Blocus sentimental ! Messageries du Levant ! ...
Oh, tombée de la pluie ! Oh ! tombée de la nuit,
Oh ! le vent ! ...
La Toussaint, la Noël et la Nouvelle Année,
Oh, dans les bruines, toutes mes cheminées !...
D'usines ....
On ne peut plus s'asseoir, tous les bancs sont mouillés ;
Crois-moi, c'est bien fini jusqu'à l'année prochaine,
Tant les bancs sont mouillés, tant les bois sont rouillés,
Et tant les cors ont fait ton ton, ont fait ton taine ! ...
Ah, nuées accourues des côtes de la Manche,
Vous nous avez gâté notre dernier dimanche.
Il bruine,
Dans la forêt mouillée, les toiles d'araignées
Ploient sous les gouttes d'eau, et c'est leur ruine.
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The carolers
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Paris bedecked
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The vitrines
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The Buche de Noel #1
Buche: Christian Lacroix/Lenotre
Location: Kiddiepunk's room/Centre International des Recollets
Weather: Snowing
Starring: Kiddiepunk, Oscar B, Paul P, Scott Treleaven, Yury Smirnov, & DC (behind the camera)
Special guest via satellite: Joel Westendorf
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II est amer et doux, pendant les nuits d'hiver,
D'écouter, près du feu qui palpite et qui fume,
Les souvenirs lointains lentement s'élever
Au bruit des carillons qui chantent dans la brume.
Bienheureuse la cloche au gosier vigoureux
Qui, malgré sa vieillesse, alerte et bien portante,
Jette fidèlement son cri religieux,
Ainsi qu'un vieux soldat qui veille sous la tente!
Moi, mon âme est fêlée, et lorsqu'en ses ennuis
Elle veut de ses chants peupler l'air froid des nuits,
II arrive souvent que sa voix affaiblie
Semble le râle épais d'un blessé qu'on oublie
Au bord d'un lac de sang, sous un grand tas de morts
Et qui meurt, sans bouger, dans d'immenses efforts.
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Special bonus for newbies: DC's 2008 Xmas card, back from the dead
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Merry Xmas from Feverspore
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Merry Xmas from Paul McCarthy
from artloversnewyork.com
Opening November 15th at Maccarone, American artist Paul McCarthy will transform the 6000 sq. ft gallery space into a fully functioning chocolate factory and retail area. Available for purchase will be chocolate Santa’s based off of his sculpture of a Santa holding what appears to be a butt-plug. These Chocolates will be available for $100 through December 24th.
the view into the gallery, and, the chocolate factory, (10 ins. high, chocolate Santas in individual plastic molds - on some kind of cooling roller), from the street
another view of the assembly line, from outside in the street
as soon as you entered, you were confronted by rows and rows of chocolate Santas - and the aroma of freshly baking chocolate.
rows of wrapped santas.
the labeling station, a final stop, on the chocolate Santa assembly line.
in front of the boxed Santas.
a boxed santa - the decal (top right) says: 'Chocolate Santa with Butt Plug' by Paul McCarthy
a freshly baked chocolate Santa being offered up, for sampling
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Merry Xmas from Tom Waits
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Merry Xmas from some trees
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Merry Xmas from John Cale
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Merry Xmas from Tokyo
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Merry Xmas from Mogwai
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Merry Xmas from the White House
According to the Washington Post, this year's White House Christmas Tree will feature an ornament with an unusual theme: The impeachment of George W Bush. Laura Bush asked members of Congress to pick local painters to decorate ornaments for this year's (tree). Rep. Jim McDermott contacted a local arts organization, which asked (Deborah) Lawrence, a collage artist, to create the local entry.Update: Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for the first lady, confirmed the ornament would not be displayed. "It's inappropriate and it's not being hung," she said. She said that when asked about the issue yesterday, the White House tree decorations were not complete. "We reviewed the ornament along with all the [other] ornaments, and Mrs. Bush deemed it inappropriate for the holiday tree."
