p.s. Hey. Here's my second nudge to start coaxing your SPD entries towards the finish line. It's Tuesday, cleaning/ exile day at the Recollets, so I'll be making my usual haste today starting with that initial 'hey'. ** Heliotrope, Hey, man. What did we do to you, you ask? I think it was called salvation the last time I checked. Those Buffy comix are Joel's, but he might just lend them to you, or ... Ask him. Damn, great luck with the school admissions meeting today. They'd be fools, the dregs of the earth, etc., not to ... Are you out of your pad the whole time I'm in LA? Well, you've got my number, to quote Mr. Sharkey, and, if you're going to have a different one, do pass it on via answering machine or elsewhere. See you sooner than soon! ** Statictick, Festival sounds to have been pretty nice even in the form of two examples. I'm very glad to hear that about Dynomoose. I'm following her as best I can on FB given how little I hang out there, but, yeah, she seems okay, right? Give her my love if I don't give to her first. And give yourself some beforehand. ** Paul Joseph, Hey. I got your email, thanks much, and I'll write to you as soon as I can with any ideas I have, etc. You saw Ken Baumann's comment to you, yes? Happy Tuesday, PJ. ** Oscar B, And so to the cinema we went, and now here we are again, you up there, me down here, under a cold, bright sun. ** David, If it were me, it would have been 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'. Oh, Flit, how is Flit? I miss Flit. I'll go chase down his blog address. It must be in my bookmarks. You don't have it offhand? ** Tonyoneill, Hey, hey Tony! I'm okay, writing up 'a storm', stressing out pre-flight/ jet lag. You actually have to talk your way into the premiere? That's weirder than hell. Oh, good, I can get the Runaways book when I'm in LA then. When is your novel out? I guess I can figure that out myself. I saw Harry Knowles went nutso in the good way about the Runaways movie over on Aintitcool. A Slash blurb ... that has to be a first, at least on a fiction book for sure. All good, Tony, and a warm 'over and out' until soon. ** Empty Frame, So what are the surviving dozen? I assume you're counting travel and sex spot guides and so on in that. Yeah, you can send a pic without comment for the SPD. As can anyone. I'll amend the guidelines today if it's the last thing I do. Oh, and you can do more than one famous person if you want. Sure, why not? ** David Ehrenstein, Oh, yeah, when I was a kid, calling someone a 'fern' was another, slightly more polite way to call them a 'fag'. I had a friend named Arnold Fern who suffered greatly as a coincidentally gay, not exactly macho child, as you can imagine. I see Massa is doing an hourlong sit down with Glenn Beck today. What a freak. ** Put The Lotion In The Basket, It'll be interesting if you can fake the persona and keep a straight face. I don't know if I could. Watch, though, some in-the-know friend/colleague will bust you because he'll want the crowd to love you like he does. Oh, got the AM Day, and it worked out just dandy, and I'll go ahead and tell you it's getting posted here on Monday the 22nd. Oh, so are you and the youth group going to do/use outdoor field recordings for the performance then? It's probably a bit nippy to stage the show outdoors, I guess. My tooth is cool with me, and other than jet lag dread, I'm cool with myself, I guess. Here's some love, and, oh, some respect to boot. ** Chris Goode, Maybe this -- X-D -- emoticon? I thought it meant 'I'm exploding' or 'dead with my mouth open' or something like that, but I guess it's just the biggest of the laugh emoticons. Emoticons must die. Oh, since I think I found that pic of you on the Queer Up North website, I figured it was an officially decreed thing. It has a considerable rumpled charm about it, Chris. Judy Collins, yeah. I need to dig out something by her. I think I most liked that one called, like, 'Flower' or something? I'm sure I don't need to suggest that you listen to Buffy Sainte Marie, right? 'Illuminations' especially. No, 'Sweet Pea' was originally some bubblegum pop hit by ... I can't remember. RIP: Mark Linkous indeed. Bad, bad news. I can't recall the name of that fern store, just the scale of its rainbow flag: biggish. ** Alan, In the London Tussauds they have a loser room/ graveyard where formerly famous heads are lined up on these shelves. I'd guess the bodies get reborn. Don't know how they do it at Grevin. All the trendy wax figures hang out in this faux cocktail bar room. ** Matty B, Hey, Matty! My honor, my pleasure, sir. Heavily looking forward to that LA weather, let me tell you. Maybe I'll see you, I hope? ** Bill, Ominous teeth, yep, that's what they tell me. When do you head off for the two months exactly? Is Paris going to get in on the action? Here's your magical order to focus. ** Alex Rose, Well, at least I'm not the only space case. Man, that show, the new work ... zonk! Stunning. How did the LA show go or 'go'? ** Joseph, Hey. Total awesomeness about the Rumpus poetry reviewer line up and you! Congrats to you, me, us, them -- not necessarily in that order. When will we get to see your first critique? That's great, Joseph! ** Tomkendall, Definitely soldier on and worry not about this 'clogged' nonsense. I'm unclogging mine as best I can right now. Yeah, sad about Linkous. I respect the Sparklehorse stuff even if I have yet to achieve a related swoony state. I think I will. But first I'll go check the new work on your blog, but first I need to finish this theater text that is driving me completely insane. ** Wolf, Yeah, sad news, bad days. ** Ken Baumann, The thanks are all mine, man. FB message, okay, I'll go find it, cool. ** Sypha, Yeah, I know, you're right about the dentist. Maybe it won't be so bad. Thanks, James. ** Jose, Ha