‘Manhattan, New York was where I happened to be born. After 6 months of stress, I boarded the first plane to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with my parents and sister. My primary and secondary school was not too far from Ipanema.
‘My university years were spent in Paris, suffering as Psychology major (Institut de Psychologie). To make life less tedious, I ended up seeing an inordinate amount of films of all kinds next to the Sorbonne where I occasionally attended classes. After a B.A. in Psychology I majored in Film Studies at the Sorbonne – Paris 3, at the Institut d’Art et Archeologie (Eric Rohmer’s classes) and at the Cinemathèque Française (Henri Langlois’ classes).
‘In the mid 70s I traveled throughout Europe with a friend, Rosine Grange, in a rundown Renault pick-up van, organizing women’s film festivals and distributing films made by women. Our distribution company was called Cine-Femmes International. My debut as an experimental filmmaker came in 1980, when I co-directed CAROLYN 2 with Martine Rousset (starring choreographer/ dancer Carolyn Carlson). It was a multimedia film and slide installation. Many films came afterwards, mostly shot in super-8 then blown-up to 16mm. Today I shoot video but still use super-8 whenever possible. Sound has been and is always a vital part of my work.
‘Installations consisting of multiple projections on different surfaces have been a new adventure. They are always site-specific, ephemeral works that are immersive and in dark spaces. I have presented them in Israel (Tel Aviv and Jerusalem), Portugal (Lisbon) and Austria (Graz) together with my collaborator Ruth Gadish.
‘Simultaneously my film-related activities have expanded to curating programs for venues such as the Jerusalem Cinematheque. Intersections, a program of Avant-garde films and videos was initiated to introduce the public to cutting-edge works at the Jerusalem Film Festival every year. A competition for video art takes place yearly as well. The OFF Series is a year-round program of video art screenings films shown monthly at the Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem Cinematheques. Other venues I have programmed include the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and the Escola de Artes Visuais Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro.
‘“Home” is wherever I feel at home – and that might be in a hotel or on a plane or on my way to an unknown destination with a camera and recorder in my bag.’ — Vivian Ostrovsky
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Stills
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Further
Vivian Ostrovsky Site
Vivian Ostrovsky @ Lightcone
VO @ IMBd
VO @ RE:VOIR
VO @ Experimental Cinema
VO @ MUBI
VO @ Soundcloud
« Experimental Eating » Interview by Thomas Howells
Bref » Le cinéma nomade de Vivian Ostrovsky » Raphael Bassan
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Extra
Sao Paulo TV , 2009
Jour 42 – avec Vivian Ostrovsky
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I Didn’t See Time Go By
by Vivian Ostrovsky
Paris, 1974. I was running femmes/films, an international women’s film fest in Paris with a friend, Esta Marshall. Chantal’s entry, Je tu il elle, struck the audience like a thunderbolt; not only was it daring but the gap between Akerman and mainstream cinema left the public grasping for firm ground. The length of the shots, their composition, the framing with a still camera, the loose narration and intimate voiceover, Chantal herself, swallowing spoonful after spoonful of powdered sugar from a paper bag; and finally the intimate, self-exposing sex scene between herself and her ex-girlfriend. We felt a new wind from Brussels.
The next day Chantal offered to show me her first short, Saute ma ville, made in 1968 when she was 18. The 400-seat Gaumont cinema was empty before 10am; both of us sat alone, watching Saute ma ville in which she again acted herself. I loved her comic irony, her black humour and her frenzied and ebullient qualities. As we walked out to the street she candidly turned to me and asked: “Don’t you think I have a presence? ” (“Tu trouves pas que j’ai une présence?”).
UNESCO decreed 1975 the “Year of the Woman”. Sensing there might be funds available, Esta Marshall and I rushed to present a project consisting of the first international symposium of women working in film. Not only filmmakers/directors, but also theoreticians, directors of photography, editors, actresses. After a first refusal, we persisted and finally got our way. A palazzo-style hotel in St. Vincent, in the Val d’Aosta mountains, awaited us. About 30 or more women from different continents turned up – Agnès Varda, Marta Meszaros, Susan Sontag, Anna Karina, Helma Sanders Brahms, and many others. Chantal was the little “kid sister”, the youngest of all and she eagerly participated in everything during four intense days and nights, including after-dinner skinny dips initiated by the Swedes which so infuriated UNESCO representatives.
A year later came Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. It was hailed as a landmark film in academic circles, a canonical film for cinephiles and often cited amidst the “top 50 films ever”. What, she asked, could she do at age 25 after an oeuvre like that?
Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector expressed similar anxieties when she caused a furore with her first book, Near To The Wild Heart (1943), for which she was acclaimed as one of the great masters of twentieth-century Brazilian prose. “I was scared by what you said,” she wrote to her friend, author Lucio Cardoso, “… I feel like tearing it up in order to get my freedom back: it’s horrible to already be complete.”
While Jeanne Dielman was often mentioned as a film unfolding in real time, Chantal corrected this: it was recomposed time that gave us the feeling of being locked into a Brussels housewife’s apartment for three days. Seeing the film’s making of, shot by Sami Frey (Autour de Jeanne Dielman published on DVD by Carlotta Films in 2007), you realise that it is pure Akerman time. She sits with Delphine Seyrig, looking at her watch, instructing: “now you sit for 25 seconds”.
As a film programmer I have showed her films in different countries; during the late ‘70s it was often in the context of women’s film festivals. We became good friends. Unexpected meetings occurred in different cities with Paris and Israel as recurrent places on our agendas. Every time Chantal had a new film, I programmed it in my section of the Jerusalem Film Festival; she enjoyed showing her films there, was well taken care of and the audiences appreciated her. She, however, was quite impatient with audiences. She had zero tolerance for foolishness and could be brusque. One can witness this in her last Locarno press meeting.
Her visit to the 2014 Jerusalem festival was the most meaningful. She gave us a taste of the installation she had been commissioned to do for the 2015 Venice Biennale, projecting her work in a grotto-like space at the Hansen House. This building had been a 19th century leper’s hospital built of large blocks of beige Jerusalem stone, with a spacious unkempt rambling garden. The images she showed us were long travelling shots of the arid, windy Negev Desert that she had filmed a few months before, projected onto the stones. The sound track was raw, punctuated by explosive, rough noise conveying the violence of war. With hindsight I now wonder whether it wasn’t as much the clamour of sounds she heard in her head at the time, after her mother’s death.
Providing a welcome counterpoint, in the quiet seclusion of that dimly-lit garden, Chantal read softly to us at nightfall, in French, chapters of Ma mère rit, her last book. There were only some 30 people there, an intimate event for those who didn’t mind going to a book reading in the midst of film festival furore. We listened, transported, conscious of the fact that it was such a rare and poignant moment.
She sometimes referred to herself as a female Charlie Chaplin. I found her closer to Stan Laurel or Mr Magoo, in her clumsy encounters with everyday objects and practical matters. In her interview with Elisabeth Lebovici for the Italian Mousse magazine, in 2011, she said, “I can’t have actresses playing my clumsiness.” We once met in New York at her friends’ apartment where she was staying. As I was leaving, she decided to come out with me for a smoke. As soon as the door closed behind us she realised she had just locked herself out. Those were the pre-cellphone era days and finding a friendly neighbour to call a locksmith was not easy. Her close friends were often requisitioned to find solutions to her practical problems. These ranged from someone to assist her with picking up a few suitcases in Brussels and bringing them back to Paris by car or finding an available apartment in another city. I was happy to help get the apartment from which she shot Là-bas in Tel Aviv. On her first night there, a bomb exploded practically at her doorstep. Worried friends and family called all night but she didn’t answer her phone; after taking a sleeping pill she slept soundly through the detonation, the police sirens, ambulances and general brouhaha. When I first watched Là-bas I couldn’t help smiling as the film’s narration progressed. In a way I felt responsible for all the wine glasses she had broken in that apartment but could not replace, the last loaf of home-made bread she stole from the freezer because she was hungry but unable to leave the flat, and her other daily misfortunes.
Her emails were terse but affectionate: “How are you? Everything ok here. PS: Think of my cousin”. That was for a young cousin who was going to study in Jerusalem for a year. I managed to find him a place at a friend’s and she was really pleased. Could we find her an artist’s residence in Tel Aviv so she could develop a new project? Her flight schedule changed and she needed to leave from Moscow, not from Paris, could we change that? And repeatedly: “I lost my phone book again with all the contacts” or “I mistakenly erased your number and several others from my cell. Please send again.” There were also innumerous trips on the Paris–Brussels train without her passport or any ID. The train conductor would then have to call the French Consulate or the Belgian Embassy to sort things out. Her French emails were comically peppered with a few words of Polish and a few of Russian. She played with her name, using Chantakerman, since she loved to sing. It was puzzling (around 2008) to see her sign “Hannah Akerman” for quite a while.
“I was born as an old baby, in 1950”, she said. Birth of a wunderkind, a wanderer, a wonderer and writer. She brought us her acute view, her unmistakable voice, and left us her art and much more as comfort.
