The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Winter

 

 

Kohei Nawa Untitled
‘Japanese artist Kohei Nawa filled a dark room with billowing clouds of foam for this art exhibition in Aichi, Japan. Nawa used a mixture of detergent, glycerin and water to create the bubbly forms. Described by the artist as being “like the landscape of a primordial frozen planet”, the large cloud-like forms were pumped up from the floor in eight different locations, creating a scene that was constantly in motion inside an otherwise black room. The artist experimented with different quantities of the three ingredients to create a foam stiff enough to hold a shape without being affected by gravity. “Small cells bubble up ceaselessly with the slight oscillations of a liquid,” said Nawa, explaining the process. “The cells gather together, totally covering the liquid as they spontaneously form a foam, an organically structured conglomeration of cells.”‘ — dezeen

 

 

Carson Fox Ice Storm
‘The gallery was transformed into a winter wonderland where Carson Fox created cast resin sculptures of snowflakes, icicles and snowdrifts. This body of work served as a meditation upon themes of an alternate nature, one that is created in the mind as a reassurance against the inevitability of death. In this controllable world, Fox can prevent icicles from melting, create larger than life snowflakes in preposterous configurations, and freeze flowers as they bloom. In the fantasy of artificiality, the fleeting moment is held in stasis and death is denied. Each snowflake was cast individually and then assembled into complex formations to create both freestanding snowdrifts and creeping formations. The compositions suggest an exaggerated fantasy of nature where the viewer can behold the individual beauty of each flake in sharp focus and keep it there without fear of it melting and slipping away.’ — Redux Studios

 

 

Guido van der Werve Nummer acht
‘A lot of people think I used some sort of telephoto effect. What we did actually is that we put the camera on top of a snow scooter on a steady device. The snow shooter moved at the same pace as me and the icebreaker. Because we used a steady cam, we couldn’t use a telephoto lens (shakes too much) so we used a lens which is equal to the eye. I was walking as close as the Captain [of the Sampo] would allow me to walk in front of the icebreaker (which was about 10 meters). If I got too close I got a signal that I should walk a bit faster.’ — GvdW

 

 

Erick Swenson Untitled (2004 – 2005)
Styrofoam snow, polyurethane ice, brick, taxidermied deer
‘This is a static object. I’m asking you to look at this for more than three seconds. That’s hard to do sometimes. People just blow through stuff, you know. So it’s leaving things sort of enigmatic and open-ended. My sculptures are actually more like a special effects scene from a film. Something’s just happened. Or is about to happen. There’s a story here, somewhere.’ — ES

 

 

 

 

Arata Isozaki and Yoko Ono Penal Colony
‘Their pavillion used harvested ice from a frozen lake in the Sestriere. The blocks came from a lower layer of the lake, where the ice is blueish or turquoise depending on the minerals contained in the water. Once cut with a chainsaw, each block, measuring 1 metre in length by 0.6 metres in height by 0.6 metres in width was lifted by a logging crane and transported to the site. The blocks were then positioned in order to fit together. Once each block was put into place, water was poured to fuse the ice together. Finally the material was finished using setaline torch and smoothing the surfaces, giving a translucent tone to the construction.’ — Interior Architecture: Sources

 

 

Taryn Simon A Cold Hole
‘In A Cold Hole, the gallery floor is replaced by an expanse of solid ice with a single square hole cut from its center. Visitors are intermittently invited to jump into the icy water below. Visitors can view A Cold Hole through a cinemascopic aperture from a darkened adjacent gallery.’ — MassMoCA

 

 

Tavares Stracham The Distance Between What We Have and What We Want
‘Tavares Stracham is the typical conceptual jokey jokey wannabe. This is art for being featured in the news. For example, he took a chunk of Alaskan ice and created a solar powered freezer that took it to Bahamas and then to the Brooklyn Museum. It is called ‘The Distance Between What We Have and What We Want (Arctic Ice Project)’ and it aims at ‘cutting the air conditioning bill and carbon footprint’.’ — loveartnotpeople

 

Ice Music Festival (Geilo, Norway)
‘All music instruments and stage decorations are created from a real ice by using a chainsaw and other tools. Sculptor and author Bill Covitz describes the festival as a fascinating process of transformation of water into ice, subsequent instrument manufacturing, and at the end creating of sounds. The quality of the sound depends on the quality of ice and the quality of ice depends on the weather temperature. So every concert is a unique experience.’ — vhf

