The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Rocks

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Marcelo Moscheta Anti-Gravitational Magnetic Pole, 2009
62 photographs on transparency film, aluminum boxes, LEDs lamps, wires and electrical components, PVC, plexiglass, iron and steel wires

 

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u/ibm untitled, 2022
sdxl

 

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Lee Ufan Relatum – Silence, 2014
steel, stone

 

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Olivia Moore and Richard Yanas Rock Hard / Soft Rock, 2011
‘Yanas’ unaltered and digitally manipulated photographs both inform and confuse, causing the viewer to call into question the authenticity of every image. Like Yanas, Moore plays with fact and fiction through the reproduction of objects, which reference the landscape.’

 

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Jim Hodges Untitled, 2011
Hodges sheathed four granite boulders in lacquered stainless steel

 

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Olafur Eliasson HALF A ROCK (THE OTHER HALF WAS GIVEN TO THE STONE CUTTER FOR CUTTING THE STONE), 2009
dolerite

 

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Abraham Poincheval Pierre, 2017
‘A French artist emerged from a week entombed inside a 12-tonne rock Wednesday and said he was “a little stunned” by the experience. Abraham Poincheval, 44, had difficulty walking as he was helped from the stone onto a chair before being taken away for a medical examination.

‘His extreme performance in a Paris art museum has become something of a sensation in the French capital, with crowds thronging the Palais de Tokyo to watch him inside through an infra-red camera. Hundreds have tried to talk to him through a crack in the rock, with the artist telling AFP that some had read him poetry, played guitar or told him about their dreams and nightmares.

‘Poincheval, who previously spent a fortnight sewn-up inside a stuffed bear, had earlier told AFP through a crack in the limestone boulder that his confinement had been “like tripping”. “I am travelling in this rock without moving, like an astronaut,” he said, buoyed up by the fact that he had “got into people’s heads”.

‘Poincheval carved out a hole inside the rock in his own image, just big enough for him to sit up in, with a niche to hold supplies of water, soup and dried meat. Dubbed France’s most extreme artist, he will attempt to become a human hen later this month and hatch a dozen eggs by sitting on them for weeks on end.’

 

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Anish Kapoor Grave, 2016
Resin and earth

 

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Foteini Palpana If you were written on ice you would be equally indecipherable, 2017
‘The network of crevices on the surface of a rock is viewed by the artist as a cryptogram that can be transcribed, but not necessarily interpreted.’

 

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Huang Yong Ping A football match of June 14 2002, 2002
Fibre de verre, bois et chauve-souris naturalisées

 

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Natalia Turnova The Egg and the Rock, 2021
mixed media

 

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Rebecca Horn Magic Rock, 2005
Special stone from the sea of the Aeolian Islands near Napoli, Mountain rock crystal from Nepal steel, motor, wood platform

 

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Eduardo Basualdo Teori, 2014
mixed media

 

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Luis Camnitzer Somebody’s Fragment, 1969
rock made with papier-mâché on a metallic structure, chord and written document with the caption “Somebody’s fragment”

 

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Anna Borgman and Candy Lenk Wurf, 2022
paper maché and wood

 

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Chris Burden Extreme Measures, 2013
boulder, rope

 

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Amy Stephens Something Anything Everything, 2018
‘a feather rock is transported from its natural state relanding in the space’

 

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Ken Kelleher Union, 2020
stainless steel

 

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Romain Langlois Untitled, 2021
‘Langlois uses bronze to pull boulders apart.’

 

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Michael Heizer Levitated Mass, 2012
‘A giant boulder moved from a quarry in Riverside to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art over the period of ten nights in 2012.’

 

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Matthijs Kok Stone Foam Stool, 2015
‘A stool with a hard look, which is unexpectedly soft.’

 

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Urs Fischer Untitled, 1993
‘One can always rely on Urs Fischer for a mound.’

 

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Katharina Grosse Rock, 2005
Rock, acrylic

 

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The Chapuisat Brothers No Place Like Home, 2007
‘Our constructions transform space, turning interior and exterior boundaries inside out and toying with the perception of a subjective reality. They demand visitors’ active participation, putting them into the position of being an explorer.’

 

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David Benjamin Sherry How Could I Have Ever Lost You, 2010
‘I turned a five foot tall boulder into a sculpture that I’d half dreamed about toward the end of a relationship.’