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Merry Xmas from Christmas Ornaments
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Merry Xmas from Santa's Villages
Saginaw, Michigan
Lapland, Finland
Huntsville, Alabama
Val David, Canada
Richardson, Texas
East Dundee, Illinois
Bracebridge, Canada
Santa Cruz, California
Lake Arrowhead, California
Nashua, New Hampshire
Jefferson, New Hampshire
Franconia, New Hampshire
Dungannon, Ireland
Carlsbad, California
Martin, Tennessee
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Merry Xmas from The Flaming Lips
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*
p.s. Hey. I'm delivering my Xmas card to you two days early this year because, one, I won't be posting/ p.s.ing on Xmas day aka Saturday and, two, I've got a big guest-post for you tomorrow that deserves the three day weekend slot a whole lot more than this card does. And with that, ... ** Adjoun, Hey. It depends on what phase of the novel writing I'm in. In the very beginning, when I'm finding and refining the prose style and structure and stuff, I don't read fiction for the reasons you mentioned. Same goes for the late period where I'm editing and refining furiously because input could break my concentration. During the general, middle part, sometimes I'll take breaks to read things, and sometimes I think reading literature would be too distracting. The books I posted about the other day are ones I've read since finishing the novel. But it's not that hard for me to juggle writing projects themselves and the blog and, say, my LHotB work simultaneously, and I just have to do that these days because there's no real choice. Oh, I can write in any position, I guess, maybe because I usually write by hand, so sitting in a chair, slouched on a couch, lying in bed, etc. all work just fine for me. What about you in terms of making art? Do you need a strict-ish set up to work, or can you work anywhere, or ... ? ** Thomas Moronic, Dude, such huge congrats on getting the estate sorted. And on the new Mac. Given that the computer is where you write and communicate and whatever else, it doesn't seem overly materialistic to adore such a thing. God is a laptop. Why not? Winter Paris is nice, yeah, when it doesn't rain. Winter rain has no plusses that I can think of. Oh, gosh, thanks, man, about 'Safe'. I tend to think of it as a relative failure, but I haven't dared to reread it in a long time. Hope your night out was ultra-pleasant. I'm angling for 'Tron' in the next day or two, but the French haven't yet gotten into showing new movies in IMAX theaters here, sadly. February, you, Paris, excellent! ** Killer Luka, Poop? One 'log' is down the hatch, as you can see just north of here, and the second toy car shaped log is sitting in my fridge waiting for Saturday. Love ya too. ** Jax, Hey, pal! Thanks for the commiseration. Yeah, it's really weighing on me. Not quite enough to fly over there and clean your place, but if this goes on much longer, expect me and my mop. Oh, I like Russian/Ukrainian food a lot. In NYC, there's this legendary east Village restaurant Veselka, which is an all time fave. I don't think I've even seen a Russian restaurant here, weirdly. Surely, they exist given how tight and mutually admiring Russia and France have been forever. You stay warm too, bud, and let me know the latest on your projects when the time feels right. ** Michael_karo, Clearly, the thanks are mine and their recipient is you, you, and you again, sir. ** Ishmael, Hey, Ish. Oh, interesting about the switch. It should work, right? And the light thing too. 'The next thing' sounds great to me. Yeah, 'The Undead' makes the most sense, I guess. If we have time while I'm there, maybe we could watch the video together and talk about it, see if a remodeling makes sense and how it could work and all that. We should do a next thing of some sort, though. Something. ** David Ehrenstein, No doubt I will. Mutter or worse. I guess I'll try to concentrate on Portman's performance. I've liked her in pretty much everything except for those awful Star Wars movies where she and every other actor give their all-time worst performances. In any case, 'BS' doesn't open here until February, so I don't have to think about it for a while. ** Bernard Welt, I 'watched' it on CNN's Twitter feed, which kind of sucked, but then I saw some clips. Packed house. Yesterday in the legislature was just trippy as hell in general. ** Paul Curran, Thanks, Paul. Yeah, it's weird and hard to have something that's been yours and yours only for two plus years thrown open to the world anyway, and having the first two readers (agent and editor) having a certain amount of power over it is stressful. But, yeah. I definitely didn't toss this novel off, for better or worse, ha ha. ** MANCY, No, man, thank you for the pleasure and the rush. ** Hayden Derk, Hey. That's amazing that you were to recreate the novel by hand. You know the 'email the novel to yourself' protective trick, right? I emailed the novel I just finished to myself every two days while I was working on it. Anyway, yours is saved and even better, so phew on that. Oh, that's interesting about the character who loomed into the center of the novel. From what I've read of your work, there seems like