Love is everything (after Young and Courtnage)

If I had 9 dollars
and 7 months
I'd buy you all the love
I could

I'd invest
and grow
flowers
the way you
would
fresh
into life

Born into the
quenching
fire
the lightning
touch and me

If I had 9 dollars
and 7 months
I'd want to
watch the full
moon rise
telling me the
story of love

If I had 9 dollars
and 7 months
I'd ask them to
play the way you
dance again

And the bunny rabbit
sings

"When we were strangers
I watched you
And when we became lovers
I loved you"

And the bunny rabbit
sings

"Together there is more
together there is more"

If I had 9 dollars
and 7 months
of waiting I'd do it all over again
together with all my heart

And if I could, I'd secure absolute freedom
with 9 dollars and 7 months

A place for your glorious shining beauty

And the bunny rabbit sings

"Love is everything"

New Painting (first stage)

True vs. False

The statement below this one is false.

The statement above this one is false.

Which one is true?

this is not a mis print

Stu's 60th

Just in case you still have any doubts...

Three photographs, taken in 1912, 1968 and 2003, show how a glacier at Vernagtferner in Austria has shrunk. It lost over half a metre in thickness during 2005. (Images: O Gruber, H Rentsch, M Siebers/Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities)

from www.bbc.co.uk

hard core...

Afghan Shia Muslims flail themselves in a procession during the 10 day mourning period of Ashura in Kabul, Afghanistan.

from www.bbc.co.uk

Giant People

Strand
Originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

Aside from mythology and folklore, mysterious remains of giants have been found in America. Giants are usually classified as human-like remains that are 7'-5" or more in height. The book Forbidden Land by Robert Lyman (1971) recounts the following finds:

* A decayed human skeleton claimed by eyewitnesses to measure around 3.28 metres (10 feet 9 inches tall), was unearthed by labourers while ploughing a vineyard in November 1856 in East Wheeling, now in West Virginia.
* A human skeleton measuring 3.6 metres (12 foot) tall was unearthed at Lompock Rancho, California, in 1833 by soldiers digging in a pit for a powder magazine. The specimen had a double row of teeth and was surrounded by numerous stone axes, carved shells and porphyry blocks with abstruse symbols associated with it.
* Several mummified remains of red haired humans ranging from 2-2.5 metres (6.5 feet to over 8 feet) tall were dug up at Lovelock Cave, (70 miles) north-east of Reno, Nevada, by a guano mining operation. These bones substantiated legends by the local Paiute Indians regarding giants which they called Si-Te-Cahs. For some reason scientists did not seem to want to investigate these finds further so many of the bones were lost. Fortunately one of the giant Lovelock skulls is still preserved today. It measures almost 30cm (1 foot) tall and resides along with other various Lovelock artefacts in the Humboldt Museum in Winnemucca, Nevada. Some of these artefacts can also be found in the Nevada State Historical Society's museum at Reno.
* A 9' 11" skeleton was unearthed in 1928 by a farmer digging a pit to bury trash in Tensas Parish, Louisiana near Waterproof. In 1931 a 10' 2" skeleton was unearthed by a boy burying his dog in 1933 in Nearby Madison Parish.


Aside from in Forbidden Land, we can find other unverified examples or legends about the remains of giants:

* A 9' 8" skeleton was excavated from a mound near Brewersville, Indiana (Indianapolis News, Nov 10, 1975).
* In Clearwater Minnesota, the skeletons of seven giants were found in mounds. These had receding foreheads and complete double dentition (Childress 1992, p. 468).
* A mound near Toledo, Ohio, held 20 skeletons, seated and facing east with jaws and teeth "twice as large as those of present day people," and besides each was a large bowl with "curiously wrought hieroglyphic figures." (Chicago Record, Oct. 24, 1895; cited by Ron G. Dobbins, NEARA Journal, v13, fall 1978).
* In the town of Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada there is a span of mountains five miles long that are in the shape of a man wearing a headress laying down on his back and is called "The Sleeping Giant", it is from local Ojibway legend that identifies the giant as Nanabijou, the spirit of the Deep Sea Water, who was turned to stone when the secret location of a rich silver mine, now known as Silver Islet, was disclosed to white men.
* Patagons of Patagonia in South America, giants claimed to have been seen by Ferdinand Magellan and his crew.

