ** JoeM, Hey, Joe! A sadly rare but ever great pleasure to see you! What you said to Misa is great and thoughtful and really kind of you, of course. Words from the wise. How are you doing? Any chance for of-late news of and from you? ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hi, Jeff. Thanks! No, the gardens are much more impressive in person than in the photos. I was sorely disappointed that their big effect and grandeur didn’t translate into my camera. I’m interested in the castle/ chateaux thing in general, but I have been particularly trying to get to the Loire Valley since I started ‘TMS’, originally thinking I’d do novel research, so yes. I … don’t think I’ve heard Albert Ayler’s psych-funk record. Hm. I’ll be all over that in a bit, though. Great birthday gift! Everyone, d.l. and writer and ‘Destination: Out’ maestro Chilly Jay Chill is celebrating jazz supremely great Albert Ayler’s birthday by offering D:O site visitors the chance to hear two tracks from AA’s legendary psych-funk ’68 album ‘New Grass’. That’s a serious treat if you don’t know it, and I highly recommend you click this and accept the gifts. Awesome, Jeff, thanks! ** Frank Jaffe, Hi, Frank! ‘Possession’ … hm, I … don’t think I saw that, no, although, hm, it does sound awfully familiar. I’ll check for the trailer, watch it, and watch the film probably too if a download is to be had and either way. Cool. Not much news is good news, right? ** A.r., Watch what you wish for, ha ha. No, sir, it is, was, and shall always be an honor. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Ha ha, the French do kind of have the aristocracy thing down. Or used to. ** Tender prey, Late ‘tomorrow morning’ means … now! So, I think you’re here. Dude, I am so sorry about the weather. Yes, yes, call me as soon as you feel like it. I can’t wait to see you guys! Call asap or anytime! Unless they extended the show, and I don’t think they did, the Kapoor closed about three or so weeks ago, I’m afraid. But there’s other stuff. Great! Talk to you today, I hope! ** Steevee, I don’t know that show you’re simulating in your script, but it sure sounds curious and American. I’m sure there’s a way to get a Slava Mogutin type artist on the show realistically. Work denounced by the Republicans or Evangelicals or … ? I read the Pitchfork rave about the Araabmuzik album and wondered. Hm, I’ll stream a bit. ** Chris Cochrane, We got nominated for a Bessie! Wowzer! But, I mean, if we hadn’t gotten a Bessie nod, it would have been a little weird, not to toot our horn while I’m tooting our horn. Anyway, that’s great news! ** Statictick, Hey, N. Mysterious about the be-limbo-ing thing. I didn’t really understand what’s going on there, but if you’re pissed, I’m pissed! Fuck the major dick! ** MANCY, Hey. So you’ll be in Seattle for a month? I hope you find the living spot fast so you can, I don’t know, go boat out to all those pretty islands around there and stuff and … what does one do for a blast in Seattle these days? The Space Needle, the best cafes in the US as I recall, … How is the Seattle music scene these days? I should know that, but I don’t seem to. ** Sypha, There was a surprising and disappointing lack of secret passages in those chateaux. A few. Or else tourists don’t get the pleasure. ** Alan, Damn straight! ** Misanthrope, No cameras allowed in the spa. Well, they’d die pretty quickly in the steam, I think. There were some ‘things’ you would have liked to see, trust me, heh heh. I had to steal those two images I used from the internet. Exactly, on the failure thing. Late happy birthday to Justin! Sounds like you guys did it up so to speak. I don’t mind country music. Weird, right? Not that I listen to it very much. I kind of like the way the lyrics are both totally cornball and really crafted. I don’t know. ** Chris Dankland, I always go, I want a castle, but then I go, it would cost millions to keep it up and heat it properly, and then I go, well, if I could have a castle, I’d probably be really rich and it wouldn’t matter, and so on. Thanks for the links! I just sampled each of them a little, and I’ll go dive in when I’m not p.s.ing. I liked all of them actually. I didn’t know Kreayshawn before, and I like them. Is the blond girl with the big glasses the dj/music maker of the duo? And the V-Nasty around town video was cool too. Yeah, good stuff, much appreciated! My initial reaction is totally poz. They seem totally charming to me, but I’ll listen closer to the lyrics and stuff