 

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Fernanda de la Huerta Black Rock, 2020
leather, black dye

 

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Zhan Wang Artificial Rock, 2016
stainless steel

 

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Dove Bradshaw Radio Rock, 1998 – 2007
Sculpture, Pyrite embedded igneous rock, gold-tipped cat whisker, radio parts, speakers

 

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Alicja Kwade Silent Matter, 2022
‘Kwade places desk lamps up against the polished volcanic rock to create a luminous depiction of celestial bodies surrounded by the dark vacuum of space.’

 

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Tacita Dean Riesenbett II (floating), 2009
blackboard paint, fibre-based print mounted on paper

 

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Melissa Deerskin Rock’s Eye View, 2013
Fake rock, television

 

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Brad Evan Taylor Growing Rock, 2020
Ceramic

 

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Stephane Jaspert Wave, 2007
rock, paint

 

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Romain Laurent Untitled, 2017
loop

 

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Anya Gallaccio forever changes, 2011
Bronze

 

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Giuseppe Penone Pietra di foglie, 2006
stone and laurel leaves

 

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William Tucker Persecutor, 1998
Bronze

 

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Taesoo Lee Mademoiselle S, 2006
Chair, boulder, platform

 

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Rowena Brown SET OF FOUR HOUSES ON ROCKS, 2019
Stoneware, hand-built architectural form, coloured with slips, part-glazed

 

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Sun Yuan & Peng Yu Teenager Teenager, 2011
simulation of sculpture, sofa, simulation of stone

 

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Victor unrefined work, 2015
gif

 

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Matthew Simmonds Byzantium, 2023
‘Stone carver Simmonds uses stone to bring these perfect ruins to life, giving them a detailed, elaborate form, that seems however somehow to be growing naturally out of the raw material.’

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** PL, Indeed, but I should add that all the other bus passengers also acted like it was normal and no big deal, so maybe that happened all the time. I do like Sonic Youth, yes. Enjoy. Oh, I feel really hesitant to judge things when I don’t know all the details/facts, but, if I were to guess, I’d say he was probably guilty of doing something in that realm. What do you think? Oh, no, I assumed you are a real entity. There have been a few times in the past when fake people commented on this blog, and I had no clue until it was revealed. I guess I’d rather start off trusting people and end up being fooled rather than starting out suspicious. Your thrill for pop culture is plenty interesting, so carry on if you like. Great talking with you too, iow. ** ellie, Hi, ellie! The film is almost finished, and the book is finished and will come out later this year. How are you? Yes, you can send me that writing. I’m slow, so it will likely take me a bit to read it, but I would definitely like to. Do you have my email? It’s [email protected]. Thanks for wanting to share it with me. ** _Black_Acrylic, In many cases, I think you’re right. It’s sad that the shows live forever, but the locations don’t. Okay, you’re in the pro-‘Ripley’ camp. Good to know. Enjoy it fully. ** Charalampos, Hi. Like I said, basically none of the movie backlots exist anymore, except for Universal’s, and it’s more for tourists to look at than for shooting things these days. I think the photos were all there, or they looked to be from my end. Are those albums you mentioned Charli albums? I only know the singles and certain tracks. Love from here (and there). ** Tosh Berman, Another thumbs up on ‘Ripley’. Gosh, will I actually have to watch it and see for myself? Seems to be getting to that point. Maybe I’ll dip. ** Dominik, Hi!!! ‘The Clown’, prosaic. I’m sure someone has titled their novel ‘The Novel’. Yes, very curious. There must be books or at least essays written about why the Japanese are into faux-submissiveness, if they are. ‘Godzilla x Kong’ has a fun opening action set piece and a fun closing action set piece, and everything else is pretty crap. But fun crap ultimately, I suppose. We saw it in this special presentation where they showed it in some extremely wide format and projected the side areas of the film on the walls of theater, so it was all around you. That was fun. But should you see it? Mm, probably not. Weird, I’m currently going through a kind of embarrassing addiction to abandoned pet rescue videos. Love making popsicles evaporate rather than melt and drip all over your hand, G. ** Matt N., Ah, good old passion, yes. ‘Hollywood Babylon’ is a lot of fun, but caution re: believing most of what it reports. Which is fun too, I guess. Worth a read, yes. You’re going to have so much fun at Madonna’s concert then, great! Report back. Zac and I are talking about the new film now, and we know generally what we want to do, but it’s still too vague to describe, I think. In a few weeks once we starting working on the script, I think we’ll have a clearer idea. Have the best day! ** Bill, 40 Acres is just a bunch of boring warehouses and apartment complexes now, sadly. I will re: ‘First Omen’. I’m not expecting a ton, by any means. But yes. ** Steve, Glad you’re at least a bit better, and hopefully another bit today. The quitting cigarettes thing is definitely a real, physical thing rather than a mental only thing. At least for me, I completely lose my concentration and focus for a long time. Like I couldn’t do the blog if I quit cigarettes. There must be something in nicotine that sharpens the mind or something. I really don’t know, but it’s a real problem, for sure. I’ll hit ‘Von dutch’ first. Too mainstream is obviously not much of a lure for me. But I’ll try. ** Harper, Hi. Stress, yeah, well, I guess that’s … better than it being something requiring a medical repair job? Or, hm, maybe not. Painkillers, gotcha. You didn’t smoke for a month? I’m awful: I’ve had bronchitis twice, and I still didn’t quit even during that. But I got better anyway, and that’s all that matters. I took one hit off a friend’s vape, and I decided, Nope. What are your other fave Pynchons? I remember really liking ‘Against the Day’. ** Corey Heiferman, Ah, yes, I think I went on a jag searching for examples of what you’re talking about, and there are a whole bunch of examples out there gathered by helpful ultra-nerds. I guess I’m taking about people who are widely thought very attractive, and who, when you’re with them, you see and feel the effect of their attractiveness on people in the vicinity. Yeah, if you want to milk the creative juice that unrequited longing creates, you have to strike the keys while the ‘iron’ is hot. Which doesn’t always last that long. ** Okay. How about if you guys give your undivided attention to the lowly rock for the next 24 hours? What do you say? See you tomorrow.

