p.s.  Hey.  It's sunny here.  It hasn't been, and that's why that's noteworthy.  Other than that, I am sans interesting news.  Oh, this is kind of embarrassing, but I think most you know my amazing nephew Cody has a blog that I occasionally urge you to read, and if you read it recently you know he was conducting a poll that asked readers to decide what he should write about next, and one of the choices was to write about me, and I guess that option won, and he has written a really kind and incrediby touching (to me) thing about yours truly, and even though I feel weird mentioning that, I decided it would be weirder if I pretended it wasn't there, so there you go.  Now onto the matter at hand.  **  David Ehrenstein, I'd forgotten Queneau wrote that Resnais short film.  What a delicious match of talents.  Is there a French (or other) director with better and more acute literary tastes than Resnais?  Can't think of one.  (You probably can.)  Terrific John Waters profile indeed.  And it's so nice to see a journalist standing so tall on behalf of 'A Dirty Shame', which I thought was a completely bizarrely underrated and overlooked film.  So glad you're like Alistair's book.  I'm very high on it, as you know, and the Queneau comparison is kind of apt, right?  Whether by design or coincidence, it's a very 'French' novel in the best possible ways.  **  Laurabethnoble, You were up early.  Hope the first day was a door opener.  **  Tosh, Here, here. (Or is that 'Hear, hear'?  I've never been sure.)  **  5stringsA, You cracked me up first.  I've read a little of Sontag's fiction, not much.  People seem to think it's quite good.  It seemed okay.  Would you rather be stabbed by a teenage boy or stab a teenage boy?  I don't mean a fatal stab.  Reveal yourself.  **  SYpHA_69, Hi.  **  Gregoryedwin, Hey, pal!  Need I even say what a pleasure it is to see you?  The radio play is a very interesting form, yeah.  It's also fascinating to try to work progressively in it.  Another interesting form is theater performed in total darkness.  Maybe the best theater work I saw here last year was just such a piece by the young French experimental theater director Yves-Noel Genod.  You get the radio play effect distressed by the theater going effect, and there's a whole new kind of sensuality around your relationship to the audible voices and the invisible bodies, live sound and recorded sound, and a kind of guessing game aspect that's very curious.  'My life is a protracted flip out': what a great sentence although I suppose it's more fun to read than live.  Really good luck with the defending, man.  I bet your talent will overwhelm the obstacles.  **  Shai Hulud, I'm glad the Queneau 'poem(s)' got you going.  I know of Brisset through others' conversations and citings, but I haven't read him.  I did a google search, probably like you did, and there's hardly anything about him in English.  I'm going to see what I can find.  Excellent tip.  Well, I like that promise of yours, naturally.  I know that 'new idea supplanting old idea' problem well, but of course in my case, given this blog's rampaging nature, I just line the ideas up and knock them off one by one day after day.  But in your case, an eeny-meeny-miney-mo approach is probably in order.  Anyway, thanks.  **  Heliotrope05, That Lee's ashes story makes me go grr, but I guess you're right that it ultimately doesn't matter that it matters, if that's what you were saying.  Oh, your traveling friend is back in contactville?  I'll check my email and see if a connection can be made. Presumptuous?  Bah!  **  Joe M., Greetings.  **  Math T., I don't know where I want to be buried, and I guess I should figure that out.  My mom's in Forest Lawn Glendale edition, but I don't want to be there even if they do have the world's biggest painting.  Pere Lachaise seems a little ostentatious for the likes of me.  Hm, I'll think.  On where George's ashes were scattered, I tried to find out, but his mom was crying really hard while we were talking, and it didn't feel right to press her.  In the ocean somewhere.  So even if I knew where in the ocean, going there wouldn't satisfy me since it isn't even the same water now or anything.  If he'd been poured near his favorite tree or something, that might be enough for me, I guess.  **  Scunnard, Congrats on the paper.  What's this friend's anthology that it might be in?  I'd like to read it if it's going to be out there somewhere obviously.  What did you do in Toronto?  Every time I've been there I just seem to hang out randomly with friends, which is nice.  But is there a Toronto 'must see' thing?  The CN Tower?  A hockey game?  Those are Toronto cliches, which is why I long for them to be replaced.  **  Chris, 'The Chalice of Infinite Woo': How do come up that kind of stuff.  It's so good. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and name this blog that.  Or maybe I'd even retitle 'The Sluts' that.  But alas.  Well, thank you mightily for attending to my requests.  The blurry pic of you wasn't much help until I scrolled through your haircuts post.  Interestingly or not, while I had no mental image of you, you look very much like I imagined you would.  So while I had no mental image, per say, I clearly had the makings of one.  Anyway, your post there was great, and I'm gonna grab your lecture.  You can appreciate the horror of that overselling incident.  