The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Gig #68: Elias Bender Rønnenfelt

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Vår In Your Arms
‘It’s incredible what a name change can do. For most band’s it’s mostly due to avoid confusion or legal problems, but other’s use it to completely 180 your previous perception of them. Case in point with VÅR, formally WAR, the evil and dark synth project friends Loke and Elias (both leaders of the Polish Danish hardcore/post-hardcore scene), except now I don’t know how evil they are anymore. Sure “In Your Arms (Final Fantasy)” still has the same dark and murky synths and melodic static that shaped their previous tunes, but now Elias’ vocals have been ramped up in the mix, no longer just another instrument but a force within the song. There’s something very beautiful in his very simplistic lyrics of just wanting to be with someone he loves, repeating the song title over and over again.’ — The Creative Intersection

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Marching Church Throughout the Borders
‘Elias Bender Ronnenfelt already has the electronic-leaning Var, and now he’s formed the new protopunk and calamitous side-project Marching Church. The band’s new release, “Throughout The Borders,” is spooky minimal goth a la Death In June. It’s a 7″ on Danish punk label Posh Isolation, which is run by Loke Rahbek who coincidentally is also in VAR. “Throughout the Borders” is a bleak and pounding neofolk tale, where fires can’t even be lit because it’s too damn cold.’ — collaged

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Iceage You’re Blessed live in Amsterdam
‘Someone brought this noisy piece of magic to my attention yesterday, which seems to be pretty overlooked. I missed it myself on its January release this year on Dais Recs. The band is Iceage, and they’re a Danish quartet, embracing the sounds of post-punk, new wave, and noise all at once. Their latest album is New Brigade. “You’re Blessed” is easily one one of this album’s more accessible tracks. It’s fast, to the point, and it’s got a great hook as well. The band’s sloppy aesthetic catches up with them after the first hook, but it’s in a really endearing way, I promise. I love the sharp guitar tone here, too, and the vocals have just the right amount of reverb on ‘em–a little splashy, hell yeah.’ — The Needle Drop

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Elias Bender Ronnenfelt dancing and singing 1
‘RETARDED BOY EXPRESSING HIS FEELINGS’ — hundemad58

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Vår live, 22.12.12
‘VÅR performing live at Human Resources in Los Angeles for the Sound & Vision Festival presented by Chondritic Sound, Sacred Bones and Ascetic House.’ — dash o

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Amen Dunes Lonely Richard
‘“Lonely Richard” feels like an ocean wave washing over you. The swirling guitars engulf you and a calculated repetition of snare-taps motion with an ebb and flow as Ice Age’s Elias Bender Ronnenfelt echoes from the distance. Ronnenfelt’s voice is a trick at times to even discern from the fuzz surrounding it, but he has a talent for molding himself to dissonance pristinely. It helps that Amen Dunes, or Damon McMahon, give him a truly serene vehicle by which to transport his lovely vocals. There is an underlying sadness to “Lonely Richard”, though. Elias illustrates a realm of half-assed friendships on the horizon and a loss of faith in love. Yet the song is at its deepest doldrums as he wails its deceptive chorus. “Have yourself a good time”, is repeated with such jarring passion it’s tough to imagine tears aren’t streaming from his eyes as this dejection is vocalized. “Lonely Richard” fades out to rumbling bass, wiry guitars and a hushed choir of “doo doo doo’s” as if to infer that even after all that previous strain: maybe a tune on your lips will allow enjoyment as this undertow sweeps you into the deep.’ — by-volume.com

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Iceage Morals
‘Iceage have posted a new video for their song, “Morals.” For the video, the band performed a new version of the song in the studio in Copenhagen. The original version of the song appears on their Matador Records debut, You’re Nothing.’ — collaged

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Elias Bender Ronnenfelt on CHIC-A-GO-GO
‘Chic-a-Go-Go is a public-access television cable television children’s dance show that airs on Chicago Access Network Television (CAN-TV). The show bills itself as “Chicago’s Dance Show for Kids of All Ages”.’ — Wiki

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Pagan Youth live at Lades
‘In addition to his duties and frontman of Iceage, Marching Church, and Var, Elias Ronnefelt plays drums in the abrasive hardcore Danish punk band Pagan Youth.’ — collaged