 

 

Andy Mattern Driven Snow
‘When the winter reaches that point when it’s continuously below freezing and the roads are covered in dirt, sand, rock salt, and slush, the wet road spray that comes up from the back of your car tires freezes in place instead of melting away. The result is a bulbous array of stalactite-like encrustations that build up in wheel wells, lumpy blobs of astonishingly hard, dirty ice that can only be dislodged with a swift kick of your boot. Andy Mattern has documented these ugly bergs with an almost geological fascination. Photographed against bright white backgrounds (like Irving Penn’s skulls), each one shows off its pits and crystals, its layers of sediment and gunk, with crisp, typological detail. His approach has turned these objects into unlikely sculptures, echoing otherworldly moon rocks or weird natural formations, edging into abstraction as their elemental forms take over in the floating whiteness.’ — collector daily.com

 

 

64gravely How far can the Snow Cannon go?
‘I had a comment on my last video of the Snow Cannon from a youtuber who goes by Harely Ironhead saying “That baby can blow some snow, sweet!” Well in that video there was very little snow and I had the MA210 set to blow the snow down to the ground quickly to avoid destroying anything. So I thought I would make of video of the real capabilities of the MA210 Snow Cannon. The snow was piled high and dry this morning, and no wind to boot, perfect conditions for the MA210. In this video the Snow Cannon is backed up by a 1970 Gravely Commercial 12 2 wheel tractor powered by a Kholer k301 12 horse.’ — 64gravely

 

 

Nele Azevedo Minimum Monument in Berlin
‘Small ice sculptures in the shape of humans were placed on the steps of the music hall in Gendarmenmarkt public square in Berlin on Sept. 2. Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo made one thousand of the ice figurines, which began melting immediately on the sun-soaked cement. Many melted within 30 minutes.’ — The Ice Cubicle

 

 

 

 

Studio Granda Crate
‘Heat melts the snow. Grass grows in the glow. A crate is waiting. It is comprised of a 15m, 3m high chainlink fence with 50 fenceposts at 1m centres. Attached to the posts are large radiant heaters that are operated by movement sensors. There is a 1m gap in the fence on the north side. Within the fence are 50 trunks of differing shapes, ages and form. If the trunks are touched or sat on a speaker is activated with a voice. The voice may say, “Have you been here long?” or “It’s getting warmer” or something else. We intend to prepare the ‘voices’ from Lingaphone LP’s in various languages.’ — Studio Granda

 

 

Tokujin Yoshioka The Snow
‘The Snow is a 15-meter-wide dynamic installation. Seeing the hundreds kilograms of light feather blown all over and falling down slowly, the memory of the snowscape would lie within people’s heart would be bubbled up. The snowscape created with the feather would be more like the memory of snow lying with people rather than the actual snow. I do not really know about the value of nature in Japan, but what I would like to do is not to reproduce the nature but to know how human senses function when experiencing nature.’ — Tokujin Yoshioka

 

 

Paula McCartney from A Field Guide to Snow and Ice
‘A Field Guide to Snow and Ice is my interpretation of the idea of winter. After moving from San Francisco to Minneapolis I decided to brave the elements and explore the snowy landscape, however, at times without being out in the cold. I’m inspired by the studies of Karl Blossfeldt, James Nasmyth’s constructed lunar landscapes and August Strindberg’s misinterpreted Celestographs-works by artists who collected and interpreted nature in their own peculiar ways.’ — PM

 

 

Coble/Riley Projects Watermarks
‘Since 2009, Mary Coble (USA/DK) and Blithe Riley (USA) have collaborated on performance-based videos that explore tensions between site-specificity, gesture, narrative, and endurance. In February 2012, Coble/Riley Projects was invited to participate in a month-long Iaspis Residency in Umeå, Sweden. Working on a frozen stretch of sea, Coble and Riley fused video, performance and land art to create “Watermarks.” Dense snow conceals the frozen seascape underneath, acting as a canvas on which the artists make marks and draw. Opaqueness and transparency arise from the simple actions of an unknown figure, who repeatedly uncovers layers of snow, ice, and water to reveal surfaces with varied properties of reflection.’ — CONNERSMITH

 

 

