_____________
Jacques Derrida interviews Ornette Coleman
from Ubuweb
Jacques Derrida: What do you think of the relationship between the precise event that constitutes the concert and pre-written music or improvised music? Do you think that pre-written music prevents the event from taking place?
Ornette Coleman: No. I don't know if it's true for language, but in jazz you can take a very old piece and do another version of it. What's exciting is the memory that you bring to the present. What you're talking about, the form that metamorphoses into other forms, I think it's something healthy, but very rare.
JD: Perhaps you will agree with me on the fact that the very concept of improvisation verges upon reading, since what we often understand by improvisation is the creation of something new, yet something which doesn't exclude the pre-written framework that makes it possible.
OC: That's true.
JD: I am not an "Ornette Coleman expert," but if I translate what you are doing into a domain that I know better, that of written language, the unique event that is produced only one time is nevertheless repeated in its very structure. Thus there is a repetition, in the work, that is intrinsic to the initial creation—that which compromises or complicates the concept of improvisation. Repetition is already in improvisation: thus when people want to trap you between improvisation and the pre-written, they are wrong.
OC: Repetition is as natural as the fact that the earth rotates.
(read the totality)
____________
Edward Furlong Chronology
1991
1998
1999
2005
2009
_____________
The philosophy of Bill Murray
from The A.V. Club Blog
'They say all humor has a grain of truth to it. Our best comedians have always understood this, using comedy as a means for providing punchline after punchline to the longest running gag ever written: human existence. Of these thinking man’s wits, Bill Murray is one of the most dedicated: He’s done everything from dropping Dalai Lama riffs in the middle of Caddyshack to scaling a mountain to seek enlightenment in The Razor’s Edge, while even taking a few years off from acting to study philosophy at the Sorbonne. It’s no accident, then, that so many of his films—beneath Murray’s veneer of world-weariness and sarcastic asides—recall the same existential questions that have been posed by sages since the dawn of the word “why.”
________
The existential nihilism of Meatballs
'The idea that life is meaningless—and that free will is thus an illusion, given the utter senselessness of making any choices at all—has plagued philosophers ever since man first set useless pen to pointless paper. In centuries past, some writers have taken this to the extreme, arguing for suicide as the only solution, but others take a more existentialist tack, arguing that embracing that fundamental meaninglessness is an act of liberation. Take Arthur Schopenhauer, who (despite the negative, dismissive connotations of his advocating “pessimism”) argued that looking at life optimistically required intellectual dishonesty, and coming to terms with meaninglessness was the first step toward pursuing the basic human compassion that is our only true purpose. Those ideas form the basis of one of Murray’s most stirring, endlessly-adaptable-to-our-times monologues, a postmodern philosophical treatise delivered to North Star campers fearing another Olympiad trouncing by the rich kids at the Mohawk.
__________
The “amor fati” of Ghostbusters
'A favorite expression of Nietzsche, “amor fati” refers to an attitude of acceptance toward one’s fate—that even suffering and loss should be embraced, as they are all part of one’s destiny. In Ghostbusters, Murray’s Peter Venkman goes with the flow of fate like no other: Faced with the sudden closure of his paranormal research department, he revels in it as an opportunity, memorably saying, “Call it fate, call it luck, call it karma. I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe that we were destined to get thrown out of this dump.” Venkman’s abiding faith in predestination allows him to confront even the ugliest of horrors—like the dead rising from their graves and smearing ectoplasm on everything in sight—with an unflappable cool that verges on stoicism, the most extreme version of amor fati. That’s why he can deal with everything from the constant threat of bankruptcy to rejection by Sigourney Weaver (and her later transformation into a demon dog) to an imminent apocalypse at the hands of a Sumerian god, armed with nothing beyond stoic self-confidence and a bottomless arsenal of sarcastic quips.
__________
The Pagliacci-ism of Quick Change
'Crying-on-the-inside types have long related to Pagliacci, the classic opera first performed in 1892 about a lonely, jealous clown who murders his wife. Everyone from Smokey Robinson to Tony Soprano have name-checked the quintessential sad funnyman, but nobody embodies the archetype as perfectly and completely as Murray, who cast himself as an actual clown for his (so far) only directorial effort, 1990's Quick Change. Murray plays the appropriately named Grimm, a stone-faced goofball who masterminds a successful bank robbery in Manhattan only to foul up the protracted getaway. While Quick Change was co-directed by screenwriter Howard Franklin, the movie's painfully wry worldview is pure Murray: Failure is inevitable, and seeing the humor in this doesn't make it any less soul-crushing.