2nd gen archives

Animal Groupings

a shrewdness of apes
a colony of beavers
a bellowing of bullfinches
an army of caterpillars
a quiver of cobras
a bed of clams
a kine of cows
a cast of crabs
a drove of donkeys
a pace of asses
a cloud of grasshopers
a tower of giraffes
a cackle of hyenas
a lounge of lizards
a scourge of mosquitoes
a romp of otters
a company of parrots
a gaze of racoons
a crash of rhinoceroses
a run of salmon
a crossing of zebras

some animals depending on type can actually be re-grouped:

deer (general) herd
deer (Buck) Brace or clash
deer (Roe) a bevy

I would like to add:

A consideration of artists.

DogKings

ShrinersInLittleCars_750x468
Originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

Thanks for coming to the show last night peoples. It seemed to go off pretty well. Actually, I felt the tightness and realness levels reached well-beyond previous expectations. All the peoples came on stage at the end and Joe said I should have kept playing knocking on heaven's door I guess in the moment I was a bit in shock.

I felt a strange combination of discombobulation and hightened awareness at the end there. Maybe because I had fasted, the mind becomes still and empty. Not many desires, clearer vision and hearing and overall sharper perceptions.

This feeling is familiar. Im listening and it seems like I can hear what everyone's thinking. And I heard a lot of strange things? Did I actually hear those things or did I just feel them? The sound of people's thoughts is unnerving because often they are full of darkness. That's why in order to be able to function with this type of perception, you need a good strong jedi-mind shield. Otherwise your ego's going to take a bruising.

One strange thing that I heard was someone calling us the Shriners at the end of the night.

When's the next show?

219 Provencher Boulevard

Denis isn't around to remind you, so I guess I will.

Check out Denis's art show tonight at La Maison des Artistes. Starts at 7pm. Be there or be square.

Bugs, and the scale of infinity

from www.wikipedia.org

* The 17th century writer Jonathan Swift mocked the idea of self-similarity in natural philosophy with the following ditty:

"So nat'ralists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey,
And these have smaller fleas that bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum."

* Which was itself parodied by the Victorian era mathematician Augustus De Morgan:

"Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on,
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on."

ego...maniac.

Crushed, like a sniveling little boy,

I sit…waiting for placation; only…it’s from the outside.

And comes in the way of electronic…

Through the waves of this realm…

Not matching what I, or perhaps you, know as real…

But describing something that feels close…

Anyway…HEHE…

It’s still early…and there is tons of time…

Waiting for us to capitalize…

With the utmost…

of bleeding desires and silly thoughts…

Hoping that someone else will see…

But now…to part with something important…

Not just ridiculous rambling…

Find your channels…and bring them…just like the first snow…

And like the last time you touched someone important to you…

like the things that made you really feel…

Bleed if you must…but most of all,

see…with feeling.

Three Modes of Being

cold and snow

Barbaric Awakening

Barbaric Awakening, originally uploaded by The Stranger.

Look down at me and you see a fool;
look up at me and you see a god;
look straight at me and you see yourself

War

PICT0025, originally uploaded by The Stranger.

The pieces are moving. They’ll be in place by the end of February. The United States will be able to escalate military operations against Iran.
The second carrier strike group leaves the U.S. west coast on Tuesday. It will be joined by naval mine clearing assets from both the United States and the UK. Patriot missile defense systems have also been ordered to deploy to the Gulf.
Maybe as a guard against North Korea seeing operations focused on Iran as a chance to be aggressive, a squadron of F-117 stealth fighters has just been deployed to Korea.
This has to be called escalation. We have to remind ourselves, just as Iran is supporting groups inside Iraq, the United States is supporting groups inside Iran. Just as Iran has special operations troops operating inside Iraq, we’ve read the United States has special operations troops operating inside Iran.
Just as Iran is supporting Hamas, two weeks ago we found out the United States is supporting arms for Abbas. Just as Iran and Syria are supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon we’re now learning the White House has approved a finding to allow the CIA to support opposition groups inside Lebanon. Just as Iran is supporting Syria, we’ve learned recently that the United States is going to fund Syrian opposition groups.
We learned this week the President authorized an attack on the Iranian liaison office in Irbil.
The White House keeps saying there are no plans to attack Iran. Obviously, the facts suggest otherwise. Equally as clear, the Iranians will read what the Administrations is doing not what it is saying.
It is possible the White House strategy is just implementing a strategy to put pressure on Iran on a number of fronts, and this will never amount to anything. On the other hand, if the White House is on a path to strike Iran, we’ll see a few more steps unfold.
First, we know there is a National Security Council staff-led group whose mission is to create outrage in the world against Iran. Just like before Gulf II, this media group will begin to release stories to sell a strike against Iran. Watch for the outrage stuff.
The Patriot missiles going to the GCC states are only part of the missile defense assets. I would expect to see the deployment of some of the European-based missile defense assets to Israel, just as they were before Gulf II.
I would expect deployment of additional USAF fighters into the bases in Iraq, maybe some into Afghanistan.
I think we will read about the deployment of some of the newly arriving Army brigades going into Iraq being deployed to the border with Iran. Their mission will be to guard against any Iranian movements into Iraq.
As one of the last steps before a strike, we’ll see USAF tankers moved to unusual places, like Bulgaria. These will be used to refuel the US-based B-2 bombers on their strike missions into Iran. When that happens, we’ll only be days away from a strike.
The White House could be telling the truth. Maybe there are no plans to take Iran to the next level. The fuel for a fire is in place, however. All we need is a spark. The danger is that we have created conditions that could lead to a Greater Middle East War.

Sam Gardiner is a Retired Air Force Colonel. He is an expert in military strategy. He has taught at the National War College. He has also taught at the Air War College, the Naval War College and as visiting scholar at the Swedish Defense College. Hi

The way that can be named is not the nameless way, the myriad creatures see this and know that it is so...

"There is an indefinable mysterious power that prevades everything. I feel it, though I do not see it. It is this unseen power which makes itself felt and yet defies all proof. It is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses, it transcends the senses.

"Even in ordinary affairs we know that people do not know who and how and why God is, and yet they know that there is a power that certainly moves them. That which informs our spirit is God and since nothing else that I see merely through the senses can or will persist, (s)he alone is.

"And this power, I see it as purely benevolent, for I can see that in the midst of death, life persists; in the midst of untruth, truth persists; in the midst of darkness, light persists..."

M.K. Ghandi

(At least I think so, anyway-- I transcribed these words from a une chanson du tigre fume)

strange gatherings

Canoe and paddle, blanket and knife, salt pork and flour (after Trudeau)

It involves a starting
rather than a parting

Although it assumes the breaking
its purpose is not
to destroy, but to lay
foundation and future

Every living act built
on this step

Next one

What is essential

The resolve to
reach saturation
a forever point

They should not be fooled
by periods of boredom
weariness or disgust

That is not the end
but obstacle

Saturation is
free

So you must for days,
for weeks, or perhaps
on end

My friend
you are obliged

On pain of death

Do more

It purifies you
inescapably

For it is a condition
that you entrust yourself

Stripped

The impossibility
of great scandal
creates a new
morality

The friendly
chiding of divinity
becoming
in everyday

My friend
could you say that about our adventure

Allow the fine dissection
and return not so much
a man who reasons more

But a more reasonable man
sustaining in the struggle against
a powerful universe

It wells from the heart
and stomach

Being of service

Later, that healthy
methodology and
acquired humility
will be useful

TIMES CHANGE

label
Originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

This is to announce a GodKing Performance at the Times Change High and Lonesome Club next Thursday the 25th of January. Ill be putting on a little performance at Enright's Poetry Open Mic at the label Gallery at around 8:30 and then move on to the Times for a 10:30 start. Everyone's Invited! I also heard that it's the Label's 5th aniversary the same evening.
How Auspicious.

Collaborations of change

I can hold you
moving
dancing
seeing in the
eyes of progress
change
the work
that you have
been given

Rilke, art, etc.

this is from Robert Genn's Twice-weekly Newsletter:

In 1903, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke responded by letter to a
young man seeking his advice. Rilke eventually wrote ten
letters now collectively known and much published as "Letters
to a Young Poet." They are heartfelt advice from a successful
(but still struggling) artist to another who was deeply mired
in self-doubt.

Here, partly in direct quotation and partly in condensed summation, are some of
Rilke's ideas:

Your work needs to be independent of others' work.
You must not compare yourself to others.
No one can help you. You have to help yourself.
Criticism leads to misunderstandings and defeatism.
Work from necessity and your compulsion to do it.
Work on what you know and what you are sure you love.
Don't observe yourself too closely, just let it happen.
Don't let yourself be controlled by too much irony.
Live in and love the activity of your work.
Be free of thoughts of sin, guilt and misgiving.
Be touched by the beautiful anxiety of life.
Be patient with the unresolved in your heart.
Try to be in love with the questions themselves.
Love your solitude and try to sing with its pain.
Be gentle to all of those who stay behind.
Your inner self is worth your entire concentration.
Allow your art to make extraordinary demands on you.
Bear your sadness with greater trust than your joy.
Do not persecute yourself with how things are going.
It's good to be solitary, because solitude is difficult.
It's good to love, because love is difficult.
You are not a prisoner of anything or anyone.

