The blog of author Dennis Cooper

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p.s. Hey. ** T. J., Hi, T. J.! I really highly recommend ‘Vitalina Varela’. Not only is it my favorite Costa, but, immediately upon watching it, it became one of my all-time favorite films. If you can’t see it in a theater, try to see it in the best screen context possible because it’s visually just ravishing. I suspect a lot of my favorite films look more like art installations than movies with a capitol M. I’m not a giant Serra fan, but the first two hours of ‘Pacification’ are quite good. I would avoid ‘Liberté’. ** Meg Gluth, Hi. I can’t imagine there’s really anything you can do to assist on the film stuff other than your patience with my myopic focus on getting to ready to shoot, but thank you! Yes, you have my email, right? I can send you my phone info too. Love, me. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, B. Yeah, I hope you have a big or at least wide screen to see ‘CG’ on, or I guess sit close to the monitor? ** Misanthrope, I have so much data to save that I have to rent a bigger cloud, apparently. Shit. It’s Presidents’ Day? When they made Presidents’ Day did they make it inclusive of all the Presidents, or is it still just for George and Abe? I don’t why I’m asking because I guess I don’t really care. Nerd stuff. ** Jamie, Hi, Jamie, hi, buddy! Me too! Although I’ll be going back to the weekly schedule again soon. We had a PC retrospective here too recently. I saw him talk after a screening of ‘HM’, and he was awesome, obvs. Unlike Albert Serra, who I saw talk after a screening ‘Pacifiction’ last time I was in LA, and who was hilariously full of self-importance. ‘My films are reinventing cinema!’ Ha ha. I’m assuming I was robbed since I didn’t lay my wallet down anywhere. But whoever did it was really slick. I’m good, there’s just so fucking much left to do with the film before we start shooting, and it’s borderline overwhelming, so I’m a bit taxed out. But, you know, okay. Great about the film series’ return! Hm, I don’t think I know Simon Payne’s films? I’ll investigate and maybe make a post if I like what I see. Let me know what you think when the time comes. Great to get to talk with you, big J! Extremely experimental is the byword of interesting maybe love, Dennis. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Zac is still waiting to hear back from the girl’s dad about whether she’s still interested to play the part, so nails are being bitten. I really think that once you’ve moved and settled in the new pad/city, you’re going to feel a total rush of energy and hope. And your anxieties will go back to sourcing the day-to-day stuff again. My ID is my passport, and luckily it didn’t fit inside my wallet. Boy, I could use that love-invented wallet seriously for all kinds of reasons, thank you! Love revealing what Casper the Friendly Ghost looked like when it was human, G. ** Gick, Well, yes, all the more reason. Well, ‘I Wished’ wasn’t published in the UK, just imported, so there was no publisher there to arrange live events, I guess. I’m probably easy to kidnap because I’m an optimist who immediately thinks the best about everyone I meet? In some ways I would guess that the first half or maybe third of my oeuvre was inspired by feeling pained by beauty and desire, so I guess that answers your question, ha ha? My day wasn’t beautiful but it had its cute moments. Hoping for hour after hour of beauty in your hood and/or head today. ** Steve Erickson, He did manage to revive my old laptop, surprising enough. And now it’s fitted with a French keyboard and is his for as long as it lasts. I like Sleaford Mods, but I also think they’re very johnny one note. I get tired of them very fast. Might just be my restlessness, though. Everyone, Steve weighs in on ‘Miss Grit’s cyberpunk/anime-inspired indie pop album FOLLOW THE CYBORG’ @ Slant Magazine here. ** Cody Goodnight, Hi. Thanks for the condolences. I’m getting by. It was fun being in celebrity ville and watching stars pushing shopping carts around at the local Albertsons and so on. Lightweight fun, but still. I can’t even imagine writing a group essay. How do you even do that? Writing one solo is hard enough. I’m sure you’ve seen videos of Nina Simone performing but that’s when you really get her full genius. She’s so attentive to what she’s singing every second, and she can be so excitingly scary. I’m so sorry about the mental breakdown. But I’m happy you sound like you bounced back pretty fast. It’s so hard being complicated sometimes, but there’s richness there too that can be a plus, perception-wise and artistically, as long as you don’t suffer too greatly. Not to pontificate, just speaking from experience and my local observations. I think my week has to better by default, not to jinx it. May yours soar. ** Philip Hopbell, Hi. Oh, interesting and exciting about the project you’re editing. I don’t know, people seem to want really long books. I’ve never understood that. Length = serious or something? Anyway, have fun, and I hope you sort the right method. Ah, Musso & Frank. I haven’t been there in ages. They have very fine mashed potatoes. ** Kyle, Hi, Kyle. First, I’m so sorry to be so slow, email-wise. It’s really turning out to be very film readiness-consumed period. But I will. Oh, man, see ‘Vitalina Varela’. It’s his most visually dark/rich film, and visually it’s just mesmerising. ‘Marble Hornets’, no, I’ve never heard of it. Wow, I’ll find it today and bookmark it for the first opportunity. Sounds exciting. Me too, big time, about ‘Skinamarink’ and ‘We’re all going to the worlds fair’ and their portence. I can’t wait to see your work the second I have any available mental space of any quality. Thanks! ** shadeoutmapes🍝🏃‍♂️, Hi!! When I try to remember the taste of SpaghettiOs, all I remember is that metal can taste. Well, and tomato sauce. Which is not a problem taste, mind you. Too late, I’m already imagining hair growing out of everything, eek, thanks, ha ha. I, of course, like concise sentences too. I do like long concise sentences as well, though, or I like writing them. They’re like word-based amusement park rides or something. Safe but swervy. I’m not all that interested in narrative. I mean it’s okay, but I think of narrative as just fuel to keep me or whoever reading. As just momentum or something. I don’t inherently trust narrative. It’s dangerously device-y, or so often is. Elliot Page writes books? That sounds big to me. I mean, menial, what does that even mean? The greatest things can be technically really menial, you know? I’m tall, so I always romanticise being short. Good to know it’s not a total cakewalk. My day was okay, busy, work-y, blah blah, as will be today, but that’s okay. No, about the pigeons. although one of them seems like the dad and the other sets like the mother, so I do call them ‘the Dad one’ or ‘the Mom one’. How were your 24 hours? ** Brian, Hi, Brian! Great to see you, pal! Belated very happy b’day! Oh, right, you have to be 21 in the US to have fun legally. I think here it’s 18? Joy Williams! You probably know that she’s probably my favorite American writer. Hooray! As I’ve said above, I suder highly recommend Costa’s ‘Vitalina Varela’. It’s one of my all-time favorite films. Not slipshod, man, no way, just great to get to interact with you like always. Please tell me more whenever the urge strikes. ** Okay. I think today’s post is entirely self-explanatory. See you tomorrow.

