‘The earliest recipe of the Bûche de Noël shows up in Pierre Lacam’s 1898 Le memorial historique et géographique de la pâtisserie. The earliest mention however is a couple of years earlier in Alfred Suzanne’s 1894 La cuisine anglaise et la pâtisserie where he notes in passing that it is (was?) the specialty of a certain Ozanne, presumably his friend Achille Ozanne (1846-1898). Of course we have no idea of what this looked like. An article in the French newspaper Figaro adds an interesting tidbit (see Pierre Leonforte, “La bûche de Noël : une histoire en dents de scie,” Figaro, 17 December 2000): according to Stéphane Bonnat, of chocolatier Félix Bonnat her great grandfather’s recipe collection from 1884 contains a recipe for a roll cake make with chocolate ganache. Admittedly she makes no claim to this being the first bûche de Noël.

‘One of the famous stories about this French dessert is associated with Napoleon Bonaparte of France. He issued a proclamation, as per which, the people of Paris were ordered to close the chimneys of their houses, during winters. It was thought that entry of cold air into the houses was causing spread of illnesses and the proclamation was aimed at prevention of such diseases. It was during this time that Buche de Noel or yule log cake was invented in Paris. As use of hearths was prohibited, they needed some sort of traditional symbol that can be enjoyed with family and friends during the festive season that falls in winter. Thus, this cake became a symbolic substitution around which the family could gather for storytelling and other holiday activities.

‘It makes sense that the cake, like so many other Christmas traditions (think Santa, decorated Christmas trees, Christmas cards, etc) dates to the Victorian era, to a time of genteel, bourgeois domesticity. In France, in particular, a certain romantic image of peasant traditions had become part of the story the French told themselves about themselves and while the average Parisian bourgeois could hardly be expected to hoist logs into their 4th floor apartment, they could at least show solidarity for their country cousins by picking up a more manageable bûche at the local pâtisserie. That the result was a little kitsch fit the middle class sensibility too.’ — collaged

 

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This year’s candidates

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Hôtel Vendôme
Place Vendôme – 75001 Paris

Si certains misent sur la tradition et la valeur sûre pour ne pas froisser les plus gourmands, d’autres osent et proposent d’incroyables créations pour ces fêtes de fin d’année.

C’est notamment le cas de Josselin Marie, Chef des Cuisines de l’Hôtel de Vendôme, qui a imaginé un coffret à bijoux à croquer.
Imaginez en effet un écrin chic renfermant un bracelet en guise de bûche!

Sous le bracelet et le socle en pâte à sucre à l’effet de cuir surpiqué se cache un gâteau aux saveurs hivernales.
Sur un biscuit Dacquoise à la noisette, surmonté d’un panache praliné et noisette agrémenté d’une feuillantine, une mousse onctueuse au chocolat au lait se marie délicatement à l’acidité d’un confit de clémentines.

Quant au couvercle au chocolat noir, il apporte à la bûche son côté croquant.

Infos pratiques :
Bûche de Noël 2016 à l’Hôtel Vendôme
Bûche disponible du 20 au 24 décembre 2016 sur le site internet
Hôtel de Vendôme
Prix : 150€ Pour 4 personnes

 

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Anne-Sophie Pic
20 rue du Louvre – 75001 Paris

Elle va prochainement ouvrir une adresse à Londres. En clin d’oeil à ce futur établissement, la chef Anne-Sophie Pic a créé une bûche représentant les cabines téléphoniques londoniennes. A l’intérieur, une association de cerise griotte, feuille de cannelier, bière et hydromel. De quoi séduire les palais des plus fins gourmets !

Prix : 54 € la bûche pour 6/8 personnes
Où la trouver : sur commande au 01 42 60 40 40 du 1er au 15 décembre pour un retrait à partir du 18 décembre à La Dame de Pic à Paris et à l’Epicerie Pic à Valence

 

L’accord chocolat-herbes-grué de cacao joue le contraste de la douceur et de la fraîcheur. La vivacité herbacée amenée par un mélange d’estragon, de menthe et de basilic prolonge les notes florales du chocolat.

Dans cette composition, le végétal n’est pas que visuel, il est partout présent. C’est une bûche qui joue aussi le contraste des textures entre l’onctuosité du crémeux, la légèreté croquante de la mousse aux éclats de chocolat, le moelleux du biscuit punché à l’estragon et la douceur du glaçage au chocolat.

Pour passer commande : 01 42 60 40 40 entre le 1er et le 15 décembre, pour un retrait à partir du vendredi 18 décembre.
Le prix : 65 euros pour 6/8 personnes.

 

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Café Pouchkine

On continue avec la plus jolie bûche de l’année : la «bibliothèque Pouchkine» signée par le nouveau pâtissier du Café Pouchkine, j’ai nommé Julien Alvarez. Sur un socle en chocolat noir, le chef a posé un biscuit fondant et une crème légère au caramel fleur de sel acidulé d’un confit framboise, le tout étant enrobé par une confiture fixée et sculptée ! Au palais, c’est le genre de création parfaite après un repas copieux, l’accord caramel et framboise allant parfaitement bien ensemble.

Pour 6/8 pers. 105 €

 

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Christophe Michalak

Pour sa Bûche Iconik, le chef Christophe Michalak est parti sur une mousse aérienne au sirop d’érable associé à un confit myrtille-framboise, sur un biscuit moelleux noix de Pécan très savoureux. Si au premier plan, les enfants risquent de ne pas être fans, on vous l’assure, cette bûche va les étonner positivement !

Infos pratiques :
Du 1er au 24 décembre 2016
Disponibles au Michalak Take Away et dans la pâtisserie Michalak
Tarif : 98€ la bûche Iconik 8 pers.

 

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Mandarin Oriental
251 rue Saint-Honoré – 75 001 Paris

Avec sa bûche de Noël façon noix de coco, le pâtissier David Landriot nous invite au voyage… La coque en deux parties – l’une est en chocolat noir, la seconde en mousse chantilly coco – dévoile un coeur crémeux de chocolat, une compotée de mangue, banane et citron vert, et un cake à la banane. On craque !

Prix : 78 €
Où la trouver : du 12 au 25 décembre au Cake Shop, et sur commande 48 heures à l’avance au 01 70 98 74 00

 

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Hôtel le Meurice
228 Rue de Rivoli – 75001 Paris

Cédric Grolet est un habitué de mon classement annuel des bûches, la faute à un talent et à des réalisations toujours au top. Cette année, notre chef pâtissier a choisi de revisiter l’un de ses desserts signatures du tea-time : j’ai nommé la Noisette. Pour ce faire, il a retravaillé la traditionnelle bûche roulée en y incluant une mousse et des éclats de noisettes, un coeur tendre au caramel et un noeud gourmand en chocolat. Comment vous dire ? Cette buche a disparu en un clin d’oeil. Trop bon !

Edition limitée à 50 exemplaires, 130 €, pour 6 à 8 personnes, à commander 48 heures à l’avance du 7 au 25 décembre.

 

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Arnaud Larher

On a comme une envie de croquer le bonnet du Père Noël… Celui-ci dévoile un sablé breton recouvert d’une crème légère vanillée, une génoise aux amandes et une gelée de framboises. Une savoureuse guimauve à la vanille et noix de coco tient place en guise de fourrure, et une boule de chocolat blanc enrobée de noix de coco râpée sublime l’ensemble. Irrésistible !

Prix : 72 € la bûche pour 4/6 personnes
Où la trouver : dans les boutiques-écrins Arnaud Larher

 

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Marc Lecomte
32 Rue de Dantzig – 75015 Paris

Pour les fêtes, le pâtissier Marc Lecomte a imaginé une bûche exotique à l’ananas, au fruit de la passion, citron vert et chocolat blanc. Posée sur un socle chocolaté formant une défense créé par le chocolatier Patrick Roger, elle fera son petit effet. Succombez à la gourmandise !

Prix : 110 € la bûche pour 6 personnes
Où la trouver : sur commande par mail (restaurant@lareserve-paris.com) du 1er au 20 décembre à La Réserve Paris

 

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Vincent Guerlais
11 rue Franklin – Nantes

Notre vedette incontournable, le roi du P’tit Beurre, Vincent Guerlais, L’esquimau : compotée mangue passion, crémeux et biscuit madeleine au jus et zestes de citron vert, mousse onctueuse à la vanille de Madagascar.

56€ pour 8 pers.

 

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Jean Paul Hevin
231 Rue Saint Honoré – 75001 Paris

Si, visuellement, cette bûche «fashion» est d’une beauté sans nom, gustativement Jean-Paul Hévin s’est appuyé sur ses fondamentaux : les chocolats. Sur un élégant biscuit au chocolat noir, on trouve une mousse chocolat noir grand cru du Venezuela et croustillant streusel chocolat noir. Au palais, on repère des notes de fleurs, d’épices et de fèves grillées. Le chocolat d’une grande finesse possède une très longue persistance en bouche. Les fans de chocolat vont adorer !

Pour 7 pers. 39 €.

 

La Buche Grand Style est une ode à l’architecture et aux fontaines du Château de Versailles. Son décors représente les jets d’eau prodigieux et des statues qui rappellent le Bassin de Cérès. Cette bûche est très intéressante par le fait qu’elle ne nécessite pas d’être conservée au frais. Elle peut ainsi voyager à une température de 22 °C, sans souffrir aucunement. Jean-Paul Hévin avoue même apprécier particulièrement la passer quelques instants au four, afin de rendre légèrement coulante la mousse au chocolat noir Grand Cru d’Equateur, qui se marie à un biscuit cacao aux amandes, sur une base gianduja chocolat pistache.

