A
Abercrombie and Fitch
Surely there is nothing more melancholy than the thought
of a dead Abercrombie and Fitch model! Except perhaps the
thought of one dead model and one living one, best friends
since childhood, the model still living plagued with guilt—he
must be responsible for the death of his friend—digging
a grave, getting dirt all over the butt of his jeans.
Whenever I walk past one of the Abercrombie and Fitch
clothing stores, in particular one of the outlets that have
those shirtless boys standing at the store entrance, this
is all I can think about.
I am not sure if this is the desired effect, but on those
cold nights when there is a full moon glinting off the delicate
ridges of the boys' six-packs and the deep rosy pink of
their erect nipples, it's somehow as if those two boys are
the only boys left in the world, or guardians of the underworld,
or Sirens, there to lure you in, and, once you have been
lured inside, you'll forget your home and your friends and
yourself, until you eventually starve to death, just like
in mythology.
G
gay pornography, photographs of
In the history of gay pornography my favorite picture is
of this one boy, kind of slumped in a trashcan in an alley,
his legs open and splayed. His shaggy hair is very dark
and his skin is milk-bottle white. In the picture he's wearing
nothing but long white socks with two thick, vertical black
stripes at the top—the sweet obscenity of knees—and
a pair of black-and-white sneakers. The look on his face
is one of absolute abandon. There are other photos in this
spread, in which he eventually gets ravaged in the alley,
but I like this picture of him by himself, oblivious yet
expectant. The photo is dated 1980, the outermost tip or
extremity of the so-called Golden Era. After the boy died,
his parents donated the socks to the Museum of Boys. Experts
carefully catalogued the socks before placing them in a
glass case.
gay pornography, and U.S. imperialism
Although many people currently believe that the United
States of America is in a period of profound imperial decline,
and that proof of this state of decadence can be found in
the fact that nothing of any cultural interest whatsoever
is presently coming out of the United States, the one exception
in this case is gay pornography. In this area, the United
States still excels, and produces far more effective and
delightful pornography than, say, for example, Europe and
its so-called Euro porn. Gay pornography is the one area
in which the United States continues to display imperial
might; one can present this as evidence that the United
States is not in a state of decline, but on the contrary,
becoming more powerful by the day.
T
twins, the Bartok
Although our feelings about identical twins are well known,
as with almost everything, there are exceptions. In this
case, it is the Czech gay porn stars and identical twins
Jirka and Karel Bartok, whom we found charming in the movie
Double Czech. Admittedly, their charm lies mainly
in the fact that in this feature film the twins are repeatedly
tied up and sexually ravaged by non-twins.
The plot involves the Bartoks stumbling into a semi-enchanted
forest—as if the enchanted nature of their replicated
identity weren't enough! On entering the enigmatic forest,
the brothers are forced repeatedly (by feudal lords and
elegantly regaled militia) into wonderfully submissive and
degrading sexual acts.
Surely even Franz Kafka would have approved of this film,
though he probably would have thought that the movie had
not gone far enough: under his shrewd directorial eye, the
twins, after being tied to the tree and violently seduced,
would have been summarily executed, most likely beheaded,
a scimitar cleanly lopping off both heads simultaneously.
In fact, I don't think anyone could refuse the identical
charms of Jirka and Karel, not even President Bush, not
even his daughters, the so-called Bush twins, who are non-identical,
not only to one another but also to themselves, in the depths
of themselves; for the Bartoks invite destruction so joyfully,
hold hands so tenderly throughout every violation, and,
inviting us to do our worst, wait patiently side by side
for all of us, naked, in a forest, kneeling in the dark
mulch.
© 2008 Alistair McCartney
Alistair McCartney is the author of The
End of the World Book: a Novel (University of Wisconsin
Press, April, 08). The End of the World Book is
both a novel and an encyclopedia (A to Z) of memories, obsessions
and philosophical fixations, working in and building upon
the same metafictional terrain as Roberto Bolano and W.G.
Sebald. Praising this novel, Dennis Cooper, author of Frisk,
wrote, "If I’ve read a more deeply impressive,
beautiful, sweeping, mindful, and innovative first novel
than Alistair McCartney’s The End of the World
Book, I have no memory of it. McCartney is a writer
of peerless, brilliant originality and pure, giant talent."
Publishers Weekly described it as ". . . a
surreal and self-referential encyclopedia for the 21st century...
fans of alternative literature and Borges may discover a
kindred spirit." And The Los Angeles Times
characterized it as "...a giddy literary jape...'The
End of the World Book' ...is an interrogation of literature
-- how we think about writing, what we choose to write about
and why." The book was recently chosen to be featured
on Critical Mass, the blog for the National Book Critics
circle.
Currently at work on his next novel The Death Book:
A Comedy, other writings of his have appeared in Fence,
Bloom, James White Review, and numerous
literary journals, as well as in a number of fiction and
creative nonfiction anthologies, including Wonderlands
(University of Wisconsin Press) and Between Men
(Carroll and Graf.) He has also worked as a journalist,
writing on cinema, literature and visual art for the San
Antonio Weekly, the Advocate and other publications.
McCartney has taught in the Master of Arts Program at Prescott
College, Arizona and has taught creative writing and literature
in the BA Program at Antioch University Los Angeles and
Antioch Santa Barbara since 2002, teaching a wide variety
of classes in cross-genre experimental writing, Los Angeles
narratives, the personal essay, the craft of fiction, and
others. Originally from Australia, since 1997 he has been
based in Los Angeles.
