tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31633462024-03-23T18:29:59.070+00:00Language 'is' a Virus"Paradise<br>
Is exactly like<br>
Where you are right now<br>
Only much much<br>
Better" <br>
<i>Language is a virus</i><br> <b>Laurie Anderson</b>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.comBlogger1077125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-36912051679284551592019-12-13T19:32:00.001+00:002019-12-13T19:32:33.310+00:00TV version of Illuminatus! trilogy plannedYou can find a lot more detail about this possible tv show, over at <a href="http://rawillumination.net/">RAWIllumination.net</a>, a good source for ongoing feedback and news.<br />
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You can find <a href="http://www.rawillumination.net/2019/12/illuminatus-tv-series-announced.html" target="_blank">the main announcement, here</a> (that includes the complete press release).<br />
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<br />Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-24460059112170277662017-09-25T20:58:00.001+01:002017-09-25T21:11:49.201+01:00A Curious LaunchI found it amusing when Stan Grof said that using astrology appeared even more contentious (to the modern intellectual mind) than using psychedelics!<br />
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As it happens, they won't use the traditional 'signs', during their course, that dominate trivial discourse of astrology. Their main focus remains on <b>the planets and the major transits. </b><br />
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Let's face it, most people celebrate their 'birthday' (aka Solar Return - when the Sun returns to the same part of the sky as during our birth). <br />
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Quite a lot of women (at least) remain aware of the Moon Cycle - when we call the 'opposition' of Sun and Moon a 'Full Moon' and you can clearly see it, even in a light-polluted city. And the 'conjunction' of Sun and Moon has the label 'New Moon' (but this absence needs a bit more calculation).<br />
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So far, no real argument. <br />
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Most of us have no knowledge of 'our' Venus Return (about once a year), or Mars Return (every two years or so), or Jupiter Return (every 11-12 years), etc, for instance. And we don't care. They actually signify as much (or as little) as your Solar 'birthday', but most us don't have time to calculate or discover such relationships. We just use that handy 'calendar' thing (e.g. sometimes your Solar Return may actually happen a day before or after your 'calendar birthday', but hey, who cares, right? People have their party on the nearest Saturday, or whatever.)<br />
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I find the slower-moving planets even more interesting (and that's most of what this course seem to cover).<br /><br />
Saturn Returns (29, 58, 84) relate to crucial moments. As we approach 30, many people put away childish things and start to take life (and their possible future) more seriously. At the same time, if they have committed themselves early on to things, that 'looming 30' can prove a moment when they kick off the limitations and start afresh. You may get married, or divorced.<br />
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No, I am not saying "Saturn made me do it!" These planetary cycles act more like clocks (think, the Sun and the Seasons, which appear indisputable). The Jupiter Cycle of conjunctions happens every 12 years of so, and by coincidence (ahem!) my Jupiter conjunction happens on the 28th of this month, two days after the course starts. I rolled back the clock to my previous conjunction, and <a href="http://maybelogic.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/incomplete-history-of-maybe-logic.html" target="_blank">found myself studying 'The Tale of The Tribe' with Robert Anton Wilson (October 2005).</a><br />
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Other Transits can come into account, too. The outer planets move even more slowly, and we rarely complete cycles. Uranus Return happens at about 81. You may want to consider the 'opposition' transit point at age 42. And so on.<br />
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Once you get to Neptune and Pluto, their movements seem more accurately represented by cultural shifts, rather than human life cycles. And this course intends to reveal the patterns that seem to correlate with such big correlations - like 'The Thirties', or 'The Sixties', or our current times. Wouldn't you find it interesting if the current nonsense of Brexit and Trump revealed connections to earlier parts of similar cycles of cultural shifts? <br />
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That it may then refer back to my own adventures (I was 21 in 1967) would prove a perk.Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-43311400066209720002017-09-25T17:49:00.001+01:002017-09-25T17:50:18.855+01:00archetypal astrologyGonna re-activate this old blog, as a notebook for the course I am about to start on, with Stan Grof and Rick Tarnas.<br />
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I did an intense period of work on astrology in the late 70s, so I have a good basic grasp of the language, symbols, mythical meanings, etc. I looked at the various processes, and procedures, the history and so on.<br />
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I even did charts for various friends who asked; I also studied well-known people, etc.<br />
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I looked at the charts for events, too, and this course is particularly interested in this kind of side of astrology.<br />
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Really looking forward to it.<br />
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You can find <a href="http://psycheandcosmos.com/?utm_campaign=PsycheCosmos01&utm_medium=newsfeed&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=qaboost" target="_blank">details of the course here.</a><br />
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Here you will find<a href="https://cosmosandpsyche.com/" target="_blank"> Richard Tarnas' website</a><br />
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<br />Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-39683413050543021982015-12-12T10:55:00.000+00:002015-12-12T10:55:10.038+00:00First a librarian, then an archivistSince I gave up show business (at the age of 51), and got my first 'proper job' in the local library, I have enjoyed this new phase of my life, and layer of skills. I don't have a professional qualification, but they have so de-skilled the library service that I feel entitled to loosely call myself 'a librarian'. After the first couple of years I found my way into the computer department (a DOS-based management system) so was in place for when the Library Service moved into a Windows environment, and for when libraries rolled out free internet access - at which point I described myself as the computer whisperer (as I didn't work in the IT Dept, but for the library service - more involved with the Human-Computer Interface than the technical side, but it gave me the opportunity to be an early uptaker of Internet - as part of my job!<br />
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Well, the library eventually 'let me go' at the age of 68, and I sort of retired. But then the non-animal circus I have been involved in so long offered me the job of creating an archive of their 30 year history.<br />
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For the last year I have been collecting up stuff, which is currently on display in a short-lived exhibition, is available on a newly-launched website here - <a href="http://www.nofitstatearchive.com/">www.nofitstatearchive.com</a> - and the paperwork will all get laid down in the Glamorgan Archives - where it will be stored for future historians, a hundred years from now.<br />
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So, to 'librarian' I have added 'archivist' in my cv, still without any qualifications at all....<br />
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I plan to have another go at 'being retired', at least until my 70th birthday in February 2016.Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-24800090415036350952014-11-16T19:21:00.002+00:002014-11-16T19:21:48.374+00:00Messing about with websites...<i>I have torn down the old website, rather than tinker with it. </i><br />
<i></i>Currently it has<a href="http://tobyphilpott.tk/" target="_blank"> a Home Page quickly made in Word (5 minutes)</a> and a link to a dynamic 'Brain' map which I may use to put some links and bits together with, before re-creating a new website.
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Back then, he even accompanied me up there in the snow (and this is in an area without even a mobile SOS signal, so that might have proved a bit reckless).<br />
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I also forget how quickly dogs age, because 3-4 years ago when we last went to the highest point for miles around, he was effectively in his teens, now he 'is' in his late-40s. <br />
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Still, yesterday I went without him, for the first time, and it was very misty, rainy so I didn't get another clear shot of the iron age hill fort, or anything. Hey ho - but some aerobic exercise.<br />
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For contrast, this is how I captured it last time, on a crisp winter's day:<br />
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And the old dog remains adventurous on brighter days, and walking along the level of the river, rather than up and down the hills...<br />
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Note: This blog got neglected in a flurry of other projects, but it is a diary going back aways, likely to get plundered for the more recent years of my autobiography (work-in-progress).Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-66309102922432835622013-04-17T18:35:00.000+01:002013-04-17T18:35:07.325+01:00If you're so clever, why aren't you rich?This perennial question does assume that the smart thing to do with intelligence is earn money, and to the extent that having money does free up your time, eventually, it could prove a good idea. However, if you sell <b>all</b> your time in exchange for money, putting off your thinking time, or your creative time, until you have 'enough', then maybe it doesn't seem such a good plan.<br />
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In the simple terms of IQ tests (whatever you think they actually measure) I score quite highly. I got a scholarship type pass to the 11+ exam (although that apparently had a bias towards boys), and on various self-testing scales I did pretty well (though such tests seem rather unreliable). When<b> Test The Nation</b> first happened I scored higher than anyone in the studio, and as high as the best on-line participant, but that test is not one recognised by MENSA, for instance. MENSA chooses people from the top 2% of the population, <a href="http://www.mensa.org.uk/iq-levels/" target="_blank">whichever test that gets measured by.</a><br />
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I only once met a group of MENSA members, and don't remember a particularly stimulating time, but I would not dismiss the possibility that not all members are too glum or serious for me. I appreciate that I might simply have been boring company for them. Who can tell? <br />
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I reckon I know quite a lot of smart people, particularly if we look at them through the filters of <b><a href="http://skyview.vansd.org/lschmidt/Projects/The%20Nine%20Types%20of%20Intelligence.htm" target="_blank">multiple types of intelligence</a> (cf: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences" target="_blank">Howard Gardner</a>)</b>, a model which seems to correlate with the world far better, as those earlier tests do seem biased towards literacy and numeracy, in spite of a certain number of spatial awareness elements, and didn't appear to consider excellence in arts of sports (for instance), or maybe relationships, or the ability to communicate, as forms of intelligence.<br />
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Although I generally lean towards text-based learning myself (after decades of putting myself through the circus skills hoops, to encourage the other aspects of myself) I still veer away from books that sound like this:<br />
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<i>"Despite the many specific disagreements that have marked the development of these theories of aesthetic and cultural postmodernism, their development has generally been contained within a horizon of consensus that has defined valid theories of postmodernism according to their deployment of methodological self-reflexivity, based (sometimes covertly) in the unconditional rejection of categories of totality, or totalization - a rejection that acts as a negative totalization itself."</i><br />
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This, from a professor of English - discussing the vivid and lucid writer William Burroughs, in <b>"Wising Up The Marks"</b> - a title that sounded sufficiently 'street' that I might find it amusing and enlightening.<br />
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No way could I study 'English' in such a context of abstractions and technical jargon (although I did find lighter patches in this book). That form of abstract, analytical study is what made Samuel Beckett sound unfunny, and Joyce 'difficult'.<br />
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The main problem for me, however, remains my dislike of tests. I don't like the experience of auditions, interviews, exams, tests or any of those events. Fear of failure, like everyone else (of course) plays a part in that - but also wanting to know who was so damned clever that they can set the tests.Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-16573846471940176002013-04-17T18:09:00.002+01:002013-04-17T18:09:43.084+01:00Hard to fool a cat...I love this movie.<br />
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I love Robert Altman, Elliott Gould, Raymond Chandler and the cynicism and world-weariness of film noir (and its deconstruction).<br />
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<b>And I love the cat.</b> Especially the gag about trying to fool the cat into thinking it was getting the right brand of food...
