“It’s Hard To Remember/What We Did Last November…”
December 29, 2010 by Clint Catalyst · 8 Comments
As audio animatronics of the
anomaly
continue cackling & crackling from lap-tops to parties to venue stages at such a high-voltage, even
the most obstinate blogger who scoffed six months ago that this [quote] “tumblr hipster bullshit”
[that] “just live[s] on blogs and MySpace ha ha” might dare agree that—run-on sentences &
forum snark notwithstanding—indeed there’s something/something’s in the air…
∞ ❖ ∞
∞ ❖ ∞
Not only are the groups’ names being spoken—†‡† is pronounced “Rrritualzzz,” FYI < /½LOL, bby >—
but these makers of music & mayhem have also entered the arena of giggery.Personal appearances.
Merchandising. Just, you know, going through the motions, as if they were *AHEM!* actual artists
rather than the punch-line of an elaborate internet hoax.
Wait.A.Minute. // O. HAI GUISE! I C U THURR
in those newspaper articles , snot-slick magazine pages…why, the cover of XLR8R, even!
Not bad for a micro-genre, complete-with-mocking-air-quotes. A genre, incidentally, that’s escaped
the internet ethers within which it was once confined: fodder for chat rooms, flame wars,
skeezy mp3-swaps-&-swipes via Rapidshare…
∞ ❖ ∞
No, this isn’t the first time I’ve written about witch house, & it’s highly unlikely this will be my last. Point of the matter is: I’m not alone. There’s been a veritable tidal wave of media addressing the subject as of late, some of which I’ll provide links to here in a hot little minute . However, first and foremost, I feel compelled to acknowledge Tom Ewing of The Guardian (UK), who—albeit indirectly—alluded to a correlation between the cinematic quality of the genre and what Samuel Taylor Coleridge referred to as the ‘willing suspension of disbelief.’
Ewing’s articles concludes:
“That is why witch house isn’t for the casual listener—not because it’s hard to find, or expensive, or particularly “difficult,” but because it requires a certain sacrifice of reserve, maybe even of dignity: you buy into it whole or not at all. In that sense it fits its horror trappings perfectly—a ghost story requires exactly the same willingness to be affected. You might still come away thinking it’s rubbish—aesthetics can be poorly realised or fundamentally flawed, after all (and ghost stories not scary). But what witch house tells me is that genres now aren’t exercises in innovation or marketing, so much as ways of framing an experience. And if you won’t feel open to that experience, your investigation of it won’t get far.”
Coleridge coined the phrase ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ in regard to poetry and literature. At this juncture in time (1817), writings involving the supernatural were no longer en vogue, in part “due to the declining belief in witches and other supernatural agents among the educated classes, who embraced the rational approach to the world offered by the new science.”
Are You A Victim Of The Modern Witch-hunt?
December 23, 2010 by Clint Catalyst · 5 Comments
[a quick check-list]:
How have relations with your peers been as of late?
Have any of your friends seemed distant, unavailable? Perhaps a bit stand off-ish?
Or even worse: has anyone begun to treat you with suspicion? Spoken to you with a distrusting tone?
Conducted a rash & volatile act upon your arrival—say, for example, the frenetic strumming of an
acoustic guitar to the tune of a [quote] “power ballad”? &—if dare say that be the case—was
aforementioned ::SHUDDER:: stadium serenade coupled with an egregiously off-key
rendition of lyrics such as “Don’t Stop Believin’”?
(Stop. Believing. What?!)
Quite frankly, do you feel as if your interests incite an impending sense of moral panic?
Are you persecuted… for your taste in music?
In †hee Name Ov DELTΔ DELTΔ DELTΔ‘s Sacred †ri-Force
(an equal opportunity destroyer: for the xx, xy & x”whatever”/transitioning set),
TRUST: We understand.
Some people have a genuine aversion to Witch House.
S’all there is to it.
So what’s a budding hex-head to do?
For such matters, we consult…
Aha! &
Just as I expected:
Fokkawolfe
is T H E E . A N S W E R .
— for his —
Prolific updates, finger not just on the proverbial “pulse” or clichéd “trigger,” but rather the plunger of a 1 cc mainlining psychostimulant drogas directly from that four-chambered metronome nestled within one’s ribcage to the pleasure center of readers’ brains, flooding dopamines in a tsunami of methamphetamaniacuphoria, burning serotonin at such a deliciously dangerous–& dangerously delicious–rapid-fire rate, it’s been rumored that the back of some readers’ skulls have been blown open as if their pupils bulls-eyed all six chambers and short-circuited before the spinning even began: no need for the thrill of Russian Roulette when Fokkawolfe’s here EFFING. KILLING. IT.
(& the rat-tat-tat-tat of exclamation points forage ahead, slaughtering daughters & posting cyanide-laced syllables that cement those blandular brooklyn blogs deeper, deeper still into the myopic ‘no maan, nobody’s doing that/this is how it is’ mentality in which they’re mired [though not admired]…)
Whatever higher powers may be,
HALLELUJAH &
INORDINATE AMOUNTS OF GRATITUDE TO ± FOKKAWOLFE ±
(also known as Laurence Conrad)
Seriously? But SERIOUSLY boss…
Totes the stokage you exist!