5 personnes / 38 €

 

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Pierre Hermé
185 rue de Vaugirard – 75015 Paris

Conceived in close collaboration with the artist Nicolas Buffe, this Christmas creation is more than a cake, it is a fantastic story to be read as well as savoured. It is a tale that begins with a hand-crafted box telling the story of the Princess Lili and her cat, held captive one evening under the stars in the Tour d’en Haut by Athanor, the robot. A pretty box at first sight, it symbolises, in reality, the torso of the latter, into which Pierre Hermé has placed a cake, an “energy bar” to turn the robot from nasty to nice. A simple yule log, but dressed in gold, with its ends colourfully decorated in a duo of vanilla-chocolate flavours and a play of textures. An exceptional object for the holiday festivities.

Infiniment Chocolat shortbread pastry, viennese chocolate biscuit, Madagascan vanilla ganache, Pure Origin Belizean dark chocolate cream and Chantilly cream, Cayo District, Xibun Plantation, thin layers of dark chocolate.

Available in limited edition.
Available from 12/2/2016
Available to 12/25/2016
€280.00

 

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Dalloyau
2 Place Edmond Rostand – 75006 Paris

Cette année, la maison Dalloyau propose un Noël Givré avec une bûche, des macarons et des sapins étoilés, à partager en famille le soir de réveillon de Noël 2016 ! La bûche Léo Pôle, une bûche mousse infusée aux fèves de cacao torréfiées du Venezuela, sur un biscuit moelleux aux noisette du Piémont agrémenté de crémeux chocolat au lait pure origine République Dominicaine, le tout posé sur un croustillant aux fruits secs et miel est un délice !

Infos pratiques
Bûche de Noël 2016 by Dalloyau
Commande dès le 1er décembre 2016
Tarif : 98€ la bûche

 

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Aurélien Trottier
59 Rue Saint-Laud – 49100 Angers

Cette année, Aurélien Trottier s’est dit “J’apporte Le Cadeau”. Sous cette jolie boîte entièrement en chocolat noir 68 % de cacao, se cache une surprise gourmande. Une harmonie hivernale entre agrumes, noisette et chocolat.

40€ pour 6 pers.

 

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Maëlig Georgelin
10 Place Le Sciellour – 56150 BAUD

Maëlig Georgelin vous présente La Luge Magique. Dans chacun des personnages se cache une très originale mousse tendre à la crêpe bretonne croustillante, des pommes juste rissolées emprisonnées dans un caramel au beurre salé au blé noir torréfié. À retrouver du côté d’Etel

60 Exemplaires
6 pers. 55 €

 

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Frédéric Cassel
71-73, RUE GRANDE – 77300 FONTAINEBLEAU

Les compositions du président Frédéric Cassel sont toujours ludiques, cette année avec Boule de Neige, on a la version fille et la version garçon ! Biscuit viennois aux éclats de marrons, compotée et poires pochées à la vanille de Madagascar, mousse marron de Collobrières. On y aime…

49€ pour 6 pers.

 

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Bernard Besse
3 & 5 avenue Leon Vacher – 19260 Treignac

La Bûche de Bernard Besse porte le doux nom d’« Amami ». Elle repose sur une crème légère aux deux chocolats (noir et lacté), et referme en son cœur cristal et crémeux de yuzu. Il est aussi associé à des poires pochées. C’est un biscuit amandes et gianduja croquant qui termine d’habiller avec élégance cette création.

48€ pour 7/9 pers.

 

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Alexis Lecoffre
58 Rue Saint-Dominique – 75007 Paris

Le nouveau duo à la tête de Gâteaux Thoumieux réinterprète le dessert iconique à base de cerises, de kirsch et de chantilly en un tronçon de bois bien imité. L’oeuvre est en réalité une « bûche » composée d’une ganache au chocolat noir Mekonga, une génoise cacao, une chantilly au grué de cacao, une gelée de griottes à la cardamome verte.

Prix : 80 euros / pour 8 personnes / disponible dès début décembre

 

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Hotel Shangri-La
10 Avenue d’Iéna – 75116 Paris

Le chef pâtissier du Shangri-La Hotel, qui exécute des desserts millimétrés en utilisant peu sucre, dévoile sa passion pour le design avec un sapin rouge vif aux traits graphiques. La création révèle un croustillant à la noisette et au riz soufflé, enrobé d’une mousse à la vanille légèrement parfumée à la fleur d’oranger, un biscuit amandes et noisettes du Piémont et un caramel coulant aux noisettes avec une pointe de citron.

Prix : 108 euros / pour 8 personnes / sur commande 72 heures à l’avance

 

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Lenôtre
10 Rue Saint-Antoine – 75004 Paris

Le traiteur a collaboré avec le Lido pour préparer un dessert féérique à l’image des spectacles du célèbre cabaret parisien. Le chef Guy Krenzer a travaillé avec le créateur de spectacles Franco Dragone et Nathalie Bellon-Szabo, pour réinterpréter un tableau de danse en sucré. La « bûche » s’inspire des couleurs du spectacle « Paris Merveilles ». Nombreux sujets en chocolat blanc et en sucre tiré, à l’image de l’incontournable Bluebell, sont posés sur un entremets, façonné par un fond de pâte sablée croustillante, une compotée d’orange et un biscuit aux amandes surmontés d’une ganache crémeuse et d’une mousse légère.

Prix : 130 euros / 10 personnes / en édition limitée du 10 au 24 décembre

 

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Maison du Chocolat

Nicolas Cloiseau, le chef de la Maison du Chocolat, a sculpté une bûche de Noël artistique qui prend du volume grâce à six couvertures différentes de chocolat déclinées en 17 plaques. Pour la gourmandise, le pâtissier a préparé une mousse grenade, associée à un biscuit viennois au cacao roulé de marmelade passion/mangue/citron vert, avec un cœur de compotée de litchi et morceaux de fruits. Le tout repose sur un croustillant praliné amande/noisette/crêpe dentelle et biscuit noisette au citron vert.

Prix : 95 euros / 6 à 8 personnes / disponible en boutiques du 21 au 24 décembre

 

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Hôtel Ritz
15 Place Vendôme – 75001 Paris

Le chef pâtissier du Ritz rend hommage à sa maison et à sa réouverture récente. Le Bressan a modélisé la mythique place Vendôme, où se situe l’hôtel, dans une forme conique en chocolat. Le dessert est surmonté d’une pile de cadeaux. Côté recette, la création cache un biscuit léger sans farine et une mousse au chocolat Sambirano de Madagascar.

Prix : 200 euros / pour 6 personnes / en édition limitée, sur commande à partir du 1er décembre

 

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Patrick Roger
108 BOULEVARD SAINT-GERMAIN – 75006 PARIS

Offrir une orange est une vieille tradition de Noël. Ce cadeau, tant attendu autrefois, Patrick Roger le remet au goût du jour avec beaucoup de malice.

Cette reproduction parfait cache un divin chocolat et un assortiment des spécialités du chocolatier. Cette orange sera à coup sûr une bonne surprise de Noël !

Prix : 30 euros

 

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Hôtel Prince de Galles
33 Avenue George V – 75008 Paris

Pour Noël 2016, l’hôtel Prince de Galles produit une bûche d’exception. Son Chef Exécutif Stéphanie Le Quellec et le chef pâtissier Nicolas Paciello ont imaginé une création en hommage au restaurant La Scène.

En résulte la bûche « Bois Tendre » présentée en huit parts superposées dans une enveloppe de bois véritable. La pâtisserie est recouverte d’un biscuit sans gluten à base de farine de Sarrasin. On y retrouve une mousse au chocolat 70% de cacao, suivi d’un crémeux chocolat 70% de cacao et d’un praliné Gianduja-Sarrasin.

Cette bûche est disponible en édition limitée à 100 exemplaires pour 95 euros, ainsi qu’au restaurant la Scène.

 

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Hôtel Les Etangs de Corot
55 Rue de Versailles – 92410 Ville d’Avray

Le Chef Pâtissier de l’hôtel Les Etangs de Corot, Yannick Bugel n’est pas allé très loin pour trouver son inspiration. En observant la toile Entrée du Bois à Ville-d’Avray, du célèbre peintre Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, qui illustre la forêt de Fausses-Reposes, située principalement dans les Hauts-De-Seine, le Chef Pâtissier a en effet eu une révélation !

Pour ces fêtes de fin d’année 2016, Yannick Begel nous régale les yeux avec une bûche cachée sous des feuilles croquantes en chocolat au lait, un délice réconfortant grâce à la douceur de la châtaigne posée sur un biscuit moelleux, juste relevée au citron et à l’estragon pour une note de peps qui permet de ne pas fondre sur place.

La bûche Entrée du bois, signée Yannick Begel, sera servie en dessert au restaurant étoilé LeCorot et proposée à l’heure du thé au Café des Artistes du 21 au 25 décembre 2016 au prix de 15 euros par personne et sera disponible à la vente à emporter pour époustoufler vos convives le 24 décembre au soir.

Infos pratiques :
Bûche de Noël 2016 à l’Hôtel Les Etangs de Corot
Bûche en vente du 21 au 25 décembre 2016, à commander 72h à l’avance
Tarifs : 45€ la bûche 4/6 pers.

 

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Hugo & Victor
40 Boulevard Raspail – 75007 Paris

C’est un Noël original mais gourmand que nous invite à vivre la Maison Hugo & Victor cette année.

Hugues Pouget a en effet accepté de relever le défi lancé par le célèbre moine bouddhiste tibétain Matthieu Ricard : n’utiliser aucun produit d’origine animale.

Le Maître Pâtissier de Hugo & Victor a donc imaginé deux bûches réalisées en respectant le défi et en tenant compte des goûts vegan de Matthieu Ricard, auteur du “Plaidoyer pour les animaux” et co-auteur du très célèbre “Trois amis en quête de sagesse”.

Notez qu’une partie des bénéfices des ventes réalisées, sera reversée au profit de l’association de Matthieu Ricard, Karuna-Shechen qui met en oeuvre des projets humanitaires pour les populations défavorisées d’Inde, du Népal et du Tibet.

