p.s. Hey. Today the major artist and our dear distinguished local Killer Luka offers up her own counter-programming to this blog's usual notion of who would qualify for a beauty pageant, and I would imagine it's quite a refreshing respite for some of you in addition to its obvious value as a good old post. Please take it to your hearts, etc. today, and talk back to our guest host, to whom I offer my gratitude for this temporary game changer. I'm slightly more myself again today, and I think I might just be past the recent, uncontrollable complaining about my exhaustion phase. Maybe. Let's find out. ** Largehearted boy, Hey. It's so nice and such an honor to have you here, and thank you very much for the invitation. I love the series and your blog, and I will write to you gratefully. Take care. ** Tomas, That's the spirit. Excellent. Paris seems to have a large number of those kinds of revolving apartments, always very well located. I seem to end up talking to so many people who say they have an apartment in Paris that they hardly ever use, maybe once or twice a year, and I keep waiting for these people to offer them to me, a la 'oh, why don't you live there sans charge since it's just sitting there going to waste', but these Paris apartment dilettant owners always turn out to be suspicious or superstitious or stingy or something. None of them are French, mind you. As you get to know me, you'll find me to be a diehard defender of the French even if I were to objectively have no leg to stand on, which I can't imagine ever happening since the French are so awesome. All right, mostly so awesome. What area of LA do you live in? I'll skim KAP if she ever comes my way. I'm wending my way through the new Gaitskill too, or I was on the plane over here. Terrific. She's good. How old is Marjorie Perloff, I wonder? I'm glad she's still alive and writing and everything; I'm just surprised she is because she seemed very far from young when I met her back in my early 20s. ** Chilly Jay Chill, So are you really liking '2666'? I remember people here being really positive about it, but some people I saw while in the States and whom I mostly trust weren't that high on it. On the staying in touch thing, for me, it depends. Rolling it around in my mind whenever I get a chance is the main way I handle the situation, but sometimes I just force it far, far away from my thinking as best I can hoping to force objectivity upon my return, but that's a method I use when I'm fearing the novel is a possible disaster. I always find the return to the depths of writing a novel is much easier than I feared it would be. ** Casey McKinney, Hey, Casey. Yeah, it's hard to believe that James Taylor is the same blood curdling plush toy we know today, isn't it? Eastman did some great work. Silverblatt knew him pretty well. The 'Five Easy Pieces' script is incredible. 'Puzzle of a Downfall Child' has some stunning stuff in it too. You good? ** David Ehrenstein, I almost got to see Wurlitzer do a reading when I was in NYC. He and Gary Indiana were reading the same night I had to hand out a Lammy Award, unfortunately. Did you know that he's related to Savannah Knoop? They're cousins or something. Very odd. Very lovely post by Bill on his blog. Please pass along my respects. ** NB, Oh, okay, yeah, I've never heard of that company then. What do they do? What will you do? Are you writing? What's going on? You've been a little quiet lately, so I'm curious. ** Paul Curran, Heard about the tube strike. Of course we get those a lot here, but Paris is so small that you can walk everywhere, whereas London isn't, or at least it doesn't feel tight when I'm there. Thanks a lot about that story. Pleasing you is of course very pleasing. ** Bernard Welt, I think 'Star Trek' is doomed to a future tiny plane screen. I just can't get it up. I'm saving my blockbuster fetish for the new Harry Potter. I'm fairly crazed with excitement to see 'Up', though. I think it opens here next week. ** Alan, Oh, so you've been at Fales. Did it work out okay? Thank you again so much for giving them the old blog saves. I'll get on my part of that bargain. Mm, I haven't looked through my scrapbooks in ages, and I think I'd need to in order to point out specific parallels. Probably best to just page through them with general curiosity. Fales does have multiple drafts of a lot if not all of my novels, especially the early ones when I was still stuck with a typewriter leading to more hard copy drafts. So, yeah, was it interesting at all? ** Roger P, Oh, awesome about the digitizing leading a possible Day on your