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What Doesn’t Change
[Video: "Every Day the Same Dream," based on the Flash-based game of the same name] From whiskey river: I do not believe the meaning of life is a puzzle to be solved. Life is. Anything might happen. And I believe I may invest my life with meaning. The uncertainty is a blessing in disguise. If [...]
Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, and Whether to Ask (or Not)
[Image: Many Questions No Answers, by Norwegian artist Trine Meyer Vogsland (acrylic on watercolor paper; 24x32cm)] From whiskey river: LXXII If all rivers are sweet where does the sea get its salt? How do the seasons know they must change their shirt? Why so slowly in winter and later with such a rapid shudder? And how [...]
Sleepwaking, Blindsighted, and a Little Bit of Movies in the Night
[Video: one of the best cinematic commentaries on ignoring (and paying attention to) the wrong things turned 71 the other day. Above, its trailer -- complete with telephone commentary not actually in the film... and not showing its title character for even a single second.] From whiskey river: Solar On a gray day, when the [...]
And Counter-Intuition Replied…
[Video: studio version of "I've Seen All Good People," by Yes] From whiskey river: Not a few, but everyone, makes art. There is no art beyond the sensibility of the people confronting it: art is an interaction between object and beholder. The idea of a human being forced to concede the superiority of a work [...]
Intersections Close By, Milestones Passed
[Image: the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth 2 and the New York City skyline at night (January, 2011)] From whiskey river: Most of us stand poised at the edge of brilliance, haunted by the knowledge of our proximity, yet still demonstrably on the wrong side of the line, our dealings with reality undermined by a range [...]
Laughing, Refreshed, in Its Face
[Video: scene from The Princess Bride -- the Man in Black faces off against his cleverest adversary, Vizzini the nearly-inconceivable Sicilian. You can find a transcript (among other Vizzini-isms) at this IMDB page.] From whiskey river: To get through this life and see it realistically poses a problem. There is a dark, evil, hopeless side to life [...]
Endistanced
[Video: zooming in from a Milky Way-wide view all the way to galactic cluster NGC 3324, dubbed the Gabriela Mistral Nebula for its resemblance to the profile of the Chilean Nobel Prize-winning poet. Music by John Dyson; original video at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) site.] From whiskey river: And as you sit on the hillside, or lie [...]
Better Fictions, Lesser Truths
[Image: one of various digital collages in the "Fictions" series by Flemish photographer/artist Filip Dujardin. (Click to enlarge.) These buildings and landscapes do not actually exist (although he starts with images of buildings in and around Ghent, Belgium).] From whiskey river: While I was sitting one night with a poet friend watching a great opera [...]
The Calm at the Core of Disorder
[Lyrics] [Video: "Saints & Liars," by Pony Boy. See the note at the foot of this post for more information.] From whiskey river: There is tremendous power in unearthing, in recognizing distracted, scattered mind, the mind which would rather be anywhere but here, and spending some time there, with that mind. Rather than being an [...]
Conversations, Sacred and Profane
[Image: photograph of a massive (115" x 53") jigsaw puzzle, by Clementoni, of Titian's Sacred and Profane Love (also known as Venus and the Bride, but subject to various other interpretations as well). The puzzle contains over 13,000 pieces. I almost used this image instead, for no other reason than (a) the title and (b) its depiction, [...]