Bûche Maitri (Bonté): Biscuit souple au sésame blond caramélisé, mangue cuite façon Tatin aux épices, fraîche compotée de mangue et passion aux épices (poivre noir, gingembre, cannelle et cardamome)
5/6 personnes – 77€

Bûche Karuna (Compassion): Bûche glacée, Sorbet cacao, parfait glacé aux marrons glacés, lait de riz et biscuit chocolat
5/6 personnes – 77€

Hugues Pouget a également créé un cake praliné noisette Vegan.
Cake praliné maison aux noisettes et zeste d’orange
450g – 21€

Infos pratiques :
Disponible en décembre 2016

 

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Trianon Palace
1 Boulevard de la Reine – 78000 Versailles

Pour les fêtes de fin d’année, le chef pâtissier du Trianon Palace Eddie Benghanem, signe des pâtisseries de Noël inspirées par la poésie de la maison Deyrolle. Lyrique, architecturale, épurée et poétique, l’harmonie et le raffinement de la bûche Trianon Palace pour Deyrolle sont plutôt du genre alléchantes.

Véritable création empreinte de poésie, cette bûche est née de la rencontre entre la passion d’un chef et l’inspiration créatrice de Deyrolle.

Le socle de la bûche en chocolat noir aux allures de bois brut recouvre un coeur tendre fourré au praliné noisette légèrement salé. Le gâteau se compose d’un duo de chocolat noir pour l’amertume et d’une mousse de chocolat au lait pour apporter de la douceur et un léger goût sucré. Le caramel aux fruits de la passion et au citron ajoute une note acidulée à laquelle se conjuguent avec harmonie un croustillant généreux à la fève de cacao, une crême légère à la vanille et le moelleux de son biscuit au sucre moscovado. Inspirée par une envolée de papillons Deyrolle, cette bûche invite à l’évasion, au songe, à la pureté : savourer l’instant présent autour de l’alchimie des notes aromatiques sucrées, salées, acides et amères, inviter au partage et surtout à la gourmandise…

Prix : 75 € – Bûche pour 8 personnes

Disponible sur commande 48h à l’avance par téléphone auprès du restaurant La Véranda by Gordon Ramsay au 01 30 84 55 55 ou par mail à la.veranda@waldorfastoria.com.
A partir du 15 décembre 2016.

 

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Hôtel du Collectionneur
57 Rue de Courcelles – 75008 Paris

Cette année, pour ces nouvelles fêtes de fin d’année, le Chef Exécutif de l’Hôtel du Collectionneur, Joël Veyssière, et son équipe de pâtissiers ont choisi de s’inspirer de La Laponie pour créer leur création gourmande de Noël.

De cette bûche « Igloo » se dégage donc une ambiance de neige, de nuit polaire mais aussi de chaleur humaine.

Recréant à la perfection un véritable igloo, cette bûche de Noël 2016 se compose de plusieurs couches savoureuses et onctueuses.

Vos papilles risquent d’être comblées grâce notamment à un confit de pommes au caramel laitier à la truffe, renfermant en son cœur une mousse praliné noix de pécan.

Bref, en plus d’être belle et originale, cette bûche offrira douceur et légèreté en bouche.
Retrouvez cette bûche « Igloo » à l’Hôtel du Collectionneur, à emporter, du 19 au 25 décembre 2016.

Infos pratiques :
Bûche de Noël 2016 à l’Hôtel du Collectionneur
A emporter du 19 au 25 décembre 2016
Hôtel Du Collectionneur
Tarif : 80 € (6/8 parts)

 

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Fauchon
24-26 Place de la Madeleine – 75008 Paris

130 ans ça se fête ! Et c’est justement ce que compte faire Fauchon en cette fin d’année.
Pour l’occasion, la célèbre Maison a imaginé une bûche totalement inédite qui ravira les papilles des plus gourmands.

« Pour cette création célébrant les 130 ans de notre Maison, j’ai souhaité travailler le chocolat noir en jouant sur la hauteur et les volumes. Ce dessert mêle la pomme, les épices de Noël et le sudachi, un petit agrume japonais, proche du citron vert et du yuzu, redécouvert lors de mon dernier voyage au Japon. C’est donc avec fierté que je partage avec vous cette pièce unique que vous présenterez le soir de Noël à vos convives » confie ainsi Patrick Pailler, Chef Pâtissier chez Fauchon.

Cette bûche dévoile en effet des saveurs de pommes. Déposées sur un socle crumble citron vert-cannelle, elles révèlent toute la splendeur du fruit.
Un millefeuille de pommes presque confites s’allie parfaitement à une mousse de fromage blanc très fraîche, à un crémeux sudachi, petit agrume japonais, et à un crémeux acidulé.

Un pain de Gênes aux épices de Noël vient ponctuer cette création.

La bûche individuelle : 12€. Disponible du 2 au 24 décembre 2016 dans les magasins Fauchon Paris.
Pour 8 personnes : 100€. Disponible du 16 au 24 décembre 2016 dans les magasins FAUCHON Paris.
Série limitée à 150 exemplaires

 

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Park Hyatt Hotel
5 Rue de la Paix – 75002 Paris

Pour les fêtes de fin d’année, Jimmy Mornet, le nouveau Chef Pâtissier du Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme considéré comme l’un des meilleurs pâtissiers de Paris, a le plaisir de vous dévoiler sa nouvelle création pâtissière de la saison : la bûche de Noël.

Inspirée directement de l’atmosphère élégante et raffinée du restaurant du Palace, Les Orchidées, Jimmy Mornet a souhaité rendre hommage à ce haut lieu du Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme. « J’ai choisi de réaliser une bûche de Noël en référence aux Orchidées qui ornent les couloirs de l’hôtel, car elles sont un symbole de pureté, de distinction et de délicatesse » affirme le Chef Pâtissier.

Alliance subtile de texture et de saveurs, cette création pâtissière florale unique se veut audacieuse et gourmande pour ces fêtes de fin d’année. Composée de notes douces, acidulées et originales, elle révèle un cœur crémeux dulce au pain d’épices, une mousse légère aux saveurs de vanille de Tahiti mêlée d’une gelée parfumée à la mandarine. Le socle tout chocolat de cette bûche florale évoque les majestueuses vasques florales de l’hôtel tandis qu’au sommet, le bouquet d’orchidées en sucre et écorces de mandarine, ornent ce dessert imaginé pour un Noël enchanteur.

Toujours à la recherche des meilleurs produits locaux de qualité, le Chef Pâtissier Jimmy Mornet a fait le choix d’une bûche de saison où chaque ingrédient dévoile toujours plus de saveurs et de sensations pour sublimer vos fêtes de fin d’année. Bûche de Noël par Jimmy Mornet, 6 parts, 80 euros.

 

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Yann Couvreur
137 Avenue Parmentier – 75010 Paris

composition : écrin de chocolat de couverture, texture bois et embossé de petits renards, emblème de la maison – biscuit sacher – crémeux vanillé – meringue, marrons confits et crème de marron

prix : 90€ pour 8 personnes

 

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Loiseau Rive Gauche
5, rue de Bourgogne, Paris

C’est début Septembre que le groupe Bernard Loiseau a présenté sa bûche de Noël, sa galette des rois et sa toute nouvelle collection de produits d’épicerie régionaux à l’étage de son restaurant Loiseau Rive Gauche. Dominique Loiseau s’était pour l’occasion spécialement déplacée, sa fille Bérengère Loiseau très impliquée et qui gère la communication digitale et les relations médias était également présente de même que le chef sommelier du groupe Eric Goettelmann.

Le message bien qu’implicite est clair ! Le Groupe Bernard Loiseau veut se recentrer sur son identité locale. Que ce soit au travers de la bûche, de la galette ou des produits d’épicerie, on utilise des produits locaux, on fait travailler des artisans, des entreprise et des micro-entreprises locales avec un but entièrement sociétal. Le régional ne fait cependant pas tout et au travers des valeurs de Bernard Loiseau, on retrouve cette ouverture sur le monde mais aussi cette touche de jeunesse, de légèreté, de féminité, probablement insufflée par Bérengère, qui colle avec son temps.

La bûche est un hommage à la Bourgogne et reprend la forme d’un toit en tuiles vernissées emblématique de la région. On y retrouve un pain d’épice de Bourgogne léger et moelleux surmonté d’une mousse au chocolat de Madagascar garnie d’une mousse de cassis dont l’acidité va venir apporter de la fraicheur au palais. Au prix de 65 €, vous pourrez la récupérer 48h après la commande dans tous les établissements du groupe pendant les jours de fête. Les réservations se font à partir du 1er Décembre.

 

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Four Seasons Hôtel Georges V
31 avenue George V, Paris

Une ambiance givrée souffle sur les cuisines du Cinq.

Le chef Christian Le Squer, trois étoiles au Michelin, en collaboration avec son chef Pâtissier Stéphane Tranchet, dévoile sa deuxième bûche de Noël. Tel un «Jardin Alpin» parsemé de précieux sapins, cette création gourmande mêle avec subtilité pistache et cranberries. Un délicat givre vient recouvrir la couche de chocolat craquant, qui une fois fendue, laisse apparaître un biscuit moelleux et des saveurs douces et acidulées.

Bûche « Jardin Alpin » en édition limitée et numérotée. 125 euros pour 6 personnes, sur réservation uniquement

 

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The Westin Hotel — Vendôme
3 rue de Castiglione – 75001 Paris

Cette année, David Réal et Ken Thomas, respectivement Chef Exécutif et Chef Pâtissier du palace, nous proposent une bûche de Noël chic et épurée.

Baptisée la bûche « Chocolat-Thé », cette création dévoile un biscuit Joconde au chocolat imbibé de thé Earl Grey enroulé d’un crémeux à la noisette du Piémont et d’une mousse au chocolat bio d’Haïti.
Quelques inserts de gelée à la bergamote ont également été ajoutés dans la bûche.

