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‘Roland Topor was the modern enfant terrible of French art and letters. He was short and leprechaun-like, giving the impression of constant, untiring activity. He dabbled in films, produced art derived from Surrealism, and could seldom be accused of good taste. In 1962, he created the Panic Movement (mouvement panique), together with Alejandro Jodorowsky and Fernando Arrabal. Inspired by and named after the god Pan, and influenced by Luis Buñuel and Antonin Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty, the group concentrated on chaotic performance art and surreal imagery. Among the films made from Topor’s written work was Roman Polanski’s The Tenant (1976), which was recently reissued in 2006 with an introduction by the writer Thomas Ligotti. Topor also worked as an actor, his most famous part being Renfield in Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979).
‘His greatest success was as a macabre cartoonist. He used his work to illustrate his novels, plays and other writings, produced many volumes of graphics, and exhibited his work widely in galleries both in France and abroad. His drawings in many ways resembled the graphic novels of Max Ernst and the similarly grim work of the Alsatian artist Tomi Ungerer, but the humour was always there in the absurd situations he depicted, many based on fantastical images of the deeper associations of sex and erotica, others on pictures that linked mankind to the world of worms and insects or reptiles.
‘Although ebullient in public, it was known among his friends that he had black periods of extreme depression, and the bizarre fantasies that he drew and painted undoubtedly reflected a mind that brooded on death and decay and the many germs and viruses that live in our bodies. His novels tackled the same themes, cruelty and metamorphosis being depicted in a matter-of-fact, unemotional way, his characters Rabelaisian and his plots stretching the imagination to its limits. Coprophagy is a frequent theme and religion a favourite target in much of his work. Giving offence came so naturally to Topor that he was almost unaware of the shocked reactions he was likely to get, as for instance from the series of dialogues, accompanied by drawings, examining all the possible uses of a baby, starting by nailing one to your front door.
‘Toward the end of his life, Topor wrote the screenplay for the cultishly revered film Marquis (1989), directed by Henri Xhonneux and loosely based on the life and writings of Marquis de Sade. The cast consisted of actors in period costumes with animal masks, with a separate puppet for de Sade’s anthropomorphised “bodily appendage.” He also co-wrote and was the production designer of the innovative and popular animated film Fantastic Planet, directed by René Laloux. At the age of 59 Topor suffered a massive stroke and brain haemorrhage in 1997, having appeared until then in the best of health.’ — collaged from various sources
Roland Topor’s self-designed grave marker
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Further
Topor et moi: A Roland Topor Resource
Roland Topor Page @ Facebook
Books in English by Roland Topor
Roland Topor’s books @ goodreads
A Roland Topor Photo Gallery
Roland Topor posts @ Thomas Ligotti Online
‘Roland Topor, a Graphic Wit’ @ The New York Times
‘The Wilder Planet of Roland Topor’
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Portrait Gallery
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Films
‘Les Escargot (1965) was a collaboration between Roland Topor and director Renee Laloux, but it is Topor’s distinctive visual sensibility that dominates. Les Escargot is apocalyptic, teeming with allegory of self-perpetuated human destruction. Like in other works by Topor, the ordinary is blown up to monstrous and absurd proportions. Fed by plants stimulated by human tears, enormous garden snails run amok, destroying the cities.’ — Ashcan Magazine
‘What is man ? Man makes war, man kills man, man hunts, man is executed. Les Temps Morte (1966) is montage film mixing original drawings by Roland Topor and direction by Rene Laloux involving both original shots and stock shots that ironically analyze what man is.’ — worldnews
‘Roland Topor and René Laloux’s Fantastic Planet (1973) is a sci-fi epic like none you’ve ever seen. A 70’s euro-funk soundtrack backs the eerie psychedelic visuals of an alien world. On the fantastic planet, humans are kept as pets by the gigantic Oms, a blue-skinned humanoid species who live for thousands of years and have a highly evolved culture and technology. Revolutionary metaphors abound, and like much science fiction literature, but unlike most science fiction movies, the film is really about our contemporary situation despite the fantastical setting.’ — Justin Allen
Trailer
Excerpt
Roland Topor: The Unrecognizable Genius Behind FANTASTIC PLANET
‘Roland Topor and Henri Xhonneux’s Marquis (1989) is an audacious rendering of the political, social and sexual manners of the ancien regime and the class division and social disruption that produced the French Revolution. Adapted from the writings of the Marquis de Sade, this witty film uses elaborate puppets in human form to act out erotic and sexual decadence. Marquis is an elegantly naughty film with wry, intellectual satire that plays out all manner of human desire.’ — J. Hoberman
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Miscelaneous
Roland Topor in Herzog’s ‘Nosferatu’
Roland Topor [1983] : Les archives de Radio Nova
Roland Topor, un petit film
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100 Good Reasons to Kill Myself Right Now
by Roland Topor
1) Best way to make sure I’m not dead already.