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<i>Note:</i> though it is an extended stoner joke from 1973, it has one extremely unpleasantly violent moment.<br />
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How weird that Elliot Gould is now "the man from Ocean's Twelve", not "the man from <a href="http://www.imdb.co.uk/title/tt0066026/" target="_blank">the movie M*A*S*H</a>" (long before the tv series).Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-24957622079843677712013-03-04T16:04:00.000+00:002013-03-04T16:04:35.903+00:00Why is asking so hard?I never felt comfortable with other people or society's rules. I thought I was surrounded by idiots. I couldn't even work out why I was on this planet. I didn't want a job, or property, or respect, or power, or privilege. <br />
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I immediately fell in love with the assorted Zen fools that I came across in the literature, and in Western culture the bohemians and tramps and others who simply did not share the values of those around them.<br />
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At the same time, I felt sad to be alienated, because when humans act kindly, they seem really great! I began to feel that in the 60s, when I also stopped feeling so alone, but that didn't really help me re-integrate with society, as I didn't display any musical or graphic talent that could be traded, for instance.<br />
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Street performing emerged from my defiantly spending my time on something I found interesting, and taking no heed for the practicalities of tomorrow. It was other people who spotted the potential, and started to offer trade-off payments in kind (food, shelter, lifts, clothing) in return for the entertainment value they perceived. I never managed to hustle my hat-passing, like some of the more efficient/proficient performers who came along later, and turned it into a real profession. I simply did my thing, and then told people that was all I did, and if they wanted to see me again, they could contribute, and that if they had no money I hoped they enjoyed it. And that's all. I have always been embarrassed to ask, and never could beg, for instance, I'd rather starve.<br />
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So everything in Amanda Fucking Palmer's wonderful TED talk rang bells for me, from the 'get a real job' jibes, to wondering whether I was somehow exploiting people and relationships, and whether it was fair to act 'as if the world owed me a living'. I went through all that angst, and it was only the warmth and reassurance of other people (the audiences and students) that convinced me I was genuinely earning my right to be here, to do play/work. And having regained my trust in people around me, other opportunities opened up. Please, especially if you are a creative person, give Amanda just under 15 minutes of your time.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://embed.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="560"></iframe>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-30288733856590356792012-11-05T22:52:00.003+00:002012-11-05T23:32:16.239+00:00The Science of MagicI saw an advert from Kenton Knepper, about some material he was offering on memory - and it was apparently stuff he prepared to show Psychology students at the University of Arizona.<br />
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Digging a little deeper, I found the course it was intended to be part of...<br />
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<a href="http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1809-the-culture-of-psychology-and-magic.html" target="_blank">The Culture of Psychology and Magic</a><br />
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And that article on Randi's site, further pointed to Anthony Barnhart's website/blog<br />
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<a href="http://www.scienceofmagic.org/" target="_blank">The Science of Magic</a><br />
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Where I found a link to an article by Teller, explaining how the principles of magic, field tested for centuries, can teach psychologists more than the inverse.<br />
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<a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Teller-Reveals-His-Secrets.html">http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Teller-Reveals-His-Secrets.html</a>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-54523791535235915402012-04-21T13:10:00.001+01:002012-04-21T13:32:35.368+01:00Testing, testingJust experimenting with using Personal Brain to navigate my website - testing Home Page code in Blogger. If it works here, then I may put it in place on the old website... Personal Brain helps organise the pages, and to the left of each box you'll find a link that takes you to the actual page. I will add more content to the bottom part of the frame, bit by bit. <iframe src="http://webbrain.com/brain/brain/6CD309D6-8AB3-83DF-11DB-33B51339ED7C/options/default" style="height: 600px; width: 600px;"></iframe>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-81408896357501038622012-02-22T23:09:00.007+00:002012-02-23T00:23:53.210+00:00Living on Borrowed TimeAs ever, John Lennon said it better than me (<em>see post title and YouTube clip</em>) - although I have managed to claw a few more years out of this lovely little planet, and the illusion of an individual life, than he did. Bless him.<br /><br />This morning, I found myself in a snarl-off about the job I have now put 15 years into, because although it seems that my fellow workers know what I contribute, the people who actually pay me don't seem to value the role that highly. Hey ho. I am past retirement age, so I should probably just stop grovelling and quit.<br /><br />I don't really care about pay-rates, but I like respect.<br /><br />Since I dropped-out of school (when everyone said "you wouldn't dare leave, think of your future") and <strong>I just had to call their bluff</strong> (even if I starved, as they implied) I have had the same approach.<br /><br />I remain a loyal and tireless worker for bosses who treat me with respect, but if someone implicitly threatens me with "think of how you would survive in the current economic climate" I just wanna go (I did that in the late 70s when the country was in crisis and someone thought they had the whip hand). <strong>I just walked away.</strong> I am still here.<br /><br />But, if this sounds like a negative rant, <strong>imagine this. </strong>When we were filming <strong>The Dark Crystal</strong> we reached the end of the day (18:00h) and had not quite captured something we had all been working towards through the afternoon.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCkpzFUefzxmkDGGJhK8y_AJdsm4a3ppVRJ-yqwsAdBETrgohDZ1eRG8GTej6fLQBxyuVuw4vHrDA7Do0IUjI4nu-ODTJW04K3nlgb3yXtib_DogwsvmLjji5dtHzfSjZIEIf0vA/s1600/JimHensonHeadshot.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 280px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 350px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712107407965506402" border="0" alt="Jim Henson - still sadly missed" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCkpzFUefzxmkDGGJhK8y_AJdsm4a3ppVRJ-yqwsAdBETrgohDZ1eRG8GTej6fLQBxyuVuw4vHrDA7Do0IUjI4nu-ODTJW04K3nlgb3yXtib_DogwsvmLjji5dtHzfSjZIEIf0vA/s400/JimHensonHeadshot.jpg" /></a> Now in the film business, if you go one minute over, all the unions claim another hour (at overtime rates). We were so close to getting the shot. Jim Henson announced that he couldn't afford overtime for 150 people, but he and Frank Oz wanted one more try at getting it in the can before we all went home. And, <strong>that's how beloved they were, as bosses</strong>, <em>every person in that room </em>turned a blind eye to their contracts, forgot their unions rules, and their tiredness and family obligations, and unanimously agreed to give it one more go, to get it right!<br /><br />That's good management. That's working towards excellence with mutual respect. That was my first ever proper job working in a hierarchy (taking orders) - because of my previous 'bad attitude' to authority figures. I guess it spoiled me for the 'real world'.<br /><br /><strong>RIP Jim, and thanks.</strong><br /><br />When I was younger<br />Living confusion and deep despair<br />When I was younger ah hah<br />Living illusion of freedom and power<br /><br />When I was younger<br />Full of ideas and broken dreams (my friend)<br />When I was younger ah hah<br />Everything simple but not so clear<br /><br /><em>Living on borrowed time</em><br /><em>Without a thought for tomorrow</em><br /><em>Living on borrowed time</em><br /><em>Without a thought for tomorrow </em><br /><br />Now I am older<br />The more that I see the less that I know for sure<br />Now I am older ah hah<br />The future is brighter and now is the hour<br /><br /><em>Living on borrowed time</em><br /><em>Without a thought for tomorrow</em><br /><em>Living on borrowed time</em><br /><em>Without a thought for tomorrow </em><br /><br />Good to be older<br />Would not exchange a single day or a year<br />Good to be older ah hah<br />Less complications everything clear<br /><br /><em>Living on borrowed time</em><br /><em>Without a thought for tomorrow</em><br /><em>Living on borrowed time</em><br /><em>Without a thought for tomorrow<br /></em><iframe height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/28XqVtSL1-c" frameborder="0" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><em>"...all I've got to bother about is standing up..."