Cai Guo-Qiang & Zaha Hadid Caress Zaha with Vodka
‘Vodka mixture is poured over Zaha Hadid’s elegant, fluid ice and snow structures, built in Lapland, Finland. The liquid is set alight in a cool blue flame that wraps the structures in warmth. This blue flame with licks of pink roams along the curves and valleys of the landscape, spreads, drips, meanders and cascades into waterfalls and streams. The fire sets the ice and snow environment in a heightened pure transparent light. The warmth softens the angles, corners and rigidity of the icy forms. The fire highlights its beautiful contour, the melted ice-water mixed with alcohol flow freely on and around the structure, render it in a state of constant movement and change.’ — fungcollaboratives.org

 

 

Fujiko Nakaya & Shiro Takatani Cloud Forest
‘A large-scale installation themed around new environmental creation by a fusion of art and information technology was set up in three different public spaces in and around YCAM. The installation of artificial fog and sound, elaborately built using information technology, facilitated a dialogue between visible and invisible things, and between natural and artificial environments, in a recurring cycle of generation, penetration and reflection. Rather than addressing “environmental” issues only from an ecological point of view, the exhibition focused on the mutual interaction between natural, social, mental, and most topically, informational environments, to present the visitor with a new “environmental sphere” defined by the mutual permeability that arises from this interaction.’ — YCAM Re-Marks

 

 

Simon Beck untitled
‘Simon Beck is an artist who creates these incredible designs by walking in the snow with raquettes (snowshoes). The Oxford-educated, self-employed map maker creates these designs on the frozen lakes in the valley of Savoie, France, just outside of the ski slopes at Les Arcs resort. An average work is the size of three soccer fields and takes about two days to complete. The biggest challenge for Beck is finding a way to reduce the visibility of his own tracks when he begins and finishes a piece. Sometimes, he might work all day only to have his design covered by fresh snow overnight. At other times, he finishes a design right at sunset and doesn’t have enough light remaining to photograph his work properly.’ — gnarling.com

 

 

 

 

Liang Shaoji Snow Cover
‘In the Snow Cover series (2014), silkworms are placed either in the everyday objects such as wine bottles, coffee boxes, plastic cups, poster papers, high-heeled shoes and electronic components, or in relics of ancient architecture, stone carving, broken porcelain and withered twigs. The silkworms spin continuously so that the silk wraps around the objects, making them look snowcapped.’ — Art Review Asia

 

 

Roman Signer Snow Works
‘Swiss artist Roman Signer might at first be thought of as ‘artist as trickster.’ For years he has probed simple phenomena, properties of the physical world, and the artist’s relationship to often surreal realities of corporeal existence. 

”Signer adds a further dimension to the concept of sculpture as we know it, a medium which, in the course of the ongoing subversion of traditional boundaries launched upon in the 1960s, had already been expanded to include unconventional materials and actions. Put simply, he examines the basic elements of fire, water and air in terms of their sculptural qualities, albeit not in the manner of Land Art, which tends to effect an overt rearrangement of natural materials within or upon the landscape.’ — CAFKATV

 



 

 


 

 

 

 

34th Harbin Int’l Ice and Snow Festival officially opens

 

 

Tony Tasset Untitled (Snowman)
‘Tony Tasset’s snowmen are made from glass, resin, brass, enamel paint, poly-styrene, stainless steel and bronze, and the snow replicas are surprisingly convincing. Catching a viewer off guard in a gallery setting, the snowmen freeze (pun intended) in time a phenomenon that is never the same—unlike in real life, Tasset’s snow personalities might last forever.’ — Beautiful Decay

 

 

Cameron Jamie & The Melvins Kranky Klaus
‘Kranky Klaus is in its form an ‘objective’ registration, although it often comes about in the middle of the action, of the so-called Krampus ritual in Austria. Men in hairy suits with large teeth and imposing antlers go from door to door around Christmas to chase and attack people as Krampus demons. They are in the company of a Saint-Nicolas-like figure who then calms the people down. The ritual dates back to heathen pre-Christian customs that preceded today’s less aggressive but totally commercialised Christmas activities. Krampus forms a kind of strange combination of Christmas and Halloween. To his observations of this striking annual phenomenon, Jamie adds a soundtrack by The Melvins, the controversial rock band from the Seattle area. Their long and loud chords put the typically Austrian event in a very electronic frame that has nothing to do with Christmas, but refers to an American street culture that also has its own rules.’ — iffr