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19 of Vivian Ostrovsky’s 31 films
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SON CHANT (2020)
‘The worlds of music and cinema interweave when Vivian Ostrovsky muses on the role of music in Chantal Akerman’s films, and how she and cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton work together in Son Chant. Sitting before Chantal Akerman, the world-famous cellist talks about her life and art in Avec Sonia Wieder-Atherton. Tragicomic musical theatre and cinematic cabaret combine in Roses, featuring Dakh Daughters from Ukraine whose multi-lingual and multi-instrumental performances explore their roles as women, artists, and citizens of a country living through times of revolution and war; while in Maisie, Britain’s oldest drag artiste, Maisie Trollette, prepares for the performance of a lifetime while battling Alzheimer’s.’ — Sheffield DocFest
Trailer
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Unsound (2019)
‘A Russian can say, “I hear the smell…”. A maestro has a vision of what a symphony should sound like. Jean-Luc Godard “listens to the light”. In a silent film how can one make the spectator see the sound? A vivid and noisy assemblage of archival and contemporary imagery meditating on the past and presence of film audio.’ — VO
Excerpt
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Hiatus (2018)
‘A fragmented tribute to Ukranian-Brazilian novelist and fashion journalist Clarice Lispector that interrogates the idea of ‘in-betweenness’, the intermission, a hiatus.’ — letterboxd
Trailer
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DizzyMess (2017)
‘Dizziness, in the sense that it inspires artists and filmmakers to move beyond their known borders. Or how a state of altered perception, instability, and confusion can be a catalyst for exploring new surroundings.Let go of the ground and attain giddiness or perhaps even foolishness?’ — VO
Trailer
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But elsewhere is always better (2016)
‘A new short film by Vivian Ostrovsky remembering Chantal Akerman, beginning with their first meeting in the early 1970s. Using her own footage of Chantal Akerman, the filmmaker remembers a few moments that illustrate Chantal’s personality. Forty years of friendship condensed into four minutes…’ — Family Film Project
Trailer
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On Dizziness (2016)
‘On Dizziness : what appealed to me in this theme was the state of altered perception, spatial disorientation and instability in relation to moving images. Dizziness, in the sense that it inspires artists and filmmakers to move beyond their known borders, was what I was looking for. The loss of gravitas can be a catalyst for exploring new spaces leading to a sense of giddiness and sometimes even foolishness.
‘Our way of working: Ruti and I started by researching images representing dizziness in films and on the Internet. We selected the excerpts we wanted and then worked on giving them different textures. For that, we re-projected the images on different supports and on different surfaces as well. Projections on a screen were used as a counterpoint. This process helped us create additional layers and distance towards the work.
‘Sound: We used non-synchronous sounds and it came before or after the described action. Additional remarks : We believe in working in minimalist style. This means it is a low tech and relatively low cost installation. We need two days to set it up.
‘On Dizziness is site-specific. A dark space and power outlets are a requirement. The number of materials are adaptable to the site. (i.e. video projectors and speakers).’ — VO
Presentation
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Losing the Thread (2014)
‘Super 8 reels of Paris catwalks I shot in 1979/1980 were supposed to become an experimental short meditation on couture culture. Its authority has unraveled some since and Deleuze’s definition of style: “creating a foreign language in one’s own language,” encouraged me to loosen the threads of this pursuit. To ponder how fashion and style are interwoven but also influenced by individual flare and whimsy, I stitched together Coco Chanel, Courrèges, Cole Porter and Kaiser Karl with vintage film moments. Then, as now, to grasp the whole cloth of this interface involves finding, but also Losing the Thread…’ — VO
Trailer
Excerpt
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Splash (2013)
‘Splash is without any doubt the “experience” of the moment. An amazing sensorial 16 mm film installation projected on different items such as sculptures made by Silvi Simon. Exploring the abyss of the sea and contemplating the fusion of the personal and the public sphere, Splash brings you in a bubble and trouble your senses.’ — The Bubblist
Trailer
Excerpt
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Wherever Was Never There (2011)
‘An intimate film made on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of her father, Rehor Ostrovsky’s death. Re-collecting snippets of my first 8m and super 8 films, old photos, letters, and other memorabilia. À slow pan through my adolescent years, family trips, holidays and everyday scenes. Listening for lost accents, impromptu songs at the dinner table, and bits of conversation. A landscape of flickering memories somewhere between home movies and photo albums.’ — Lightcone
