p.s. Hey. First, choosing the winner of the Musee Grevin contest is more difficult than I had anticipated, and the fault is mine for thinking up and then rendering the rules with a bit too much vagueness. I hadn't considered the possibility that people might just state that their guesses were piggybacking the guess of an earlier commenter. Assuming, as I do, that the piggybackers in question probably would have made the same guesses as the person whose entry they were fleshing out, the winner would be something of a photo finish. However, since I think the confusion is my problem, I'm going to declare a tie, and say the co-winners are David Ehrenstein, Killer Luka, and Wolf. So, Wolf and KL, please post or send me your mailing addresses. Mr. E, I will give you your prize when I see you next weekend. Ta da. Secondly, here's the first of an upcoming week's worth of nudges to start getting your SPD entry together, please? Lastly, just an early heads up that I won't be doing a proper, fleshed out p.s. on Thursday due to my morning flight to LA that day, but I'll remind you about that truncation as we get closer to my lift off. ** Oscar B, Hey. Well, you know the answers to your questions already, don't you? Shall we do that thing we do so well later on today? ** Bernard Welt, Yeah, the Marat figure is pretty ancient, inherited by the Grevin rather than built from scratch, and, as you probably read, featuring the actual tub and knife. Based on a knuckle knock, I think it's carved out of wood. ** David Ehrenstein, Co-congratulations, sir. Your only misses, if memory serves, were #10, who is Paris' fairly awesome and openly gay mayor Bertrand Delanoe, and #62, who is the ubiquitous television talking head Stephane Berne. ** Tomkendall, Howdy, Tom. Willis as Foucault is just a little inspired not to come true. Oh, man, and thank you so much for posting that great piece you wrote about 'Guide' on Transductions. You rule. What's your novel's latest? ** Christopher/ Mark, Do you mean the, mm, Palace of Wonders (or something like that), i.e. the illusionary room when you first enter the Grevin? If so, yes, it's still there and still an exquisite thing. I don't think I mentioned that the Grevin is the where the very first silent film ever made was first shown publicly in France. I'll be as brain dead as a doornail with lag on the night Huffington films her first show. Otherwise, I'd definitely try to go maybe. ** Sypha, Well, yeah, then make something up for the SPD, but I'm going to try to forget you said that because ideally the fake entries should seem at least vaguely real. Hold on. Okay, I've forgotten. ** Paul Joseph, Hey, man. What are your thoughts or plans on getting the novel published? Do you have publishers in mind that you plan to submit to? Is the novel finished? ** Scunnard, Hey. My pleasure. Let me know when your Paris plans are firmed up. ** Kyte, Hey, Kyte. Oh, great, I'm really glad my missing the SMSing session won't keep me from its delights. Everyone, the awesome and multitalented artist about town and d.l. Kyte recently wrote/SMSed a short story, and those of us whose mobiles weren't attuned to his at that time can now read the first section of the piece, which is entitled 'Sell Cell' and which I'm betting is pretty great, by merely clicking this link. Please do so. Oh, yeah, your game! I'm really glad you're still working on that. I'm such a guaranteed player. ** JW Veldhoen, Well, I guess you could use a photo of yourself for the SPD, and, like, hm, describe the first time you saw yourself in a mirror or something? Yikes, did Bernard Levy pants you in Eighth Grade or something? He's not that bad. ** Bill, Dentist appointment was the horror show I'd feared. I'll tell what there is to tell to Itmpw. Yeah, totally, on the White and the Taylor. The books on display today aren't too shabby either, if you're looking for your next conquest. Yeah, see you soon. Kevin K has a good restaurant suggestion, and I'll confirm the dinner thing with him via email, and then I guess I'll do an alert here. ** Killer Luka, Co-congratulations. Your wrongies were #8, France-only pop star Jennifer, and #55, French-only quasi-living legendary chanteuse Mireille Mathieu. It was Renoir, yeah. ** Sweettomb, Trinie! Dinner on the 12th with you guys and Amy is absolutely perfect. Yeah, I'll be heavily lagged up, but I'll rouse myself with you guys there. So, yeah, if you want to show up at Joel's and my place at 7 pm, awesome. I'll plan for that, and I guess just let me know if the plans need to change on your end or anything. Great, great, can't wait! ** Alex Rose, Oh, shit, I missed your LA show? I weirdly had it in my mind that my trip there coincided with it. Damn it! Okay, grr, but I'll make do with the installation shots, and maybe I can get the gallery to show me whatever's left over from the show in the back room if I flash my Artforum card. Everyone, I think most you know that addition to his high