Ce roulé léger et fondant est posé sur une base de praliné croquant aux fruits secs et à la graine de courge.

« Chocolat-Thé » présente une finition velours décorée d’un morceau d’écorce au chocolat travaillé en trois façons.

Pour accompagner cette bûche, les Chefs nous suggèrent une association chaud/froid avec un thé Earl Grey.

Infos pratiques :
En vente à emporter, sur commande : Iefirst@westin.com/01.44.77.10.20 Jusqu’au 22 décembre inclus. A venir récupérer le 24 ou 25 décembre 2016
Pour 6 à 8 personnes à 70 €
Dégustation au Bar Tuileries et sur la Terrasse de l’hôtel du 1er au 31 décembre 2016.
A la part : 11 €

 

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Ladurée
75, Avenue des Champs Elysées – 75008 Paris

Entremets Flocon de Neige

Dacquoise coco garnie d’un crémeux mangue passion, d’une brunoise d’ananas vanillée et d’une mousse coco

Individuel : 9,50 € – 6 parts : 65€
Disponible à partir du 1er décembre 2016 en édition limitée

 

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Maison Chaudun
149, rue de l’Université – 75007 Paris

Belle, étonnante et savoureuse : la bûche de Noël 2016 de Maison Chaudun en surprendra plus d’un !

Le grand Chef Pâtissier et Directeur de Création de Maison Chaudun, Gilles Marchal, a en effet imaginé une création rendant hommage à ses périples en Asie, région du monde qu’il affectionne particulièrement!

Pour cela, il a créé cette bûche comme une réminiscence de ses voyages, aux parfums de citronnelle et de chocolat.

Derrière cette belle création, Gilles Marchal a donc mélangé diverses saveurs et textures : dacquoise aux amandes, sabayon au chocolat noir et une crème à l’infusion de citronnelle fraîche…

La bûche est recouverte d’une robe veloutée de chocolat noir et se cache dans une magnifique malle écrin.

Gilles Marchal a également créé, spécialement pour ces fêtes de Noël 2016, un jeu de cartes en chocolat. Imaginé comme un véritable objet d’art, ce jeu propose six cartes coutures faisant chacune référence à l’Histoire de la Maison ou l’une de ses gourmandises : l’As mendiant, le Roi de l’Université, le Joker Malar, la Dame de Fève, le 8 Pavé et le Valet Noir.

Retrouvez ce Jeu de Cartes en éditon limitée de 100 exemplaires (Tarif : 8 €).

Infos pratiques :
Bûche disponible du 10 au 30 décembre 2016.
Maison Chaudun : 149, rue de l’Université, 75007 Paris
Ouvert tous les jours de 10h00 à 19h00 et le dimanche jusqu’à 17h00
Prix : 60€ pour 4 personnes / 90 € pour 6 personnes

 

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A la Mère de Famille
70 Rue Bonaparte – 75006 Paris

Vous êtes du genre gourmand ? Vous attendez les fêtes de fin d’année avec impatience ? Alors, vous devez être très certainement en train de vous demander quelle bûche de Noël sera servie à votre table cette année…
Aussi, A la Mère de Famille, on se fait plaisir avec la bûche glacée “Ski” à base de glace caramel, d’un croustillant de spéculoos et de folies de l’écureuil (amandes et noisettes, torréfiées, caramélisées, enrobées de chocolat noir, signature de La Mère de Famille) sur un parfait au chocolat à 43€ pour 6 à 8 personnes.

Et pour les enfants amateurs de chocolats, A la Mère de Famille propose un Père La Boule en chocolat «signature» noir 65% ou au lait 36%, garni de perles de chocolat noir et lait (19cm de hauteur, 42€ les 400 gr environ)
Alors, vous aussi avez craqué?

Infos pratiques :
Disponibles en décembre 2016
Tarif : 43€ la bûche

 

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Atelier Guy Martin
35 rue de Miromesnil – 75008 Paris

Fidèle à cet écho-signature entre le restaurant et l’univers olfactif de cette maison légendaire, le Chef Guy Martin a conçu une bûche autour des agrumes de saison, et en clin d’oeil à l’infusion Paris Caprice, l’une des dernières créations gourmandes signées Guerlain.

Son nom ? Le Caprice du 68.

Sa raison d’être : la féminité d’une infusion légère qui contraste subtilement avec le caractère fort des noix de pécan et l’esthétique hivernale des forêts savoyardes, chères au Chef.

Son coeur… Le biscuit aux noix de pécan est arrosé d’un crémeux à l’infusion de Rooïbos, de rose du Pakistan, de souci d’Egypte et de violette d’Albanie, et relevé d’un confit de bergamote.

Tarif de 12 € la part, à partir de 2 personnes

 

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Hôtel The Peninsula
19 avenue Kléber – 75116 Paris

Antony Terrone a conçu le dessert star des fêtes de fin d’année en puisant son inspiration dans l’histoire de l’Oiseau Blanc, premier biplan à avoir tenté la traversée de l’Atlantique en 1927, sous les commandes des deux pilotes français Nungesser et Coli.

« Nuage » appelle aux souvenirs d’enfance de par sa forme aérienne et légère, et marie le relief des textures et les saveurs tout en opposant savamment le moelleux et le croquant.

Assemblée de couches savoureuses et onctueuses, son cœur renferme une mousse onctueuse de chocolat au lait et un biscuit moelleux à la noisette caramélisée, confit poire parfumé à la clémentine. La création repose enfin sur un croustillant de chocolat noir à la fleur de sel, le tout surmonté d’un avion – réplique du véritable biplan « L’Oiseau Blanc », réalisé en chocolat garni d’un praliné noisette.

Cette bûche, qui offre douceur et légèreté en bouche, garantit une dégustation raffinée réunissant la beauté d’un travail soigné et le plaisir d’un dessert gourmand.

Une association de plaisirs, qui invite à célébrer les fêtes avec élégance et gourmandise.

– « Nuage », de 8 parts, à commander dès à présent et jusqu’au 31 décembre 2016, sur réservation 48h à l’avance minimum, via l’adresse mail festivePPR@peninsula.com.
– Prix de vente : 120€, à commander sur festivePPR@peninsula.com et à venir chercher sur place.
– Egalement disponible à la part au moment des brunchs au restaurant Le Lobby pendant tout le mois de décembre.

 

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Hotel Raphael
17, Avenue Kléber – 75116 Paris

composition : bûche 100% chocolat de Papouasie infusé à l’écorce de sapin – croustillant au praliné pignon de pin – cerclage en chocolat façon fer forgé – clous et vis en chocolat argenté

prix : 75€

 

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Tiara Chateau Hotel Mont Royal Chantilly
60520 La Chapelle en Serval — Chantilly France

Pour Noël, surprise ! Marine Corroyer, sous-chef pâtissière, découpe en tranches … les cadeaux !

La voici qui innove cette année avec trois bûches en forme de paquets-cadeaux à déposer au pied du sapin. Trois parfums: menthe-chocolat, chocolat-framboise et chocolat-pain d’épices, fourré à la marmelade d’orange et de mandarine.

Des bûches-cadeaux où tout, absolument tout, se mange : la boite, le couvercle, l’emballage et même le ruban.

Allez, allez, vous reprendrez bien un peu de cadeau.

Prix d’une bûche-cadeau : 75 €

 

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Un Dimanche à Paris
4-6-8 Cour du Commerce Saint André – 75006 Paris

composition : socle de streusel cacao, fleur de sel – nougatine au grué de cacao enrobés de chocolat noir – coussins floqués de beurre cacao blanc – mousse au chocolat noir pur Équateur à 72% de cacao – biscuit pain de Gênes cacao – crémeux chocolat 85% de cacao – nougatine au gré – fèves de cacao -feuille d’or

prix : 39€ pour 4/6 personnes

 