Kind of shitty video of KK projected

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Oh, yes, I remember now that you’re a fellow Eve Fowler fan. Yeah, she’s best known for the hustler photos, but her work is super interesting overall. Wish I could see that show, naturally. Surely there was some internet-related inability reason why Boas’s photos weren’t in that post because it seems awfully strange. ** Steve Erickson, Hi. Thanks for the dark web tip. I don’t think I want to go in there. Gut instinct. American hardcore only took over punk if one was a punk purist who thought punk’s evolution was a betrayal and/or if one was only into punk’s aggression, I think. Punk never stopped being made by queers and non-males, it just depended which of punk’s trajectories one followed. I don’t think that rock has an in-built hierarchy that establishes what quality and centralised concerns are and would thereby cause Joni Mitchell or Fleetwood Mac to be superior to Dead Boys, etc. because the latters’ palates are bigger and their talents more conventional, or vice versa. Anyway, I think to make comparisons like that, pulling out sideline punk bands to compete with highly respected artists like JM or KC isn’t the best way. If you’d said The Ramones or The Clash or thereabouts, the argument would be a more difficult one? ** Sypha, Hi. Ha ha, going a little Elon Musk there, are we? Oh, wow, thanks for laying out the Jung thing. That was interesting. Mm, you’ve just inspired me to make another miniature golf post, for better or worse, ha ha. ** Dóra Grőber, Hi! Exactly re: what we’re expected to do with the TV script. Well, I’m just trying to see this as an interesting experiment in doing or trying to do something I’ve never ever ever wanted to do and wondering if we can normalise it in such a stealth way that everyone wins. Or so I say before we actually dig in and do that. I’m sure I’ll be miserable and whining once we actually start. Oh, right, that book translation project! I will admit I thought that might be a dead duck. Well, cool, I think, right? Assuming you’re still interested to see what can be learned from the assignment. Thank you about the post, and for the link to that show. I didn’t where those images came from. Thank you! My weekend was all right. Saw a film. The World Cup thing took over Paris completely so there was a lot of experiencing that, which I actually enjoyed. All that excitement and happiness was beautiful. You have a spectacular week too! Yes, I would imagine I’ll be headlong into the TV script by the next time I see you, but hopefully I’ll be laissez-faire about it, although, honestly, I won’t be. But that’s okay. See you soon! ** David Ehrenstein, Marianne Faithful lives in Paris. I only just found that out a couple of days ago. ** Simon, Hi, Simon. Really nice to meet you! Ah, thank you a lot for solving that ‘unknown’ photo. I’ll go make the correction as soon as I launch this. And seek out more of Anthony Friedkin’s photos. Well, it kind of goes without saying that it would be a pleasure if you want to come back in here and confer about whatever anytime you like. Take care. ** Misanthrope, I have Honda devotee friends, and I believe them, so good call/pick. Chugging is good, and a nice word too. So it sounds like all your misbehaving items are back in your fold. Small and yet no small victory. ** Bill, Ha ha, you mean the parade for Les Bleues? Nah, no sweat. I can walk to the Champs Elysee from where I live, so my area was packed with Frenchies carrying little French flags on their way to and fro the parade, but they were a cheerful lot. Yeah, his site is a mess. I noticed that too. I gave up even. I hope your today is a ton less gruelling. Like a serious ton less. ** JM, To various places, from what I know and understand, most of them not so happy. ** Corey Heiferman, Hi. Yeah, I think you’re right. ‘Hustle’ on its own still has some versatility, but less so even there. Wow, that google chart is really interesting. I’m going to stare at it in a bit. I mean stare as a pretext for internal activity. I remember when people used to often say ‘damn straight’ just to mean ‘you’re right’. I’m sure it’s just because I’m from LA where the English language goes to die, but I kind of love how English gets continually lazy and confused. I remember that ‘Satisfaction’ video. It’s kind of genius. I know someone who has prints of a whole lot of Eve Fowlers’s hustler photos all over their house, I mean in every room, and the collector is as heterosexual as it’s possible to be. Maybe I should interview him. I had the c86 cassette. I thought it was spotty even then, although I was definitely into that realm of stuff then and for a while after. I haven’t listened to it in ages. I should. It had some killer tracks on it, if I recall. ‘Velocity Girl’, uh … tracks by The Pastels and The Wedding Present. Age of Chance? Sarah Records was cool. I collected their 45s religiously for a while. Just checking their discography now, it’s weird how almost all of the bands they supported have sunk into obscurity. Rock is strange. Why do you ask? Thanks about the blog. I really appreciate it. How and what was your day? ** Right. I am deeply sick of summer and jonesing for winter so I decided to make an artificial winter and cage it on the blog and then invite you guys in to gawk at it like in a zoo or whatever. See you tomorrow.