ha, yeah. It was that stripey shirt. Had that shirt been a Mickey Mouse t-shirt, it might have fooled me. ** _Black_Acrylic, Well, there's always this coming weekend, right? Really glad you liked the Gluth, naturally, thanks man. ** Christopher Higgs, Listen, kindness schmindness. Where I come from, it's called giving my awe a good home or maybe extreme awe home makeover or something. See, words fail me. Incredible book, Mr. Higgs. It's the kind one. ** Changeling, Sadly or happily or both, the dentist visit lacked an XXX-rating. It was barely a wank. Not a drop of antiseptic mouthwash even. But stick around because I have a root canal down the road. I just clicked over and saw you have newer writing up on your blog, and the first thing I'll do upon being allowed to return to my cleaned room is click over again and really dig in this time. Thanks, respect, hello. ** Blendin, The color suits you, pal. ** Kier, Ah, two mentions of the mighty Ton in one comments section. I'll should rebuild/ revive/ update my old Ton Day from the dead blog. He's still out there in the Russian ether doing lightweight intergenerational S&M videos at the moment. 'Fish Tank' is still due here in France. I checked. I'm there. ** Misanthrope, Accept your staggering defeat with the grace that befits a man of your stature. Listen, if Will Self's stuff means that much to you, then I will dislike his stuff a teeny weeny bit less. Oh, Jim Grimsley's good. 'Dream Boy' and 'Winter Birds' are the only ones I think I've read, but they were very fine. ** JW Veldhoen, Femmes will inherit the earth. ** Creative Massacre, I'm sure you'll hear all about my root canal when it happens. Ugh. Nothing but great news that you're feeling better and better. And I've been waiting for that project of yours to get made and snapped, so very cool. Jesus, Hogan vs. Flair. That is one depressing mental image. All that wrinkly, artificially tanned, sweaty skin jiggling around ... I'm getting nauseous. ** Steevee, I guess try to enjoy the forced relaxation aspect? ** NB, I really liked that Esther Pearl Watson painting you linked to, and I'm going to go explore her stuff. Thanks, bud. ** Chris (British), Oh, it's okay to be irregular. If I didn't make this place, I might be. Pray tell about the Dawkins lecture, and, if you get a handshake, etc., my SPD would love a memorial, if that's what you're thinking. Oh, let me pass along your thing. Everyone, with a passionate request for your attention, I now pass you on to your good friend Chris (British) and his own words: 'I'd just like to take this opportunity to direct you and your readers - and also, perhaps, distributors and publishers' - attention to Good Books NZ, which is a not-for-profit bookstore where all the proceeds go to Oxfam and Kiwis don't get royally fucked (not in the good way) on the prices. You are in fact on there, Dennis - consider that for the $20 price tag for your books on there, we'd pay nearly $40 instead in Borders. More books need to go into their catalogue... for all good reasons.' Sounds good, man. I'll explore the site when I get my room back from the people with the mops and the fresh linen. ** Amccartney, Hey, Alistair. The dental thing has been tolerable so far. Look forward to hearing your voice on this phone this Friday. We'll easily find a way around your Monday and Wednesday duties, no prob. Take care for the next couple of days. ** L@rstonovich, I love it when feet are called dogs. So, thanks. It reminds me of something past and loverly. Excellent about the Cartophile imprint progress, and the countdown to your poetry book. Yeah, man, don't hesitate to show me the way to mark the occasion of its birth as soon as you're ready. My finger's on the trigger. Skullhum up? I'm very down with that. ** Alec Niedenthal, Hey, Alec. Seeing you is a fine, fine thing. I'm okay. I get pretty nervous pre-LA flights and their aftermath, but I'm hanging in there. Mm, I can definitely fit the new novel into my oeuvre, and hopefully it's gone far enough elsewhere and new that it'll reinvent the whole shebang rather than just fitting in, if I'm lucky. Never read either of those Heideggers. I'm not sure I've ever actually read an entire one of his books. Hm. Your writing will re-find you, man. I've gone a frightening year or more without, and, bang, there was was again. Strangest shit. ** Justin, Hey. Oh, don't feel you need to do the SPD if it doesn't work or feel right. No big. Sandra Bullock winning the Oscar is one of those occasional tears in the fabric of the process whereby you realize how totally weird it is that something like 'Mullholland Drive' ever even got nominated. ** Uli, I spotted that graphic novel in my Busser search yesterday, and it looked very interesting. I might end up buying it even though I'll need Babelfish to begin to understand the thing. Well, I'm glad you're seeing a doctor at least. I'm big on blocking out health stuff too. Like, as long as I don't need an ambulance, I'm healthy. But knowing what's going on is the right thing to do, obviously. ** Jeff, Ka-ching, awesome. Thanks, Jeff. Oh, I like the Cindytalk I've head, which is basically just the singles, I guess. ** Bollo, Considering I live here, my current French celeb recognition skills aren't so hot either. I'm good with faces, but all those beautifully pronounced names blur together. Nice pile up in your mail box there. Mine held an overdue rent notice, period. Oh, shit, I hear the cleaners bearing down on me. I'd better go. ** End. Like I just told Bollo, I'd better head out of here or risk this getting rudely interrupted at the worst, last minute. Today's post: I was listening to the Undertones the other week and totally digging the weirdness and particular drilling, nasal force of Sharkey's voice, and one thing lead to another. See you tomorrow.