Feminine...

Sensual
Grace
Love
Form
Truth
Allure
Beauty
Upbeat
Brisance
Radiance
Effortless
Vivacious
Fascinated
Electrifying
Spontaneity
Complicated
Understanding
Phosphorescence
Pulchritudinous
Perceptiveness
Perspectival
Challenging
Fascinating
Emanation
Embrace
Calming
Wattage
Mystery
Reserve
Modest
Touch
Quiet
Visual
Charm
Languid
Aesthetic
Foresight
Luminous
Sociability
Masculinity
Fashionable
Abundance
Welcoming
Movement
Curvature
Constant
Internal
Warmth
Perfume
Delicate
Dream
Fertile
Faint
Fire
Soft
Layers
Offering
Abandon
Hypnotize
Callipygian
Joyfulness
Porcelain
Orgasm
Creative
Possibility
Intelligence
Concealed
Gossamer
Yearning
Balance
Wonder
Fullness
Expectant
Dangerous
Vulnerable
Contrasts
Presence
Magical
Dance
Dark
Fun
Sea
Sky
Star
Earth
Water
Humor
Intricate
Beguiling
Obscure
Natural
Lunar
Night
Cool
Pretty
Caress
Careful
Elegant
Fragrant
Authentic
Cultivated
Refinement
Illuminating
Unadulterated
Unconventional
Accommodating
Encouragement
Enthusiastic
Emotions
Caring
Pride
Pretty
Girlish
Fluidity
Laughter
Liberated
Fairminded
Lighthearted
Self Possession
Strong Softness
Dark Sweetness
Melancholic
Heartache
Tragedy
Solitary
Artful
Hurt
Shy
Full
Smile
Gloom
Intuition
Profound
Wholesome
Eroticized
Visionary
Ecstatic
Genius
Chaste
Whore
Open
Eyes
New
Now
Yes




("Purple Petunias" by Georgia O'Keeffe)

That spark of originality...

...and the flames it spawned. Don't worry Melvin, it really is a form of flattery, (though I'm not exactly sure how sincerity factors into it).

We are well into the Post-Original era aren't we...

UPDATE: Oh my - the plot thickens... see more matches here and here.
(Good detective work Babycakes!)

("Isabella Match" 1960 Melvin Sokolsky; Salma Hayek/T Magazine 2011 Cass Bird)

App metaphors...

Never were the differences between Social Democracy and Capitalism made more clear to me then after playing with Eno's freely interactive Bloom and Trope apps immediately followed by a competitive two-player game of Tap Tap Revenge. The first two apps were someone's thoughtful attempt to address the quality of my present where as Tap Tap's goal was to trap me in a fast, ugly, all-consuming pop nightmare - a flashy battle where winners and losers are determined in seconds before you even understand the rules.

In my own idealized cookie cutter mind I can't help but see a geographic question forming: Would I rather spend my days wandering in a soothing hypnotic wash of aesthetic fades (Europe) or tensely tending the blaring end of a never-ending conveyor belt that spits neon balls in your face at an electrifying pace (USA)?

Nasrudin DitchWitch...

Something frightened Mulla Nasrudin as he was walking down a road. He threw himself into a ditch and then began to think that he had been frightened to death. After a time he became very cold and hungry. He walked home and told his wife the sad news, and went back to his ditch. His wife, sobbing bitterly, went to the neighbors for comfort. 'My husband is dead, lying in a ditch.' 'How do you know?' 'There was nobody to see him, so he had to come and tell me himself, poor dear.'

Jigger your thoughts. Admire the folds of reality. Stop thinking about money!
What are you doing?

The United States of Africa: A tragedy in many parts...

This fantasy blockbuster scenario made some sense last night, but seems more embarrassing in the cold light of today...

2030. The United States of Africa ratifies its constitution, firmly cementing its place on earth as "The New USA" (aka USA2). The USA2 original founders have been exiled to Ireland after an ugly public showdown (and ensuing ponzi scandal) between Nelly Mandela, Bono, and Galyna Qadaffi. Chinese and Indian investors have swiftly moved in and established a political party based around their huge agriculture interests that dominate the center of the continent. They establish a new founding board for the fledgling nation. The cheap labor that was thought to be available to maintain their vast crops and other vertically integrated industries, has dried up in the wake of swelling African pride swells and a raising quality of life index. No amount of number games can generate the highly profitable bottom lines that have been promised by the new USA2 founders.