It's so often assumed that an artist is just naturally going to be so incredibly grateful to have the hugest audience possible.  That was the venue's argument as they counted their euros.  But whatever, it's done, live and learn, blah blah.  I'll see if the reviews are online and linkable and will pass the links on if they exist.  I've only seen the paper versions.  **  Blendin, Yeah, I know what you mean about good things happening.  It's like, cool, and then there's the slight pressure of following it up in 'the right way' or something.  Still, it is fucking awesome about MoCA.  When's the exhibition itself?  Oh yeah, 'Blood Meridian' is incredible.  I love the early McCarthy novels a lot.  'Child of God' is also fantastic.  The later stuff that made him a household name is no slouch, but the earlier books are more prickly and tighter and more ferocious.  You just made me need to go reread 'BM'.  Kudos.  **  Doug Wasted, Fuck your editor if he or she acts wonky.  Let he or she see the error of their ways and change their minds if they don't like it.  Those are a lot of body shots.  Can't you still get away somewhere?  Get yourself a nice Eurail pass or something?  I'm getting interested in going to Estonia for some reason.  Ever been there?  There was a TV thing about it on Arte.  It seemed like it had something special going on.  **  Squeaky, I'm wracking my brains about that German writer.  It sounds so familiar, and so up my alley that I must know that work, yet I can't seem to make the mental leap from familiarity to knowledge.  Damn.  If you remember, let me know.  You don't mean Walter Abish, right?  **  Dungan, I keep forgetting to tell you how much I love the newest entries on your site: the great third 'Berserking', the scary cheese thing, the photos.  Everybody else, go check it out. Sean, you should put a link to the site on your blogger profile page so the folks here can have the easiest possible access.  Like put it under a 'my webpage' or whatever link.  On the soul destroying lower case work front, yeah man, I so agree with you that I've never even done lower case work unless journalism and teaching at UCLA for a while count, which they don't, trust me.  I forget if you've ever taught.  I mean there's that option wherein at least your soul destruction helps others' souls.  **  Stan_cz, Hey, man!  I'll bet Atlantic City is strange.  It seems like it's much stranger than its 'spiritual', two-dimensional cousin Las Vegas which at least has the mighty, vulture-like desert around it.  Any progress on the buying a house front?  How much longer are you in the States?  My ultra-best to you every minute, my friend.  **  Tomkendall, Oh yeah, late happy birthday.  I got so caught up in your writing yesterday that I spaced out.  WWF wrestling?  I'm kind of a sucker for that brand, as you probably know.  **  Misanthrope, A one finger hunter and pecker, yes.  I'm pretty fast though.  Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.  Four packs a day is ... whoa.  Dude, do you know how torturous it is to quit when you're a four pack person?  Swiping her cigarettes would never work.  She'd probably need to be put in an artificially induced coma for a few months to quit.  I'm about at a little under a pack a day at this point, and even I should be put in a coma.  But I hope she quits.  I assume you'll like The Smiths.  How couldn't you?  'Hairdresser on Fire' could have been written about Yury.  **  Steevee, I don't know this 'Here!' channel thing.  Never even heard of it, which might be a good sign.  Pink TV will show all kinds of gay crap, but then they'll have a 3 hour show about Foucault or show Kenneth Anger films.  That's very cool about you working on lyrics.  Say more about this project, if you will.  **  JW Veldhoen, Well, yes, the commenting possibilities could be vastly improved, and why has blogger not upgraded the comments box thingeroony to reflect the advances afforded by the internet's evolution?  Fuck if I know.  But I like your cave paintings.  **  Alistair McCartney, Hey, man.  Yeah, it was awesome to see you in NYC, and I'm glad the tour went well, though I'm hardly surprised.  That's sad about Bookforum, yeah.  If it's any consolation, Bookforum hasn't reviewed any of my books, and they've only reviewed one of the Little House on the Bowery books.  The guy who edits the fiction reviews hates me and mine.  I hope my blurb didn't turn the tide against you.  Having a book newly published is always melancholy, but give it time.  It's all about word of mouth anyway, and on that front, you have nothing to fear.  Speaking of which, I really do want to do something on the blog about your book, if you're still willing.  The word of mouth needs to be spread by all means necessary.  In the meantime, getting into your next novel now is the best medicine.  I can't encourage you enough on that.  **  Akechikogorou, It's great to see your fresh face here.  Have the best time humanly possible.  **  You-x, Thank you, man.  Thank you for the honest and really very beautiful (for all its deep sadness) story.  It exuded the great difficulty of what you must be feeling and a strange peace which I suppose is the sadness and its depth.  Its grace is just your latest gift to this place, and I'm very glad you're back.  Yeah, let's try to talk.  We'll figure out quickly how to do it.  **  I'm off now to check out the sunniness.  Don't get stabbed.  Bye until tomorrow.