</em>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-54380764073206957202012-02-13T16:27:00.010+00:002012-02-14T01:31:20.648+00:00So far, so good.Reasons to be cheerful: <br /><ul><br /><li>My birthday may still be associated with chocolate and cherubs, satin hearts and red balloons, sloppy romance and spending money - but <strong>at least it's a secular day now</strong> - all the religion squeezed out of it. I don't think the Church ever felt comfortable with Valentinus the Gnostic</li><br /><br /><li>In 66 years I have travelled 38,504,400,000 miles round and round and round the sun, at 66,000 mph. And that doesn't allow for other movements (sun around the galaxy centre, etc)</li><br /><br /><li>They didn't retire me yet, so I can still afford teeth, and shoes, and that sort of thing - before I fall into the black pit of the tiny pension</li></ul>Here's Eric to affirm the wonder of it all:<br /><iframe height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/buqtdpuZxvk" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br />And if you didn't get all those facts and figures, or wonder how accurate they are, this link takes you to <a href="http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0312/b.html">a deadpan analysis of the details</a><br /><br />This winter I decided to work on my old man archtype (I get bored with all this 'you don't look yer age stuff') <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRlTbQ-xODHR_M7QaC17T65oa8A7sm05oMC6lyuYL2eWKFtEV0-4IMiWj2s7u36nA753UjD8edU3aWzhPQJQTlaVptIhOWue_2hp9lsEVkxwFYbCKB5wiDmhb2nFRjGJtt_s9S8Q/s1600/Older+self.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 306px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708673087202191554" border="0" alt="On the whole, I'd rather pose with a spliff" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRlTbQ-xODHR_M7QaC17T65oa8A7sm05oMC6lyuYL2eWKFtEV0-4IMiWj2s7u36nA753UjD8edU3aWzhPQJQTlaVptIhOWue_2hp9lsEVkxwFYbCKB5wiDmhb2nFRjGJtt_s9S8Q/s320/Older+self.JPG" /></a> but it doesn't involve much more than letting the beard grow out (that fools most people, for some reason).<br /><br /><p><em>When George Burns was 93 he was at a party. It was after midnight and he had a whiskey in one hand and a cigar in the other. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaV5KKted9Q2rOP7pJ1RnUX_lTCEQmYzgmAa9UuW6QmngSuBkZ37V_XxYpSmIbVna2wIqaG7Jxp89U5kcXLiMp6xl9bKk13xxmjcEciL25EnTPAC2yaKRdNfmMgEQbVakgYCGRoQ/s1600/gb.bmp"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708661028319739922" border="0" alt="George Burns" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaV5KKted9Q2rOP7pJ1RnUX_lTCEQmYzgmAa9UuW6QmngSuBkZ37V_XxYpSmIbVna2wIqaG7Jxp89U5kcXLiMp6xl9bKk13xxmjcEciL25EnTPAC2yaKRdNfmMgEQbVakgYCGRoQ/s200/gb.bmp" /></a></em><br /><br /><em>Somebody asked him "What does your doctor say about your lifestyle?" and he said "Oh he died long time ago."</em> </p>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-10524937471069868062012-01-10T15:32:00.017+00:002012-02-03T10:29:12.719+00:00MultiMedia and the Avant-Gardes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMXtp8nQyvvarUBvbOPmzx5SZX62rIJw_3ekcaU_T0VWRwxzebu_4DtYhi30r-HFmGeI79JKTNAvwkTy_MxOZhqGMjfVYL3xi1LVY8YyefKLXUJO7F5CKf4JjCAZA6apFLIXw9eg/s1600/avant.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 154px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696028887530528162" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMXtp8nQyvvarUBvbOPmzx5SZX62rIJw_3ekcaU_T0VWRwxzebu_4DtYhi30r-HFmGeI79JKTNAvwkTy_MxOZhqGMjfVYL3xi1LVY8YyefKLXUJO7F5CKf4JjCAZA6apFLIXw9eg/s200/avant.jpg" /></a>I had to help write an essay about multimedia performances a few years ago, and found a wonderful book by <a href="http://www.richardkostelanetz.com/">Richard Kostelanetz </a>which gave me a clue to how to shape the piece.<br /><br />I have just bought it through AbeBooks for a very good price, as the Amazon going rate seemed much higher (£20-30 for the paperback).<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes.</span></strong><br /><br />Mr Kostelanetz has written a myriad of fascinating material, and <a href="http://www.richardkostelanetz.com/">his website is definitely worth a visit.</a><br /><br />Admittedly, I bought the first edition (1993) - the one that inspired me - and he has updated the second edition (2001) - with the cover shown here.<br />Indeed, he has offered some <a href="http://www.richardkostelanetz.com/examples/dag3.html">draft updates</a>, should a third edition ever appear.<br /><br />What I found, to help me shape the essay/thesis (with a deadline of a week!) was his reference to <span style="color:#ff0000;">mixed-means theatre. </span><span style="color:#000000;">He analysed the various forms that he covers with that term (Happenings, stage performances, kinetic environments, etc) using what I assume he got from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_unities">Aristotle's rather rigid 'unities' for theatrical performances</a>:</span><br /><br /><br /><ul><br /><br /><li>The unity of <strong>action</strong>: a play should have one main action that it follows, with no or few subplots.</li><br /><br /><li>The unity of <strong>place</strong>: a play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place.</li><br /><br /><li>The unity of <strong>time</strong>: the action in a play should take place over no more than 24 hours.</li></ul>However, to describe the wider variety of audience, performer, creator interactions of mixed media / multimedia performance (including circus, in my terms) he offered this table:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXd94hvSjGI74Xp6820tEAx-Pw_h0pHfh2odbaQmHd0Qfz1U3P9lz6GSV1BoL9_-OCCRZM6QI0M6LfMp43xrtSYmfVZFiRXNjHQQjaRwiSWtAhSWzuTj3evzGmoDq2Z7E-zWmYg/s1600/kostelanetz.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 106px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696036636313959666" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXd94hvSjGI74Xp6820tEAx-Pw_h0pHfh2odbaQmHd0Qfz1U3P9lz6GSV1BoL9_-OCCRZM6QI0M6LfMp43xrtSYmfVZFiRXNjHQQjaRwiSWtAhSWzuTj3evzGmoDq2Z7E-zWmYg/s400/kostelanetz.jpg" /></a> And that gave me all the structure I needed to help my friend shape his thesis. We simply worked through all the practical projects and shows he had done, and described them as involving:<br /><br /><br /><ul><br /><br /><li>open or closed <strong>space </strong></li><br /><br /><li>fixed or variable <strong>time </strong></li><br /><br /><li>fixed or variable <strong>actions.</strong></li></ul>So I owe Mr Kostelanetz quite a bit (and the library for having a copy of his book available at the time).<br />On top of all that, I love dictionaries, and this remains <strong>a treasure trove of cross-references</strong>, <em>eye-openers</em>, and other fun. He doesn't only cover some of my own favourite artists: Duchamp, Cage, Jarry, Joyce; but other perhaps less expected ones like Burroughs, Dylan and Bucky Fuller; and also genres from Performance Art to Punk Rock to Hypertext, and groups like Fluxus and Dada. <br /><p></p>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-14283902428023925312011-12-15T14:28:00.012+00:002011-12-15T15:34:30.664+00:00Language as a virusReading <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Word-Search-Origins-Language/dp/0670034908">The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language</a> - an overview on the current theories of language evolution - and felt very amused to find the model of <strong>language as a virus</strong> now having some currency among 'serious researchers' - given that the title of this blog comes from such a disreputable source as William S. Burroughs, based on his studies with Korzybski.<br /><br />Perhaps his texts full of taboo subjects, grotesque and diseased images elicited an ugly association of the word 'virus' which hid the fact that he meant to indicate the method by which language appeared to replicate itself (something like what we now call 'memes').<br /><br />You can find WSB discussing it in one of his less scary texts - <strong>The Job: interviews with William S. Burroughs</strong> - in the section called <strong>Playback from Eden to Watergate</strong>.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJL9_YBLLM1SmIIXfrPbRP5LbDuA0fTN-81SKbBZd2NJvFAzf_jY0c6jZ-ctNTb6q3WiU7KOE7tSDPOAyCPwWnfdkwoBJ_dcaYDk-xWtwFFo_LKpoO2BuqtTW_zWrp02CTzExEg/s1600/word_virus_us_grove_1998.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 275px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686374880021312914" border="0" alt="WSB and the Word Virus collection" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJL9_YBLLM1SmIIXfrPbRP5LbDuA0fTN-81SKbBZd2NJvFAzf_jY0c6jZ-ctNTb6q3WiU7KOE7tSDPOAyCPwWnfdkwoBJ_dcaYDk-xWtwFFo_LKpoO2BuqtTW_zWrp02CTzExEg/s400/word_virus_us_grove_1998.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#339999;">"My basic theory is that the written word was actually a virus that made the spoken word possible. The word has not been recognised as a virus because it has achieved a state of symbiosis with the host, though this symbiotic realationship is now breaking down, for reasons I will suggest later."