good night and god bless

I think it’s time
(for me)
to get back
to doing
whatever it is
that I do

Coyote

The best Joni Mitchell song, performed by her best band – Joni, on stellar form, Pat Metheny, Don Alias on congas (sadly just passed away), and absolutely my favourite musician, the one to end them all, the entirely irreplaceable Mr. Jaco Pastorius….how can you fail to have a good weekend after this?

Ecce Homer

The classic Da Vinci study of human proportion, revisited in a contemporary setting…

Borges, gimme a break…

Funny how allegiance to, and immersion in, one particular body of work, no matter how all-encompassing it might appear, can end up seeming tiresome and one-dimensional. Almost as if one set out to discover all of the knowledge in the world, and ended up being greeted with shouts of “Oh no, not the same bloody Encyclopeadia again!”
With that in mind, I’ve pledged to broaden my horizons and explore other authors. This week I’m starting on the works of Pierre Menard, who, I’m told, deals with similar subject matter, but in a wry, self-deprecating style quite unlike that of Borges. I’ll let you know how I get on…

The Devil makes work..

…some pretty damn astonishing hand art…

Situation, indeed

Situation: someone is writing a novel in which one of the characters goes mad. During the composition he himself becomes mad, and finishes it in the first person.
… Kierkegaard, Papier II A 634.

A man sets himself the task of portraying the world. Through the years he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and people. Shortly before his death, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the image of his face.
… Jorge Luis Borges

Song for Pi

A piano solo, written by Pi to the first 1000 decimal places… I suppose it’s inevitable that it should resemble Bach – Pi was always in awe of Bach, as were most of the other mathematical formulae…

More tilt/shift stuff

Santa Monica Pier, by Olivo Barbieri…

I’m gradually getting up to speed on the intricacies of this photographic technique, due in no small part to a crash course from our circular friend. It’s all to do with optimising the depth-of-field, apparently – here’s a link to an informative page which the sane helpful young lady was good enough to point me at…

Tiny Tokyo

I’ve no idea how this tilt/shift effect is achieved, but it succeeds in making Tokyo look like a tiny scale model of itself…

Street camouflage

…an intriguing gallery of people disguising themselves in public places…see if you can find them here…

The very odd art of Ron Mueck

…thanks to bonho for the link…

Steve Martin’s script notes on ‘The Passion of the Christ’

* Love the Jesus character. So likeable. He can’t seem to catch a break! We identify with him because of it. One thing: I think we need to clearly state “the rules.” Why doesn’t he use his superpowers to save himself?

* Does it matter which garden? Gethsemane is hard to say, and Eden is a much more recognizable garden. Just thinking outloud.

* Our creative people suggest a clock visual fading in and out in certain scenes, like the Last Supper bit: “Thursday, 7:43 P.M.,” or “Good Friday, 5:14 P.M.”

* Also, could he change water into wine in Last Supper scene? Would be a great moment, and it’s legit. History compression is a movie tradition and could really brighten up the scene. Great trailer moment, too.

* Possible title change: “Lethal Passion.” Kinda works. The more I say it outloud, the more I like it.

* Is there someplace where Jesus could be using an iBook? You know, now that I say it, it sounds ridiculous. Strike that. But think about it. Maybe we start a shot in Heaven with Jesus thoughtfully closing the top?

* Merchandising issue: it seems the Cross image has been done to death and in public domain — we can’t own it. Could the Cruciifixion scene involve something else? A Toyota would be wrong, but maybe there’s a shape we can copyright, like a wagon wheel?

(oh, and a Judas update in today’s Guardian)

Something that made me laugh out loud today

A cartoon in Private Eye – can’t find an online pictorial version so you’ll have to imagine the scene…

…A cat sits holding a menu, at a table in a fancy restaurant, while the waiter prepares to take his order. The cat is saying:

“Oh, you just assume, because I’m a cat, I’m only interested in the fish menu! Well, for your information, I’m very tempted by the cassoulet of beans… I will, however, be having the fish tonight.”

Whack your boss

I get the feeling that more than a few of us could get a lot out of this little cathartic exercise. I know I have. My personal favourite weapon is the umbrella, for speed of dispatch and sheer elegance. Worrying thing is…I’m my own boss…

(may take a moment to load, but stay with it)

A little something for the weekend

It has come to my attention that there hasn’t been nearly enough Borges on here of late…

“…The general argument is not complex, even if the conclusion is monstrous. God, argues Nils Runeberg, lowered himself to be a man for the redemption of the human race; it is reasonable to assume that the sacrifice offered by him was perfect, not invalidated or attenuated by any omission. To limit all that happened to the agony of one afternoon on the cross is blasphemous. To affirm that he was a man and that he was incapable of sin contains a contradiction; the attributes of impeccabilitas and of humanitas are not compatible. Kemnitz admits that the Redeemer could feel fatigue, cold, confusion, hunger and thirst; it is reasonable to admit that he could also sin and be damned. The famous text “He will sprout like a root in a dry soil; there is not good mien to him, nor beauty; despised of men and the least of them; a man of sorrow, and experienced in heartbreaks” (Isaiah 53:2-3) is for many people a forecast of the Crucified in the hour of his death; for some (as for instance, Hans Lassen Martensen), it is a refutation of the beauty which the vulgar consensus attributes to Christ; for Runeberg, it is a precise prophecy, not of one moment, but of all the atrocious future, in time and eternity, of the Word made flesh. God became a man completely, a man to the point of infamy, a man to the point of being reprehensible – all the way to the abyss. In order to save us, He could have chosen any of the destinies which together weave the uncertain web of history; He could have been Alexander, or Pythagoras, or Rurik, or Jesus; He chose an infamous destiny: He was Judas…”

Google Moon

…A handy tool if you’re thinking of paying a visit to our celestial neighbour and need some help finding your way around. Actually, I never realised quite how close together all the Apollo landing sites were…oh, and, thanks to some Google wag, if you zoom right in you can see what the Moon is actually made of…

100 years later, still waiting…

Vladimir: What do they say?

Estragon: They talk about their lives.

Vladimir: To have lived is not enough for them.

Estragon: They have to talk about it.

Vladimir: To be dead is not enough for them.

Estragon: It is not sufficient.

(Silence)

Vladimir: They make a noise like feathers.

Estragon: Like leaves.

Vladimir: Like ashes.

Estragon: Like leaves.

(Long silence)

Vladimir: Say something!

Estragon: I’m trying.

…

Felicitations, Herbie

Time goes by, and by now this might seem like a fairly well-trodden path. Back in 1974 it was still looking for someone to set foot down it…and here he is, the reason why all of us ‘funky’ people are still gettin’ down with our bad selves. Funny, somehow, that it never got any cooler than this…

..>

Clue

From today’s Guardian crossword…

“Big Apple for New York, my son? (7)”

Caution! Don’t hit your head on this warning sign

…A sign in a shopping mall that warns people riding the escalator not to hit their heads on the sign warning them not to hit their heads on it…

…actually, there is a logical explanation – the sign is a ‘blocker’, designed to stop people from being tempted to lean over the side and wave to their friends…and end up being decapitated by the steel girder which intersects with the escalator just out of shot at the top left…so, it turns out that a little judicious recursion can be a lifesaver every now and then…