2) It’ll throw off the last census.
3) They’re waiting on me down below to start the party.
4) They shoot horses, don’t they?
5) I’ll rise in the esteem of my peers.
6) I’ll no longer dread the millennium.
7) Just like Werther! They won’t call me ill-read anymore.
8) I’d make a fool of my cancer.
9) I’d make a liar of my horoscope.
10) To be my therapist’s ruin.
11) To get out of voting.
12) An infallible cure for baldness.
13) To make a fresh start!
14) Death ennobles: knighthood at last!
15) I’d feel less alone.
16) I’d be fêted next All Saints’ Day.
17) The cost of living rises, but death remains affordable.
18) Good way to find your roots.
19) Finally, a martial arts move I can manage.
20) To be green and fertilize the lawn.
21) To mark the day with a white stone.
22) Others could put my organs to better use.
23) To make way for youth.
24) At last, a starring role!
25) To take advantage of the exhibitionism inherent in dissection tables.
26) To taste the subtle delights of reincarnation.
27) The nightmare of leap years, over at last!
28) To give my body of work a moral dimension.
29) To make people think I’m honorable.
30) To turn this list into a last will and testament.
31) I’ll become a citizen of the world.
32) Euthanasia wasn’t made for dogs.
33) I’ll have the last word.
34) 67% of French people support the death penalty.
35) ‘Cause it’s a good way to quit smoking.
36) To simplify my duality: I’ll see things more clearly with only one of me left.
37) A deliverance less laborious than a delivery.
38) There’s nothing left to do.
39) I don’t want to aggravate my lack of social security.
40) To kill a Jew, like everyone else.
41) To join the silent majority. The real one.
42) To leave behind a widow simply bursting with youth.
43) I can’t live in worry now that my deodorant’s stopped working.
44) To dodge the general draft.
45) To preserve the mystery surrounding me.
46) To prove the neutron bomb can’t hurt me.
47) To lose weight without a diet, or even lifting a finger!
48) I insist on complying with the federal plan for staggered vacations.
49) I’m trying to spare someone else the unfortunate consequences of an assassination.
50) To save energy, coffee, and sugar.
51) So I won’t be ashamed to look in the mirror anymore.
52) What if I’m immortal? Might as well find out as soon as possible.
53) One less mouth to feed.
54) To prove to EVERYONE that I’m no coward.
55) To count how many people cry at my funeral.
56) To see, from the other side, if I’ve made it over.
57) Instead of tearing my gray hairs out one by one, might as well tear my head off all at once.
58) With a revolver: to be noisy after 10pm.
59) With gas: to savor the charms of that last cigarette.
60) By hanging: to turn an ordinary rope into a delightful good luck charm.
61) Under a train: to extend other people’s vacations.
62) With barbiturates: think I’ll sleep in tomorrow morning.
63) By electrocution: to shake things up a little.
64) By defenestration: to escape my fear of elevators.
65) I’ve heard death is an easy lay. I’m gonna have me some good times.
66) If I put my subscriptions on hold, I won’t miss a thing.
67) To be good with (tiny) animals.
