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Story: '"Bruges was desperately depressing at this time...that was the reason Hugh liked it so much...a mysterious equation established itself between his own spirit and that of the place. In the eternal fitness of things a dead town furnished the corresponding analogy to that of a dead wife. The bitterness of his desolation demanded an environment that harmonised with its poignancy. ..his longing was for an infinite silence...", wrote the decadent French author Georges Rodenbach in his best known novel 'Bruges-la-morte'. He is buried at Pere Lachaise in Paris, and his grave, in which he depicted pushing open the lid of his sepulchre, is much admired and visited, especially by Goths and latter day decadents.' -- The Guardian
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Story: 'Jacques LeFevrier left nothing to chance when he decided to commit suicide. He stood at the top of a tall cliff and tied a noose around his neck. He tied the other end of the rope to a large rock. He drank some poison and set fire to his clothes. He even tried to shoot himself at the last moment. He jumped and fired the pistol. The bullet missed him completely, but cut through the hanging rope instead. Freed of the threat of hanging, Mr. LeFevrier plunged into the sea. The sudden plunge into the freezing waters extinguished the flames and apparently made him vomit the poison as well. He was dragged out of the water by witnesses on the beach below the cliff and was taken to a hospital, where he died of hypothermia.' -- ssqq.com
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Story: 'Organizers of an Indianapolis fireworks exhibit said Thursday night's display included the ashes from a recently deceased pyrotechnician. The family of Meredith Smith, who died recently at the age of 74, said his ashes were included in a fireworks shell that was launched to conclude the show, the Indianapolis Star reported Thursday. Smith worked on the north side's annual fireworks displays for nearly 40 years. Organizers said more than $10,000 was donated by local businesses and individuals to fund this year's show.' -- UPI.com
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Story: 'A Vietnamese man dug up his wife's corpse and slept beside it for five years because he wanted to hug her in bed. The 55-year-old man from a small town in the central province of Quang Nam opened up his wife's grave in 2004, moulded clay around the remains to give the figure of a woman, put clothes on her and then placed her in his bed. The man, Le Van, explained that after his wife died in 2003 he slept ontop of her grave, but about 20 months later he worried about rain, wind and cold, so he decided to dig a tunnel into the grave "to sleep with her". His children found out, though, and prevented him from going to the grave. So one night in November 2004 he dug up his wife's remains and took them home, Vietnamnet reported. The father of seven said neighbours did not dare visit the house for several years.' -- Scotsman
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Story: 'Pierre Clementi, the visionary film director and darkly handsome French actor who made a specialty of seductive and menacing roles, died on Dec. 27 in Paris. The cause was liver cancer, although his death is suspected to be AIDS related. He was 57. His final directorial effort was the short film 'Soleil' (1988), considered my many to be his masterpiece. Although he had quit acting and directing in the late 80s and was gravely ill at the time, he returned to the screen in ''Hideous Kinky'' (1998), about the spiritual awakening of a young woman (Kate Winslet). True to form, he played Santoni, an elderly libertine.' -- New York Times
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Story: No one knows.
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Story: 'John Milburn Davis came to Hiawatha, Kansas in 1879 at the age of 24. After a short time, he married Sarah Hart, the daughter of his employer. Her family did not approve. The Davises started their own farm, prospered and were married 50 years. When Sarah died in 1930, the Davises were wealthy. Over the next 7 years, John Davis spent most of that wealth on Sarah’s grave. The amount spent on the Davis Memorial has been estimated at anywhere between $100,000 and several times that amount. In any case, it was a large amount and included the signing over of the farm and mansion. This during the Depression when money was tight. Several reasons are offered for the extravagance including great love or guilt, anger at Sarah’s family, and a desire that the Davis fortune be exhausted before John’s death. The memorial began with a typical grave stone, but John worked with Horace England, a Hiawatha monument dealer, making the gravesite more and more elaborate. There are 11 life size statues of John and Sarah Davis made of Italian marble, many stone urns and a marble canopy that is reported as weighing over 50 tons. The last addition to the tomb was marble granite wall surrounding the memorial to keep people from entering.' -- kansastravel.org
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Story: 'Neptune Memorial Reef is the largest man-made reef ever conceived and, when complete, will have transformed over 16 acres of barren ocean floor. The Neptune Memorial Reef project is environmentally sound and is a member of the Green Burial Council. Boat activity at the site is brisk, with families chartering boats or taking their own to snorkel or simply be at the site. Some family members actually become dive certified, enabling them to visit the site, to see their loved ones and monitor the Reef's growth. Many of our local families dive the reef on a regular basis to visit their loved ones, one family in particular has been out 5 times in as many months. "Mom was thrilled with the idea of becoming part of the Neptune Memorial Reef and forever swimming with dolphins," says Ronald Hink of his mother Edie. "She accepted her passing with dignity and bragged that she would be forever living on ocean waterfront property. Her epitaph reads, 'In Care of Dolphins and Angels'."' -- Neptune Society
