Disappear here

"Susan is wearing a white T-shirt with the words LOS ANGELES written on it in red handwriting that looks like blood that hasn´t quite dried, dripping."

"Rachel steps out of the darkness, wearing sweats and a revealing T-shirt with the words LOS ANGELES on it, the flower from earlier still in her hair."

"Danny is wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a FOOTLOOSE T-shirt he got the night of the premiere party at the studio his father is executive in charge of production at."

"He´s waering a Polo bathing suit and a T-shirt that has CALIFORNIA written across it in bright-blue letters, a T-shirt I bought him last year, and he has glasses on and doesn´t seem surprised to find me standing outside his door."

"The cameraman says 'Smoke machine busted' again and one of the girls from outside walks in and if anyone has seen her KAJAGOOGOO T-shirt lying around anywhere and then if Martin needs to use her anymore."

"I get out of bed and put on a pair of Bermuda shorts and a FLIP T-shirt and take the elevator down to the lobby, put on my sunglasses since my eyes are puffy."

"I wipe sweat off my forehead and watch as the girl, unfazed, walks over to a palm tree and leans against it, her white T-shirt with the word CALIFORNIA on it soaked with sweat [...]."

(Ellis, The Informers)

Tame and Work

"Depression, in most of its manifestations, is the healthy suspicion that 1) there may not be an aim or point to existence, and/or 2) that the life people have actually created, the 'structure of society,' is not one worth participating in. The objective should not be to kill this suspicion, but to tame it and work with it."

Another Area, Part 2

"I stand up, sit down, stand up again, pull on my shorts and walk out to the balcony and stand there with my hands on a railing, staring at Century City. The sun is setting and the sky is orange and purple and it seems to be getting hotter. Take a deep breath, trying to remember when Christie and Randy came over, when Martin let them in, when the turned on MTV, when they ate the first pineapple, when they lit the second joint, the third, the fourth. But now, inside, the video has changed and a boy gets sucked into a giant cloud shaped like a television." (Bret Easton Ellis, The Informers)

Sehen

Es geht um die Kunst des Lesens, des Erkennens, des Auswertens. Denken Sie an Ihre Tätigkeiten beim Lesen des Kontoauszugs - jener große Bildungsroman der zum Road Movie wird - an den kurzen Schrecken, das kurzweilige Staunen und die langwierige Überlegung "Was tun?". Also jene vergessene Frage, die mit dem Blick auf folgene Rangliste in jeder Gehirnwinde tobt, da die Entscheidung zwischen Inhalt und Unterhaltung jeden Tag von 0 bis 24 Uhr zu Gunsten einer gewissenlosen Leere fällt.

1. RTL
2. Pro 7
3. RTL
4. Pro 7
5. RTL
6. RTL
7. RTL
8. RTL
9. RTL
10. Pro 7
11. Kabel 1
12. Pro 7
13. VOX
14. Pro 7
15. RTL
16. Pro 7
17. Das Erste
18. Sat 1
19. Sat 1
    

(Und irgendwo behält einer mit Zitaten aus jenem Kapitel zur Kulturindustrie immer noch recht, obwohl man an anderer Stelle schreit: nein, auch das Flüchtige ist schön und der Reiz, das Gleiche, das Unausweichliche, das Vergnügen, die Ideologie, das Schema.)

Über einen Verlegenheitsausdruck.

Diese Comic-Haltung markiert die Differenz - seit jeher.
Diese Hingabe zum Stoff ist Effekt und Sache.
Diese spezifisch zeitgenössische Sensibilität ist für kurze Zeit

Wasihrwollt.

Dieser Schocker ist rückhaltloser Klatsch - eine angriffslustige Strategie der Affirmation.

Ja Ja Ja.
Nein. Nein. Nein.

Diese Herzen dieser kühnen, leidenschaftlichen, umwerfenden, mächtigen, eleganten und vornehmen Widersprüche - this is the Look of Love.

90
60
90

oder

64
82
95

gestern heute gerade eben jetzt

Angstfrei, charakterstark, großmäulig und nicht so leicht auszurechnen.

Besessen, detailgetreu, leidenschaftlich. Überdreht, großzügig, launisch, frech und subversiv.

Zitat. Simulation. Affirmation. Osmose.

Feiern, trinken, reden sowieso - rock´n´roll-style-mäßig.

Tod.
Asche.
Phoenix.

Das ist Verfall & Aufrichtigkeit.

Q&A

Willing Davidson (The New Yorker): Are there German writers whose work should better be known in Germany?

Maxim Biller: There´s Robert Schindel, the Jewish Viennese writer, who wrote a marvellous novel, 'Gebürtig', a story full of weird and fascinating Jewish and German characters; and Jörg Fauser, a journalist and writer who learned more from F. Scott Fitzgerald than from Thomas Mann.

The Anthologist

"I’ve read too many difficult poems. I’ve postponed comprehension too many times. And I’ve written difficult poems, too. No more.

You’re out there. I’m out here. I’m sitting in the sandy driveway on my white plastic chair. There’s a man somewhere in Europe who is accumulating a little flotsam heap of knowledge about the white plastic chair. He calls it the “monobloc” chair. A word I’ve never used. Monobloc, no K. And I’m sitting in one. Its arms are blindingly white in the sun.

His name is Jens Thiel. God, I love Europeans. Jens. Especially the ones from smaller countries. Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium. I love those places. And of course: Amsterdam. What a great name for a city. Paul Oakenfold has a piece of trance music called “Amsterdam.” His name is Paul, and my name is Paul. Paul: What is that crazy U doing there? Paw — U — L."