68) To die the same year as Elvis.
69) To skip out on taxes.
70) To skip out on rent.
71) To stop snoring.
72) To come back in the wee hours and tug on my enemies’ feet.
73) To keep from ripping myself off as I get older, like de Chirico.
74) Because I’m an endangered species and no one is protecting me.
75) Because I’ve prepared a choice phrase for the final moment, and if I wait too long I’ll forget it.
76) To sever my umbilical cord once and for all.
77) To be the founder of a new style: Dead Art.
78) To watch the movie of my life at a very exclusive screening.
79) To see if there are any virgins left on the other side.
80) So they’ll deck me out when they lay me out.
81) Because I can’t wait to use the amusing epitaph I made up: GOOD RIDDANCE.
82) To see if paralytics will be healed on my tomb.
83) So the twentieth century will finally contain an important event.
84) To feast on the exquisite blood of young women, once I’m a vampire.
85) Because I’ve always wanted to speak a dead tongue.
86) So I can, quite strikingly, inform everyone of my position on suicide.
87) Because Paris just isn’t what it used to be.
88) Because Groucho Marx is dead.
89) Because I’ve read all the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
90) Because weather forecasts let me down.
91) So others will follow my example.
92) To start a revolution.
93) To prove my skill, if I don’t miss.
94) For a change of friends.
95) For a change of scene.
96) To be above the law.
97) Because a well-done suicide is worth more than an average lay.
98) So I won’t die at a hospital.
99) So my blood will make a nice stain on a canvas.
100) Because I’ve got 1,000 good reasons to hate myself.
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Drawings & paintings
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*
p.s. Hey. ** l@rst, For sure. Hey, L! ** _Black_Acrylic, I love the Chucky movies. I wish they’d make a new one, but they’d probably use AI and fuck it up. I remember ‘Bride of Chucky’ being especially fun, but I don’t know. ** kenley, Good morning to you, kenley! Yeah, the immersive art thing is just high tech banality from everything I’ve seen. They make you appreciate how great windows are. Um, I’ve been to theater pieces where you walk through a space or building and the piece unfolds as you move around. I went to that famous one where you’re a guest at, I think, Tony and (someone’s) wedding. That was irksome. And of course some haunted houses that do that — minimalist with lots of projections and effects and ‘scary’ monologues, as they were quite the trendy Halloween thing for a while. I like old school haunted houses where there’s a kind of theater element. Where your traversing of the haunt is interrupted with little play-like scenes that give the experience a kind of narrative. So, in that sense, I have, I guess. And I do think haunts are the best context for that kind of thing. I’ll be onto Peter Vack as soon as I finish having to reapply for my French visa, as that’s kind of eating my brain and stressing me out at the moment. Thanks! ** Carsten, I did read his Wenders thing, yeah, nice. I’m ok with Wenders up through ‘Wings of Desire’, but nothing since then. And I never thought he was remotely great. I like Kid Congo Powers. I’ve peripherally known him since he was the President of the LA chapter of The Ramones Fan Club when he was a teen. They showed a whole bunch of Frampton’s films. The ones I can remember at the moment were ‘Pas de Trois’, ‘Public Domain’, ‘Cadenzas I & XIV’, and ‘Gloria!’. ** Dominik, Hi!!! I’m so happy you liked it. I have a hard time with TV series anyway, and I have a hard time settling for better than average shows, and it’s probably also because the two main actors in the show look so blandly conventionally clean cut ‘attractive’ that I can’t imagine being interested in whoever they play. I like winter, but it’s been chilly and rainy here every day for way too long. It’s the sameness that’s getting kind of crazy making, I guess. I volunteer to be a consultant on love’s true crime show. Love wondering what it’s like to take a bubble bath but not enough to actually take one, G. ** Thom, Thanks, Thom, I look forward to listening! I’ll put on my conceptual cap while I listen. I like pop songs, or, well, attempts to ace ones. (see: this