'The Titanic resort, 885 feet long, 11 stories high, weighing over 46,000 tons, and containing 1,200 rooms, would have been one of the most heavily themed fantasy resorts in Las Vegas. Our guests could have enjoyed the experience of staying aboard one of the ship's 800 state-rooms or at the adjoined Iceberg Hotel, which was to have included Ice Cave tunnels and an underwater glass people-mover to see the Iceberg's underbelly and shops. The concept was rejected by the Las Vegas City Council. This was proposed for the big lot across the strip from the Sahara.' -- collaged
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'There's no skimping on details of how the luxurious $5-billion, 10,000-room, five-star, five-diamond, 250-acre Moon resort would have looked. The complex included the Moon Casino, replete with multiple levels of gaming floors that culminate in the all-night party that is the Metropolis Discotheque. At the center of the Resort complex there was the Crater Wave Pool, with its surrounding private pools and spas. The 500-foot pool was to have lapped gently to the rhythm of a true ocean tide. Guests could have frolicked in the Sea of Serenity Aquatic Center then pour themselves directly into the Crater Pool via waterslides. The Lunar Lander Lounge at the center of the Pool would have been accessible via glass underwater walkways beneath the Pool's surface.' -- collaged
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'Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies Mansion & Casino is envisioned in this artist's rendering. Max Baer Jr., who played Jethro Bodine in the "Beverly Hillbillies" television series, proposed the casino/hotel complex in the 90s and wanted to build a 240-foot-high oil derrick with a 70-foot shooting flame to lure customers. After years of being in the works, the project never got off the ground and kind of sputtered out. On August 15, 2003, Max Baer Jr. was back. He announced that he and his partners had purchased a building to relaunch the project. The building they chose was formerly a Wal*Mart department store that had been abandoned.' -- collaged
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'The 3000-room The Palace of the Sea Resort and Casino looked very intriguing. The yachts in the harbor were to be high-roller suites. The Sky Wheel, would have been over 600 feet tall (another world record for Vegas). The casino/lobby building resembled the Sydney Opera House. The hotel weighed in at 60-floors and had a sail-like shape.' -- collaged
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'Aimed directly at the baby-boomer demographic, The Addams Family Resort and Casino was another really bad idea.' -- collaged
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'Although Vegas is known for its surreal architecture and mega-resorts, this hotel would have brought a fresh new look to a thriving city. JDS/Julien de Smedt Architects in collaboration with artist Olafur Eliasson designed the Mondri and Elano Hotel in Las Vegas. They wanted to create a genuine experience while extracting the identity of the Mondrian and the Delano Hotels without producing copycat versions. Another goal was to balance the project’s large scale with the need for intimacy on a smaller scale. The project was cancelled in 2012.' -- collaged
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'There have been two locations for the London Resort and Casino, and both of them have had a giant observation wheel (from the Giant Wheel Co.) The resort was to have included a Harrod's department store, Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, a Piccadilly Square shopping area and many other London themed attractions.' -- collaged
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'In 1993, the Desert Inn was purchased by ITT/Sheraton. The Desert Inn had a large surface parking lot to the south of the resort (which now holds Wynn Las Vegas). Their first plans were a Balinese Resort called Desert Kingdom.' -- collaged
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'Protests from nearby neighbors helped to block construction of the original 800-foot ride at the Stratosphere. This Dream was proposed back in 2002. If it had been built, I'm sure that the Ivana, Allure and Liberty Towers would have chosen a different neighborhood. The roller coaster would have dropped passengers from the hotel's tower and across Las Vegas Boulevard at top speeds of 93 mph. Residents said the roller coaster would discourage new residents from moving in and contributing to the revitalization of the area.' -- collaged
