Easy Rider

A nice truck, a nice road in the middle of my town, lot's of wood for the winter - what else?
Well, look at the truck door, must be from the town maintenance crew or something.

So let's have a closer look.


Gotcha - "State Of Confusion"!

three steps after "G" comes the J-spot

Johann S. Bach - Goldberg Variations
J.J.Cale - Travelling Light ... is the only way to fly
Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!
Jack Johnson - the early recordings
Joni Mitchel - Miles of Isles
Jimmy Hendrix - Experience
Janis Joplin - Summertime, best rendering ever
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Jarrett Keith - Köln Concert
Jan Eggum - Heksedans


There are many "spots" in our lives, and not only in music. Those we tickle will bring us either towards ecstasy or depression.
Which one will you touch in this coming week - perhaps joy?
Have a good Monday and may you find the spot you asked for ...

What Classic Movie Are You?

(what a stupid Monday test, but it is Monday - so it's OK!)

Easy Rider - yeah right, calm down and cool my ass.
Cheers, Zee.

fly - go, go and fly

The last geese gathered and started their journey south. With shrieking sounds they said good bye to the ones left stationary on the ground. May their travels be safe.
Sometimes I wish we as humans would be able to elevate ourselves like geese and see things from above, a perspective a bit more unifying than those petty morasses of daily jungle life we so eagerly swallow as our standard nutrition.

the magic of touch

This little copper peace was named "touch" years ago when I mostly made works in copper. "Touch" seems to evoke a sentiment. Don't we as humans need to be touched, embraced? The present killings in the Middle East seem to work against such a principle.
Even the magic of a half decent massage would release some of the tensions here and there. Here and there being wherever you want it to be, geographically or bodily.

light and color

What do you want me to say, there is nothing to say. The pink-purple and the other colors were real and spoke this evening instead.
Happy turkey gobbling feast!

...so no, this picture is not "photoshopped" or altered in any way, the colors were truthfully bizarre in their appearance today. The shutter speed of my cheap peace of shit digital camera was slow, hence the fuzzy image. But hey, it adds to the atmosphere I guess.

darknes

the killing game

Now that assassinations from people who please to blow themselves up has gained an all time popularity, I start to wonder who these people actually are who sacrifice their lives for causes that in my view are unattainable with such actions.
Personally I'd rather would fight with a sword in my hand for my convictions if I was pressed to do so instead of blowing up my body in a market place, exploding in a waiting line of day-time workers, blow up innocent children and woman at a bus stop. It's easy to preach for me from the security of a keyboard, but heck - nevertheless all suicide bombers deserve their destiny, namely being first tickled to insanity by 17 virgins before they are thrown to eternal hell.

who is the assassin - a person from Assyria?

Yeah so what now, Who is to blame?
You believe it is the Christian right - right?
But brave Muslims are on top of the the "killing game", obviously for now. Do I care?
Oh, in case you don't recognize the person on the image to the left, be aware of that Lebanon is now observing the first of three days of mourning in memory of Pierre Gemayel, the Maronite Christian politician assassinated in Beirut on Tuesday. Perhaps the plot of a Buddhist freak or a lonesome lunatic who has escaped the asylum; wouldn't surprise me - hahahah!
I shed tears for Lebanon because it is presently the only country in that region of the world that I care for. Why? Because it has potential for a bright future, and it is also a beautiful place once you clean up the thousands of cluster bombs Israel dropped there!
So anyhow, what's up with that "killing game" then?
Yes, blowing yourself up or using assassinations is a fairly drastic means of self-development I would say. I also wonder if such a method is purely an Arabic pastime or just an other religious ceremony by devotees stuck in Mohammed's oriental delicately weaved carpet?
You tell me.

dusk

Today the world is too crazy and it gets more and more difficult to keep track of all that is going on. I feel remorse for that assassination that happened in Lebanon, makes that country even more fragile than it already is.
My thoughts are not "positive" and gravitate more towards dusk rather than dawn -
There might be a chilling beauty to be found in the dark, but there is wonder and rejuvenation in the promise of light to come.

marble dust

Marble dust on the face and nose of my student (pic on the right). The sculpture takes form as you can see. So far she is the most vigilant person I coached (hope she doesn't read that ... ahh, she doesn't have my blog address - so why worry ... even if she does find out, that would be OK too). Her theme is inspired by the works of Rodin.
Anyhow, that particular stone is quite tricky, crumbly like tart cookies and hard as a rock. A delicate combination. The way she handles that challenge is superb. All the power to her! With a little bit of suggestions here and there, this piece will be brilliant. What's in for me? I get inspired to dive into my own stuff again ...

final touch

Today was the last session when my students came to work on their alabaster stones. Next block for this high school I'm working for will be modeling portraits in clay, starting in January.