___________
The Buddhism of Groundhog Day
'Though everyone from secular self-help therapists to Catholics have claimed it as their own, Groundhog Day is especially beloved by the Buddhists, who view it as an illustration of the notion of “samsara”—the endless cycle of birth and rebirth that can only be escaped when one achieves total enlightenment. In the film, Murray’s sarcastic, self-serving weatherman is forced to repeat a single day out of his life until he comes to terms with the Four Noble Truths: 1) Life is suffering (but that doesn’t mean you have to add to it by being a jerk). 2) The origin of suffering is attachment to desire (so don’t spend your days robbing banks, stuffing your face with danishes, and trying to bamboozle your way into Andie MacDowell’s pants). 3) There is a way out (by dedicating your time to bettering yourself), and 4) it involves following the “eightfold path,” which means revoking self-indulgence and becoming a “bodhisattva”—someone who acquires skills and uses them in the selfless service of others (like changing an old lady’s tire, saving kids who fall out of trees, and performing the Heimlich maneuver on a choking victim). As a result of Murray’s generous acts, he receives the love of the whole town—a oneness with the universe—and is allowed to evolve past the cycle of samsara to nirvana. In this case, “nirvana” means renting a house in rural Pennsylvania and waking up next to Andie MacDowell every day, but hey, whatever makes him happy.
_________
The asceticism of Rushmore
'As practiced by certain sects of Hinduism, Jainists, and even Christians who reject the ideas of “prosperity theology” (and actually, you know, listen to Jesus), asceticism involves a conscious abstaining from worldly pleasures in favor of focusing on one’s spiritual life. While he doesn’t end up wandering the desert in sackcloth eating only what may fall into his bowl, Murray does arrive at these basic tenets of asceticism in Rushmore. Murray’s Herman Blume is a self-made tycoon with his own multimillion-dollar business and the lifestyle to match, yet he’s crippled by ennui, and despairing over the alienation he feels toward his family. Pursuit of a truer definition of love eventually tears his world apart—and wrecks him both financially and physically—but by movie’s end, Blume has undergone a total spiritual reawakening, and seems to have found happiness at last in his total unburdening.' -- Steven Hyden, Sean O'Neal, David Wolinsky
_____________
Bruce Hainley interviews Wayne Koestenbaum
from Bidoun Magazine
Bruce Hainley: I’d like to begin this sitting on a bench at the intersection of poetry and politics. The title of your most recent book, Best-Selling Jewish Porn Films, recalls an early essay of yours, which when first published was, I seem to remember, called ‘The Aryan Boy Who Pissed on My Father’s Head.’ I’m interested in the way your writing continuously pulls toward porn while retaining all its stern, Sontagian glamour and purpose. Where do you situate the porn-poem, or poem-porn, given the precedents of Shelley’s ‘Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world’?
Wayne Koestenbaum: I’m ready to talk politics and poetry and everything else under the sun. I got splinters on my butt-cheeks from sitting so long on this bench. And then the splinters got infected. I was worried I’d have to amputate flesh gobbets. But then the Valium kicked in, with its little-studied antibiotic properties. So I’m raring to go, ass in gear. The porn-poem: to write a poem is pornographic, in the senses of wasteful, useless, awful, ignored, debased, hurdy-gurdy, repetitive, regressive, navel-gazing, ass-licking, time-killing, boring, ludicrous, transcendent, dilated. I’ve been reading mischevious L-A-N-G-U-A-G-E practitioner Charles Bernstein lately (he’s against National Poetry Month, thinks it’s bad for poetry). Also Slovenian writer Tomaz Salamun, also Austrian pathbreaker Ingeborg Bachmann. I’m feeling entranced, once again, by the possibilities of language that ignores the supervisor. It’s my regular May/June fever, the high of rediscovering poetry’s rankness, naughtiness. And, for me, these days, naughtiness exists in being minimal. Some of the most exciting pieces at the MoMA, New York, on a recent visit were by Walter De Maria and Ellsworth Kelly, nice old-fashioned staunch minimalists. Looking at them, I think I “got”-perhaps for the first time-what a thoroughly anal pleasure, like gin, minimalism can be, so spiked with content in its refusals and excisions, its “Why bother?” So “up there,” as Andy would say. Like a good old-fashioned hit of poppers. Like Warhol’s goodbye to art. Like rambunctious poet Ed Smith. Or Sturtevant. The porn-poem is there, where Smith meets Sturtevant. Poetry is politics on poppers?