time in China. That would be incredible, if it's not too much trouble, and I'd be happy with either a holiday sideshow or academic form. Whatever feels natural. That's very kind of you. Apart from having a copy of the Chinese edition of 'Frisk' back in LA, I know almost nothing about it. Apparently the book caused a fair amount of controversy in some quarters because the publisher had wanted to publish the whole GM Cycle but then changed their mind because of some sort of trouble 'Frisk' caused. That's literally all I know about it. ** Katsim, I'll look for 'Samson and Delilah'. Maybe it's playing here. It won something at Cannes, so I'm sure it will if it isn't. I might have posted images from the Night of Music last year. I can't remember. Unfortunately, I'll be in the dreadful town/village of Belfort working on the new theater piece when it happens this year. Maybe Belfort will celebrate it too. But since Belfort is in the heart of a very right wing leaning area and essentially a military town, I fear I'll be in for a lot of marching bands at best. Sucks. ** SYpHA_69, Well, thank goodness for the internet when you're feeling shitty. You can take your time and ratchet up the flirty tension until you're fit to your own satisfaction whereupon everyone concerned will be prepped to leap upon one another perhaps. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like one would have had to be either fairly involved in last season's 'American Idol' or really care that Lambert is openly gay to get what's supposed to be so good about him. But I don't find him at all attractive, and I suppose that would have to be in play too. I get that his being openly gay is a cool, positive thing, but, fairly or unfairly, he has that kind of ... 'wow, he can really sing' kind of talent which A.I. promotes as talent with capital T that just doesn't interest me at all. But at the same time, you never know, right? And I definitely would love to see what you do with him as a character. Curious about that self-styled Ellis character guy's site. I'll go look at it. ** Stan_cz, I admire the books of Hammett's that I've read. It's been a while. I'm not very interested in the crime fiction genre, so it's hard for me to compare, contrast, judge. You know I'm not so into the devices of plot and suspense and straightforward narrative and things like that, and that I'm more interested in writers who discard or overthrow them, so the genre doesn't really have an overt allure. Based on my limited experience, I like Hammett and Cain the best among that variety of writer. I like Fante, and I especially like Celine. I was just reading the new English translation of Celine's previously untranslated novel 'Normance' when I was in LA. ** Steevee, No, I haven't heard the new Xasthur, just read some things about it. I'll stream a track or two. That is very, very interesting about Sion Sono making the 'Lords of Chaos' movie. What a curious and rather fascinating idea, yes. Hunh. ** David, Oh, those old hippie guys always seem to have some rationale that suits their purposes when they sell their songs to commercials. Part of me does think, well, maybe getting 'Hello It's Me' in the spotlight will get people to listen to Rundgren's work in general again because he is so far off the radar these days. Bright side thinking, I suppose. ** Thomas Moronic, I think I've moved a few more inches towards normalcy today. I still lack my old joie de vivre, but I can feel it revving. Yeah, taking breathers with a novel can be just the ticket. Or let's say I've been taking one from mine, and I'm hoping so. Sure, you can send me things from it to read. I'd love that. You know how slow and behind the curve I can be, but, yes, do, and your description of the machinations you're working with are kind of mouthwatering. I'd love that. I think I'm going to download the SY today and have a listen. ** JW Veldhoen, Oh, sorry, yeah, my jetlag has been playing tricks on my short term memory or the opposite of tricks or something. But I'm starting to be able to field offers again, I think. Still, you typed Von Brun and my eyes saw Von Braun, as in Werner Von Braun (sp?). My father knew Werner Von Braun and used to talk about him all the time. I forget what he's famous for at the moment. His name is sinister sounding, so I'm guessing it's for something bad. The decor of The Mountain is not just post-modern, it's designed by the famed, at one time over-hyped youngish LA artist (who also co-owns the place) Jorge Pardo. ** G.V., Hi. Oh, I think the people who hang around this blog are more my friends and