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Vår Pictures of Today / Victorial
‘The textural disparity between Iceage and Vår — the two bands with which Elias Rønnenfelt is most immediately associated (he’s also in Marching Church) — is pretty vast: Iceage are all sharp angles and cold, hard surfaces; Vår are pillowy, cloudlike, warm, shapeless sounds contained by thin beats. Yet the two bands manage to convey similar feelings: isolation, discomfort, tension.’ — Stereogum

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Iceage How Many
‘Only a few years removed from their air-tight post-punk debut, Iceage are now breathing deeper. After “The Lord’s Favorite” and “Forever”, this latest Plowing Into the Field of Love cut is the most extreme expression of Elias Bender Rønnenfelt’s imagination yet. Darkness has pervaded the Iceage songbook, but when “How Many” gloriously pries itself open—ominous, lopsided instrumentals and all—one can’t help but wonder what drama and desperation have been eclipsed all along. A band that was once thought to be dangerous is now more about daydreaming. “An alliance in body and mind/ Such a perfect lover I could become,” Rønnenfelt sings on this could-be ballad, straining his voice over the most common of desires.’ — Jenn Pelly

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Cult of Youth Man and Man’s Ruin
‘In celebration of their tour, the band Cult of Youth is sharing the brand new video from KONKRET FILM for “Man and Man’s Ruin”. It was directed by Kristian Emdal, Loke Rahbek and Elias Bender-Rønnenfelt, and shot while the band was visiting Copenhagen in a town called Dronningmølle. The area used to be known as “The Hills of Russia” due to its bleak and hilly landscape, but over the last hundred years the area has changed in to something much more vigorous. The beautiful shots of the countryside, and ominous statues provide the perfect visual companion to this song.’ — wegetpress.com

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Marching Church We Lose Them Through Our Hands
‘When we described the first Marching Church tape, that came out about 2 years ago, we called it ”very strange music” – and now with his first 7” it is clear, that it is a label that still applies. The artist behind should need little introduction at this point. Elias Bender Rønnenfelt has over the last couple of years made heads turn. Marching Church is another proof why the young man has rightfully earned his reputation. He makes music that sounds like nothing else and with such a pop sensibility that it makes you feel as if you have met it somewhere before.’ — collaged

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Iceage Forever
‘Iceage used to sound like a band unloading a dump truck’s worth of sonic sludge, with Elias Bender Rønnenfelt’s sulky moan presaging the apocalypse. But their newest album, Plowing Into the Field of Love, features something completely different: They’ve traded vodka for whiskey and embraced the joy of country twang, a better backdrop for Rønnenfelt to channel his inner Nick Cave against. “I always had the sense that I was split in two” is the Cave-ian opening lyric of “Forever”, which begin with a slow, swaggering progression that quickly perorates toward a barroom brawl, Rønnenfelt’s voice growling in tortured ecstasy. “If I could dive into the other, I would lose myself forever” goes the chorus, and the tension as the band starts and stops and starts again before exploding into cacophony reminds you they’re still oh-so close to the edge.’ — Jeremy Gordon

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Elias Bender Ronnenfelt dancing and singing 2
‘elias bender going nuts’ — allanmallan

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Marching Church The River live at Insula Records
‘bruce springsteen cover wahahahaha.’ — Jasdko Sasjlas

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Lust for Youth Epoetin Alfa
‘Minds typically go to dark, severe places when describing Lust for Youth: the blackest winters of Hannes Norrvide’s native Sweden, mental and physical prisons, Joy Division songs. It’s enough of a surprise that a guest spot from Iceage’s Elias Bender Rønnenfelt on “Epoetin Alfa” results in plangent, pinging guitars more reminiscent of Studio than his own band and ensures a sense of restraint that the ill-fated Casio just can’t replicate.’ — collaged

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Vår First Purchase
‘Vår’s final, post-humous release is a moody electronic instrumental with Mssr.s Ronnefelt and Loke Rahbek wring fragile, pulsing melancholy from their synths and laptops. A sad but fitting farewell from the great, doomed musical experiment.’ — collaged