</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#339999;"></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">So anyway, without getting too technical, I flipped open p. 234 of the paperback edition of <strong>The First Word</strong>, to read:</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#66cccc;">"Kirby and a number of other researcers find one metaphor especiallly useful for thinking about language: imagine that it is a virus, a nonconscious life-form that evolves independently of the animals infected by it. Just as a standard virus adapts to survival in its physical environment, the language virus adapts to survival in its environment - a complicated landscape that includes the semi-linguistic mind of the infant, the individual mind of the speaking adult, and the collective mind of communicating humans.</span><br /><span style="color:#66cccc;"></span><br /><span style="color:#66cccc;">According to Terence Deacon, language and its human host are parasitic upon each other. 'Modern humans need the language parasite in order to flourish and reproduce just as much as it needs humans to reproduce.' "</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Indeed do artists get there first. </span><br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">So anyway, Korzysbski had lots to say about 'language hygiene' (or thinking clearly) just as Burroughs adopted the cut-up method to reveal underlying assumptions, prejudices and styles.</span><br /><br />Count Alfred Koyrzybski - a marginalized, ignored or forgotten person in the main - offered a set of tools for eliminating sources of error in thinking and speaking, which would have not made him popular with the kind of people who fund research, or politicians and leaders, or advertising execs, or religious types, or... Well, you get the idea. I happen to think he had a point, and quite a few of his tools have become adopted by people without awareness of the source (perhaps).<br /><br />We use 'air quotes' for dubiously used words; many scientific studies now have started to merge with the use of the hyphen (neuro-linguistic studies, socio-biological) etc, etc. The whole area of study now called NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) - whatever your reaction to those words - remains a study of how words affect us and our belief systems, and how we might need to change the words we use to think about things, to produce real change in the world. And so does the movement called Political Correctness.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Symbolic-Species-Co-Evolution-Language-Brain/dp/0393317544">Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain </a><em>Terence Deacon</em><br /><br />This review on <a href="http://mypage.iu.edu/~shetter/miniatures/deacon.htm">Language Miniatures</a> had a useful brief summary:<br /><span style="color:#33ccff;"><em>Copyright © 2001 by William Z. Shetter </em></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">"But is this perception really all that wide of the mark? Suppose we compare a language with something that really does have animate existence. Let's choose viruses: </span><br /><br /><ol><br /><li><span style="color:#33ccff;">Like a virus, a language is an adaptive entity evolving with respect to its human hosts. </span></li><br /><br /><li><span style="color:#33ccff;">Modern humans need this language parasite in order to flourish and reproduce. </span></li><br /><br /><li><span style="color:#33ccff;">Humans ensure that languages, like viruses, are successfully replicated and passed on from host to host. </span></li><br /><br /><li><span style="color:#33ccff;">The earlier the age at which a language or virus is acquired, the more success it will have (given the simple fact of human mortality) in reproducing from generation to generation. So language infects young children. </span></li><br /><br /><li><span style="color:#33ccff;">Languages/viruses are highly organized and passed on as a complete, integrated working system, not as a collection of words/genes."</span></li></ol><span style="color:#000000;">And here - at </span><a href="http://on-memetics.blogspot.com/2011/07/simon-kirby-language-organism-video.html"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>On Memetics </strong></span></a><span style="color:#000000;">- you will find a brief commentary on a video by Simon Kirby</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#339999;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.” AK</span><br /><br /></span>Too many words, too little time. In terms of 'mental hygiene', of course, most forms of meditation seem aimed at quietening the <em>chattering monkey mind</em> - because when that compulsive inner voice stops we might just catch a glimpse of the world...<br /><br /><span style="color:#339999;">“Modern man has lost the option of silence. Try halting sub-vocal speech. Try to achieve even ten seconds of inner silence. You will encounter a resisting organism that forces you to talk. That organism is the word. “ WSB</span>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-13963178726217949582011-12-12T14:12:00.008+00:002016-10-24T01:52:31.385+01:00Maps and Models and Meta-languagesI just read a quirky and entertaining book about maps and how they affect how we perceive the world around us - by a self-confessed <a href="http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2010/01/20/book-review-map-addict-by-mike-parker/">"Map Addict"- Mike Parker.</a><br />
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It's an excellent read, and very stimulating to thought and further exploraration. He has a particular fondness for Ordnance Survey maps of the UK, but also covers local maps, rude street names, etc - and all the way out to world maps.<br />
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I felt sorry that in discussing world maps, where he pointed out the limitations of both the <strong>Mercator projection</strong> (with which we all feel familiar, in spite of its distortions of land size) and the <strong>Peters projection</strong> (which gets areas right, but appears downright ugly, and distorts the shapes of the landmasses - terribly PC and all that, but horrible). We traditionally draw these with The Atlantic in the middle, which emphasises the apparent importance of Europe and the USA, and with North at the 'top', which also has political implications. <strong>The Upside Down map</strong> created by someone from OZ certainly exercises the mind.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnAyu3X44GHeeb5Lc3cMEdo5QOkHThkWeE1ZcfU4IJg5jZ08YooNS_8Z-peSVyo82rNqvaX4n_sfG_1bLwe49OPMClbb90rbFZMxBUkldVUOGhn1VM-GhGcdMfoE-h010r-8LRaA/s1600/upside-down-world-map-32509-lg.jpg"><img alt="Upside Down World" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685246285322020946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnAyu3X44GHeeb5Lc3cMEdo5QOkHThkWeE1ZcfU4IJg5jZ08YooNS_8Z-peSVyo82rNqvaX4n_sfG_1bLwe49OPMClbb90rbFZMxBUkldVUOGhn1VM-GhGcdMfoE-h010r-8LRaA/s400/upside-down-world-map-32509-lg.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 278px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />Of course, it perpetuates the misleading idea of 'up and down' which Bucky so disliked (in Cosmos you only find 'in' (coming <em>in</em> to land on a planet) and 'out' (he suggests you should think of looking <em>out</em> at the stars, not 'up'). <br />
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5srI9vL5RZQfcn6WfhGH4_i5BXNCwRn3fuq_h81CqPKlM0lgx9pu03v9zFGIW2P6LJ74KblEkKak1C9-TawDojh3Toe4j0yW76y14ZeVMyNFmldKGBJ7txq1k3Imfmh8oU9xNA/s1600/map-buckminster.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685247651481887170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5srI9vL5RZQfcn6WfhGH4_i5BXNCwRn3fuq_h81CqPKlM0lgx9pu03v9zFGIW2P6LJ74KblEkKak1C9-TawDojh3Toe4j0yW76y14ZeVMyNFmldKGBJ7txq1k3Imfmh8oU9xNA/s400/map-buckminster.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 194px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br /><strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_map">Bucky Fuller's Dymaxion map</a></strong> may look very unfamiliar (and seeing things afresh might prove important in itself) but it does not distort landmass area or shape, it does not have any up or down, north, south, east or west, and it can actually be folded to make a good simulation of a globe (unlike any other flat map). <br />
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As Bucky disliked the idea of nation states, he preferred that his map of Spaceship Earth not get divided with national or political lines, and so, for all its value, it has not been adopted by the United Nations...or many people, indeed, who still prefer the misleading map they grew up with.<br />
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Similar discussions could follow, on how resistant we can all prove to any kind of change to the models and maps we use to simplify and understand the world. Changes in language can perhaps align us better with the world out there, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller#Language_and_neologisms">as Bucky suggested </a>(teaching your children about <em>sunrise</em> and <em>sunset</em> continues the incorrect perception of the sun going around the Earth, for instance, so he suggested <em>sunsight</em> and <em>sunclipse...</em>and how about 'going outstairs' and 'instairs'! :-) <br />