and get a more thorough feel for their work. I’ve been kind of getting into Lil B lately, very late, I know. I got ‘I’m Gay’ a couple of days ago and really like it. I’d only heard/ gotten tracks here and there before. Anyway, yeah, great, and tips are very wanted anytime. I mean, the posts on the blog are basically me sharing stuff I’m interested in day after day, so the sharing thing is definitely called for, I say. Oh, I jut caught your late comment with the blog/Lil B link! I’ll get to that shortly. The Aerial Pink of rap: very interesting. Yeah, hunh, that’s cool. Thanks one more time, Chris! ** Gregoryedwin, Hey! Yeah, don’t push it with the leg, man. Vegging out is the byword. My favorite(s)? Mm, well, Chambord is so massive and crazy, it would be hard not to say it was the best. The Villainy gardens are up there. The grounds of the Leonardo daVinci house were gorgeous and wandering and a highlight, although the house/ chateaux itself was good but not out there great. Okay, indies, gotcha. Thinking cap goes on. ** Schlix, Hi, Uli. How’s it going? I guess I kind of see the bad reviews of ‘Tree of Life’ as badges of honor being pinned onto its genius. I guess I like it that critics who’ll lavish praise on stuff like ‘Source Code’ can’t handle ‘ToF’. I saw this Stanley Kubrick retrospective exhibit here recently, and they had a display of the reviews at the time of ‘2001’, and most of the critics didn’t get it at all and gave it bad reviews. And where are they now, ha ha? ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey. Well, whatever happens with Eyebrows, I think your attitude towards it is really good. It won’t prevent whatever from happening, but you’re enjoying what’s happening now rather than anxiously looking for more, and that’s both sensible and just generally sane, I guess. I like rain. I do. But, for instance, it’s been pouring heavily since I woke up, and I kind of wanted to get out of this room at length today, so, at the moment, I’m not the big rain fan that I can be. No, ‘Potter’ later this week, I think. Give the crowds a few days to thin out just a little. Oh, while that trip does sound really nice for your friend, five weeks without your friend is understandably sad-making, yeah. I’m sorry. I hope she brings you weird, cool stuff. I’ve never been to Hong Kong, but I imagine weird, cool, buyable stuff abounds there. My day: It didn’t rain. That was good. This guy James called me up to interview me for Another Man Magazine about Pierre Clementi. Basically when I discovered him, why I like him, what he means, why he’s special, how and why he’s a big part of my novel, and stuff. It was fine, I think. I worked on the fiction and maze things a fair amount. D.l. Bill suggested I should this French filmmaker friend of his named Frederic Vaesen, and I wanted to, so I met up with them and d.l. Bernard at the Recollets cafe for a long visit. It was very nice. I’m going to go to Frederic’s studio and look at his work when he gets from an imminent vacation to … oh, the Canary Islands. Bernard agreed to go have dinner at Hard Rock Cafe with me tonight, and, given that he’s a serious culinary/food guy, I thought that was positively noble and very friend-like of him, and now I’m looking forward to that. I think we’re going to see ‘Transformers 3’ too if the rain doesn’t stop us. Then I did my food and cigarette shopping. Then I worked some more. My sister called to fill me in on her latest, and she’s in the middle of a big complicated mess/law suit thing that would be lengthy and boring to explain. I worked on blog posts for a while. I hung out with Yury, and he was supposed to go back to work today, so he felt ugh about that, but his work return ended up being delayed until tomorrow, so I guess he’ll have to feel ugh again today. Uh, I think that’s it for Monday. I’ll see what I can do today, and maybe I’ll have a dinner and movie report for you tomorrow. I hope your Tuesday is happier than your Monday was. Tell me in any case. ** Bernard Welt, You can smell me smoking? Oops. Uh, get used to it? No, I’m sorry. You’re right: I’m just finishing up the blog whereupon, after a polite interval, I will call you re: rainy day plans. Great words to Misa. Misanthrope, if you missed Bernard’s late comment, read it, bud. All right, talk to you in a short time. ** Please go discover the marvels that Bill is offering to you today. Thank you. I will try to stay semi-dry, and I will see you tomorrow whatever my fate may be in that regard.