weekend’s post) Robert Pollard is my living god, after all. If the ‘Glossolalia’ album is there, I’ll hit that up too. Thank you about ‘God Jr’. Short novels rule. It’s stupid that in the US novels are rarely taken seriously by the literary cognoscenti unless they’re giant-sized. Yeah, Heikens’ isn’t my usual thing, but something about them made me itchy. Happy day! ** Steve, I ate at the defunct Chinese place the previous time I was in NYC, and it was packed. ‘Iron Lung’ isn’t here yet, and I haven’t found it on the free sites so far. I saw ‘Goodbar’ when it was released, and I hardly remember it other than not being as disturbed by it as it clearly intended. I’d be curious to visit it again now, yeah. ** Bill, Yeah, ‘It Was Just an Accident’ snuck through. ‘Reflections in a Dead Diamond’: nice title. ** Uday, That’s understandable. Great, just enjoy NYC’s vast and uneven pleasures. Breakfast … no, not normally. Just coffee. Although I do like breakfast for dinner sometimes. I like omelettes and hash browns and buttered toast. ** HaRpEr //, At their best they’re kind of like G-rated Guro. Now I have to go watch ‘The Trial’ so I can see that bedroom. I was just reading about ‘Actors’. How strange. Maybe it was programmed at the Berlinale? I can’t remember. Poetry chapbook, cool. Kind of a lost great form, I think? ** horatio, Hey! Thank you, thank you for your letter/care package! The collages have been staring at me from atop a stack of unread books at the back of my desk for days now. They’re wonderful. And thank you for the recipe. I’m going to have to see if I can do it without the salmon because I’m vegetarian, but I’m sure I can sort out an alternative. Anyway, that was and is so great of you! Thank you, my friend! Yeah, when I wrote ‘Closer’ I had this idea that the equal length/size paragraphs would have this kind of trancey effect, like a train going over train tracks or something, that would counteract the attention the reader had to pay to the characters and story and so on and create a kind of crosshatched effect. It was a style I was super into for a while. Thank you for noting it. How are you? What’re you doing of late? ** darbz (⊙ 0⊙ ), Oh, gosh, how did the interview go? No news on the possible NC screening yet, but I hope to hear something soon. We just set up screenings in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but that won’t help you. I love the pix of you! You look very, very cool! Big up about the Machinegirl gig. Oh, I missed your question? I guess they either duck under a very tall tree or they just tough it out? Good question. ** Okay. I did a post here about Roland Topor years ago, and I went back to restore it, and I thought it was crappy, so I just made a whole new Roland Topor post. A bit of behind-the-scenes trivia for you there. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
Dennis!!
How are you? Are you surviving the winter ok? Is it as miserable in Paris as it is in London?
Guess what man! Hiktum is getting a French and Spanish translation! Total dream come true.
Will room temperature be on any streamlining services in the foreseeable?
Hope you’re well
Xtomk
A long time fan of Fantastic Planet here and I’m delighted to learn more of the genius behind it. Back in 2007 it was screened as part of my Ciné Salon project up in Dundee. Especially keen on RT’s artworks above.
By sheer chance I have Bride of Chucky lined up for this evening, and my liking for this character is only validated by your approval haha.
Whoa, this guy! Amazing. Yeah Fantastic Planet didn’t make me a vegetarian but sure made me feel worse about not being one! Just watched TV Party documentary the other day, boy what a fun show! NYC cable access for the win.
Have you read Malina by Bachmann? It’s interesting, reading for a book club.
Great post, love lots of these drawings. Will certainly be saving for later reference… The guy with the book draped over his boner kills me. The big list is great too of course. Fantastic Planet is a shocking blind spot for me… What a fascinating little guy!
Pollard just baffles me, have been obsessed by Alien Lanes on and off, also have Bee Thousand. have heard assorted other tracks and downloaded other albums but theres just so so so much… I will say that “A Crick Uphill” is probably my fave GBV song?
