Monday, August 31, 2009

So...


You didn't believe me when I told you I used to be gorgeous!
(Found in a pile of water-damaged photographs.)


Sunday, August 30, 2009

Ali Akbar Khan


Isn't it odd how the memory works? This morning, taking a shower, I suddenly thought, "Ali Akbar Khan, who's that?" It's such a great name - rolls off your tongue - and it's loaded with vague 70's recollections. My second thought was Ravi Shankar, but that would mean sitar and Ali Akbar Khan sounds so... Persian. What do I know?! So I, of course, looked him up in Wikipedia and, lo:

In 1971 Khan performed at the Madison Square Garden for the Concert for Bangladesh along with Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha and Kamala Chakravarty; other musicians at the concert included Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. An album and a movie of the concert were later released.

He was born in Bangladesh in 1922 and died just this June 18th, thus proving that Jung was right, we do share a synchronous unconscious!


Saturday, August 29, 2009

Autumnal

I’ve been pretty glib and uncommunicative this summer, gentle reader. It’s kind of you to keep coming back, under the circumstances. But I did get the floor painted, which was the main focus of my summer-burst-of-energy, and managed to extend it into making the kitchen more livable, with a full list of things still to do... next summer. Since then, I’ve been trying to re-intellectualize myself by working on the basic structure of an organization for the hundreds of photographs I’ve inherited. The results of that can be seen at Pomoto (in the sidebar). That, I think, is under control now, although there are still unopened boxes, piled in the basement. I’ve begun using MacJournal both as a place to get myself more involved in writing again, and as an informal connection to this blog, with this entry as the first official example. It doesn’t seem to handle formatting very well, although it is wonderfully fast.

Summer in Sweden is winding down. Most kids are on their way back to school and the tourist mob has dwindled to the point where, individually, they’ve become interesting again. It’s nice to walk around town without getting angry. Fall in Visby is like the pleasure of Spring in reverse. Now the astonishing beauty is tinged with apprehension of Winter. One can still leave the house in shirt-sleeves, but it’s probably prudent to carry a sweater. The rains come in a fairly regular weekly pattern, until they become the dominant aspect and the sky goes steel-gray for Winter. This is the time of year when everyone in my apartment building gathers in the garden to rake leaves, prune bushes, and store furniture - one of four annual events. Swedes are very good about this kind of cooperative rhythm - it gives the year a structure. It’s easier to face the terror of the Future together in small incremental steps.

In case you weren't paying attention...

barilan_internet-thumb.jpg

"And there you have it, a “cybersecurity” blacklist to accompany a potential state takeover of the Internet during a “national emergency.” What will they think of next!" (emphasis mine)

Obama Administration Seeks “Emergency Control” of the Internet,
by Tom Burghardt / August 29th, 2009

Image from The Technium

Friday, August 28, 2009

The miracle of paint.

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This is another odd composite photograph (don’t look too closely) which I assembled to overcome the disadvantages of small space and smaller camera. But it gives a pretty good idea of the colors - more accurate here than in earlier attempts - and the almost immediate accumulation of dust-bunnies and fingerprints... a housewife’s work is NEVER done! However, for once in my life, I seem to be in an almost civilized apartment, rather than an encampment or a construction zone. It feels okay. Even the houseplants seem happy!

Test

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Dead Cow Mystery


A number of cows have died on the Baltic island of Gotland, leaving vets baffled as to the cause. According to the local newspaper, Gotlands Allehanda, the deaths have been caused by some kind of poisoning, but so far tests for the usual contaminants have proven negative.

Scientists are now testing soil and water samples, with the results expected in a fortnight's time.

Local vet, Annika Melin, told the newspaper she has never seen anything like it for two decades.

Sveriges Radio International - English -- Engelska


Thursday, August 27, 2009

Monday, August 17, 2009

No matter what you believe...

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You should watch this. clic-pic to go to YouTube

If you haven't...


...checked out Wooster Collective, you should. pic-clic


Rats, I missed it again...