status as a d.l., Alex Rose is also an astounding, sublimity-accessing visual artist, right? Well, he just had an exhibition in Los Angeles, and you can see installation shots here, and you can see even more of his work on the website of the gallery in question by clicking this. Thanks, Alex. Gee, I'm so disappointed. Fuck my memory. ** Jose, Agreed, but, then again, why stop with Sartre? Where were Derrida, Lacan, Barthes, Bataille, Deleuze, et. al.? That's what I was wondering. ** Steevee, Well, I'd say that qualifies, but, like I said to Sypha, I'm going to erase any memory of having read your comment now so the 'fiction or not' question will become a pleasant head scratcher. ** Blendin, Not bad. Not good enough to win, sadly, but, what the heck, I'll buy you a magazine of your choice. Orson Welles, yes. Coco Chanel, no. Henry Gibson, sigh, if only. Cool that you're cool about the posting date, and, well, there'll also be a little lure of a newsstand-related thing on the blog that Saturday starring a certain Japanese rock band. ** 簡單嗎 , You again. Interesting. Why don't you tell us a little about yourself. I bet you're more interesting than that site you keep spamming. ** Trees, Clearly that bird knew top notch transgressive lit when it saw it. I've had worse compliments, trust me. Well, based on that Juiceboxxx picture, I could probably tell future interviewers that the character in 'Two Guys' was in fact an homage to you, and they wouldn't even blink, assuming I could convince them I had a time machine back in the 70s, and I think I can handle that part. ** Wolf, Co-congratulations. I suspected you might win that little contest one way or another. You got all the hard ones: Lorie, Jennifer, Delanoe, Segara, etc. Your only wrongy was #60, which KL correctly identified as Bocuse. I could have sworn I detected some male genitals in that upside down guy's loin cloth, but I'm an ass man, so what do I know? ** David, Your meeting Ann Beattie twizzles me too. I'm down with her. But, dude, shh, save it or something like it for the SPD. ** Pisycaca, Yes, I fear I have not seen the last of my new dentist, to put it mildly. Oh, my friend, that depression your dad is going through is so heartbreaking and devastating. That's one of most truly terrible things about having it happen so quickly. Be there, yeah, and I guess he has to find his way now, and he has a much better chance at finding some kind of emotional peace if he has your presence and what your love means and what you've meant to him available to ponder and even inspire him to warm with appreciation. Lots and lots of love, Montse. ** Chris Goode, If you were right, and if those wax figures were the boys you guessed, there'd be thirty-six more truck drivers and auto mechanics in the world, which would be nice, I guess. Anyway, William Carroll was a hell of a lot cuter than that, man. Okay, your performance-in-progress sounds even more completely amazing than I had guessed based on my kneejerk equation, which goes something like CG + stage = lottery + time machine. Speaking of which, I hope my little book homage today is okay. I'm assuming you're taking RSVPs for the next reprint, right? 'Heathen' had no legs or at least little baby legs, yeah. That's a fine Petulla Clark moment indeed. I wish I could wash the sound of Andy Williams' US hit version out of my cerebellum, if that's where memories like that cling. Mrs. Miller, ha ha, whoa. I think I have at least one of her LPs in my LPs. 'Sweet Pea' was her big US hit. Love from all is assumed and delivered to you, sir. ** Kier, It's still Monday morning, just barely, so thank you, and a good Monday afternoon to you. I need to see 'Fish Tank'. I don't think France has gotten ahold of it yet. Don't know Andrea Arnold at all apart from the 'FT' attribution. John Waters' inability to make a film should result in every Hollywood movie studio being tried simultaneously on crimes against humanity in the Hague. ** Little foal, Happy Monday, LF. What an incredibly beautiful trilogy of works you have first brilliantly composed and then generously set before your fellow commenters. Really, if you have any doubts that you are a very gifted writer/artist, just perish them right now, okay? Let me share the wealth with the general readership. Everyone, Little foal, a newish d.l. of this blog and a creator of incredible art, has linked to a new writing/photo trilogy of his works, and I urge you to discover it. So, 'the day is violent' and 'mouth' and 'thank you'. Be there. Thank you so much, man, and respect plus love to you. ** Creative Massacre, Hey, pal. The dentist thing wasn't that traumatic. I'll tell the little tale down below. Greats news about your great weekend! It's about fucking time, right? All good, all really good. Oh, sure, you can just send in the photos for the SPD without any text or explanation. That's totally fine, and I should add that option to the guidelines I posted, and I