1984

1984

Curious book, ... Winston. A favourite of literature teachers, before 1984. I read it in the 70s. It was claimed that 1984 was already here. One thing that struck me about it, if they were pumping out and refining their propaganda, who was their audience if everyone was being repressed? You pretend to work, we'll pretend to pay you. I sold you, you sold me, under the Chestnut Tree cafe. Oranges and lemons say the bells of St. Clemens. Big Brother. 1984.

Matter Antimatter

Matter Antimatter

And all the quantum states inbetween, most of which... don't exist!

Change and Decay

Change and Decay

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away
Change and decay in all around I see
O thou who changest not, abide with me

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left thee

POW

POW

Is that "POW!", like in a Roy Lichtenstein painting, or is that P.O.W. for prisoner of war?

I recently watched "A Town like Alice", broadcast on PBS Masterpiece Theatre. Based on the book by Nevil Shute. He was a very fine writer. I've read Slide Rule, The Chequer Board, and On the Beach. Not A Town Like Alice, though. Maybe one day.

Wake-up Call

Wake-up Call


"You don't know how paralysing that is, that stare of a blank canvas, which says to the painter: you can't do a thing."

"Many painters are afraid in front of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of 'you can't' once and for all."

"Do you really think I don't care about technique or that I don't try for it? Oh, but I do, although only inasmuch as it allows me to say what I want to say."

- Vincent van Gogh

Sometimes on a walk, I'll see a scene and think to myself, "Yes, Vincent would paint that."

But, is this a Vincent type of fractal?!

Watchtower

Watchtower

Whh-all along the watchtower,
Princess kept the view,
While all the women came and went,
their boy servants too

-misheard Dylan/Hendrix lyrics

Springtime

Springtime

Didn't I use that title last spring?

This fractal reminds me of a long departed church member whose passion was pink roses. Every year he had them in his garden and he had taken slides and slides and slides of them. You haven't lived until you've experienced a two hour slide show of nothing but pink roses! Seriously though, he did explain the subtleties, but I was very young then.

The Ogre's Trick

The Ogre's Trick

...

Have you noticed how many Hollywood movies these days have taking the Lord's name in vain in the script? What strikes me is that the actors are generally not good enough to hide their discomfort. They feel guilty, and used. Tricked.

Happy Easter.

Reaching for a Sign

Reaching for a Sign

...

Some days, you just don't... feel like... writing anything! Nah, I should try to come up with something arty-like. How about, part of the puzzle of art, you just can't make it unless you're in the proper frame of mind. That reminds me of a sax player I knew who used to get into the proper frame of mind by hanging out of his second floor window upside down by his legs, back to the ground facing the sky, and playing to the heavens. I'd be walking by, hear the music, that you Jimmy?!?

Pioneering Spirit

Pioneering Spirit

I was at a museum that had a display of old farming implements. Clearing contraptions for getting out tree stumps, tools for digging furrows, handles polished by years of toil.

Wellspring of Being

Wellspring of Being

Everything comes from somewhere. All the way back to the First Mover. Some philosophy to ponder? If the road to (very bad place!) is paved with good intentions, and for sure the road to (very bad place!) is paved with bad intentions, are we all on the road to (very bad place!)? Are we best not to have any intentions at all?!

Fractal in Rock

Fractal in Rock

Rock is an interesting word, usually positive connotations. Rock and Roll. Steady as a Rock. Rock of Gibraltar. Rock Hudson. Northern Rock. Get a piece of the Rock. So I decided to do a fractal in rock.

Matter of Life in Retrospect

Matter of Life in Retrospect

Caked on, imperceptible, dribbled from height, brick, stab, the colours ebb, merge, flow, trickle, pool, drain. Phantoms, suggestions, hints. What was, what might have been. Brushstrokes. Although on the whole, I'm more partial to pen and ink, calligraphy... But yes, 3D is a worthwhile branch. The formulas for light optics have been known for centuries unlike those for fractal geometry which were mostly suspected until the computer age. Now we can have both.

