Years ago my friends and I had a group diary/writing experiment. It was blogging in the 80's. The first entry was lost as the books travelled through time, but was about a frog. Things got better, and worse, from there.
Dear Diary/ Depressed Press entry no.?
What play is this? Cloe the frog hopped her hop a long while ago - now we are old. It doesn't matter what you imagine life will be, all that does matter is that Life is. That is how you know that you are Old. And Wise? Perhaps. Wait until older still to decide....
13 March 2006
It's sure to help
Ok, I had a Monday. And the fact that I've had rather a lot of very nice wine that I am completely not used to... well, I'm sure it helps. But when the last bottle of wine on the shelf is the eleven year old french bit of dry red then.... Bad thing is, I may have to find more expensive French red wine, dammit. And a need to buy local propels me to think I may have to try some Australian wine this old and see if the French do really have something. Which I fear they might.... Either way, I really can't afford it. Wish I could drink the rest and damn the consequences - sometimes you need to do that. Generally it's a very good wine doesn't shatter you. Yes I know it is poison, but such nice poison and anyway - it is only tomorrow that I will know that.
02 March 2006
Mmmm, morning coffee. So good you just want another cup. But.
If anything puts me off escalating my daily ration to three cups it’s reading New Scientist. Apparently my two cups of coffee cost the world 280 litres of water to make. Glad I don’t take milk and sugar.
Just to rub that in: 1 kilo of coffee = 20 000 litres of water.
Next on the list is junk food followed by clothes.
We need to get real. Eat less; consume less. Businesses need to be based on reuse before recycling. Forget capitalism and keeping the economy going. We can survive economic collapse if we look out for one another. We can’t survive global warming, falling water tables and continued consumption at this rate.
The article I read was by Fred Pearce
His book:
When the Rivers Run Dry: Water-The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century
Just to rub that in: 1 kilo of coffee = 20 000 litres of water.
Next on the list is junk food followed by clothes.
We need to get real. Eat less; consume less. Businesses need to be based on reuse before recycling. Forget capitalism and keeping the economy going. We can survive economic collapse if we look out for one another. We can’t survive global warming, falling water tables and continued consumption at this rate.
The article I read was by Fred Pearce
His book:
When the Rivers Run Dry: Water-The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century
17 February 2006
I'm waffling here about lack of empathy in people
Don’t disdain what other people do in art. Striving for excellence is a great thing, but it’s not a battle that should be fought without some thought and empathy. If your perspective is valid surely the other side can be brought around to agree with a bit of subtlety and logic.
Plus, if you look at history, it’s probably not a good idea to go around offending people. It’s easy enough to create opposition by stating your case too forcefully, and artists - while often dysfunctional - are very effective people and exceptionally committed to whatever they do. Imagine a world where Hitler had received less criticism and more support from his peers, perhaps becoming a successful artist or at least feeling better about other people. Then again, he might have been going to be offended no matter what. However, given the behaviour the ‘art world’ is known for, it would be worth a shot to go back in time and try a little empathy. He might have turned out only slightly disgruntled.
It’s interesting that we get this bit of Hitler’s history to think about. I have a tendency to think that art is a release for many problems and that if he had ended up an artist his manifestos would have been about colour theory (... hmm, but what to do about Pol Pot).
Art is very like religion in the way its proponents often only allow themselves one way of seeing things. There is no one way to do anything – assuming there is will only make other people feel resentment. Empathy and not taking yourself too seriously is the way, People.
Plus, if you look at history, it’s probably not a good idea to go around offending people. It’s easy enough to create opposition by stating your case too forcefully, and artists - while often dysfunctional - are very effective people and exceptionally committed to whatever they do. Imagine a world where Hitler had received less criticism and more support from his peers, perhaps becoming a successful artist or at least feeling better about other people. Then again, he might have been going to be offended no matter what. However, given the behaviour the ‘art world’ is known for, it would be worth a shot to go back in time and try a little empathy. He might have turned out only slightly disgruntled.
It’s interesting that we get this bit of Hitler’s history to think about. I have a tendency to think that art is a release for many problems and that if he had ended up an artist his manifestos would have been about colour theory (... hmm, but what to do about Pol Pot).
Art is very like religion in the way its proponents often only allow themselves one way of seeing things. There is no one way to do anything – assuming there is will only make other people feel resentment. Empathy and not taking yourself too seriously is the way, People.
20 January 2006
More flexible fixtures = no more lost spoons
Generally I dislike change. I like things to be easy and known – I like to drift through time on automatic and not have to work hard just to get through the day.
That being said, in the house, I don’t like fixtures much. I don’t like built-in wardrobes much, although they are functional. I prefer things I can rearrange. Sinks and gas plumbing generally annoy me. I’d like to move the stove and the sink, clean behind them and put them somewhere else for a change…. Why would you want them tied down? Can’t they make them at least on flexible metal pipes so you can pull them away from walls and clean? Not that I would get around to it too often, but I would like to be able to. And what about all those wooden spoons we found behind the old stove – that would never happen in a world designed by moi.
That being said, in the house, I don’t like fixtures much. I don’t like built-in wardrobes much, although they are functional. I prefer things I can rearrange. Sinks and gas plumbing generally annoy me. I’d like to move the stove and the sink, clean behind them and put them somewhere else for a change…. Why would you want them tied down? Can’t they make them at least on flexible metal pipes so you can pull them away from walls and clean? Not that I would get around to it too often, but I would like to be able to. And what about all those wooden spoons we found behind the old stove – that would never happen in a world designed by moi.
12 January 2006
What image recognition software will do for shoe shopping
They say we will be able to photograph restaurants with our phones and then pull up reviews without typing any words…. Lovely, but my immediate thought was – That would be great for shoes.
I often find my optical receptors zooming in on other women’s shoes (with something like the six-million dollar man running sound effect) and find myself wishing they would automatically take an anonymous photo so that I can put those exact shoes on my wishlist. Of course you never can find those shoes anywhere and my mind also dismisses them as optionally: ‘from Melbourne’; ‘from London’; ‘from Italy’…..
If said shoes were available on the web and an image recog software could automatically locate and price them in local currency…. Hmmm.
And while we are dreaming, my phone would also have, (through a nifty electronic pad of some kind that is either at home or in a shop/podiatrist’s somewhere), all the specs for my feet to upload to shoe manufacturers and retailers. I want my shoes to arrive fitted and with a bit of padding in the right place on the right shoe for that bone that sticks out….
I often find my optical receptors zooming in on other women’s shoes (with something like the six-million dollar man running sound effect) and find myself wishing they would automatically take an anonymous photo so that I can put those exact shoes on my wishlist. Of course you never can find those shoes anywhere and my mind also dismisses them as optionally: ‘from Melbourne’; ‘from London’; ‘from Italy’…..
If said shoes were available on the web and an image recog software could automatically locate and price them in local currency…. Hmmm.
And while we are dreaming, my phone would also have, (through a nifty electronic pad of some kind that is either at home or in a shop/podiatrist’s somewhere), all the specs for my feet to upload to shoe manufacturers and retailers. I want my shoes to arrive fitted and with a bit of padding in the right place on the right shoe for that bone that sticks out….
18 December 2005
Fascinating objects
Hoarding doesn't do anything for your life - it traps you. Like some aggregate that grows until you are enslaved by your possessions. Yet it is grouping together of fascinating objects that makes a museum, a gallery, an exciting shop and a home.
I suppose there are worse things to pass on to your children, but to not give the gift of the hoard both saddens and relieves me ....
I suppose there are worse things to pass on to your children, but to not give the gift of the hoard both saddens and relieves me ....
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