French month still going good, the new Huysmans translation is allright. Just miserable artists roaming a richly textured 19th century Paris, shooting the shit. Itching for more stylized stuff tho too, have some Pinget novellas on hold at the library…
will probably cap off French Feb with a re-read of “The Devil in the Flesh” by Raymond Radiguet… have you read that one, Dennis? picked it up at a thrift shop as a teenager not knowing what it was, and it almost single-handedly sparked my love for the novel as an actual form, rather than just a vehicle for a story. just a beautiful, concise, emotionally honest little book. another French genius who, like Lautreamont, died much too young!
Hey Dennis,
Yeah the German copy of God Jr was a hardback and pretty pretty, from what I recall.
Fantastic Planet! Still on my to-watch list ugh. I have way too many films on that list, and I fear I will never get around to them all. His list of reasons to kill himself are still pretty current, especially the cost of living one hahaha. I’m close to 2k saved already for London, with about over half a year until I need to start paying deposits. I should have about 5k by then and will be sorted, but I hope I can still find a way to save once I’m living there. Even if I have to take a second job or start a pretty tame Onlyfans or something.
I am also a huge fan of the Chucky series (for a bit people used to call me Chucky Stephen as my pfp online was this one of chucky giving a peace sign). Whilst I enjoy the Child’s Play trilogy to varying degrees, I think the duology of Bride and Seed of Chucky, where it becomes a bit of a black comedy focusing on the relationship of Chucky and Tiffany (and later Glen[da]), is perhaps the peak of the franchise. At some point the idea of a killer doll becomes a bit blasé, but the idea of a killer doll who has relationship problems and has a sour attitude will always be interesting. In the second season of the TV show there’s an episode that is a real murder mystery framed as a game at Jennifer Tilly’s (the actress for Tiffany and who is playing Tiffany possessing the body of Jennifer Tilly, pretending to be Jennifer Tilly) and one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills makes an appearance as her (Sutton Stracke) and Tilly are best friends in real life. Tilly’s even become a recurring character on Beverly Hills, although even her presence can’t bring me to return to watching that series. It’s too boring and uneventful beyond pre-planned fights and luxury porn.
Apparently it has rained every single day in Ireland this year (and same with the UK). I think there was only one day in Cork where it didn’t rain, but it did in the rest of the country. It was depressing for a bit but at this stage I’m fine with getting a bit wet.
The situation from earlier this week has had a good turn as the person seems to be receptive to change, and wants to work on bettering themselves. I’m glad as I only have their best in my heart, but I found everything a bit too triggering to my own past to be able to continue to be a close supportive figure.
“100 Good Reasons to Kill Myself Right Now” was a lot of fun. I love a good list poem.
How cool that you know Kid Congo Powers somewhat. Were you involved in that Ramones fan club as well? I never know how I discover music—it’s usually some kind of happy accident. Tripped over one of his songs a little while ago & instantly dug it, now I’m going through the albums. Just in terms of sound he’s a legitimate heir to Link Wray.
In talking to some folks lately whose interests are far more conventional than mine, this question occurred to me: is there any kind of “square” or mainstream artwork that I genuinely like? And I can’t come up with a thing. Nothing. You?
There was a Chucky TV series, which ran for 3 seasons and got canceled in 2024. It was overseen by Don Mancini and felt similar to the films. They had the gimmick of Devon Sawa playing a different major character who gets murdered by Chucky each season, from a priest to the president of the U.S.
Are you still working on your visa application? Is it an annual process?
We’re supposed to get a snowstorm on Sunday and Monday, so my social plans may get canceled again. I have one more film to watch for my “Rendezvous with French Cinema” article, so I hope to complete it if I need to stay indoors. The ones I’ve seen so far have been OK but not at all ground-breaking or exciting.
hi dennis!
ah! so cool! so wry and shit-eatingly delightful! i cant believe i never investigated who exactly made fantastic planet. ill have to send this post to my one cartoonist friend whose work reminds me of topor’s stuff, altho maybe he knows all about him already lol
yeah, i guess thats kind of the dinner theatre version of what i was talking about. irksome indeed…
oof. i mean, maybe some are cool, but on principle i dont think i care to see a “minimalist” haunted house. like…cmon. gimme kitsch, yknow?
actually, scratch that. i just imagined a haunted house designed by donald judd and the idea made me giggle
hmm…i suppose you have a sense of trends in the haunted house world? what’s hot these days, or what do you forecast for this coming october?
ahhhh! best of luck with your visa!!! hopefully its not tooooooo painful. lol…isnt being an immigrant fun? 🙃🙃
Hi Dennis!
