p.s. Hey. Writer, d.l., Extreme Possum Fighter, and guest host Steven Vineis has the floor, and I dare not overly bracket this fine, havoc-y post with too much intro, so I'll just say your powers of perception are refreshingly on their own today. Please enjoy Steve's gift, and respond accordingly in the appropriate places. And thank you kindly, Steven. Otherwise, I'll remind you that I won't be able to do my interactions in the p.s. tomorrow due to a morning train to the little French town of Belfort. I'll just be saying hi, introducing the post, and explaining how and when I suspect the blog will be working/appearing during the four blogging days that I'll be in that town creating theater. Tonight, right here in Paris, I'm doing this, if anyone's around and not doing something else. That and a lot of pre-trip and theater making preparations are all I'm doing and all I have to report at the moment. ** Davidc, Lovely to see you, David. I hope your currently more mysterious to me life has a decent dollop of happiness in it, and I definitely look forward greatly to seeing you ere long. ** Stan_cz, At least the way it used to be when I was young and learning, you could learn on automatic or stick, and your consequent driver's license did allow you to drive with either format. I can't even remember the last time I rode in a car in the US that had stick shift. On my money loss/card thing, if you get robbed via card in Russia, all bets are off, at least with my bank (Bank of America). When I explained the situation to them -- fyi, someone working at the hotel, and it was a major hotel right on Red Square, used the ATM card imprint I'd left at the front desk (to cover any phone usage expenses) to empty my bank account -- they said there was nothing anyone could do because there's no cooperation between the US and Russia on card fraud. Or that's how it was a few years ago. It extremely sucked. ** David, Pleased you enjoyed it, thanks! ** Roger Clarke, Great. We can make a plan via phone or email soon. I'll be back in Paris and back online regularly on Thursday, so let's sort it out after that. Can't wait. ** David Ehrenstein, Ah, a man after my own heart and fascinations. Of course I remember those 'Hello Dolly' at Fox. You could see them very clearly in all their glory when you drove by the gates of the studio on ... Olympic, Pico, I forget? My absolute favorite was the MGM backlot, which wasn't very far from 40 Acres. I took that tour a bunch of times, and when I first moved to Palms, which is cradled in a nook of Culver City, in the late 70s, they were still there, albeit rotting away, and a couple of friends and I snuck in one Sunday and managed to roam around for a good hour before a guard caught us. Yes, I hope I'll get to meet Christophe Honore asap. He (or I think it was him) actually wrote to me via Facebook a few months ago asking if I was the real Dennis Cooper. I said yes, and I asked if he was the real CH, and then I never heard back. But, yes, getting to know him while I'm in Paris is a goal of mine. ** Paul Curran, Hey. Oh, thanks for mentioning that great piece on 'UM' by Blake Butler. I have to say I was really honored and happy about it, as I think he's really terrific -- his novel 'Ever' is easily one of the best novels I've read this year -- not to mention that just being featured on HTMLGIANT, my favorite place on the internet, was a big thrill. ** Shane Jones, Hey, welcome. Wow, you appearing here just after I mentioned you is like magic. I would love to read your work, definitely, and if you really don't mind sending me some, I'd be very grateful. My email is: dcooperweb@gmail.com. My postal address is: c/o Centre International des Recollets, 15 rue du Faubourg St. Martin, 75010 Paris France. Your blog is a dreamy thing, so it's great to discover that as well. Thanks a lot for commenting. It's a real pleasure. ** Put The Lotion In The Basket, Hey, Nick. Yeah, I want to get to Spain and spend time there. I'm dying to, but I keep being thwarted by having too little money and not getting invited to come gratis for the theater performances there. One of these days. Will you be blogging from there, or will you be taking a blog vacation? I always feel like I should keep doing the blog wherever I go for some reason, but if Yury and I vacation somewhere as planned in August, I'll probably tear myself away from here. Anyway, take care, man. ** Tosh, Yeah, I'm pretty sure the 'Combat' set was at the old MGM backlot 'cos I think I remember it being pointed out. It kills me that those kinds of places aren't designated historically important and saved/preserved. Where the MGM backlot once stood, there are just the ugliest condos you've ever seen, and where 40 Acres was, there are