comrades than my admirers. I'm more a lucky magnet as far as this place goes. The age range of people here is pretty large, almost as large as you can get. I don't think the age of my readers is easily definable. So who are you? Clicking your screen name to learn more about you leads to a mysterious blank. ** Antonio, Hey, maestro! The occult? Depends on the branch, I guess. Mostly I'm riveted and quite easily if somewhat superficially, I guess, seduced into paying close attention. I guess I sometimes like to learn things I can use in my writing 'cos I like my stuff to have a decent fog or at least a hot fog machine. I can't quite believe in the occult, I don't think. I get a little superstitious sometimes, though. I like to pretend I have magick powers. Pretending well is my only real secret rule. It can work, though, but you have to put on your best mystical face when you look into the eyes of the owner of the vaunted hollow ass. And I don't mean a Kenneth Anger spooky face. It's a subtle but piercing face I'm talking about. You know what I mean. Are you particularly interested in Magick of late, Antonio? I would love to add your instructions to my instruction book. I haven't read that Thurston Moore interview, no. If I'm fb friends with MK, and I'm pretty sure I am, I'll go read it in a few minutes. When are you moving to where you're moving to? Is it this year or next? I forget. ** Flit, Bret writes really good sentences. Concentrating on them is what helps me. But I'm also from LA, so I relate to the whole thing he writes about to some degree. ** Creative Massacre, Slumps happen. I go in and out of them too. I just try not to talk about my slumps here as best I can. I guess I think they're natural occurrences. Like you just need to slump and chill for a while sometimes so you can get bored of slumping and chilling, which will fire you back up into doing stuff again. That's how it works for me. Movies ... I'm so behind on seeing movies, it's pretty scary. Living over here screwed up my movie addiction. Mm, I saw 'Drag Me to Hell', which was okay, but not something to rush out to see, in my opinion. Hm. Let me think. I'm drawing a blank on the movie recommendation front this morning. I'm glad your tooth stopped hassling you. ** Christopher/Mark, I agree something very pink. But I wouldn't want to push the VU resemblance too much. Or maybe I should. Maybe trying to avoid the reference would just make it worse. So a pink peeled pickle, I guess, which might be kind of nice since few people would even know what a peeled pickle looks like. And I could have a subliminal image blended into the pickle gore like the skulls hidden in the ice cubes in whiskey ads. So then the question becomes, what would be the right subliminal image? Hm. Any ideas? ** Heliotrope, We used to have an extra working TV at the LA apartment. I'm not sure if Joel lent or gave it to someone or not. Call him and ask. It might still be there. There's got to be reasonably affordable TVs out there somewhere for you. Like what about in those cheap electronics stores downtown? I suppose the brands of TV you could get there would be pretty knock-off, though. Dude, you have to get a TV, and you will, and that's all there is to it, you hear me? ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Okay, I've slid off the edge of my seat and back into its cozier heart. Anyway, I think I've guessed your mystery man. It's Adam Lambert, right? Am I psychic? I'll check out 'Weeds'. It's probably online like almost everything else is. Arm fetish, interesting. I think I have a neck fetish. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I do since I practically just started fanning myself as result of typing the word neck. Long pale necks. Film musicals, yeah, I only seem to like a very few such things. Uh, 'Sweeney Todd', 'The Music Man', ... that episode of 'Buffy' ... and that might be it. My day? It was a recovery day. Oh, Yury fucked his back up yesterday morning and had to go to the doctor, and ever since then he's been lying around here missing work and zonked on pain killers and anti-inflammatories. So that happened. I did a little interview for The New Statesmen magazine and another interview for somewhere else or other. I stared at my novel-in-progress and feared for the worst. It rained heavily all day, so that quashed most possibilities. I hope today will be better. Yours too. ** Winter Rates, Oh, cool. Since I'm getting towards the end of the p.s. today, I'll stream your new show as the soundtrack to my p.s. tomorrow right from the beginning, which means I'll be able