Now available in North America 
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Thanks, Bill. This will give me one more thing to distract me from work. It was very nice hanging out with you and Frederic yesterday.
Since my comment to yesterday's post did indeed come in late, and since the part to Misanthrope (anyway) has the DC seal of approval, I repeat:
I forget whether I mentioned that I'm one floor below Dennis, same number. I think I can smell him smoking. Anyway I smell somebody smoking. It's pleasant. It's raining pretty hard; I went out to get bread and coffee and water (hot gossip for DC extreme fans: Dennis recommends Montcalm, and of course he's right) but while it was raining a little more lightly. The whole Paris-in-the-rain thing, as in Midnight in Paris, is as I'm almost embarrassed to admit, absolutely real. It's aaaawesome. I'm trying to do a little work here but all I want to do is read more about Paris history and go to more flea markets and neighborhoods.
Dennis is probably finishing the PS so this note may not be around long, and maybe I'll repeat it tomorrow, but Misanthrope, as I've said before, you're an extremely interesting and unusual writer with a very developed voice and approach and what I've seen is much better than the vast majority of what gets published in the US–which is no guarantee of anything, but still . . . So you should really do something about it. And as you probably know, I don't say things like that to be nice, because I'm not actually nice. (And I'm not trying to get into your pants, you know.) One thing I' not shy about–OK, one of many things I'm not shy about it I know what I'm talking about when it comes to this sort of thing. And remember: even if you get published and become famous and admired, you can still be a total recluse and avoid all the advantages of fame if you choose to do so. So no hassles. But if you like, of course, as you know, avant-garde writers get more tail than a toilet seat. Just ask Dennis.
steevee i think one of the housewives could easily be opening a gallery or picking the photographer as her personal favorite or even trying to launch some fashion/design/whatever (maybe some tsotchkes featuring his work), the housewives are always pimping something or other. or if the photographer has just become a minor celebrity, he could be on there for almost anything, they had like adam carrolla on there the other day, and the stars of some usa show. i <3 watch what happens live, it's very cool it's going to be in a movie
By tradition, this is the anniversary of the day when Moses came down from Sinai and, seeing the Israelites worshiping the golden calf, smashed the tablets of the Law. Which was a pretty cool thing to do, really.
Impossibly cool stuff today.
How well I remember the terrible reviews got. It's one of those very 60's examples of a film saved entirely by the audience. World of mouth spread like wildfire — especially among acid adepts. I recall a "Duelling Critics" event I was involved with at the Filmmaker's Cinematheque on Wooster Street with Roger Grenspun (a marvelous critic) in which I defended the film comparing its narratiev divergence to Godard's 2 or 3 Thins I Know About Her — whcih famously evokes the cosmos in a close-up of cup of coffee.
I will be in and out of Seattle for that month – I live only 90 miles north – that's just our time-frame for finding a place and getting ours ready to rent. I am winding down things at work now to prepare for that.
Yeah, there are some good bands down there, certainly more going on than there is here… Improved food options is one of our biggest excitements – our little town sucks for restaurants…
Hello.
Looks like you've seen a lot in and a kind of short time. I mean by the pictures from your vacation. They look almost surreal though, weird how humans can live lives worlds apart from other humans though in the same space. That kind of might not make sense. But I just don't know how to put it. See I've been looking at houses at a web thing in Norway as my mom wants to move. Doing that I started looking at old run down places in the country side. Especially up north, were so few are people left. Almost as if time there is something else. Like: http://www.finn.no/finn/realestate/homes/viewimagewide?reference=2011/7/14/0/295/974/80_1206972315.jpg&finnkode;=29597480 andhttp://www.finn.no/finn/realestate/homes/viewimagewide?reference=2011/7/11/7/295/440/77_-1846935582.jpg&finnkode;=29544077 I sat looking at these houses for hours, searching for them in a way. Guess the distance between those pictures and yours kind of got me thinking.