The Lonely Idea

The Lonely Idea

Do ideas prefer company?! Are artistic ideas comparable to technical ideas? Perhaps it's just the goals that are different. Art strives for pleasing aesthetics (which paradoxically can sometimes be unpleasant to look at) while computer programs for example mainly try for labour saving output. But you can have a computer program so well written that it is a work of art. Whenever I encounter these, I think what a shame that virtually no one will see it, except for the next maintenance programmer. The lonely idea.

Limerick

Limerick

There was a young man from Clyde
who fell down an out house and died
His unfortunate brother
fell down another
Now they're interred side by side

This limerick was a favourite of a reverend. It's to be feared that he did not get the pun in the last line...

Lots of limericks in The Lure of the Limerick, by William Stuart Baring-Gould. It goes in and out of print, but it might be in your local library. Yes, even in this day of the Internet, there are still gems to be found at the library.

The Fifth International

The Fifth International

is the name given to a socialist model, still under elaboration. The Fourth was developed by Leon Trotsky. Some say the call for a fifth implies a Trotskyite basis, while others say the fifth is a rejection of the fourth and Trotskyism. As the late capitalist organ Punch would say, "You pays your money, you takes your choices". Of course, art continued to exist under the socialists and is still available for viewing. Naturally they wouldn't allow anything decadent or counter-revolutionary, although this didn't stop the subversives. Are you looking at things we don't want you to look at? Are you thinking what we don't want you to think? What about fractals, they ok? I got my mind right, boss!

Fractal Universe

Fractal Universe

Many galaxies await. Just like for Arthur C. Clarke's "Star Child". It's all there for you to see and cross once more of your own volition... Clarke hosted a special on fractals a few years ago which included commentary from many well known scientists and mathematicians, Benoit Mandelbrot and Stephen Hawking among them.

Year of the Rat

Year of the Rat

2008, the Year of the Rat. The story is that the Jade Emperor invited the animals for a party. The first 12 to arrive were the Rat, followed by the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and lastly, the Pig. Why was the rat first? The animals had to cross a celestial river, and the Rat asked the Ox to ferry him across. When they arrived on the other side, the Rat jumped down off the Ox's head, touching ground first, and that's how he gained first spot in the order of the Chinese zodiac, much to the Ox's chagrin.

In a similar vein, can you imagine if the second man on the moon had pushed past the first to take top spot in the history books?! Most unseemly. Not that there's much room to do anything on those lunar vehicles. I saw one at a museum and the occupants have very little space to maneuvre.

In this fractal, the rat is looking at you over his shoulder. You can make out his eyes and ears and nose, with a little imagination, and his hind quarters, as though he's just jumped down off the Ox's head and is looking back.

Happy New Year to all!

Celebrations

Celebrations

Yes, ongoing feasting and celebrations. Good music too, I mean we usually take in the King's College service. Whenever we see such services on TV, we can't help thinking that the choir boys probably act up a lot for the poor choir master. Legend has it that they even used to play up papa Bach himself!

Speaking of Bach, someone unearthed a program from early in his time where he was listed as just another musician in the orchestra! Makes for strange reading, flute... so-and-so, violin... so-and-so, harpsichord... J.S.Bach...

Lump of Coal!

Lump of Coal!

Oh no! Haha, what the bad kids got for Christmas... although I never heard of it actually happening... kids usually smarten up by Christmas.

"I hear babies cry
I watch them grow
They'll learn much more
Than I'll ever know
And I think to myself
What a Wonderful World"
- Bob Thiele and George David Weiss

Recorded by Louis Armstrong and many others. The 2000 Stars on Ice Finale has a nice dance version, perhaps it was by "Beatbox vs DJ Miko". I don't know because the credits got cut off, but I've often wondered.

I'd like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!