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'A knockoff of New York City's East Village in Las Vegas -- with its own version of the city's Meatpacking District and Washington Square was planned for 44 acres at the northwest corner of Tropicana Avenue and Paradise Road, converting the conspicuously idle acreage into a 1-million sq. ft. hotel-office-and-retail project. The 27-building, 959,645-square-foot, entertainment complex was being developed by Mark Advent, a developer of the New York-New York hotel-casino. "I've been hand-picking our tenants. I don't want it to look like a regional mall or life-style center that you'd see somewhere else", said Advent in 2007. The project was cancelled in 2011.' -- collaged
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'In 1982 architect Martin Stern Jr. (the designer of the International and Xanadu) was commissioned to design a huge expansion for the Landmark. However, Landmark's owner Ed Wolfram was convicted of embezzling $47 million from his brokerage firm, Bell & Beckwith. The Hotel was seized and put up for sale and we all know the rest (in peace).' -- collaged
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'A giant exhaust pipe shaped hotel. This rendering of the Harley Davidson Hotel and Casino uses the site directly east of The Palms on Flamingo Road.' -- collaged
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'Montreux Las Vegas was Phil Ruffin's proposed replacement for the soon to be demolished New Frontier. The project was expected to open in early 2009. Montreux would have been a 2,750-room "Swiss-themed" hotel with a 104,000-square-foot casino and massive shopping mall linked directly to the Fashion Show Mall. It would have hosted an array of restaurants, bars and nightclubs, and a 465-foot-tall observation wheel (similar to the London Eye), that scooped riders from the floor above the casino.' -- collaged
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'A massive, $5+ billion project—including what would be the largest casino on the Strip—bearing the Plaza's name was supposed to open in 2011, but there's been no construction on the massive lot since the hotel was put on hold in 2008. The plans include: Seven towers containing 6,700 keys (4,100 hotel rooms and 2,600 resort condominium units), 175,900 square feet of casino area (making it the largest casino on the strip), 134,500 square feet of restaurant area, 347,887 square feet of retail area, 539,607 square feet of convention space, a 50,000-square foot health club, a 1,500-seat theater, and 227,038 square feet of open space on the roof top of the podium that includes gardens and pool areas. The grand total for the project includes 3,317,400 square feet of parking garages and a total area of 15,080,846 square feet.' -- collaged
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'Entertainment designer Gary Goddard submitted an idea to the Las Vegas downtown redevelopment competition back in 1992 to build a full-scale USS Enterprise Resort. “My concept was to do something so large and so epic, it would fire the imaginations of people around the world," Goddard wrote. If it had actually happened, the Enterprise would have been immense. Goddard claims the $150 million attraction would have been made at full scale, and would have included all the “rooms, chambers, decks and corridors that we knew from the movie.” People would have gotten to dine in Starfleet comfort in its dining area, and some ideas for “interesting ride elements” were kicked around including “a high speed travelator that would whisk you from deck to deck.” Goddard put about five months of effort into the project and had the backing of the Paramount licensing team and the Las Vegas mayor and redevelopment crew, but ultimately it was studio chairman Stanley Jaffe who shot it down. “I don’t want to be the guy that approved this and then it’s a flop and sitting out there in Vegas forever,” Jaffe allegedly said.' -- collaged
*
p.s. RIP: Richard Artschwager. ** Postitbreakup, Hi, Josh! Mega-thanks for the DFW post. It was/is phenomenal, and, yeah, I'm very grateful. And thank you too for giving your attention and mind over to the Butoh post. And yet one more thanks, buddy, for the kind words re: 'MLT'. Oh, yeah, maybe I could ask for guest-posts on FB, but I try not to do too much on there for whatever reason. If desperate measures end up being called for, though, I probably will. Movies-wise, as far as fairly imminent ones, I'm most looking forward to the new Harmony Korine and, of course, the new Malick. Really, really good luck on the follow up interview. Try not to put too much importance into it and get too stressed out or feel like it's some kind of giant make or break thing or that, if you get a negative outcome, which very hopefully you won't, it speaks to your worth or lack there of because, man, it so doesn't. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, David. I think you know I was a friend and am still a fan of Jonathan's younger brother Danny, drummer extraordinaire with The Three O'Clock and The Quick. Well, I think most people of brains and note agree with you about 'Salo'. It's just one of those things. ** Cobaltfram, Really glad you got into the Butoh post. It's much harder to see that work performed now than it was back in the late 80s when it was 'hot' and 'trendy' in the theater/ performance world for a while. But, yeah, it's a very trippy, great theater form at its best. I don't really have strong feelings about Nicki Minaj one way or the other. I've liked her more eccentric stuff pretty well, and other stuff of her s just sounds like somewhat clever product to me. The pop/HH/flash genre she works in isn't really my thing as a general rule. Well, remember that I almost never reread my older books, so it could be that if I pulled 'Frisk or 'The Sluts' off the shelf and read them, I would like them more. Do ever write poetry? I often write poetry between fiction projects. ** Tosh, Hi, Tosh. Glad you enjoyed the DFW work, yeah. His passing was a very black day, both because I admire his work tremendously, and also because I had the privilege to know him personally a little. ** _Black_Acrylic, Obviously, great if you can get to Amsterdam for the Mike Kelley show. I'm heading up there on Friday. I hope you can work that out. That would be fantastic ** Sypha, Hi, James! I got your email/post, and it's really incredible! Thank you so much! I've put it together, and it'll launch here on Saturday, the 23rd. Yeah, it's a beautiful post, James, and I'm really grateful, as will be everybody here once they get their eyes on it. ** Grant maierhofer, Hi, Grant. Thank you a lot for emailing me the chapbooks and stuff! I really appreciate it, and I will try to overcome my emailing bad habits and get back to you asap. Did you go see Roggenbuck? I hope to get to see him be himself full frontal at some point. 'Bish Bosch', yeah, astounding. I haven't seen 'Bronson' yet. Have been meaning to for ages. I think your mention will be the trigger. Thanks for the link, man. I'll copy, paste, and click it when I get out of here. The best to you! ** Kyler, Hi Kyler! ** Bill, Hey. Thank you so much for your tremendous help re: the Butoh thing. I just put together said Ulli Lommel Day for, err, next week, I think. What a guy. Oh, I'm not sure if you saw my question the other day, but do you remember the name of that kind of kooky little museum in Amsterdam that I think you checked out when you were there last? I'm going up there this weekend, and I want to visit it, and I'm forgetting its name. Thanks. ** Steevee, Hi, Steve. Excited for your piece on 'Room 237', very. ** 5STRINGS, I have a pretty singing voice, apparently, but it's kind of fragile and weak, and it doesn't do me much good. Interesting family stuff. My family is weird, but they're pretty prim re: their bodies and stuff. Their brains are kind out of there though. Hm. Yeah, I'm sorry, but DFW was so incredibly not an ass either as a person or as a writer. I can't understand why you would say something like that about him, but life is life or something. ** Billy Lloyd, Love is the great deranger, god love it. Dude, you sound like an evil Monopoly genius, but in the good way, although you seem like you'd be scary to play the game with, but also in a good way. Thank you so much for posting the advice you gave to the twins. That was beautiful and kind (to them, to me) and so very wise through and through. I agreed with everything and felt lightbulbs turning on in my mind with every space break. Really, that was a total joy to read, Billy, and thank you so very much! ** David J. White, Hey again to you, David. No, that makes a lot of sense. Your approach and decisions, I mean. Thank you for explaining that. It's really interesting to be able to step outside the impulses I had and the decisions I made originally and see the source material differently. It's really cool. Yeah, thank you a lot! ** Scunnard, Life's good. Well, if you want to and can pull together a post, I'd be way chuffed and grateful, but only if it's fun and no problem for you. Sure, more project details, great, man. And a question is cool, of course. I'll try to get off my cyper-ass and answer it. ** Chelsea Kane, Hi, Chelsea! Thank you so much for coming in here! I remember meeting you in DUMBO. Cool. Sure, obviously, it would be very awesome to read that screenplay if you find it. You're coming over here? We should have a coffee or something if you want and have time. The Nouveau Festival will be happening at the Pompidou then, and that should have some cool stuff in it. I always recommend the Museum of Hunting 'cos it's genius and not at all like the name makes it sound. Hm, I'll have to check to see what else is happening here then. Anyway, yeah, great to see you! ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T! Super great to see you! My weekend was okay. Got some snow, but it didn't stick to the earth. Hope yours ruled in some fashion. How are you? What's going on? ** Misanthrope, Sleep doofus, nice. Did you know that the word doofus was used for the first time in 1960? But they're not sure how it came about. I just looked that up. Oh, man, ugh, shit about your nephew getting arrested. And, obviously, about him doing the rock throwing thing. I mean, kids do random bad shit without the kind of developed conscience that you end up acquiring with age, etc., and hopefully the arrest shocked him into understanding how consequences work, at least. The follower thing, yeah. It's an awfully good thing that he has you to follow. Hopefully, he'll figure out that following you won't land him in the pokey. ** Paradigm, Hi, Scott! Thank you so very kindly about the in-progress post! That stalling going on in your writing right now is completely natural and part of the process, as I'm sure you know. The introduction and history of weeds in Australia ... that's a curious and very interesting thing right there. When were they introduced and why, if you can say? Talk about stalled: my novel is still very stalled out. I'm back in it mentally and thinking about it and trying to find the way forward, but I still can't seem to add much new writing to it. I don't know. I'm waiting for a breakthrough, and I assume it will come, or it won't, I guess. Thank you for asking. ** Rewritedept, Hi, Chris. That's a really intense and scary and moving story, man. Suicide is a tough one for me, so, yeah. I really appreciate that you feel okay to share that with me, and I'm, you know, touched and honored that you consider me to be a support system, and tears are okay. I felt some welling up when I read that. I did listen to it, but just once so far. I think it's pretty stunning, but, obviously, it needs to be listened to a lot for its greatness and gravity to get completely through, and at least I'm on my way. My weekend? Lowkeyish. It snowed a bit, which was nice. Was gonna meet up with Gisele, but she has the flu, poor thing. Worked some. Wandered about some. Finalized my upcoming trip to Amsterdam. Yury is very busy getting his fashion line ready for its upcoming launch, so I didn't see him much. Your story wasn't at a 'waah' thing, no, no way, and you aren't a whiny bitch either. No worries, and quite the opposite. Hope the shower was just the thing you needed. Oh, and I've got your hometown in the blog's spotlight today. How about that? ** Right. I've got a real 'never built' fetish, and Vegas's version of 'never built' has its own special something or other, so check it out, and see what you think. See you tomorrow.
27 comments:
Hey. Half a century ago today Sylvia Plath died. Let's keep her in our thoughts.
"Out of the ash/I rise..."
Hey Dennis, woah, struck by the excess that some brains can dream from this post. As fascinated as I am by your country, the last city I think I want to visit is Las Vegas. Is that wrong of me?
I guess I was surprised about your not liking Salo. I've never read Sade, so I cannot really say whether Salo is a good adaptation or not. You're right, being an interpretation, rather than an adaptation, you will inevitably lose parts of the authorial vision within the new vision of the interpreter. The measure of what is lost and gained in that will be forgiven by some, but not by others.
David Ehrenstein, if you see this, did you know Pasolini?
Finally, boys, I watched Bresson's A Man Escaped, and Van Sant's Mala Noche. A Man Escaped is possibly the height of cinematic Everest in my opinion, and had me absolutely poised and riveted. Mala Noche is not overly standing up to time although it's a damn sight better than most gay fare we're getting these days. I really digged the aesthetic: harsh light, contrast and that b&w 16mm is so dated it now looks so great. It's just begging for a revival that look (like Korine with VHS in Trash Humpers). Surely you've seen Mala Noche, Dennis? I have this feeling, based on no facts at all, that you and Gus Van Sant might be friendly.
Dennis, Thanks. Yeah, I try to keep my nose clean. It's as easy to stay out of jail as it is to get in there most times. All I can do is try to get through to the little guy.
