Scoop: The New Zooadventurer Design?
Though I can't confirm it, reliable sources say this will be the new design of this site, Zooadventurer. Lots need to be done (as you can see yourself) but the general feeling is there. It's sorta back to an earlier one, which was kinda grayish too remember, but sure more polished, more refined. Well, I guess we will see the final result soon.
Or as someone already pointed to me: Let's hope so cause the present one had it's momentum, but is getting a bit boring don't you think? I mean 'corn?', jeez...
Tsunami/Tiramisu
Klong Muang Beach, Krabi
So yeah, another year gone by since that sunny morning, munching from some fried eggs, sipping hot bitter but oh so necessary nescafe (bit hungover from last nights party, of course), topped with true bliss in the draw of a first cigarette, till somebody pointed out the sea did behave a bit strange...
Ah, those where the days. Boxing day with Scrooge remakes, cats playing with silver wrappers, a stuffed fridge with cheap bubbly wine and left-over tiramisu, it just doesn't do it.
Listless, What Else?
I never understood the importance of best-of lists appearing everywhere this time of year. Somehow they never seem to change (the best top zillion song of all time, Bohemian Rhapsody, sigh...), or I am clueless about the importance of it all, feeling 'did I miss something essential?' stupid. I am not, or shall I say, don't want to be reminded. So, no best of thingy for me, just the ten latest songs i did play/shuffled this hour thinking of this 'Change' promise (resolution?) - Still no inspiration though, but the soundtrack is ok so far, sublime in fact.
Funny, you almost would think I want of be part of it. Ah well...
Happy holidays.
ps. You might have noticed that new blue 'go to top' button to the right, it's new! Everything will be fine after all, uhu. All to your convenience. My pleasure.
Space Collective, The Future of Everything
Space Collective.org is a "cross-media information and entertainment channel for post-ideological, non-partisan, forward thinking terrestrials", as they say.
I stumbled over this site looking for inspiration, food for the obvious Xmas thoughts, pre-newyears resolutions, well, as the wandering mind goes on a break from work, having no clue how to spend the holidays to come. Anyway, watching a couple of the videos on Space Collective I contemplated one or two things. The result? Well, this is me after all, dunno much about the future of everything, but guess it's once again Time For a Change, to shake things up a bit. Again, yes, how pathetic. So, Top TFC's (for now) are,
- New Zooadventurer redesign
- Quit my crappy temp-job
- Figuring out a third one.
Not much eh? Maybe I can come up with something more grandiose during my the long overdue Xmas shopping frenzy (FOOD!) I am about to indulge in. Wish me luck.
On The Beach Of Time
More comfy with the silence? Snotty leaves on the pavement and no (barely enough) sun. Mood set. S.A.D. Nothing new. So yeah this is the third winter in a row I didn't (but planned to, my wishbook doodled with little suns, palmtress and smiley 30+ Celsius marks) retreat in warmer climates. Same old story, uhu. No luck in finding sufficient means and no brilliant thoughts to start - once again - climbing the ladder of easy escape, I am stuck to this sillyness, surviving the wrong climate with the least adapted personality. Gosh, poor me. Teleport me to Darfur or some other godforsaken ( just politely worried souls to ease our western mindsets) place.
I know, I know...
Anyway, winter time is killing time. Reading books (or rather the sweet attempt; What is the what by Dave Eggers is eagerly waiting to get finished for more over then, this is pathetic, 3 weeks already) or with penguin movies, Happy Feet, or Disney's latest one, Surf's Up. And no, don't bother to point at the pointlessness of it, I don't get it too, that latest animated Antartic animal craze, tap-dancing artic birds or surfing frosty dudes. To think of it, the only frame I can remember watching is what looks like a pristine (80's?) version of Raileh Beach (see pic) but I guess that's to no ones surprise....
Again.
Genesis Project
Genesis is the latest project of world-renowned photographer Sebastiao Salgado, now on show in London. This image shows an Antarctic iceberg between the Paulet and the South Shetland Islands. Antarctica, 2005. The Genesis project is designed to reconnect us to how the world was before humanity altered it almost beyond recognition.
Anyway. I love this picture. A frozen castle, it's so beyond or before 'and they lived happily ever after'.
English Language Works
Ah well, another website design by me, my first corporate one, and yes, this week it went online. Englishlanguageworks is the language course site of David Maytum (based in the Netherlands), and not only is he a nice guy, he excels in his job too. Check it out for yourself.
