Oh, yeah: this lot

Their Like

Will never be seen again.

Wee sleekit, timorous, cowerin. beasties

This - in the line of odd metaphors - sums it all up, really. Now I'll never be President.

Or he'll make the beans with a different sort of mouse, or a less pungent mouse, and say "hey if you liked THOSE mousey beans, you'll dig these mousey beans! Yeah Wow man groovy, we know what you kids dig we are HIP to the SCENE and its all about love baby" but those mousey beans suck and they are nothing like the REAL mousey beans. The problem is that The Man did not put the mouse in the original mousey beans, and he has no idea how the mouse got in there AND he doesn't understand that it doesn't matter, that to attempt to replicate the mousey beans is worse than not doing it in the first place. He needs to find beans with cat, or moosey beans or beans with a Maccle in em. Then he will understand

Gearing Up

Space and time confusions. If they are indeed the same thing, two faces of, then the far away place is the past (the future having not yet left its trace) and the emotional impact of the past is always a calm (even bad experiences fade when compared to a current experience) so the past is safe, is welcoming, is desired.

Owls at Noon

There's no-one better than Chris Marker for delving into the maze of what constitutes authenticity and what reveals or obscures intention. This is a found photo, so the intention is all in the selection and the surroundings. Here, we have no surroundings.
I was looking for a picture of happiness (as in the Icelandic girls from 'Sans Soleil') but came upon this, instead.
I don't know whether this face is happy, or anxious. So: it exists on its own terms, cut off from everything, contextless and adrift. Does that diminish its power in any way?
It's about time we started asking these questions again.
Happy Memorial Day.

Downtime

It's a mistake to reveal your innermost secrets when enemies might be spying, however, those of us of the Moral Cargo Cult know that you MUST reveal these secrets, knowing them to be only the tip of the iceberg and therefore unusable and essentially unknowable. Well, this is my happy place, with the personification of my haggard self and its object of desire. Enough revealed? OK... so which is which? or, which meta universe are we operating inside? or is there even a second sidestep into the representation(s) of the artefact?
See what I mean?
Anyway, all kudos to Rotwang and a good old fashioned Carry On 'phwoor' for Brigitte Schittenhelm, for it is indeed she.
I mean, are you really going to lock horns with me on this battlefield?

Metal fatigue

This is a drawing of 'anger' by a deluded hippy. It fits. So, we are told this is a negative emotion, but only if it becomes ingrown, or veers off and hits an innocent target. yes, US jets are buzzing foreign powers in a habitual attempt to create an 'incident' and excuse for provocation. Well, as in the macro, so in the micro. It's very frustrating being lied to continually and given repeated put-offs, so, beware the great hippy spiral. Coming soon to a supermarket near you.
AAAar.

Culture and the ilk

What an odd weekend. The internet has substantiated memory. At least, I went out to see internet connected persons, spent two days in Phoenicia, NY and not only experienced several strange coincidences (why would Claude, the owner of the bar where a gig with a former neighbour of mine was happening, have to have gone to school on the street where my son was born in Paris?
Then I find - maybe - a version of a former housemate's album, lost in time, on a blog. Not striictly a coincidence, but rare.
Thinking about 1980-82 for me is like an old hippie daydreaming of 1967. dangerous.
so here's the d-i-y handmade cover of the egg store ilk from 1981. made upstairs from meself in Stoke Newington in a time of great solidarity and happiness... which seems, appropriately enough, to have come back into the psyche right now with enough force to be of great use in current struggles. Click on the title and scroll down for personal anecdote.
I guess that is what is meant by culture.

Not

Imagine our surprise, on opening our eyes.
Now, you all (y'all) may have the mistaken impression that I am a nice type of guy, in which, generally, you are not mistaken. But...
there are limits, and as General de gaulle once said, 'No gentleman is ever vulgar unintentionally'.
I won't sully this post with such words, they are much better uttered in the heat of the moment off a fluid tongue.
Are they (all) having a larf?! A good few people need slapping upside the head.
This show is NOT going on ebay and nor is it becoming a quiet and quaint little cosmetic diversion. There's a point to Indie and teeth, too.
Time to start biting (hands that feed), I guess.