Not sure if animated GIFs work in Blogger, so <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dymaxion_2003_animation_small1.gif">here you will find the link to bring this pic alive!</a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwyGulsnmVE7mLqnYyg6hFmrMWnxfUrWpreSPlkkFwz0R9fsqF1eQB-xTffY6GQXpbl6OUFs58LAHy6zK-uCcB2byRx0Vd5sDkcsurISaJ-f9U-6JB1GY2_SJEgv7toADBGTwDA/s1600/Dymaxion_2003_animation_small1.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685253805287193650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwyGulsnmVE7mLqnYyg6hFmrMWnxfUrWpreSPlkkFwz0R9fsqF1eQB-xTffY6GQXpbl6OUFs58LAHy6zK-uCcB2byRx0Vd5sDkcsurISaJ-f9U-6JB1GY2_SJEgv7toADBGTwDA/s400/Dymaxion_2003_animation_small1.gif" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 235px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 364px;" /></a> <br />
However weird some of his suggestions, they seem clearer than people in the Northern Hemisphere thinking of Australians as 'being upside down'. But hey, I don't hold my breath waiting for such quirky uses of language to catch on. Not until we have spent some time in space stations, at least.<br />
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<a href="https://www.artsy.net/artist/r-buckminster-fuller" target="_blank">Bucky artefacts at Artsy</a> [updated Oct 2016]<br />
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<br />Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-68538089534114727032011-10-21T17:44:00.000+01:002011-10-21T18:44:59.724+01:00Voodoo EconomicsI am all for the various Occupy groups drawing attention to greed and corruption, etc - but I am still waiting to hear what solutions would satisfy them. <br />
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OK, taxing the rich, capping the maximum salaries, doing something about unearned bonuses, etc. Fair enough. <br />
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Unfortunately, as far as I can see, people have also maxed out their own credit, and seem to prefer the model of 'living well' - resisting the idea of frugality, tightening yer belt, rationing - sounds like 'socialism', maybe. <br />
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However, I still have confidence in Bucky Fuller's calculations that we already have enough resources for <i>everyone </i>to live comfortably and well, but the resources need redistribution.<br />
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<a href="http://www.billhicks.com/">Bill Hicks</a> put it clearly: <br />
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<em>I had a vision of a way we could have no enemies ever again, if you're interested in this. Anybody interested in hearing this? It's kind of an interesting theory, and all we have to do is make one decisive act and we can rid the world of all our enemies at once. Here's what we do. You know all that money we spend on nuclear weapons and defense every year? Trillions of dollars. Instead, if we spent that money feeding and clothing the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded ... not one ... we could as one race explore inner and outer space together in peace, forever. </em><br />
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So I guess we need to tackle more than the money men. When I was a kid in the UK I thought it would have seemed like a great and bold move for the UK to unilaterally disarm, and join the small nations who do not spend huge sums on nuclear weapons that no-one was ever going to use. It took a couple of decades for the USSR to collapse. We spent unmentionable amounts of money making arms that would never ever get used - meanwhile dismantling the National Health Service and other great supports for all citizens. <br />
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The stupidity of all that still appals me. <br />
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<span style="color: red;">I think we need something drastic.</span> If we really did consist of 99% of the people, then the <b>Permanent Universal Rent Strike</b> would work. We all just stop paying mortgages and rent. What can do 'They' do, evict us all? <br />
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Then we have the <b>Permanent Universal Tax Strike</b>, until governments begin spending what they collect on the stuff we actually want. <br />
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Alternative currencies and LETS schemes, etc - trading skills and materials without them passing through money channels. <br />
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We might consider forgiving ourselves our debts, just as we write off Third World Debt. We just all declare ourselves bankrupt, and the debts unreclaimable. <br />
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<span style="color: red;">Just riffing, you understand. I don't really expect 99% of the people to act together, sadly.</span><br />
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'They', the 1%, after all, carry on playing the 'print more money' model (in electronic versions) knowing full well that devalues what remains in circulation. They play at Voodoo Economics and convince us that money 'is' finite, resources are too limited, and all that.<br />
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[Update] Here's food for thought (thanks to Vincent for the alert): <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html">Revealed, the capitalist network that runs the world</a>, from the New Scientist.Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-61445767101213014522011-09-05T13:30:00.004+01:002011-09-05T13:48:06.766+01:00Pyramid sellingI have no idea how one goes about 'monetizing' a blog. Most of what I read sounds like pyramid schemes, multi-level marketing, chain letters, etc. Not something I want to get involved in.
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<br />I guess if I could find some content that I thought might actually appeal to a wider audience then I would feel OK about attempting it. I suspect my own interests remain too obscure.
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;">One Point</span>
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<br />Anyway, for now I decided to set up a new blog which would work as a nodal point for all my scattered material. I won't completely stop posting to the specialized ones, but I think it might be time for a new 'generalist' blog.
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I have set up </span><a href="http://tobyph.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size:130%;">Time Piece</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"> (it may still change its name) as a place where I can have links out to all the old experiments, defunct blogs, bits and pieces scattered about - for my own convenience - and <em>try out the new Blogger interface</em> (who knew that Blogger had such a small share of the market place now?)</span>
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<br />Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-66976696038892537052011-07-20T01:11:00.005+01:002011-07-20T02:10:01.668+01:00Prurient interest<div><b>Can you imagine how the NoTW would have reported on this case?</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>It seemed odd to hear Rupert Murdoch proclaim his love of ‘investigative journalism’ when exactly that has exposed the flaws in the media he supported.</div><div><br /></div>I must admit, one thing that struck me was how polite we all seem to be, us and our liberal society, with all our politeness and political correctness. Many of us appear restrained from comment by our ideas of ageism, sexism and racism, for instance – but his paper never was. <div><br /></div><div> They’d probably have kicked off with asking how an ugly old rich man ends up with a beautiful, intelligent, feisty, oriental wife young enough to be his grand-daughter. They were proud of their campaigns against known paedophiles so they could surely not have resisted pointing out that he would have been about 50 when she reached puberty.</div><div><br />Don’t give me that “they love each other” crap. That wouldn't play.</div><div><br /></div><div>I bet the NoTW didn’t say “leave them alone in peace” when John Lennon decided to divorce his English wife and marry an oriental woman older than himself. </div><div><br /></div><div>Or when Woody Allen married his (much younger) oriental adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn – which the NoTW could probably pitch to the prurient reader as both incest <i>and</i> paedophilia.</div><div><br />The bottom line for me, in my disgust at this situation, remains the hypocrisy of pandering to people’s lowest interests (because, yes, the people who regularly bought the paper do certainly have <i>some</i> responsibility in the matter). </div><div><br /></div><div>The big difference to me remains the one between a<b> panderer</b> (the flatterer who tells people what they want to hear, without actually believing it themselves – a two-faced person) and someone with sincere, strongly-held, even if (to you and me) misguided beliefs. I have no desire to drag people into my value systems, so if you think Jesus lives on a flat earth (or voted Conservative) it has little interest to me.