Urban Camouflage
Hullo, you are right (you, as in all the others), it's a fair assumption this blog is dead. Temp job boy has taken over most of my mindset these last two months. I guess it was inevitable. Sometimes when I look at him, steelnosed in greasy jeans, boldly parading the killing fields of a dreary job (he is trying so hard), I just can't be surprised he is this big a presence; too tired, too numb, too frustrated to do anything else, least to follow his/my original (creative) plan, I only can sympathize with this poor little sod 8 to 5 victim. No wonder he rather volunteered for invisibility, cruising the streets and his whereabouts with a mask of unnoticeable uniformity.
“It is just easier for Japanese to hide,” Ms. Tsukioka said. “Making a scene would be too embarrassing.” She said her vending machine disguise was inspired by a trick used by the ancient ninja, who cloaked themselves in black blankets at night. (from the NYtimes)
That is another way to put it, shame/fear should be restrained, and never (how Zeitgeist uncool, eh?!) let out in public. Kudos.
Zombies In Plain English
Heima
"Heima" means home. And home is where the heart is. Yeah, whatever. Sigur Ros is an Icelandic band and "Heima" is a there visual presentation of playing at home. And maybe it's because I am in an 'autumnesk' mood, or maybe it is that I always have a weak spot for barren, surreal landscapes, and yes, sure it helps I physically tune in well with the eerie sound of Sigur Ros, even picked a song of theirs to play at my one someday day event funeral, so anyway, point is, even though my objective judgments are faltering as ever, I just think the trailer looks beautiful.
Running Free
Nothing new again. My excuses for my non-presence, lack of posts lately. I’ve been frustrated, stumped and annoyed, and sorta braindead I stumbled over this little movie from the DepicT! competition. If I was in a better mood (or the sun did shine, whatever ticks me to the other side), I would have shown one of the other last years winning movies 'And the red man went green', but I choose for some classic B&W. Maybe all will be fine, eventually.
DepicT! is Watershed's unique filmmaking competition, part of Encounters International Short Film Festival, which challenges filmmakers from across the globe to come up with a compelling, imaginative idea and distil it into 90 seconds of cinematic originality.
Slave To The Wage
Oh the tragedy, all it takes is one little decision and then, quelle surprise, you're stuck. So yeah I made the final leap, jumped the bandwagon, reached the bottom of my wallet, whatever mistakes you can make when you spend too much time daydreaming till it hits you, mondaymorning, 8 o'clock sharp, this guy is in working boots again, steel nose diving (yip new sturdy shoes too!) in the dready world of temp job work. Gosh, what took me so long?
Well, there is no one to blame then myself. I was stupid, a fact. Stupid, broke, stuck. Hail our glasses!
Gorbachev's Luis Vuitton
I like the picture (by Annie Leibovitz), but it's kinda ironic that a former communist leader becomes the advertisement icon of the new line of (uber-commercial) Luis Vuitton Travelbags. This guy is a long way from home.
From IHT: Gorbachev was initially reluctant to participate, but he was persuaded when Louis Vuitton made a donation to his environmental charity, Green Cross International, which is cited in the ad. The other ads mention support for Al Gore's Climate Project.
Yeah, right...
Cup Noodles Revisited
"The noodle isn't just a meal. It's a steaming hot celebration of texture and flavor. We understand the noodle better than anyone. With Top Ramen and Cup Noodles, we taught an entire generation that quality ramen noodle soup is never more than three minutes away." (Nissin Food Products Co).
Hear hear, as I slurp away another spoonful of chicken ramen.
Funny, I was never a fan of instant noodles. My college years poverty-food was always a endless row of stale cheese sandwiches or occasionally, when craving for decent dinner stuff, a frozen 'saté' I heated in the watercooker (Do Not Cook!). And later when traveling, and still on a budget, I always went for at least something freshly cooked, cut or chopped by street stall ladies, that without exception had that warm but tired smile of a grandma managing the grandkids to empty there plate full of veggies.
I guess it was the instant in the noodle always that ticked me of, putting it high in the order of crappy mystery food, just under tv-dinners and Jell-O pudding. Also, it was, hey still is, convenient food. And at a certain age you just don't want to be associated with anything remotely convenient. Nah, you want the raw thing, to kick ass, so shove that future astronaut food your parents presented as the killer invention. I know for todays teenage kids that may sound a bit crazy ("duuuuh?), but really there was a whole generation that spat on anything plasticy like corporate fast food. McDonalds, same thing, a big no no; better starve then to be seen there. Amazing eh?