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Elias Bender Ronnenfelt mah
‘elias gør ting på østerbro fordi der er rart at være.’ — Alberte karrebæk

*

p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. They certainly don’t come much sadder. It’s weird, every year there’s at least one of those, and usually a couple, and they’re always in the UK, I wonder why. ** Susie Bright, Whoa, Susie! It’s amazing of you to come in here! Hi, great one! How are you? Big respect and the merriest Xmas to you if you’re into merry Xmases! Love, me. ** Dooflow, Hi, dooflow. Been too long a while. This is nice. You’re collaborated with Richard! Wow, that’s really, really something. He’s a great artist, as you probably know that I know. That’s really exciting! I’ll go over and scour what you’re linking us up to in just a bit. Everyone, Dooflow, an amazing word-maker, has hooked up with the extraordinary visual artist Richard Hawkins to make an incredible looking collaborative work. Dooflow says, ‘Richard is calling it “Wild Boys” and they are a reaction to how tame a lot of WSB’s word & Image collaborations are.’ You can find it in two places, so either choose here, which is dooflow’s site, or here, which is Richard Hawkins’s site, or choose both, but definitely choose. Monumental. Thank you a lot, man, and, yeah, that is an extremely cool meeting of extremely cool talents right there. ** Cobaltfram, Hi. Oh, well, since the text I put together was collaged from numerous sources, it could well be me who inadvertently took liberties into the realm of the implausible. Well, it is weird, that dichotomy, although there are those who would say and do say that you don’t actually need to be out in the world to have material. Being out there definitely helps though? The research thing, yeah. Obviously, it depends on what you’re writing about. I like semi-informed imaginative leaping myself with some fact-checking later in the process. As a recipient of many, many a rejection slip back when I used to submit stuff to places, yeah, I agree that that little note means something very good. Things go well here. Tons and tons of constant work, but the pay-off seems to be happening. Keep me up on your Paris plans as the time approaches. ** Kier, I know. There’s something so, I don’t know, complicated about the appeal of that Xmas disaster and ones like it, at least if you like theme park-ish kind of things maybe. Thanks about the gif novel. I’ve been working in it for a while. The horror gif novellas that I was posting here for a while were an early draft of it. I don’t know why, but that image of a huge vegetable order is so nice. Maybe it’s all that color, or the possibility of all that color depending on the veggies, I don’t know. Yesterday was another very long editing day, morning to late evening. Continuing work on Scene 4. Usually, we lay out a rough draft of a scene by laying it down in FCP according to the script and then working/ chopping/ rearranging from there, but Zac thought that because this scene is so strange and was so strangely made, we should just pull out the stuff we think is great whether it was scripted or something that happened spontaneously or even accidentally while we shooting, and build the scene from those high points . He was right, I think, because what we’ve pulled together so far is pretty special even if it changes everything that we intended originally. How we’ll make that stuff into something whole is to be figured out, starting today. So, yeah, that was my whole day. The only other stuff that happened was little things, phone calls, emails. Oh, and Kiddiepunk’s public announcement of ‘ZHH’. I guess that was pretty big. How was today, and why was it how it was? ** Damien Ark, Hi. Thanks a lot, man, about my ‘Sluts’. Cool, that’s awesome, thank you! My favorite Elliott Smith album is one that most of the hardcore ES fans I know seem to think isn’t one of his best. ‘Figure 8’. I don’t know why, but that gets to me the most. What’s your fave? ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Whew. I was a little worried it would be old hat to you. Ah, I see about the ‘break out spot’. I like imagining it, and so I am, right now. ** Steevee, Hi. Oh, right, yeah, I see. I would imagine there are leaks/ downloads of it out there somewhere though, no? I guess no surprise about the Sony security. How did you like ‘Leviathan’? ** Keaton, That would make one cold, yeah, I can see that. I can’t deal with convenience store nachos. That ‘cheese’ … no way, even though it does kind of remotely taste like vegan cheese, which I do kind of like. Fruit cake can be fabulous? Wow. Trippy. Cool, you sorted out Emo Xmas pix. I was half-thinking of sorting them out for the blog, but you have them sorted and arranged definitely, so I’m crossing that prospect out. Everyone, be one with Xmas in the company of a bunch of boys who know what Xmas is all about. What in the world does that mean, you ask? Find out. Here’s Keaton’s ‘A Very Hep C Christmas’! ** Statictick, Would it fail as a Halloween attraction? That’s an interesting question to contemplate. Cool, thanks, about the guest-post progress and effort. You rule, duh. ** Misanthrope, There are footing videos, yes. They pop up. They’re more commonly found than triple penetration videos, at least. In fact, I think I’ve only come across one triple-penetration video. Perhaps you’ve seen it. Staxus. Awkward position central, but with a certain appeal. I think basketball is a great sport. I’ve only ever gotten into it when the Lakers got in the semifinals. Then I start switching the TV channel to it. And I’ve been to a few games. I’m just not a spectator sports guy other than baseball. And a bit of soccer/football. I had an excellent coffee just yesterday at a cafe by Zac’s place when we were taking an editing break/breather. It was quite delicious. But we had just eaten delicious falafels, and perhaps it was the taste combination/ sensation that I was tasting. Any great coffee in your recent history? And I mean great, not better than average. ** Sypha, Congrats on your gauntlet containing one less day. Sorry about your headache. You count your headaches? Ha ha, definitely load my gif novel up on the nooks. It won’t get you arrested or anything, I think.  Oh, wait, maybe you’d better not. ** MANCY, Hi, man! Thanks, glad it spread some Xmas cheer into you. I was going to say that was its intention, but, obviously, I don’t know how one could imagine cheer being its intention. Sweet about you trying to get the collab. together. Breath is bated. Oh, man, that sucks about your back even if your lustrous little description of you did that made your back rebel against you had this really nice earthy, sad quality. Take care, M. ** Right. Today I’m giving a gig over to the very awesome Mr. Elias Bender Ronnenfelt, a fine artist to be very sure, and also just a heck of a great guy personally too. Please dig into his multi-talent. Thank you.

