MZD Interviews

[g@rp]

And what about a movie ?

[MicheleVR5]

Eye on Books

[fearful_syzygy]

Holy shit it's Shell-E! Where you been?

[Ellimist]

Chrono-mosaics...

[MicheleVR5]

Holy shit it's Shell-E! Where you been?

Not around here, sadly. I was doing some Google Image searches, decided to try Danielewski, then found this interview. Poked around here and saw that Mark's gone. ? Eh well. Now we have time to catch up on stuff, right We just got a new copy of HOL with the new OR card.

jt is busy promoting the Repo! The Genetic Opera movie that Poe has backing vocals on.

[Ellimist]

jt is busy promoting the Repo! The Genetic Opera movie that Poe has backing vocals on.

I still haven't seen evidence for this... (the Poe in Repo music, not the JT part...)

[MicheleVR5]

I still haven't seen evidence for this... (the Poe in Repo music, not the JT part...)

She is saying "Assassin/Murderer/Monster" in "Legal Assasin" and singing Single Mom's part in "We Started This Op'ra Shit." Along with indistinguishable backing vocals throughout. That comes from the music producer.

[heartbreak]

Thanks Michele!

[Ellimist]

She is saying "Assassin/Murderer/Monster" in "Legal Assasin" and singing Single Mom's part in "We Started This Op'ra Shit." Along with indistinguishable backing vocals throughout. That comes from the music producer.

Okay, I can see the Assassin/Murderer/Monster whispering part....

She just came in, she gets one line, she does a line of this character just referred to as the single mother. She has a line in one of the songs.

But... No. Unless there are two "single mothers"...

I already most likely refuted this here.

I think she auditioned for the single mother part, but didn't get it.

[MicheleVR5]

Okay, I can see the Assassin/Murderer/Monster whispering part....

But... No. Unless there are two "single mothers"...

I already most likely refuted this here.

I think she auditioned for the single mother part, but didn't get it.

What is so hard to believe about this? They overdubbed her. It's in the DVD commentary and Jake herself corrects someone on this podcast. It's near the end.

Jake, by the way, is the sweetest woman on Earth.

[Johnny Truant]

I'm working on putting up definitive proof of Poe's involvement in Repo from just about everyone involved (except for Poe). If Poe wants to do a video blog or something that'd be more proof than I've got but I'll edit this post in a bit with the webpage where you can all go for more proof of her involvement in the Repo project.

Trust me, I wouldn't have gone through all of the trouble of promoting the movie for over a year if Poe and Anthony Stewart Head weren't both involved. I've come to like Terrance Zdunich and Darren Smith's songs though and am really a fan of the music as a whole now.

Stay tuned for more definitive answers.

[Ellimist]

It was hard to believe because there have only been claims - no evidence. So, cool, JT.

It really does not sound like Poe in the movie or the soundtrack and she is not listed.

I hope it is her, I just don't hear it. So, the only evidence that would absolutely prove it would be hearing Poe sing it again and then compare it to the movie... but that's not necessary. It's not a big deal... I also don't understand why she's not credited.

[Johnny Truant]

Poe is only very briefly mentioned in the credits of the film as a backing vocalist.

Here's the evidence page:

http://geneticopera.net/poe.php

That was actually really fun to dig through my Repo archives to find some of that stuff. So thanks for putting me on the task.

On that note, Repo is a bit over now, so we can all get back to MZD and hopefully new Poe music soon!

[Ellimist]

Whoa, so I'm not the only one who doubted it?

[Johnny Truant]

I even doubted that she was Single Mother for quite some time. It was on Wikipedia and I still doubted it.

I got confirmation from Joe Bishara and the filmmakers, and I still sort of doubted it for a while, until Jake and the commentary tracks confirmed it.

She sounds very different from the Poe of old.

[heartbreak]

Thanks JT! Very cool.

[Ellimist]

Yes, very awesome. Thanks.

It was on Wikipedia and I still doubted it.

Seriously!? heh.