But nowadays, I can't seem to get enough of it.
Why? I like to think it has something to do with the death early this year of Mr Noodle himself, Mr Momofuku Ando (安藤百福). And as things go, global fame peaks when a fresh corpse is involved. So reading his obituary and the numerous web articles that followed, a unique personal story got unfolded and in my subconscious I likely realized eating another cup makes me part of history; that this is not just some snack, no, this is post war heroism melting in my mouth.
Ah well, perhaps the reason is more down to earth, lesser psycho history deep. That this munching just triggers memories of gone airplane-rides. Yeah, that midnight cup you collect in a bumpy Chinese Airlines 747, sent back to your chair with the biggest of stewardess smiles: "You're welcome sir." Nowhere does a cup noodles taste better then in the dark at 10 k height.
From mystery food to memory food, gosh, my life has took a strange turn.
No Escape
A collective of young Dutch artists known as Studio Smack were commissioned to put together a video reflecting the enormous amount of visuals that plague us every day. They stripped away everything in our path but commercial and graphical messages leaving us with a very dark and sad truth.
Here is the YouTube video.
Flip-Flops Flipflop
courtesy of havaianas
Summer in Europe, floods and heatwaves, have your pick. Next winter memories are setting in, and so in the end the sound of summer 2007 may as well be the tick of endless raindrops on a tent, the fast swoosh of that same tent instantly consumed by a blazing bushfire. Or perhaps you are blessed and it will just be one of the evergreens, the thump of a dropped icecream in the sand, the shriek then laughter of a (too)pretty girl in a swimmingpool you've been watching all day, or likely that crappy euro-disco tune, nested in your brain since that worst hangover on local drinks. Ah well, whatever it will be for you, to me it is the streets or beaches filled with feet sounding like chewing gum, a blue skied world of flip-flops flipflopping.
Comfortable, airy and with built-in sounds effects... it says it all, in summer nothing can top the anti-footwear, flip flops, or whatever you name them. Some insist on calling them thongs, jandals, beach slippers, but pardon my semantic choice, I just stick to flip-flops, as I stick to ping-pong when a normal person would probably say table-tennis, or tuk tuk for a motorcycled taxi, even outside Thailand. See, I am a sucker for objects named after the sound they make, and strongly believe that getting along lies in this simpler lingua franca.
Remarkable thing is however, yes a confession, I never wear them. I tried, really, true backpackers can't do without. I remember my last pair of rubbery blacks bought on KSR, all up to the buckets law of footwear, the cheaper the better. And gosh it felt good, sounded good, looked good, totally holiday bliss. Even without braided hair I blended in so perfectly. But as always, after a couple of days of walking and strolling, I have to admit defeat to an unwillingly body, to a stubborn set of toes stuck in a permanent toe jam. Topped with a grin of pain and relief on my face I had to let them go. Yip, sad but true, flip-flops and me, another unrequited love...
Still, boys and girls, do me a pleasure, don't give into Birkenstock's (or whatever comfy high dollar brand), definitely forget about Crocs, but most of all to that latest fashion craze, topless sandals ("Dare you to go topless this summer? No more suntan lines" - really?). I saw a pretty girl walking with a pair of those new acclaimed 'nude sandals', she dressed in a breezy top and flower skirt, skin and smile radiating in sync with a perfect summer, and it just didn't seem right. Like some beautiful people can be suddenly so bland when they start to speak, this girl disappeared into seasonal nothingness when she started to walk, inaudible. It's a shame.
Besides that, they all look silly.
Make my summer, flip flop.
The Words We Say
Ah while ago there was a (partial) interview with me published on this site. It was part of the FAQ remember? I removed it, for esthetic reasons, or just, i dunno, because I could...
But as things go, it got a life on itself. Nothing new or shattering, our oral tradition is just not what it used to be. Once a skill, memorizing and retelling into it's tiny details an effort well appreciated, in 07 though the only thing we are capable of goes seldom beyond it's oral evil stepsister, gossip.