16 Comments

  1. Scunnard

    Hi Dennis, may your yule-tide be high and all of that. How have you been? I've been under a rock, but for hopefully good reasons. Good gig today and yesterday's Yorkshire "attraction" wasn't far from where I am at the moment. I remember you asking about my record listening activities, but I don't think I ever responded… Insights: the older I get, the more the Sex Pistols just sound like the Beatles to me and for some odd reason I still really like Thrill Kill Kult's Confessions of a Knife, who knew? Actually, just realised that I stalled out on my listening experiment a couple weeks back and never finished up with X, so maybe that should be my task for today (shouldn't take long). I feel so accomplished. How's the film and the writing going? Life? Oh and also, from the time capsule, I am still working on the manifesto stuff but has been on the second burner while I finish up this other stuff but I'm still very much interested and will approach you when there is a bit more immediacy and hopefully when there is a bit more of a lull in your projects as well? xo

  2. cobaltfram

    Hey hey

    I've thought a lot about that dichotomy as well, viz "experience vs imagination." I've discovered that if I can lift a particular, non-common experience (even just non-common to me) out of a moment and place it in a text, then even if I make up all the stuff around it, that little detail (or those, because I usually can't help myself) gives the piece as a whole a zing my stuff didn't have when I was 18 and had never left the house. It was interesting, because last time I was in New York I went to this dope party in a warehouse. It was the sort of nightlife circuit I was writing about when I started writing seriously, even though I'd never experienced it. Gratifyingly some things were exactly like I'd imagined, and yet others were wildly different, mainly things like infrastructure (how do you provide restrooms for 500 people in a warehouse, etc) and having those details were exactly what I needed when I attempted an essay about the trip. New York in general is like that: everyone knows what it looks like, but unless you've been there I doubt you could think to mention the way it *reeks*.

    That's enough of that. I saw the news about the fabled tenth novel on Facebook! Such congrats. Luckily enough, I found my dusty old e-reader the other day and it's in working order, so I'm reading for the digital future.

    xo xo
    J

  3. Chilly Jay Chill

    Hey Dennis,
    Nice Elias Bender Ronnenfelt day. I don't know his work outside of Iceage (which is great) so excited to check out the rest. It'll soundtrack my day of freelance work.