Trailer
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Tatitude (2010)
‘A delightful update of Jacques Tati’s classic Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot. Seagulls squawk, waves crash and swimmers cavort in endless summer days spent on the beach. Tatitude suggests that sand, water and sun are the basic elements in a happy, carefree life, and maybe even the secret to eternal youth.’ — Lightcone
Trailer
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The Title Was Shot (2009)
‘The Title Was Shot was commissioned for a conference of film theoreticians in Berlin in 2009 entitled: The Cinematic Configurations of ‘I’ and ‘We’. Composed of fragments from over 25 films dating from the 1920s to the 90s, this mischievous short features cowboys, Indians and damsels in distress. Tarzan, Jane, a transgender gorilla, and a menacing lion tango from frame to frame, prodded by Wittgenstein, Gilles Deleuze and Slavoj Zizek’s philosophical considerations. A fast-paced, heart-pounding cinephilic farce.’ — VO
Trailer
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Ne pas sonner (2008)
‘Can yesterday’s icons work their magic on a cell-phone screen? Can Alain Delon and Monica Vitti retain their aura on low resolution? Can my own CELLuloid images mix in with reminiscenses of the 60s and 70s films I fell in love with then? Does Nokia rhyme with cine-phi-lia?’ — VO
Trailer
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TÉLÉPATTES (2007)
‘Télépattes is a bit of feline rhetorical fantasy. Starring among others, two cats, a couple of dogs, a weasel, a baby bear, a macaw and other creatures. Voices: Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Sarah Kofman. First shown in Paris at the Centre Pompidou, the film was commissioned by the Pocket Film Festival and was made entirely on a mobile phone.’ — VO
Trailer
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ICE/SEA (2005)
‘This playful collage of sea, sun, and ice is also a beach extravaganza starring suicidal skiers, soaking tigers, plunging mermaids, and more.’ — TFF
Trailer
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Nikita Kino (2002)
‘The film is a travelogue of sorts. In 1960 my family lived in Brazil when my father discovered his sister and brother in Moscow, who he hadn’t seen for 40 years, were still alive. Since they couldn’t leave the USSR we went to visit them regularly for about 15 years. At the time I had my 8mm then a super 8 camera with which I filmed the family, our outings, picnics, markets and their homes…
‘I decided to use this material, which was not very interesting per se, by mixing it with Soviet found-footage of the same period (1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s). I used feature films, propaganda footage, newsreels, etc. The result is a kind of Khruschev-era mix with a collage of Soviet music and a voice-over of my memories of the Cold War period.’ — VO
Trailer
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Uta Makura (Pillow Poems) (1995)
‘In 10th.century Japan, Sei Shonagon, lady-in-waiting to the Empress, wrote of the goings-on at the Japanese court. Fearing vengeance, she hid these secret notes on her pillow. UTA MAKURA is also a collection of humorous observations on modern-day Japan ranging from waterfalls to shopping malls, from kids in kimonos to fresh makimonos, from ancient wisteria to teen- age hysteria, from homemade noodles to live painted poodles.’ — Lightcone
Trailer
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EAT (1988)
‘A humorous observation of humans’ and animals’ table manners as they gulp down breakfasts, lunches, cocktails and dinners in a variety of situations. Ostrovsky uses her filmic diary and travelogue to cast her curious characters.’ — FAF
Trailer
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*** (TROIS ETOILES) (1987)
‘Sarah and Paul leave their native California once a year to eat their way through France. They test the Michelin guide’s recommendations for three-star restaurants (the top rating) and between meals still have time to do some wine tasting at the best cellars. The filmmaker follows them around in a second car.’ — VO
Trailer
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MOVIE (V.O.) (1982)
‘With a super 8 camera from Paris to Berlin, from Amsterdam to Rio, from Jerusalem to New York shooting only at night. Hungarian crooners, Indian tribal chants, opera arias, and an occasional samba make up the sound track of this “hand-held” diary.’ — VO
Trailer
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TOP TEN DESIGNERS IN PARIS (1980)
‘This film was shot in 1979, when there were very few documentaries made on the realm of haute couture. It was made by a group of filmmakers- three men and three women- just to catch a glimpse of a stylish milieu unknown to most. Enticing top models such as Jerry Hall and Ines de la Fressange prepare to be catapulted on the catwalk; hairdressers, photographers and a whole armada of people prepare the show. The 10 designers are: Issey Miyake, Karl Lagerfeld, Angelo Tarlazzi, Tan Giudicelli, Jean-Paul Gaulthier, Marithé and François Girbaud, France Andrévie, Claude Montana, Kenzo, and Thierry Mugler. Nostalgia for the fashionistas.’ — VO