</div><div><br />What I seriously dislike remains the <b>hypocrisy of pandering</b>...writing invasive, unpleasant crap - low-brow, shit-stirring, gossip - and appealing to people’s lowest instincts, just to sell papers (get rich) and feel influential, while sneering (secretly) at how dumb your punters are.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In a free society (whatever that means) I think anyone retains the right to campaign for their strongly-held beliefs, even as part of a small minority...but to urge the crowd into hysterical mob behaviour and beliefs (while yourself not personally sharing those beliefs) still seems outrageous.</div>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-36899980614368328062011-07-01T15:29:00.023+01:002011-07-01T16:34:12.421+01:00Passing the Hat<strong>Covent Garden Hat Fairs in 1973-4</strong><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfbQdk-Q6PojrOuK5QN6h2u82rRdOgBfNg0z-nOBbrRefGUNhaeN14_8wAXjv4PErQNdB-y6eSyWazva-TsCTGFrUlFT0aRPYfPm08e6qyfwfNDUQnbst4Rx7iD-jhTCFs69xQQ/s1600/steel+band.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624398299931145426" border="0" alt="Steel Band" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfbQdk-Q6PojrOuK5QN6h2u82rRdOgBfNg0z-nOBbrRefGUNhaeN14_8wAXjv4PErQNdB-y6eSyWazva-TsCTGFrUlFT0aRPYfPm08e6qyfwfNDUQnbst4Rx7iD-jhTCFs69xQQ/s320/steel+band.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYR1J09y_JpEax4aLAh5QJd-dRTKRfIJ-Fx6iRahhICnYDNypO2ZiTzka7geeoHB21V-9nAoNKEDa8PTFCq88gOflmb9UYUUHNAuJ0rDYZQRn7MlfwjVMoyBHW3sSBZqHjIe1ovA/s1600/crafts.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 216px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624399187719629586" border="0" alt="Macrame crafts stall" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYR1J09y_JpEax4aLAh5QJd-dRTKRfIJ-Fx6iRahhICnYDNypO2ZiTzka7geeoHB21V-9nAoNKEDa8PTFCq88gOflmb9UYUUHNAuJ0rDYZQRn7MlfwjVMoyBHW3sSBZqHjIe1ovA/s320/crafts.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuvgBSay078cB03nUmJZO8-A9e4jSEnFGIW_NF4KprPL3wTuPCsbUT__ryrZXhqSDlTf08POHYIqZ_MlhHR5d2OEDt-oMtnJAQ2E1NoZ_MpzVH52pRwrF_OnzLDD4n04Ks7fB2Q/s1600/crowd.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 213px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624398961342784418" border="0" alt="Bemused crowd" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuvgBSay078cB03nUmJZO8-A9e4jSEnFGIW_NF4KprPL3wTuPCsbUT__ryrZXhqSDlTf08POHYIqZ_MlhHR5d2OEDt-oMtnJAQ2E1NoZ_MpzVH52pRwrF_OnzLDD4n04Ks7fB2Q/s320/crowd.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOtPJQxwNjKH7-xogZnwZH8pcyAyZkwqh5COohPq8dYZQ9p8vwBjTH6SDuv53OA5JF64OOtmQS-9LNd-t5Y_iMGXiKa9Mr-2TrO9c7u2WdYP_qSfbCBHI3lqixEVFtUW-Ucgsgg/s1600/dragon.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624398808972470994" border="0" alt="Dragon Breath" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOtPJQxwNjKH7-xogZnwZH8pcyAyZkwqh5COohPq8dYZQ9p8vwBjTH6SDuv53OA5JF64OOtmQS-9LNd-t5Y_iMGXiKa9Mr-2TrO9c7u2WdYP_qSfbCBHI3lqixEVFtUW-Ucgsgg/s320/dragon.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The queues outside the theatres and cinemas in London attracted street performers back in the 50s, mostly musicians, some dancers. A younger crowd started to appear, as the singer-songwriter thing started to happen in the early 60s - people like Don Partridge doing one-man band, Don Crown and his busking budgies, etc.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hLMpc74WEH_0pyS3VZhmROrZP900pcEwPimLyFvK31FwXr0UDqJQdZdilyK5jndhZfTpEh2zHRLvwp3FO0EkGnGafSxg_w3n2KjTRJmwvemGgBqUo8cFgqc92vGLiGG84N-orQ/s1600/HatFair1.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 230px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624404440538491154" border="0" alt="The Raree Show" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hLMpc74WEH_0pyS3VZhmROrZP900pcEwPimLyFvK31FwXr0UDqJQdZdilyK5jndhZfTpEh2zHRLvwp3FO0EkGnGafSxg_w3n2KjTRJmwvemGgBqUo8cFgqc92vGLiGG84N-orQ/s320/HatFair1.JPG" /></a><br />I don't quite know when the street life turned in the direction of magicians and jugglers and clowns. Myself, I had partied in the park in the late Sixties, but then went travelling for a couple of years. When I returned I had evolved a little comedy juggling and magic show, and quickly added some tumbling and slapstick, but there were no real venues for such a thing, and the street markets found me a little weird, so I was delighted when Mike Dean organised a community street festival in the embattled Covent Garden area, and negotiated with the authorities that anyone could (for the two days) arrive, put down a hat, and offer their act or display.<br /><br />I was part of a commedia/clown troupe called The Raree Show, and we did quite a lot of community and street work, so we were comfortable with the idea. I also did my solo show, and (in the second year of The Covent Garden Hat Fair) a duo with Justin Case called Foolproof. It was an invitation to experiment.<br /><br />In addition to music, you could have found crafts people, poets, and people like me starting out the trend to New Variety and New Circus. One of The Barrow Poets was there, and wrote a charming piece for the New Statesman, about the experience of taking part in this seminal event.<br /><br /><span style="color:#333399;"><strong>Hats in the Air</strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="color:#333399;">'The last week was lost a Merkin in the Coven-Garden,' reads a scurrilous little item in a 1660 news sheet. This week I saw not merkins, alas, but practically everything else was in evidence, as a vast assembly of people enjoyed a neighbourhood festival and hat fair to mark the gradual but inevitable extinction of Covent Garden. It was as a hat fair entertainer that I attended, a simple matter of performing free, and then collecting money in a hat. It's an exhilarating experience. My first taste of street busking came on Saturday, with a fellow Barrow poet, Susan Baker. We had planned some material; she had brought her violin, and I a topper decorated with balloons. </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiazVJIt815CCP5F03ErF_-MJHYa8BE9YtvrhvRL-TT3cuHW3R6_A0i_P7jVyXIQ958j5LHKSf3cn4XzxoJl4KT595y0gv-Wj6SWGYhq1L1jXpVmxsNuSQZHS_ATWweOAKd27l22Q/s1600/violin.jpg"><span style="color:#333399;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 213px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624404138559995218" border="0" alt="Gerard and Susan" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiazVJIt815CCP5F03ErF_-MJHYa8BE9YtvrhvRL-TT3cuHW3R6_A0i_P7jVyXIQ958j5LHKSf3cn4XzxoJl4KT595y0gv-Wj6SWGYhq1L1jXpVmxsNuSQZHS_ATWweOAKd27l22Q/s320/violin.jpg" /></span></a><span style="color:#333399;"><br />We wandered, lonely as a couple of clouds, in and out of the jazz bands and pop groups seeking a good site. There didn't seem to be one. Wherever we were, there always seemed to be some reason for not starting.<br /><br />At last we diagnosed this reluctance as sheer terror, and dumped our gear on the pavement in James Street, where we stood. Susan tuned up and played a reel. When she had finished we had a crowd. I said a comic poem; we did a piece together, very jokey. They laughed. More jokes, more laughter. Bigger crowd. The adrenalin is going. Susan plays very boldly. I speak our as if addressing a large meeting. But it was getting too easy. So Susan played a Vivaldi movement. The crowd grew. I said Blake's London (How the chimney sweep's cry/Every blackening church appals). They listened, applauded. A Barrow colleague appeared down the street and spontaneously joined in. </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixHj5cx1HT3__OK1-Eh-vPlpqCEa50xwyt49GftrxyKNWbVjYJx5peRLcC9aYCMjLZtU3_D6m60aI42ucmuX5WWXprkiAqScv-f6tJIv7SbazQIAKUe7i3nI2KuEdy0Ba_t15vRA/s1600/glow2.gif"><span style="color:#333399;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 238px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624401494922184114" border="0" alt="Toby solo" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixHj5cx1HT3__OK1-Eh-vPlpqCEa50xwyt49GftrxyKNWbVjYJx5peRLcC9aYCMjLZtU3_D6m60aI42ucmuX5WWXprkiAqScv-f6tJIv7SbazQIAKUe7i3nI2KuEdy0Ba_t15vRA/s320/glow2.gif" /></span></a><span style="color:#333399;"><br />A few more pieces and we signed off and took the hat round. They paid and drifted off to find Toby, the acrobatic juggler, or my brother Julian Chagrin, doing his hilarious mime, or food, drink, the children's street, the belly dancer. Later, we did another street gig. I teamed up with my brother and did a two-man minishow with him, indoors. And in the evening the full Barrow team did a rumbustious programme at the White Swan in New Row.<br /><br />By late evening megalomania had set in and I determined to make real an old fantasy of mine, and tell The Miller's Tale: in public, in full, and in the original. I arranged a pitch and a time and on Sunday afternoon carried my vast paperback to the King Street piazza. To my astonishment there were people there, waiting to hear it. I opened my book, introduced myself, and started. A drunk or drugged heckler inquired the colour of the miller's pubic hair. I told him red, and he drifted off, apparently satisfied. I read the story, and most of my smallish but gradually growing crowd stayed the full 40-minute course. Half way through, a band started up. I spoke louder, hammering out those magnificent words. The listeners crowded closer. The comic climax arrived, and yet again, Geoffrey Chaucer, deceased long before the birth of the now dying Covent Garden, made us laugh. The topper, now devoid of balloons, went round and supper was assured.