12 Comments

  1. Dominik

    Hi!!

    Ouch. Some of these falls look really painful. But also… why do people feel the need to go down stairs in laundry baskets and shit like that?

    My fingers are crossed so tightly they’re turning purple!! When are you going back?

    And I think/hope you’re right about the move. Yeah. I’ll let you know how it goes once we see our next step! Thank you, really!

    Thank fuck your passport wasn’t in your wallet at least! Although love really owes you that wallet replacement at this point…

    Haha, I’ve never thought about that – how Casper the Friendly Ghost looked like when he was alive. I googled it now, and I couldn’t find anything, only that he looks like Richie Rich and that he died of pneumonia. Happy.

    Love telling that couple where the woman is lying on the man, ready to slide down the stairs together, that it’s not a good idea, Od.

  2. Misanthrope

    Dennis, Ha! Your own cloud. Actually, that seems legit. 😀

    Yes, it’s for all presidents now. It’s technically at the fedral level Washington’s Birthday. But it’s call Presidents’ Day (got my apostrophe right finally) now. We can celebrated James Buchanan!

    Man, nerd stuff is Life stuff. Oftentimes. The more you know…

    My mom broke her ankle falling down my brother’s stairs years ago. That was a really weird thing, seeing her in a walking boot. Like a typical Wines, after a couple days she was like fuck this and took it off. 😮

  3. _Black_Acrylic

    That’s a nice thing that happens when people are falling down the stairs and you’re scrolling down the page. Made me smile anyway.