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Story: 'A life-size bronze statue of Victor Noir was sculpted by Jules Dalou to mark his grave, portrayed in a realistic style as though he had just fallen on the street, dropping his hat which is depicted beside him. The sculpture has a very noticeable protuberance in Noir's trousers. This has made it one of the most popular memorials for women to visit in the famous cemetery. Myth says that placing a flower in the upturned top hat after kissing the statue on the lips and rubbing its genital area will enhance fertility, bring a blissful sex life, or, in some versions, a husband within the year. As a result of the legend, those particular components of the oxidized bronze statue are rather well-worn. In 2004 a fence was erected around the statue of Noir, to deter superstitious people from touching the statue. Due to the fake protests of the "female population of Paris" settled by a French TV anchor however, it was torn down again. So the deterioration of the statue continues.' -- VN.fr
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p.s. Hey. ** Allesfliesst, Hey. Maybe 2betortured&snuffedNOW is just an incredibly versatile go-getter? Maybe not. I think MikkeeWalsshh is probably my favorite ever slave profile. Hopefully Berlin, yeah. I would guess. I think Gisele said something about that likelihood. I think Munich is the next German stop, and it's one of the rare gigs to which I'm going or rather that I'll be prefacing since I'm supposed to do a conjunctive reading there a few days before. Never been to Munich. What's it like? In the States, one's agent calls the publishers. It's a rare American perk. What was the call about -- your book -- and how did it go? ** David Ehrenstein, Hey. I don't know if it's because I'm just a wee bit too young or something, but my main Tony Curtis association is 'The Boston Strangler'. I saw him at a supermarket in Brentwood once in the early 90s. He was wearing a very bad toupee that tried to replicate the swooping black head of hair he'd had when he was young. I couldn't figure out why someone as famous and presumably moneyed as him would be stuck with such a terrible wig. I remember it felt really melancholy to have had such an unglamorous sighting. Yeah, one would think the Cale 'Paris 1919' gig will be filmed for something. Seems like he would do the show here in the album's namesake. I'll watch for that. ** Oscar B, I've now seen your healthiness with my own eyes. And I know about the weird stuff. Have we got a movie night picked out yet? Talk to you later. ** Alan, Hey. I forget: didn't you have an agent at one point? Are you going to seek one out if you don't have one now? The publisher hunting stuff is nightmarish even with an agent, but the distance between helps. Of course there's the agent hunt. Anyway, yeah, the post-writing and pre-book period is the worst. I really feel for you about the situation with Nobuko. Although it's a different situation, I think you know the hell I've gone through with Yury's visa issues. It's just wrenching on so many levels. As difficult a solution as it is, I hope she gets that job or another one that's no further afield. I'm really sorry, Alan. Please keep talking about what's going on. ** Sypha, Console game, good. Then at least I have a chance. My laptop sends me 'your hard drive is full' messages every day. ** Plexus, Plexusaurus Rex, I think the only thing standing between you and total contentment or the ultimate slave profile or both is that missing fishnet body suit, ha ha. You heard it here first. Someone must have done that cum on film stock trick before, but it might have been by accident. Yeah, I was kicking slutty worms out of my way when I was walking over to buy cigarettes yesterday. How did you know? I should really teach a class on slutty worm creating techniques. Fuck writing workshops. You can be my teacher's pet or my TA. I'm not a plastic surgeon, no, but how hard can it be? What is my novel about? Oh, man, that's hard. Uh, it's about the way a 22 year old French guy talks. But it has chateaus and mansions full of secret passages that may or may not exist, and unsolved murders that may or may not have occurred, and scenes of gnarly, preciously described violence and strange sex, and lots of offstage cannibalism, and it's very confusing, and it makes total sense after you've read it about 15 times, and ... In other words, it's going to be 'The Da Vinci Code' of next year. Suggestions of gay bdsm porn? Oh gosh, I don't know anything about that sort of thing, ha ha. Two days until you get to go home. Tick tick ... Love, your Dentist. ** Destroyed beyond emptiness, My employing of the word Darren comes with imbedded hugs as well. I'm certainly glad your stress was unfounded, but poor you. I'm stressing hard about a conversation I need to have with the Recollets boss in which I will plaintively ask if it would be possible to live here longer than the rules allow. I fear that I'm destined for a much less positive answer than you, but I hope I'm just stressing. Well, there you go re: my proclamation of your charmed existence. I told ya. You sound great. I'm so glad you sound great. Lots of love, me. ** The Evil Ghost of JW Veldhoen, Oh, I like Mogwai. Do I seem like someone who wouldn't like Mogwai? On the other hand, you're right that I don't like Tortoise. I like The Turtles, though. And not just 'Happy Together' either. ** _Black_Acrylic, Well, it sounds like you're pretty set for the next few days, so, awesome. I've got Nuit Blanche tomorrow night to keep me working like a dog until then. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Yeah, weird day among a slew of weird days lately. That seems so really true, i.e. what you said about Tony Curtis seeming really grateful to be alive. That was beautiful. For me, that really cuts to the chase of the best of what I got from him. Thank you for talking to the slaves. I think they were feeling a little lonely and merely exploited by me yesterday until then. My guess on the boyjuice face situation that needed to be addressed was his skin which did look just a little greasy. As someone who willfully saw ELP in concert six times back in the day, I'm not in a position to snicker. So, how deep are you digging? Could I, for instance, ask you how 'Tarkus' holds up? ** Steevee, Hey. I think Wiseman is quite respected here, and the Cinematheque celebrated his work maybe last year, but I think that, apart from the Paris Opera film, his work only shows here in film buff contexts, although I did see one of his films on Arte a few years ago. ** Brendan, Big B! I did indeed like the Thurston shot, and, yes, lucky you, and yes, lucky him as well. Yeah, looks like your Giants are in. Happy for you. Looking forward to hopefully getting to watch that wizkid pitcher everybody's talking about. The Dodgers did basically what they always do: sputter, flutter, flip, flop, and ultimately puss out in the final stretch. I want to know what ends up on that table, man. Take notes. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Maybe it's sleeping sickness, although I think sleeping sickness isn't really that much about sleeping, if I recall, anymore than mono actually is the kissing disease. Actually, my first published fiction was this utter humiliation of a little book called 'Antoine Monnier' that I pray will stay invisible forever, which luckily should be fairly easy since I think maybe 40 copies were actually sold and none of them have shown up on eBay or anyplace like that. I think Yury's health is good. But wouldn't a thrown snake just, like, hit the ground rolling and be okay? Oh, I guess it could have hit a tree. I bet it's fine and just wiser now. Don't worry. That slab of concrete that used to be a 7-11 was really poignant and haunting for some reason. Kind of strange. My day wasn't much again. Worked mostly and as usual. It's very slow and laborious right now. I'm concentrating on not getting frustrated. I'm doing a reading in Munich at the end of November, and I finalized the flights and stuff around that via email with the organizers yesterday. I walked to the health food store, bought veggie dogs, Alfalfa sprouts, and water, and then I walked to the Tabac and bought cigarettes, and then I walked into the Gare de lest and bought an apple pastry, and then I walked back here, and then I worked some more and ate the pastry. I got final conformation that I'm not invited to go along on the 'TIHYWD' tour of Japan, and that was depressing but completely expected. I had coffee with Kiddiepunk and Oscar at my favorite cafe in the aforementioned train station. We talked about this and that: Nuit Blanche plans, plans to go to the opening of the Larry Clark retrospective on the 7th, art, life. Kiddiepunk was worried that he's getting sick, so we walked over to the Monop, and he bought some rum to drink. After we returned here, I worked. I watched this week's episode of Master Chef, which was pretty good, I guess. I fell asleep at the computer, which is a really rare thing for me to do, and then I woke up and went to bed in the proper fashion. Not an amazing day. How was Friday on your end? ** Eli Jürgen, How did the library know we have offensive content here? Hm. I guess it reads my blog? Well, I would certainly hope you'd be Beavis, for goodness sake. Oh, awesome about the work and the great critique! Ha ha, yeah, that content warning blog page thing is voluntary. I guess my decision not to warn viewers means I'm more evil than Gabe. Well, I would hope so. ** Colin, Yeah, really sad and unexpected about Michael Gizzi. I don't think I ever met him, but I like his work, and his work on behalf of Wieners always endeared him greatly to me. Beautiful poem by him. Really beautiful. ** Hedi, Hi, Hedi! How very, very lovely to see you! Yes, I think 'Enter the Void' is just astonishing. With imperfections, although I do really want to see it again because, as time has passed, the things I questioned -- some of the kid flashback stuff, for instance, although it was so worth it for that car crash -- seem far more key to world of it that I remember now. Yeah, an incredible viewing experience. An experience still working continually on me in some way. I'm really glad you saw it and that it got to you too. How are you? Is everything good? The Duvert is amazing, as was the Guyotat, of course. Thank you, Hedi, and lots of love from me. ** Changeling, Hey. Well, yeah, the twinning thing(s) in mine are there for what sounds like very similar reasons to yours. Very similar in the basis behind their implementation. I'm really excited to see you how you play that out in your novel. I really love everything you're saying about it. Will you be putting any bits of it out in the public? Mine has ended up going resemblance crazy. I mean, whoa. We'll see. Thanks a lot for your novel talk, man. I would really love to hear anything about it that you feel like transmitting. ** That's it for Friday. Another Halloween-ish thing for you today. Now it's back to work for me. See you during my next break.
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