16 Comments

  1. David Ehrenstein

    Wow. All these people in Paris you should be hanging with 24/7: Wes Anderson, David Sedaris and now Marianne Faithfull!

    Regarding winter. . .

    And it’s Diahann Carroll’s Birthday

    • Caitie

      Thank you for the Winter Vid!!

  2. Sypha

    I think the ideal background music for today’s blog post would be “The Snow.” I quite like the Simon Beck pieces, they look really cool. Actually, I’m not a winter person by any means, but this summer has recently turned really hot and humid these last few weeks, so I’m looking forward to when it gets cooler (we actually had a very mild June, but July has been awful).

    I’ve become something of a budding Jungian over the last few years or so, though I’ve still only read a small amount of his daunting bibliography: his “Psychology & Alchemy” (a must-read for anyone interested in alchemy, actually), his short read “An Answer to Job,” his incredible memoir “Memories, Dreams, Reflections” (where he recounts, among other things, a dream he had at the age of 4 where he wandered through a field, found a hole in the ground with a spiral staircase, and descended to the underworld, where he entered a vast chamber, in the center of which was a throne with a gigantic phallus seated on it; he also recounts a vision he had as a teenager of God, in the heavens, unleashing a massive turd onto a cathedral on the earth below, utterly destroying the church)… for Christmas last year my parents got me his massive and infamous “The Red Book,” which I also read: that was a journal of dreams and visions he kept during his mental breakdown period, and some of the paintings he did for it are stunningly bizarre: do a Google Image search on the subject and you’ll see what I mean. He’s certainly the most New Age-y of the classic psychiatrists… certainly one of the first to become fixated on UFOs and things of that nature.

    If you ever do a mini-golf day be sure to include the place I told you about, ha ha: here’s their website: http://steamboatlandingminigolf.com/

  3. Damien Ark

    Hi Dennis. Been a while since I’ve had the time to write to you. Still lurk the blog almost every day though. Finally on vacation in SF to visit my bestie and some others. There’s a John Akomfrah film called “Vertigo Sea” playing at the moma that fits this post very well. Watched the whole thing too. To be honest, I hate winter and never complain about heat. Maybe it’d be easier to enjoy if I lived somewhere in which transportation by car was an option and not necessary. Of course, stopped by City Lights to buy more books that I don’t need. You’re always hard to find there. Finally bought “Sarah Book” and “Ocean of Sound” (David Toop), the former was on one of your lists years ago lol. Also grabbed “Stephen Florida”, because it was intriguing. I asked the people at the counter if they knew any publishers that do lgbt transgressive stuff, in the mind of you. They named a couple, but they’re just political and poetry publishers. They mentioned Tyrant, but that seems extremely intimidating to submit a debut work to a house like them.
    Finished my 3 months or whatever worth of editing grammar and finally wanted to ask you if you could recommend any places that work under, well, you know. I’d really appreciate it.
    I hope you’re doing well. Seems like you’ve had a really busy and productive year already. Gonna tell my NY friend to see ur movie when it shows up. He’s a total creeper, by the way. Very dangerous person, but friendly at the same time. You’ll know him when you see him, I imagine.

  4. Damien Ark

    I wrote a super long message, but it looks like it vanished after I posted it. Shame. Hope all is well. Guess I’ll have to rewrite it tomorrow or something.

  5. Steve Erickson

    I think I know who Damien’s NY friend is.

    It’s impressive how many uses artists have made from snow and wintry imagery. Personally, I hate the extremes of heat and cold that the Northeastern U.S. (where I’ve lived my entire life) is prone to, and prefer spring and fall.

    I saw Godard’s 1986 RISE AND FALL OF A SMALL CINEMA COMPANY, now getting its first American theatrical release, for the first time since 1992. The film’s most memorable scene shows a long line of actors auditioning by walking past a camera and saying one phrase as it films them in profile. But Godard seemed obsessed with Janis Joplin in a way whose full meaning is only evident at the film’s end. It plays “Mercedes Benz” early on. One of the characters says “freedom’s just another word for nothing to lose,” then the film plays a minute of “Bobby and McGee.” And then it plays Arvo Part at high volume, with a record stuck in the groove of “Bobby and McGee” repeating “freedom’s just another word for nothing to lose” competing with it to be heard. Given the narrative about the difficulties of low-budget filmmaking and that Godard was starting to talk about the death of cinema around the time he made this (on video, for French and Swiss TV), it’s not hard to figure out what he’s getting at by emphasizing that sentence.