The other news of "art/teaching endevours" is that the college I had been involved with for the last ten years is scrapping or limiting their art programs to a bare minimum, because of budget constraints - that leaves me basically out of their picture. But through this change new horizons arise.
I will from now on open my studio much more than ever, offer weekend courses, accept free spirited individuals who would like to study with their own pace or schedule in mind, offer summer courses ... you name it!
For this I don't need a desk person, a treasurer, three copy machines with two clerks, an enrollment coordinator, a development person plus secretary, a registrar, an administrator and a summer program manager. And I certainly don't need a president to pull this off. Did I forget all the book-keepers needed to keep track of the people above, and then the ones who keep track of the book - keepers?
Perhaps Colleges need all this ... and more. But I don't!
So my aim is to give people from all walks of life an opportunity to experience and learn about sculpture for the fraction of cost compared to regular institutions.
How does that sound?

are you vegetarian, vegan or plainly undecided?

Now that we had the grand American "smoke-out" today, we have to put our focus on an other of them traditions: The Thanksgiving turkey! Will you survive the feast or bow down and become a vegan (no shoes made of leather please, 'tis made of animals, no snickers either - they are made of oil ... deceased dinosaurs) ... please come in cotton socks to enjoy the bounty, or for god sakes just walk barefoot.

How will you celebrate Thangsgiving?

P.S. my son claims to get up at 5 in the morning and shoot a wild turkey tomorrow. I personally savor wild turkey. Let's wish him luck!

crumble and decay

A kiln in the middle of the woods falling to peaces, a bridge that will become oblivious if not maintained. Just images I know. How are we holding up as humans I wonder? I received an email from a friend of mine yesterday, he lives in Europe. He made a good point. To put it blunt and short: Europe is not a nation! The present loss of identity due to economic preferences of companies supported by bone-head politicians become the stumbling stone of decay for European countries. So you may say: What do I care?
Well perhaps you should. I hate to preach in an "Eurocentric tone" but today I will. If Europe brakes, the rest of civilization will crumble just like the lime kiln in the posted picture. After all, for the last 1000 years or so all impulses of furtherment - good and bad - originated from there; not from Africa, not from India, not from the Middle East, not from the Americas. Did I leave out the Southern Hemisphere?


So lets skew our thoughts for a moment to the present decaying empire, the USA - stuck in the Middle East, overcome by Japan economically (Toyota has now become the number one car maker in the world and made 3 billion profit while Ford lost about the same amount during the last fiscal year) so thereby and by many more examples I could list the US will be soon hopelessly shoved into a corner of it's own survival. Not good. What the heck does that have anything to do with Europe you might ask? Well it does because the present empire was build on European roots. So when the baby has no more milk to nibble from the mothers breast, the sibling dies. If Europe goes, the US will follow.

















And as far as I am concerned this is already the case, it is already happening.
And again, as my friend pointed out, Europe is not a country - but rather an agglomeration of unique nations that have now been destroyed by the greed of commerce and the call for globalization.
What a pity.

serene

It is not up to the fisherman to decide how the fish will taste once prepared.
Roasted almonds, a hint of crushed fresh garlic, tarragon, the usual lemon-pepper, two table spoons of dry white wine, a pinch of dill to top it off.
So some of us will produce, while others prepare. It's called sharing.
My life is neither here nor there. Do I prepare ... or do a I catch fish?

The other pictures from Maine are up now, on a separate link (blog) on the left of this screen right under my profile.

bye, bye politics

I assume I need to clean my fingernails - and my mind, any volunteers?
For the next (at least) 72 hours I will tune out of this web-madness and also my blog.
I am going to meet a bunch of people on an island in Maine, off the beaten track - play music, jam, cook awesome food, be grateful and forget about bonehead politicians. Life must go on!
Ciao, hasta la vista - I'll be back, you'll bet ....