Word origins are interesting. I just had an argument -a kind one, of course- with a friend about the origin of the N-word. Her theory was interesting, I guess, though I couldn't find it anywhere I looked it up. And she didn't believe mine, though it's everywhere you look for an answer. But oh, well, maybe I shouldn't argue with people on their third bottle of wine at 3 in the morning.
I wonder where "dork" came from, especially as seeing there's a perfectly legit name -Dorkus- that's been around for years and years.
Hi Dennis, chuffed? Aw see you being all British! Yeah, I'll try to pull something together in the next couple of days. I always like it when you get on one of your unrealised projects days here. Hope all is well and all that.
Hey Coop!
Been relegating myself to lurker status lately, feeling all over the place and blah slash blurgh.
You ever been in a situation where you have to make 2 or maybe 3 Really-Important, Life-Direction style decisions at the same time, and have absolutely No Way Whatsoever of weighing the pros and cons? Where you know you cannot trust your intuition, and the data you have is not sufficient for a truly rational choice, and your guts honestly could not give a goddamn shit what you decide? Well, if you haven't, let me break it to you: it sucks!
I was mostly popping in to check whether you were gonna be in Paris in the next weeks/months - we're thinking of coming for a few days, and something mid-mars sounds the most likely. 7-12 kind of thing. Obviously being in Paris and not being able to give The Coop a hug and hang out is dumb, I'm sure you agree.
You got snow? My mum said it was snowing yesterday but not settling...
And need I tell you that the Moon Hotel made me all WowWowWOW ? Please lie to me and tell me it's actually being built as we speak? Please?
I remember the last time I was in love, I pretended that I was a regular smoker so I could smoke with him. What he did not know at the time was that I was a severe asthmatic and I got very sick. He wasn't very impressed when he found out!
I am ruthless and take no prisoners in Monopoly, but only because it's a game and you can be like that with no consequences. There aren't many greater joys than having someone land on Mayfair that you have a hotel on. (Mayfair is the most expensive property in the game, I know it's different for different countries so I'm not sure if you'd have guessed).
Ah I'm really glad you liked the advice I gave them! I'm not sure how interested they actually were but in a few years I hope they'll come to appreciate them!
I started writing a new song last night. On my need to be a worshiped object of desire and thus why I choose to sleep with old, usually fairly ugly, men. It's quite interesting to write and discover things about myself through that, and to get into the state of mind I'm in when I'm with these men. I'm also just doing it words first so we'll see how that turns out. At the moment it sounds like a rap/piece of spoken word and I'm not sure I can pull that off in performance!
Dennis, this post made my day. I've been glued to my screen the last ten minutes trying to absorb it all. Vegas is just so, so amazing, I really need to go. I have a novel planned about the drive to Vegas so I guess I need to drive to Vegas to get a feel for it. The worst, absolute worst, even surpassing the Adams Family and Beverly Hillbilly resorts, have to be that Harley Davidson thing. You know they would have found some god-awful way to blare a chugging Harley Davidson roar up and down the fucking strip and driven everyone crazy. Harleys, by the way, are the insecure man's bicycle.
When does Yury's line launch? That has to be super exciting/nervewracking. You have a blog day dedicated to his clothes, yes? (Please?)
I'm with you on Nicki. As steevee pointed out, she has chops as a rapper but is too concerned with making it as a pop star. I can't blame her for wanting money, obviously, and I agree with Sypha/James that her pop tunes are well-fashioned, but there's just not enough there for me to really sink my teeth into. But yeah, her weird eccentric stuff is very cool.
Speaking of weird/eccentric: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmeYGMS1_-k. chad and I are determined to make this the #1 hit of waco's middle schools.
I'm really bad at poetry, I think. Or, maybe, I just don't have enough experiences I can write poetry about. For eg, that one poem I did, 'The Flying J', was about a real trick I turned in a truck stop for fifty bucks. But I don't have a ton of experiences like that with enough emotion behind them to do what I want to do in poetry.
