p.s. Hey. I want to thank James Mitchum for kindly bypassing the invisibility that would seem to be a prerequisite of lurkerdom in order to offer us this weekend's awesome art exhibition. I hope all of the rest of you both enjoy it and try to tempt James to further throw off the shackles of his self-imposed exile with related comments that he might just find too irresistible to leave without response. Oh, an alert to those of you in NYC and its relatively immediate environs: Artists Space is holding a very interesting event tomorrow, Sunday the 14th, at 5:30 pm. It's a book launch for Michael Bracewell's book about Roxy Music entitled 'Remake/Remodel' that will feature a screening of the temptingly titled short film 'Roxette', and, most importantly re: this blog, the amazing and legendary multi-faceted artist Mark Lancaster aka d.l. Christopher/ Mark will be there conducting a discussion. The chance to hear and meet Mark is a very rare and privileged occasion, so do think seriously about attending if you can. Here's the info (scroll down). Finally, I'm just a dog-eared rehearsal slave with nothing much else to tell, so I'll go ahead and follow your lead. ** Derek McCormack, Derek! I am so graced! Thank you, my hero. ** Steven Trull, Oh, I liked the weird, and I like it even now that Queneau's culpability is added in. Yeah, he's the great kind of tricky. ** Matty B, Yep, Joel seriously nailed that cover. Well, like he always does. Sounds like we'll have common LA time pretty much for sure. I will both square away my dates and let you know. Take care. ** No more teenagekicks, Oh, I always cringe when people like Ethan Hawke or Robert Shaw suddenly think they're novelists, so I think I'll just stick to saying yes or no. ** Misanthrope, Sundance ... not sure if my computer gets that. Will see. Well, in all but the technical name it's tax payers' money that pays for arts funding here too, but, like we've already discussed, a strong culture is considered both crucial over here and a source of national pride. No sooner do you say Joe is fine than he proves it. That was some nice magic. Oh, yeah, I read Justin Taylor's book, and it's fantastic! I'm sure you'll really like it. It even got a really positive review in this Sunday's NYTBR, which is a rare and awesome thing. Naturally, I'm putting together a post to celebrate Justin's book that'll be up here pretty soon. ** Empty Frame, Cool. Superb weekend to you too, man. What have you got planned? How's the art making going right now? ** David Ehrenstein, Wow, that 'wiggling it around in excrement' quote, and your newest FaBlog entry built around it, are a hilarious and scary trip and a half. ** JW Veldhoen, I dug in and am still digging in while digging everything. (I didn't get home until almost 10:30 pm last night). Did you hear about the job? ** JoeM, Hey, Joe! I'm very happy to see you! That said, if the non-online thing is working, and between the hints that you're writing more fiction and the evidence of that wacked and great sounding 'Dr. Who' synopsis, it clearly is, so you get a hall pass, but don't abuse the 'privilege', ha ha. That all sounds great, Joe! Oh, you might know the answer to this if you still have a minute. Yury has recently become a big Bryan Ferry fan, and he told me this morning that he read somewhere online that Ferry's politics are far right wing. That can't be true, is it? I hope not. Yikes, your Polish guy does have quite the bod there. Good instincts, my friend. ** Sypha, You didn't alarm me, man. I just care a lot and wanted to make sure you were okay. I really appreciate the sentiment about the blog and our friendship, and right back at you, James. ** Flit, I like Flitlexia. The word, I mean. I like your style. Yeah, where's Nick B? Can I squeak a word or two out of you about how and what you're up to? ** Alex Rose, You know, I thought it was probably Todd Rundgren. That's the Todd that leapt to mind. I didn't know he was performing 'A Wizard, A True Star' live anywhere much less in London. That I'd love to see. One of his most shining deliveries, that album. Thanks for the last name. ** Trees, Oh, thank you. I will gather and use them then. I foresee a very pure and pretty post. And thanks for the catch up re: what you're working on. I like the sound of that narrative, no surprise. How was the reading from your perspective? I don't suppose it got videoed and uploaded anywhere? ** Wolf, Hey. Gluth rules, I agree. Now I want to know the answer to your vegan dogs question too, and he hadn't forked one over as of the last time I refreshed the comments page. We'll see. ** Joseph S. Nockles, Ah, more sparkling evidence of the torturously charismatic Winter Rites soiree. Hold on. Everyone, there's yet another piece of the puzzle that was the much discussed Winter Rites/ Five Years extravaganza, this one in the form of a write up plus photos by the linguistically suave and gifted Joseph S. Nockles for the English mag of coolness XYZ. I urge you here. Also love the portraits/commentary at the bottom. I like that guitarist sitting on the lip of the stage, and I can't even hear him, so he must be awfully good, ha ha. Oh, you're right that I'm doing good over here. A little wearied by winter by this point, but, yes, standard fare good, and can I gather you're the same or better? ** _Black_Acrylic, Oh, that Yuck 'n Yum mix-tape Bluetooth broadcast thing is a really cool idea, and no doubt a great idea packed with pay offs. Give an alert when those of us who lack Bluetooth and immediate proximity can hear it on the website. Those art shows sound interesting. I'll hope to find why I think that via your reviews. ** Creative Massacre, Well, essentially, I'm a longtime Nintendohead. I've never owned any systems but Nintendo ones, although I'm going to break down and get an Xbox360 at some point since it's becoming impossible for a real game lover not to have one of them too. My favorite type of game is your basic adventure/strategy game a la Zelda, Mario, Resident Evil, Metroid Prime, etc. That's