there must be a fair amount of preplanning and predetermined structure? It feels like that. But, in any case, I like that you allow yourself that degree of improvisation as you work. I kind of try to balance heavy pre-planning with semi-total intuitiveness in my stuff. I love that broken glass/ car high-beams description and image. Really, really looking forward to it being finished and getting to see what I can see of it. True about the helpful lure of Mishima's big presence. It's pretty rare when a writer is top notch and a compelling figure at the same time. Burroughs, Acker, ... being recent examples of writers whose outsizedness as people certainly didn't hurt. Bonne chance right back at you. ** Alan, Ha ha, well, thanks, man. If this limbo wasn't playing such havoc with me, it would be fine and understandable rather than understandable but painful. My plan is to try to stay patient until Xmas, and, if I haven't heard by then, lose it. Oh, and while I've got you, next Tuesday I'll be posting what you sent, and it's fantastic, and thanks so much! ** Sypha, Hey. Yeah, I got the 'SiH' thing re: the drawing. That was cool. Very nice drawing, by the way. You have the best dreams. Oh, man, that new post on your blog is so great! I've been so interested to know more about your brothers' books for a long, long time, and that's just fascinating! Everyone, the great Sypha has two brothers, who, like him, are prolific, born writers, but, who, unlike him, don't publish their novels. Anyway, Sypha has made a really, really fascinating post on his blog about his brothers and their many unpublished novels, and I can't recommend strongly enough that you go check out this post, which is just incredibly interesting and heartening and some kind of amazing example/ statement about what being an artist is and means in very a pure way. It's hard to explain. Just click that link and go look. ** Craig, Hey. No problem, man. Oh, I have Kiddiepunk's email address. I think it would be okay to send it to you, so I will, assuming your email address hasn't changed in a while. Being over here, I don't do Xmas shopping. My friends here in Paris and I don't exchange gifts, really, and every single one of them is away for the holidays anyway. Although I'm going to get some fancy pastries for the people who work at the Recollets. When I'm in LA at Xmas, I'm a big shopper/gift giver, usually at the last minute, although I tend to figure out what I'm going to give early on. I hope those jobs with the schools come through for you, obviously. Lego robotics, that's cool. I think I know what that is, but I'll google it too. Hope the pre-Xmas crowds at the bookstore don't wear you out, and I'll talk to you next time. ** Bill, Hope the rain lagged for a while. I was reading doomy reports of an oncoming LA onslaught last night. Weird and awful about the internment delay. I don't know, you might have to drive to Long Beach to find a sailor in need of your lifeboat. Not sure if it would be worth it under the current conditions unless you've always wanted to tour the Queen Mary. ** Pisycaca, Hey, Montse! I'm okay. It's pretty cold here, yeah, but everything looks so sparkly, so I guess it's worth it. I'm just feeling in this weird limbo post-novel at the moment, but I hope that will pass. Oh, no, about your aunt going back to her flat! Is there really no one else who can take care of her? Didn't you say she has other relatives who could but won't help? Can't these jerks be, I don't know, guilt tripped into helping out? Oh, I'm sorry about that, Montse. That's bad news. I sure hope you can get away to London for NYE. Let me know the latest on all of that, okay? And much love to you and Xet. ** Daveyhoule, Sucks about your novel stalling. That happens, though. It happens to me. It'll come back, don't sweat it. The writing muse is just really moody, I think. When it comes back, lock it down. That's what I do. When it pops up, best to milk it dry. That website is cool. Very clean but inviting. The store seems amazing, and what a great and daring time to open such an enterprise. Everyone, or, rather, anyone out there who is reading these words while in or near Chicago, it really seems like you should check this new store, Bucket O' Blood Books and Records, or I certainly would if I were there and if I were you. Website designed by d.l. Daveyhoule, btw. Thanks, D. ** Toniok, Hey, man. Do you find models just by walking around asking people who look right? Or through friends of friends, or ... ? Yeah, you mentioned that upcoming show, and that's really exciting. What is the art center where the show is being held? Is there a link? I definitely could use someone to walk through the Paris snow and talk about all that cool stuff with, so I hope you get rich soon. I hope I get rich soon, too, ha ha. ** Steevee, Yeah, it sounds like repair shop time, I fear. The good thing is it's probably just some little snag or impasse that can be untangled with a few clicks. Interesting review of the Mike Leigh film. I'll lower my expectations, although I really liked 'Happy-Go-Lucky' a lot. Anyway, ... Everyone, the eminent film critic and d.l. Steevee aka Steve Erickson has reviewed the new Mike Leigh film 'Another Year', and of course I highly recommend you give your