just two big ugly concrete and steel warehouses that have had 'for lease' signs on them for about twenty years. Grr. ** Maximum Etc., Thanks. Fascinating thoughts/insight about the political situation over there. Obviously, it's so incredibly difficult to figure out where all of that is coming from precisely or how popular the government's policies are. I really look forward to the lengthy piece on your trip. I read the Jeremy Schmall piece last night. It's terrific. Excellent choice and pass along by you. And, yeah, like I said to Paul, I saw and was humbled/ blown away by Blake Butler's piece. And, you're right, I loved that the post accrued a big Ryan Manning presence. I told you I think he's kind of brilliant and a brilliant 'thing'. ** Nick Hudson, Hey, man. The album and theater piece sound fascinating, and I think I get the basics of your term, but you can flesh it out in person. I don't mind extracting pieces from 'Period' if they work as solitary things. Or I could read a poem. I'm game. Yeah, we can surely hold up somewhere quiet one morning or something while we're both in London. I can't see that being difficult, so cool. ** Katsim, Hey, pal. Oh, ugh, about your iPod. I hope you found the missing materials somehow. That kind of tech stuff bewilders me. I turn to Yury begging 'help' whenever such things occur. Where are you going for the weekend, if you're not already gone? If you are, where were you? Thanks a lot about 'UM'. And, yeah, try to come to Avignon next year. It's really a fun, great festival, and the town is gorgeous, and when it's completely packed with theater makers and lovers, it's dreamy. ** Alan, Oh, the revisions I lost were re: a earlier novel, I can't remember which one. I've blocked out the painful memory. That's a great idea about sending drafts to myself. I've been doing that but only every few weeks, which is dangerous since, when I'm writing, I tend to make lots and lots of changes every day. Yeah, I'll get in the habit of sending the latest draft to myself every evening. I have gmail too, so there's no excuse. Thanks a lot, Alan. That's a really helpful suggestion. I didn't know about 'Infinite Summer', but, now that I do, I'll try to keep my eyes on it, especially if you're chiming in. ** Bernard Welt, It's true I'm nearly shocked that your areas of expertise include the auto. I don't why that surprises me exactly. I guess I have this wrongheaded kneejerk idea that people on the East Coast don't know anything about cars. Weird. ** David Saa V. Estornell, Hey, David. When I saw Gisele for the hologram investigation, she said she hasn't had any time to watch your DVD yet -- she's just about the busiest person in France if not in the world -- but she said she would try to watch it on the train to Belfort so we could talk about it while we're there next week. So that seems to be the plan. Sorry for the delays. It's a crazy busy time right now what with the upcoming rehearsals and creating of the new theater piece. Thank you again, D. Your pictures in my email? I'm so behind on email, and there are so many emails I haven't even opened yet. I'll go find yours, sorry. ** Wolf, Ha ha, yeah, I would have pegged you as a manual transmission person in a second if I'd ever wondered. Me, I want my car to just do its job and leave me alone so I can think and daydream and look out the window, 'cos those are the reasons I love to drive, which I suspect is a very LA kind of attitude. The screens and stuff are tantalizing, yum, yes. The piece is written. My script has been printed out and distributed to all and sundry. It just needs to be fleshed out, colored in, fucked with, finessed, etc., etc. I'm really excited to start building it, I must say. I've been chomping at the bit for months and months. ** Math t, Nice birthday, all of it, especially the drawing part. Well, and the sex. And, well, the falafels too. Do you have Moaz Falafel in NYC? I forget. Vegan falafel, fucking killer. There are two of them in Paris. Sad looking skinny boys, ha ha, shouldn't be a problem for me. I'll go through my bookmarks and compile a pile for you. I haven't seen too many in bondage pix though, except on the sites where I get the stuff for my slave posts. You might search back through the blog's past for the 'slave' posts. There might be some useful bondage and boy stuff for you there. Paris in a year, yeah. Well, visiting people can stay at the bookstore Shakespeare & Co. for free, but you'd have to tell them you're a writer, and act like you were writing something while you stayed there, and I could vouch for you, I think. ** Killer Luka, Oh, no rush on the CV. Whenever you have the time. There's no imminent deadline or anything. I talked to G., and she's into the idea, and