Poppy Z. Brite's Blog, page 67

Layers of Amsterdam

I have recurring dreams of Amsterdam, which makes sense as it's my second-favorite city in the world. More accurately, I have several dream-Amsterdams. Each of them contains something that doesn't exist in the real city, but a place from one dream can be a dream itself in another. That is, I'll have a dream where I'm in Amsterdam and think, "Oh, this is where that place I dream about would be if it were real."

My dream-places that do not exist in the real city include a fascinating arcade of little multinational shops and food stalls (I know about Albert Cuypmarkt, but this is indoors and different), a large university campus that resembles UNC-Chapel Hill more than it does the stealthy little University of Amsterdam, a section that looks a lot like downtown Athens, Georgia, a terrifying freeway, an evil parking garage, and several fictitious coffeeshops. I'm often trying to get to an actual coffeeshop, The Grey Area, which is seriously and for real one of the three best coffeeshops in the city. (Cool website, too.) It's usually unattainable. Last night I got as far as the statue of Multatuli in the plaza at Singel and Molsteeg -- almost there, dammit! -- but then something changed, or I woke up, or a cat walked over my face, or God knows what.

Writing this down, I see I've managed to incorporate big parts of the other two places I've lived, but very little if any of New Orleans. New Orleans is itself, and cannot be blended into any other city.

Casting Call: Top Secret Project Revealed!

Originally posted by kylecassidy at Casting Call: Top Secret Project Revealed!I'm very excited to announce that the new Top Secret Project, is a collaboration with Caitlin R. Freaking Kiernan (aka greygirlbeast ) whom you may know as the author of The Red Tree, The Ammonite Violin, Silk, Murder of Angels, etc. etc. etc. -- she also wrote the comic book series The Dreaming (and did the novelization of Neil's Beowulf movie).

Caitlin has a new book out in May of 2012 which I think is the best thing she's written. It's called The Drowning Girl: A Memoir - it was so visually beautiful that when I read the advance reader copy I contacted her immediately and said I wanted to do something with it - please oh please oh please. So, after much conspiring back and forth, I'm really pleased to announce that I'm casting for a book trailer plus a still Top Sekret Photo Project which we'll shoot over the summer and both of which will be Very Cool, I promise.

Let me know if any of these is you. We'll either be shooting in the Philadelphia, Delaware, NJ area or in the Boston area, so people from either of those places can apply. Shooting will probably be one low stress weekend.

Imp - F, early-mid 20's, somewhat mousy, brown hair, medium height, simultaneously soft featured and intense. Anxious. By turns, quiet and stormy. Always a little disheveled, hair not really long or short. She might wear glasses.

Eva, F, late 20's, early 30's, blond hair, glamorous, slender, tall, seductive and feral but also unexpectedly vulnerable and refined. This part requires some nudity & is paid.

Abalyn is a MTF trans woman, 24-35 pretty, unmistakably feminine, slender 5'8"-6'4" with a grace that can turn gawky. Hair chin length or longer, black or black with blond roots. Her eyes are green. We'd really like to cast a trans woman in this role if possible but will entertain other possibilities.

Many of these properties, (height, hair & eye color) are negotiable.

If you're interested or have questions drop me an email at kyle at kylecassidy.com, we'll take it from there. If you have a couple photos of yourself (myspace style iphone self portraits acceptable), you can toss those in or link to them. And please do forward this around to your friends who might be interested. This is going to be something wonderful.




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Creepy Comic?

Does anyone else remember a comic posted on ontdcreepy within the last few weeks? I think it was in a Saturday free-for-all post. In the general style of Trollface, Rage Guy, Forever Alone Guy, etc., but it's none of them, just a stick guy on the Internet in the middle of the night. He keeps looking over at his window. Every time he looks away, Slenderman's head pops up in the window. Finally he goes over and closes his curtains, but there's still a tiny gap ... That's about it, but it had a peculiar charm that made me happy, and I meant to save it, but didn't.

APPOINTMENT!!!

I MADE THE APPOINTMENT!!!!! MAY 30!!! Thanks so much for all the encouragement -- it helped a lot.

Devious Journal Entry

Thank you for all the encouragement! Please keep it up and I'll let you know how things go. This is me reading your comments:


Troll Face by *faeorain on deviantART

I wanted to make it bigger, but couldn't, so click on the picture to see it full-sized (if you want to).