time and attention. ** _Black_Acrylic, That was a terrible start to your day, hardly worth your joy when the treasure was unearthed. So, yeah, let Xmas have you now, full force. ** Amccartney, Hey, Alistair! Great to see you! Glad you've survived the the LA deluge so far. Sounds crazy. Really sad to be missing the heavy pitter patter. No, my year end favorites list is coming up next week. Try to enjoy being flattened. Yeah, I finished my novel, in which, coincidentally enough, one of the main character's biggest dream is to be flat. Done. One year from now, I'll expect to be celebrating you having crossed your finish line. Yeah, hopefully I'll see you before too long at all. Merry Xmas to you and to Mr. Miller as well. ** Steven Trull, That was some trippy tripping. Oh, gosh, it would be nice if the guns were aimed as you suggested, but, gosh, I'd be so surprised. It's more likely they'll be aimed at Rhianna if her next album doesn't have enough dance tracks. ** Math, Not stoked, I hear you. Especially the mailing part. I just have to buy some pastries and try to get them home unsmashed on the metro then put them in a few pairs of hands, and my Xmas shopping will be finis. $160 ... you could enter a karaoke contest? ** Andrew, Man, you've got to love Japan, you know? I want to live in a world where KFC becomes magical once a year. That was plenty for one day, trust me. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey. You don't need to like coffee. It's addictive. And not just psychologically. If I don't drink a big cup of coffee as soon as I wake up, I have a monster of a headache all day. And decaf is an abomination. Didn't see Tron yet. Maybe on Xmas, since, other than eating Buche #2, no plans. Ugh, sorry about your coughs and sickness. I hope that vamooses before Xmas. Those Starbucks dialogues were awesome. Like Samuel Beckett- esque. Truly. Maybe you should write plays. Ever thought about it? Or screenplays, maybe? Fiction is better, though. But plays are all right too. And movies are great. Anyway, that was a very good, complicated, funny, sad, wonderful day to read about, thank you. Mine: It was Yury's day off. We were going to go out and do some stuff, but we were waiting to be exiled by the cleaners to make our exit, but the cleaners took too long, so we left. We took the metro to Concorde and looked at the Champs Elysee Xmas village. You can see it in some of the pictures up there. Basically, both sides of the park/woodsy section of the Champs Elysee is lined with a kind of Xmas fair with quaint booths selling all kinds of stuff and rides and live entertainment and so on. It was really pretty. We went to Ice Magic, which was part of it, and which is a giant indoor display of ice sculptures mostly of famous landmarks of the world. And an ice slide for kids and a bar made out of ice selling drinks in glasses made of ice for the adults. Here's a picture of a little part of it. It was fun and dumb and freezing cold and kind of cool. Then we walked to the Hôtel Plaza Athénée to pick up our Buche #2, which is super limited edition and was made by the famous pastry chef Christophe Michalak, and I've always wanted to get one of his renowned buches, and this is the first year I managed to order one before it sold out. Then we very carefully brought the Buche back to the Recollets on the metro because it's very fragile, and we made it safely. After that, Yury went out shopping and then swimming, and I worked on some stuff. I hoped my agent might write to me about my novel, but he didn't, grr. It started raining/ snowing, and that combination is gross, so I stayed inside. Kiddiepunk has leant us his nice TV while he's away, and it can pick up a lot of French cable channels, so I watched some TV, mostly junky stuff like the French equivalent of E! because they were doing a year end countdown of the best this and that, like pop music and video games and etc. I ate in my usual fashion, and, uh, not much else, I think. Thus was my day. How's Thursday going? ** L@rstonovich, How's it hanging, bud? ** Creative Massacre, You did have a hell of an intense year, pal. But it sounds you might be in the clear now. I sure hope so. Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate that. That's what friends are for and that, you know? What are you doing on Xmas? ** Dusty Rose, Hey. I'm always juggling. I think I kind of like it or thrive on it, or maybe it's just the way your or my creativity or whatever works, and we have to, I don't know, go with the flow as they (used to, at least) say in LA. I guess I have one thing that always gets priority. My writing/ fiction, basically. If that's happening well, I push everything else out of the way or off to the side. I don't know if you have one project that is the most important one that you could give priority to or whatever. It seems to work, and sometimes the projects that get pushed to side actually end up working out better because they're put in a particular place or something rather than having all your projects swarming you at the same time with equal intensity. I don't know if that makes sense? Be(a)st to you, man. ** Right, so Merry Xmas to each and every one of you, and I'll see you guys tomorrow.
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