17 Comments

  1. PL

    Hey, Dennis. Yeah, I think he’s guilty. He’s very loved here in Brazil though, I remember watching all his videos with my grandma. But I feel – at least on the internet – he’s treated almost like a saint there in the US, am I right? You said you like experimental music and Carti, maybe you’ll like Clams Casino’s album ‘Instrumentals’. I am quite fond of it, especially the track ‘Illest Alive’. Well, thanks for assuming I’m real, I am! Haha. I’m not surprised fake people talked to you, was there anyone that talked to you through the blog that was just too weird? Like, weird enough for you to block them or stop responding? Thanks for liking my thrill for pop. I mentally listed my other fields of interest since the last text. Other than animation, I’m very obsessed about animals and the Bible. I remember I had this manga version of the Bible when I was a kid that I would repeatedly read that part of the story of Lot where the angels come to their city and they are so beautiful that the men wanted to rape them. They were drawn femboy-like, it caught my attention. I love the Eden story too, hope doing an animated film about it one day. Is there any story you like? About animals, I love everything about them, especially the violence and the way they feel pain without showing. I’ve been really obsessed with that for some time now. What are your thoughts? Any experience with a wild animal? Your bus story was amazing. Nice talking with you!

  2. Dominik

    Hi!!

    And why not? It’s such a hassle to come up with the perfect title.

    I’ll have to look into this now – the basic patterns of Japanese porn and yaoi and their roots.

    If I’m being honest, I’m probably not going to watch “Godzilla x Kong.” But watching a movie that’s basically all around you, projected on the walls of the cinema, sounds so, so fucking great! Especially when the movie if full of action, I’d guess.

    If it’s any consolation, I have phases when I watch videos of military personnel returning to their dogs after months or years of not seeing each other and groomers giving makeovers to terribly neglected dogs.

    I wholeheartedly support love’s invention! Love getting his rocks off, Od.

  3. ellie

    Hi! Oh wow, exciting! 🤍 I’m really looking forward to it. Hopefully? I’m doing okay, some things are just a bit complicated right now. How about you?
    Thanks, I’m really grateful. I’ll send the pdf in a few days, it means a lot you’d take a look!
    x, e

  4. _Black_Acrylic

    Rocks was the 1st single from the Primal Scream album Give Out But Don’t Give Up, their follow-up to the highly acclaimed Screamadelica LP. I was a mere 14 years old at the time and to my eternal shame, thought the record was pretty good. Went to see them at Leeds Town and Country Club doing their Rolling Stones tribute act thing. Those Britpop years were nothing for me to be proud of, I’m sorry to say.

