Number 1: Urinate on Jorge Luis Borges’ grave.
It may be necessary to read that brilliant, blind librarian’s works without considering his rather wholehearted embrace of Augusto Pinochet (and what he knew initially of the Operation Condor fascists’ methods is certainly up for debate, though he clearly found out eventually). The prose is no less brilliant for the misguided politics. He was rather renowned for being at a remove from the world in the first place.
In a clear attempt at gaining wider fame, a Chilean writer has published a book cover which shows him apparently whipping out the John Thomas for a go at Borges’ tombstone. (It’s really a water bottle, he says.) In an attempt to avoid giving the fellow or his Longfellow undue attention, here’s the photo, sans his name. If you want that, you can read the whole story here.
IN OTHER BODILY ARTS NEWS: Thanks to the Fortean Times, another bit of excretion/bad behavior masquerading as art. I can’t say whether one should or should not emulate artist Henri de Toulouse-Latrec’s adventure (in art, humor, or madness?), but I can say it brings home a characterization of the French I’ve personally seen ratified: the Gauls are indeed a scatological tribe.
A French friend of mine was notorious for having appeared on a tray for dinner completely unclothed, with an apple in his mouth and a sprig of parsley in his fundament. But can that hold a candle to Toulouse-Latrec’s beach excursion, as photographed by his friend in a sort of pre-Dada performance art?