<br /><br />From then on events seemed to kaleidoscope. I did a one-man indoor programme, carried the hat for other performers, did a spot at a music hall, and was offered a pick through boxes of old theatre costumes, was given left-over food and booze to take home. I watched the organisers sweeping the streets, saw a member of Recreation Ground moving her motor-bike to allow space to a gigantic fruit lorry that crept like a fictional monster through the narrow streets.<br /><br />Near midnight, I walked along Shaftesbury Avenue anachronistically attired in bell-bottom cords, 18th-century gentleman's jacket, and topper. Some French tourists asked me the way. A white balloon blew slowly past the shop fronts and lifted out into the traffic, breathtakingly avoiding destruction. As in a mirage a huge red bus came into view. And it was going my way! Gathering my packages I chased it, caught it at the lights and jumped aboard. The hat fair was over. But no. My neighbour spoke to me. 'Thought it was you. Glad you got on. Saw you doing your poetry. How was the White Swan? I'm in the theatre too. I do costumes.' She fingered my brocade sleeve. 'That's a lovely bit of cloth. Bet you didn't get that for nothing. Well, goodbye.' She got off. The festival was over.<br /><br /><strong>© Gerard Benson 1974</strong> <em>New Statesman 13 September 1974</em><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4Z4pU8XLS-WNFTGQsm6exWIvn1t8UXS3E9wuB6cOZx_WkRrIQvkr9YpbV7yfsTGaYQA1SNSIsuqMVAyYNJ_5i2OzNDRx6WPinMLa1XsYGD4YVACjwoyIMkEjgDww-dRri9zoVQ/s1600/hatfairbreak.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 172px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624404679763879506" border="0" alt="Crissie and Toby take a break from The Rarees" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4Z4pU8XLS-WNFTGQsm6exWIvn1t8UXS3E9wuB6cOZx_WkRrIQvkr9YpbV7yfsTGaYQA1SNSIsuqMVAyYNJ_5i2OzNDRx6WPinMLa1XsYGD4YVACjwoyIMkEjgDww-dRri9zoVQ/s320/hatfairbreak.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5MVP-ruaVRSfFbSw8zKLDdRiVnst9WioXW-RlAQlP6Pz4m06_un0Xo1_GMrCVlxmeXZ70c0OauYJesNRcn_8i8NkWXoXs_axmkwin13Y3Ugcp55YkNwaWh-BMR_2U8PzZnJs2g/s1600/sculpture.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624399356490399490" border="0" alt="Some kind of sculptural event?" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5MVP-ruaVRSfFbSw8zKLDdRiVnst9WioXW-RlAQlP6Pz4m06_un0Xo1_GMrCVlxmeXZ70c0OauYJesNRcn_8i8NkWXoXs_axmkwin13Y3Ugcp55YkNwaWh-BMR_2U8PzZnJs2g/s320/sculpture.jpg" /></a>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-21001019450639332792011-06-26T12:50:00.005+01:002011-06-26T13:04:05.697+01:00Sunday Morning<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPfWOaopdShsqbZGIs6EXy4x_6LdM5ukJN2anXP9renulh5Nhcoh-U2q-kQaA71mM1RsY67WDdHPKLl9NDoCubQl51Y38KIDCLNdzlmoINqAnuaeNfiClkMqAD-liSWOBdiXYz3g/s1600/Jaimes2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622496332074237522" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 109px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 151px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPfWOaopdShsqbZGIs6EXy4x_6LdM5ukJN2anXP9renulh5Nhcoh-U2q-kQaA71mM1RsY67WDdHPKLl9NDoCubQl51Y38KIDCLNdzlmoINqAnuaeNfiClkMqAD-liSWOBdiXYz3g/s320/Jaimes2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It is this morning.<br />We sit across the table from each other<br />breakfast over<br />the coffee steaming in the china mugs<br />as you read from the magazine<br />and I work on the crossword puzzle<br />sections of the news paper spread everywhere.<br /><br />You look up, smile at me<br />and lean across the table for a kiss,<br />happy for no reason but it is Sunday,<br />we have all day to do with as we choose.<br /><br />You are so sure of me<br />I am afraid enough for both of us.<br />In my life I never imagined<br />a morning like this morning;<br />the bed unmade<br />me in this ragged robe<br />all my senses singing:<br />This is what we share with one another.<br />This is the place I keep my promises.<br /><br /><strong>Jaimes Alsop<br /><br /></strong>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-32942505610860231262011-06-26T12:21:00.009+01:002011-06-26T13:02:42.982+01:00Time Past<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVXCsh9LwisaVi_UMqt1h8oWXCLm4ci2XFIDqUfMtZ9fmKF1gdBx4d2OO2GSTC3cXaWbITRnZfJAvVsfWzZud-rBGXRm-M3zU95qeTu1Bo6lr_ujLQFjMNAONZdb-jxN6zs4jgmw/s1600/jaimes1.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622494151357391938" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 283px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVXCsh9LwisaVi_UMqt1h8oWXCLm4ci2XFIDqUfMtZ9fmKF1gdBx4d2OO2GSTC3cXaWbITRnZfJAvVsfWzZud-rBGXRm-M3zU95qeTu1Bo6lr_ujLQFjMNAONZdb-jxN6zs4jgmw/s400/jaimes1.gif" border="0" /></a>The internet still surprises me. I went looking for some more of my old friend Jaimes Alsop's poems, as he doesn't appear to have collected them anywhere, and I found him writing on a board/forum about something I did all those decades ago!<br /><em></em><br /><em>"Years ago (late sixties) someone handed me a packet of </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizla"><em>Rizla</em></a><em> cigarette papers (a popular brand in England). Inside was a folded cigarette paper on which was typed "Autumn Poem". When I unfolded the cigarette paper inside was the little slip that Rizla put in all the packets near the bottom as a warning the packet was getting low: "Only Five Leaves Left"<br /><br />Thirty years later and I still smile over that one."<br /><br /></em><em></em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpUKqt-ITAg63l9t7FZJTA7XuNB3czELQ8cmg7YB6hjm5GrFejrsOzsN3cqS0_l8epnNAfFoNoRtk5Ft4AFeZu8Y28W48mwhjDMpHdA_I3G3zPTbx8MsKWNGMo0Y-jdHqRz_ccA/s1600/five+leaves1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622490534090620754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 147px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="Only Five leaves left Rizla reminder" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpUKqt-ITAg63l9t7FZJTA7XuNB3czELQ8cmg7YB6hjm5GrFejrsOzsN3cqS0_l8epnNAfFoNoRtk5Ft4AFeZu8Y28W48mwhjDMpHdA_I3G3zPTbx8MsKWNGMo0Y-jdHqRz_ccA/s400/five+leaves1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Of course, Nick Drake had also noticed that poetic phrase, and name his album <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Leaves_Left">Five Leaves Left</a>.</strong><br /><br />When I returned to the UK (after a couple of years away) the little coloured slip popped up as I removed three cigarette papers. It read <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sludgeulper/3823696710/">"Time to buy another packet"</a> and I knew The Sixties were finally over.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjru3OhX53zXoWouKYP1nu7OlkjdS3GcpwhoIpEIKaZjJHwKdU4gxiztK4blx2KNVXSKs47z3kgjvtpXjv2191dAInm3lqhcB0WkamYkV6UjL96iWfNp4x2sV-gnBOVjgbtwZSF0w/s1600/packet.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622490619928506114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 135px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="Time to buy another packet" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjru3OhX53zXoWouKYP1nu7OlkjdS3GcpwhoIpEIKaZjJHwKdU4gxiztK4blx2KNVXSKs47z3kgjvtpXjv2191dAInm3lqhcB0WkamYkV6UjL96iWfNp4x2sV-gnBOVjgbtwZSF0w/s400/packet.jpg" border="0" /></a>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-23207887322904970602011-06-24T21:54:00.009+01:002011-06-26T13:02:42.984+01:00Something to do with visions<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicxgVwBGZLzGx89opWwnYbKh13TBB0d7I7Z9ZQKZfGPp3yBzODa-yQi62OF_yaHwQD4KEgWLtmejjIfidrY-5EtYSVUh1L7A6eqFTWqvn4_AgcEq27G7bulr96lzVHh0hyphenhyphenwlDZAQ/s1600/early+spring+75.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621896296649333170" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 261px" alt="Jaimes in 1975" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicxgVwBGZLzGx89opWwnYbKh13TBB0d7I7Z9ZQKZfGPp3yBzODa-yQi62OF_yaHwQD4KEgWLtmejjIfidrY-5EtYSVUh1L7A6eqFTWqvn4_AgcEq27G7bulr96lzVHh0hyphenhyphenwlDZAQ/s400/early+spring+75.jpg" border="0" /></a> I had a good friend called Jaimes, in the mid-Sixties, who let me sleep on his sofa, inspired me with pranks and poetry, and made me laugh a lot.<br /><br />It was the era of the singer/songwriter, and he was a poet, but he didn't make a living as a musician.<br />Later he went to the USA and a couple of years later, when I got my own adventure legs under me, I decided to drop in for coffee (in Palo Alto) without warning him I was on the way. He dealt with a hippie ghost turning up from a previous life really graciously, and again sheltered me until I got my second wind - then launched me out.<br /><br /><em>He just died a couple of days ago.</em> We had made some internet contact in the last year or two, through his daughter.<br /><br />I found this poem of his from 1969, in an old folder of writings...