    The art world has a better take on Rocks, for sure!

  5. Tosh Berman

    Rocks rule! And the Hollywood lot or sets are always amazing. I remember visiting the set of the TV show Combat!” with my dad and Dean Stockwell. It was so impressive to be surrounded by such a setting. I also went to the set for The Monkees’ film Head, and that, too, was on a big studio lot. The studio lots were just as important for me as meeting one of The Monkees. I was starstruck by the presence of the movie set. And for the person who mentioned Hollywood Bablyon, you have to remember that the full (and real) title of that book is “Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Bablyon.” So even with the title clearly telling you what it is, that is Hollywood seen through Kenneth’s eyes and mind. And congrats on the short story collection. i have put together a Dennis section on my bookshelf, so I need to make room for this book as well.

  6. Charalampos

    Hi. The ones I mentioned are Kylie songs and albums. Charli’s album is called Brat. It’s out early June, has a very nice in your face attack album cover but subtle-y too. Excited to listen! I like Hollywood Babylon one and two but kind of makes me feel bad but I get what he’s doing and it’s interesting weirdly. A more good natured expression of his Hollywood fascination is his film Puce Moment. I was reading again yesterday the Gacy chapter of I wished. Did you know the theories about the possible Corll and Gacy connection that have surfaced in recent years? Even after reading tons about it I still don’t know if it’s total BS and a reach

    Love from there and here too ha ha

  7. Misanthrope

    Dennis, I really like this post.

    Yeah, with the SSRIs, you usually need to be weaned off them. Not much different from a some hard drugs. You stop cold turkey, you can go into a terrible spiral that ain’t pretty.

    I told David you said he’s a maniac and why you think that, and he laughed his head off. He thought that was really funny. He still contends that the cafe allonge with double espresso chaser is more maniacal, but he would. 😉

  8. Justin

    Hey Dennis! I really like the Chapuisat Brothers installation/sculpture. Any art that forces you to interact with physically is interesting to me, at least. Congrats on finding a publisher for your new book. Definitely looking forward to that. You and Zac are already working on the next film? Your drive to create is truly admirable. Lots of mentions of ‘Ripley’ here lately. I think I’m going to dive in tonight. I’ve been trying to get my boyfriend to read ‘I Wished’ for a while now and last night we compromised and listened to (about half of) the Audible version while he played a video game. I imagine we’ll finish the rest tonight. I’m intrigued by the fake commenters you’ve encountered on the blog. What was their goal in the end? How were they revealed? It’s all very ‘The Sluts’. 😂

  9. Darby 🐗🪓🏃‍♂️

    (My emoji sequence is inspired by your boar story)

    Youv’e blown yourself out of the waters with this one!
    Here I was thinking you were crazy and scandalous for posting about mirrors but oh my god
    ROCKS!! How irreverent of you to post something so controversial??

    Im kidding, my humor today comes from the good mood I find myself in. I get to move my cat Frankie into my apartment today!!! They are finally giving me permission since she is my certified therapy cat. Which is funny because all she does is sleep in bed, be fat, and cry for food.

    Also I looked st the last thing you said me but forgot to respond. The way you describe your coffee makes it sound like alchemy hahaha. Cone to Cone. Black as black.
    Oh I burned my hand on the oven when I was pulling out the tea paper hahah. That sucked. Oooh I hear thunder outside.

    Do your pigeons do this?
    https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/032124_ts_roller-pigeon_feat.gif?fit=1440%2C810&ssl=1

  10. Steve

    I’m continuing to feel better slowly. I hope to make it to CIVIL WAR in the theater tomorrow afternoon. (By 8 PM, The Discourse will be obnoxious enough to choke a horse.)

    Do you recall the tabloid TV show based on HOLLYWOOD BABYLON? It was much tamer than the book, of course. Elliott Stein said he and Kenneth Anger just got stoned, dreamed up outrageous fantasies about movie stars and wrote them down.

    I feel a massive amount of imposter syndrome about my first review of a Bollywood film, which I’ll be writing this weekend. I chose to write it because it’s absurd that American critics and cinephiles generally pay so little attention to the world’s second largest cinema. But while I’ve watched three of the director’s films in the last few weeks, I know I’m missing a lot. I have the same feeling writing about Latin music over the last year, but if I didn’t cover it for Gay City News or Artsfuse, no one would be.