So yeah, I heard some crazy things about me, someone heard this and that from someone who read something, and so and so. Little bugs that turned into little monsters. Cool. Nothing I could not live with, but then, as an unexpected moodchange, I started to hear also how funny I was. Funny!!
Showcase
The day that heaps of people rush out to down todays top story ( Will Harry die or not? Will there be life after the story ends? The suspense...), my little surprise moment was less global, awaited with fewer anticipation, nah, on hindsight is was more like a sudden (but sorta friendly it turned out) tab on the shoulder with a grumpy morning temper me turning around, "Yeah, wot?".
The deal, I did make it to the Rapidweaver Showcase page. That is, the design of zooadventurer did. Yeah, they have started pampering me with vanity, put me on a pedestal. And oh boy, I hadn't even started yet, this all just in bloody beta stage, and what is worse, kinda intentional too. I mean my ideas are not moulded in bronze, I always prefer to present myself as jelly.
Ok, ok, I am sort of pleased, uhu, I can be, surprisingly. But still, the idea of becoming a kind of rolemodel, me, jeez... It scares the shit out of me. I mean, instead of just bumming around, pleading guilty, I excel in that too, suddenly it feels like the world wants me to live up to some sublime standard, and maintain on those glorious heights. Sounds impossible.
So is this a warning? Is this is what they mean by growing up, the hard way? Perhaps. I should have known. Damn, it was meant to happen one day, 'being thirty' already chilling for a while on the beach of time. But even though, me?
Freelance Switch
Ah, the amazing world of backlinking.
Last week I participated in the Freelancer Survey held by the excellent Freelance Switch site. This survey (which is still going on, just click this or the logo to have your try) aims to compile the collective knowledge for the benefit of freelancers everywhere, and gosh, as big as that sounds, they even give away some prices, like a desksitter screengazer dream the wii. Anyway, it took, just as promised, about 10 minutes. After that I put the logo in my sidebar, and then sort of forgot about it.
Until this morning. Sipping coffee, doing my regular blogs, getting my brains to work, I also went through my Google Analytics, and wow, the visitor count had skyrocketed from an average of 10 to a stunning 84! All of a sudden the Himalaya showed up in my usual Dutch mountain graphs. What happened? Did a busload of fans crash down on my site? Did I write something funny, remarkable, unique (all as in stupid)? Well duh, brilliance as ever a faraway dream, as it turned out Freelance Switch had linked back to my site on it's blog. I got a present, a reward for the effort so to speak, that's what happened.
So how does it feel you may wonder, visited so many times? Well, I had a good laugh. And, as important, I finally had a not so beside the point subject for this blog. That's something, not?
The Decider
Oh, oh, I want one of these things. Do I?
The Decider helps you to make decisions - think of the choice you need to make and the look at the watch to see whether it is displaying "YES" or "NO" (if you are inclined to cheat then you can pull the winding crown out which stops the mechanism giving you an answer with no ambiguity).
The watch can also answer a more complex question - when you receive it tell the watch what you want to know, then wait until the battery runs out - whatever the watch stops on YES or NO is your answer.
*edit: too bad it's so ugly. check for yourself, here's the :link
Ok Computer
The sun is shining, it's hot, so today I just walk away in camo shorts, hat and ipod. I won't be back before I have a tan, so in the meantime, in colorful anticipation, you could check this out.
Stereogum has put up a covers compilation album called OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer where they asked various artists to record a song from the legendary OK Computer album. Not all are great but there are some nice versions, and best thing is, it's a free download. No complaining here.
Play For Today
Remember JD Salinger's 'The Catcher in The Rye' 
, that coming of age book that at least a zillion teens read in the old days? Excellent. You did like it?
Anyway I just reread it and look now, another redesign of my website. Is it what I had in mind? Or more important do I like it? Well, hate to say it, but no, in both ways I feel I let myself down. So, guess I will start all over again in the next couple of days. The reason I did publish it here is for some vain reason of showing of my non-skills, which is also the perfect description of my metal state of mind. At best this is a work of progress, a pepertum mobile of right steps in the wrong direction, or the other way round, beats me.
Chemical Brothers
So far the latest single "Do it again" from the Chemical Bothers. Before you start bashing me for a bad musical taste, let me point out it's not exactly my fav kinda music, though the Chemical Brothers did make some good songs in the old days. I am thinking about classics like "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" to which I once danced, late at night on the rooftop of a pension in downtown Istanbul, plugged into my discman, sorta happy and drunk on raki. But this is not one of them.