[heartbreak]

Neat.

http://laist.com/2007/10/23/laist_interview_55.php

I always love his interviews.

Found this interesting.

Right now I’m working on something that has no textual shape.

I predict the next major book's title will have one word in it.

[heartbreak]

This is a few years old, 2006, but Mark's replies are great.

Pantheon Books had to be confused when it came time to market your first book. Since it continues to sell well almost seven years later -- even in a changed publishing climate -- did they loop back and encourage you to repeat yourself or were they supportive of Only Revolutions' new nowness?

Actually I wanted to write the sequel to HOUSE OF LEAVES. Where's Johnny?, who's Thumper doing?, the house now in China, that sort of thing. Pantheon would have none of it. They told me 2-colors was for sissies. What about 4 colors? What about precise line counts? word counts? They wanted to know if I'd considered ribbons. They hurled stacks of books my way. Milton, Wordsworth, Whitman. Italian philosophers. Tutored me on artists like Goldsworthy and Turrell. Challenged me to challenge concepts of story, landscape, drive. They never let up. Locked me up. Now and then they'd give me a little honey. I like honey.

[Ellimist]

Hahaha, I love that. Very funny.

She is saying "Assassin/Murderer/Monster" in "Legal Assasin" and singing Single Mom's part in "We Started This Op'ra Shit." Along with indistinguishable backing vocals throughout. That comes from the music producer.

I watched Repo tonight with full surround sound speakers... and I was sitting near one of the back speakers - I totally heard it. I mean, I'd heard the phrase "Assassin/Murderer/Monster" before, but clearly this time, and it sounds like Poe.

Awesome.

[fearful_syzygy]

Wait, what was that? Did you type that up? MZD didn't use to be so incoherent.
And why is there no record of such an interview on the Agony Column's website?

[Norkhat]

... Yeah.. it's the notes i quickly typed from the Agony's Column.
Believe me, most Respected Syzygy, I would not go the extent of forging an interview.

http://www.trashotron.com/agony/audio/mark_z_danielewski_2006.mp3


I wanted to post the link but hadn't it under the hand !
In fact I wanted to suggest somebody copy pasted this, and went through the interview : he'd just have to fill in the blanks and we would have a complete translation of the interview...
participative work you know.
And then we take off those fragmentaries debuts.

please don't hit me

[Ellimist]

...Yikes.

Edit: I mean to say, that's really hard to read, don't know who is saying what... so... why?

[Norkhat]

Point taken.
I rearranged the text (clearly showing the questions of the interviewer) and moved it to another part of town !

[MicheleVR5]

Weekly Dig

[heartbreak]

Interesting interview. One of things I found fascinating was how he talked about when of Leaves first came out and everyone responded with how it was impossible to read versus now when it doesn't seem to be such a big deal to people anymore.

There are often things we assume are impossible because it is different from what we know or we don't understand how it could be done but then later someone does it and then its old hat.

[Ellimist]

Interesting interview. One of things I found fascinating was how he talked about when of Leaves first came out and everyone responded with how it was impossible to read versus now when it doesn't seem to be such a big deal to people anymore.

There are often things we assume are impossible because it is different from what we know or we don't understand how it could be done but then later someone does it and then its old hat.

First time I was going out to readings they were like “why do you read this,” “This book’s crazy,” “Who can read this,” and “No one can get into this,” “It’s impossible. So many of the same things, “Oh, it’s a gimmick,” “Oh yeah, just because it looks like this.” Now—and we’re talking almost eight years later—it’s almost like there’s amnesia that’s taken place. “Oh yeah, everyone knew it could be read like this,” “It’s so easy,” and “It’s engaging,”

I'm sorry to say that this is still going on - I did a search and found blogs/reviews/'articles' that say similar things about the book, even though it's been 10 years.

My biggest question is whether more people changed their minds, or MZD/we are just hearing from new people who can read it or do appreciate it.

I would bet it's the latter.

It's been over 3 years, and while I forced my way through OR at first, I can't read it again - I have tried twice. I'm not saying it's impossible to read (objectively), simply that I don't think it's my kind of thing. Some of those blogposts on HoL even mirror my sentiments about OR: 'I can't read it, but I appreciate what it tries to do.'

[heartbreak]

My biggest question is whether more people changed their minds, or MZD/we are just hearing from new people who can read it or do appreciate it.

I would bet it's the latter.

I think its possible both ways. Since we don't know who the people are that were saying there is no way to read it, we can't check to see what they are saying now.

Its also possible that the loudest voices then are getting confused with the loudest voices now. Those that said it was impossible then might not be the one's that are saying its easy now.

I wonder how many of us, members of these forums, might represent some of those people that were saying there is no way and are now saying oh yeah there is a way, almost nonchalantly. Who once marveled at its complexity are now dismissive of what else it might contain.

[John B.]

I wonder how many of us, members of these forums, might represent some of those people that were saying there is no way and are now saying oh yeah there is a way, almost nonchalantly. Who once marveled at its complexity are now dismissive of what else it might contain.

These are great questions. I'm not at all nonchalant about HoL: it still feels complex, even though I like to think I'm a little more adept at navigating it. Even books that are very familiar to me have become familiar precisely because I haven't exhausted them. They still pose mysteries or raise questions that still merit thinking about.

Most every book teaches its reader how to read it; it's just that the vast majority of books aren't terribly complicated and so the "teaching" element isn't overt. Part of Ulysses' greatness is that, before we realize it, we're reading the interior monologues without really recognizing just when they started appearing in the text. We've been taught by the novel. HoL does that as well: the gradual glide, via the footnotes, into the text's heteroglossia and visual weirdnesses.

OR, though, doesn't ease us into its world. We learn to read it through practice, I think, and here it is very close to poetry in its feel. (These aren't complaints, by the way--OR is just a very different kind of book.) MZD's comment that hearing the novel is an aid in getting into it is something new readers should take to heart.

[heartbreak]

From here:

Tackling a visual book like yours requires readers to make a choice about how they read it. Some may not follow the publisher’s guidelines of reading 8 pages at a time and then flipping the book over to read 8 pages of the other character’s story. How do you read it?

It’s designed to be read in so many different ways. Even the 8 pages/one chapter that the publisher recommends is obvious. You could read three chapters. You could do four lines at a time. You could start looking at the history. Then I get vertigo about all the work I’ve done on it and then I have to close the book and go get a hot chocolate. It depends on your mind – maybe there is someone who could read it all and hold it all. I couldn’t do it, but I can understand the thrill of trying. It might be interesting to read Hailey and then put it away for a year and then read Sam. But you would never understand the ending if you read it that way…

You deal with history on some level when you read the book. If you decide to read the history columns, or if you choose not to read them, you have to deal with that fact. The characters are moving and are oblivious to history. History is enacted through them. They have no awareness of history. They have no memories.

On the walk over here, I was thinking about all the things that are not in the book. The words on the inside cover are all the words that are not in the book.

One of my favorite parts of the book, believe it or not, is that there is no book about a boy and a girl hitting the road. There’s Kerouac by himself. There’s Huckleberry Finn. There’s a father and daughter in Paper Moon. In movies, you get Bonnie & Clyde, Natural Born Killers, Badlands, Thelma & Louise. But the key is there’s always someone pursuing them. If I’d done that, Only Revolutions would have had a more plot-driven feeling. I’ve always loved that about this book...that there is no one pursuing them. They are the un-pursued.

We see. Very cool.

But now I’m going to fuck with you a little. Because there is someone pursuing them.

The creep?

Well…the creep is a straw man. There is someone that is definitely pursuing them to the bitter end. But I’m not going to tell you who it is. (Ed Note: Who, who could it be?)

Could be US. The reader pursues them.

(MZD) ... It’s cyclical so it should be 360 pages. The original was 350 pages though, so then it was...do we make the font bigger? (Wide smile.)

Controlling the text to ensure a certain number of pages. Interesting.