  11. Harper

    Hi Dennis. ‘Against the Day’ is at the top of my list for Pynchon, but I’m hoping to get to ‘Vineland’ soon. It was his big critical bomb but so many people say it’s actually one of his best so I’m intrigued. Also, Paul Thomas Anderson is apparently adapting it for a film set in the modern day. ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’ puts me in awe and I think about it a lot. It’s like a Hieronymus Bosch painting, where there’s so much going on. Stuff that’s dark and confusing, stuff that’s funny, stuff that’s beautiful, and out of nowhere it turns into a musical. It’s the literary equivalent of going to Disneyland and watching someone pull out a gun shoot themselves on the ‘it’s a small world’ ride. That’s the obvious answer for a favourite, but there’s something about the blending of ‘high’ and ‘low’ which I really like. Did you ever read ‘Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me’ by his buddy Richard Farina? Quite a ride, Homer’s Odyssey placed on a college campus with an incredibly wild and playful language.

    Yeah, I’ve been physically unable to smoke. It would hurt when I inhaled. My throat is okay now but I’m congested. I can’t have more than a few puffs without getting out of breath. But light up for me Dennis, for now at least I’ll be smoking in spirit. But very soon I’ll once again be sitting in clouds.

  12. Joseph

    Rocks! Lovely to see them getting the respect they deserve from outside of the geologist population. Just a couple weeks ago I tried to explain to some family over a game of Cards Against Humanity and some wine (that only I was drinking) that I genuinely thought it was a real turn on when people are passionate about rocks. No idea how we arrived at that point, but I doubt I explained myself properly.

    I just finished Jeremy Kitchen’s Mr. Crabby You Have Died in the wee hours of the morning. What a breath of fresh, rank, pukey, sweaty, delightful air that was! I’m now going to pass my copy around to the few people I know who might (I hope) be as refreshed by it as I was. Thank you for the directions toward it, as always.

  13. Nika Mavrody

    How did you remember/uncover all those rocks?

  14. Uday

    Hey. Was so sure I’d commented on your post yesterday. Blog ghost again? Going to try my best to faithfully recreate that comment. Which is kinda interesting given that’s what part of the comment was about. Anyway. Here goes:
    “You were in my dream last night! You know that Borges story where a guy called Pierre Menard attempts to rewrite the Quixote without ever having read it? You were attempting to rewrite the lost Rimbaud poem which is addressed to Sancho Panza’s donkey. Also re: Patti Smith I’ve noticed that artists tend to either love or hate college visits. Which camp do you fall into? If you’re in the love camp it’d be cool to persuade my college’s administration to tap into their funds and invite you to come.”
    Anyway that was roughly the comment. Not much more to add. Did you ever try to keep a rock collection as a kid? Much love, Uday

  15. Uday

    Hey. Was so sure I’d commented on your post yesterday. Blog ghost again? Going to try my best to faithfully recreate that comment. Which is kinda interesting given that’s what part of the comment was about. Anyway. Here goes:
    “You were in my dream last night! You know that Borges story where a guy called Pierre Menard attempts to rewrite the Quixote without ever having read it? You were attempting to rewrite the lost Rimbaud poem which is addressed to Sancho Panza’s donkey. Also re: Patti Smith I’ve noticed that artists tend to either love or hate college visits. Which camp do you fall into? If you’re in the love camp it’d be cool to persuade my college’s administration to tap into their funds and invite you to come.”
    Anyway that was roughly the comment. Not much more to add. Did you ever try to keep a rock collection as a kid? Much love, Uday

  16. Justin

    Hi Dennis, I recently saw both Permanent Green Light and Like Cattle to Glow and loved them both, I had a question on the latter film, during the first segment there is a moment where you can see a framed photograph of Adam Lanza on the wall, was there any significance to this while writing the film or did it come to you during filming.

    I ask because I’ve been a little obsessed with Lanza for the past two years of my life, constantly reading and seeking out information about his life and internet activity, although I’ve seen that picture of him thousands of times it has always creeped me out so when I saw it unexpectedly in the film it made me feel something scary and dark inside, I’m trying to write a film based on a lot of stuff I’ve read about Lanza but I’m having trouble trying to write without seeming sentimental to him… any advice?

    PS. Do you know what the death metal song used in Permanent Green Light is.

    Sorry for the lack of grammar!

  17. all on that day

    https://boxd.it/ov7LW

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