    The Chelsea Girls DVD will be shown on a big screen. I inherited my brother’s large flat screen TV so that the viewing experience should be nicely immersive. Just one of the many advantages in having a successful sibling.

  4. Steve Erickson

    Until I looked Sleaford Mods up in Wikipedia yesterday, I didn’t realize that their first album came out in 2007 and the new one, UK GRIM, is their twelfth album. That’s an awful lot of variations on the spoken rant/cheap synthesizer set-up.

    Have you contacted the Metro about your wallet? Have you been able to get back your ATM and credit cards?

    I’ve had a migraine for four days now. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m seeing my doctor tomorrow.

  5. Nick.

    Hi! Commented too late yesterday so copy paste!

    I work at a really small old store no one comes in and I just get paid to waste my time there which is nice I really enjoy doing nothing and getting paid. Also my god did you sum it up perfectly cake that talks back that really put boys into perspective for me so thanks. How was your day? Got a fun fact or something I might find interesting? All I did was dumb adult stuff like laundry and grocery shopping today which was sorta fun but mostly just time filling. Great birthdays also definitely wouldn’t mind my sorta upcoming birthday going either way. My life has gotten sorta simple which is great cause it’s still really fun but I don’t have much to talk about so question time! Who’s a villain from a movie/book/history even you’ve always sympathized with? That’s all for now hope you’re well and talk soon!

  6. Nick.

    Hi! I work at a really small old store no one comes in and I just get paid to waste my time there which is nice I really enjoy doing nothing and getting paid. Also my god did you sum it up perfectly cake that talks back that really put boys into perspective for me so thanks. How was your day? Got a fun fact or something I might find interesting? All I did was dumb adult stuff like laundry and grocery shopping today which was sorta fun but mostly just time filling. Great birthdays also definitely wouldn’t mind my sorta upcoming birthday going either way. My life has gotten sorta simple which is great cause it’s still really fun but I don’t have much to talk about so question time! Who’s a villain from a movie/book/history even you’ve always sympathized with? That’s all for now hope you’re well and talk soon!

  7. Nick.

    Hi! I work at a really small old store no one comes in and I just get paid to waste my time there which is nice I really enjoy doing nothing and getting paid. Also my god did you sum it up perfectly cake that talks back that really put boys into perspective for me so thanks. How was your day? Got a fun fact or something I might find interesting? All I did was dumb adult stuff like laundry and grocery shopping today which was sorta fun but mostly just time filling. Great birthdays also definitely wouldn’t mind my sorta upcoming birthday going either way. My life has gotten sorta simple which is great cause it’s still really fun but I don’t have much to talk about so question time!

    • Nick.

      Who’s a villain from a movie/book/history even you’ve always sympathized with? I’ll be back if I think of anything cool and fun to say!

  8. Cody Goodnight

    Hi Dennis.

    I hope you are doing well. Very amusing post today. Many gifs here elicited a smile or a chuckle. Thank you for that. It must be fascinating living near celebrities. I’ve yet to many many famous people, although I live close to Memphis, Tennessee. I have had the privilege and luxury to visit Elvis Presley’s Graceland many times. It’s quite fun. Honestly, I have no idea how I can handle a group project. I prefer to work on my own because I know my limits and my strengths. It’s genuinely annoying when your partner doesn’t respond for a certain amount of time. Nina Simone is just a goddess while performing. I watched a performance of hers when she performed Mississippi Goddam and it’s just incredible. She’s so passionate and charismatic. There’s no one else like her, and I love her for that. I listened to much of her work today, including listening to Pirate Jenny 5 times in my college’s parking garage. Thank you, Dennis. I am feeling better, and it is interesting. I have horrible anxiety and depression at times that causes me to think things that aren’t true or cause me to want to self-harm myself in ways. I am getting better, but it’s a struggle. I am very happy I’m not alone. Again, thank you, Dennis. It means a lot. My day was normal. My southern gothic class talked about Flannery O’Connor, someone whose work I really enjoy. I kinda dozed off in my rhetoric class while listening to Nina Simone. I’ve listened to some Black Sabbath today. I used to be big into metal, but not so much anymore. Black Sabbath, however, are still an incredibly talented and gifted band whose music, I’d argue, ages very well. I can listen to them and Judas Priest any day. I plan to see Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai in my local art cinema. It’s my first time watching it. I’ve seen three other Jarmusch films, those being Stranger Than Paradise, Down by Law and Mystery Train, all of which I love. I’m very excited to see Ghost Dog. Have a great day, Dennis!