I've just been working on my genre novel. I set myself a 1K words-a-day goal and see how close I can get to it.
You should definitely pull down and look at 'The Sluts' and 'Frisk.' You'd be impressed at yourself, I'm sure.
Still no word from NYC RE my career, but it's a slow industry. I'm not panicky or anything (yet). I really need to do my taxes. My life has stalled for now.
Talk soon
J
I first visited Las egas in 1957. Nothing but ranch style hotels two floors high on the strip.Downtown there were a few regular size otels but today's monstrosities were years off. Vegas back then was a relatively inexpensive place to go. As the major oney was made off off gambling hotels wre inexpenmsive as were shows == which were of the chic cabaret variety. Notjut the famous "Rat Pack" but Marlene Dietrich and Noel Coward.
All that's gone now.
Yes I know Danny Benair too, Dennis. Haven't seen him i awhile. 78
Las Vegas is a fascinating town, or city. I think of it as a town for some reason.
What's interesting its a city that doesn't like to show its history, but rather make something new out of something old 'somewhere else.' The downtown part of Vegas has or had a seedy aspect to it that's wonderful. But what i remember most is the frustration not being able to see any of the 1950's Vegas culture. I think of the Noel Coward live in Vegas album, where he's in the desert posed in a tux. That surreal elegance has disappeared for sure.
And the great Liberace museum that is now gone. That was a great place. i also miss the Debbie Reynolds thater/museum as well.
Haha my singing voice, just watch The Silence of the Lambs. Agent Starling with some refinement, some culture, some New Jersey, some ebonics, and laziness. I'm always afraid you're going to cry when I hear your voice. It's fucking gorgeous. It's very maleish yet meh and sweet. I wish I was prim. You do look pretty buff. I think I'm kind of getting prim, like I feel good when I twist myself up in my bed. I'm going to have a gang-bang with Cannibal Corpse and let them eat my guts out, then I'll be good. Everybody always tells me how pretty I am haha, I think they must like butts a lot. DFW, I thought it was sad when he hanged himself. It's like it meant something. It was a reminder to me of the suffering of depression. I don't like anything about him. I don't like anything I know of him. Jockey, academic, verbose, tired, weak, journalistic, snooty, he reminds me of a whiney little kid. I like that he can write at length with some finesse, otherwise, I have no use for him at all. I think the irony of DFW is the futility of his career. Life is beautiful, I'm obsessed. I'm getting weird again, getting scared of stuff. I'm off to town for a hair-cut, I'm going to pretend I'm in the Pavement video. I was staring at a Las Vegas sign last night, thinking of what it could mean. Had an interesting conversation a couple nights ago about installation art. It gave me a powerful feeling for Paul Thek and a longing for a "New".
Some of these ideas are hilarious! I actually think the Star Trek hotel would do well, but what do I know?
Oops, sorry about spacing out on your question, Dennis. Hmm, you've had a day on the Illuseum, so that's probably not it? Here. I think you've already been to the Vrolik, in the big hospital complex? If it's neither, please remind me about the theme of the museum. When are you going to Amsterdam?
Been getting somewhat blocked on developing the new proposal. But the deadline approaches fast, so desperation's heavy hand should take over, haha.
Bill
postitbreakup, good luck with your job opportunity
Wolf, good luck with your life direction!
Misanthrope, my mother’s name is Dorkus.
d-
and i'm usually never this open with anyone. like, only a couple of my friends know about that story, and two of them were at the house that night. so. in retrospect, i just laugh at how inept i was at 'suicide.' but i don't want to talk about that right now, i have work later so i don't need to start my morning by crying.
my bong (i suppose i should say my roommate's bong, since he bought it) is leaking. i found this out when i was watching a movie last night, and managed to leak bongwater all over the end table i had set it on. ugh. i also managed to spill stout on my jeans, which meant i had to wash them. i don't usually wash my denim, especially since i'm too broke lately to buy a new pair of jeans. so i have two, and i just rotate them.