I deleted the last two posts 'cause I couldn't look at the faces of Bush and Saddam anymore

Let's see what is left of the backbone of this precious country tonight ...
Did you vote today and got a kick of a false sense of Democracy?
Ok, I hate the Dems and all of their political establishment. But just for fair game, the Repukes need to be defeated today. If evil comes to mind, Republicans presently trump the card.
All are soo, so irritated about homosexual incrustations into society while ignoring that the Dems and the Reps are a happy gay couple - a sickening copulation of "same gender jerks". Nevertheless, the Repubs must go, they screwed up on too many issues to count. We'll give them a hand to be silent for a while. Not that this outcome will be better or a staging point towards a "new world of understanding" - the old will remain, and Bush in his last two years will definitely exercise his lunatic program of foreign policy and interior inadequacy without major obstacles from any political party. That's how it goes - here in the USA. (though I thought it was a cute gesture of reconciliation of Bush to fire Rumsfled as a result of Democratic victory).
But even if the Dems win both houses (which they will not) the continuous story of feeding the hungry mouths of the cooperations that make this globe turn around will remain the same.
Ahh, politics deadly boring if you think of it.
So why do I care?
Basic interest in the evolution of human consciousness I suppose, and a curiosity if ever a plural political system will take hold here in the US during my lifetime, sort of the fundamental concept of democracy.

on the way home

... picture has been taken a few feet away from my house.
A little further up the road the trees are bare.
On my way home I thought of these songs of freedom,
the ones of redemption. Bob Marley came to mind.
Yes, the golden leaves are falling, mingling with the ground to transform themselves into earth, eventually.
The color and light unites with darkness of the earth while skeletons of naked trees are awaiting a covering mantle of snow to come.
Freedom? We are all conditioned and codependent to outer circumstances, like trees that follow seasons. But what sets us apart from trees is that we are not being put stationary. We actually have the liberty to move in space - and our minds are free to roam indefinitely.

Images

So OK, I forgot to take my cheap (outdated) peace of digital camera along to Switzerland. Bad me. What to do? Got an even cheaper throw away camera, one of those things you feel stupid about to bring back to a processing agent. Anyhow, here are some fuzzy pics to illustrate my stay and my home town.


this crossing I had to be at 7:00 to be picked up to go to school
a mile above you have the Schlosshof
a view of the neighborhood where my mom lives
the Goetheanum, a majestic site


Ah,I don't feel like to make the text right, arrange it properly under every picture. Use your imagination instead.

If you have questions about the "organic" designs of these buildings and why they were done this way, go ahead and ask me. I will try my best to give you an answer.
Other than that, I wish to everyone a splendid and terrific weekend!

(as with all pics on my blog, you just click on them to see them bigger if you are so inclined. Almost all pictures I took here are my own, there are a few exceptions. My pictures can be freely distributed, copied or whatever... )

just an other brick in the wall?

Do people actually realize that the majority of immigrants who enter the US come legally and then simply overstate their visa, hence by that action become illegal?!
Nevertheless, congress and the prez signed a bill that will give the green light to build a 700 mile fence on the Mexican border, with cameras, sensors, drones and all the technological schnick-schnack you could ever imagine. So what good does that do besides gobbling up billions of my tax dollars and destroying hundreds of acres of nature? Can you truthfully imagine that immigrants, and god forbid terrorists, will be kept away?
Besides the lack of a comprehensive plan on how to deal with seasonal workers and immigrants at the southern border, it disturbs me greatly that people here believe in building walls instead of building bridges ...
... same goes for Israel!

Pentagon gears up for new media war!

By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

The Pentagon's new effort to influence media coverage of the war in Iraq is an example of how governments react when a war is not going too well.
They begin to think it is not the war that is the problem, but the presentation of it.
The media, being the messengers, get the blame, not the message itself.

The plan, detailed in a memo seen by the Associated Press news agency, is for a rapid response unit that would "correct the record" in the 24/7 news cycle that exists today - including, crucially, on the internet. One aim, AP says, seems to be to deflect criticism of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld himself.
It is on the internet that blogs and other sites rapidly spread information, sometimes as fact and sometimes as rumour, and build up pressure points of opinion. These are then reflected in the mainstream media.
There would also be a list of favourite speakers or "surrogates" who would be offered to broadcast media, especially to the US talk shows, where fast appearances and faster opinions matter.
----------------------------------------

Full article at the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6103056.stm

I just had to post this my friends, because it bothers me a lot ...

Despite all this, nevertheless VOTE Democrats if you can vote!

americana and my european heritage

Space, yes space is the only true asset the United States has left. After returning from Switzerland, where everything is over-organized due to space limitations, it makes me breathe "freer" to walk the grounds on the west side of the Atlantic ocean. Since I am "tuned into" space issues (sculpture and such) this might not come as a surprise. Old wooden bridges, patios created by my son, Indian sacred waterfalls ... all contributes to the fact that this country, the USA, is still a virgin ground despite globalization and space-stations. There is potential ... untapped.

