Watched Derek Jarman’s Caravaggio last night and was impressed anew by the beauty of what he does: and the boots-on-the-ground humility of it, for lack of a better word; or maybe there isn’t a better word. The audacity, the combinations, the style, the revelation (in one of the “special features” interviews) that, to make the floor all sumptuous and Vatican-shiny, they poured water over the rough concrete of the quasi-bunker where the movie was made … Pretty inspirational. Their budget was small, and they had crazy amounts of fun. Also inspirational. If you haven’t seen the film, or Jarman’s work, do yourself the favor and have a look. Also look at Caravaggio. Also read this, which I haven’t yet but mean to. Also, pour some water on something and make it look cooler!

What a charming Aardman take on Nina Simone’s “My Baby…” – a staple of the Under the Poppy soundtrack. They’re not puppets per se, but we’ll lift the latch anyway.

Loved the costumed identities Rufus Wainwright and Jorn Weisbrod assumed for the premiere of RW’s opera at Manchester – good evening, M. Verdi, and M. Puccini, right this way.  Dressing up is sexy.

Thanks to Jessica Freely  – hi, Jessica! – for the link and the photo.

At a university presentation last week, I was asked “What’s due out next after Headlong?” and once again we run up against the genre wall, adult fiction vs. YA/children’s literature, that I leaped rather lamely with a little joke about “adult” writing not being porn.

But that begs the question, yet again, about which books are meant for whom and why, and who decides?  Is Under the Poppy absolutely off limits to the under-18 set?  I don’t think so.  Maybe your mom disagrees. I’ve had this discussion recently about Arthur Rimbaud’s work, about the hilarious Please Kill Me, about – well, insert your own example here.  I never know what to tell people because every book (or movie, piece of music, whatever) is such a case-by-case choice that, geez, what’s apropos for your sensitive 14-year-old cousin would maybe terminally freak out your best 40-year-old friend.  Or vice versa.  So do as you see fit with my puppets, please.

…And speaking of Legs McNeil and the downtown scene, the great Penny Arcade is at Dixon Place, so if you are too you ought to go.  I sure would if I could.

Yes, they are bronze, but oh, wouldn’t they make gorgeous puppets? (Insert your own anatomically correct joke here.)

Talking site specificity with the multifaceted Katie Pearl, in town for a project (or, as William Gaddis might put it, a frolic of her own), and oh, it was fun.  She’s done a lot of site-specific work, and told me some things we might expect with our own presentation (and gave the nod to don’t-know/beginner’s mind, whcih was very validating).

She also pointed me to several fantastic artists whose work I hadn’t known before (like Erin Orr and Chris Green, for two), and I was able to tell her about the musical monkey circus of Joe Stacey.  She also dug the pictures of the bag masks….I can’t wait to see what she makes of what she’s making now.

This kind of cross-pollination is one of the underreported joys of making stuff: stories, toys, art, oh yes.  And asking questions is opening doors.

It’s not on this album – this is the newest, Rook, as you see – but on Everybody Makes Mistakes, and I must have listened to that song a hundred times as I wrote Under the Poppy. Thank you, Shearwater, for the soundtrack….Though the character of Benjamin named himself, as they always do.

The interstices are where we meet a great deal of what we didn’t know we loved, especially in the realm of art.  Here’s a group who totally get that, and are working to keep those junctions juicy: the Interstitial Arts Foundation.

A cool IAF mini-salon about to happen in NYC concerns itself with the art of the book trailer, not just as a raw vehicle for sales but as a piece of art compelling in its own right.  As K. Tempest Bradford notes:

“Unlike movies, book trailers can’t draw from existing video or music (most of the time) and have to be created from scratch. … Movie trailers are an art and I think book trailers should be, too. It would serve everyone better if book trailers were conceived as pieces of art in themselves. There are so many talented video and film artists out there, many of them doing amazing (and interstitial) work. … Art from necessity.” [You can learn more about the event on their Facebook page.]

Obviously I couldn’t agree more: the trailer for Under the Poppy is a perfect example.  And puppetry is an interstitial art form by nature.  As is fiction.  As is life, I guess, isn’t it.

The venue research continues.  Planning to have fun is fun, already.

It’s super cool inside, too.  See?

[Photos courtesy DC and KK.]