(read the totality)
______________
Holograms
_____________
Avital Ronell interviews Werner Herzog
'Very interesting conversation between Werner Herzog and Avital Ronell. Herzog speaks German, Ronell speaks Philosophy, the discussion is in English and is then translated in French by two interpreters who are absolutely amazing because I can't think of more difficult speakers to interpret... (coming from someone who had to interpret Mike Tyson and surrealist silent movies).
'Une conversation passionnante entre Werner Herzog et Avital Ronell. Herzog parle allemand, Ronell parle philosophie, la discussion est en anglais et elle est traduite par deux interprêtes qui font un travail extraordinaire parce que je ne peux pas imaginer deux personnes plus obscures à traduire... (ceci venant de quelqu'un qui a du interprêter Mike Tyson et des films muets surréalistes).
'Excerpt:
'Avital Ronell: "That's what I wanted to evoke perhaps also in the Kantian sense of purposiveness which doesn't have a purpose necessarily and is also part of your grammar."
'Translator: C'est cela vraiment que je voulais évoquer dans le sens Kantien d'une finalité sans fin, ce concept qui fait aussi partie de votre grammaire."
'OUCH! la finalité sans fin ??? Never mind, Werner is actually very interesting toward the end of the discussion when he takes strange questions from an even stranger audience. I find this video fascinating !
'AIE AIE AIE ! la finalité sans fin !!! Pas grave, Werner est très intéressant et vers la fin de l'entretien il répond aux questions étranges des encore plus étranges participants. Cette vidéo a quelque chose de ...fascinant !' -- Double Trouble
----
*
p.s. Hey. Alert to our Bay Area readers: The Little House on the Bowery and friends US tour hits Berkeley tonight, specifically the legendary Moe's Books, 2476 Telegraph Avenue, where, at 7:30 pm, Lonely Christopher will be reading from 'The Mechanics of Homosexual Intercourse, former d.l. Jack Shamama will be reading from Matthew Stokoe's 'Cows', and the great Kevin Killian will be reading whatever he likes. It'll be one of those nights to remember, guaranteed, and I hope those of you in the area can make it. Thanks! It's cleaning/ exile day, so ... you know. ** Allesfliesst, Okay, that Lutz sentence beat the hell out of the definition I managed to scrounge up. Gotcha. Thanks, pal. ** Pilgarlic, Yeah, everybody I know, me included, is in the monetary shithole these days. I've always cultivated a crappy clothes look, even at the best of times, so nobody notices. Same boat stuff, for what comfort that brings. I do think your Tybee situation at the moment is really sad, though. I'm telling you, man, do that Pekar-like collab. graphic novel thing, accrue a cult following, get a movie deal, and ... presto (if not even change-o). Your Nation story, just for example, is begging for an illustrator and a wider audience. Me, I'd have you positioned as the new David Sedaris on NPR, if I ran that place. ** Sypha, Ha ha, don't worry, I've learned how to regulate my excitement regarding your announced projects over the years. I'll be fine, but thank you. RIP: Kenneth Grant. I've never read him, or I haven't as of yet, but I know he's important to you and a lot of other amazing people, so hugs, man. ** Nerstes, No, they were addictive, you're not losing it. I did my time in their trenches as well. Man, I'm sorry to hear about the recent panic phase. Great to hear that the great Changeling has been on the case. So, you're trying new meds, is that right? Fingers very crossed that they soothe. Mr. Killian responded to your message, did you see? Take care, my friend, and keep me up on as much of what's going on as you can and want. ** Toniok, Thank you once again for yesterday. Not only was it fun city once one got inside, but it was definitely one of the suavest looking posts ever. I was and am proud. Oh, super great about the big group show, man! Things are happening. It's so righteous. Well, I'm sure artists from around here would be thrilled if they end up on your short list. Oh, damn, about the model's parents. I guess putting a fake nose or some other disguise on him would be counterproductive? On to the next and hopefully right model, man. You'll find him. ** Steevee, Wow, Werner Herzog, that's a cool coincidence, i.e. the post, obviously. Seems like he would be a total joy to interview. Very cool. Congrats on the missing pound! ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Hi. Oh, the amount of internet you can get is limited? Hunh. Here I will further reveal myself as the total tech pathetico that I am, but is that what people mean when they talk about having limited bandwidth? I never understand when I come across sites that say they've exceeded their bandwidth or tell me I can't download pix from their sites because I'm stealing their bandwidth. I think I've just really embarrassed myself, but nonetheless. Oh, Jordan Young, I remember him. I mean the name. I'll need to google to remember how he looked. Your slave responses were the dreamiest ever. I'm all textual blushing bride over here. You think 'foil' might be a typo? I was hoping not. I was hoping he was doing a kind of 'Curses, (my ass has been) foiled again' thing. The 'Myst' picture even! Etc. A joy. That slave post can now retreat ever further into the archives knowing it did its best. ** Bollo, Oh, people were angry at the Tuttle show for the old 'my kid could do that' reasons? I was imagining it was anger of the 'Tuttle has betrayed the very aesthetic principles that made him worthy in the first place' type. Sounds good to me. The show. The Mirov and the Davis are very good choices, in my opinion. Phoney sounds like a natural, clean and yet surprising. Ooh, your band is getting tastier. Nerdier than Hot Chip? It had to happen, but I won't believe you until I hear it for myself. What's the band plan: record, gigs, tours, cover of The Wire, remix by whoever remixes Britney and Gaga, 3D IMAX concert film, Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame? That kind of trajectory? ** JoeM, Hey. Thank you filling me in on the LibDem thing. See, you can't get that kind of detail and those kinds of subtleties when you're stuck fishing around for understanding over here on the continent. I agree: if only they'd left it at the first Matrix film. It would have been this pure thing, a 'Blade Runner' sort of deal. You probably heard that they're probably going to do a fourth one now. Supposedly in order to get the franchise 'back on track', yeah right. That's what they're saying about the new 'Pirates' movies too. What a load of crap or self-delusion. PofC is another franchise that should have stopped after the first film and, if they had, they would have left a minor classic. Johnny Depp was lovely as Captain Jack the first time, but 'CJ' is not Buster Keaton and nor is he the Little Tramp, let's face it. Oh, well. Dumb asses. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Cool if The Skinny is into the review thing. But maybe the sponsorship thing creates a conflict of interest? I just peeped at the Celine piece, but it does look interesting. Outsider ... yeah, I never know if I should be happy about the designation or not. I guess I am. Everyone, courtesy of _Black_Acrylic, here's a piece about Celine -- the writer, not ... Dion -- over on the Guardian's always lively and comments-heavy Books Blog. Enjoy. ** Jax, Hey! I'll skip 'Neds' if I get the chance to skip it. Doubt it will get over here. Well, the French do like Loach and presumably the Loachian very much, so maybe. Still, you don't see much of a Loach influence in newer French filmmakers' work. Actually, hm, 'Homme au Bain' is kind of Loachian in a way, although I think it's probably a coincidence, knowing Christophe's tastes. Blah blah blah, sorry. How's the werewolf doing today? ** David Ehrenstein, Thank you, sir. What are you up to today? ** Oliver, Hey. Yeah, it just got here a day or two ago. Thanks re: the questions. Let me read just a little further and I'll pose one or two if you don't mind 'cos I'm curious about things. Thank you! ** Andrew, Yeah, I'm surprised that blog didn't just continue on a site of its own. There are okay Japanese fetish pop culture blogs, but nothing as extreme as that defunct one. Tentacle Grape? Nope. From LA? Interesting. Have you tried it? (I can't stand carbonated drinks, that's my problem. Except champagne.) ** Misanthrope, I asked Yury about the immune system boosting thing as he was fleeing out the door and he said, 'I'll tell you more later, but, obviously, tell him to get Echinacea to start'. Well, yeah, religion mixed into government is hugely wrong in my opinion too, and it's probably wrong in the opinion of the majority of Egyptian' opinions as well. I just think the obsession in the US media coverage with building the Muslim Brotherhood into the revolution's Bogeyman is very depressing. The coverage in Europe has been far more rational and less coopted, less spun in a self-serving way so far. ** Ken Baumann, Hey, Ken! Thank you, pal! ** Frank Jaffe, Hi, Frank! Yes, I saw your awesome gift this morning, and it is both very awesome and heavily a gift. I'll be setting it up and writing to you pronto. Thank you! I didn't get to watch the short film yesterday, but I will for sure today. Very cool about the fest's success! I'm not surprised in the tiniest. "Cows', yes, indeed, and thanks for reading it and supporting LHotB by proxy. I did drag once. For an experimental drag narrative party held by my writer friends and I in the 80s. We made up drag characters and personas with the intention of meeting in character/drag regularly and creating a kind of living storyline. But we only did two parties. Doing drag did not suit or interest me much at all. I was Mavis Purvis, lesbian farmer who carried around a very abused looking African American infant/doll. Long story. Never again. I so hope you can get John Waters on board for the event, of course! John is God, of course! ** Exile ** Postitbreakup, Glad you liked it, J. Well, you know I'm a bit of Disney fan, and Mickey's just like a less stressed out and more sentimental Mario, I guess. Yeah, people have compared 'EM' to 'Mario Sunshine' which helps make it a must for me. You don't have to move around when you play games on a Wii. Well, I mean your hands and arms move around, but you can just sit there on your ass and play. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hi. To give the big dog some credit, it was less mean than overly protective of its owners, who I think were homeless, so it makes sense, I guess. Five days to my new TV! Oh, he plays bass. Bass players tend to be the coolest and shyest and sexiest band members. I was going to say that I liked Valentines Day back when I was in First Grade or whatever and students made Valentines bags in art class and then filled each other's Valentine bags with signed, store bought cards on VD, but I think that ritual was probably torturous at the time. The internet still sucks, and I guess I'll ask about the situation when I pay my rent today or tomorrow, but I know they'll just look sheepish and apologetic and say 'soon'. So, it was icy and snowy? Was that part of the much hyped big US winter storm we've been reading about over here in Europe? I bet. Your day was short and relaxing and pretty. My day was ... I always say this, I guess, but not so eventful. Let me wrack my brains. I talked to my agent. What he wanted to talk about wasn't all that important, it turned out. Stuff about his strategies to get 'TMS' ink and attention when it comes out and get a UK publisher and some possibilities re: getting Gisele's and my performance work to the States and etc. I went out to buy food, and the train station kiosk finally had the new issue of The Wire. When I was in the station, this really cute guy asked me if I was Dennis Cooper, and I said, yes, and he hugged me then walked away. That was nice. Then I sat on the Recollets stoop and read The Wire for a while. Jonathan Capdevielle came by at 4 pm, and we went over the text for a few hours, mostly me explaining what it means and what is going on in it to him because the text is pretty complicated, and the French translation of it isn't finished yet, and J's English is good and all, but it's a kind of hard text. He hadn't heard the new Britney Spears single, and he loves Britney, so I found a Youtube of it and played it for him, and he liked it a lot. And we tried out some possible voices and stuff. It went well, basically, and now he's on his way to Edinburgh for the 'Jerk' show tomorrow. I followed the Egypt stuff on the internet pretty closely all day when I could. I'm reading this book about 'video game space' as research for the 'maze' theater piece, and I read some of that and tried to think experimentally about what I learned. In the evening, I watched something I can't remember on TV and ate and stuff and so on until bedtime. Voila. Your turn. ** Creative Massacre, Here's hoping on the Eurostar thing, obviously. It'd be fun! Oh, yeah, nice new food pix. Sorry about your camera, but the photos look really good to me. That biscuit one made me crave biscuits badly, which is bad since they don't have biscuits like that here unless I want to brave KFC and eat a terrible version, and I just might. Everyone, meticulous and delicious looking new food photos on Creative Massacre's food blog are yours to peruse. Bring a bib. GoPro, no? It looks/ sounds pretty cool, though, yeah. ** Kevin Killian, Like magic, you appear! So wish I could be there tonight, grr. Fuck money. I'm sure you guys won't need me to introduce you. I was just going to introduce people anyway, so if anybody came to see me in particular, they would have been miffed in any case. It would have been totally to fun to hang out, though. I do hope to hear how it went, from you or on Facebook or somewhere. Thank you, kind and masterful, sir! ** Paul Curran, Holy fuck, about the cyclone. I was worried already, but, yeah, every good thought I've got is going your mom's way. I'll keep my eye on that today. Love to you, Paul. ** Steven Trull, I agree that's one word. It's you and me against the world, man. ** Alexp336, There have been attempts to interlink movies and games in a way that makes the game more than just a knock off, but the ones I've seen haven't been very interesting. The 'Matrix' game being a much hyped and poorly done example. Generally, movie tie-in games suck across the board, in my experience. Oh, I think I looked at that cakewrecks site once, but it was a couple of years ago. Awesome, I'm going to find it again straight away. You know my heart. A busy week in terms of writing gigs, I imagine? I hope you can stay on top. I'm sure you can. The tech bubble seems like it's going to get a lot bigger before it crashes again, if it does. Be glad you're not a writer of book reviews for print magazines, if that helps. Good week to you, in other words. ** Gotta go now. The post: I haven't done a Varioso in a long time, but I decided to get back in the habit. Something for everyone today, I hope. See you tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment