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What's going on? Click Opera is in retro-minimalist mode while Momus writes a book.

What book? A full-length fictional confection called The Book of Jokes. If you have any good jokes -- or know a good literary agent -- leave details in the comments section or mail Momus.

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When does normal service resume? September 1st.

What's happening in the meantime? This page will be changing every day, with news and announcements and links to old content from the last three years of Click Opera.

What's today's old content?

June 15th 2005: Momus on the paradox at the heart of Simon Reynolds' book on the New Wave: "Rip it up and start again" is a great description of the attitude behind the music Simon's dealing with, but it certainly isn't a good slogan for the effect the book will have on today's music scene. "Frame it and let's live through the whole bloody thing again" would be more accurate. And that's exactly the problem with pop music now: we're crushed under the weight of the past, and of our excessive respect for it."

June 15th 2006: Momus calls for the pelvic thrusting in evidence during the World Cup to be trussed up in some sort of social corset: "It almost doesn't matter whether the thing being "stuck in" is a phallus or a bayonet: for the delusional prostitute-killer or the Great War soldier, the message is clear: "When he kills," said Brecht, "he comes". This terrible connection, this "thrust", is why peace is always, and should always be, tempered by socialization, repression and guilt. That equation of penis and knife is always waiting, just at the edge of every society, to be made explicit."

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Where is Momus today? In Berlin, making allusions in his book to the films Cria Cuervos and Viva La Muerte (by Arrabal!) and wishing you could embed YouTube videos in a novel.

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Next Momus appearance: With Laila France and Kumi Okamoto at the Fleche D'Or in Paris on June 29th.

Momus photos: Flickr.

gluck

Date: 2007-06-15 03:53 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
good luck with your book! I dont know any literary agents but I do have some good advice from Roberto BolaƱo's "The Savage Detectives": in order to get ahead in the literary world one must have a mixture of "desire and a kind of ingratiating charm". Spend six hours every morning writing, revise in the afternoons, and read voraciously each evening. Spend all your other free time visiting writers, attending writers' parties, charming the upper echelon, telling them exactly what they want to hear. Who knows? In the novel it seems to work.

Nate
saving.blog-city.com

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-15 05:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anti-peace-riot.livejournal.com
I was in London one time and a cab driver pulled this joke on me:

Him: Right, so there are four black cockerels standing by the road. How many beaks to they have each?
Me: One.
Him: And how many feet do they have each?
Me: Two.
Him: Good. Now, beside them there is this white kitten. How many hairs on it's entire body?
Me: I don't know...
Him: Well then, how is it you know so much about black cock and so little about white pussy?

I'm not too fond of dirty jokes but I have to admit, I laughed at this one and it ended up being a good welcome to London. Anyways, just thought I'd share it.

Take care.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-15 07:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com
You should have changed the destination to Horseguard's Parade and had the blackguard soundly horsewhipped by every one of Her Majesty's Second Mounted Division.

The sheer impudence of telling such a joke to a stranger who is also your employer! Why can't British cabbies be like their Japanese counterparts -- wear white gloves, kow tow and bow, and take you to the wrong place entirely?

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-15 11:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fishwithissues.livejournal.com
I had to link this:

Did you know you're competing with this shocking myspace (http://www.myspace.com/prisonuprise) of a death row inmate? :/

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-15 02:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com
It's only shocking if you can read it, and I can't, as it's private and I'm not on MySpace. Is he writing a book of jokes?

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-15 03:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anti-peace-riot.livejournal.com
Part of me feels I should blame Thatcher for this, as a horsewhipping would have been quite sound, but it couldn't have been the poor girl's fault.

I've had very odd experiences with cabbies in some areas of the world. I was in a minivan cab once and the cabbie asked if I had ever been in a threesome. He then went on in great detail about his sexual adventures. All this with a "Best of Bollywood" video playing on the backseat monitor at my request.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-15 04:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fishwithissues.livejournal.com
he's soliciting jokes from folks on the internet. the winning joke will be read as his last words.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-16 01:33 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
More leftie dye required - your are showing your privileged roots with this sublimation you call superlegitimacy.
Prince Charles would approve of your sentiments regarding waiters and cabbies, you self-imagined old shogun on horseback.
Thomas

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-16 06:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fishwithissues.livejournal.com
P.S. Thanks for Cria Cuervos!

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