the kind of game I mostly gravitate to. I like some RPGs, but I get frustrated by the constant stopping and starting most of the time. I don't like sports games at all, and, while I'll play some racing games, I get bored of them quickly. Mostly I like immersive narrative puzzle solving type stuff that I can get lost in for 60 hours per game or whatever. ** Christopher/ Mark, God, I so, so wish I could be there tomorrow. I hope the alert up top helps. Enjoy the thing and, of course, I'd love to hear anything about it that you care to share. ** Kier, Hey. Oh, yeah, when an English language film is released in Paris, half and probably even more of the theaters show the original version with subtitles. I really can't wait to see it, the new Anderson. I'm kind of crazy about his work, period, and this one looks especially special. Oh, Nick B is in Spain? That's right, I remember now. ** Steevee, That is quite interesting, and that's a good question to Mark. ** Bill, Well, I won't celebrate your Recolletsdom yet, but I like how likely it's sounding, so fingers very crossed and an ongoing offer to help out on my end if ever need be. I'm trying to stay warm. It's been an icebox here this week. How's your upcoming project/ performance developing? ** Chris, Great to hear you sounding jazzed. Yeah, could you be like the house band at some interesting place, meaning play once a week or something? Do venues still do stuff like that? Have a pleasantly raucous musical weekend, man. ** Justin, Hey. Sure, that's okay about the no-go on the Stewart Home Day. I understand. Maybe I'll get back on that horse and see what I can conjure up. But, yeah, a McQueen Day would be fantastic, if you don't mind. Thanks a lot for offering! I read a little bit yesterday here and there about the dilemma/problem involved in trying to keep the McQueen house going. The prospects sounded kind of gloomy due to his singularity, but I'd imagine they'll at least try if only for the worst, monetary-related reasons. Sure, befriend Yury. I'll tell him you're ultra-cool and share his great interest in fashion, and I'm pretty sure he'll be your FB friend gladly. 'Lost Girls' is one graphic novel I have read, and I thought it was pretty incredible, yeah. You can get it here without much trouble. France is, you know, pretty cool about artistic freedom, etc. No, I've never been interviewed for Butt Magazine. They don't seem to be interested in me or in my stuff. They did ask me once years ago to interview someone for them -- maybe Edmund White -- but I was too busy at the time to do it. Obviously, it'd be fun to be interviewed in Butt if they ever get hard up enough for material or whatever. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Oh, gritty isn't so bad. Me thinks you'll never go vegan. Damn, sorry you did get the cold, but at least you know how to spend a day in bed. I forget which one Part 3 is. I think it's one of my favorites of the series too. Don't know the other two films you watched. Their names are now on a post-it. Yeah, I love those opening credits of 'Enter the Void'. The Olympics started? Oh, I'm weird because I think watching the Olympics is boring and yet I always try to watch the Olympics because its version of boring is really soothing to me for some reason. In other words, my TV is going to be on lot starting now. My day: Well, post-p.s., I showered, ate a sandwich, bought some food very quickly, made a sandwich to take to the rehearsals with me -- a very cold, gritty sandwich, I fear -- and, at 1:30 pm, I metroed then walked to, yes, the rehearsals. And I was there at the rehearsals until almost 10:30 at night. We just endlessly worked on two parts of the theater piece: Jonathan Schatz's aforementioned paranormal entrance and then Jonathan Capdevielle talking to Schatz and then beating him to death. That part took the most hours because physical violence is really hard to stage/ fake without looking totally fake, but we tried all sorts of approaches from tender to operatic to savage to whatever else and ended up with a satisfactory option that gets rid of naturalism entirely and makes the murder very abstract and cold and slow and mechanical. I think that after we develop this more, it'll be really good. But, yeah, that's all I did yesterday apart from stepping outside to smoke occasionally and one coffee/ dinner break in Centquatre's cafe. So I came home pooped and ready for bed, and that's where I ended up. So it was a busy, productive day for me, but, as report fodder, it's pretty vague and uninteresting, I guess. I hope your weekend report will include your having returned to perfect health. ** Mark, Aw, my extreme honor and pleasure to be both your blog host and the fortunate impresario who gets to export your great book. Thank you, Mark! ** Bollo, Mm, no, 'Recollections of the Golden Triangle' wasn't made into a film, but, if memory serves, one of R-G's films, maybe the one whose English title is something like 'The Slow Sliding of Pleasure', derives from some of the same material, so maybe that's it? Nice score with that old Purple w/Korine's book. Weird how interesting Purple used to be. Maybe it's just me, but I kind of really dislike what that magazine has devolved into. That pesky Spambot is an odd one. Could it possibly have quirky, refined tastes? ** Paul Curran, Hey, Paul. ** Oscar B, Yeah, let's just plan to go and talk to Chrystel on Monday. We shouldn't wait any longer. I'll see if Scott is free, or, if not, if he can delegate authority to us. I'm free of rehearsals now, so I'm my old, game self. Talk to you in a bit. Let's do something today or tonight. ** Slatted Light, I think pretty much any day next week for a fairly immediately post-p.s. Skype call would work just fine and dandy for me, so name your favorite day, and let's do it. ** Bye. Oh, it's Valentines Day tomorrow, isn't it? Well, happy VD to you guys. I hope you either get to cozy up with someone or get laid or something appropriate. I'll see you as soon as the weekend gives up the ghost.