we're just beginning the working process now, and it'll be slowing building up for a while until we really dig in early next year, so there's time for you to take yours. (See: below) ** Pisycaca, Hey. That trip sounds amazing, especially the West Coast parts, but then I'm from and love the West Coast, north and south. Yeah, I should be in Paris around July 24 - 26. There's no reason why I wouldn't be, and I think we're recording the new radio play around then, so I'll have to be here. So if you can come, please do, and let me know your plans, of course. Congrats on the A! (Champagne cork popping and firework sounds) ** Blendin, Neighbors ... hm, interesting. I think I maybe can guess what you mean, and, well, that would be a horse of a different color in the good sense. Interesting. De-fog that news when the time is right. Excellent about the new show and new gallery. Nice locale, obviously. I'll go find that gallery's website. ** Steevee, Do you know what this nutsy film critic's issues with you are? Do you hate his beloved films and vice versa? Strange, but, you know, good riddance all in all, right? ** NB, It feels weird for you to even consider calling me Uncle Dennis, so please don't, and I'll retroactively withdraw that word from my weird sentence yesterday. You're gonna love the tofu dogs here. The French ones have this ... this ... something that the American ones don't have. Hopefully that something is not increased insect parts. Yeah, in other words, make that big money and come on over here to see all of what makes Paris the kingdom of sightliness. A holographic come shot would look like ... you know when smokers let their inhaled smoke escape and drift out of one of their nostrils? It'd be kind of like that. Or maybe more like if a cigarette smoking ghost did that. At this stage of planning, all of the holograms except one are going to be young, skinny, ethereal rocker boys. One of them might remotely, vaguely look a little like Diego Luna. None of them will look remotely like David Duchovney, you can bet the farm on that. And no mustaches. ** SYpHA_69, Dude, yikes, ugh, shit. I hope you're feeling a million times better by now. What happened? Where did all that come from, man? Love to you. ** JW Veldhoen, Interns are almost always so great. Why is that? The lack of capital? ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Mm, not sure if I saw that particular Hammer film. A Hammer Day is an obviously great idea, of course. Oh, I miss the old scrabbled, messy way TV used to be too. TV is so organized now. Radio got all crapped out too, barring some college radio stations, until internet radio reintroduced the good old free form style that made being on drugs so much more involving and unpredictable when I was newish. I hope Heliotrope saw your advice. If not, Heliotrope, if you're out there, check out TDFG's blog/computer saving advice in his comment yesterday. Oh, shit, I just watched the trailer for 'Braid'. I simply must have it. It's extremely me. The graphics are wonderful. I'm getting it unless I need to clear some memory space or get an external hard drive, in which case I'll get it next week. Oh, that looks so good, yes. Thank you, Glove. Oh, William, yes, of course. A fine chap indeed. He seems to have retired. I look for new things on him all the time with no luck. You probably know he was on Doggyboys.com when he started out. Some nice stuff there. When last seen, I think he did a video or three for one of the Popupboys sequel sites, if you know them, before vanishing. If you hunt around the free gay porn promo pages, there are lots of clips of him. If you want some directives, let me know, and I'll give you some links. ** Amccartney, Between yesterday and today, I got an updated script for the event tonight, and now I'm no longer playing T.S. Eliot. Now they have me playing me. Eliot's texts got replaced with bits of my writing chosen by the director. I guess that's for the best. I couldn't figure out how to read 'The Wasteland' well, so I was just fucking around and being theatrical and irritating, and, even though it was crap, they loved it, and now I worry they think I'm going to act ridiculous when I read my own stuff, but I won't. I'll just go laconic like I always do when I read my stuff. This could be a disaster in the making. I wrote Paul at POL yesterday, so fingers crossed, and I'll keep the recommendation going as the need arises. I absolutely love 'Inland Empire', but I only watched it once so it still lacks good and bad parts and is just a totally beautiful mindfuck in my memory. ** Mark, Yeah, I've been to Bodie. Incredible place. I think I even did some kind of post about it years ago on the dead blog. Thanks to the California financial