Cottonmouth Kisses Review — The Bellingham Herald
December 23, 2010 by Clint Catalyst · 3 Comments
July 23, 2000
with mad gratitude to Ara Taylor
Either click image to enlarge,
or
http://picturepush.com/public/4729559
Seduction
December 11, 2010 by Clint Catalyst · 5 Comments
« is »
Collecting Hearts. Another Love [is]
Another Place To Stay/Another Face…
Seduction is
Teen Porn, till
the “Living End.”
A Bath
With
Lovely Bloodflows.
Asger Juel Larsen‘s
Sleek Chic.
Seduction
is that which is close enough to touch, yet at the same time
just out of reach…
In Circulation: Two New Stories
December 1, 2010 by Clint Catalyst · 3 Comments
&
nope, of clicky-links to URLs with disappearing ink I do not speak. Au contraire, I’m talkin’ bout publications— the tactile experience of fingertips brushing against pressed paper. The tender crease of a spine. The stink of ink spiraling up one’s nostrillus maximus & connecting with receptors in the limbic area, stimulating electrochemical signals.
My favorite words come bearing risk of paper cuts
Vorsicht! Consider yourself hereby forewarned:
it seems I’m particularly fond of italics this fine day…
All/Same
Royal Proclamation Number One:
(a fanfare is appropriate)
The latest issue of the rad-ass, bad-ass literary journal Gertrude
is OUT—&
includes my short story “Sugar Rush”: a tribute to
C U L I N A R Y . P E R V E R Y
That’s right, baby—we’re gonna get baked, & then you get C a k e d…
A H E M !
So anyway
[from the publishers]:
“To commemorate this milestone release [issue 15 of Gertrude],we put out a call for writing & visual art
that explores, celebrates or subverts queer stereotypes. ‘The Gay Issue’ represents the diversity & talent
of the LGBTQA community.”
¤ THE PARTICULARS ¤
80 perfect-bound pages of flamboyant wit, 19 verse-slingers serving noteworthy lit, &
seven shades of wickedawesome visual artistry on eight full-color inserts that
one prancy fagocytosist went way gay over, on the tip of the APA
that’d be numbers & statistics; thank.you.ever.so
featuring
Michelle Auerbach, David Brennan
Jeremy Halinen, Daniel W.K. Lee, Kirsty Logan along with nine other lesbi-luminaries &
rump-wranglin’ Cult Icons-In-The-Makin’ that any cool-enough-to-singe-flesh-upon-contact
member of the cognoscenti c/should expect to find included among the impeccably-edited
roster of a journal esteemed as such/such as this…
Nonetheless, not unlike the dry ice to which I alluded a mere skip backwards o’er single perioddical: that’s a
scavenger hunt I’ll leave for you & your ducats to embark upon, darlin’
☆ G E T ± S O M E ☆
[though as an ápertif, an excerpt of my story]:
As the adage goes, ‘A Don’t Is A Delicious Invitation To Do.’ In the sexual practice known as “caking,” it’s particularly true.
I can’t take credit for coming up with this deviation of the old in and out, though unlike the lot of other subversive acts referred to as the stuff of urban legend—the Dirty Sanchez, Blumpkin, Cleveland Steamer, Chili Dog, et al—I’m honored to say I can vouch for its point of origin, and am a mere one degree of separation from its source.
“Caking” came about during the darkest days of that carb-counting craze when solo patties of beef were the new burger, and a demeanor bitter as Susan Atkins was the new black. It was socially acceptable to have breath that smelled like a fresh slaughter, so long as we weren’t seen consuming anything in a public setting that bore even the faintest traces of Evil Incarnate: refined sugar.
:: yes bitches, shit gets good up in thurr ::
— However! —
THIS IS NOT OVER YET
Royal Proclamation Number Two:
(not only/but also)
Baby, I’ve Got Some More Good Word For You…
From the publishing house, social network & international non-profit, Little Episodes—an organization that “promotes the arts as a therapeutic tool & platform to incite empathy and understanding”—comes the anthology Brainstorms
© Little Episodes Publishing, 2010 • ISBN 978-0-9565003-1-1 • Edited by Fawn Neün
“featuring work by Melvin Burgess, Todd Swift, Sadie Frost, Nina Antonia
[from Little Episodes founder Lucie Barât]:
“The launch of our second anthology is a statement of intent. We aim to de-stigmatise depression and promote compassion & understanding rather than fear and embarrassment. The opportunity to create and subsequently publish art will give people a sense of well-being which could aid in their recovery.”
&
[from the printed matter]
an excerpt from my short story “Breaking Up With Tina”:
Whenever I hear recovery folks recite the slogan that their ‘worst day sober is still better than [their] best day using, ‘ I can’t help but feel my eyes rolling. For that I have four words: They Needed Another Dealer.
Oh! & H-e-ey Old-Schoolers, spot check how that paragraph comes to a Grinding Halt
…And in the words of The Cure’s vocalist, Robert Smith, the further I got from the things I care about, the less I cared about how much further away I got.
MMM-HMMM,
G E T ± YOURS
&
peek at the back flap*
down…