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p.s. Hey. For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with this blog for a year or more and/or who don’t already know the scoop about the bûche de noël tradition in France, every year many patisseries, hotels, and general chefs of France and especially Paris take the opportunity that the December holidays provide to design, create, and sell the most imaginative Xmas cakes they can think up and manifest. Generally, the cakes are made in limited editions and offered at exorbitant prices. And people like yours truly await this time of the year then go window — or, mostly, internet — shopping for the most exciting and fun looking cake and then try to buy and ultimately eat it before the edition is sold out. And up there is this year’s pageant of this year’s potentially best buches that I have come across. I would be interested in your opinions of which one or ones you find the most magical/edible, if you are into it and don’t mind. Thank you. Apologies that the descriptions and ingredients are in French, but, you know, it’s France. ** H, Thanks, h. I can vouch for ‘Dreamlives of Debris’. Well, obviously, I guess. A life of watching films and reading sounds very good indeed. I strive for that myself. Have a generous weekend. ** New Juche, Hi, Joe. Things are good, man, thanks. Ha ha, John’s description of our film is very John Waters. I’m thrilled by your great response to ‘ZFE’. Thank you so much! I can see a relationship between it and your work, that’s interesting. Your new one is available? Wow, very cool. I’ll go get it. I don’t have the link handy or I’d spread the news, but I’ll find it amongst my links horde and do that next time. Great, congrats! No, I don’t have the patience to type out excerpts, I don’t think. I use whatever excerpts I can find online to copy and paste. Or, if I have a pdf of the book, which is often the case, I’ll grab from that. Or, if need be, sometimes I’ll scan some pages of the book. I’m looking at a possible apartment on Monday. Fingers crossed. Best to you! ** Tomk, Hi, Tom. It’s not easy over here in France either, although the postal system isn’t horrible. Semi-horrible maybe. I’m mostly just a lucky dog because people send me pdfs and eBooks, so I read a lot of them that way. If you’ve mentioned that you’re writing a kind of sci-fi — you wrote ‘sci-if’, which is kind of an exciting idea of a new genre, and maybe that’s what you meant? — novel, I’m blanking. But, knowing your work to the degree that I do, I think you woking in that area both makes a lot of sense and is a heady and intriguing prospect for sure. Oscillating between excitement and terror is how you know you’re on the right track. Or maybe that’s just me. Crystal Castles were extremely ace. Take care, bud. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Boredom is cool: I like that idea. That article looks interesting. I’ll hit it up shortly. Thanks, David. ** Dóra Grőber, Hi! Oh, my pleasure about the books, of course. There is nothing in the world as great as a rush of inspiration, right? It’s better than being in love even. My instincts, which are pretty spot-on most of the time if I don’t say so myself, also tell me that you’re more than ready to publush your writing, yes! Zac was still feeling sick and bleah yesterday, but hopefully he’ll be up and around today. Crystal Castles were really great. As someone who loves their first two albums and thinks their third album is genius and who wondeted how they could present such studio-built work live, I have to say their show was everything I could have hoped. It was super fun and really smart and a great mindfuck. A total blast. Oh, shit, I hope that headache has gone far, far away by today. Has it? I hope your head feels feather-weight and gives you nothing but great ideas today and for the rest of your weekend. Did it, and what happened? ** Sypha, The books you read always seem to have such long, crazy titles. I like that. Oh, right, fantasy novels. Every time I’m in a bookstore and I think Oh, I really should get to know the fantasy genre better, I look at all those bricks on the shelves and change my mind, ha ha. ** Steevee, Hi, I did. Crystal Castles puts on such a great show. And the new singer is fascinating. Highly recommended if you haven’t seen them. Ha, about Gael Garcia Bernal. I’ve seen him walking around here in Paris a number of times. He looks excellent in person and street clothes too. Thanks for your music list. I’m putting together my year-end lists now myself. I want to hear Heron Oblivion. I keep reading interesting things about them, but I haven’t heard a peep. ** Jamie, Pump Up the Jamie! Okay, that was a bit pathetic, but still. Hooray that you’re still beset with Performance Cinema’s exhaust. Me too. Swanky swimming, hot tubs, sweet. Okay, the job sounds interesting enough in your description and, given that plus your excitement about it, I am going to maintain my loud hoorah of a response until further notice. Crystal Castles were mega. What they do, which I guess is take a certain kind of trashy ‘low end’ clubby tech-pop a la, say, Tetu, to cite a particularly good example, and kind of blow it out until it’s art is very specific, but there’s a lot of brilliance in it. Their particular genius reminds me of The Melvins’ particular genius. Coughing is good for you. Virtual writer gang sounds pretty great. How does that work? I hope you have a terrific weekend too. Movie-wise, maybe João Pedro Rodrigues’s ‘L’Ornithologue’. A number of people have told me I really need to see it. Weekend-sized love to you! ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. ‘DoD’ is very good. Huh, if I had ever tried to imagine JG Ballard’s house, it wouldn’t have looked like that. ** Joseph, Hi, Joseph! What a total pleasure to see you, sir. Oh, interesting: that class your friend is putting together. Yeah, it seems not only a risk worth taking but important. Major kudos to him. Well, I’d be honored, of course, if he wants to use ‘Jerk’. Ha ha, awesome about the student production idea, although that seems like it could be thing that could get him shut down or worse. You good, man? What’s up specifically with you and yours, if you feel like putting words to it. ** Misanthrope, Hey, glad you escaped bad trippage. Not that I would take mine back. Not that I would want to relive them either though. The new wooden/metal coaster hybrids I’ve ridden are bordering on smooth as silk. David Laid … don’t know of him, I don’t believe. I’ll check him. ** Jeff Jackson, Hi. No, I haven’t quite finished reading ‘Patricide’. It seems pretty likely that I will do something on it once I do. I was very happy to see ‘Novi Sad’ on the Entropy list too. Rockin’! A novella, related, interesting. The ‘Novi Sad’ experience opened up an interest in that idea? I am a fan of Terry Allen’s, yes. Wow, it’s interesting: I haven’t heard people talk about his visual art in a long time, and I haven’t thought of it in a while myself. I’m going to go refresh myself. But, yes, I remember it being quite good. Huh. ** Kyler, Hi, K. John W’s description was so very ‘him’. I liked it too. Especially the Rohmer thing. Saturday as in today? Cool. Hook us up. Oh, yeah, I think about those ‘what if’ questions a lot. It’s fun, it’s a good puzzle, and it’s a good way to remind yourself that randomness is ultimately is as important or morseso than what you do via calculation. ** Okay. Go feast your eyes on the buche pageant this weekend and let me know what you think. See you on Monday.

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Many of your stories are not driven by plot, at least not in the conventional sense. They’re driven by voice and style and syntax. I’m thinking specifically of “Other Babies,” the first story in your collection and “Spaghetti.” These stories that don’t have a traditional narrator or a traditional plot—how do they begin? Do you start by having the idea for the first sentence? Or seeing a single image? Or none of the above?

Meredith Alling: Most of these types of stories — which maybe are closer to prose poems — come about when I’m just letting myself mess around. I don’t have an idea or a plan, I’m just feeling my mood. If I’m lucky, I’ll land on a sentence or two that interest me, and I’ll make a decision to see where it goes. These are the most fun for me to write. The more plot-driven stories usually start with an idea. For “The Drug,” for example, I was thinking about these Polish teenagers that used to stand on the corner when I lived in Greenpoint in Brooklyn. Whenever I walked by them, I felt old and weird. So I decided to write a story about feeling old and weird, and the things a person might do to try to counter that feeling, even if the instinct is wrong. The narrative stories are a lot more laborious for me, and I’m obsessively concerned with avoiding corniness or over-sentimentality, so I do a lot of editing and take more breathers than I do with the experimental pieces.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’ve not been “trained” in the “craft of writing.” You don’t have an MFA, you majored in art history in undergrad, and you don’t work in publishing. Do you consider yourself to be “self-taught?” Do you have a “writing practice?” You have such great writing instincts.

MA: I guess I’m self-taught, yeah. I took one creative writing class in college, but beyond that I’ve never taken a class or participated in a workshop. I’ve been writing for a long time though, and I started getting more serious about it about 7 years ago. I was sharing some of my writing with a friend of mine who has an MFA and is a great writer and artist, and he encouraged me to start submitting, so I did. I’m thankful for that.

As far as a writing practice, it’s pretty relaxed. For the most part, I write at least an hour a day, either in the morning or at night, but I don’t enforce it. If I don’t feel like it, I don’t do it. But I find that I usually do feel like it. I have a day job, but if I’m not writing too I feel lazy. I usually have a bunch of little things going at once —- like multiple stories or poems or right now I have the beginning of what is maybe a novel that I’m working on in really little pieces.

Future Tense describes your book as “for fans of writers like Diane Williams, Amy Hempel, Lydia Davis, Ben Marcus, and Amelia Gray.” Are these the authors who influenced you while you were writing? Who else, if anyone, influenced you?

MA: Definitely, I love and admire all of those writers. If I’m feeling stuck on a story or even if I want to start something new and don’t know where to start, I’ll open a book from a stack I move from my bedside table to the kitchen table to the coffee table, depending on where I’m writing, and try to catch a vibe. All of those writers are in that stack, as well as others like Mary Robison, Selah Saterstrom, xTx, Paul Beatty, Lily Hoang, Eileen Myles, Joy Williams, and Noy Holland. — Vol. 1 Brooklyn

 

Meredith Alling Site
Meredith Alling @ Twitter
Podcast: MA on Other People with Brad Listi
IF MY BOOK: MEREDITH ALLING
Buy ‘Sing the Song’

 

Meredith Alling Sing the Song
Future Tense Books

‘After steadily garnering attention and gaining fans with her appearances in various magazines and websites, Meredith Alling comes out with her debut collection of stories, Sing the Song. For fans of writers like Diane Williams, Amy Hempel, Lydia Davis, Ben Marcus, and Amelia Gray, Alling’s debut will signal the arrival of a new unique voice in fiction. Featuring 27 stories in 130 pages, Alling’s collection is propulsive, dangerous, often funny, and powered by a language that wrestles with anxiety and the unexpected surrealism of modern life. With an ancient ham crawling out from a sewer to tell fortunes, a lone blonde at a party for redheads, and a mother outsmarting a masked criminal,Sing the Song bleeds and breathes with dreamlike surprise.’ — Future Tense

