p.s. Hey. Today the cultishly revered (by me, et. al.) photographer and distinguished local Toniok shares his love for Miguel Angel Martin, an artist I only knew via his work with the band Whitehouse until my eyes were thusly opened. Please allow your eyes to widen, check out the goods above, and report something back to our kind guest host. Thanks a lot, Tonio! Me, I don't have a lot to report to you today. My head is basically down trying to organize my upcoming non-fiction collection, and the tiny thrills and chills of doing that are not really translatable. So I'll just give you the first of many upcoming urges to get to work on your SPD contributions, if you don't mind, and now I'll head south. ** Esther Planas, Hey, Esther! Oh, yeah, I'm really sorry we missed each other in London too. Fate was in a bad mood or something what with your disappearing keys and my temporarily missing phone and so on. I'll go check out that link, dying to see your new work as I am. Take care, and we'll figure out a meeting point if it's the last thing we do, right? ** Erik, I second your advice to SYpHA, with the added tip that with 'Juliette' as well as with, well, Sade in general, if you need to skim sometimes, go ahead. Sade is god, but his wind can be very long. ** Pascal, Yeah, I saw 'Suz/O/Suz' back when I was living in Amsterdam, and it was one of the most scary, intimidating theater experiences I ever had. Someone literally could have gotten killed, at least in the version I saw. I'll ask the poem question here tomorrow, so heads up. ** Stan_cz, Any news on the school front yet? Oh, someone told me once about Celine living there, but I forgot. I'll have to go stroll by there. Yeah, you were staying not too far from there the last time. Are you reading Celine in French or English or German or ... ? ** October, Yeah, hoping I get my Halloween LA trip this year as is my dream, let's make a plan, spooky houses included. Very cool. And very cool too if you can get in on the SPD. Thanks a lot, man. ** David Ehrenstein, True about the lack of conflict in 'Juliette'. It's probably Sade's blabbiest too. Did you see 'Bruno'? The more I hear, the less I feel I need to see it so far. ** Empty Frame, Oh, yeah, even in my home country of the States, the chances of finding my books in Borders or Barnes & Noble aren't so hot. And of course the monstrous chain store fall out, ugh, although, at least in the US, those two big chains are having their problems, and in NYC and LA at least, new little indie bookstores seem to be springing up more frequently than they have in years. We'll see. I'd love to go to Berlin with 'Jerk', but it's rare that the venues will pay to bring me along, and I'm always too low on money to spring for that kind of trip on my own, and I've been x'ed out of all of our previous theater shows in Berlin, but I'm fishing for an invite. Mm, I don't think I've seen Melies' 'La Melomane'. If I have, it must have been a long time ago and subsequently blurred out, but I don't think so. Oh, it's on your blog? Awesome. I just popped over and spied it there, along with the Tiger Lilies! I'll give it as well as the other great clips a long look a little later on. Thanks a lot! ** Tonyoneill, Title related head scratching, yeah. Me too. I have two titles I'm trying to perfect or even figure out at all, ugh. Your reading is tonight, yes? Blow everyone out, and tell me what happens. ** Frank Jaffe, Oh, hey, Frank, welcome. Ha ha, yeah, it was you who I'd spotted joining that Araki group. Well, the group's name is eye-catching, that's for sure, and why not? Many more posts from you would be great, obviously. So, what's going on? What are you doing, working on, etc.? ** Paul Curran, Heavy ditto on the loveliness and inspiration caused by seeing you, and thanks so much for the good words about 'Jerk' too. Means a ton, obviously. So have you headed into the writing yet? ** Pisycaca, Hey, Xet! I was wondering if you'd know La Fura dels Baus. My summer's not so bad so far. Yours? The heat was really ugh here for a while, but it feels more like fall here this week, and I feel more like prancing about. ** SYpHA_69, Your new car sounds kind of tasty and serial killer-esque. ** Blendin, You'll get there. To LA, I mean. Don't worry. I can sense it. So, I wished you happy birthday on the sort of dreaded FB, but here's another HB after the fact for good measure. How did you spend it? ** Jose, There used to be big scale mind-fuck theater in the US. Robert Wilson is one of the few left standing, and he mostly shows in Europe these days. Raising the money is the problem. Europe's just a lot more generous to its artists, period, and there's a long tradition of giant experimental theater works over here (LFdB, Castellucci, Fabre, Bausch, Peter Brook, etc., etc.), unlike in the States, so younger artists here who want to make that kind of work aren't viewed as unreasonable. Yeah, LIES/ISLE looks awesome, doesn't it? Great to sec your piece there. What's up with you right now? ** Alan, As of today, I'm at 39,401 words. It grows and shrinks daily, of course. Ideally, that's about 2/3 of the eventual length, but we'll see. Figuring out the last 1/3 is really flummoxing me right now. So I'm refining and chiseling what's already there until I break through. ** Marc, That makes sense. I mean worrying about dullness and things being blunted. But you know me: I work my fingers to the bone on my stuff because I can't do it any other way. Instinct is big. Keeping one eye on the old instincts. Not easy. But, yeah. ** Kier, Really, really great to meet you, absolutely! No, I'd be surprised if I go along to Germany for the 'Ktl' show, but you never know. I haven't seen it with the new performer Jonathan yet, so I might try hard. But you should come to Paris sometime too, you know? Yes, the new untitled piece we're working on is going to be performed in Bergen. I think that will be the second gig after Avignon. Fall 2010, I guess. God, a long time from now. Oh, that's so sad about MBV-3D. I had hopes for it, I don't know why. Damn. Oh, well. Shit, the Printed Matter video is a treat, and the hospital photos are stunning. Let me ... Everyone, the