The story of the Australian boy was kind of sweet I guess, but kind of beautiful as well when you were there. Not really any night here now so it all happened under the soft colours of dawn. Which makes everything a kind of strange ok.
Hope your vacation left you calm and not stressed by having to catch up with things. And that all else is well đ
Yeah, I know you would feast, ya bad bastard â and I know Lord Rigby ultimately will too. Just not yet. Gotta pace these things. I'm kind of hopeful for a series of these 'adventures of a gay regency werewolf' outings if I can craft something that works (for me, publisher and ebook buyers) out of the whole thing in the edit, thus I want to keep something in reserve. So he will do the right thing. For now.
You been watching the Murdoch Trials, btw? Is there much coverage in France? Who else thinks Rupert looks like Mr. Burns?! I sat through three hours of mumbling on BBC News24 then went to make a cuppa tea and missed the guy attacking him, damn it.
Didn't know he owned Harper Collins.
Okay, back to work for me: the mauled bf's in a coma, with our werewolf keeping vigil by his bedside…
Couldn't make this stuff up, could you?
@anonymous–Indeed, during the scene I've written, the "Duchess Charlotte" pimps her dance record, "Life's A Bitch, So It Takes A Bitch To Really Live."
If Adam Carolla can be a guest, I guess it's not that much of a stretch that a photographer could be. I just need to write a scene depicting the photographer's gallery booking him on the show and explaining his obsession with the show, which developed out of watching daytime TV in a Xanax-induced haze. Maybe I could have one of the "true ladies" – for legal reasons, I had to change the name of the show from "real housewives" – contact the gallery and recommend the photographer's work to the show.
Chilly Jay Chill: thanks for the tracksâI've spent a lot of the day pondering all the potential meanings of the phrase âNew Weedâ and considering tatooing the entireity of Alan Ayler's speech across my chest from nipple to naval.
Bill Hsu: I enjoyed your videosâthe second one was especially trippy and difficult to stop watching, with the faces showing up and dissappearing. Most of that type of art/performance is new to me, I'm curious how they go about making it.
Dennis: I'm so happy you liked the Kreayshawn stuffâthe girl in the big glasses is Lil Debbie and she's the DJ, but she didn't do the beats for Gucci Gucci. I think she mainly got a starring role in the vid because she looks like Kreayshawn's twin. V-Nasty was in jail when the video was being shot, but I'm not sure what she got locked up for. But those are the three main girls in the clique.
Lil B is awesome, I could go on about Lil B for pages. I'm Gay is definitely one his best albums, the most polished and consistent. A lot of people wrote him off as a novelty act because of songs like âEllen Degeneresâ and âWonton Soupâ but I'm Gay showcases the more serious side of his music, which at its heart is about positivity and fearlessness and doing your own thing and creating your own world to live in. My favorite line from the I'm Gay album is from the song âGon Be Okayâ when he says âI never came from the bottom / That's just a facadeâ–he talks a lot about the ghetto being a mentality and a state of mindâit's a lie that people tell you, that if you're from a poor neighborhood you'll never amount to anythingâand it's often our own fears and self-doubts and self-delusions which present the greatest obstacles in accomplishing what we want to do. I think a lot of his music is about clearing out those type of mental inhibitions and just letting loose with whatever he's feelingâhence his claim of being âthe rawest rapper alive.â Don't think about it, just do it type of thing. And don't worry if anybody else likes it or notâdo it because you love it.