<br /><br /><strong>Something to do with visions</strong><br /><br />It was something I had to tell you<br />Diane, it was all caught up with the morning<br />Something to do with visions<br /><br />There were no visions today<br />I noticed particularly<br />There were no visions today, Diane<br />Perhaps they had all gone home<br /><br />Today I was not deceived by your arteries<br />And though I searched your shoes and comb<br />I found no traces of gold<br />Even when I investigated my fingernails<br />There was no gold<br />Today love, you must have walked upon the ground<br /><br />It was something to do with me<br />Today I was older than my generation<br />I refused to protect you from your virtue<br />There are too many, I said, too many already<br />in chains of flowers and April<br /><br />They didn’t know about your perfume<br />They thought I was talking about seasons<br /><br />It was something I had to tell you<br />I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget<br />Something to do with visions<br />My eyes are rimmed with a fine and precious dust.Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-22304272222863511992011-05-23T23:57:00.008+01:002011-05-24T00:36:20.333+01:00(May You Stay) Forever Young<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYwgQbK2Z0IF287Cuvv-3Ww0kCsm7Kz6rZdkrbT2ozs72gBMrN4mGUQRcMash9rrD1PnAMl7Ug8v54ZnSfGUR5dRSqJipb1nkv6d-PvIFyKEJSFnMx6MH7a20DZL6Q4W-cd6KXCA/s1600/Bob-Dylan.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610053313850207842" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="Dylan at the piano" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYwgQbK2Z0IF287Cuvv-3Ww0kCsm7Kz6rZdkrbT2ozs72gBMrN4mGUQRcMash9rrD1PnAMl7Ug8v54ZnSfGUR5dRSqJipb1nkv6d-PvIFyKEJSFnMx6MH7a20DZL6Q4W-cd6KXCA/s200/Bob-Dylan.jpg" border="0" /></a> To wish His Bobness a happy 70th birthday seems more or less like <span style="color:#ff0000;">holding up a lighter in a crowd of thousands.</span> To get rid of the old shibboleth about his singing voice, if you don’t like it then just think of his records as rough demos sent in by a songwriter – for you to grab and interpret.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bobdylan.com/songs">His back catalogue of about 450 songs</a> must include something you like, even if you didn’t know he wrote it! Watch Ab Fab, and that <strong>‘Wheels On Fire’</strong> song (The Julie Driscoll version), for instance, or Jimi Hendrix pouncing on <strong>‘All Along The Watchtower’.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpI8eZ7kIxewuJpU0E0jyCuUEqFLQxO0EEHT_BdL7GoRx8Yo_YjfE4eJ7zGdoEkW9yxXXtC023feBTGnKdklVUu9CsYNqGO3_NP6kEtUL_rBH28QUM4ZrDIDS67n3uV_Y9wW70Xg/s1600/bob-dylan1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610053504325989682" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 218px" alt="On the road" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpI8eZ7kIxewuJpU0E0jyCuUEqFLQxO0EEHT_BdL7GoRx8Yo_YjfE4eJ7zGdoEkW9yxXXtC023feBTGnKdklVUu9CsYNqGO3_NP6kEtUL_rBH28QUM4ZrDIDS67n3uV_Y9wW70Xg/s320/bob-dylan1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></strong>At one time or another he plundered, enhanced, transformed and re-created most genres of American music – both the cool and the (at the time) uncool. From Rock to Blues, Country to Folk and Gospel (even Punk) he inspired just about everyone to re-investigate their roots, and then bring them into the NOW.<br /><br />He encouraged The Beatles to give up pop music and cover versions and write their own stuff; his example must have helped The Stones get away from reproducing ‘old Blues Men’ and write modern blues; he made Johnny Cash cool; even his Christian ‘phase’ gave the gospel crew some great songs.<br /><br />He broke the three minute song taboo; he created maybe the first video to go with a song.<br /><br />In most tribute shows people still forage through the ‘folk era’ (with those great, timeless, mythical and archetypal images) and the social conscience songs of the ‘protest’ period. They miss the jokes. It’s hard to do jokes.<br /><br />A notable exception (for me) was K T Tunstall, closing an otherwise rather mournful 'tribute show' with fresh, life-enhancing versions of the first two songs on <strong>Blood on the Tracks.</strong> (I'd have happily listened to her recreate the whole album!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje-feqPNV7Y9_ayyh-9-Fp3K7lQepcPJMhbpV3ZNl0hy11bPsQzzLJz2j8bIiugWL54OnwGl0XDy0gwayqW9XY_qKjGCuXqSnt3NK-39Ny0NsJsuML6tijoq8w66tmsK4IJyoTyA/s1600/Bob.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610053734120134338" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 172px" alt="Live onstage" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje-feqPNV7Y9_ayyh-9-Fp3K7lQepcPJMhbpV3ZNl0hy11bPsQzzLJz2j8bIiugWL54OnwGl0XDy0gwayqW9XY_qKjGCuXqSnt3NK-39Ny0NsJsuML6tijoq8w66tmsK4IJyoTyA/s200/Bob.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Very few people seem to tackle his output of the last twenty years, even if he continues to write prolifically, and occasionally astound us with something unique that doesn’t belong to any of the previous music categories. Perhaps these songs are so personal that they work best through his unique delivery, his actor’s expressiveness, breath control and sense for story-telling – the words on the page often don’t capture his particular use of the voice and images.<br /><br />Instead of vacuous love songs, cheating songs and breaking up songs, Dylan gave us a whole adult range of love and hurt and regret, bitterness, sadness, reconciliation, acceptance, and forgiveness. He expanded the vocabulary of song-writing.<br /><br />But hey, if you still don’t like the voice (and he’s actually been through several styles) listen to some of the hundreds of cover versions, and you will find not just amazing words but great tunes. He can do stadium singalong anthems, or simple, cheerful versions, even of the same song – for instance, the two versions of <strong>Forever Young</strong> on<strong> ‘Planet Waves'.</strong> He famously doesn’t like sounding like the album, or even like last night’s live version, or doing too many takes in a studio. He remains a spontaneous performer, who likes surrounding himself with great musicians, and playing live.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVU35AL5CQEs9x1g2Lv8bjJ4fKZxA5jQCbLGqLPnD6pLDQb1uLjRRe4AxjkfsfELnGexPWCQFjF0k-ZnmBjysc5t4VHn7IwWKQD8wVUhg4y3YqfMd5sXzpJqXOISJvgsExhaf5zg/s1600/bob-dylan-sepia-2009.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610053944813935682" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 345px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="Survivor" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVU35AL5CQEs9x1g2Lv8bjJ4fKZxA5jQCbLGqLPnD6pLDQb1uLjRRe4AxjkfsfELnGexPWCQFjF0k-ZnmBjysc5t4VHn7IwWKQD8wVUhg4y3YqfMd5sXzpJqXOISJvgsExhaf5zg/s400/bob-dylan-sepia-2009.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />His recent outing as a DJ on XM Radio, that the BBC bought for the UK (<em>even if he was assisted by researchers)</em> demonstrated the range of music he loves, appreciates and understands – as well as displaying his rueful and deadpan sense of humour (that so many people miss).<br /><br /><strong>Happy birthday, Bob!</strong>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3163346.post-11461659240699820572011-05-12T02:02:00.000+01:002011-06-26T13:02:10.929+01:00Fossil Poetry<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUW1FnAQh_HzWDMQSXEBDRUFx9_GpF3qq-v-H13-TCRhE3Jol2D-TLW-OJUeAKxDX2AL4yfu0bEq7R3swWqJAU5P43oWvu2heqdmLMhOFKRIBRB3BmsLMKVQ4jsdKYHtx0uBhRA/s1600/RalphWaldoEmerson_v_2.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 153px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUW1FnAQh_HzWDMQSXEBDRUFx9_GpF3qq-v-H13-TCRhE3Jol2D-TLW-OJUeAKxDX2AL4yfu0bEq7R3swWqJAU5P43oWvu2heqdmLMhOFKRIBRB3BmsLMKVQ4jsdKYHtx0uBhRA/s200/RalphWaldoEmerson_v_2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605631009759305154" /></a><br />By virtue of this science the poet is the Namer, or Language-maker, naming things sometimes after their appearance, sometimes after their essence, and giving to every one its own name and not another's, thereby rejoicing the intellect, which delights in detachment or boundary. <br /><br />The poets made all the words, and therefore language is the archives of history, and, if we must say it, a sort of tomb of the muses for, though the origin of most of our words is forgotten, <strong>each word was at a stroke of genius</strong>, and obtained currency, because for the moment it symbolizes the world to the first speaker and to the hearer. <br /><br />The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture. <strong>Language is fossil poetry.</strong> As the limestone of the continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is made up of images, or tropes, which now, in their secondary use, have long ceased to remind us of their poetic origin. But the poet names the thing because he sees it, or comes one step nearer to it than any other. This expression, or naming, is not art, but a second nature, grown out of the first, as a leaf out of a tree. <br /><br />What we call nature, is a certain self-regulated motion, or change; and nature does all things by her own hands, and does not leave another to baptise her, but baptises herself; and this through the metamorphosis again.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/essays/poettext.html">Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays: Second Series [1844] The Poet</a>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741749822242029185noreply@blogger.com0