  9. Kyle

    Hey no worries at all! I know exactly how insane and time consuming the pre-production process is so don’t stress over it, whenever you have the time. Will definitely be checking out Vitalina Varela soon. Would love to hear what you thought of Marble Hornets if you get a moment to check it out, the whole series is a little long but you can get a good feel for it even if you just watch the first 25 or 30 entries.

    Unrelated but I’m kind of curious seeing as you’ve written quite extensively about websites and for gay hookers/gay sex, have you heard of Sniffies? To my knowledge its relatively new and has only gotten much attention recently. I’m on the younger side (24) and grew up using Grindr and Scruff to find sex, and I’ve only really been on Sniffies for a few months now, but it kind of blew my mind when I found it. The way its designed is both terrifying and genius (its just a map of your area with icons on it of where all the other users are located and hardly anyone even really uses face pics on their profiles, instead its really exclusively just dicks and holes). Feels like a response to the endless small talk you have to suffer through half the time on the other apps before you can get down to actually getting laid, which frankly I’m ok with lol. They also catalogue all the local cruising spots pretty extensively and people can post group/orgy/cumdump ads that you can join. People are also way more open about their kinks and fetishes on there – I have a running screenshot collection of all the insane scat ads I’ve seen on there cause I find them hilarious. I thought Grindr could get sleazy when I was younger but it really feels like the fucking wild west of gay hookup apps. Really the only place online I’ve spent much time on where the way people interact feels like it could have been taken directly from The Sluts hahaha. Anyways that was long and rambley but it struck me as something that you’d probably find interesting if you hadn’t heard of it before.

  10. Bill

    There’s something about falling down stairs that’s so painful. I’m reminded of this favorite classic:
    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24875.House_of_Stairs

    No falling down, but a lot of adolescent pain and angst.

    The only Pedro Costa I’ve seen is Vitalina Varela, which I enjoyed but thought it might have been a bit ahem shorter. I’ll make a note to check out his earlier films.

    Bill

  11. shadeoutmapes🐌🏃‍♂️

    Hii, it’s getting hot I hate it!
    Was that too abrasive of an introduction? Haha oops.

    oh yeah, nothing like slicing your tongue open on spaghetti metal…which sounds like an obscure music genre…
    Yes, I do agree with you about narrative not being trusted! Although I think I may have used the word wrong…oh wait I think I did! Anyways, isn’t that what makes it so intriguing though? As a narrative with fault and some unreliability is to me what personally makes the experience more of an authentically human one? Although honest is nice too, I’ve been watching videos on neurodivergent, and nonverbal people and it’s made me really realize that human articulation through verbal communication is really overrated.

    I have too many tall friends who like to tease me about being short. I mentioned those ROTC kids who I sort of hung out with at lunch and they ALWAYS made the same jokes about my height. But I guess it wouldn’t be so bad being short if it wasn’t so situational for me.
    I wish I could go back to school because I have ceramics with this person who I let borrow my lotr book last semester and they keep forgetting to give it back. I feel bad about it because they are really sweet and also the first person, I thought I liked but they didn’t really make an effort when I tried to hang out with them so its whatever. Crushes are weird because I never had one before and in the past, it was just someone liked me, and I thought “Oh I can like them back I think.” and I never really did I just wished I could be them (It was only 2 times; I don’t want to sound vain.)

    Oh, I think I’ll disappear for 2-3 days! My goal is to write this thesis on this idea I’ve had for a while, and I’ve always wanted to write one!!
    Bye!! (And hi to the pigeons maybe?? 🤨)

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