Anyway, thing is, as you smart globetrotters all must have noticed, the clip is set in Morocco, examining the footage, somewhere on the roads and mountains south of Marrakech . And hey, it's been awhile I have been there, but seeing the images, the landscapes, the people, the goats, I think it's about time I go back there and break that silly (but oh so meant, so tired of that country, pretty much on the rebound after a true love at first sight) promise not to go the Maghreb for a long long time. Also, jeez, I have been 6 times in Morocco and never ever visited Marrakech (or area), kinda stupid not? I can do better, sure.
*ps. Also it's good to see Allah/God loves music. I remember a movie where he once did send a bottle of coke. He is improving.
43 Things And More
The sun is slowly breaking through, another pleasant day is looming with a lazy shrug of recollection, 'almost summer, again...', and sure Sir Bob Geldof was right, monday mornings are the worst mornings, but then you also have to realize, this one hit wonder was sung by a bored teenager in his twenties, all babble without a sense of purpose, well before he started this celebrity crusade against poverty with his pal Bono.
So Bob is doing fine today I guess, having some great sir-hood lunch while gossiping over last non event G8 adventures, and I, despite the fine weather ahead, am again as clueless as on those I don't like mondays days, just kinda pleased with my latest visit to 43 Things where 4 of the wishes exactly mirrored mine. So yeah, tempted to squeak 'can you guess which ones?', but as things go, Bob and me know those wasted years are gone, and well sweet dreams, I don't believe in wishing trees.
Cold War 2.0
© CZ 2007
Russia has successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile featuring multiple warheads that Moscow said could pierce any missile defence system, including the planned US shield in Europe.
President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia will aim missiles at Europe if the US goes ahead with its planned defence system.
"Of course I am an absolute, pure democrat. But you know the problem? It's not even a problem, it's a real tragedy. The thing is that I am the only one, there just aren't any others in the world. After the death of Mahatma Gandhi there's nobody to talk to," he concluded, referring to the Indian leader who championed civil rights and non-violent resistance to tyranny.
Well, here we have it, just a couple of the headlines this last week, the latter one mr. president Putin in an interview last monday. And gosh, this really sounds like the good old Breznjew days, the blind leading the blind. Aw, that warm fuzzy feeling of global power politics, once more myself mesmerizing in the glow of total annihilation. Finally It all makes sense again. Guess it's time to re-release Frankie Goes To Hollywood's masterpiece "Two Tribes". Can't wait.
Treehouse
So maybe you don't want to spend your life always on dusty roads on to dusty places, eventually you might wanna find home. You remember one of those treehouses on your trip through Thailand, waking up with a clear skies peeping thru branches, the fresh cool air of last nights thunderstorm, or later on sitting at the veranda watching fireflies, thinking wouldn't it be awesome to have something like this back home? Well, you can if you want to. It's called the Fab Tree Hab.
Architects Mitchell Joachim and Javier Arbona, teamed up with environmental engineer Lara Greden, have come up with a concept home made of trees and plants. I hope you are not in a hurry (should you?) cause it takes about 5 years (natures pace) to grow, over a plywood frame, into the right shape. You also might reconsider this if you have bug phobia. Anyway, be the first nature boy/girl back home, wake up as Tarzan, sleep as Jane.
Into visuals? There is a also a YouTube movie.
Art Thou a Pirate Johnny?
So now I finally have seen the 'At Worlds End', the latest Pirates of the Caribbean, I might as well say, or should I say confess, I still prefer The Crimson Pirate (1952), that classic swashbuckler with Burt Lancaster as the tongue in cheek hero (who did all the stunts himself being a trapeze guy before), and Nick Cravat as his mute sidekick.
Hmm... why? Maybe it's my childhood 'making things bigger then it was' emo taste. But hey, all I remember is that i rarely saw that movie in its original language, always dubbed in German and still, as tiny me with wooden sword hitting tinier brothers, I totally loved it. That must mean something, not? I wanna bet Johnny sounds awful in German.