    Congrats on "Zac's Haunted House." It looks amazing and excited to check it out. It grabbed the attention of my pal Mark, who wrote an oral history of grunge a while back and writes about art & technology stuff for Wired and other places. He was interested in pitching a story about it and wanted to know if you and Michael had time for interviews if the story came through? I know it's a crazy time with the movie editing so I thought I'd ask. If you're interested, I'll introduce you to Mark via email quickly.

    Forgot to mention that a new short story of mine THE DYING OF THE DEADS is now online. It was originally part of Mira Corpora but proved too surreal to fit into that book. It's my take on an occult horror tale: http://ow.ly/FJHVe

    Working on a guest post for you and hope to have it sometime late next week. Good luck with the editing. Interested to hear how the scene comes together and how it might differ from what's in the script.

  4. DavidEhrenstein

    Lonely Richard RULES!

    Latest FaBlog: Bad Actors

  5. kier

    hey d, this day is perfect! i especially love lonely richard and the one of elias dancing! a beautiful day. the veggies in the order were rutabaga, parsnip, potatoes and beets, so our knives were stained red. i really like hearing about your editing process, though it sounds tricky. today i slept aaall day, just a sad sack minus the sad. i did pick up some more photos from bardufoss from the photo place. here are my lukas collages-
    http://www.kier-cs.com/2014/12/teen-dream-lukas.html
    cant do the link thing cause my keyboard is acting wacky. tomorrows lukas day, non? what did friday do for you?

  6. _Black_Acrylic

    @ Scunnard, whereabouts in/around Yorkshire are you at the moment? Because I'm getting the train home to Leeds tomorrow morning.

    Have you heard of Yorkshire First? They're a progressive regionalist political party formed around the time of the Scottish referendum, and I think they might be worth keeping an eye on. My prediction for 2015 is that the UK General Election will see things shaken up majorly and all bets are off as to what might happen. I also predict that Scotland's Yes campaign won't just retreat quietly and the Westminster paedo ring scandal will make the (related) Jimmy Savile story seem like small beer.

  7. Thomas Moronic

    Hey Dennis. I've finished work for xmas – nice feeling! It's been an intense few weeks. Been working a lot with some kids who have been going through sexual abuse, starting from grooming and escalating from there. Brave little people. Man, it's been exhausting and emotionally draining but yeah … kids are fucking amazing, man. Total heroes and inspirations. I've missed being able to spend more time here. I've got a proper break now so it'll be good to catch up.

    Today is great. Obviously a huge fan of the stuff Elias does.

    Super excited about the new .gif novel as well! I'm willing January to roll around!

  8. Cal Graves

    hi dennis,

    been a while, sorry about that, got caught up in…things. my anticipation for your movie increases every time you describe the process; i've tried my hand at movies in the past so its sortof fun watching/reading someone else suffering thru it. i just finished reading leRoy's the Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, the ending reminded me of your work. im making progress with my novel but it isnt working out as well as I had hoped. your post to day soundtracked a productive day, and Im drawing a causality between the two so thank you. 'For some reason, the pianist in Iceage's Morals vid-eo made me laugh hysterically.'
    you may not remember tihs: when i asked you about immortality, you redirected the question to me. I would listen to all the music, if I were immortal. All of it.

    today's question: it's raining heavily outside, to the point that there's no escape. You may have one piece of entertainment, (book/movie/album/single episode of a tv programme/ one internet page) that is your only source of escapism for the hours you'll be trapped till rescue; what do you choose?

  9. steevee

    LEVIATHAN is a mixed bag. It's an angry protest against Putin and co. placed together with a family melodrama. The former works, the latter seems like miserabilism. I can understand the point it's making about human flaws can prevent people from effectively fighting back against authority, but TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT says much the same thing with a touch more optimism (and better acting.) The opening and closing scenes contain great views of decaying boats and animal carcasses in and alongside the Russian sea.