    The AV Club likes my idea and might have me compile a post-punk primer in the form of an annotated Spotify playlist. She’s going to bring it up at a meeting today and get back to me.

    Yes, of course the Ramones and Clash were the equals of Joni, King Crimson, etc. I was just saying that the “class of ’77” idea that punk was automatically superior to prog, mainstream pop, or singer/songwriters was full of shit and I wish it didn’t take me so long to figure that out. This has more to do with my personal history, and music history undoubtedly looks much different to someone who actually lived through the ’70s instead of discovering punk in the mid ’80s. You actually heard Joni Mitchell at the time; I had to seek her out on my own and find out what HEJIRA sounded like. Fleetwood Mac were totally ubiquitous in the late ’70s, I know, but when I first heard RUMOURS in its entirety, “Don’t Stop” & “Go Your Own Way” were the only familiar songs. I thought “Wow, ‘Dreams’ is really haunting and beautiful,” only later learning what a big hit it had been.

  6. _Black_Acrylic

    Ah yes this comes as some welcome heatwave respite and I particularly like that ersatz Tony Tasset snowman. Earlier today I went along with my mum to a thankfully air-conditioned Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield to see a show of work by the Dutch photographer Viviane Sassen. She’s new to me and I enjoyed her surrealism-inflected images a whole lot. That pic with the mirrored legs is titled Marte #02.

  7. Jamie

    How do, Dennis?
    Sorry I’ve been absent – been protesting, parading, working and watching the football. How have you been?
    Today’s is one of those perfect posts, thank you. I pretty much love everything here, but have special love for all those wee melting snow figures and Caress Zaha with Vodka. Those Simon Beck pieces are insane – I’m not even so fussed by their final appearance, but imagine making them!? Wow. And that gif of the kids making the igloo is perfectly hypnotic. Right on!
    Have you started work rejigging the TV show yet? How’s it going, if so?
    I’ve been most pleasantly surprised today by the new Body/Head album. Have you heard it? I didn’t think much of what I heard of the last one, or maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but I think this is pretty beautiful. And an interview with them led me to listen to Dawn of the Double by the Double, which I’ve also been loving. Hooray for music!
    How was your Tuesday?
    May Wednesday make you feel like you own shares in the day and stock prices are simply soaring.
    Foil wrapped and inflated love,
    Jamie

  8. Steve Erickson

    I had an interview fall through because its subject thought my phone line was too faint for her to make out my voice (I then sent her my questions via E-mail, and I really hope that works out), then I got an edit that threw out half my ideas and asked for a complete rewrite of the rest. When I contacted that outlet’s chief editor, he said that someone else who misunderstood my ideas was responsible for the edit and after looking over it, it never should’ve been sent to me! He’ll complete the edit himself, trying to respect what I wrote, and only contact me if entirely necessary. I am feeling really pissy and frustrated right now.

  9. Kyler

    Dennis, only you would do a winter post in the middle of summer and it’s much appreciated. Loved the ice sculptures. Doing OK in the mornings, so no need to worry. I seem to be able to “control” myself and not peek until my cig and coffee. Wine and cig at the moment, relaxing. Raining here, so not rushing back to the park this evening. Very busy there lately. See ya soon, K.

  10. Statictick

    Many belated greetings, Dennis! The Winter post is gorgeous, and perfectly timed. Last weekend there was a water main break down the street. Zero running water for three days during 90+ degree heat, on the top floor with no a/c. I grew up with no a/c, so I thought it was no biggie. However… The post was cool(ing) in many ways.

    Yesterday’s post appearing after the Slaves was really interesting. I never know what to expect when those posts come up. I was really moved in a way I can’t describe too well.

    I’m just past halfway through the Harvoni treatment. The results of the last two bloodtests are encouraging. Apparently, the strain of the hep c virus I have is only countable down to 15 of whatever unit of measurement they use. The 2nd to last test said I was at or lower than 15. The most recent said the same, but with the words NON-DETECTABLE in there. So, I’m pleased. This can change, so bloodwork will continue after I stop taking the drug. But all in all, good medical news is groovy, especially after the last decade. And for the first time in a long time, all the other enzymes, platelets, etc… fall in normal range.

    I just hope it’s not some top secret drug that will turn me into some sort of hybrid of whatever in ten years.