The paths I walk in the US are still mysterious and plentiful. Europe on the other hand is set in it's ways, determined, old fashioned,regulated and stiff like starched white shirts hanging in a closet. Moths abound...
No, I do not wish to criticize only, I am actually drawn to the systematic order on European fields - perhaps a phase in my life, a phase to "bring order into things."
Coming back to the US after my brief visit to Europe created no less than a cultural shock though, and I had to adjust to what I found to be the most developed "Third World Country" - agony towards the ignorance of "our" political entities" set in immediately, the nonsense of "mid term november elections", the folly of the two party system that has melted into a masturbation unity for the sake of capital and industry. Behold, where is Democracy??? ... where is the true political stuff, who develops whom, who is actually working for the people like you and me? Ah ....
But whilst arriving, and being in a somewhat sober mood, observing the reality of the status quo, the assessment was that the US leaps behind in technological achievements that could potentially benefit citizens and society at large. The leap behind here amounts to at least the time span of two decades. Take for example my experience at the Zurich airport. I was "shuttled" to the underground train station within minutes by an unmanned automated connection ... for free. Then I boarded the two story train going to Basel (a one hour ride) in a train that starts to move - and you don't even notice it, until the "pictures start to change at your window" ... there is hardly any noise whatsoever!
On the other hand, I landed in JFK on my return, took a malfunctioning and stinking diesel bus to Grand Central, Manhattan - boarded Metro North to Wassaic and rode on a train that resembles 50's retro movie pains, uncomfortable and anally abusive, noisy and a peace of shit ... outdated technology, third world country jive in public transportation, while the gas gobbling SUV's from Ford and GM run into record deficits. A nation out of control with big prick issues to follow the Freudian dreams of cock existence. Bahhhh! Do you actually realize how retro the US is on the field of innovating new technologies? All that stuff is happening in India and Asia...
No,bottom line, I wish not material perfection, it's redundant and not the goal of our lifetime, but I still are acute to observe the tendencies in nations around the globe who are intent to make a difference.
What I hence wish for is, the cooperation of the "old" and the "new" - technology and wisdom combined, a dialog, a final statement that this earth actually needs attention and care and not more wars.
Is that soooooooo hard to understand, America?
Happy Halloween.
Yours, Zeeart.

Halloween, or the season of the witch

The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.

The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.



















The best version of "Season of the Witch" is found on Mike Bloomfield's "Super Session" (released 1968 or so..). Steven Stills plays on there as well and an other dude who's name escaped my mind ... Cooper or something ...

my friends: "oink-oink, nöff, groin-groin, grunz"

Here you see lokal farm animals being fed leftover organic veggies, bread and rolls from the Coop-Farmstore.
Why are pigs my friends? Because political swine's ... they are not!
Politicians on the other hand are dirty and stinky - true swines.
Pigs are a clean bunch if allowed to dwell like that and smell, well just like pigs.
Politicians raise red flags and scream nonsense - true traitors to us piglets.
Pigs only show their pink butt instead, real charming indeed.
Politicians make a lot of noise, and achieve nothing.
And pigs will only grunt, and make no fuss.
I'd rather be a common pig than a political-swine. Sure, there are always exceptions to a rule, there are a few true pigs living as politicians who refuse to become swines ... but those, I can count on three fingers.
List your favorite leaders if you wish, those who have declined to throw swinish mud; Mandela perhaps?

I'm back

Before we know the climate turns cold,
it's about to snow, still leaves abound
on trees - my soul has no mold,
and I'll stick around
for a while
assembling scattered peaces,
crumbs arranged in petite style
for you my dear, and not my nieces.

(photo "chickenshak" or "loveshack" for Vidar in progress, tomorrow cement floor pouring ...)

The visit to Switzerland was intense, no - not only my mother agenda. A painter friend is dying of cancer there (lymph), and I said goodbye.
Saw him many times during my stay, a bag of skin and bones not able to talk anymore. Used to be an energetic fireball ... and not a fainting translucent being.- He is burning up by the fire cancer creates, doped by morphine drugs - sleeping hours on end.
We talked about karma and the life after death, the journey to the spiritual world ... and what it means. For the lack of his vocal cords, it ended up mostly to be a monologue ... of mine ...
But his smiles and his tears confirmed participation.
Life on earth is so fragile - if you really think about it.

bye - bye ... I'll have to fly

Take good care my friends, it's a crazy world out there, beware! And I in the meantime will cross the ocean to tend to my crazy and needy mom, who all the time is so much too serious.
I need to work on smiles and laughter, cheer her up, and stay content myself.
See you when I come back,
cheers - Zee