mIGrAinE

Special Request

As you may or may not know, I have a solo show in the chang gallery here in S.Korea in mid-November. I have been thinking very hard what to paint and/or draw for this. When I was in Winnipeg in the first little while (during my "vacation") I reveled in the sight of Winnipeg winter-culture. People all dressed up with scarves tightly wrapped around their heads, Jackets zipped up to the nose, Toques, mittens, and so on. I thought I would like to share this with my friends here as a part of our culture, what makes us the hearty, Winnipeggers we are (well, at least partly). Unfortunately, and I can't believe I'm saying this, the weather was quite mild during my stay, and I didn't get any good photos of people freezing their buts off =). So, I was wondering if anyone could help me with references. I wanted people bundled up at bus stops, shoveling their driveways, or just walking down the street puffing frosty air out of their belaclavas or whatnot (full body shots would be ideal). I know there has been some photos of snow on the blog already, and those pictures were nice, but I'd like some more anonymous images (hence the scarves and neck warmers idea) and somehow depicting the sevre cold (maybe some frosty eyebrows or face-cicles). If you would be so kind as to post an image or two, or email me something expressing permission for me to use it in my art, I would be eternally greatfull (or at least for a good long while).

david_macri@msn.com

Stories/Archives/history

In a sense we read the world as a text, and, logically, such readings are infinite. By which I do not mean that we just make up stories about the world/the past (that is, that we know the world/the past and then make up stories about them) but rather the claim is a much stronger one; that the world/the past comes to us always already as stories and that we cannot get out of those stories (narratives) to check if they correspond to the real world/past, because these 'always already' narratives constitute 'reality'....Different sociologists and historians interpret the same phenomenon differently through discourses that are always on the move, that are always being de-composed and re-composed; are always positioned and positioning, and which thus need constant self-examination as discourses by those who use them.

Keith Jenkins (1991) from Rethinking History. (p. 9)

archives 2

I`m not sure of the story behind this. It`s my Grandfather Rocky Malloy on tv circa `57.
(photo off the tv of course). I think that little Billy may have fallen off a snow bank. "Gee, I sure learned my lesson Sgt. Malloy! I`m going to tell all my friends to respect the law!"

archives 1

Ok, I guess I didn`t really grasp
how poor my Mom`s family was
when she used to tell me as a kid.
Look how excited she is with her cardboard rashins!
Nothing`s growing in that garden. Those empty
milk jugs where probably supposed to last for 2 weeks.
My uncles had to wait for someone to grow out of their shoes...

Sitting In A Bar in Thunder Bay...

just getting home from the times at 1:33 a.m.

image of Ouimet Canyon (pronounced wee-may), Thunder Bay, ON, from www.canvisit.com


lyrics by the perpetrators...



sitting in a bar in thunder bay
drinking cheap white wine
to pass the day away

when what am i doin' so far away
when the day after tomorrow is

the day you go away
for a year

tell me
what will i do
when you're twelve thousand miles away
and i'll be missin' you

so bad it hurts

i wish i had a plane
i'd fly halfway around the world

to see you once again, oh yeah.

Apologies to Dangerman

Okay, perhaps I've overstepped my bounds a bit, but I've always wanted to colour up one of Dangerman's sketches. I particularly like the Folkfest series he's been posting of late, so here's a little tribute...

cloud buster

skyamo
Originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

When the flying saucer takes a back seat to perhaps a larger, philosophical, even metaphysical question -- what is matter and energy -- then we are ready to tackle this enigma. What is the potential of energy, its force and ability to change shape, to conduct matter into form or substance? How much of the human mind and perception is involved? In whose hands are the reigns of the chariots of the gods? Man has been seeing flying creatures as well as flying craft of various kinds since the dawn of time. From flaming chariots to dragons in the heavens, flying people and animals both with and without means of propulsion or wings, the famed Vimana of Hindu scripture, angels, demons, witches and spectres; The famed flying machines of the pre-flight era seen across Europe and America, sky-boats and strange, wingless arbiters of the skies, some of them even reported as being occupied by visible people.
It may dip a little deep for some, to suggest that what we see, hear, feel, smell, taste and touch is not all that there is. But tell it to the fly, who sees a pane of glass as a solid black mass, or the bumble bee, which wouldn't know the splendor of the colors of a flower at all, it sees only the stark chemically stained signatures in black and white indicating a source of pollen. We both have eyes with which to see, the bee and me, but we do not see the same things in the same universe at all. Is it possible that we could be as oblivious to the presence of pollen as it would be to be blind to ships or beings or creatures beyond our spectral sensitivity? Is it far fetched to suggest that just outside of our limited spectrum of perception, with these weak instruments of detection we call our five senses, exists an entire menagerie, nay, a kingdom, of living beings, organisms and even worlds From Beyond ?

aliens

alien
Originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

a race of intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited and/or colonised Earth in the remote past, whereupon they upgraded the primitive hominid Homo erectus by means of genetic engineering to create the human race as we know it: Homo sapiens.