Trailer
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p.s. Hey. ** jay, Hi, jay. My pleasure. Brainard is singular and very special. Interesting: the Palahniuk. I haven’t read Chuck’s stuff in ages. Maybe I’ll try to restart there, thanks. Mm, I will go back and try to sink deeper into the FKA Twigs. I may just not be in its mood at the moment. No storm here, totally regular winter seeping into an early phantom spring deal going on. ‘Stone of Madness’: I’ll see what it is. I’ve totally fallen out of my gaming habit of late, and I need to buckle down. Midweek joyfulness, which is possible, to you. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Glad you liked it. There’s a rare band who’s been consistently interesting for decades. Not many of those. Huh, Bowie, I didn’t recognize it. Sneaky love. I love kangaroos, It′s funny what they do, And they will jump around, And hug you, While they’re boxing about, They love you too, G. ** _Black_Acrylic, Thought or at least hoped you might like that one. ** Steeqhen, Oneohtrix Point Never used to be so exciting. I saw him live about five years ago, and it was one of the best gigs I’ve seen. But I feel like he has slacked off. It seems like when interesting artists start composing movie scores, something usually gets lost from then on. To me. Strange. I mean, poison fear and contaminants is a rich vein, either as a centrality or something more peripheral. I think I’ll see if I can find some kind of doc about ‘Doctor Who’ because it’s just too vast to even think about trying to get a good handle on given my work and life needs. That pasta put some saliva in my mouth. I hope you managed to down it. ** James, You seem to most gravitate to the kind of gentler, softer stuff. Interesting. But on the other hand, Speedy Ortiz, never mind. Happy anniversary! I don’t want to be cremated. The idea freaks me out, I don’t know why because being buried doesn’t exactly seem like a joyride either. Try a banana split. That might turn the tide. Or a banana milkshake! Few things better, I swear. I bet most of the writers who ended up being tagged as the Romantics would hate being called that. ** Misanthrope, You definitely have to help melatonin work by also counting sheep or whatever. Losing one’s place is very stressful, but seven months is doable assuming she doesn’t procrastinate. Obviously, I know. I think there should be a law that if you rent an apartment or house, it’s yours forever. I don’t care if that’s unfair to whoever owns the apartment. Okay, I care a little, I suppose. ** PL, Well, if you’re studying to be an art teacher, they should just teach you how to teach, although, even in that case, you just need to watch them teach and decide what works or doesn’t. What a conundrum. I hope you at least find exciting and inspiring fellow artists there or at least similarly disenchanted future teachers. I don’t know ‘Prometheus Garden’ unless I’m blanking out. Writing fiction sounds like it’s pretty much exactly like making animation in terms of the total power thing, at least. So, yes, I do understand your exalted feelings there. We’re lucky. I love collaborating, but going at art solo is the ultimate. ** Steve, I think Harmony did release AGGRO DR1FT? Or maybe initially at least? In its strip club context era? It never made it over here, theater-release-wise. Happy you liked this tracks. I don’t know of that YouTube phenom, but I’ll see what I can see. Sounds quite fun or something. ** ellie, Hi, ellie! It’s so lovely to see you, and thank you so, so much! I’m good, busy with stuff, finishing our film, all’s good. And how are you? What are you up to? xo. ** Tyler Ookami, Hi. Yeah, that was a good track, no? The LP is pretty solidly interesting. A Lonely Sinner: Thanks! I’ll hear it out. Thanks a bunch! ** Lucas, Hi. It’s always obnoxious when someone tells you you’re ‘too’ something, like they think there’s some correct way to be or do things. In your case, it just speaks to their conservatism, and you’re just a victim of their limitations, if you ask me. I’d try to shrug it off if you can. ‘Eden, Eden, Eden’ is definitely dense and exhausting. I think you have to invent your way or reading it pleasurably because the usual way doesn’t really work. Guyotat claimed he masturbated while writing it, but who knows. I saw him do a reading once. It was really beautiful, like very impenetrable rhythmic music, and surprisingly gentle. ** HaRpEr, Hey. Glad you liked those. The second Jobriath album is good too, maybe even better than his first one? I’m one of the rare people who actually saw him play live. It was kind of like glam era Bowie on an extremely low budget, but it was cool. Jane Remover, no, but I’ll listen. I will alert you if I come over for the Bowery show. I probably will. I haven’t been to London in what feels like forever. There was a brief discussion about showing ‘Room Temperature’ at the Tate during the Mike Kelley retrospective, but we couldn’t do it because that would have had to be before the world premiere unfortunately. I feel sure that SCAB meant every