i'm disturbed

i just finished watching a movie entitled sick: the life and death of bob flanagan, supermasochist

bob was a performance artist born with cystic fibrosis. he was also a masochist, spending the last fifteen years of his life (give or take) with a sadist/dominatrix as his partner/mate. the movie to me was not shocking in that sense as i have intimate knowledge of that 'lifestyle'. he was a funny man, great sense of humor. he was someone i think i would have liked to have a cup of coffee with. he knew he was dying. he lived more than twice the lifespan people with cystic fibrosis are supposed to live. i was uncomfortable watching the very last stages of his life and his death AND i was uncomfortable with sheree rose his mistress (there is a scene where she keeps punching him in the stomach over and over. he is begging her not to. people with cycstic fibrosis have stomach and intestinal and pancreatic problems. this WAS abuse, not a doubt in my mind. that area should have been off limits. i had no problems with the cuttings or the play piercings or the ass whippings or the scrotum sewings or the penis nailings. they were ALL WITH his consent. there is also a scene where he is very close to death. she is filming him and asking him to say for the camera she is entitled to all of his possessions. on and on and on. NOT a very heartwarming touching moment in filmdom. another scene with her whining and complaining to bob that he no longer submits to her. he is obviously in a great deal of pain all of the time at that poin. his face is bloated and his hair is all matted. he answers her by saying that he can't even breathe much less submit). just as bob is dying sheree rose leaves the room. you don't know why but she's back in a flash with a still camera. she goes to work shooting his death. including several shots of his genitalia. i do NOT want to go for a cup of coffee with her. not in this lifetime or the next! lest you think ALL dominant woman are like that, let me reassure you THEY ARE NOT. oh i almost forgot to mention sarah the (then) 17 year old from canada who was granted a wish from the make a wish foundation. hers was to meet bob, which she did. under the special features on the dvd you see sarah as she was a couple of years ago (i don't know if she is still alive or not, but she was in 2003 and older than she even thought she would be). the other thing i liked was bob's creation of the invisible man...... you have to see him, i cannot do it justice.

bob's pain journal

bob's nyt obit

bob flanagan

Los Angeles writer and performer, Bob Flanagan (December 27,1952-January 4, 1996) was the author of several books of poetry and prose including The Wedding of Everything, Slave Sonnets, and the infamous Fuck Journal which was destroyed by its printer in India out of fear of reprisals by Indian customs agents. Selections of his last work in progress, Book of Medicine appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including High Risk (Dutton/Plume), Amy Scholder and Ira Silverberg editors and Best American Erotica 1993, Susie Bright, editor. Excerpts from "Pain Journal" have also been published in Unnatural Disasters (Incommunicado Press), Nicole Painter, editor and the magazine Fruit (#3). Flanagan performed throughout the U.S. often in collaboration with his partner Sheree Rose. Together, Flanagan and Rose combined text, video, and live performance in highly personal but universal explorations of sex, illness, and mortality. One of their major collaborations was "Visiting Hours" which premiered in 1993 at the Santa Monica Museum, California traveling the following year to the New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY (1994) and the Museum of the School of Fine Arts in Boston (February, 1995). This installation dealt with Bob's lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis in relation to his sexuality. In addition to performing in art venues, Flanagan also appeared on stage with Los Angeles Groundlings Comedy Improv Ensemble and in numerous films and videos including the Nine Inch Nails music video Happiness is Slavery and in Michael Tolkin's film, The New Age. He also the subject of Kirby Dick's 1997 documentary: SICK: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist and a 1993 RE/Search publication: Bob Flanagan: Supermasochist, a book of interviews with Bob and photographs by Sheree. A forthcoming book of his writings, The Bob Flanagan Reader, will be edited by Sheree Rose Levin.