I didn't know that you wrote a book about the Dean Corll murders! I was pretty obsessed with Corll and his âhelpersâ when I was younger, mostly because they were from Houston. The house where he was killing all those kids was in The Heights, which is a neighborhood on the north side of town, and I always feel a spooky feeling when I drive through there or visit. He's colored that entire part of the city for me, I can't go there without thinking about him. It's a perfectly normal, nice, mostly residential part of townâbut I always end up feeling like the kid at the end of Stir of Echos after they solve the mystery of the ghost that's been haunting their houseâlater they're driving down the street and the psychic kid suddenly starts hearing whispers coming from every single house they pass, and he puts his hands over his ears because it's too much. Ghosts are everywhere, every house has one. It's a creepy feeling to see so many normal-looking houses set one after another, and know that maybe one of those houses is the one where almost 30 kids got raped and tortured and murdered. And if that could happen, then what the fuck could be going on in all those other houses? Jerk is definitely the next book I'm going to buy.
@Chris Dankland–I too was wondering who the other girl in the "Gucci Gucci" video is. My guesses were either Kreayshawn's sister or girlfriend.
Liked the ones with the stars best. Could stare at stars forever.
Unsurprisingly, given what I said, no grand news from me.
I should point out that I'm not sitting here bitterly wincing every time somebody gets a book or story published! I love it when particularly the people I know best get something past the system – like Sypha's upcoming Grimoire,Thomas Moore's Graves or Shane's new blog Bubble Gum. Nicki/Atheist even had a non fiction book out recently. And I'd love say Rigby (the real one as well as the Lord) to get something out soon. It's not others' success but my 'failure' that's annoying.
Though it can also be energising – Barry Graham has recently released all his old books and new on Kindle. And I might look into that.
Most peculiar, I think you and Eyebrows are equally careful and maybe afraid of rejection – like the men and women in Austin's nook. Perhaps she was a sort of early feminist in that way. I loved Clueless too.
Midnight in Paris is now Woody Allen's biggest grosser ever. $42 million in North America alone, just beating Hannah and her Sisters. This is good news.
Dennis, thanks for the opportunity to share some work that I've enjoyed. Bernard, David and everyone else, I'm always happy to provide distractions, heh heh. Chris, I'm don't know how the second video works; wish I did.
The vacation slideshow is fantastic. What's the thing in the Azay-le-Rideau that looks like a phonograph horn? This is the picture. Wow.
Bill
Bill – Cool stuff today. Only had time to watch a few of these, but looking forward to spending more time with them tomorrow.
Dennis – Glad you liked those Ayler tracks. They're pretty wild and definitely a sharp left turn from his usual style.
Have you read anything from LĂĄszlĂł Krasznahorkai? Bela Tarr adapted his novels for "Damnation," "Werkmeister Harmonies," and "Satantango." I'm not a huge fan of the New Yorker or James Woods, but credit where due: Two weeks back, Woods did a big piece on Krasznahorkai's novels and it wasn't even tied to any new release (though apparently "Satantango" will finally be translated and released in late 2012). Woos compares the prose to Bernhard and if Tarr's movies are even the slightest indication I figure he's got to be a pretty interesting writer. But you have any experience with him?
JoeM: saw this and thought of you:)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/random_spoken_word.shtml
yeah I kinda figured that would happen, Bessies, yeah I would have been surprised if they didn't!!!! arrgh – one more adjustment on the master, Monday, then it's wrap – after that I've been told there is no going back. Once the cd is out, I am going to try to get some festival gigs for the live band – would you be interested in tagging along – if the gigs materialize and your available? Could be fun. best.
Latest FaBlog: Fait Diver — MMMM -Pie!
Wugazi is a mash up of Wu Tang Clan and Fugazi – if you wish to download for free look up Wugazi – I don't know
dennis 2 shitty days so i'm very behind. i want to say a lot about yesterday and today but it will have to be tomorrow. i will say that i think i visited one of the places you went to in a dream i had.
have a phantasmorgasmic day
(i mean my 2 days were shitty, the blogs' were golden)
But Joe M, you've been published twice, and your short stories have also been put out by others (by contrast I've written a ton of short stories over the last 5 years but so far only one to date has been published, in Userlands). I'd hardly classify that as being a "failure." How can one really "succeed" at writing anyway? In my eyes just finishing a bloody book in the first place is its own kind of success. I guess for me the main thrill comes not so much from the idea of someone reading what I've done but just from the pleasure of crafting an artifact into reality (which is why I still like to handwrite books, though I don't do those as much as I used to).