    I have gobs left to say about gobs (and an email filed in drafts for you that I guess I never finished or sent).

    Be well, all.
    Njr

  11. Statictick

    I’ll try this again.

    Many belated greetings, Dennis! The Winter post is gorgeous, and perfectly timed. Last weekend there was a water main break down the street. Zero running water for three days during 90+ degree heat, on the top floor with no a/c. I grew up with no a/c, so I thought it was no biggie. However… The post was cool(ing) in many ways.

    Yesterday’s post appearing after the Slaves was really interesting. I never know what to expect when those posts come up. I was really moved in a way I can’t describe too well.

    I’m just past halfway through the Harvoni treatment. The results of the last two bloodtests are encouraging. Apparently, the strain of the hep c virus I have is only countable down to 15 of whatever unit of measurement they use. The 2nd to last test said I was at or lower than 15. The most recent said the same, but with the words NON-DETECTABLE in there. So, I’m pleased. This can change, so bloodwork will continue after I stop taking the drug. But all in all, good medical news is groovy, especially after the last decade. And for the first time in a long time, all the other enzymes, platelets, etc… fall in normal range.

    I just hope it’s not some top secret drug that will turn me into some sort of hybrid of whatever in ten years.

    I have gobs left to say about gobs (and an email filed in drafts for you that I apparently never finished or sent).

    Be well, all.
    Njr

  12. Misanthrope

    Dennis, Winter can be very beautiful, even at its harshest. I remember staying at my grandmother’s next door when I was little and I’d wake up in the morning and she’d make hot chocolate and we’d sit in the kitchen and watch the squirrels jumping around in the snow in her backyard. Fond memories.

    Yes, small victories that make things kind of right again. It does really get my goat when things don’t work or don’t work the way they’re supposed to. That’s always bothered me. Maybe it’s self-criticism because I’m always on myself about not working the way I think I should.

    I’m watching the MLB All-Star Game tonight and two thoughts occur to me:

    1. “What does this mean to/for you?” is the worst question ever asked of an athlete. Or this one: “How are you feeling right now?” Or: “What’s going through your mind right now?” So stupid, those questions.

    2. Professional sports in this country have got to stop honoring the military before every game. It’s really getting on my nerves. So exploitative. They only do it to make themselves look good. Time that shit goes away.

  13. Corey Heiferman

    I’d really like to experience all of the art you’ve posted here. I’m also a bit apprehensive because I know from a stint working at a law firm that lots of fake snow was once made out of asbestos.

    I feel both proud and guilty for having broken off a piece from an ice sculpture at the Providence Zoo in 2009. I’m not normally into vandalism but I just did it on instinct with only my friend paying attention and it was satisfying. It was a really pointless school field trip so I guess I made it memorable.

    Have you ever been to an ice bar? I’ve walked by and been intrigued but was too snobby to actually go in. Or maybe I was just scared I’d wreck the joint hehe. To be fair, it was already winter outside.

    I asked about jangly music because it seems to have had staying power and has something in common with the really bland light rock that you hear in waiting rooms. I’ll also go out on a limb and say it sounds like a style of kids from the suburbs who colonize the city and change it on their terms rather than being changed by the city on its terms. It’s this naive just-arrived-to-the-big-city quality of the music that sometimes draws me to it.

    I’m in a very fruitful phase of my life here in Tel Aviv. I’m pretty much done setting up the basics. Now I can keep moving up Maslow’s hierarchy and focus on stuff like making more friends and using my time in more fulfilling ways.

    Thank you to Dora for always asking about your film production process and to you for answering candidly even while in the middle of business negotiations. I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but your daily record of the trials and tribulations of the so-called indie movie business has helped me put a dream to rest that for years has been plaguing my imagination for years and suffocating other better dreams.

  14. Caitie

    What’s your favourite Winter memory?
    This made me think of how tangible Winter is, we have no alternative for Summer – fire I guess? But no, that’s not right. Bush fires sometimes in Summer but only in select places. There is nothing we can play with in Summer except… sweat?
    Some places in Polynesia do fire performances which is pretty cool. No “Fire Christmas” no “Fire White” no “Summer Wonderland.” Huh.

    My favourite hustlers were the smiling ones. I don’t know if that’s cheerful or sick.

    Thank you thank you thank you.
    Life is sapping the words out of me, I’m afraid. Hope all is well with you as always with you is well I wish – 🙂

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