Frequently Asked Questions

"You're afraid to dive into the plasma pool, aren't you? You're afraid to be destroyed and recreated, aren't you? I'll bet you think that you woke me up about the flesh, don't you? But you only know society's straight line about the flesh. You can't penetrate beyond society's sick gray fear of the flesh! Drink deep or taste not the plasma spring! You see what I'm saying? I'm not just talking about sex and penetration, I'm talking about penetration beyond the veil of the flesh! A deep, penetrating dive into the plasma pool!"


How to contact me

Send E-mail me

(My Gmail account filters out an average of over 50 spam mails per day. Rarely, legitimate mail is automatically thrown there as well. If you are trying to contact me and don't get a reply, it's possible that Gmail filtered it out).

Site


Who runs this site?
The Plasma Pool is run by an Israeli fan called DonkeyKong.
This is not an official site and I have no relation or contact to Mr. Cronenberg. Please read the
disclaimer.


How can I contact Cronenberg?
I have no idea.


The political angle / The Israeli connection
Israel The Plasma Pool is the work of an Israeli fan. During its entire existence, I never got into politics. It's not a coincidence and it's not because I don't have opinions on these matters. It's because I believe that (some) arts, specifically the work of David Cronenberg, is universal and could be appreciated no matter where one comes from and what political or religious beliefs one holds. It's because I believe that these universal emotions join us together, different people from all over the world.

The political issues that Israel faces are very complicated and I understand how sometimes it's easy to see a distorted picture. Although I feel as some kind of a representative of my country and have an urge to discuss and explain some of the issues that are simply impossible to see and grasp from any other place in the world (especially if you live in a peaceful place and don't have to fight for your survival), at the same time I'm certain this was not the purpose of this site. The site meant to be global and enjoyable to people everywhere. It meant to join us all by universal and timeless art.


What can you tell me about the past of this site?
This site started its life in the beginning of March 2002, as a small private page with a few links to be shared. It rapidly grew and got packed, and a week later became a site.


What can you tell me about the future of this site?
I have no idea. It may last another week, it may last a lot more - I guess it depends on your enthusiasm and participation (polls, board, sharing), and I do mean that. I'm spending the time on this because of my appreciation to this great director, and because I think you guys (and gals!) find this site interesting. In order to keep it like that and me enthusiastic about it, I hope to see some participation, feedbacks and frequent visitors.
Judging by the amount of people that came in the first few days, I can definitely say there are many more Cronenberg fans out there than you might expect. I myself was very surprised, to tell you the truth, and that's probably what made me eager to continue developing it into what you see in front of you.

Cronenberg

Who is David Cronenberg? (or as some people asked me: "What is a Cronenberg?")
(Well, it's not the name of a beer...)
David "Dave" Paul Cronenberg was born on 15 March 1943 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to a journalist father and a pianist mother. He is a director, writer, actor, cinematographer, editor and producer.
He was also called: Dave "Deprave" Cronenberg, "King of Venereal Horror" and "Baron of Blood".
For a complete listing of his career, see IMDB.


Any info about Cronenberg's family?
David is married and has 3 children: Cassandra, Caitlin and Brandon.
Cassandra is his oldest daughter, from his first wife, Margaret, who gave him sole custody when she went to join a commune in California. Cassandra is also David's regular assistant since Naked Lunch (1991).
David is now married to Carolyn, and his 2 other kids are with her.
Brandon was a special effects technician on eXistenZ.
Denise Cronenberg is David's sister. She is also his regular costume designer since The Fly (1986).
Aaron Woodley is Denise Cronenberg's Son (David's Nephew).


Which movies that were offered to Cronenberg were turned down by him?
Return of the Jedi (1983), Flashdance (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984) (with Sylvester Stallone in the lead), Witness (1985), Top Gun (1986), Total Recall (1990) (12 drafts written by Cronenberg), The Firm (1993), The Juror (1996), Basic Instinct 2.


Who are Croneberg's favorite directors?
Federico Fellini.


Who are Croneberg's favorite writers?
William S. Burroughs, Vladimir Nabokov, Samuel Beckett, Martin Amis.


Does Cronenberg take drugs?
No.


Is Cronenberg gay?
No.

Movies


Crash: Can you translate the Swedish narration over the crash test dummies video?
(Pelle, from Sweden, translates and explains:)

"The dynamics, of even a small car crash, is very subtle and complicated. If one thinks of what is involved in a multiple collision, one can begin to understand the challenge the crash security engineers are facing. They wish to protect the passengers in all possible circumstances. To avoid being overwhelmed by the endless variations of a real crash we create a kind of microcosmos in the laboratory. But it is never forgotten that this microcosmos is a limited model which only brings about the simplest signs of what can happen in reality. In a similar fashion we have to pro---"

(The VCR gets stuck)

"---duce a reproduction of the human body, which is fitted with electronic sensory organs. In a similar fashion we have to produce a reproduction of the human body. This reproduction is fitted with electronic sensory organs. (sic) This is done in an attempt to record the many different kinds of chocks the crashes can produce. Now and then real human bodies are used in these crash studies. Particularly when the crash test dummies simple mechanics prevents the understanding of the test data. Obviously; for social and ethical reasons, the use of bodies is strictly controlled."

For a number of reasons I believe that this isn't the real voice over:

  • In Swedish it really sounds strange. Very much like a poor translation from English.
  • The mysterious repetition of the sentence during the VCR breakdown, where the two versions are slightly different.
  • Finally, I think it's just a bit too Cronenbergesque to be the real voice over.


    Naked Lunch: Can you translate the Arabic writing of Joan on the type-writer and Fadela's shouting?
    Since my knowledge of Arabic is close to nothing, I can't answer this question. What I can say, however, is that the accent of Fadela (Monique Mercure) is far from sounding like Arabic. Most of the words in Arabic are spoken "from the throat" - as oppose to the English language, in which most of the words are spoken "from the tongue". So, for instance, she uses the word ruch (meaning go and spelled here phonetically), in which the "ch" should sound like in the Polish name Wojciech. This pronunciation also exists in Hebrew and some other European languages (Dutch, Russian), but it doesn't exist in English, so Monique can't make it sound right.

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    Contributers

  • Schubi
  • Ashbrg (neural-surged)
  • Polityk
  • Apocalipstick
  • ReleaseCandidate
  • Cheeky Chicken
  • Pochtron
  • ashcroft
  • podulator
  • lamer_de
  • kompot
  • Ottoman
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