This is is eighth Stockholm Pride I've missed since I've lived here. I made it once, in 2002, but pretty much walked around alone, lost and inarticulate. And I still don't know any Stockholmare who might invite me to join them - my social skills are rapidly diminishing in this glorious solitude. Especially true, inasmuch as Stockholmare have become those awful tourists who make Visby virtually unlivable for two months every year (but I don't really hold it against them - you should see our beaches!) which I spend hiding in my apartment.

Pictured above are Mark Levengood and Jonas Gardell, one of, if not the most well-known Swedish (Finnish) gay couples, each a celebrity in his own right, and really pretty cool when you consider they're both almost my age and bald! The picture is by Ã…sikstorped, introduced to me (digitally) by Francis Strand, via Gaybloggar.se


Sunday, August 16, 2009

Saturday, August 15, 2009

American Conundrum

The problem of voting for the "lesser of two evils"

is that you can only get EVIL.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Schadenfreude

Cheney’s secret meetings with lobbyists and industry bigshots were creepy and nasty and evil.


But the Obama crew’s secret meetings with lobbyists and industry bigshots were, the President assures us, in the public interest.


We know Cheney’s secret confabs were shady and corrupt because Cheney scowled out the side of his mouth.


Obama grins in your face.


See the difference?


The difference is 2%.

link: Dissident Voice : Obama on Drugs: 98% Cheney?

(Schadenfreude, Dudley, or is it simply "I told you so...")

Thursday, August 13, 2009

My alter ego...


Le Perkins (not those other ones...) before Hitchcock made him synonymous with psychotic. And, of course, there's the Vespa...

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Hugo's Yellow Peas & Chicken


1 cup dried yellow peas
1 chicken breast
1 sm. can mushroom parts
1 sm. onion
2 cloves garlic
1 can coconut milk (partial)

Cook dried beans for 1 1⁄2 hours in 1 litre of water. Drain.
Place in covered casserole.
Sauté onion and garlic in butter,
add mushrooms and season to taste,
Add to casserole.
Quickly brown diced chicken in same pan and add to casserole.
Add 1⁄3 cup of coconut milk.
Mix everything together lightly,
Place in oven and bake for 1⁄2 hour.


Monday, August 10, 2009

Land of the free, home of the brave...

As the economic crisis continues to intensify, scores of US cities are enacting undemocratic laws that criminalize homelessness and trample on the rights of the growing number of homeless individuals and families who reside in these cities, according to a report released last month.

link: US cities criminalize homelessness


Friday, August 7, 2009

COMING NIGHT

It darkens brother
and your crutch tip grinds
the gravel the deer stepped delicately along
one breakfast, you were a kid.
Mother says after thirty
decades clip by
“and then you have the sum”
or spent it.
What was it like when the car
swerved on the ice,
what did you think of,
how long did you wait
in the wreck with the pain?
I see the sumacs by the turning space
turn their lank leaves,
the railway moves to us
and the willows below us
and think of you turning nineteen,
of the deer, the sumac, trains, a wreck.

James Schuyler

(Portrait by Darragh Park)
link: Exit, pursued by a bear


Monday, August 3, 2009

Peculiar panorama


The space in my kitchen is so small, it's difficult to get a reasonable camera perspective on it. Despite appearances, this is one continuous space (and after two months of painting and repair, it feels enormous): the refrigerator is behind the left-hand segment, with the hemispherical lamp; the two burner stove is below. The blue-gray floors, which were the biggest part of the effort, are out of range, except for a tiny pentagon in the hallway (far right). I would like to be able to say it's done, but I can immediately think of four medium-sized projects still-to-do. Click pic for full effect!


En andra syn..


Selma Lagerlof's The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
illustrated by Mary Hamilton Frye
Published by Doubleday & Co ~ 1913

Thanks to Golden Age Comic Book Stories


Sunday, August 2, 2009

Elsewhere


Forgive me, gentle reader, for being so absent recently. My mind has been, well... elsewhere. It's difficult to concentrate on a blog in summer, when so many other projects press for attention. My kitchen fix-up is in the last stages now: all the little details that take three-times as long as they 'should.' Some, I may just finally decide, will have to be put off until next summer's frenzy. I'm winding down, both enthusiastically and physically. So, pictures of the effort should begin to appear soon, and I will return.

Illustration by N.C. Wyeth from Treasure, 1938 thanks to Golden Age Comic Book Stories