great Kier has a video on his blog from the NYC 'Voidoid' event that was chronicled here the other day plus some really beautiful new photographs. You simply must go see for yourself. They're here (scroll down). ** Steevee, Sucks about all the waiting on your end. Here's hoping for a quick domino effect. ** Rigby, Wolf would look so right in plastic, so beyond the young Avenging Diana Rigg. Oh my gosh. You're really onto something there. ** Postitbreakup, Nice playlist. A little of almost everything. I've just scrolled through it so far, but I'll play while I'm dong my grunt work today. You're right, I should do one too, and I will, and I'll lodge it in the blog soon. Playlist.com, got it. I love making playlists, but I usually just do them on paper and then imagine them playing in my head. Doing a playlist SPD would probably murder too many people's computers, I fear. Anyway, thanks for the idea, Josh. ** Chris, Saw the Facebook thing. Awesome that all those 'Them' versions exist. Time to start making a plan. I'll write you over there, and let's get on this thing in some initial way at least. Did Ish ever get any poz or neg from the New Museum, do you know? How's tricks otherwise? ** Misanthrope, Oh, you and Justin should so do some big mindfucking theater piece. Oh, I saw that MJ ambulance photo already on a newsstand here or something. I'm not sure that counts as corpse. Maybe it does technically. I'm going to pretend he was just taking a little nap. ** NB, Your lack of accent is well known to me, yes. It's probably well known to you that my Texan parents fought theirs to a draw. I wonder if there isn't a teentsy weentsy bit of Texas accent in my voice. No one's ever said anything. So the boy's waiting for you. You guys need a fireplace, and maybe a bear rug, or a tofu bear rug. Have a big or rather small and very safe trip back to Loveland. ** Math t, Wow, you remember the original objects of desire SPD better than I do, but when you describe the entries, it all floods back. I can't remember mine, if I did one. Vincent Kartheiser maybe? Duh, maybe. I wonder whatever the heck happened to Garrison. I wonder if he's still working in TV. I miss him. I miss them all. Remember when you made fun of me for using the word confab? The good old days. Sigh. In France there aren't any 18+ stickers on or plastic wrapping around the AA ensconced Butts. But that's France for you. ** Flit, I've never really been wildly into theater as a general rule either. Just the experimental stuff. Here is a million times better for that stuff than there. There being where you are. I'll check my email for SPD, and if it's a mess, which I'm sure it isn't, I'll let you know. Awww, you have a Boston accent? I like them. They're as posh as American accents get, right? I think so. ** Christopher/Mark, Yeah, when I was at the SLG, I was looking through their archives a bit. Pretty amazing place long term. And that room, the exhibition space, is such a beaut. There are places to eat in Camberwell, but you have to walk for twenty minutes to a half-hour from the SLG to reach them. Being in London always makes me really, really appreciate the Paris metro or maybe I mean how cozy Paris and easily walkable is. Yeah, you're the third person to give high marks to 'Public Enemies'. I really want to see it. Michael Mann is always a genius with camerawork, framing, and all that if nothing else. ** JW Veldhoen, Okay, understood, on the no SPD from JW news, but the theme is there is twisted beyond all recognition if anyone likes, fyi. ** Oscar B, I just saw LFdB that one time in the mid-80s in Amsterdam. They don't seem to play Paris much if at all. I was told by someone that French don't think they're sufficiently 'high brow'. (?!) Next week, Recollets, talk, schmooze, it's a done deal. ** Orestes, Hey. Gosh, well, this SPD can be awfully simple. All you have to do in send in a picture or five. Easier said than done, I know. I'm a perfectionist too, so I understand. IKEA is so universal. Wow, whoever runs that company must be so rich, yikes. Oh, your blabbering (which you weren't even doing really) is a lovely thing, fear not. My back is ... I guess it's back to normal since I haven't noticed my back in a couple of days. Vacation plans: well, Yury has his work vacation in early August, and I think we'll probably go away somewhere for part of that, but I don't know for sure. He really wants to change jobs, so he might decide to stay here and seek new employment instead. How about you? Vacation stuff on the horizon for you? 'Philosophy of the Bedroom' is pretty good. It's short, which is a bonus. But I still think one should just plunge into '120 Days' since it's the best by a significant margin, I think. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Oh, get well, man. Sounds like a change of seasons/weather sickness. Do you get those? I do sometimes, or often enough to kind of half-believe such an illness exists. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Oh, you can interpret the theme of the SPD any way you like. If you don't want to pick humans, pick anything else you heart or wherever desires. Fuck any rules and have fun, basically. My day ... mm, really just more work on that non-fiction mss. That ate 90% of the day. I had coffee with my pal Kiddiepunk. I walked to the normal supermarket (Monop) and the health food store (Naturalia) and came home with two small bags of food items. I phoned my best friend and LA roommate Joel. I also talked via phone to my (and the blog's) friend Jesse Hudson. I declined an invitation to see Lars von Trier's 'Anti-Christ' because my friends Gisele and Jonathan C. said it was tiresome and irritating, and I hate von Trier's films anyway. I watched the Madonna 'Truth or Dare' movie on TV because it was already on the TV, and my eyes seemed to want to rest on it for some reason. I paid my rent. Smoked almost a pack of Camel Blue cigarettes. Uh, is that it? Maybe. Your turn, pal. ** Okay, I'm off now to look at art for a while to clear my head before I buckle down to some work. Please explore Toniok's kind and wonderful post. And, yeah, have the obvious good days, every single one of you. Bye.