word. Onwards our outwards, yes! I just read yesterday about The Prince Charles Cinema being in danger. Grr. I’ll pass along your entreaty. I doubt my Paris location will let me help. Everyone, Here’s HaRpEr, and this actually an important call to arms, so, if you’re in the UK, listen up and follow through, please. HaRpEr: ‘If you’ll allow me to get on my soapbox, attention everyone! The Prince Charles cinema, an independent cinema which is a pillar of London is under threat of closure. If possible, I’m sure the cinema would be grateful if you signed this petition here. You may have to live in the UK to do so since you have to list your postcode. But anyway, The Prince Charles is one of the few places in London’s West End which still has any character to it. I really don’t know what I’d do without it. Please sign if you can. Thx xxx ** Justin D, Hi, JD. Happy some of the tracks reached you. Nice you liked the Dean Blunt. I’m such a huge fan of Elias Rønnenfelt’s voice, and I loved hearing it in that uncharacteristic context. I get you on the trailer, and that’s the goal. I mean the whole film is hopefully a finely tuned balance between things that are very hidden and also spelled out just barely enough. My Tuesday was pretty quiet. Just work and stuff. Did yours, or your Wednesday, consist of anything bouncy? ** Bill, Congrats about jury duty. I’m assuming you didn’t take the rejection personally. And hopefully it wasn’t the trial of the century. Was there no exciting performance work going around in your vicinity back then? Cool you like the Elsby. Her recent short story collection is very good too. Thanks, thanks! ** Okay. Today I give you another opportunity to become acquainted with the work of a very interesting filmmaker who is far less known than her work warrants. Vivian Ostrovsky is mostly known for her work and association with Chantal Akerman, but her own films are very worthy. See you tomorrow.
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Hi!!
So, I finally watched “Queer.” It was spectacular in the sense that it followed the book almost scene by scene yet still managed to miss its essence and flow entirely. The only “original addition” (apart from two other painfully forced hallucination/dream scenes) was the film’s culmination, a Yage-induced trip that Lee and Allerton experienced together, which seemed to exist solely for aesthetic purposes and maybe some hoped-for emotional catharsis that – at least for me – didn’t come. I don’t want to sound cruel, but I just think there are books that don’t lend themselves to a movie format, and “Queer” is one of them.
Okay, this song I had to google too. Charming! Can you feel my love buzz, can you feel my love buzz, can you feel my love buzz, can you feel my loooove buuuuzz, Od.
Ostrovsky’s new. Cool name. The tiger’s cool, too. The squat-off on the beach is bemusing me a little. The dog pic reminds me of a series of popular images of dogs side-eyeing the camera, which have been given homophobic captions in popular meme form. I am a fan of those memes. Homophobic dog has its own Wikipedia page. Making a film of sex with one’s ex sounds like it could be awkward. After-dinner skinny dips sound fun, even if I thought you should wait after eating before getting into water. Deserts and war bum me out. I can relate to her clumsiness. Yesterday my laptop somehow survived a plummet to the kitchen floor. On dizziness – a while ago I randomly thought ‘is dizzy short for disoriented/disorienting?’ and I’m still not sure if that’s the case. Splash is pretty. I love the dancing shadows light on water throws. A transgender gorilla in The Title Was Shot, my my. CAT in Telepattes, brilliant. Table manners can prove annoying, namely because I’m not allowed to perch like a gargoyle.
Yo D-Dawg. I type this from the comfort of a sofa and a heated blanket – good news, my geography teacher is on a trip today, so I didn’t have to go in to college today. I could lie in, take things slow, drink tea, it’s great.
That’s me, gentle and soft. Apparently. Ortiz aren’t the most grating thing I like listening to. I don’t listen to much experimental stuff these days. The closest thing to discordant music I like at times is Black Midi, and even them I haven’t heard in a while.
Thank you! Here’s to many more happy times with the blog and its awesome inhabitants.
I mean, my logic is that, if I’m dead, people can do whatever with the corpse, because. I’m dead. I mean the fuck am I going to do about it? Burying is expensive. And maybe better for the environment? Because then all the worms and stuff can nibble at me. If I’m cremated that’s just combustion which is bad because it produces carbon dioxide, or something. I don’t spent much time contemplating my posthumous treatment.
Banana milkshakes *are* rather scrumptious. I have been known to enjoy a homemade fruit smoothie which tasted strongly of banana. When it comes to flavours of milk, chocolate comes first, and then banana, and strawberry comes last. Too sickly for me. There are also these like, banana-flavoured, kind of foamy sweets, which I should hate but really like. Never actually had a banana split. Seems like the picture-perfect date food, plus, phallic bonus points. Will keep this in mind.