Future Foes
I am not a fan of The Strokes, they're ok though, but hey I am big sucker for doomsday scenarios. Born in the same year of the Cuba crisis (does anyone remember?), getting into teen adulthood in the 'No Nukes' Eighties (aw... volatile pity, soddy character me, always prone to expect the inevitable in the very soon future with the grandeur of instant annihilation, so why bother to study, so why getting a career, why grow up, all that no future crap that still makes me kinda nostalgic for firm what's the point, lets get over with it believes, the 'better be red then dead' mumbles, the easy new wave shrug of nothing matters that for some reason made me quite attractive on friday 'no way I am dancing' evenings) so yeah, what else to expect?
Ah well, of course this video is heavily based on Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey ('68), which is kinda the only nice SciFi film (the original Solaris ('68) and Soylent Green ('73) as a nice backup) they ever made.
Does China Love Me?
No, it doesn't. Thought so. But then I read in the disclaimer: 'this version 1.0 may report sites as being ‘blocked’, while there are only technical reasons for their unavailability'. Now I am really worried. Sure I can live with rejection cause my of my twisted personality babble, but of technical reasons? Ough, that hurts.
In Control
Sure, of course I know a girl who listens to Joy Division when she is kinda down. She shouldn't be too alarmed by that, and I am sure she isn't, cause where I come from listening to yesterdays soundtrack (the feverish fridays and destroyer mondays of doomed eighties teenhood) is actually a quite adorable thing to do, even now. Also I think she is in good company, Anton Corbijn must have those same moments over and over. But not now, since his first feature film 'Control' , his portrayal of the troubled singer Ian Curtis (of Joy Division), won the title of Best European Film at the festival of Cannes. Based on 'Touching from a Distance' by Ian's wive Deborah (and now co-producer), shot in moody black and white, the film received a standing ovation at its premiere.
Nice detail, Sam Riley (born in 1980), who plays Ian (died in 1980), appeared also in '24 Hour Party People' (the film of Manchester in late seventies into the eighties) where he played Mark E Smith. Mark E Smith of the Fall still lives. Well, sort of, since he makes the same album over and over and over for the last 25 years.
Life is sorta funny I guess.
Procrastination
Ok, ok, the last 10 minutes I was all zen but sure wasting my time with this kind cute but pointless music-paint site, but no it's not true I spent all my time surfing the days away. Really, necessities aside, there are other ways I kill this uhm... reluctancy to have a good look around in this local world (and by that I mean, here not there, anywhere), cause well, ok it sucks big time but I absolutely, for example sake, adore the little sparrows, blackbirds and starlings (for some reason i dislike that fat pigeon) frenzy in my backyard. For the last weeks I am feeding them high fiber bread crumbs (only one day old, so not mouldy at all my dear pet friends) and today my favorite couple, the sparrow family that is living in the gutter just left of my bedroom, started hopping round my feet even before I finished my cigarette, chirping and jumping in the latest craze. They were lucky, the ciga didn't taste at all (do they ever?), my mood was one of cheerful acceptance (just awake and the weather needed only one layer of fabric, lush jeans an a T-shirt, to keep me in shape), and yes i had a slice of pumpkinseed bread ready. Aha.
And then later on I read this: 10 simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life. It's a lotta blah but I quite enjoyed the last point of the list: 'Don’t worry about about your personality. You don’t really have one'.
Life is bliss.
Explodingdog
'all my friends are dead' by Explodingdog
It's already been awhile since i found Explodingdog, rarely visited cause sometimes it's good to take in things in small doses, but hey the drawings are still quite good, really catchy at times, or as often leave you with that sweet and wry smile of instant recognition (bla bla bla).
Robots & Monsters
Neaopoleviathan (the icecreammonster)
Jesus gone to heaven (tuned by the Pixies) and yeah its raining again, another public holiday imprisoned to the living room - well i am, not a fan of raincoats and gusty winds, sorry - watching old dvd's, reading yesterdays papers, eating apple pie for breakfast. Anyway, a perfect day to work on something of me own but also realizing, consumed by leisure, I only come up with other ones idea. Pitiful, uhu.
So yeah, I don't believe in charity but this time an exception. Good cause, good monsters (Neaopoleviathan: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, my least favorite tastes so it does the trick really well), ok, yeah, the monster bit did it for me.
"RobotsAndMonsters.org is a charitable art project which matches goodwill and charitable giving with custom-made commissioned cartoon and pop art. Giving just a little bit gets an original drawing of a robot or a monster of your specification sent to your door - and in the process, you get to sleep better at night, because you know you've just helped out a great cause. C'mon in, and wipe your feet, stranger."
