Wednesday, June 27

A Book Review in the Form of a Fragment of an Email Correspondence

I don't know if I am going to openings. I suppose I ought to start going to those things. Are you going? The only one I know of is Banks Violette.

Yeah, I'm not sure what I think of Miranda July either. Like everything these days, it seems like something I saw before but I can't quite recall. Too much of culture operates that way now. You may be right about the Cassavetes reference regarding her film. Her book, which I flipped through at Spoonbill (it was “on the table"), reminded me of Raymond Carver but I'd definitely have to read more to confirm this hunch. I'm not sure whether I want to give it the time. I think her target audience is really the 40 to 50 year old demographic. Anyway, Cassavetes is a hero to that Olypmia rah rah we're gay scene, is he not? For me he is in that category of stuff I feel like I should have seen and be able to talk about by now. But I can't. I have not seen a single Cassavetes movie. One day, perhaps... Actually I'm not sure what Miranda July's involvement in The Need was. I could be wrong about that. I saw it on her website. She's been around forever -- over ten years of doing stuff... Maybe I knew this before and forgot about it but I think it’s kind of cool she was doing performances opening for punk bands (I think that was primarily on the West Coast). It does not seem as original now but in the late 90s it probably seemed like a very original throw back to stuff you read about happening now and then in the late 70s or early 80s, in New York, the last original time (it's when hip-hop came along too, man). So, I guess that's why her super star sounding name is so familiar to me. I tell you, she's haunting me! She keeps fluttering around my head -- and even passing through it! I can't decide if I should just read her damned book or not. I mean I just can't consume it in five minutes and move on like something I might find online. Maybe one is supposed to simply display the book on the bookshelf (with the DVD)? Anyway, the Need are ok. I never want to listen to them. They are spazzy retro punk made by fags (I do not at all mean that negatively). Off the top of my head, not going back to listen to it, I want to say it sounds indebted to Essential Logic. I would strongly recommend that group to you. The early Essential Logic is freaking amazing.

3 comments:

de Selby said...

I think I'm trying to be more random than that. We've already turned email correspondence into blog entries. We just didn't tell anyone that that was what we were doing. This morning the thought popped into my head that it would be funny to post the reponse I wrote to your email as a blog posting and then say it was a book review even though I have not read the book (or seen all of Ms July's movie (just about half of it)). And then send you the link to that. It was a dumb thing to do. Plus I wanted to push my monument to 666 down. That thing was starting to bother me. If that blog posting is about anything it is about how there is so much damned stuff now. I mean culture. It's insane. Lately I keep thnking about this Paul Virilio book I read several years ago. It's called INFORMATION BOMB. The fact that he sounded like a luddite pissed me off when I first read it. But lately I keep thinking about that book. I keep wondering if I should read it again.

de Selby said...

I will take it off. But do you think they know it is you? I mean my real name does not appear on the blog even -- anywhere! At all! In fact I use this stupid pseudonym. And I am not posting your side. But if you feel very uncomfortable about it I will definitely remove it.

de Selby said...

Ok. I will stop now. I wanted to continue but I am sensing that it is making you uncomfortable. I hope I am not being impossible. Just an idiot...

But I think I know why most male "artists" are impossible. They think they are gonna be famous. But what they fail to realize is that being famous in the "art world" is not even being famous. And even that is most likely not going to happen -- at least not like they think it will. And then they will drop out and do something else -- which is often sooner than you think. What they need to do is just "forget about it" or "check their heads" or something along those lines. Fug it. Who cares. I don't know. Going back to school has made me realize that everything is a big waste of time. No one really cares. Or if they do it is three people. Everyone else will pretend like they like what you are doing and then later tell you it is too trendy. And the people we all think are the shit will only be so for the next five minutes (not even fifteen minutes) and then we won't even remember them (because we will doing something else, like having kids). They are just a part of the current cool clique. And half of them went to Ivey League schools anyway -- which is like George Bush!! Jeez. It's a country club mentality. A blue blood mentality... Maybe people should be bragging about how their mom is in the Daughters of the American Revolution too. So maybe they just want to join this stupid country club we call "the art world"... Or is it really a fraternity? Then they can get invited to "the right" parties -- where someone who is actually famous, some actor or politician -- might show up and kiss their ass (but they just learned about them the moment before). Whatever. It's stupid. And then everyone says this is NOT what they are doing. Because they are real. They're the real deal, man! But IT IS what they are doing. Everyone is seduced by medallions and bling and their papers that prove they have the right pedigree. And even if they are uncomfortable with it they still want it (believe me I know). Or maybe they have some fake street cred too, like they dropped out of high school or something. But then they still went to one of those damned Ivey League schools everyone goes prostrate before. And everyone still loves them because they are "cool" AND/OR "cute." And they know how to play the game. People want a screen they can project their fantasies on to.

I don't know how to use the meeting planner in Outlook. I'm sorry. I'm more familiar with Entourage.