War of Houses

We Drink Your Milkshakes!!!!!
No, seriously... it seems the gypsies must be on the move, but this time they are onward and upward per ardua etcetera
Enjoy the Ivied jpeg. It's huge if you click on it!

Warming Hearts

Continuing our far-sighted policy of taking credit for our students' accomplishments - this little trio have just been selected for the Barcelona International Film Festival in June.
This is more like it, let's leave politicking to the politickers, eh?

No Comment

Lost ships in the vanished Sea of Aral, or a metaphor for the American Educational System?

Crossroads - What Is School About?

Click on the blog headline to see the entire Advisory Committee's report.
Remember, these are just recommendations.
Nothing bad will happen unless you go back to sleep.
You might wake up minus one kidney, but don't blame the 'espontaneos', they're only doing what they must.

More excitinger news soon.

The Darkness

See the gap produced between China and South Korea. See Japan shine! Come back in thirty years and see if there's been any change. back to where it was just a century ago?
And what if that 150 year window was all we had to broadcast our light to the Universe? What chance some alien race would see it, note it and set out to meet and greet it? This 'window of opportunity' is what so vexes futurologists who are concerned with the problem of contact. But there's another angle to this, too, which doesn't involve UFOs and alien invasions: Which areas are dark now, and which are - as Brecht put it 'standing in the light'? where is all the electricity coming from to power those lights?
The current answer is: oil. Who is drinking whose milkshake?
And what happens when the lights go out?
It may be time to start brushing up on those good old fashioned literacy skills again...

Photogram of the Heart

Phillip Winter was a recurring character in many of Wenders' films. And this bloody winter has been recurring far too long now. Not that I begrudge the cold, or the landscapes, but the absence of sunlight and the obligation to get up at six a.m. is taking its toll. All this despite Barnsley beating Chelsea today.
All those little ice monkeys swinging from tree to tree have finally run out of branches and prepare to plummet like listless squirrels. It looks very much as though our week in New Mexico will have to be postponed for - as Weners again said - that most stupid of reasons: money.
Maybe just go for a walk with the polar bears instead. Because, incredibly, here's yet another topical photo from tha Svalbard Archipelago. Yes, Fishbowl, that one.

Wim Wenders Was Right

Getting rid of messy and cumbersome technology is in all our interest, I suppose, and perhaps here lies the future of cinema, though it's been predicted for decades, maybe even since Ancient Times (note caps...)
The question I would ask is this: which headsection was looking at Hilary, and which at Barack?
And what were they listening to?
Click on the headline, as usual, for the full article.

Give Him A Chance!

He's been in power less than a week and already he's become the political football, with H. C. saying she won't speak to him; B.O. saying he will speak with him; and (I think) McCain calling him 'that tyrant'. Give the man a chance to tyrannize, at least! I mean, wot's the bloke done so far? Any purges, putsches or ethnic cleansings? Hmm, thought not. Not yet, say the ever vigilant forces of reason. Then again, they think the best way to get 'us' to vote for HC is to show sleeping kids and ask who we want to answer the phone at 3 am.... well, I'd answer it meself, actually.
Anyway, here's Raul. (not to be confused with thr Real Madrid and Spain footballer, of course)

In From The Cold

Last night, despite threats of incipient inclemency, 80 people turned out for the 'Brittle Bones' show. Once inside, we ignored the weather and enjoyed the fine food, wine, music and company.
A huge shout to everyone who came along - we know who you are!
Many eyes were moist and I admit to tearing up a little when I saw all those old faces and younger ones too, perched on the stairs and having the fine time. Maybe THESE are the good old days? Wouldn't that be a kicker?
The foto is an artist's impression of driving home last night - except not dark.

Moi, apparently

Not that I mind, mind. The advantage of indentifying with an Ak-Tor is that you have several personae to play with. Aside from this one, I rather fancy his role in the excellent and sadly ignored 'Lantana' (see it, see it!) and, of course, his breakout role in 'Shine'. Pants or no pants, that is the question.

OK, smarty pants

You guessed the last spot quiz, so: where and what is this? Prize is a chunk of roadside ice from Route 28 laced with strawberry syrup. Yummy.