Doc, Call Doc

Dammit dammit dammit. For the first time in nearly a year I suddenly feel brave enough to call a doctor and ask for an appointment re: going on testosterone. I'm righteously ready and eager to do it ... but of course it's after hours, and you can't make appointments with their answering services. Help me still feel like this tomorrow. Help me remember that I have a right to this. Please.

The Squid Family

I had the saddest dream a couple of nights ago ... about squid. I was a marine biologist who had to go into a squid family's living area and kill their several dozen babies to use as scientific specimens. Ultimately it would be for the good of squidkind (we were trying to find a cure for a squid plague or something), but I felt terrible as I slashed the babies in half with my sword (which is always the best way to collect scientific specimens), and even worse as the mother squid swam over to the grandmother squid and into her arms, flashing upset reds and purples. One of my colleagues took a picture of their embrace, and I yelled, "Just leave them alone!" as if he were the squid paparazzi.

Squid do not live like this.

These were fairly giant squid, but not, I think, Architeuthis.



*Sad squid is not my work. I found it here.

Happy Easter

I was smoking pot on the pot when I saw pot smoking pot on a pothead!

I can't decide whether or not this is better than Beavis and Butt-head's idea for a tattoo of a butt on your butt. I've been trying to talk Chris into getting that one for years.

Not much good to report. A friend from OLGC, Claude Baehr, passed away from cancer this morning. He had Chris' and my blood in his body (we all gave at a blood drive for him) and somehow that makes it even stranger to know he is gone. Ego at the tissue level, I guess. My heart goes out to his wife, Artie (which is short for Arthemis, which I think is a beautiful name). Still pain; no gardening. I did get the asparagus bed laid out and covered with weed cloth yesterday, but I've had the poor asparagus crowns sitting in the box so long, I couldn't blame them if they died.

This morning as Chris was going to sleep -- about three quarters of the way there, really -- we had a detailed discussion about "bone king" and "bone hole." (The latter sounds filthy, but it's how some clueless person on a local food forum once translated "osso buco.") I think The Bone King would be an excellent title for a horror novel, and, surprisingly, Google suggests that no one has used it. So be my guest. Just do me a favor and don't make it about a fucking Mysterious Creature From Beyond (Beyond What Not Specified). It's really, really hard to do that well if your initials are not H.P.L. or S.K.

Now I want osso buco ...

Another Boring-Ass Update

Well, shit. The last few days have been pretty terrible. Lots of pain and bad news. But hey, at least I got a fancy new bong that makes my lungs feel a lot better. Stoner technology seems to be moving forward in leaps and bounds lately. Glass screens, even. Never saw those even in Amsterdam, though I'm sure they are there now.

Catholics and other interested parties: what do you make of the Catholic Charismatic Church? My limited experiences with its members have been Very Very Not Good, but I'm curious to hear other views.

I got seven or eight kinds of greens at the Hong Kong Market yesterday and am going to try making a gumbo z'herbes. It's a couple of days late (you're supposed to have it on Holy Thursday), but I don't give a damn.

I've been meaning to take the garden pictures several of you have requested, but events keep dragging me down. I'll try to do it today if it doesn't rain.

Boring Entry w/Chihuahua

Thanks for all the short story votes. "Mussolini and the Axeman's Jazz" was the runaway winner (which made me happy, as I've always liked that story, especially since I visited my first St. Joseph altars while researching it), followed by "Self-Made Man." The latter story has already been online quite a bit, though, so I suggested the third runner-up, "Are You Loathsome Tonight?", as an alternate. I really appreciate the help.

It was a good weekend with many spoons and relatively manageable pain. I got a lot of gardening done: planted zinnias, a miniature peach rosebush, a purple pepper plant, lemon balm for the Green Goddess; made a good start at cleaning up the backyard;

(I stopped typing here and went outside, where a God damn Chihuahua tried to give my right foot a golden shower. It's amazing what can happen between one sentence and the next.)

...backyard; wanted to respond to more LJ comments, but had expended my energy. For now, I'll just say thanks so much for the advice re: wheelchairs and related gizmos.

I also have cherry tomatoes coming, but I eat them off the plant as fast as they can ripen. They make good little gardening snacks.