Speaking of which, I'm still not sure what I should do with my fantasy trilogy when I eventually finish it (as it is I still have around 216 pages left to write to finish off book 3). I don't like the idea of releasing it as three separate books as I hate the thought of being prolific or having a large cluttered bibliography. Maybe I should try to market it as one giant 900 page, 3 part Pynchon-sized tome or something. I really need to find someone to type it all out for me though, so I can edit it properly (book 1 in particular needs a lot of re-writing done, as it's the oldest of the volumes, dating back to the year 2000). Because I'm no good at typing out stuff I handwrite: I just find it so boring and tedious (the process, not the writing itself).
Bill, I liked the first one a lot and Tarik Barry.
Bill Hsu, thanks for these. I really like them, maybe Weapon of Choice the most.
Joe M, oh, yeah, maybe, on the Jane Austen stuff. It actually seems likely now.
Hey Dennis,
Oh, I hope it stopped raining yesterday. Or that it doesn't rain today.
I know my friend's really excited about the jade markets in Hong Kong, because they're cheap there, I think.
The meeting with Frederic sounds nice.
Were your nachos nice? And Transformers 3? That seemed to be the summer movie the critics used to show everybody "hey guys, we like blockbusters too!" but I haven't heard anybody really talk about it other than that.
I'm sorry about your sister. I hope all that gets sorted out as quickly as possible. And that's good about Yury being able to have another vacation day, even if it is like having two Sundays in a row.
Tuesday's a little happier, I think:
Sleep.
Wake up, and during my rolling over and slow leg stretches reached a part in my mattress that was so hot I became convinced that something electronic had malfunctioned and my bed was on fire, but after quickly opening my eyes and freaking out just saw that's where the sun landed from the blinds. So that was stupid.
Shower.
I think I got kind of dehydrated while I slept, because I noticed when I was smoking my morning cigarette that my lips were chapped somewhat severely, so I chewed a piece off and got orange juice, which I regretted as soon as my lip started stinging.
Got more cigarettes because I only had three left and was on the verge of a panic attack when Eyebrows called me:
"I just paid a fucking ticket."
"Oh, that sucks. I'm sorry. What for?"
"Running a red light. It came in the mail and I was like fuckkk."
"Did they send you a picture of your car going through the light?"
"Yeah. How'd you know?"
"You should put it on your fridge."
(laugh) "So, yeah, I can't really seeee you today."
"That's okay. I didn't know I was seeing you today anyway."
(silence)
"I didn't mean that like to be rude, or anything. It would've been cool but I just…didn't know. I wasn't informed. That I would be."
"What does that mean?"
"That you cancelled something I wasn't aware was happening?"
"I was planning on seeing you."
"Oh."
"Yeah, well, it's cause I don't have the gas money now. That fucking ticket wiped me out. I'm a broke ass motherfucker."
"That's okay. But hey, I have to go."
"Bitch! Don't leave me!"
"I'll call you back. But I have somebody else calling me now, again, so I have to go."
"You have other friends?!"
"Oh, ha ha. Bye."
Other Friend: "Finally!!"
"You're going to hate me but can I call you back in two minutes?"
"Godfuckingdammit. This is important!"
"But you'll have my full attention in two minutes."
"God, fine. Whatever."
Stop wandering through the aisles pretending to look at things and go the counter, get cigarettes and a conversation about how the cigarettes at This Particular Walgreens are 25 cents cheaper than anywhere else, walk out and feel better until I walk by a woman screaming at her screaming child in their car when I have to become very interested in the sidewalk.
Called my friend back and she read me a bunch of stuff about horror franchises that she was reading online, and we laughed and then I started talking about all of them, individually and as a whole. I realized halfway through what I was doing and stopped and said sorry, and she told me that this was actually what she had wanted to happen, because now she's somewhat educated on them. So that was good, I guess.
After that, watched Weeds, which was good but had a strange suicide bomber sequence, and Web Therapy, which was also good. They added more therapy sessions so it was kind of strange but it was still funny, so it's okay. The original sessions are still online, I think, if you want to watch them. Lisa Kudrow's the therapist.