will. Hope whatever you figured out to do was up there with the wonderfulness of the part of the weekend that preceded your comment. ** Justin, Oh, that is disappointing news about Pugh and McQueen. Pugh must really value his independence, and more power to him, I guess. Do you think McQueen hadn't laid out his plans for how the last collection would be performed, or do you think he maybe was wanting to go for something small and unexpected? Strange. Oh, man, you should try the SPD. I mean, only if you want to. Just lie, make something up. I'm guessing more than a few will choose that option. No doubt the Oscars sucked, but I love watching that shit, and it's a big piss off that the time difference made that impossible, basically. Anyway, it sounds like the wins were completely predictable, and I don't really care, but I am glad Jeff Bridges won because he's a god. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Me pissed off about the writing thing? No. I was probably just showing off my pre-dentist nervousness or something. The porn wasn't so great, true, but a couple of its stars were. Oh, you're not a Tim. Okay, sorry. One possible real name down, a billion more to go, ha ha. My weekend isn't going to provide much. This writing jag I'm on eats everything. Uh, the dentist. Well, I moseyed over there biting my nails at 5:30 pm on Saturday. The clinic/office was just off the Champs Elysees, and I got there early, so I walked around a bit, smoking, and, you know, it was very pretty around there and all that. The dentist spoke pretty good English, kind of a lowkey, good humored guy in his 30s. He checked my mouth and said my new broken tooth needs a cap. He put in a temporary cap that I'll have to replace when I get back from my trip, which didn't hurt that much. Then he said the tooth I broke last year is a goner and a total disaster. He said he was amazed that it doesn't cause me pain, and the fact that it doesn't cause me pain is a very bad thing. It'll have to be yanked, followed by a root canal, and then replaced with a new fake one. Again, when I get back to Paris. He said he'd check the rest of my teeth more carefully then, but he said my teeth are 'ominous'. Gulp. Anyway, the visit and procedure cost 100 euro, which is a whole lot cheaper than it would have cost in the US, so that was good. After the dentist thing, I did a coffee with Oscar and Kiddiepunk, and then I worked, ate, worked, slept. Yesterday literally nothing interesting happened at all. Wrote (novel, theater, blurbs that are due for a couple of books) all day and into the night. Otherwise, I just ate, showered, smoked. Sorry. My reports will probably get a lot more fun when I get to LA at least. Monday? ** NB, The Aznavour was one the best. I thought Madonna and Bardot were the worst. Actually, the very worst was Schwarzenegger (sp), which I didn't even bother photographing. Okay, so what is Waxahachie? It looks cool. Sad about your old gay bookstore. The gay bookstore where I would have bought all of my early books if I hadn't been me is now a store selling nothing but ferns. ** Misanthrope, Except for 'Brad from The Sluts' and 'ET', you scored a big fat zero, buddy. I thought for sure you of all people would recognize Jesse Starr in that last photo. ** Uli, Well, that Martin Busser sounds like a man with very refined tastes, ha ha. I would love to read his book on Emo since Emo is a rather big thing in my novel, but I bet it's not close to having been translated into English. I'll do online search anyway. Hey, are your and your beloved's health pretty much back to normal and fine now, I hope? ** Alyssa Nolan, Hey, friend! Great to see you! You made the Transductions plunge? Excellent, I'll go track that entry down post-haste. No, I didn't watch the Oscars, but, oh, I so wanted to. I'm too early to bed to have indulged. I'll catch whatever clips there are instead. I'd like to see that John Hughes montage. It's Spring break time already? I thought the sun had to have fully taken over the land for that to happen. Two weeks ago, the French were on this weeklong break that the French call Skiing Holiday. It's a week set aside literally so French people can go skiing. Isn't that odd and nice of France? I'm okay. The dentist hasn't decimated me yet. Party on and fully, Alyssa! ** Bollo, Okay, considering that Dublin isn't a district of Paris, you did pretty good on your guesses. Plus your misses gave me some nice laughs. Heather Graham, Jerry Hall, Berlusconi, ... continued. You didn't win, but you get an A for Effort and Guts. Yeah, 'Jerk' is definitely happening in Dublin. I don't know the date(s) yet. I'll ask Gisele. Thanks about my Cycle. I think its back end (sic) is the best part too. Report back please on your wax museum trip. You know me. ** Fin. The three books on display for you today rock the house. Trust me on that, and share your thoughts and/ or just order them or something. Bye. Tomorrow, etc. Bye again.