It’s been a minute since I last left a comment on here, but I was at the Cleveland premiere of Room Temperature last night and wanted to let you know I thought it was fantastic. Superb writing, beautifully shot, and so many standout moments that I’m still thinking about since I left the Cinematheque. I loved the humor and pacing, especially now that most mainstream productions assume their audiences have nonexistent attention spans. I really appreciated how some shots lingered and gave you time to soak it all in before moving onto the next scene. The musical selections were another standout to me – overall I liked how sparse the musical score was. I feel like most composers / directors oversaturate their films with underscore, and it really takes away from the immersion or emotional weight of some scenes. Here, everything felt just right. The harsh ambient track during the opening sequence was terrific, and the scene with Andre singing while his family watched… probably my favorite scene of the film. Was that an original song for the movie? I can’t wait to watch it again. Hoping there’s a digital / physical release planned on the horizon!
These Topor drawings are really eye-catching. I have to wonder if any of the Silent Hill artists / designers ever came across his work? They both share (and capture) a great deal of surrealism and body horror through their mediums. Really cool stuff. The “100 Good Reasons” was particularly amusing as well – some of his points in that text remind me of Emil Cioran’s particularly sardonic aphorisms. I go back and forth on Cioran in general; as a person I think he was rather complicated (who isn’t?), but his writings are really unlike any other philosopher I’ve read (in a good way). I think Fantastic Planet is in my watchlist on Criterion Channel, but I’ve not sat down to watch it. This blog post could be my cue to give it a go?
Nice to talk with you again. Hope you’re doing well!
Wow, these drawings are really speaking to me today. I swear I know the one of the four legs pieced together but I can’t say from where.
Chapbooks are underrated, yeah. If I can’t work something out I might just make some sort of zine, physical or digital. I’m sort of strange about poetry. I can’t make myself write it if I’m not feeling it but then I just have these bursts. I have hundreds of poems on my google drive from over the years and so many are terrible. I’m young enough to have some stuff from my early teens here and it’s so laughably bad. The funny thing is that I see early drafts of stuff I’m still trying to write now.
At the same time, I bizarrely found this one piece in a notebook which is one of the earliest things I ever wrote seriously, and it’s written in a style which is weirdly close to what I’m trying to do now (except it’s terrible). But it’s weird that I’ve re-crossed old territory without realizing it. Perhaps there’s something at the core of why I started to write that I’ve forgotten over the years when getting sidetracked but that I’ve somehow come back to. Sounds like I’m mythologising myself, but I hope so.
I finished ‘Anti-Oedipus’ and it’s really washed over me. It feels like I’ve taken a drug and I can’t decide yet if it was cut with baby powder (not to say I feel scammed). I love the discussion of writers and art, particularly Rimbaud. And it made me want to read more Artaud. There’s this great repeated Artaud quote ‘writing is just so much pig shit’.
Btw @Thom, I didn’t see your reply yesterday. I’m obsessed with ‘Castration Movie’. You can watch the first film in two parts and not have it take away from the experience because it’s actually two (interconnected) films put together. I watched the first all at once and at a certain point you really lock in and it just becomes a part of your life and when it was over I wanted more. I’ll sing its praises forever. Rumour has it there will be an actual on camera ‘castration’ at the end of the project.