Meanwhile, Old USA has continued its downward slump. The major cities have been abandoned since they were declared living targets by the United States of Islam (USI). The heartland of the country is plagued by lawless, rival militias who have destroyed the agricultural landscapes unleashing an impenetrable Zone of Terror. Others have moved to the California and Nevada "countryside" only to discover that the polluted deserts are in no way arable and that an a-religious, playful Burning Man spirit of "endless creativity" can only sustain so much momentum. Hunger and turmoil rule the land.

It's only a matter of time before an amendment to the USA2 constitution is passed allowing for "a period of benevolent slavery lasting no more than 50 years," which is widely taken as just reparations for the Old USA's earlier and far more brutal foray into human trade and indentureship.

Zephir's holiday...

If the moon is full and if the pirates have boarded and if music is over and if the pitch is perfect and if the computers are not ok and if the record is about a tree and if the world is rearranging its parts and if you can think about your hands instead of your head and if grapes stay round and if the beef is not sleepy and if the wheels stay hot and if the Bahrainis can channel the Bhutanese and if the turkeys are granted breast reductions and if the goodness and wonder of our best dreams keep seeping in and around the folds of shitty old reality, well then, this monkey just might start reeling in some mermaids. That's a lot of ifs, but what isn't?

Political evolutions...

I had a dream in which the words "progressive conservative" were spoken. They echoed into consciousness and naturally, over coffee, into a Google search. I was sure that such a clear oxymoronic phrase would describe a whole bunch of older conservatives who were tired of the whole "hawk" thing.

Sure enough, I found this blog entry entitled, "Help! I'm becoming a liberal!" which is well worth a read. (Note - the phase 'progressive conservative' is appropriately invoked in a comment.)

Our political parties are based on broad cartoonish divides, when we know that the major issues of our day are apolitical and can only be distorted and rendered dysfunctional by sustaining these imaginary polarities.

It's a beautiful thing when people catch a glimpse of their mirror image and are suddenly confronted with the option of putting down their rocks. I wouldn't want to live in a world where opposition and violence weren't options. But I abhor a world in which they are the knee-jerk choice.

("Combat des amis avec pierres" by Malick Sidibé)

Was he jolly?

Lately, while I should be doing other things, I find myself listening to old recordings of JFK giving speeches, or better yet, working the phone or talking into a dictaphone on his off hours. I can't explain it. It just makes me feel like there was once a better world. I know that's an illusion. Procrastination works in strange ways.

We all know that the Kennedys had that accent, but there was also a certain conversational cadence that men of the day had that fascinates me. This chat between Bobby and Jack could so easily be my father and his brother talking on the phone it's scary. Not the accents and not necessarily the word choices, but the cadences, and the attitudes, those were in the Northeastern ethers, in the men. And whatever it was, it has since moved on to another planet.

Here's Jack dictating a letter with some help.

Perhaps my favorite, here he is chewing some fall guy a new one for letting the press see a crazy expensive bed that was bought for Jackie to use on Air Force One. Silly bastard! The "Jordan Marsh" mentioned here is the name of a ritzy Boston department store that was bought up by Macy's at some point.

I wonder if JFK would let me run a cat house? Probably not. I don't have that relaxed command that only comes from Captaining PT Boats. Or was it the blue pills?

A pox of rocks...

So you and thousands of your fellow citizens are angry at your government and you want nothing short of total regime change. Got it. An ouster!

So what's your strategy? You mean your best line of offense in achieving this epic goal is to gather up some small rocks and throw them at tanks and shielded riot police? And you're telling me that this actually works? Seems to be the case...

I know I'm simplifying things, and to be clear I love how fundamentally theatrical this all is. Sure sticks and stones do break bones, but given the array of powerful weapons that are available and used in other parts of the world by angry citizens, I'm just amazed and inspired by the power of symbolic force and relatively benign gestures of violence I've seen in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East. In some ways the protests are for the camera; what physically happens outside the frame of the newsreel, doesn't matter so much. The protesters' real-world message lives or dies on its cinematic execution. Have I got this all wrong?

Trees lounge...

Trees are. And that's enough, if you want to leave it there.

The United Nations has designated 2011 the International Year of Forests. So use less paper and engage the trees in your life. They have a lot more to offer than mute witness to our folly.

(photo by Johannes Spalt)