Mhm, labels generally, pesky things to be saddled with. Read a chapter or two about defining Romanticism this morning and unsurprisingly, it’s complicated and basically impossible. Let things exist outside boxes, is my logic. Yesterday’s English was just getting a draft of my coursework back, with positive feedback, I was told there’s very little I have to change. My paper was filled with praise in pencil, which is always lovely to read.
Lunch time! Then emails. Buh-bye. Till tomorrow – sigh, Thursdays.
Dennis, Hahaha, right? But Kayla will be fine. Worse comes to worse, she and I get a place together, as we’ve talked about before, and we’ll split expenses. Who knows?
Man, we got sad news at work yesterday. A lady we work with was found dead in her home. They checked on her because she’s never been late to work in like 25 years. She was 67. We don’t know the cause of death, but we know she was totally stressed out about the return-to-office mandate. She was in good health, didn’t drink or drug or smoke. It’s a total shock to everyone. And just one of the nicest people I’ve ever worked with. Ugh.
Hey Dennis,
That Palahniuk story jay mentioned is a part of that book by him I mentioned to you when we met up, Haunted.
I get you about artists getting into soundtracks, I haven’t really explored much of his newer stuff bar that one Magic Oneohtrix Point Never; I normally listen to R Plus Seven and Replica.
I ended up opening some cave in my mind whilst at this bar cafe that are common in Paris but not so much in Ireland (one of my favourite places to people watch in Cork), and I uncovered this whole idea in my mind centered around what I had been talking about, with bits of my own experience in group therapy, psychiatric hospitals and the environment they grow, and just how people online with eating disorders act. Really excited about working on it, though I was hit with some sort of grief towards it as I do not have the time for it. Hopefully I can find time over the next few months. I need to work on another story of mine for Friday as I’m gonna submit it to a zine being created by acquaintances of mine.
The pasta was ok, I was able to eat half before I had to throw it out. I’m gonna try less mushrooms and more pasta today to hopefully make it better.
How’s the visa coming along? I feel like I’m personally keeping up with all my tasks, though I forgot to pay my college fees so I need to do that tomorrow. I got a free trial of Mubi for a month so I’m working my way through some cool films. Last year I was awfully for watching movies so this year I want to watch a lot of stuff, especially some independent or low budget films.
EAT and *** (TROIS ETOILES) definitely seem like worthwhile pursuits. I have a fondness for TV cookery shows and the vicarious pleasure of seeing other people enjoy fine dining. Wiseman’s latest called Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros also looks good I think.
Those dizziness pieces have my name written all over them. Look forward to spending some lost equilibrium time soon.
Chicago has been more of a traditional theater town over the years. There was some interesting work in the late 80s/early 90s, but in those pre-internet days it was tricky to catch performances if you didn’t live there (which I didn’t) and were plugged into the small scene (which I was only kind of). I remember some sublime work by the late Lawrence Steger, and some interesting dance theater work, but very different from NY. I actually helped with a few performances with friends downstate, very messy and sprawling, almost no documentation.
Bill
I saw The Room Next Door yesterday. It was very entertaining but not really essential at all. Tilda Swinton is very fun as this kind of cunty rich woman who is using cancer as an excuse to manipulate people. I think a lot of the audience did not know what to expect and didn’t understand the movie being somewhat tongue in cheek. What do you think of Almodovar? This is the only one I have seen.
I agree that Lopatin’s work as 0PN has suffered since he’s taken on so many jobs scoring films, writing and producing for pop stars, etc. I suppose that’s true of everyone who does that, though. It’s really pretty tough to work on commission and also have the time to make things that are truly personal. I think Channel Pressure is still my favorite Lopatin album, personally.
Jane Remover comes from an internet microscene called dariacore (named for the MTV show, hence the “Jane”). Dariacore is like the dark reverse of hyperpop: same production techniques but less ironic, more angry and depressive. Jane Remover is one of those projects that evolved from a producer to a rock band though, and what they make as a band is a different kind of thing. It’s sort of like a mix of that depressive post-trap with processed vocals of someone like Bladee with the really processed vocals but put into the context of, I don’t know, Codeine or something, 90s slowcore.
Prometheus’ Garden is a film by Bruce Bickford, a pioneer of clay animation. If you’ve seen anything by it, it’s probably the music videos he animated for Frank Zappa in the early years of MTV. I think he was sort of Zappa’s “discovery”. Zappa even funded a Fantasia-like feature with Bickford with little animated segments set to classical Zappa pieces interspersed with documentary footage of Bickford’s process. It’s on Archive: https://archive.org/details/theamazingmr.bickford1987
Hi Dennis, Happy Lunar New Year! Just wanted to say that video of Hapi Phace had me dying laughing last night, especially the part with the heckler telling her she said the same joke the previous week, lol. Hope you’re good.