i am so glad that none of these projects were built. i have a complicated love/hate relationship with this city. like, the only property they've built in town that's impressed me would have to be the cosmopolitan. but it's such a 'hipster hotel,' or something. like, the bartenders all have faux-hawks or ironic moustaches or too many tattoos and the drinks are way overpriced (i just bring my flask). but there's lots of comfortable places to hang out and big overstuffed chairs in the lobby and by the ballrooms and stuff. and it's definitely the best hotel in town to do drugs in, due in no small part to all the crazy art they have around the casino and meeting hall areas. and they have these big pillars in the hotel lobby with like tv screens on them that change images really slowly, so like the first time i went there to see the flaming lips, it took me like five minutes to realise they were moving, after which point my mushroom- and MDMA-addled brain just couldn't look away. i hope they have someone good play there soon, i am well overdue for a druggy night on the strip. if not, i'll just trek it down there before/after the spzd show in april.
that sounds like a nice weekend. sucks that gisele was sick. hope it's one of those quick flu ones where it's out in a day or two and not the shitty, sick for a week type flu things like i had a couple weeks or a month or whatever ago. i'm so bad with the conception of the passing of time. upcoming trip to amsterdam: i'm jealous. is it for business or pleasure? a little of both, maybe? which reminds me, not that it's pertinent to yr weekend or anything, that i need to talk to my dad regarding our upcoming trip to reno. my birthday is in less than three weeks. i'm maybe freaking out a little.
comically, since we're on the subject, i've always considered reno my hometown even though i grew up in las vegas. the way i see it, though, this state's my playground. i honestly can't see myself living anywhere else unless i just move out of country.
must get ready for work now. more later hopefully? talk soon.
Hey bud. How's tricks? Seriously pushed for time, but just wanted to check in with you. Things good here - spent the day drawing pole dancers in the style of Rodin and getting violent with Manet. Well it passes the time, as me old Mother would say...
Awesome post yesterday, PostitBreakUp !- gonna be all over that this weekend, looks rich.
Off to stuff my face with cake and blast out GBV's "How's My Drinking" and clean up some cat vomit. Joy!
Interesting bunch of would be places today. I'm gonna have to check these out properly tomorrow I think because my eyes are feeling pretty heavy.
Hey Dennis, oh I'm alright - thanks for asking. Dealing with some insanely heavy shit with some of the kids I work with, like, the worst stuff that could happen with a few of them, the brave little things. But yeah, obviously I can't really discuss it on a public forum and all of that. So yeah, I've been doing a lot of intense stuff at work but things are heading in the right direction, and I've got a week off for half term next week, which will be cool. I'll make a couple of guest posts for you as well. Got some new writing which is coming along nicely as well. Right, sorry to be brief - and I will check out this blog day properly next time I'm online - but I'm knackered and drained so it's time to crash.
Big love as always,
Thomas x
I met Pasolini twice. Once in 1966 when he came to the New York Film Festival to show Accatone and The Hawks and the Sparrows, the second time was in 1969 when he screend Teorema before an outraged audience at the Museum of Modern Art. Their outraged greatly amused him. He was staying at the Pierre and I interviewed him there. Lovely and incredibly elegant man. He clearly understood english but spoke to me in Italian with a translator.
Had you been there he would have been all over you Dennis.
Latest FaBlog: Fait Diver – Ex Benedict
Postitbreakup - Great DFW day over the weekend. Thanks for that.
Tosh - Totally agree about the Liberace museum in Vegas. Fascinating place and so American that it deserved to take the place of one of the Smithsonians rather than close.
Dennis - Nice to see these Vegas could've beens. The iceberg part of the Titanic, the moon restaurant, and underwater ride at the Desert Inn in particular seem like huge cultural losses. A better world if they had been built.
Navigating a bunch of awkward freelance job situations now. Hopefully those things will resolve soon and stop sucking up so much time.