Hey there, Dennis, Never heard of Roland Topor before, and yet he wrote The Tenant? My favorite Polanski film! Maybe I’ll watch Fantastic Planet tonight, since I’m currently cursed with stomach flu/e.coli/the plague, or something. And you’re darn tootin’ I remember nearly snagging that Malkmus song ‘Cherry Area’ for your album. Man, that project was such fun, despite the Matador suits. Is your film going to make its journey to the PNW? I hope so! Take care, Don
Ps2 culture
Trip Hop
I remember being really into Neutral Milk hotel when I first started talking to you
I like this version of April 8th, and im going to remind you that it exists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaPfe5x_eAQ&list=RDFaPfe5x_eAQ&start_radio=1
Thanks for complimenting me! I always fear I look way younger than I am (21) Well I suppose I do based on how the dispensary/cashiers c look at met when I buy weed/cigarettes or alcohol.
Did you see the art I sent tho? Hopefully its going to be displayed!
Poor little giraffes must bare the fury of the storm.
Oh, Yes. Idid get hte job at dominos so excited to work with food
Ive been binging Anothony Bourdain videos. Are you into that kind of stuff? Bourdain cooking culture etc?
Im still serious when I say that one day i’d like to make handmade falafels for you
I finished Flunker, I will give you my thoughts when not so Friday late night tipsy but I really did like the last one and have some thoughts that i’ll share on Monday. WIll admit my ADHD kindve fucked up my reading of the 3rd story with Russian father and Dmitry but I did like the plot I followed before my mind became muddled.
Have a good weekened! What do you plan to eat?
ignore “ps2 culture” and “triphop” that was some notes I accidently pasted with the comment. OH listen: Im plannig on doing more blogging/tumblring this year and my first deep dive im planing is on the ps2 culture like its edgy advertisment and posters . My nonbinary cursh ive mentioned gave me their ps2 for free which may be a hint they like me
Hey Dennis! Really glued to the todays illustrations. The bull with the legs for horns is probably my favorite. I’m so glad everything got to you safe. Also, super cool that you’re a vegetarian- so sorry I didn’t consider that! If I make suggest a substitute, sometimes I make a similar broth but replace salmon with left over mushroom stems (I always remove and freeze them cause the texture is different from the rest of the mushroom). But like I said on my note, if that sounds yucky disgusting it’s no worries. Right now I’m recovering from my 3rd consecutive illness so I might have to make some for myself.
I’ve been trying to get back into watching more movies this year- there’s a couple on your blog post today I’ve been meaning to get to. I saw climax for the first time last week and was blown away. Today I saw Pillion & I thought it was pretty alright- before the movie I had to ask the gentleman beside me to move his leather cap and jacket off my seat hahaha. At the moment I’m traveling to one of my friend’s noise rock shows. Also I’ve been talking to this guy from my home state more, I was super infatuated with him the first time I read Guide actually, but I assumed he wasn’t into me. Now though, it seems like he’s taken some sort of interest, or like he’s overtly entertained by the fact that I’m still kind of crazy about him. It’s very difficult to conceal the fact that I’m desperate for his approval or appreciation.
Thanks for the insight on closer- crosshatched, that’s such an eloquent way of putting it, yeah! I actually recently suggested aforementioned guy read your books, cause he writes and has an appreciation for similar stylistic/thematic choices.
Have you seen any good movies recently? Hope your day is splendid!
strange you missed the use of his Vagina Dentata drawing in the London episode of Fellini Casanova
I like the face getting turned into spaghetti(?) one. I think it looks grate.
Hello Mr. Cooper, I mentioned a while back that I would get around to drawing Roman one day and I’m happy because I finally did it so I wanted to show it to you and I hope you like it: Roman and Dandelions, Leon and Dandelions (those became sort of combined here same with these two (an attempted Guillaume with foxgloves, and Tim beside an attempted deadly nightshade hedge).