to get through your whole show easily during my generally multi-hour p.s. writing duties. ** Antler, Ariana! Oh, this is so great. Hey! I'm so glad you're here for so many reasons, and one of them is that I got your email, and it really moved me, and I wanted to write to you, but I'm so bad at emailing and have been so jetlagged, so now I can tell you here how much I loved seeing you at Book Soup, and I miss you, and I wish we lived in the same city because I understand about your not being here, which I never took as not caring. I so wish I could be there at The Mountain tonight. And I'm also really glad to hear Insidetheroar is okay. I got that mass Facebook message he sent, and I've been hoping for the best. Maybe you should live in LA. Is that not a good idea? You know that city is my life and owns my soul or something. Oh, it's good to see you here. I want to see you again in the flesh soon. There has to be a way. You're great, very great, and I send you my love in vast amounts. ** Misanthrope, Cupcake store. Oh, you should start one. I was just thinking yesterday about cupcakes are the sublime in miniature. I think I saw one in a window. Yeah, I guess meds take a while to settle in, right? People say that. I feel weird that I've never taken meds. It doesn't make any sense. In short bursts, hyper people really relax me. My body has a natural contrary defensive reaction, and I get all zen. But in longer doses, I just get mean or as mean as I can get, which isn't very mean. But, shit, that poor girl's mom sounds no good. I could be wrong. How come you know all these really fucked up people? It's so not you. I should know a lot of really fucked up people, but I don't. It's the strangest thing. ** Pascal, No, I don't know Damien Dempsey, unless I'm just spacing out. So you should surely do a post about him. I understand about the novel thing. Yes, I remember that comment about the novel losing something after a while. On publishing, yeah, ugh. I don't know about in the UK, but online publishing is really hopping and exciting in the US. As is starting really small presses and zines. Some of the most exciting work I've read has been work I've either found online or in some lit zine or from some new, small press. I don't think there's that stigma anymore around not getting published by a major press. I feel like that prejudice is fading really fast. I'm glad things are well there with you. They're not bad here, better than they were a day or so ago at least. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, I got the reshoot, thank you, and I think I'll write to you today, I'm pretty sure, Possibly tomorrow if I end up running a lot of errands around town for laid up Yury today. Yeah, exactly on the Sunn0))). I'm dehydrated from all the drooling. What kind of post-grad placements are we talking about here? Hey, what happened with the morse code learning and your novel, more importantly? ** Slatted Light, Howdy, sir. That howdy was supposed to be Wurlitzer-esque. I would wear the head gear, hands down. But you asked me at a vulnerable time. My hopes are still resting on a Star Trek transporter type thing. I'd settle for astral projection at this point. You wrote me at Facebook? I'll go look for that and read it today and probably write to you today as well if, as I just said to TDFG, Yury doesn't have too many sickbed tasks for me to do around town today. I'm still feeling my way back into the realms in which I usually live and do my business. ** Oscar B, I have heard something about Plastique Fantastique. I must have read about them. I'll google. The 'UM' cover was just a lucky break for me. I said okay to their pickle idea, and they surprised me with the lovely texturing. I'm also dead in the water when it comes to competitions, grants, etc., etc. But give it a serious try. Maybe a lot of people won't want to be in Paris during those three wintery months. It's not judged in any way by the actual people who run the Recollets, is it? 'Cos if it is, I can help out on that since the people who run this place like me pretty well. Good luck getting that research paper out of the way tonight. You can do it. ** Marc, Sounds great. The live show stuff, and, well, all of it, everything. Is anyone youtubing any of your gigs? Sure would be nice. ** Kier, Virtual hug right back to you, and make it a bear hug. ** Bye. It's not raining in Paris today, which is no small victory. I'll use it. You use your own weather patterns as well as Killer Luka's gorgeousness parade, and we'll meet back here in roughly this same spot tomorrow, okay? Bye again.