Flickr Flunks
One of the perks of my lazy nature is that second thoughts don't ask for some boring (and sometimes embarrassing) turn arounds when i actually sort of do change my mind. Take for example this. For a while I was thinking to post some of my pictures on Flickr but then this topic to my attention that makes me rather think twice. Not going into the story itself (you can read it much better here) I just wanna say 'censorship' makes me always feel a bit quirky.
To see what the fuzz is all about here the censored page (from the yahoo web cache) and then start thinking why would Flickr react by this, and ok ok, censorship may be a too bold statement, but it's def a blunt act of self-interest. Very Yahoo like (the owner of Flickr nowadays) in fact too think of it.
Anyway, whatever happened, lets not forget Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir makes some really excellent pictures.
*Edit. Flickr have acknowledged that it made a 'mistake', and have restored Rebekka's blog. There is a nice discussion going on about what happened on the Flickr forum
Rolemodel #1
Mothersday
Well lacking any inspiration lately (and the discipline to make the most remarkable entries) I might as well point you to some of the sites I regularly/so now and then visit. One of my favorites is Foundmagazine, 'a collection of love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists (love those, makes me feel less of a lost island of stagnancy knowing there is a whole archipelago out there!), ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles - anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life', many of them found on the street, an elevator, in a library book, your wallet, anywhere where it ended up, gotten lost or forgotten.
The picture above is the Find Of The Day, how appropriate, all sweet mummy words. Did she write back? I guess she did, some nice words of appreciation, posted or send with some fresh apple cake, and then neatly folded up, locked up in a plated box, thrown in a drawer or accidently (or not so, she could be a bitch after all) in the bin, still out there, perhaps...
*ps. Of course here is a whole past of making little notes by myself but thank god for a decade long lack of vivid thoughts and flamboyant expression i think i am quite safe. Still, may you find a small green notebook somewhere in Krabi Thailand (lost in a bar, where else), please be the gentleman/lady you are, have a sneak peep (random things anyway, email swaps) and return to sender, me.
Towel
© CZ 2007
For the last couple of days I have been visiting several temp agencies. Girls (can't help it, its a fact, f/m ratio in this brand is 99 to 1, and even the 1 is a guess still having meet one guy) in shirts and skirts (it might be fancy logo jeans, but those desk-girls never show there legs for no reason) that act as small town miss Corporate ruling the world with a look of breezy contempt ( 'Don't dare to think you are anything here boy! I break you or make you, so better be a good sweet-mouthed loser' ) always, within secs, followed with that bleak glance of boredom, as if realizing she made already a too big investment, showed too much effort, and perhaps, if lucky, someone goes as far to an effortless moment of scanning the resume ('why so many gaps?' uh...) before sinking back in the ergonomic chair with an almost hearable sigh.
What am I doing here? What happens on that computer screen when I answer those (intake) questions? Red crosses on the appropriate places? And why do all these girls talk like that french teacher at high school, resulting in the instant drop of that course the moment I was able to? Where is the interest, the acknowledgment, the helping hand? Questions that popped up in my mind - at one agency I was 8 minutes late on my second visit (first one: 'come back later, the system has crashed, bye') and all I got was "I thought you wouldn't come anymore. This is a job-interview you must know... - while examining my clothes (camouflage shorts, hat, and 'Geek Clothing' imprinted T) wondering what I would make of that, would I also yawn, even just mentally, secretly but oh so obvious?
Ok, maybe I am not fair. After all someone was impressed with the perfect layout of my resume (no words on the content, of course, and I had to offer myself a chair while the conversation took off, but hey she was right, it looked good). And yeah, 2 years of idleness, despite my splendid excuses, it's only the happy few that are impressed, and still I got offered (only once) a cup of coffee.
So what's next? Not much. The weathermen claim the end of this exceptional sunny weather as soon as next monday, so better carpe diem of what's left, not? Graveyard skies and solid shoes (first time in 2 month, amazing) splashing in puddles, watching the reflection of blue-collar me? Oh boy.
Digit revolt
Mayday
It really seemed like a great idea, always enjoying some kinda symmetry in personal as public life, to start to apply for a temp job on May 1, Labour Day, until I realized that almost everywhere, except this country of course, it is a holiday of sorts. Cheap excuses are one thing, but seriously I ask you why go against international folklore and enjoy one more day of ignorant bliss. Also, the weather was bril again, easy choice.