Evidence for this idea is found (a) in the improbability of Homo sapiens emerging so suddenly, according to the principles of orthodox Darwinism; and (b) in the myths of ancient civilisations which describe human-like gods coming down from the heavens and creating mankind 'in their own image'.Homo sapiens is thus regarded as a hybrid being, incorporating a mix of terrestrial genes from Homo erectus and extraterrestrial genes from an ascribed "race of the gods".

Prior to the modern age of space travel and genetics, this theory for the origins of humankind could not have been conceived. And even now, in the 21st century, there are many people who would regard it as science fiction. However, in the light of the problems with the orthodox theory of human evolution, the idea of a genetic intervention by an intelligent human-like species (who themselves evolved on another planet over a more credible time frame) does require to be taken seriously as a potential solution to the mystery.

In a 1998 interview, Clifford Stone, a retired U.S. army Sergeant who served in the U.S. Army for 22 years and allegedly participated in operations to retrieve crashed extraterrestrial ships and extraterrestrial biological entities (EBE's), revealed there were a variety of extraterrestrial races known [by various institutions and agencies]". undamentalist messages in from Christianity to Judaism to Islam, and other institutionalized religions, as well as outright apparent 'cult' groups, have been specifically placed by "hostile elements" to manipulate and control humankind. There is startling evidence from a number of independent sources that 'human looking' extraterrestrial visitors have integrated with and lived in major population centres up until recently, and this is known by a select number of institutions. These "Human extraterrestrial visitors" have been represented has often having as very attractive physical characteristics, with "Human extraterrestrial females" being described as among the most beautiful women that male observers have witnessed.

world music scene

A life (click on image)

Loveless Winter

One November night
I dreamt I was you
Out a third story window
I carefully passed through
The cold and ice
a treacherous gate
branches aching
beneath my weight
I wore shoes but no socks
ankles exposed to the air
I climbed to a nest
but no egg was there.

Winnipeg

scene08Stillthumb
Originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

I am a phantom dreaming a phantom's dream. A girl from the twenties has ectoplasm being extruded from her nipples. I am standing on the frozen river and there are nine ravens and the moon. I am drunk wearing heavy boots. What is this? Where am I? The Monster, the Machine, who Ive spoken with before, is watching me from those raven eyes. Let me die with my eyes open and ectoplasm streaming from my mouth like so much heavenly upchuck. A physical manifestation of my thought mojo. My essence become tangible. Perceivable by all directly without any second-rate, discount ray-band goggles to block out the good shite. Im talking full blown hand to mouth, blow your brain wide open, meeting your maker, life flashing before your eyes kind of Winnipeg Rock & Roll.

Folk Festival Murals

Deep Pockets or The Art of Sin

I would not, let not,
My whole hand be played,
If in eyes of fact and fiction
This were indeed a game.

No, for what experience
Between the lines you do have
in your possession, may lend
advantage to the rooms discretion.

So, do tell, speak of, and well
To slight matters close of hand
With lips at heart drawn
As tight purses spent to say:

The secrets in the snow beneath hold
The secrets held with the golden key

Her Gift

Even though we january tonight
she wants to christmas
meaning:
accept in my cupped hands
her tokens
pebbles, pennies, a heart shaped seashell
all found in a change purse I’d long forgotten to empty.
“and this is mine” she proclaims
looking pleased as fingertips
reading red, gold, white
beads patterned familiar
with two slow smiles we april triumphant.

Persimmons

scarlet orbs blink
grotesquely
blackened calyxes
crated
and nestled at my parent’s back door

over his shoulder he calls
“Diosperi, you know Cachi,
have one”
a firm invitation to pluck the fruit
hesitates me
but I’m magpied anyways
and with my poor fruit stand etiquette
I poke each one
my finger searching the waterballon skin full of syrupy flesh

I return to the warm olive oil smells
sit silently and peel back the skin
coated in drips
I’m careful not to pull apart the fruit
he looks over
“it’s ripe,” he says.
but my touge carefully reads the flesh
fearful of the unripe
astringent mouthfuls of translucence that could pucker
me for hours.
the sweet stickiness stains my fingertips
despite the display still faintly bitter
I nod in agreement
“ it’s perfect "

persimmons

I see the madness (click on image)

McNally scores a deuce!!

Fraternal twins and omni-server share lower body but have distinct personalities, say local seniors over faux crab cakes!

Spiders on crack

Click here

Temple Dragon-Guardian 

Wing