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Excerpt

Some babies drink soda the second they are born. They glug it down. The sugar courses through their body you can see the brown humming through their spiderweb skin. It shoots straight up to the brain, the hub. It clocks in at five past and gets to work. So that’s certain babies. Other babies determine the cheese level of their surroundings within seconds of inhalation. Then their fingers form into little paws and they claw, claw at the air. This goes on and on to the point of burnout. Then some kind pillowy nurse brings a cheese cube and pops it into their mouth just to balance things out. Other babies are vibrating piglets. They have fleshy hooves. They have regular faces. It’ll be a tough life for that baby, so decisions must be made. Go pig? Some babies go pig. Other babies don’t. Other babies suck the life force from any adult human that looks into their clean glass baby eyes. The adult humans are powerless. They melt, get like a candle, dripping and lopsided. Their mouths stretch out against their bodies like wax. A lip starting at the shoulder and ending near the thigh. They try to lift an everyday object — a pencil. They can’t. Their fingers are useless. They look at the baby and something strong happens inside of them. Other babies have the ability to chew gum. They find a way to move it around in their soft pink mouths. Gum on gum. Any baby who can chew gum is known in their circle as a riot. Other babies do not care to move. They lie like rocks from the moment of the birth. They lie like bricks. They stare up at the clouds and watch them slip across the sky. The clouds move like liquid, like milk. Other babies have four television screens positioned around their heads for total saturation. The outside world ceases to exist. These babies make friends with the pink cat. They think of stumps as seats. They aren’t curious about anything. They don’t ask any questions at all. Other babies are leaf dwellers. They prefer the dirt and they cocoon themselves in leaves. They bite a breathing hole through their leaf wrap. The darkness is welcome; no eye holes. Their bodies turn cold and tight, and then they bloom. Other babies hang on the rear windshield wipers until a member of a driving family says, “There’s a baby back there, on the wipers.” They pull over and pry the baby’s fingers from the wipers; a surprisingly tight grip. Then they brush the flies and the grime from its body and decide to love it. Other babies can smell when meat is perfectly cooked. They let out a violent bark, like a seizure-sensing dog sensing a seizure. Ready the fork and the spoon. These babies end up kitchen companions, propped on the counter, maybe strapped to a cupboard with a bungee cord. Other babies look groovy in tiny jean jackets and tiny leather jackets and tiny leather pants. They wear groovy little sunglasses with an elastic strap. The plastic smashes their eyelashes. Their onesies are decorated with bones. Other babies pinch themselves and cause injury. Puffy arms and legs covered in sharp red pops. This condition is handled with heavy sedatives that cause a baby’s eyes to roll back in their head and their mouth to go slack and they can’t listen or learn or even eat, but they also can’t pinch. Other babies are stubborn jackasses. They cross their arms and roll out their bottom lips and just refuse. Other babies carry small baskets everywhere. They come out of it with a basket on their arm. Then it’s time to fill up the basket. Gauze or whatever at the hospital, then moving forward anything else that is around. Packs of Chiclets, earrings, coins, diaper cream, eggs, crackers, tape. They carry the basket around and people peek inside the basket and say, “Oh what have you got there?” And the baby holds it up all proud. Other babies prefer cows over any other animal. They admire their tall bodies and large heads. They admire their twitching legs and the flies gathered around their eyes. They want to hug a cow’s neck, pull the loose skin, have the cow not react. Or have the cow lick their chins very hard. Other babies read at a high level right away. They hold a newspaper out in front of them and shake it to flatten the pages. They lick their thumb and turn to World News. They get a serious look on their bald faces. They look out the window and think something then turn back to the text. Other babies do not make it very long as babies. It would have been better if they were born a bit older. They can’t be handled. They make someone scream and want to crash the truck. Sometimes they are poisoned. Sometimes people have to live with having poisoned a baby. Other babies are very alive. They are in every room and every muscle and every eyeball. They are loud rushing blood. They are the arm or the leg of someone and that person can never shake that arm or leg, they just stare at it, wonder if it is really a part of them, or if it’s not a part of them. They can’t figure it out. Is that baby me? Am I that baby? It’s all very confusing. They really want to grab and find out. They try to hold their own hand, their own leg. They feel their skin on their skin and they cry.

 

 

 

_____________

‘I’ve been tremendously interested over the past few years in how form — and not only content — carries meaning. That is, in how the structure of a piece of writing asks us to engage that piece of writing in unique ways that inflect the event of reading.

‘So, for instance, my novel Theories of Forgetting arrives with two back covers (each upside down with respect to the other) and no front one. How a reader initially happens to pick it up pressures which narrative she enters first, thereby pressuring the meaning-making strategies. Each page of Theories is divided in half. One protagonist’s narrative (she’s a filmmaker working on a short documentary about Robert Smithson’s famous earthwork, The Spiral Jetty) runs across the “top” of each page, from “back” to “front,” while the other protagonist’s narrative (her husband scattering across Europe and Jordan in the aftermath of her death) runs “upside down” across the “bottom” of each page, from “front” to “back.” The shape of the layout connotes a spiral, a super important structure for Smithson, for whom its suggests labyrinth, journey from this world to other, meditative space, space of transformation, and more. …

‘In the foreword to his short story collection Slow Learner, Thomas Pynchon writes: “When we speak of seriousness in art, ultimately we are talking about an attitude toward death — how characters act in its presence, for example, or how they handle it when it isn’t so immediate.”

‘That strikes me as precisely the case, both inside and outside art. Living doesn’t get serious, which is to say seriously rich, until one understands entropy is a process that is always-already happening, not just in, say, the galaxies, but also in your mitochondria. Understanding (not just knowing) that changes everything. It’s the most beautiful and alarming and revitalizing and hideous and liberating and imprisoning thought a human being can have, and so she or he should have it at least two or three times a minute. When talking at length about travel and curiosity, it’s a foregone conclusion I also have to talk at length about the hole-in-the-heart realization that — echoing Beckett — birth is the death of us. Otherwise, the ideas of travel and curiosity would have no immediacy, no currently.’ — Lance Olsen Bookslut

 

Lance Olsen Site
Lance Olsen interviewed
10:01: Lance Olsen and Tim Guthrie
THE COMPLEXITIES OF A MOMENT FELT
Preorder ‘Dreamlives of Debris’

 

Lance Olsen Dreamlives of Debris
Dzanc Books

‘Dreamlives of Debris is a stunning song cycle on the pixelation of memory in a hyperdigitalized universe, opening out into an extraordinarily beautiful and powerful meditation on nothing less than the erasure of time itself.’ —David Shields

‘Lance Olsen opens up an astonishing world of thought and emotion–a place distant but familiar that hangs almost out of the reach of our daily perception…. A beautiful and moving reading experience, Dreamlives of Debris is a unique and impressive achievement.’ —Carole Maso

‘Breaking boundaries of horror, science fiction, nonfiction, love story, and myth, this rare and brilliant novel reinvents the female ‘monster’ in the form of a disfigured girl. Subverting the hero’s journey, Debris goes on a quest to find her self within an impossible labyrinth where architecture mirrors the disfigured female body, imprisoning and revealing a girl monster who stands between humanity and the darkness. In this world where what seems to be monstrous is more human than human, the stories most difficult to tell are the ones we most need to be told.’ — Aimee Parkison

 

_____
Excerpt

:::: debris
There are the stories that make sense. These are called lies. There are the stories that maze you. These are called the world.
I should mention your body is a haunted house you can’t escape.

:::: debris
Which is to say the worst is still to come, was still to come, will still be to come, has come, had come, is coming, has been coming, might come, is going to come, will have come, would have come, but not yet, and already.

:::: j. g. ballard song
Because all clocks are labyrinths.

:::: lady tiresias chorus
When I die, it will have been inside the stomach of a bull. When I die, it will have been inside the courtyard of a doomed palace. When I die, it will have been with the understanding that the descent into Hades is the same from every point, every race, every gender, every class, every ancestry. With the recognition I will soon meet Odysseus in the infinite gray desert of the afterness and, skin ashen, eyes cloudy and blank from too much seeing, violet mouth sewn shut with black catgut, he will ask me sans voice to recollect for him what the best path of life is. Standing alone with the sacker of cities, I will advise him to forget the philosophers, ignore their metaphysics, for in the end there exists nothing save atoms and empty space—that is it, that is all, that is us, that is this. No one will arrive to save us from ourselves. When I die, it will have been wondering whether I am actually thinking these thoughts I think I am thinking or only dreaming I am thinking them as I study the glowing blue flame float out from my chest and across a black ocean, how it must at some point have ceased to be part of me and become part of something else, for it is so far away, and then farther, and th

:::: jorge luis borges song
Because time is a river that sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.

:::: debris
Because the historians chronicle how, when my brother, Androgeos, began to collect all the prizes at the Panathenaic games, King Aegeus commanded him to fight his most fearsome bull.
How brave, bewildered Androgeos was gored and died on the stadium floor within minutes of entering.

:::: bradley manning song
Because it was not until I was in Iraq and reading secret military reports on a daily basis that I started to question the morality of what we were doing. This is why I turned over the files to which I had access to WikiLeaks, which made them public. I understand that my actions violated the law. I regret that my actions hurt anyone or harmed the United States. It was never my intent to hurt anyone. I only wanted to help people.

:::: debris
Because, outraged, Daddy set off to Athens. Revenge seared his veins. On the way he invaded Megara, whose King Nisos’s power derived from a single magic lock of purple hair. Nisos’s daughter, Scylla, saw Daddy from the battlements, tumbled into love with him in the beat of a hurt, and that very night sheared her own sleeping father like some feeble- minded sheep.

:::: debris
Networks. Weaves. Plaits. How each of us becomes hole.

:::: debris
Because, appalled by Scylla’s lack of filial devotion, Daddy departed at once, leaving Nisos’s daughter keening on the dock.
Each star in the sky a pinprick upon her skin.

:::: debris
Because every labyrinth is both plan and tangle.

:::: debris
Method and mess.

:::: debris
Wait. I believe I have just had a dream.

Author Lance Olsen on writing, literature and his novel Nietzsche’s Kisses.

Head in Flames: Andi & Lance Olsen : Part One

burnt : lance olsen and tim guthrie

 

_____________

‘To talk of being trans*, for me, is to talk of betrayal. Both in terms of being betrayed and to be assumed in a position of betrayal. I betray wholeness, body, to you, and to myself. I become definable as parts—the hip, the shoulders, the nose, the breast—and space becomes crisis—the bathroom crisis (which do I use today? do I feel like getting yelled at or risk being beaten?), the drive-by crisis (are they going to throw something or just yell?), the ‘coming out’ crisis (do they know? will they leave me? will they assault me? or, god please, at least will they fetishise me?) and so on.

‘To exist as trans* is to exist in a state of emergency. When I say gender has betrayed me what I mean is writing has betrayed me. It’s grammar working, as it was meant, to undo what it means for this body to be.

‘There were not words for my experiences or parts. There were never people like me, at least positively, in stories and shows. So I undid. I asked what is left and scavenged. I was committed to language that undid me without considering what it meant to speak.