My dad made it to his physical today and called me afterwards. I’m so relieved that worked out.
Even in the U.S., AGGRO DR1FT barely made it to movie theaters. I think it played at 10 PM on one screen in New York for a week.
I’m writing about the new album by Jane Remover’s indie rock project, Venturing, for my next Gay City News music roundup. (Venturing was originally conceived as a fictional ’90s band.)
3121534312 is a glitch art YouTube channel whose comments section attracts strange people with New Age beliefs. (I think many people post comments after watching their videos on psychedelics – I wonder why so many people are so blissed out when the videos are trying so hard to evoke an MK Ultra brainwashing mood.) The videos themselves are just OK, but they become a new, immersive piece of art if you take them in conjunction with the comments. Since I started watching them, the algorithm recommends more and more channels doing the same thing, of course.
That channel and its comments actually remind me of a New Age version of THE SLUTS.
Hi! Noted about the second Jobriath album. I’ve been meaning to see that documentary about him. I read that his career went downhill and that he tried to become an actor and then just sort of disappeared. Yeah, it’s interesting how glam wasn’t perceived the same way in America. Sparks of course had a big chunk of their audience in the UK and a lot of British people assumed they were British.
Fingers crossed but I’m hopeful about the Prince Charles thing. The petition has had over 100,000 signatures! Thanks to everyone who signed it. Apparently it’s a lease issue. Places like that should be protected by law from this kind of shit.
Also, I said that The Prince Charles was one of the few places in the West End that still has character, and it just occurred to me that one of the other places is directly next to it. The cinema is right next to a curiously unmarked Catholic Church called ‘Notre Dame de France’. The church was created for French immigrants to London, it’s a beautiful space, and interestingly, the murals in the building were designed by Jean Cocteau, so it’s one of those strange secret nooks in the city, which is kind of what I love about London. Now that I think about it, London has a lot of that kind of thing. It’s hard to judge it based on other cities because I haven’t lived in other cities for extended periods. I know LA has some wacky stuff, but obviously not quaint and Victorian like London.
I read that book ‘The Invention of Morel’ today. I thought it was really interesting, especially as it went on. Apparently it was one of the inspirations behind ‘Last Night at Marienbad’, and yes, the things I liked most about the book were the descriptions of mysterious hideouts and contraptions. I read the preface by Jorge Luis Borges, which was one of the most pretentious (I hate using that word because it’s always used for the wrong reasons, but in this case it feels fitting) and insufferable prefaces I’ve ever read.
Unfortunate that the TATE screening didn’t work out. Do you and Zac plan on touring the film and stuff like that? Are you still trying to sort out distribution stuff? I’m kind of clueless about how that kind of thing works so sorry if I come off like an idiot. I read here the other day that you were working on a trailer. Exciting!
Hi Dennis! When I’m saying it I’m doing a ridiculous French accent in my head, imagining people in Paris stumbling over themselves trying to pointedly say Denise. Stuff’s been busy and not too hot recently, but I’ve been visiting the blog daily still even if I haven’t commented. But then I just watched Das schreckliche Mädchen with one of my professors and there was a bit in there where a woman in Nazi Bavaria tosses bread to inmates and that reminded me of the priest’s housekeeper (?) in The Notebook and how she teases them and I almost cried for no reason apparent to anybody around me. I’m doing a research paper on online escort advertisements and violence. It’ll have to be a little simpler than I’d like, due to the demands of the academic form but yeah it’ll really be you subrepting it. Do you have any recommendations for public sites that I can check? Anyway, wishing you a good Thursday. Hope your laces don’t come undone.
Hi Dennis
How are things going with you at the moment? Interesting post today, some very seductive and beguiling images. None of the videos are viewable for me, but it’s probably my vpn so will try to access with this turned off later. Internet such a tedious minefield of technical inconvenience these days.
When and where did you see Guyotat read? Did you know him personally? What did you think of his later books in English translation, Coma and In the Deep?
Hope you’re well and get a chance to respond to my email at some point. Nothing would be more welcome, whatever your decision.
I’m planning a trip to the UK next month to see family, looking forward to it despite the weather.
Very best, J
hi, dennis! gonna see if this gets before the next update; sorry for radio silence, been shockingly both busy and just more quiet, the ice storm was that hectic. i’ll try to get a longer msg next post if i can!