Went on a walk. Another one, but this one was meant specifically for walking, so it was better, I guess. It was pretty uneventful for the most part. I ran into some grass hoppers and we were both minding our own business, them occasionally plopping underneath the street lights. I was thinking how the noise was peaceful and comforting in a way when one hopped on my shoulder. I kept walking, thinking it'd jump off, but then another one jumped on my shoe, and one on my back. As I was shaking myself one got on my other shoulder and two more tried to attack, and I dodged them so they landed in the grass and quickly walked away, regretting making fun of my friend who said she was attacked by a swarm of dragon flies when she was little and that's why she hates them now.
And yeah. That's it. How was your Tuesday, Dennis?
Thanks Jax, that is a very strange writer's thing. Maybe Channel 4 is going back to its good old ways, post Big Brother.
I see what you mean Sypha. I suppose relative failure then in not producing enough now. I'm sure it will pass.
Bill Hsu, I'm pretty new to audiovisual-type art. What would you suggest I look for in a decent piece? Or is it more just a thing of experiencing it over and over and liking what you like and kind of not looking at/hearing what you don't, which is kind of what I do with most other art?
gregoryedwin, Thanks!
Bernard, I think I've told you before that barely a week goes by when I don't start a sentence in a conversation with, "Well, my friend Bernard once said…" In other words, thank you for your kind words, they carry heavy weight with me as they always have.
Dennis, I like country music too…but older country music. Cash, Williams Sr., Cline, Nelson, etc. The only modern one I like is Dwight Yoakam, who I think is just ace. However, he's been virtually blacklisted for being too country in today's market. As he should be, I guess, because a lot of today's country music is just really bad rock music to me, B-sides and fillers on what could be otherwise good albums. Oops, Allison Krauss is pretty damn good too, though she's more bluegrass.
The fella the other night was pretty much just covering more popular modern country singers' songs. Nothing original, which I might've enjoyed more. But you know what? The fucker was up there doing his thing. I give him props for that. Same with the other bar patrons there: they were having fun and enjoying themselves and not hurting a soul. Can't argue with that, you know?
Bill, thanks. Cool stuff. I was drifting yesterday towards infinity with those clips.
Dennis, re: Tree Of Life critics.
In the cinema it was even more terrible than while reading bad reviews. During most parts of the movie there was loud giggling and laughing going on. People could not cope with the movie. I get so angry if something like this happens. At times I wanted to leave the cinema. I calmed down and enjoyed the show and I thought better that they watch the movie than not. Perhaps they get something out of it – I would be glad if so.
The cinema was full and that is also nice.
And funny: I was thinking if 2001 had the same problems. Now I see.
Chilly Jay Chill, Alan, Misanthrope, Schlix, inthemostpeculiarway, glad you guys liked the videos!
Chilly Jay Chill, I enjoyed your Ayler birthday article; that's not my favorite Ayler period, but I did keep the album for the fabulous cover. I think I do enjoy the music more now that I'm not so immersed in the earlier Ayler!
Misanthrope, I actually have kind of conservative taste when it comes to audiovisual work. For me, it's not much different from looking at paintings or drawings that happen to be moving, or listening to music. I like pieces that surprise me and play with perception, that use space and time in contrasting ways. I usually don't "get" work that's mostly conceptual. So yeah, it's mostly "looking at what you like, and not looking at what you don't!"
Bill
wonderful video selection. i didn't know that woody vasulka worked with brian o'reilly – very cool!
Schöner Tatort. Die Schweizerin ging gar nicht, das war allerschlimmstes Emil-Schweizerdeutsch (die Schweizer mögen es ĂÂŒbrigens nicht, wenn man als Deutsch SchwiizerdĂÂŒĂÂŒtsch sagt, weil der Schwiizer nĂ€mlich auch ein Schwyzer sein könnte, also ein Bewohner des Kantons Schwyz.). Ansonsten wieder groĂĆžer Gag-Sport. MĂÂŒnchen rockt.