*ps. Temp job boy posts will be recurring as I plan (till I get bored or feel to spaced out to care) to give full account of the dreading and, oh could it be, brio adventures of temporary work.
The Garden
© CZ 2007
Once again the quiet heat of a 'new april' garden. I have set two simple goals. There are books to be read - The Burning by Thomas Legendre, Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami - and there is skin to be burned. Both can be done at the same time and I love the synergy of it: cuddled up in physical as mental warmth. Smarter and smoother, it sounds like an ad for the easy approach and, well, I am not planning to zap away from this one.
*ps. The smell of my deckchair, a mix of cushioned dusty sun and woody dried winterrain, occasionaly overruled by a breeze of fresh laundry, made me a bit nostalgic but i could handle it with a couple of sigarets (no oldtime nicotine memories yet, though the smell of burning grass accidently set in fire by a careless sway of a tub triggered some real vivid ones), so... anyway, a perfect day.
Heat Island April
© CZ 2007
Happiness equals consumption divided by desire. So yes, here i sit once again in shorts and shirt enjoying another perfect sunny April day. The weather is both foreign and familiar, tropical climates still in my system as the imprint of a hat just put off. Also i realize this is The Netherlands, that this is april, not late july or august. It hasn't rained since 23 march, thats more then a month... temps are at least 10 degrees celsius higher then normal (14c˚), for weeks. Still, sipping my icy cool aid, i, as all too many, prefer to indulge a few more minutes of denial before slowly acknowledging the possibility, and finally the undeniability of that this juicy orange may be filled with razor-blades. Not now, but in the end.
Accidental Babies
Rebound
© CZ 2007
The epic ending of a short trip. So yeah disappearance is all about returning, the table set for another empty stomach. Being a habitual man, lacking imagination, my pulse an old tune, Thailand it was, and telling such, this solo venture ended. So to all that were aware of the gap, hello; to all else that weren't, a nice little shrug; too all a timid smile in a tanned face.
Stepping Out
Star Infant
Ah well, just live on in that bubble of self-importance, of perpetual romantic delusion; through Hubble's eyes were nothing really. So -2⅓ vision me, despite that excuse, stop watching loose shoelaces, stop thinking of everything in 'quotes'; believe me, there is no career in careering your childhood.
:link to super hi-res image, still smaller then the real thing though.
Indecision
"Other people might feel I stayed the same from place to place; but to myself I always seemed totally steeped in my environment, or dyed in local color, and now because in transit I felt suffused with utter nowhereness, and therefor like i might turn out to be anyone."
Anyway, this is what Dwight Wilmerding, the 28-year-old protagonist of Benjamin Kunkel's latest novel 'Indecision', thinks just before he lands in Ecuador, a visit started with the flip of a coin. And no I am not going into the story itself, you can read a review here or here or here, but i might as well tell you i enjoyed the book, well, as books do that make me smile and fill me head with thoughts at the same time; not brilliant insights but you know, a little sizzle of recognition, a sullen nod of approval, knowing a bit more and less at the same time, that sweet sensation -hurrah- which doesn't feel as a complete waste of time ― but i am digressing..
So Dwight suffers from abulia ― an inability to make decisions. He has an amazing capacity for resisting change or growth. Sounds familiar?
"Everyone always moves so insouciantly into the future, one foot in front of the next, that it seems as if they've already been there and liked it enough to go back for more. Only their total confidence permits me to follow without undue terror."
He lives the impasse with charming carelessness, though knows he is living a cliché. A 'not even a fresh cliché' as his girlfriend so sweetly points out.
"I knew she was right. It wasn't very unusual for me to lie awake at night feeling like a scrap of sociology blown into its designated corner of the world. But knowing the clichés doesn't help you to escape them. You still have to go on experiencing your experience as if no one else has ever done it."
Excellent! Literature booming through your thoughts, brooming ones dusty brain. And ok, i know, do i need a book, also a hyped one, to tell me this? Duh, nah... The uncanny similarities between Dwight and me, i dunno, its funny, or as we all know fiction is just mimicking live in a sorta gentler way, and does a horoscope not reflect some facts too; in the end i have no idea how or what, the comfort-zone of lazy sunday afternoons, thoughts bubbling towards blue skies, watching i awe..
Well, guess I decide when i finish my second read, ok?