‘Fancy men in fancy clothes will tell you writing isn’t safe or to face our ugliness one must risk or any number of fancy things. I don’t know if writing can ever be safe but I do know there is nothing risky in telling the old stories about gender. The old stories I read and read that denied me access and made jokes at my expense. If I was lucky I would see a trans person (almost always a trans woman) be inspirational, Wow so uplifting, they say, but, more often, I saw them dead. Trans* folks’ narrative legacy is almost always, at best, a warning sign.’ — Jos Charles

 

Jos Charles Site
4 poems on Action Yes
Jos Charles @ Twitter
2 poems @ The Feminist Wire
Buy ‘Safe Space’

 

Jos Charles Safe Space
Ahsahta Press

‘Safe Space takes back its title from the term’s intentional misuse within the neo-liberal/conservative imaginary, but this action can offer a reader only the slightest indication of the nervy energy pulsing within this first full-length collection by Jos Charles. Throughout the poems in Safe Space, Charles defiantly articulates the terms of a radicalized vulnerability––unashamed to feel and never feeling ashamed, reclaiming agency over both poetry and politics, refusing to placate any authority attempting to control bodies with violence. The poet’s agile lyricism rips apart and reimagines theoretical discourses as confessional texts and vice versa, with severe lines and staccato rhythms. As a hyperkinetic interrogation of contexts that give rise to its disruptions of, and interventions on, youth, sexual trauma, and transness, Safe Space is critical reading in both senses of the term. The collection dazzles and devastates, confronting a world whose ruin is long overdue with equal parts glee and sadness, compassion and power.’ — Ahsahta Press
______
Excerpts

HOME STATE

.

u may not know this about me

but i grew up a gay baby

.

in the united states of america

The united states was then a briefly lived

.

conceptual project performed by pop artist

john baldessari Children

.

were a primary form of currency and u

would often see them

.

on beaches or in strip malls

advertising diet books and drinking espresso

.

On a typical day in the united states

people would send each other text messages

.

like what chemicals are in ur body

today In the united states

.

u could always say sexualize my crisis

in the right poem It’s hard

.

to believe but to this day they still hi five

each other in the united states Once

.

when exchanging my brother’s favorite pathology

for a pair of cirque du solieil tickets

.

i saw a t shirt that said a hole

is a hole is a hole in fort myers, florida

 

TRIGGER WARNING

when i was 3, i could sing
the batman theme.

the family was impressed.
uncle would request

batman tapes from
that guy mom

knew across the way
from grandfather’s place.

i was told i had ‘speech issues.’
i would often misuse

‘a’s. warm became worm.
harm became home.

i’ve mostly figured words out,
except with a cock in my mouth.

u swallow and take a body
out a body. later u shit a body.

i won’t get into why,
but when i was five

i thought a gay man
was a stay at home dad.

when i told dad’s friend
he was the first gay man

i met, he kicked
my ass. when i said shit

shit and got scared
and came in ur hair,
it’s cause i remembered.

 

DONT SWALLOW

fell asleep in text
of lover. an other
presumed tongue.

book want undone. book
wanna have fun. too steamy headlight
pressing on toward night.

father-book on mantle of
elm eaves. me easy lay, book say.

word to a fault. me like home.
like woman.
a spine to it.
ashen n smoke.

no getting round
afternoon of ur
reality cult /
engender weight of /
color as sign as taste of.

book say, script the new
synecdoche.

book say, sure boy can read,
but cant have both ways.

u choose too
late. space
the new moon

 

Assignment #4

LOV POEM

Her Postures Thawed in the Night

 

______________

‘Roger Lewinter’s The Attraction of Things is about things and a person’s attraction to them. But after finishing the book I keep misremembering the title as The Attraction of Things Past. In my mind that “past” aspect is inseparable from the other elements of the narrative and plays a key role in the book because the narrator is as much obsessed with the past as with the matter. He chases objects that once upon a time belonged to people who had to let them go, due to death or financial or emotional necessity. The things survive and find their way to flea markets.

‘The narrator spends a lot of time in flea markets, searching. Records, cashmere shawls, and porcelain cups are some of the objects we get to know in detail. Lewinter dedicates long passages to their descriptions, to why the narrator wants them, how he finds them, and what he sees in them:

“… when for the second time I unfolded it, its serene luminosity deceived me; and it wasn’t until after dinner, at home, the third time I unfolded it, that there appeared to me, in its all-encompassing motion, the thread whose molecules, in equal parts solid, liquid, ethereal, according to the interplay of the colors, constructed, through a network of veins, ponds, ferns, a system of gray stills saturated with a reddish glow in which, like a rainbow, …, suddenly appeared the Angel.”

‘Through his strolls, the narrator also tells us about translating, reading Rilke’s poetry, doing yoga, acting in a play, even if, in comparison to the time he spends on objects, these are passing interests. Even more briefly, he glides over past relationships, loss, and death. We learn of his engagement coming to an end in less than half a page: “toward the end of the meal, officially that of an engagement, she announced to me that she had a new boyfriend; giving me formal notice, by this fail accompli, if I wanted to proceed to make my own choice”. He mentions the loss of his mother here and there, and actually speaks more directly and in detail about his father’s loss—his declining health, the hospitalization, the move to a nursing home, and finally, his death. This story of loss, however, comes to light through the story of scratched records and broken porcelain cups and flea markets. He weaves these two aspects of his life so tightly together that they seem inseparable, and of the same weight. Yet there is a moment when he begins to reveal that perhaps his passion for objects is his way of connecting to people and the past.

‘In telling this character’s story, Lewinter’s writing takes us on a stroll through a flea market of its own. His sentences are long and winding, full of phrases and clauses, moving in and out, back and forth, between stalls and spreads, from past to present. (The complexity of these chains of words makes one wonder how translator Rachel Careau found her way around, aiming for the same style in the target language.) It takes some patience to walk with Lewinter through these passages, but if you do stay with him, you might arrive at that gem you have been looking for, or one that you weren’t even aware you needed.’ — Poupeh Missaghi

 

Roger Lewinter @ New Directions
Roger Lewinter | heros-limite
Rediscovering Roger Lewinter
Roger Lewinter @ goodreads
Buy ‘The Attraction of Things’

 

Roger Lewinter The Attraction of Things
New Directions

‘Roger Lewinter’s works, both humanly touching and artistically innovative, are spectacularly individual. Obsessively, and in the most incisive detail, they portray some of the crucial events and ideas of his life in prose at once headlong and passionate in its pacing, and tight and cerebral in its articulation. In this volume, Lewinter’s highly intricate syntax, which necessarily so closely reflects and reproduces his complexly layered thinking, has been meticulously and eloquently recreated by Rachel Careau in her masterful translation.’ — Lydia Davis

 

_____
Excerpt

It had been a year now since, in breaking things off, I had declined the choice made for me by my mother before her death; as she had been doing every two months, however, Michèle had called, and we were supposed to see each other that Wednesday, December 17: to begin with, I wanted to show her the second Kashmir shawl that, just at the end of Le pasteur, I had found at the flea market—a Marseille jacquard square that had nevertheless fascinated me at once, since it constituted the necessary counterpart to the Rose Garden, setting against its sixteen dispersive swirls on the outside a concentrated sphere on the inside, of red tracery, floating in a diamond of metallic-gray ether itself set in a green-and-black square that incorporated into its corners sections of the central globe—; turning away from it, Michèle observed, “I don’t get the radiance of your Kashmir shawl”; and we went to the station buffet where, toward the end of the meal, officially in our engagement period, she announced to me that she had a new boyfriend; giving me, by this fait accompli, formal notice, if I wanted to proceed, to make my own choice; and so when we parted at midnight, I returned home full of a feverishness that the sleeping pills increased, so that, around one thirty, I got up and went out, to go to the public toilets, on place Saint-Gervais, in the basement, where for years I persisted in looking for what, already stunning me in the stench of the public urinals in Paris, at age twelve, evading my grasp, captivated me—before Pentecost, returning home from the classes in Zurich, around one in the morning, I had encountered someone there who didn’t appeal to me but whose waiting affected me, not realizing that he was drunk and that, in this state, I was intruding upon him with my aimless concentration, whose misbehavior, the next evening, when I saw him again, in the guise of sudden passion at first moved me deeply, when, without segue, he called out to me in German, “Why are you so stupid?” then made me freeze when he continued in French, “You belong to me, I want your body, I want your soul”; and I had driven him away, only to attempt, several days later, to find him again, in vain, a hallucination to which I refused access in reality—; while now, a reeling lout suddenly looming up, seeing me, fell to his knees at my feet.

He had spoken to me about withdrawal, about an empty bottle of whiskey on the ground there, and about a brawl in which he had torn the sleeve of his anorak; and when we arrived at my apartment—outside, we had had to wait a quarter hour for a taxi, during which, in fits, in order not to fall, he had hung on to me—, he had flopped down on the bed, asking me, before sinking under, not to forget to wake him at five o’clock: when the telephone rang, I wasn’t sleeping, but he was unconscious; rubbing his face with a towel moistened with cold water, I finally managed to pull him from sleep: he looked at me; then, slowly putting together what had happened, he came around, suddenly ecstatic, in a trance enveloping me in a worshipful embrace within which I remained, stunned: it was seven thirty when he recalled that he was supposed, at six o’clock, to have opened the bistro where he had been working for only three days, and telephoned his boss to ask him to find someone to fill in, saying that he would be there as soon as he had found a taxi—outside, it was snowing—; but, now, he couldn’t manage to unknot the laces of his putrefied Clarks, which I had pulled off him to put him to bed: I took them in my hands then, and at the moment when, detecting their odor, which at its most extreme—unbearable—was an invading force that suddenly made me hyperventilate, I knelt down at his feet, he released in one breath, “I will marry you, you have only to say the word, wherever you want, whenever you want”; and when, at quarter past eight, having finally gotten a taxi, a rendezvous having been set for that evening at nine at the Colibri, a bistro downstairs from his place, unable in the entryway to pull himself away, he kissed me, beside himself—“I love you and I worship you, and I am very jealous, and if you betray me, I will kill you”—, I discovered to my elation that, while this was what I had wanted to experience, convinced that there had to be a difference, there was none, between man and woman, none whatsoever, since it is negated for the body that in its fulfillment is escaped.