I tried to paint Ollie and Poppies and Leon’s Friend with Sunflowers but I think the mostly monochrome ones turned out better. Wishing you a pleasant rest of the week/weekend.
hi Poecilia, Roman and the dandelions is gorgeous! like they all are but i’d so easily frame that one. kudo and are any of them for sale? <3
buenos días, Dennis!
fucking hell, Topor here *wolf whistles*. i only really knew him bc of Marquis and his Nosferatu role, so p big gap in my education lol. i mean Jodorowsky and Fernando Arrabal and Buñuel and Artaud and Polanski and Ligotti. that’s a lot of guys right there, i’ve been missing out.
man, i was so into the previous entry’s sculptress, and i liked the way she talks too, then i noticed that Bin Laden rendition with his fucking index finger pointing up and maybe it’s shark week, maybe it’s the start of Ramadan, maybe it’s the human condition, idk, but i got mad enough i couldn’t even reply. =) like that finger gesture is obvi the nonverbal declaration of the faith, and whatever social commentary was meant by portraying the murderous freak in the act can honestly lavish attention on my arse for like three hours, take a break and then get right back to it. ^_^
like man… we started footing that terrorist’s bill as an ummah long before Al-Qaeda even existed, we’re hate-crimed on the regular, i myself was informed by a grinning friend of a friend he’d beat the shit out of me, rape me every which way then send goats to my father so he can get laid too and then all would be well (while my friend simpered ‘cmon, dude… she’s one of the good ones…’).
so we clearly don’t need a reminder that some murderer who once parapeted himself behind our religion, is still the excuse for racists to harass and assault and murder random innocents who sometimes are Sikh. in any case, if that edgelord piece wasn’t meant to make ‘us’ reflect, then who is it meant for? ‘i’ll send goats to yr dad’ guy? he’ll just offer to send fewer goats next time! she should do one of her ppl fucking shit up in Indonesia, at least we know for a fact no-one’s using structural violence against them for that.
anyway. i’m still mad obvi but at least relatively verbal. bloody relief, that =)
oh lol, took a break from Mariana Enríquez last night bc she was going down way too stodgy (probably my mood) so i decided to finally read Hogg instead. which you must have read, yea? i was totally expecting to be amused in a ‘come here Thérèse, you’ve not wiped yr arse since you were baptised’ sort of way (how old *was* she that she could wipe her own arse by then, this literally haunts me), but instead i’m finding the book v good! not like it isn’t funny, and there are at least two racial slurs which apply to me so far but i’m down bc he def wasn’t playing about the whole pornographic novel thing but it’s also profound or whatever and the fine line between both modes is sort of… exquisite almost? at least as of page… wait let me check… 127 lol.
actually quite like the way he goes about feminism, first in the preface and then under the surface of the novel obvi, except for when he threatens to tip over into ‘men are human and women are curated mistakes who don’t get swole and stupidly love their kids’. like idk but i think the answer might lie more on the side of ‘some ppl should be less obsessed w muscles and less ashamed of the kids they have’. basically women shouldn’t have to become nor reclaim anything imo, we should just… be. like men are, but uh the way we like it.
anyway quite appreciating Delany, which, pleasant surprise. we can hang. i think we agree women as a mass noun def won’t do much while still wanting to be v much ‘of society’. i mean that’s why we still get so many female characters who are simultaneously pro skiers, forensic doctors, presidents of the US and also God incarnate but their junkie male counterpart scratching his balls in x day old underwear will consistently wipe the floor w her, bc he needs no ontological letter of recommendation and is just allowed to be human. which ppl can then feel some sort of way about.
do we learn the actual name of the kid narrator at any point tho? have i skipped it somehow? if he stays ‘cocksucker’ throughout, he’s maybe doing Wazzag one better.
think i’ve said this before, and not that this current book is a sisterhood or anything lmao, but, Dennis, you should write women more, like it would be interesting. so far, and this is mostly from Try, i’m getting a sort of v innocent partialism, some rapt heterosexual lust, bunch of confusion and a lot of friendliness throughout, which queers the whole thing up. want to see what else happens! can’t blame me. write us another… ^_^
since i can’t fast bc of health, i’m offering writing as an act of worship this month, sort of. like, more overtly so, and assuming God is into my weird shit, which It must be, i mean the way It does worse every single day… yallah, alhamdulillah. hope today is good to you and you’re good to it back!
<3