  10. joshua nilles

    i walk around listening to "plowing into the field of love" all the time. honestly, mostly the song though. the rest is amazing though. if it wasn't for ema's "the future's void" and ani tijoux's "vengo". probably the record of the year.

    i am so very tired. i am broke. i have been performing at any microphone that will have me. all of my energy, new age or physical. gone. i have written hundreds of pages in the last two and a half months, in an attempt to remedy the situation. i was just on the portland radio station 90.7. that was awesome though.

    http://kboo.fm/content/talkin0 – my parts are at 27:00. 47:00. 58:00.

    how have you been? i have not been keeping up.

  11. rewritedept

    d-

    berlin film festival! sweet! are you gonna premiere it there?

    yeah, i figure since it isn't going anywhere, might as well just get used to it and live with it. the depression. the other night, my sister told me to stop being depressed, and i had to tell her that it doesn't work like that, although my exact words were, 'well, i already tried reaching into that vacuum in my brain where the feelings used to live, and, yup. still fucking empty.'

    sorry i'm such a whiny baby lately, i just don't have much to be excited about. my crush doesn't feel the same way about me, i'm 40 pounds overweight, my dad thinks i'm a failure, etc.

    pretty sure nick hates me. he hasn't helped cook in like a month, and whenever we go over there now, he just plays his stupid computer game and ignores me. it's like pulling teeth to get more than two words at a time out of him, and he doesn't watch movies with me anymore. i'm pretty bummed, since i thought we were buds and all, but i guess that's what i get for giving a shit.

    i'm sure s-k will go overseas. if not, maybe try to coincide yr US visit with one of their shows? when you do come, if you wanna do a couple days in vegas, i can get you a discounted room at mandalay bay.

    xmas is getting closer. on the eve, i'm going with my dad to my uncle's to see that side of the family, which should be awkward and uncomfortable, since, as we've discussed, i'm the weird bi punker kid in a family of roman catholic republican types. my uncle and cousin are both bankers, and i'm the unsuccessful artfag. i mean, i giess i'm still ok because i'm not a totally worthless fuckup like my brother. and then on xmas day, i think we're going over to stephanie's to drink and play board games. i'ma try not to be a downer, but that's really hard for me lately. maybe i'll just stay home alone and get high and jerk off all day.

    hope yr weekend is awesome. can't wait to download zac's novel and work on that puzzle. it's like the only thing i'm looking forward to.

    talk soon.

    -c.

  12. randomwater

    Oh right on. Frank and I saw iceage last October. They were sick, it was funny how bendy and sensual that guys body gets as he sings. Oh those wild boys collage are so awesome. I feel inspired by that shit. My room is calmer than it was but I can't say for how long. Eager to see the gif novel. It's similar/is those horror novel posts? Oh I saw phase Iv mentioned, I saw that at cinefamily months ago with the missing original ending, this like 8 minute sequence where we see 'the knowledge of the ants/aliens" and it's really bizarre. Doesn't even feel like the rest of the film. I love the visual power of his stuff. Have a great one, man.

  13. Misanthrope

    Dennis, I'm very sure I've seen the triple penetration video. But I haven't seen a footing video. I'll have to look for that, just to say I've seen one.

    I can't watch baseball on TV, but I do like going to the park. It's so much better in person. Football's better on TV. It's a mess in person, and I'm a guy who loves football, as you know. Basketball, to me, is great either way.

    So humor me a bit here. I know how you like space or to work with space or the notions of space, non-space. Just think about how the basketball players have gotten so much bigger on average over time but the court is still the same size as it was 50 years ago. (Which is why some players and experts want them to widen the court.)

    Oh, man, I haven't had a great cup of coffee in a long time. I have my only little espresso machine here at home, and I use Gevalia espresso roast, and really, that's the best coffee I get anymore. No little shops in my suburb. Just shit Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts and 7-11 and McDonald's. I'd kill for a great cup of coffee.

    I've never had a falafel. I've always wanted to try one/some. I'm sure it made the coffee sweeter.

    Have you ever had one of these croissant/donut combos? They're fucking ace.

  14. gucciCODYprada

    Hey den,
    Two quick questIons: can I put you as a reference on my resume, and, how's the reading coming along? Love, love, love

  15. gucciCODYprada

    Hey den,
    Two quick questIons: can I put you as a reference on my resume, and, how's the reading coming along? Love, love, love

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