Thanks for words about revision. Very helpful. BTW, do you know anything about the French publishers Buchet Castel or Libella? And have you seen any interesting films lately - old or new?
Yeah RIP Richard Artschwager. I could never get much of a handle on his work, but I always admired it from afar. There's a lot in there to like, how it combines humour and texture in inventive ways. Damn, the more I think about it, the more I like it.
@ DC, I'm excited to report that I've got the Mike Kelley retrospective ferry booked for the 4th of March. It's kind of a shame to only have an afternoon to see such a lot of artwork, but still I cannot wait.
I had an idea too. How would you feel about a Yuck 'n Yum interview on the subject of Mike Kelley? Like an email Q&A after we've both seen the show? I'm just putting it out there, but let me know that sounds to you.
Alan, Really? I've only met one other woman with that name. An older lady that my ex's mother was caring for. I've always wonder if the word "dork" had any relation to the name. For obvious reasons (the word is right there in the name!). Though I assume it doesn't. I've always wondered if people with the name Dorkus get offended by the word dork.
Dennis, interesting day. the scale of some of these places limitations on them ever being built. i love the idea of these established ideas never being conceived. it makes me wonder is architecture about the final product or is architecture about the design and the design itself can be admired for its scale and beauty that it alludes to without the practicality of materiality.
In regards to my research it's varied. These been over 28 000 species of plants introduced to Australia. By strict definition of a weed 'being a plant that is growing out of its original place' then all these could be classified as weeds. I'm more interested in the more invasive end and the changes that they bring with them.
Some of them are quite poetic in their story of origins- a seed falling from the saddle of afghan cameleers as they travelled the deserts of central australia. Others are arrogant in their desire to create a European/English woodland in the Australian bush where you can walk and pick for instance blackberries where-ever you go.
I'm interested in this contrast and struggle between the English/European ideal and the reality of this land/climate being vastly different to anything these ideal gardeners have seen.The effect of this arrogance and what this means for the land on which we are living now.
I originally envisaged it as a short story collection of sorts- with lino cuts of either the seeds or plants of each story- although I now wonder whether it would be better to tackle the issue factually. I'm sure as i move through the research it'll become more settled.
Hope you can find the way of moving forward. Maybe the impasse is just a budged door and once you push it open it will unfurl more rapidly.
I'll send you through the day tomorrow.
Scott
I kind of like the Moon resort one.
Glad to hear you liked the Day I sent you Dennis. I'm having an endoscopy done the day before, so at least I can look forward to the Day appearing on the blog after that!
There's something really alienating about mainstream media coverage of the Pope's resignation. I know there are people who don't think he's a hateful scumbag - who, in fact, revere him - but I rarely see a whole parade of them at once. I hope his resignation was prompted by some sort of awful scandal breaking in the next few months, as some have speculated.
@postitbreakup:
Thanks for that DFW post, it was nice to reread those stories, and I hadn't even read the first one, so that was like a treasure for me. R.I.P.
@Dennis:
I really enjoy posts like today's, this made me smile. I think the moon one is my favorite, if that actually existed I would definitely hit it up. I've never visited Las Vegas, but someday I really want to. When I was a teenager, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" was one of my favorite books, and the movie too. I keep hearing that Las Vegas isn't nearly as wild as it used to be, because it's so family oriented now, but Las Vegas is like the definition of American opulence, I think travelling through would be like entering some type of neon lit heart of darkness or something.
I sent you an email with a guest blog post, feel free to use to whenever you want.
Talk to you later! Hope you have a good day...
Hi Dennis, did you get my gift? I had a luxury, blizzard time thanks to nigori sake i got before that. Nigori sake often has a name with the letter snow. Sake I drink is fortunately cheap and I drink it with a tea cup only when i get anxious staying in a room too long. Since I have been staying very long, I see that I like to long for sea, walking on and on at warm beach. Do you know any prose poem writer who beautifully writes of sea and a very obscure love in looking at sea, other than blanchot, i mean. hope you had a great weekend.
thanks for share.
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