disaster, poor Bodie like most of California's best state parks and historical treasures, will be closed until further notice. Anyway, I like your opposite post idea. You probably know where I live in LA is walking distance from several contenders for such a post. I live a block from 'Melrose Place' which was also Giles' apartment in 'Buffy'. And I live not so many blocks from Cordelia's apartment in 'Angel'. And also not so many blocks from the storybook-looking court apartments in 'Mulholland Drive'. And then up on the hill right behind my pad is the great Ennis Brown House, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest buildings, where a million movie and TV shows have been filmed: Harrison Ford's apartment in 'Blade Runner', Angel's lair in 'Buffy', and on and on and on. The proof sheet is very alluring. Everyone, do you remember that our pal Mark wants to make portraits of SF located folks from around this blog? It's a more interesting and complicated project than I'm making it sound, but I don't want to paraphrase him and get it wrong. You guys in the appropriate area should pose for him, right? I would. Anyway, here's a proof sheet to give you a sense of what he's thinking. Raise your hands. ** Steven Vineis, Ah, it's the man of the hour or of the next twenty-four hours. Thank you again, kind sir. Good news about the split shift development. As someone who also gets unpleasant when I can't write, I wouldn't want to have that mood wished on you by some weird if weirdly inspiring job. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Well, I don't have to be T.S. Eliot after all. He was all nerdy looking. More nerdy looking than me. Much more. It wasn't typecasting, let's just say. Anyway, now I play me. Yesterday was okay, just catching up, getting ready for the trip. I was photographed for an interview in a magazine. I did an email interview. I read the new issue of Wire Magazine. Ate, walked. Nothing too spectacular. The 'UM' cover is all textured. It's cool. I never thought I'd ever get a textured cover. It's a little dream come true. Anyway, today isn't going to be too exciting either except for the event tonight, which might be fun. I'm counting on you to have the day I can only wish I'd had. ** You-x, Avital Ronell is incredible. Honoring her is such an honor for me. She wrote this essay on my work that's been one of the highlights of my life. Oh, you can even read it if you want. It's here. Yeah, I love the Hecker album. It's super rich. I haven't heard the Aphex Twin/Hecker boot, but I've watched the clips on Youtube and even embedded them here a couple of weeks ago. Oh, those withdrawals sound intense, yeah. Take care of yourself and do it the right way, for sure. You almost have an album finished? Whoa. I want to hear that sucker, needless to say. You Marcure brothers are such fireball geniuses. You'll give us the directive to the virtual label, right? Obviously, I'm dying to hear the new album by Panda? too 'cos I adore his music. Yeah, other than the withdrawals, which are no small thing, you sound like you're doing really great, which is awesome news. ** Misanthrope, I'll bet the 'Lost in Space' set is long, long gone, tragically. Wasn't that shot inside in a studio? It sure looked like it. I'm sure I'll love this post of yours. I mean, I make my hobbies and idle pastime stuff into posts all the time. I mean, movie studio backlots, for goodness sake. I just made a post about balloon animals that I'm going to foist on you guys soon, for goodness sake. Oh, and hey, stop that dry heaving stuff, whatever it takes. Not good, man. ** Oscar B, You seem to feel what I feel about the movie sets, and the post-Atomic Disneyland idea made me goose-bumpy. Oh, I talked to the head of the Recollets yesterday about something else, and I mentioned that I'd heard about an Italian residency thing, and she knew all about it, and I said I know one of the artists who's applying and that the artist and I are collaborating, and she said, That sounds great. We should talk about this soon. So, so far so good. ** Killer Luka, Dude, harsh. Or jokey harsh, which is good harsh. I think I saw that Amsterdam shop you mentioned. Actually, I think there are a bunch of those or there were at least. Oh, wait, I spoke to you up above. Damn, but I'm too spacey to cut and paste this up there because it's actually a more labor intensive thing to do than you would think. So you get two entries from me, lucky you. Love, love, love. ** Okay, that's it. Enjoy your trip into the darkness that occupies at least part of Steven Vineis' mind and art. Remember that I won't be doing the interactions tomorrow. Monday, however, if the fates agree, I will. Have good ones until tomorrow's ones come.