Helena Blomqvist “The Lonely Patient”
100 x 134 cm 2008 © Helena Blomqvistrepresentative gallery:
angelikaknappergallery.com
via roamin
Thus Flows the Seine
Thus flows the Seine, it which
ebbs with such powerful narcotics.
Thus flows the Seine, its sky stirred
to a Starry Night; the blood-inheritence
of great vengeance flowing forth as a mighty
fire.
Liberty, Fraternity, Equality, or Death!
(The latter being all the easier.)
So sits Sydney, just like him,
directionless man of destiny;
uninspired inspiration to the dead
and dying,
unlikely and unforseen, unbeknownst to him,
a savior.
Thus flows the Seine, its savage
depths recepticules of ancient suffering,
final resting place of human myseries,
swirling concoction of human brew.
So sits Carton, his
sleepless face bathed
in sunlight, his hands
seated upon his legs;
Self in hand,
Spirit expanding,
Thus flows the Seine.
Cello
Reserved, good posture, eyes glow as she leans forward and smiles,
“Nangi-aka! Can you hear me?”
The voices come in rapid succession, but rarely overlap; a conversation.
A dark piece; the wood tuned down; an 18th-century Jazz.
“I mean, the war is over, right?”
I drown in the notes, powerless in the grasp of the Cello, and am thrown to and fro, stroke by stroke.
The piece gasps and grinds to a lonely halt; we burst with applause.
Overcome with love for all that was revealed, I up and leave to the kitchen where I curse under my breath.
Oh (holy) fuck!
Oh (holy) shit!
I meet her on the walk to the kitchen - that was incredible - and her smile bursts with the Glory of God.
“After twenty five years,
the war is over.”
Ernesto Che Guevara reunido con Simone de Beauvoir y Jean Paul Sartre, en Cuba. 1960
Che Guevara meets with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre, in Cuba, 1960.
DJ SPOOKY :: That Subliminal Kid
The Truth? What is The Truth?
The Waterloo Campaign, 1815
via PBS.ORG: Napoleon: Napoleon at War.
During the last months of 1814, Napoleon grew bored playing at Emperor of Elba. He never took his eye off France, where the Allies had made the mistake of restoring an eager but weak Bourbon king to the throne. King Louis XVIII had neither Napoleon’s charm nor his charisma. France had a constitutional monarchy now, but with royalists threatening to abolish the gains of the revolution, and the economy floundering, the King soon became unpopular.
WOLOCH: The Bourbons basically blow it. If the Bourbons had performed more effectively and shrewdly I think Napoleon would have stayed on Elba.
For ten months, Napoleon watched and waited. Then, on February 26, 1815, he slipped off of Elba with a handful of soldiers and eluded the British fleet. “After making a mistake or suffering a misfortune,” he said, “the man of genius always gets back on his feet.”
Once ashore, only the King’s army would stand between Napoleon and Paris. Six days after landing in France, he confronted a regiment of infantry ordered to bar his way. Napoleon advanced alone to meet them: “Soldiers,” he cried, “if there is one among you who wants to kill his general, his Emperor, here I am.” Suddenly, the soldiers began cheering wildly, “Long live the Emperor. Long live the Emperor.”
CASTELOT: The soldiers welcomed him as a god. “The glory is going to start again. We’re going to fight again. We’re going to be happy.”
“In ten days, Napoleon said, “we will be in Paris… The eagle will fly from steeple to steeple until it reaches the towers of Notre Dame.” Two weeks later, Napoleon was in the French capital, and Louis XVIII had fled. The news hit Europe like a bombshell. “The Devil,” his enemies said, “has been unchained.”
HORNE: Again, the mystique of Napoleon. Here’s the Emperor. “Vive la Emperor,” they shouted all the way to Paris. But it was really sort of crazy. He hasn’t got a hope.
Hokusai meets Salvador Dali
MF DOOM - Great Day (Instrumental)
Thanks, West.
Here & There — a horizonless projection in Manhattan by Schulze & Webb (thanks Tomek!)
Reminds me of Rama by Arthur C. Clarke :)
via szymon
The Chinese Language, Ever Evolving
The Times recently published an article about China’s effort to manage the vast number of characters in the Chinese language. A government computer database, designed to recognize people’s names on identity cards, is programmed to read about 32,000 of the roughly 55,000 Chinese characters, cutting out the more “obscure” characters.
This is not the first attempt to modernize a sprawling and ancient language. The most ambitious effort was the introduction of a simplified system of writing in the 1950s. As part of the Communist Party’s campaign to reduce illiteracy, simplified characters were promoted as the common written language, replacing many traditional characters.
Text via ROOM FOR DEBATE: A Running Comentary on the News, by the editors of The New York Times.