During the month that followed, I saw him only when he was drunk: he would telephone then without warning, in the middle of the night—every time, whatever the hour, that he called, he pulled me from the unconsciousness of the most profound sleep, even though I otherwise remained, as usual, awake—, and, from the bistro he hung around at, taking a taxi, he would suddenly appear ten minutes later at the door, a genie released from his bottle, gaze piercing, body luminous; without my seeking—even though he insisted, at first, that I intrude— ever to have a hold on him, making me realize, and this filled me with an acute exultation—which, three weeks earlier, as I was throwing myself into Le chercheur, had finally made me buy the Psalms of David, by Schütz, the joyous intensity of which, at first hearing, years earlier, had enthralled me, without my having, until now, dared to listen to them—, that, for him, I didn’t exist in reality outside of drunkenness; the asceticism consisting in being only this, which made of two bodies brought together the mere stopping-off point in an impersonal connection that, through the necessary surrender to his arbitrariness ravishing my body, was draining me completely through this dissipation, about which, by telephone, at the end of January, in response to a remark I made to him about his increasing discontinuity, he stated abruptly, “Hollywood, it’s over.”

At the end of January, when the draft of Le chercheur was advancing rapidly, I went to the Théâtre du Caveau to see Moriaud, with whom I had remained in contact, although the relationship had soured when, after the Musset, Moriaud having asked me what exactly I wanted, disconcerted, I hadn’t known what to answer, while he pressed me to finally choose, whoever it be, a body, at which I expressed my reluctance, claiming, dishonestly, to have already done so besides; and, backstage, after the performance of Point d’eau—in which he played the guru of a group of survivors of some cataclysm—, I was recounting to him my news when Sandra, a Romanian refugee, who had staged the play, her curiosity obviously aroused, invited me to have a drink with the troupe, so as to offer me out of the blue—we hadn’t exchanged three words—the part, in February, in her next production, initially conceived as a montage on the theme of Antigone, of the announcer, then, should the need arise, in the play by Sophocles, which was being staged in May, that of the leader of the chorus.

At the thought of working again with Moriaud, who was playing Tiresias, but, still more, struck that, when I had known her, eight years earlier, Svetlana, giving up ballet, had rightly tried her hand at theater in a montage of the trilogy by Sophocles in which she played, in addition to the Sphinx and Jocasta, Antigone, I accepted, fascinated by the logic of the proposition: for if I had, initially, given up the theater, it was with the awareness that it would be impossible for me to act without consenting to homosexuality, which would have overwhelmed me, whereas I was aiming for control over it; for which the Fränger had supplied me with a technique whose significance I had long failed to see, similar to the disruption of sleep that, systematically, I had brought on by taking sleeping pills, with an obviousness I didn’t wonder about, as soon as I undertook the Diderot—culminating, when I met Moriaud, in three months of total insomnia, which was losing its agonizing nature only now, with the sudden appearance of the lotus—: the Adamite heresy, as re-created in The Millennial Kingdom, elaborated, in actual practice, tantrically, by the man who, indefinitely postponing his ejaculation in orgasm, with his mind sent it back like a fire into his own body, thus sublimated.

 

Diderot et sa pensée politique. Avec Yves Benot, Roger Kempf, Roger Lewinter, et Patrick Guinand

 

*

p.s. Hey. John Waters picked Zac Farley’s and my ‘Like Cattle Towards Glow’ as one of his top ten movies of the year in Artforum. Check it out. ** Bill, Hi, Bill. Thanks, man. I just wish I was in SF to see all of that stuff in the flesh. I looked up cacio e pepe. Oh my God, want. And it’s so seemingly have-able. First indeed! Like old times. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Oh, sure, yeah. I think this work definitely originates in the work Smith and others were doing in the 60s and 70s. And then the follow through music/visual work practiced by, say, Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire as well as a similar kind of work I saw a fair amount in the performance art scene in the East Village in the ’80s. ** Sypha, Hi, James. I got the post. Thank you a ton, it’s fantastic, of course! I’m going to launch it here on Saturday, the 10th if that works for you. So the enormous horror novel fetish is mostly a thing of the past? That’s interesting. Is it the same with the sci-fi genre? Because that’s another area where I feel from very limited experience like length is considered a real virtue. Although I do remember someone telling me at some point that the rise of cyber-punk gave shorter sci-fi novels a new legitimacy? ** Dóra Grőber, Hi! Yeah, I liked the apartment, although my roommate checked it out this morning and he was much less enthusiastic about it, so I’m not sure if it’s the one now. I might look a little further before committing or trying to commit, I mean. Ha ha, yeah, I guess having the paper just gives you the proof or something. Which is good to have since people like proof. Anyway the exam doesn’t sound too scary, so that’s very good. So you can any least partly relax for the holidays. The meeting with the student was really good. He’s super smart and asked very interesting questions, so it was a pleasure and I hope I gave out information that will help him. I believe his studies are in cinema and video, and his general or personal concentration is on ‘queercore’. I’ll look up ‘The November Criminals’. I don’t know it at all. Cool. Yesterday ended up being another work-y one mostly. Today I’ll finally see Zac, who arrived back from his travels with a flu or bad cold, and he and I and Gisele are going to see Crystal Castles tonight, and that seems like it will be guaranteed fun. And I guess I’ll get on the apartment hunt. Stuff like that. And your Friday? Tell me if you don’t mind. ** Steevee, Hi. Yeah, I haven’t seen ‘Moonlight’. From how it’s been described to me, it seems like something that might be more up your alley than mine, but I’ll try to watch it at some point to see what it is. I’m imaging ‘Neruda’ is about the poet, no? I’ll look for a trailer or something. I’m curious about ‘Things to Come’, so I’m happy to have your review to help partly sate that curiosity. Everyone, If you go here you’ll get to read Steevee’s review of Mia Hansen-Løve’s film ‘Things to Come’ starring the one/only Isabelle Huppert. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Me too, obviously. About the work and about getting lost in artworks. I’m now keeping my eyes peeled for opportunities to see work like that here. Yeah, I thought of clubbing too, and specifically of some of the totally mindblowing raves I went to back in the early 90s. ** Jamie, Ha ha, Denzig. My apartment in LA is just a few blocks from Glenn Danzig’s house. I’ve seen him skulking and moping around at the local supermarket many, many times. I’m so happy that you got so into the post. Yeah, I’m kind of really into the performance cinema work in general now suddenly. I’m finding it very inspiring. Wanting to experience it and looking for what I can learn from it aesthetically and so on. Awesome! Oh, I can always find time in my schedule even at the most smashed of times for amusement parks, and, needless to say, for hanging out with you whether in them or not. I don’t think Bas Normandie is particularly notable as a piece of scenery. I’ve only dipped in so far, but it looks just very familarly French to me. Rohmer could very well have a film set there. Hm, I’ll check. I love Rohmer. John Waters just picked ‘LCTG’ as one of his top ten films of this year and he did a funny comparison to Rohmer in his little written squib about it, and that made me very happy. Oh, I’ve started making a post about scissors. It turns not to be so easy, or easy to do something actually cool post-wise about them, but I’m maxxing out the topic, and we’ll see. Yes, I looked up cacio e pepe. Oh my God, as I said to Bill. Reading about it made my mouth cinematic. I’m on the hunt. I mean, pepper! I mean just that in and of itself. If someone told me that pepper is made by Tinkerbell shaking her magic wand, I would believe them. My weekend? Work, duh. Apartment searching, duh. Crystal Castles tonight. I think making the rounds of art galleries tomorrow. Movie maybe? And hopefully instances of the unexpected and wonderful. You went swimming! Indoors, I guess? I’m guessing you’re not a member of the polar bear society or whatever they’re called. The animation job starts on Monday? What will that involve in terms of time and actual tasks and stuff? How are you going to do up your Xmas tree? Do you have pre-existing ornaments and stuff? I hope your Friday puts your week into mothballs in high style. Lots o’ love in return, Dennis. ** Jeff Jackson, Hi, Jeff. Yes, the series at the SF Cinematheque was an eye-opener for me, and the post resulted. Mm, I think I’m still at the stage where I feel wide-eyed and absorbent re: that work. There were things about all of those works that interest me, but I don’t think any of them stuck out as especially great relative to the others yet. Thanks about the Dazed interview. I hope you like ‘ZFE’, of course. And, yeah, very chuffed about John Waters putting ‘LCTG’ in his top ten. A new fiction project? A novel or something else or you don’t know yet? That’s exciting! Here’s hoping that what feels like it’s starting to give gives. ** Chris dankland, Hi, Chris! Cool, thanks, I’m really glad the post and work fed you something. I’m into it too. Well, at the New Museum event, that’s essentially what happened re: projecting the gif work. They projected the gif works on a large screen, and the artists interracted with them live, for the most part. And three of the performances involved live music being performed while the gif works were being scrolled. And it worked really well. The gif works looked kind of amazing blown up like that. It went so well that the New Museum is thinking about doing more events like that around my gif works, maybe a touring event or something. So, yeah, that idea is something I’m thinking about. Ooh, I hadn’t thought about using the projections to create a walkthrough haunted house environment. Obviously, that’s an exciting idea to me. Or maybe a haunted elevator environment since they’re vertical. Hm, okay, I’m going to dwell on that idea for a while. Thanks a bunch for the great idea and for everything else, man. ** Right. Up there are four books I read and ended up loving. Needless to say, they’re recommended. See you tomorrow.